novelraw Chapter 251: Already Great
Chapter 251: Already Great
The leading captain gripped the lantern tightly, cold sweat dripping from his palm again and again.
Although it was human-shaped, behind that vague figure, one thick tentacle after another twisted fiercely—
Its enormous body, with surging dark smoke continuously bursting from the silhouette, then wrapping around the tentacles, condensing into a terrifying spiral force.
It was qi force! Powerful qi was attached to the tentacles!
However, even though it used Transcendent techniques, no one felt any sense of safety; on the contrary, their bodies trembled even more violently.
Judging from appearance alone, the aura of the monster before them was even stronger than that of the massive Shadow Mountain.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
The gale swept across the sea.
“Roar!”
The Shadow Mountain Beast roared, opening its dark, fang-filled huge mouth! A massive amount of dark energy was pulled from its body’s surroundings, converging at a point inside its mouth—Shadow Beast Cannon!
Once unleashed, it would cause a terrifying flood tens of meters long!
“It’s a Shadow Beast Cannon! Everyone, use defensive combat techniques!”
The leading captain commanded, watching the scene while retreating continuously.
Many hunters liked to watch battles between strong opponents, but obviously, this fight was not for them to observe.
“Roar!”
Just as the Shadow Mountain Beast was about to fire the huge cannon—
In an instant, the black energy suddenly condensed, becoming deeper and stronger. Ten thick tentacles twisted with qi, like one powerful dark drill after another!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The tentacles slammed down violently, dense as a downpour! No, judging by their terrifying size, it should be like a meteor shower!
The Shadow Beast Cannon condensed in the Shadow Mountain Beast’s mouth was forcibly driven into its belly. Its incredibly hard Night Scales shell suddenly shattered, cracking in several places!
Boom!!
Finally, eight tentacles coiled together, forming a huge fist, smashing down fiercely.
Boom!
Pure power!
The Shadow Mountain Beast was slammed violently into the sea, huge waves crashing down over the hunters, pushing them back several steps—
After a few seconds, everyone re-lit their lanterns, hurriedly checking the surface of the sea. They saw the Shadow Mountain Beast’s mountain-like body shattered into pieces, reduced to cold, lifeless shadow meat chunks—
The leading captain couldn’t help but ask:
“So who exactly was that? Another monster escaped from the research institute? Are there really such powerful Transcendents on Sea God Island?”
“Don’t know! And just seconds passed—where did that guy go!”
Everyone hurriedly searched for the humanoid monster’s trace.
At the next moment, as the waves rolled over their pant legs, all fifty people here felt it—a cold aura coming from behind—
That monster was behind them—the leading captain trembled all over, a strange feeling spreading from his neck.
Cold, soft like cotton—
A tentacle was wrapped around his neck.
The leading captain was shocked.
And from behind him came a whisper.
“Give me a syringe of sedative—”
The cold voice behind him said.
Everyone gasped. Each could feel tentacles lightly scraping the ground, but none dared to look back or even turn their heads.
Sedative? The leading captain dared not refuse. He took two syringes filled with powerful sedative shock medicine from the backpack card, then trembled as he handed them over.
Bang—
Chen Qi took the two bottles of sedative, raised his head, crushed them in his fist—
Glug! Glug!
The blue potion flowed down his tongue into his throat.
As the sedative took effect, Chen Qi’s breathing gradually calmed, then he scanned the prompt before him again.
[You have defeated the Shadow Mountain Beast, gained 6000 inspiration points.]
The upgraded Ember’s Touch was more powerful than I imagined, and the mental energy consumption was also greater than I expected—
Chen Qi adjusted his spiritual energy; the ten enormous tentacles behind him gradually calmed down.
Only after actual combat could Chen Qi truly feel the power of Ember’s Touch: Shadow Weaving.
It wasn’t just about thickening and enlarging.
First, the power was greatly enhanced. Each tentacle, while soft, was incredibly tough.
Each tentacle could be considered an extension of half a hand, benefiting from Chen Qi’s strength bonus—
Each tentacle punch was comparable to the heavy punch of a third-tier Blade affinity Transcendent!
Second, there was the conduction of spiritual energy. Combined with Ember’s Touch and Weaver’s Thread, the tentacles behind could fully use qi, even employing corresponding qi techniques.
With simple Qi Transformation and Steel Qi, Chen Qi could directly use Steel Qi to wrap the tentacles, greatly boosting the power of tentacle punches—
Just pure power and qi release alone could break through the Shadow Mountain Beast’s defense, which surpassed steel!
