novelraw Chapter 352: Rift Slash First Battle!
Chapter 352: Rift Slash First Battle!
On the Ghost Ship, Palu stood on the deck. His eyes shifted slightly as he watched the whole world take on a faint blue tint. He saw Chen Qi press his hat down with his right hand, holding a burning long blade in one hand, slicing upwards to carve a bright streak of bluefire through the air!
The entire world seemed to hold its breath. Under the dark-blue glow, the scene looked cinematic, possessing a strangely cool-toned texture!
A domain technique—no wonder. Even in this situation, he managed to stay calm… Palu admired inwardly. Still, aren’t they too close?
The distance among the four of them did not exceed three meters.
On the Ghost Ship, the usually cold Chen Qi felt a thud in his chest.
Luckily he reacted in time—having the Azure Beast up close is truly dangerous… Chen Qi thought calmly.
Before them, the Azure Beast looked like an ice sculpture, but even with slowed speed, its body still displayed wildly fierce motion;
you could see its movements with the naked eye—
A Rift Slash that hasn’t reached Lv3 inevitably has flaws.
Chen Qi looked up. The members of the Ice Demon Pirates and the expression in Little Crow’s eyes had already been completely tainted by fear.
As a Saint, even if the Azure Beast lacked its prime strength, its spiritual field and stats still towered above every person present.However, Chen Qi didn’t believe they lacked the strength to fight the Azure Beast.
Being a famous BOSS in the Witch Sea, Chen Qi knew the Azure Beast deeply—its weaknesses and strengths.
The Azure Beast had two glaring weaknesses.
First, its eyes were severely damaged;
other senses such as hearing and skin perception had also declined greatly over its long deep-sea life.
It relied on ripples of the sea or spiritual ripples to orient itself. As long as one hid their spiritual field and refrained from violent movement, one could avoid its tracking.
Second, because its body and mind were seriously damaged, it would not release any domain techniques unless driven to absolute desperation.
Other than that, it had almost no weaknesses. As a humanoid BOSS roaming the Witch Sea, it could be called a walking natural disaster.
Absolute speed and strength, a body comparable to a titan, immune to all mental attacks, free to act across the sea.
At the same time, its fifth-tier Saint profession was Storm Sea Monster with the Goblet affinity—a creature profession that massively enhances itself, can create large-scale sea disasters, and manipulate fear!
Still, the three of them together—Fen controlling the Azure Beast’s movement while he and Palu output—could still contend with it.
If their battle drew the attention of large sea beasts and they coordinated with support from a Coastal Apex Predator, heavily wounding the Azure Beast wouldn’t be impossible.
Of course, the premise was that the Azure Beast’s body needed to accumulate enough injuries!
That thought flashed through his mind. With no obstruction, Chen Qi attacked without hesitation, delivering the swiftest, most brutal slashes across the Azure Beast’s neck—
Upward slash!
A streak of light flashed;
blood sprayed from the Azure Beast’s neck, and moments after flying out, it re-solidified, suspended in the air…
The trail of meteor-like blade flame cut into the neck and held there.
Then the eyes, the heart, the thighs…
With nothing stopping him, Chen Qi poured out one massive volley of slashes.
Ten cuts!
A hundred cuts!
A thousand cuts!
In an instant, a thousand cerulean streaks of light, like countless flames, remained upon the Azure Beast’s body like exquisite carvings!
After that brief three seconds, Chen Qi took a deep breath and sheathed his long blade.
Rift Slash.
Clack!
The instant the long blade entered the scabbard, the world’s blue burst and collapsed;
the surging seawater flowed again, and the wind danced once more.
The Azure Beast began to move again.
“Die!!!”
A beastly roar filled the sky and shook the sea!
The Azure Beast’s long blade, like a speeding train, sliced toward Chen Qi’s neck!
Chen Qi raised his head, eyes looking down, quietly savoring the sight.
The Azure Beast failed to successfully land its attack.
In that fleeting instant, the splashed blood and the blue flames broke free from their frozen forms!
Where the solidification had not fully manifested, the damage at that single point erupted like a bursting volcano and poured out in one torrent!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
The Azure Beast was like a puppet nailed in midair, torn by thousands of fire blades, turning it into a shower of stars.
At the same time, Palu threw out a cursed die.
Above the Azure Beast’s head, the twenty-sided die spun and landed on a large number!
20 points!
