The air at high altitude was extremely thin, and with the howling winds tearing at her, Herta couldn't breathe properly at all, her face quickly turning pale.
Qi Zhimu quickly realized the problem and could only stop ascending, maintaining an altitude within a range Herta could withstand.
With enough oxygen, it also meant he had to protect her while fighting this monster with powerful regenerative abilities within the attack range of Lotes's tentacles.
Tentacles came strangling from all directions, sealing off all avenues of retreat.
Qi Zhimu held Herta to his chest with one arm, while his other hand continuously traced patterns in the void.
Wind blades severed the tentacles, and fierce flames evaporated the surging seawater into mist.
The two of them wove nimbly through the dense forest of tentacles, flesh and blood flying wherever they passed.
Lotes's roars were incessant, and the severed tentacles grew back in the blink of an eye.
After fighting for a long time, Qi Zhimu saw where the problem lay.
This damn monster's power seemed to originate from the sea.
As long as it was in the seawater, even the most severe injuries would recover.
At this thought, Qi Zhimu's gaze grew colder; the endless entanglement was incredibly irritating.
"Your reliance is this sea, right? Then I'll boil you along with the sea itself!"
Qi Zhimu stopped in mid-air, and terrifying heat suddenly erupted from his body, the air severely distorted by the high temperature.
The thick dark clouds in the sky dissipated in an instant, replaced by a field of crimson sunset clouds.
"Flame Prison Incantation: Incinerating the Heavens, Ashing the Sun!"
Qi Zhimu waved his hand abruptly.
The sunset clouds all condensed into fierce flames, and an unimaginable high temperature descended from the sky, enveloping the entire sea.
The moment the seawater contacted the flames, it didn't even go through a boiling process, turning directly into a sky full of white vapor.
The sea level receded downward at a visible rate, as vast amounts of seawater were forcibly evaporated dry.
Lotes finally let out a scream of agony.
Without the protection of the seawater, its body had no room for resistance before these flames that were capable of melting everything.
The tentacles burned to ash, and its body rolled and burned in the sea of fire.
In less than ten seconds, the once-unrivaled overlord of the ocean was burned to flying ash, vanishing without a trace along with the seawater.
The flames dispersed, and Herta looked down, completely dazed.
Gone...
The entire sea was gone...
Below had become a bottomless abyss; not a single drop of seawater could be found.
The sky became clear, without a single cloud in sight.
Herta remembered something Qi Zhimu had said.
Forbidden Spells aren't that weak.
After passing the second level of Life-taking Mirror Shadow previously, he had used fire magic to destroy that independent space.
It turned out that this was the true scale a Forbidden Spell should have.
Killing a powerful enemy and incinerating the sea with a mere gesture.
If Qi Zhimu wanted to, this move would be more than enough to destroy the entire Fog City.
"Mr. Creditor, is this a Forbidden Spell? How much of your strength did you use..."
Hearing the young girl's question in his arms, Qi Zhimu couldn't help but curl his lip.
"I thought your first words would be praise."
"Mr. Creditor is very amazing."
"...Hmph, how much doesn't matter. What matters is that this great me said I'd send you back to save the world, so I will definitely, absolutely, one hundred percent do it."
Confirming there were no targets left to finish off, Qi Zhimu withdrew his aura.
"The annoying octopus has turned into takoyaki. Unfortunately, our ship is gone. I hope there isn't a rule that we can't leave without it. Now we can only fly. Which way?"
If they couldn't leave without the ship, there would only be one method left...
To completely destroy this vast world. Hopefully, the outcome wouldn't be that bad.
...
The rest of the journey was unexpectedly peaceful.
Two hours of monotonous flight ended, and the thing they feared most didn't happen.
At the end of the dim horizon ahead, the spatial boundary showed irregular warping and folding.
The two successfully crossed the boundary, saying goodbye to the evaporated ocean world.
However, the dangers of the Labyrinth Zone in the Yi Zhi World did not end there.
After a brief period of calm, more lethal dangers followed one after another.
Crossing the ocean world, they plunged into a world composed purely of flames and lava.
A pungent smell of sulfur drifted in the air, and a sky full of embers fell onto the wind wall Qi Zhimu had raised, triggering a series of sparks.
A Lava Behemoth, no smaller than Lotes, rose from the sea of fire, roaring to block their path.
Afterward, they entered a Hurricane World where even space was torn apart, as well as an upside-down Spatial Labyrinth where no physical laws applied.
In the bizarre Labyrinth Zone, every world was occupied by a troublesome local monster, as if they had received some kind of death order, sworn to keep Herta here forever.
Let alone a break, even the time to catch one's breath was a luxury.
Qi Zhimu had just blasted an Earth Elemental Dragon into fragments when, in the next second, he had to fend off a giant bone claw emerging from the void.
Facing these endless, powerful enemies, Qi Zhimu demonstrated terrifying dominance.
Lightning, gale, extreme ice, fierce flames... various elements were at his beck and call, his fighting style bold and unconstrained, full of wanton arrogance.
But what he currently inhabited was, after all, the human shell of a Virtual Substance Lifeform, which had insurmountable physiological limits.
With continuous high-intensity magic output and endless slaughter, Qi Zhimu's physical stamina continued to drop, his condition sliding due to infinite exhaustion.
His spellcasting movements were still precise, but fine beads of sweat had already seeped from his brow, and his breathing became heavy.
Herta, protected in his arms, was in a situation that was no better.
Being in the center of world-shattering, high-pressure combat, violent energy fluctuations invaded her nerves pervasively.
A teenage girl, bearing double pressure on both her spirit and body.
Even though Qi Zhimu pushed his defensive magic to the limit, isolating most of the damage and combat aftershocks, it still inevitably affected her.
Fortunately, every time they passed through a world's barrier and continued forward, Herta could clearly sense that the coordinates of the Azure Star were getting closer and closer.
This hope became one of the driving forces for her to persevere.
During the slightly stable flight intervals, extreme fatigue surged in like a tide.
At these times, Herta could snuggle tightly in Qi Zhimu's arms and temporarily fall into a deep sleep.
And what repeatedly startled her awake from her slumber was inevitably the violent collisions caused by Qi Zhimu's clashes with a new round of enemies.
The torture of waking and sleeping made Herta's complexion worse and worse.
Pfft!
An icicle pierced through an indescribable creature blocking the way. Qi Zhimu stomped on the icicle, blasting it down into the abyss.
After dealing with the enemies in the way, he carried Herta out of the nearly shattered space and entered a relatively tranquil night sky area.
Seamlessly switching between different worlds, the airflow tended toward stability.
Qi Zhimu slowed his flight speed, his chest heaving violently, his breathing becoming rapid and heavy.
Herta's gaze fell upon the man's face, which bore obvious signs of exhaustion, and a strong sense of guilt rose in her heart.
"Are you okay..." Herta spoke softly.
Qi Zhimu lowered his eyes and gave a proud huff.
"Who do you think I am? The matchless mage. Don't ask such stupid questions, okay?"
"This is my favorite combat-thrill segment. No need to waste brainpower calculating those convoluted rules; I can just fight to my heart's content. It's practically heaven."
Herta simply treated these words as wind passing by her ears.