And this was when his physique and strength were not yet up to standard, not fully unleashed.
However, the drawbacks were also obvious.
First was the huge consumption of stamina and spiritual energy.
After a night of fighting, even after drinking multiple bottles of Flower Witch’s special spiritual energy potions and stamina potions, Chen Qi felt strong physical exhaustion after only a bit over a minute of combat—
Second was the excessive generation of rage emotions.
Originally, Flesh Cleaver Bone Breaker and Ember’s Touch were two complementary specialized weapons. The rage generated by Ember’s Touch was perfectly absorbed by Flesh Cleaver Bone Breaker.
But now it was different. Ember’s Touch had dramatically evolved, and the rage it produced could no longer be fully suppressed by Flesh Cleaver Bone Breaker. Facing that huge surge of rage, Flesh Cleaver Bone Breaker simply could not absorb it—
And that extra rage had to be borne by Chen Qi himself.
During the recent battle, his mind was completely blank, filled only with monstrous combat thoughts.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
That was why Chen Qi had to take strong sedatives just now, to alleviate his own rage.
“Phew…”
Chen Qi spat out a breath of blood energy, glanced at the backpack card specially storing his items. Now, the potions given by the Flower Witch had been completely used up during routine practice and battle.
If not for the Night Monster’s "mental threshold," he might have become a monster who only knew killing.
Upgrading equipment was certainly good, but obviously, Ember’s Touch had already exceeded his carrying capacity.
To use the current Ember’s Touch, consumable potions were necessary to ensure his own safety.
Chen Qi lightly took out a gold coin worth ten thousand Shell Coins, flicking it into the captain’s hand below him:
“Thanks.”
After saying this, Chen Qi left.
Accompanied by the huge shadow tentacles scraping the ground, the sound gradually faded away, and the intense heartbeat sounds of everyone gradually calmed.
At this moment, the captain looked at the gold coin in his hand and trembled:
“It didn’t kill us, and it was quite polite…”
A female mage wearing round glasses hugged herself:
“The more polite the monster, the scarier it is…”
Everyone looked at the writhing shadow chunks on the sea surface, guessing who the other party might be.
Until a loyal White Pigeon Times reader said doubtfully:
“Could it be the long-missing Black Hunter?”
At this moment, a huge Shadow Tide crashed against the coastline again.
In a distant corner, a warship rushed through the Shadow Tide, breaking into the battlefield.
……
……
At the dock.
Chen Qi took off Ember’s Touch, put on ordinary Hunter’s Garb, and joined the main force resisting the Shadow Tide.
The consumption of Ember’s Touch: Shadow Weaving was too great, coupled with the previous battle…
At this point, Chen Qi’s stamina was completely exhausted.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had reached his limit.
The upgraded Ember’s Touch was too fierce, he couldn’t handle it, couldn’t handle it at all—
Being able to reach this stage was already great.
Unless the Flower Witch now handed him a brand-new super stamina potion to fully restore his strength, he simply had no stamina left to hunt Shadow Beasts worth over 5,000 inspiration points.
Chen Qi counted his gains. He had successfully upgraded Ember’s Touch: Shadow Weaving, gaining a total of 21,100 inspiration points.
By killing shadow beasts, his Rift rating was not the lowest E-tier, and he conservatively had one skill card.
It could be said the harvest was quite plentiful—
Next was to quietly wait for night to end, complete the Lamp Keeper’s mission, and wait for the final Rift settlement.
However—
Chen Qi held the Black Blade, blending into the hunters, looking at the dense Shadow Beast Tide.
At this moment, his position was at the center of the front line, where more than two thousand hunters and pirates fought together.
The bodies of shadow beasts on the ground had already piled up at least three layers deep, estimated conservatively at three hundred thousand corpses.
But currently, the Shadow Tide showed no signs of weakening.
Could the Sea God Pirates really hold through tonight’s Shadow Tide?
Chen Qi couldn’t help but wonder in his heart.
Based on existing information, the fourth-tier legendary bishop from the Sea God Pirates who came to assist had been targeted by the navy—
Meaning, the fourth-tier legend would not arrive at the battlefield tonight.
And the Night of Shadow Tide, as an initial B-tier Rift, without special clearance items, its final boss was not an ordinary third-tier Transcendent who could defeat it.
