You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
The supersonic projectile streaked forth like a giant bird of light, instantly passing beyond his companions and arriving before the Corrupted Spirit, its target aimed directly at her chest!
That was her weak point.
Ryoji's intuition screamed it at him.
But…
Clang!
Suddenly, dozens of flowers arranged along her lower body bloomed open.
In the blink of an eye, they stacked themselves into dozens of layers of armor before her. Amid a tremendous crash, the supersonic projectile pierced through more than ten layers of floral armor in one breath,
But ultimately became lodged there, only to be spat out by the flowers with a pfft.
"What tough armor!" Ryoji's eyes sharpened.
The others had also witnessed the scene, their expressions growing solemn.
The power of Ryoji's throws rivaled that of a Lv. 6 Adventurer, which had already become common understanding among them.
Yet those dozens of unfolded floral armor layers had blocked the strike.
That alone showed just how absurdly durable that defense was!
BOOM!
The second cruciform sword left his hand.
Amid a shrieking sonic blast, the blade tore forward along the exact same trajectory, like a magic staff splitting the sea, stabbing again toward the Spirit's chest.
"Aah, AH!"
Irritation overflowed across her face.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
With a rapid chain of cracking noises, her lower body suddenly swelled.
No,
It wasn't swelling.
It was extending!
The shadows of flesh split apart, transforming into a torrential rain of tentacles shooting into the sky. More than a dozen tentacles combined together into a gigantic appendage over a meter thick,
Then smashed downward with crushing force.
The flash abruptly ceased.
The cruciform sword crashed to the ground.
"Even the tentacles…?" Ryoji said nothing.
His eyes were only tracking the phenomenon.
No,
Looking closer, those dozen-plus tentacles also bore enormous wounds.
They weren't far from being severed entirely.
Ryoji abandoned throwing.
Lowering his body, he burst forward like the wind itself. At this distance, throwing couldn't break through that monster's defense.
He had to cross this hundred-meter gap; only then could he land a decisive strike!
BANG!
"So heavy!"
Under the monster's shriek, a rain of tentacles descended from the sky.
Without fear, Tiona raised her double-bladed sword to block, but the instant contact occurred, her expression changed drastically.
Violent tremors ran through both arms, and her double blade was nearly blasted from her grip.
"Careful! These tentacles are monstrously strong, probably around Lv.6!"
Tione and Bete, who had just been about to receive the tentacles head-on, instantly changed expressions at her warning and immediately shifted to evasive movement.
Tiona specialized in raw power.
Though not quite Gareth's equal, she was unquestionably a powerhouse.
Don't be fooled by her slender frame, among the Loki Familia's Lv.5s, she actually possessed the strongest muscles!
If even she could barely withstand them, then they certainly couldn't.
'The tentacle attacks must be dodged!' The same conclusion surfaced in everyone's minds simultaneously.
"But there are way too many of these damn tentacles!" Bete made full use of his terrifying footwork.
Struggling forward through the storm of tentacles, he let out an irritated roar.
Doing a rough count, there were probably over a hundred of them!
"Don't try to brute-force it! Cut the tentacles first!"
Tione gripped her twin curved blades.
Using her dexterous movements to evade the savage attacks, she spun around and cleanly severed a tentacle that hadn't withdrawn in time. But a second tentacle came whipping in immediately, forcing her into a hurried retreat.
Under the mad barrage of tentacle lashes,
That hundred-meter distance became like an impassable chasm.
Even Ais in the distance had been entangled by the rain of tentacles.
Even using her wind, she couldn't cross the gap.
In fact, the Corrupted Spirit had directed the greatest number of tentacles toward Ais. Her pressure was actually the greatest on the battlefield. The only reason she could resist was because her wind was powerful enough.
But,
Even a heavenly chasm did not necessarily lack feet capable of crossing it!
Shua!
In a blur, a figure suddenly flashed past Bete's field of vision.
His advance through the rain of tentacles was like a sailing ship navigating a storm.
Every evasive movement looked perilous beyond belief, each time he seemed only a hair's breadth away from being struck, yet every attack narrowly missed.
Under this near-limit dodging, he sprinted through the storm of tentacles at incredible speed.
"How can I lose to you?!" Bete's eyes turned bloodshot as he roared.
He pulled out a magic sword from his waist pouch, absorbed its power into the silver boots on his feet, and kicked out.
A massive burst of flames scattered outward, forcing back all the surrounding tentacles.
Then he charged forward like a ferocious lone wolf.
Across the ash-covered earth, Ryoji used eyesight precise down to the centimeter to continuously calculate the tentacles' attack range and trajectories, constructing an attack model of his opponent within his mind.
Then, with microscopic-level evasive precision, he dodged the rain of tentacles at breathtaking speed.
While everyone else had their advance halted by the tentacles,
Only he continued charging ahead at terrifying speed.
"Annoying insect!" The Corrupted Spirit, whose eyes had been fixed solely on Ais, was finally drawn by Ryoji's activity.
Her murky golden eyes shot him an irritated glare.
She had experienced Ryoji's throwing attacks before. She knew that allowing him into close range would be disastrous. The majority of the tentacles besieging Ais split away and redirected toward surrounding him.
In an instant, Ryoji's pressure skyrocketed.
Dozens of tentacles transformed into subsonic whips, endlessly sweeping across the ground, violently scattering clouds of monster ash.
They didn't care in the slightest even when the nearby worms and flowers were caught in the crossfire.
"But at this distance!"
His gaze swept across both sides.
With his nonstop advance, he had already crossed over fifty meters.
Only a short distance remained between him and the Corrupted Spirit.
Normally, he could cross such a gap in under half a second,
But now countless tentacles swept back and forth before him, while countless monsters around the Spirit watched hungrily.
Raw footspeed alone wouldn't be enough to break through this army.
Bang!
Ryoji kicked off the ground.
As he lunged forward, magical power circulated through his entire body, causing his speed to surpass the speed of sound in an instant!
Under the shocked gazes of Bete and the others behind him,
His figure seemed to transform into a flash of light.
Before anyone, even Finn, could react,
He had already appeared before the Corrupted Spirit as though he had teleported!
Both feet lifted from the ground.
This sword thrust aimed directly at the monster's chest!
If this strike landed, it would kill the monster!
Ryoji was absolutely certain of it!
At this moment, even the Corrupted Spirit herself had failed to recover from Ryoji's sudden acceleration.
She stared blankly toward the place in the distance where he had vanished.
This can work,
The thought had only surfaced for an instant.
Bang!
Bang!
Amid consecutive explosive crashes, a gigantic suit of green vine armor suddenly appeared between him and the monster.
BOOM!
The human cannonball slammed into it head-on without holding anything back.
After the deafening impact, the enormous shockwave instantly ravaged his entire body.
He was thrown backward immediately by the recoil, bouncing violently across the ground several times before finally dispersing the force within his body.
"What happened?!"
Ryoji pushed himself up from the ground.
The armor covering his body had shattered extensively.
Staring at the Corrupted Spirit in disbelief,
(End of Chapter)