novelraw Chapter 320: Knowing He Would Lose, Still Fighting to the Death
Chapter 320: Knowing He Would Lose, Still Fighting to the Death
"Sharp tongued and quick with words."
Qin Bai's killing intent was icy as he spoke each word: "Wait until I break your limbs and pry your mouth open, let's see if you can still be that sharp-tongued!"
Su Zhan met his murderous gaze without fear.
The Flame of Destruction rose in his palm.
Abyss Realm peak... five years of accumulation...
The gap was enormous.
So large that even though he had just broken into Special-risk level, even though he now possessed the devastating Flame of Destruction, his reason told him the odds were vanishingly small.
But... what use was not fighting?
Su Zhan's eyes swept the surrounding mist barrier that separated inside from outside.
This was a sealed cage, a final trap.Run? Where to run?
Break through the barrier into the Mist World?
That choice would mean certain death.
With nowhere to retreat and nowhere to hide, there was only one option: fight!
Fine... let him personally measure just how deep the other's five years of standing still had rooted him!
He had long wanted to spar with Qin Bai, but before he had been too weak—sparring with Qin Bai had been suicide. Now he finally had the right to fight;
he wouldn't miss the chance.
Su Zhan knew he would most likely lose, but he had to fight.
It was not only for survival, but to... give an answer for all the suffering he had endured these past two years!
Knowing he would lose, he still fought to the death...
Qin Bai vanished from where he stood, and the next moment appeared above and to Su Zhan's side.
The Eternal Night Aurora Whip lashed toward Su Zhan's neck.
Light twisted wherever the whip's shadow passed, making its true trajectory hard to track.
Su Zhan dared not slacken for a moment. The Flame of Destruction enveloped his right arm in an instant, and he met the attack with a fierce punch.
Smack!
Punch and whip collided.
A strange force coursed along the whip, a kind of peeling away of perception.
His vision blurred slightly.
His judgment of distance faltered for an instant, his punch stuttering involuntarily.
Qin Bai's whip techniques flowed like clouds and water;
before one lash finished, the second and third were already coming, whip shadows piling up and enclosing Su Zhan.
Each lash carried the power to strip away the five senses.
Su Zhan's reactions were always half a beat late.
Shraaak!
One whip broke through Su Zhan's defense and struck his left arm.
There was no gashing of flesh.
The hit area instantly felt hollow, its sense of presence temporarily stripped away;
the left arm went rigid and refused to obey.
Su Zhan grunted. The Flame of Destruction surged wildly, finally dispelling that eerie power and restoring feeling to his left arm, but his movements were already slowed.
The gap in realms, the gap in experience...
Su Zhan fell completely into a passive, battered state.
He could only rely on his Special-risk-level physical toughness and the Flame of Destruction to barely hold on, clumsily dodging and blocking amid the storm of whip shadows, while more and more void-like nick marks appeared on his body.
Although the Flame of Destruction could quickly repair those marks, the mental toll was enormous.
He could not use the Time Abyss Pupil...
Su Zhan forced himself to suppress the urge to play his trump card.
If exposed, with Qin Bai's sharpness and suspicion, it would surely be linked to the missing Su Zhan, and that would bring far greater trouble.
Qin Bai's expression was cold and stern, his attacks like a sudden gale.
Yet even so, he felt surprised by how troublesome Su Zhan was.
This flame... could to some extent resist the perception-stripping of the Eternal Night Aurora Whip?
And his physical strength exceeded that of an ordinary Special-risk-level Aberrant...
This man must not be left alive!
His killing intent sharpened further.
Su Zhan's eyes hardened.
Passive defense led only to death.
Only by attacking in place of defense might he wrest a sliver of hope.
His aura suddenly surged. Dark-red flames wound and rose around him.
A low roar escaped Su Zhan. He slammed his feet into the ground, his figure becoming a dark-red meteor as he charged Qin Bai.
Compressed on his right fist, the Flame of Destruction condensed into a dark-red fireball the size of a fist.
This was his preliminary application of the Flame of Destruction after entering Special-risk level, concentrating all destructive force into one point for an eruption.
Qin Bai's eyes flickered slightly. He said coldly, "A mayfly trying to shake a tree."
With a slight flick of his wrist, the Eternal Night Aurora Whip struck precisely at the core of the dark-red fireball.
Su Zhan felt an extremely strange force travel along the whip, cutting into his control over the destructive fireball's core.
Sput!
The dark-red fireball's light dimmed rapidly.
Not even a spark burst forth before it completely dissipated.
But that strange force did not stop.
It traveled back up the arm Su Zhan had punched with, charging toward his mind.
Su Zhan grunted. Darkness swept his vision;
his control over his own power fell into chaos.
Smack!
The Eternal Night Aurora Whip had already coiled around his right ankle.
A deeper void sensation spread from the ankle up his entire right leg.
That leg lost all feeling in an instant, unable to exert force, unable to be controlled.
Su Zhan stumbled, nearly collapsing, his face turning ugly.
"Now, do you understand the gap?"
Qin Bai stood holding his whip, eyes impassive as he looked down at the unsteady Su Zhan, as if watching a prey's futile struggle.
Then he resumed striking.
The attack rhythm was not fast, but it felt like a cat playing with a mouse.
Each lash reduced Su Zhan's fighting capacity, eroded his spirit, leaving ever more marks on him.
Su Zhan forced the Flame of Destruction to surge. Dark-red fire streamed over his body.
Where the fire passed, the hollow feeling did slowly recede and perception returned, but the mental exhaustion kept accumulating.
Moreover, the repair process consumed tremendous energy.
Su Zhan counterattacked, trying to close and finish the fight, but his steps faltered, perception flickered, and he could not lock onto Qin Bai's form.
Ugh!
Another heavy lash landed on his back.
Su Zhan let out a pained grunt and half-kneeling on the ground, barely propping himself up with flame-coated hands to avoid collapse.
At this moment he was a wreck.
His clothes were tattered, his exposed skin covered in scars.
His breath was thin.
His gaze was slightly unfocused from the mental shocks.
He was at the end of his rope.
Qin Bai ceased his assault, the Eternal Night Aurora Whip coiling around his arm.
Looking down from above at the bedraggled Su Zhan, he said, "The game should end now. Tell me the secret you've been hiding, and what happened to Han Xiao and the others before they died. I can let you die a little more quickly."
You cannot die here!
Absolutely not!
Su Zhan suddenly lifted his head.
Run!
He had to run!
Ripping once more, fleshy wings burst from his back and unfurled.