Sure enough, suddenly, a huge, bright red eye surged out from the distant darkness!
“Damn! This guy finally appeared!”
A huge blood-red eyeball appeared above the sea, and above the surface, a massive giant foot stomped down fiercely, stirring up layer upon layer of huge waves.
Chen Qi raised his head, looking at the colossal figure in the sky. On the sea surface, a huge silhouette could be vaguely seen.
One hundred meters tall, with extremely slender limbs, each step dropping hundreds of shadow wolves from behind—
Its body covered with pure Night Scales, and on its head, a blood-red eye radiating endless fear.
The Blood-Red One-Eyed Shadow Giant!!
Is this Rift’s final boss the Shadow Giant… Chen Qi glanced.
In the Night of Shadow Tide, the most terrifying shadow boss should be the Fear Weaver formed by countless fears.
The Shadow Giant was not powerful among B-tier Rift bosses. With large-scale weapons and third-tier Transcendents united, it was possible to defeat it with some luck.
Simply put, it was the disgrace among B-tier Rift bosses.
But even so, the Shadow Giant was still the boss, the B-tier Rift boss!
Each step the Shadow Giant took released shockwaves that caused huge waves and ground tremors.
Chen Qi raised his head, unable to help but sigh.
If he faced such a giant alone now, he was still far too insignificant.
Without a powerful enough weapon to stop it, half of Sea God Island would be destroyed in an instant.
The Shadow Giant’s appearance marked the battle entering its final stage.
At this moment, the commander with Blade and Book affinity used the intense “Battlefield Command” to let his voice resound through the front line.
“The final enemy has appeared. Five hundred cannons loaded with explosive fireballs are within range. Everyone, prepare—five, four, three, two, one…”
“Fire at will!!”
Boom! Under the commander’s order, in the blink of an eye, dazzling pillars of flame streaked across the night sky. Five hundred powerful explosive fireballs swept thousands of meters, striking the mountain-like body of the Shadow Giant!
Head! Hands! Abdomen!
On the Shadow Giant’s body, it was like a continuous chain of volcanic eruptions, where the explosions occurred, dark blood flowed down like a waterfall—
The explosive fireballs were researched by the Magic Bullet Company, weapons specially designed to deal with sea beasts. This was one of Sea God Island’s trump cards.
However, the Shadow Giant showed no pain. Its blood-red single eye fixed tightly on the crowd below, stepping forward step by step—
The earth shook and mountains trembled!
The situation instantly took a turn for the worse.
Faced with the oppressive presence of the Shadow Giant, those originally tangled with shadow beasts wavered. The once unified front line instantly fractured—
Chen Qi casually kicked a shadow wolf to death and looked into the distance.
At this moment, on a distant warship, a figure, like a meteor, flew off the ship. In the blink of an eye, it stirred up wave after wave on the sea surface—
Boom!
Repeated shockwaves erupted on the sea surface!
Like a sea train, it smashed through the Shadow Tide, tearing a wound through the river-like Shadow Tide on the sea.
“Who is it?”
Chen Qi looked confused. The other’s aura was third tier, but the displayed strength was far beyond an ordinary third-tier Transcendent.
Whether it was their movement on the sea or the overwhelming power displayed, it was startling.
They were even slightly stronger than Melanie.
Boom!
With a sound burst, the figure stopped at the front of the battle line.
Chen Qi used Shadow Step, killing weak shadow wolves while moving forward to the front line, curiously looking at the flying figure.
A well-built man wrapped in blue qi slowly opened his blue eyes:
“Sorry, everyone, I’m late. On the way, I ran into a mage, got a bit injured, wasted some time.”
At this moment, the pirates couldn’t help but widen their eyes, as if a savior had arrived.
“Lord Haige! Our Azure Beast! You finally came!”
“Haige, behind you is the Shadow Giant!”
Haige—Chen Qi recalled carefully—this seemed to be a core figure of the Sea God Pirates, successor to the Azure Beast, and regarded as the future heir of Sea God Island.
He was also one of the top rising stars on the newspaper’s list, hailed as the most promising third-tier Transcendent to become a legend.
Wasn’t this the person who boasted in the newspaper about killing me to prove his path? Chen Qi blinked, suddenly recalling this matter.
But at this moment, before Chen Qi’s thoughts could settle—
Boom!
Before the crowd could cheer, the Shadow Giant’s right foot suddenly stomped onto land, crushing the dock into pieces—