novelraw Chapter 293: Four-Grid Resonance
Chapter 293: Four-Grid Resonance
No choice.
Li Wei had to chase with everything he had. He didn't even have time to draw the Enchanted Heavy Sword. In the toxic fog, vision was useless — he could only track the python by the sound of its movement. In that, no one could match him.
Then, without warning, the python reversed and ambushed him. Its barrel-thick body coiled around his legs in an instant and began to tighten. His bones cracked and popped under the pressure.
Even as the toxin ate through his fingers down to the bone, even as his Life plummeted, Li Wei drew the Enchanted Dagger in the same moment the python began to constrict. He drove it in with full force, slashing a gash over a meter long through the python's scales, then locked the blade in place.
The harder the python squeezed, the wider the wound opened — but it seemed to feel no pain, and only coiled tighter, crushing him from head to toe.
No choice.
He switched to the Flame Baron title instantly. Life +50, Stamina +50, Strength, Agility, Defense, and Spiritual Power all +3 — and most critically, Defense +3.
The Noble Crest Armor had solid defense, but only against slashing and piercing attacks. Against full-body constriction, it was useless. What mattered now was bone density and muscle endurance — otherwise, within seconds, his bones would snap.
His entire skeleton crackled and groaned. Even with Defense at 23, he was nearly at the breaking point.
But he wasn't panicking. Because he knew, better than the python, which of them would give out first.Even coiled and unable to move, the Enchanted Dagger was passively cutting through the python's body with every squeeze — preventing it from healing. The tighter it constricted, the worse the damage became.
Until it reached its own breaking point.
Sure enough, seconds later — a sharp crack — and the python's scales split and burst apart. Foul-smelling flesh flew in every direction. It had squeezed too hard. Its own body had given out.
Li Wei felt the pressure release. In the same instant, he reversed his grip and hurled the Enchanted Dagger like a bolt of lightning — pinning the python, now reduced to a few meters long, along with its life core, and detonating it into a pool of reeking venom.
He didn't even stop to retrieve his weapons. He crawled and stumbled out of the toxic fog on hands and knees, collapsed to the ground, and coughed up chunk after chunk of black blood.
His Life was below 150.
But it was done.
Incredibly done.
He had destroyed the deep-green python's life core in under ten seconds. Only he could have done it — because he had the rare Scout Card. Anyone else, including Zhao Guozhu, would have gone in and never come out. They couldn't even have managed a mutual kill.
"Li Wei — are you alright?!"
Zhao Guozhu sprinted over — Li Wei had expected him to pull him to safety, but instead, from thirty meters away, he lassoed Li Wei's ankle with a rope and ran in the opposite direction.
At least it dragged him away from the edge of the toxic fog.
Li Yue pointed casually, and half the light from the sphere above her head flowed into Li Wei's body. The effect was immediate — but the sphere dimmed by half. They were relying on it to hold back the near-Level-4 radiation toxin surrounding them.
"Everyone be ready. Something's about to change."
Li Yue spoke quietly, then poured two doses of Life Elixir into Li Wei.
"Heh heh heh — to think I'd wake again someday."
From within the toxic fog came a cold, eerie voice, accompanied by the heavy sound of footsteps.
The Serpent Knight walked out of the toxic fog.
But the blue python on his back had shrunk to the size of a man's arm — a small, docile serpent coiled around his wrist.
His eyes were calm and sharp.
Nothing like a Magic Zombie. His body showed no mutation at all — his skin was a healthy bronze.
"Damn it — how long was I asleep? Can someone tell me where this is?"
"This is the Flame Duke's territory. Who are you?" Li Yue asked, visibly surprised.
"Flame Duke? Duke my foot — oh, Flame — you mean that kid Frank? Is there still a Frost Duke called Duncan? Ha! So the world really has gone mad. Instead of searching for the truth behind the Radiation Storm, instead of uncovering the secrets of outsiders like you, they crown themselves dukes. Pathetic."
"Fine then — if the world is ending and humanity is dying out, let it start with me!" The man began to shriek — laughing and weeping at once, wild as a madman, becoming suddenly, terrifyingly dangerous.
"Attack!"