A super critical! Damage multiplied by four!
Rift Slash combined with the die instantly riddled the Azure Beast’s body with holes!
With the final space-cleaving stroke, the Azure Beast was driven to the sea surface, its body gaining a deep vertical wound.
Tick. Tick.
Only after half a minute did the blood-soaked Azure Beast regain mobility. He stood on the sea and staggered a few steps like a wounded beast.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spat out a bloody tongue:
“Fierce…beasts…can fetch high prices…”
The more ferocious a beast resists, the better the rewards after the hunt!
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth! That was the Azure Beast’s motto!
He waved a finger;
the waves under his feet surged, forming a whirlpool throne of sea around him!
The Azure Beast’s profession being Storm Sea Monster meant he could mix seawater with spiritual energy to manipulate it. He also possessed a special A-rank rift relic that could turn ordinary seawater into extremely dangerous deep blue fire.
Combined, on the sea he became the embodiment of a fire-born catastrophe!
The Azure Beast scooped up a whirlpool water globe from the seabed. In his hand the globe took on an oil-paint sheen and transformed into a scalding vortex of fire.
Beautiful, yet deadly.
“I am the hunter of this sea. Soon… my hounds… will take care of you…”
The vortex fire churned and writhed.
Chen Qi did not flinch;
instead he made a polite “please” gesture.
The Azure Beast froze for a moment, then launched his attack.
But bloodied flowers suddenly sprouted from his hand;
grotesque blood-blooms kept growing, and his strong arm instantly withered to fragility!
Fen’s technique—despite the Azure Beast having a layer of powerful spiritual field protecting him—still allowed her to perform life-drain over such a large bleeding area!
These days, Fen’s life-drain could no longer be compared to the time of the Dragon Tamer King.
After all, she was one of the Witch Sea’s protagonists!
The Azure Beast’s right hand went limp at once, weak and brittle.
He looked up;
his gaze passed through Fen, then Palu, and finally settled on Chen Qi.
He seemed to want to remember the three of them and strike again, but in the end he stopped.
His hound, Sea-Swallowing White Shark, was resisting his control fiercely today, more than ever.
He had to save some strength to survive the A-rank rift… a whirlpool reappeared beneath the Azure Beast’s feet.
At last the Azure Beast ceased his attack.
Fen and Palu and the other pirates only now calmed and stared at the burning humanoid monster before them in amazement.
This was the first time in ten years they had seen a Saint-level existence in the Witch Sea!
A Saint-level monster had appeared before them and attacked without hesitation!
One strike had already killed great merchant Jin Li and forced Palu to reveal his survival ace!
Fortunately for them, Black Hunter and the Flower Witch were there;
otherwise the consequences would have been dire.
Then the Azure Beast turned its gaze from Chen Qi’s neck and looked back toward the Great Glacier.
Chen Qi froze for a moment, then asked curiously:
“Azure Beast, are you planning to run?”
“……”
A hint of astonishment finally crossed the Azure Beast’s cold face.
But more surprising to Chen Qi were the three people behind him and the Ice Demon Pirates’ crew!
Could such a monster be mocked by them?!
Why did the Azure Beast stop moving… Chen Qi sensed something off, reorganized his words, and said again:
“I was just asking—how could the legendary Azure Beast be running away?”
Black Hunter—he was still outputting!
“……”
A breeze blew. Without external force, the Azure Beast stood on the roaring waves as if he had become an ice sculpture again.
Immune to mental attacks, he nevertheless felt the sting of long-unfelt spiritual injury.
Palu took a deep breath and said very softly:
“Don’t provoke him…”
Fen pressed a trembling hand on Chen Qi’s shoulder.
She wanted nothing more than to shut Chen Qi’s big mouth with her hands and feet!
Just like the forums—he really is easy to provoke… Chen Qi looked at the Azure Beast’s cold back.
The Azure Beast took a step forward and the waves parted under his feet, forming a grand sea stair.
He spoke last:
“Do not enter the Great Sea Coffin. You will not live past a week.”
Then he walked into the deep sea and silently vanished beneath the waves.
Palu watched the scene and clicked his tongue:
“Good thing, good thing—he wasn’t enraged. I can’t open the D20 domain again right now…”
In Palu’s mind, he couldn’t imagine how to defeat the Azure Beast.
That body was practically immortal.
Even facing Black Hunter’s powerful Rift Slash, the Azure Beast hadn’t shown so much as a flicker of pain.