Li Yue shouted — but it was too late. The man had already split into five blurs like shadow-blades, shooting outward at blinding speed, then snapping back like springs.
A single hum.
The next second, something warm and wet landed on everyone's faces. Blood.
Annie's blood. She had been torn apart in an instant.
In the distance, the man stood exactly as before — as if he had done nothing.
What—
Everyone flinched, including Li Wei. He immediately switched to the Tracker title, then in the same motion drew the Bloodthirsty War Spear — and drove it through the cord binding Zhao Xuanxuan to Li Yue's back, freeing her. This was no time to worry about Zhao Xuanxuan.
Li Yue needed to fight at full capacity.
And Li Wei didn't even have his Enchanted Heavy Sword.
"Li Yue!"
Li Wei roared and launched himself forward. He was still badly weakened — the Life Elixir wasn't working fast enough.
But he had one advantage that surpassed everyone present — even Li Yue in this moment. His Perception was at +4. Yes, only +4 now. But it still exceeded Li Yue's +3. She should have had +4 — something had changed.
And in this moment, his Perception was clear enough to see it: inside the Serpent Knight's body, a life core blazed like a sun. That was the source of his terrifying power.
He wasn't even a Magic Zombie. He was something else — an aberration among Ability Users.
No one knew how he had conceived of it — transplanting five mutated giant serpents into himself, preventing both mental collapse and physical mutation, maintaining his memories and sanity while becoming immune to the influence of chaotic magical particles. A feat of uncanny, supernatural ingenuity.
Given time, he might genuinely have been able to save this world.
But at this moment, Li Wei and the others were outsiders. There was no choice. Either he died, or they did.
And in that moment, Li Wei was truly, completely clear-headed. He forgot the Pioneering Mission. He forgot the Level 5 Scavenger Camp. He forgot that he wasn't this man's equal. He only knew one thing: fight, or die.
So he charged — utterly selfless, Bloodthirsty War Spear raised, a faint golden light flickering at his brow. The Destiny Matrix was resonating. From the spear came the roar of a black bear in the forest, the howl of a wolf king.
Behind him, a cascade of phantoms: a farmer tilling the earth, a hunter tracking prey, a woodcutter felling trees, a scout in pursuit.
Four Destiny Grids resonating simultaneously — an extraordinarily rare phenomenon.
Born at the edge of death, built on a foundation of +4 Perception and precise situational awareness — the eruption of latent potential.
He was offering his life to carve a killing path for Li Yue.
Or at least — that was the message he was broadcasting to everyone present, especially to the aberrant native across from him.
Mutual destruction. No hesitation.
And the aberrant native fell for it.
Yes — because he was intelligent. Because he had all his memories. Because he understood the situation. He didn't want to die with them. You fool.
So when Li Wei's Bloodthirsty War Spear, carrying the cries of living things, was on the verge of being hurled — the aberrant native dodged decisively, leaving only an afterimage. In the next second he could have met Li Wei head-on, but the four-grid resonance state genuinely unsettled him.
So he chose the target who was most afraid, most unstable, most likely to run — Old John.
A flash. A hum.
Old John's expression changed. He tried to retreat — but he was already in pieces. Li Wei's Perception had been at +2 when Annie died and he hadn't seen how it happened. Now he saw clearly: Old John's heart had been stolen.
But almost in the same instant Old John's heart was taken — a terrifying, unprecedented blue Cross Slash descended from the sky like a full moon, using Old John's stolen heart as a medium.
One strike — as if it had split the world into four.
The Serpent Knight's form never returned to its original position. It froze in place behind Old John — as if struck by a paralysis spell, pinned there.
Only the expression on its face changed: surprise, confusion, and finally — despair.
He understood. He had been tricked. That damned boy and the girl — their coordination had been too seamless. It had fooled him completely.
But a bet is a bet.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Strange chunks of flesh slid to the ground, like a block of blood tofu in a master chef's hands.
And his life core transformed — into a Rare Universal Gold Card, radiant as the morning sun.
In the glow of that Rare Gold Card, even the radiation fog across hundreds of meters began to dissipate.
Li Yue stared at it, then turned to look at Li Wei.
Li Wei was already looking at her with a smile, gesturing: after you.
He kept his word. A promise made was a promise kept.
Even Li Yue — strong as she was, having lived over eighty years — felt her eyes grow wet in that moment.
She had to admit: Li Wei was shining right now. Brighter than that Rare Universal Gold Card.
She nodded, stepped forward, and took it.
Almost simultaneously, lines of golden text blazed into view before Li Wei, Li Yue, Zhao Guozhu, and the unconscious Zhao Xuanxuan.
[Under the leadership of family member Li Yue, your party has successfully slain the special boss — the Six-Star minus Serpent Knight. You have obtained one Rare Universal Gold Card. Please make your selection.]
[Option 1: Donate this Universal Gold Card. You will receive 50,000 standard gold coins, and a hidden reward will be triggered and immediately completed: submitting 100 Level 4 Universal Gold Cards. At final settlement, you will receive an additional 10 square kilometers of land. Current submissions: 36.]
[Option 2: Exchange for one Gold-Quality Clearance Token.]
[Option 3: Exchange for one specified Rare Profession Card.]
[Option 4: Enhance two titles, each by up to two levels consecutively.]
[Option 5: Enhance two pieces of equipment, each by up to two levels consecutively.]
[Option 6: Exchange for one Rare Building. Headquarters will provide funding, materials, and craftsmen to construct it after the mission ends. Requires the current territory to be owned by a specific person.]
[Head of Household Li Wei has authorized family member Li Yue to make the selection. She has exchanged it for one Rare One-Star Knight Card for herself.]
[The Blood Curse afflicting you and your family members has been lifted.]
[Due to the special nature of this boss, this kill will not generate any Pioneering Points or family Contribution. However, loot may be obtained. Loot does not need to be added to the family's assets — each participant may claim loot corresponding to their contribution.]
[Family member Li Yue: 55% contribution this battle.]
[Details: She actively attacked the Serpent Knight four times and shattered four of its illusions. Each illusion, left unchecked, absorbs magical particles over time and solidifies into a real entity — if the boss is not killed within 108 hours, the illusions can each grow into a separate special boss. Contribution: 20%.]
[She destroyed two of the Serpent Knight's life cores. Contribution: 30%.]
[She participated in command. Contribution: 5%.]
[Head of Household Li Wei: 25% contribution this battle.]
[Details: He independently destroyed one of the Serpent Knight's life cores. Contribution: 10%.]
[He assisted family member Zhao Xuanxuan in destroying one of the Serpent Knight's life cores. Contribution: 5%.]
[He assisted family member Li Yue — at the critical moment, he deceived the Serpent Knight, enabling the destruction of its most important life core. Contribution: +10%.]
[Family member Zhao Xuanxuan: 10% contribution this battle — destroyed one life core.]
[Camp member Zhao Guozhu: 3.333% contribution this battle — jointly destroyed one life core with camp members Old John and Annie.]
[Camp member Old John: Same as above. His contribution will be converted to 500 gold coins and mailed to him within three months.]
[Camp member Annie: Same as above.]
[Loot from this battle:]
[Five-Star Magical Material: Heart of Stone]
[Five-Star Magical Material: Heart of Fire]
[Five-Star Magical Material: Heart of Ice]
[Five-Star Magical Material: Heart of Poison]
[Five-Star Magical Material: Heart of Illusion]
[Four-Star Magical Material: Half a Serpent Hide]
[Note: Because the special boss Serpent Knight was not a Magic Zombie, these magical materials can be collected.]
[Per the rules, each magical material requires 20% contribution to claim. Family member Li Yue has first selection rights. Remaining items may be bid on with gold coins. She has selected the Heart of Poison and the Heart of Illusion.]
[Head of Household Li Wei has selected the Heart of Fire.]
[Head of Household Li Wei and family member Li Yue have each donated 5% of their contribution to Zhao Xuanxuan. Zhao Xuanxuan has selected the Heart of Stone.]
[Family member Zhao Guozhu has selected the Half Serpent Hide.]
[Family member Li Yue and family member Zhao Xuanxuan have waived their bids on the Heart of Ice. Head of Household Li Wei has obtained the Heart of Ice.]