Fortunately, the Azure Beast apparently had grander plans and did not choose to die fighting them—otherwise the outcome would have been catastrophic!
Perhaps today, the two bullies of the Witch Sea, the Ghost Ship and the Ice Demon Pirates, would have sunk to the bottom and vanished!
This is the humanoid monster the teacher talked about… Fen sighed:
“Shame our strength right now is still…”
At that, Chen Qi clapped his hands, regretful:
“Yes, a pity we let him go…”
Chen Qi’s deep-sea perception could clearly tell the Azure Beast’s strength hadn’t fully recovered.
Compared to the world-shaking tidal-fire disaster monster described in the forums, the current Azure Beast was still in a development period.
And the A-rank rift held countless resources: after this rift, the Azure Beast’s power would grow further.
“???”
Fen walked over, stood on tiptoe, and bumped her fevered forehead against Chen Qi’s.
“???”
What is Fen doing? Chen Qi’s face flushed mildly as Fen’s nose touched his.
Did Fen usually get this close to him?
After a moment, the feverish Fen withdrew her forehead and pinched Chen Qi’s cheek:
“You’ve got a fever, Qi. You’re talking nonsense. I’ll brew medicine for you later.”
Who would think the Azure Beast running away is a pity?
Fen’s head wasn’t clear… Chen Qi realized the seriousness of the situation.
Palu clasped his hands, glanced back:
“Black Hunter, you’re the craziest hunter I’ve seen—daring to taunt the Azure Beast. You should know he repays grudges.”
“Please be careful. Many monsters in A-rank rifts are easily provoked…”
Years of expedition experience taught Palu never to taunt any monster!
“Is that so…”
Chen Qi did not argue. He closed his eyes and felt the after-image of the blades.
That last stroke was a sensation he had never experienced in his practice before.
To slice open the world’s rift and act at the solidification point…
Indeed, only real combat and a powerful enemy are the best teachers!
He could clearly feel his comprehension of Rift Slash had improved considerably.
Tonight, using the last of his Hunter’s Fire, he would try to break Rift Slash to Lv3… Chen Qi thought silently.
On the ship, Little Crow, who had watched for a long time, sat on the cold deck, curled up and terrified as she looked at the feverish Fen and Chen Qi’s back.
Are these two… a little close?
It seems not like the Flower Witch forced the Black Hunter;
rather, the little chef was in charge…
In both battle and other things, the little chef took the lead.
No way—did Qi join the Witch willingly… Little Crow found it hard to believe.
Little Crow looked up and said quietly:
“We’re a thousand meters away. We’re about to reach the rift—the Great Sea Coffin…”
“Hm?”
Chen Qi turned and looked at Little Crow in surprise.
How did she know?
Little Crow tightened the Disaster Messenger profession card in her hand:
“I can predict the arrival of disasters and their results.
We’re about to arrive at an A-rank, Goblet-affinity rift called the Great Sea Coffin with a mutation rate of 75%.”
Chen Qi lowered his head and noticed the Disaster Messenger card in Little Crow’s hand.
She was attuning to the card. The Disaster Messenger can predict disasters and manipulate shadows—an affinity card combining Lamp and Shadow, offering both survivability and combat power.
Then Chen Qi turned his head forward.
The sea ahead of them suddenly split, forming a rift—
The rift widened and widened;
whether left, right, or forward, no edge could be seen—
With a creak, the sea before them violently cracked open, revealing a boundless abyss!
The formerly bright sky was immediately shrouded in infinite darkness. One pair of indescribable red eyes after another hid within the darkness, countless and dense.
Disaster Messenger—divination success greatly increased!
Little Crow took out a deck of cards and performed a casual divination.
Moments later she finished, looked up like an unfathomable witch, and said:
“According to the divination, if we enter this rift, then all of us will die…”
All of us will die!
The crowd grew cold hearing the reading.
Little Crow’s divination… Chen Qi pondered for a moment.
Thick mist covered their ship.
Then in the next second, their heads were pierced by unprecedented pain!
In each of their minds, bloody arms, corpse after corpse, stacked into massive mountains of flesh surged forward, weeping and screaming, trying to drag them into the boundless black sea!
Within that stabbing pain, they all received a bloody inspiration prompt!
[You have entered the border of the River of the Dead — the destination of all sea corpses. A-rank rift: Great Sea Coffin.]