"Chī————!"
With a sharp crack that tore through space, countless spectral hands of miasma burst forth, fingers splayed wide as if clawing at the air, grasping hungrily to drag their prey into the abyss. They surged forward in an overwhelming tide, like an avalanche swallowing everything in its path.
Wherever these ghostly appendages passed, rubble blackened and crumbled, the very ground beneath them corroding as if seared by invisible magma. In mere moments, the once-solid earth was reduced to scorched wasteland, exuding a foul stench that filled the battlefield.
Anyone witnessing such a scene would have only one instinct.
————Run.
For even the slightest touch of the toxic miasma would seep into the body, robbing it of strength with terrifying speed.
Yet, where could one possibly flee?
The avalanche of spectral hands had already spread across half a kilometer, saturating every inch of the ruined landscape with its poisonous presence. There was no escape, only the certainty of being engulfed.
Like a relentless tidal wave, the miasma surged forward, blotting out the sky as it closed in on the lone figure standing atop the shattered ruins. That figure, dwarfed by the monstrous tide, wielded a blade of pure, radiant light.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the miasma hands consumed him, as effortlessly as swallowing a grain of sand.
But in the next instant—
Countless arcs of sword light erupted from within.
"Flashing Scabbard— Spiral!"
A tempest of slashes unfurled, forming a radiant sphere of destruction two meters in diameter. Like a whirlwind of flashing blades, it carved through the encroaching miasma hands.
"Pū chī— pū chī— pū chī—!"
Each spectral hand that entered the sphere was instantly severed, their corrupted essence vanishing as if erased by the purifying light.
Amidst the spiraling flurry of slashes, Fang Li raised his gaze.
His ice-blue Mystic Eyes pierced through the world, revealing a landscape woven from the threads of death itself.
And at the center of it all—
Orphelia Landlufen, her entire form wreathed in poisonous miasma, radiating an aura of malice-laden Prana.
"————!"
Just as Fang Li prepared to lunge forward, a sudden tremor beneath his feet made his eyes narrow. Without hesitation, he kicked off the crumbling rubble and leapt back.
"Bang————!"
The very next moment, the ground where he had stood erupted in an explosion of blackened debris.
From the shattered ruins, more spectral hands of miasma shot upward, writhing like monstrous serpents as they burrowed through the earth, their corrosive touch reducing everything in their wake to ruin.
And they weren't done.
These spectral tendrils twisted unnaturally, moving with sinister intelligence as they coiled toward Fang Li, pursuing him with relentless aggression.
"Pū Chī————!"
A single flash of white light streaked through the air, his blade cleaving clean through the encroaching mass, dispersing it in an instant.
"Bang————!"
But before he could breathe, another explosion erupted.
This time, from behind him.
More spectral hands burst forth, writhing as if possessed by insatiable hatred, lunging at Fang Li with ruthless intent.
"Bang— bang— bang— bang— bang—!"
One after another, successive eruptions shattered the surrounding ruins. The sheer force of the shockwaves sent debris flying as more and more miasma hands emerged from the wreckage.
It was as if the battlefield itself was birthing them, an unending tide of cursed energy surging in from all directions, converging upon him like an apocalyptic storm.
Compared to this monstrous tide, a lone human was nothing more than a speck, a mere grain of sand, standing at the edge of annihilation.
As Fang Li retreated like a falling meteor, his gaze remained calm, silently observing the violent surges of miasma waves closing in from all directions. He murmured under his breath.
"It won't be as simple as last time..."
Previously, Orphelia had been caught off guard by her lack of understanding of Fang Li. The moment her ability was nullified, she had been swiftly defeated.
But now, she had learned. This time, she had prepared. Approaching her so easily was no longer an option.
At this moment, even Fang Li had lost sight of Orphelia.
Encircled by the monstrous tide of poisonous miasma, the battlefield had become a chaotic abyss where a lone figure was insignificant amidst the swirling darkness. The source, Orphelia herself, was now nowhere to be seen, lost in the storm.
Searching for a single person within this vast sea of toxic miasma was like trying to fish a needle from the ocean.
And beyond that, Fang Li was already caught in a death trap.
The waves of miasma didn't just close in from all sides, they descended from above like the collapse of the heavens, pressing down with suffocating weight.
On the ground, countless miasma hands churned like a scorching heatwave, twisting into monstrous arms that could erupt from below at any moment to strike.
Then, a sharp pain flared through Fang Li's body.
"…Already poisoned?"
It was likely that, in addition to the visible waves of miasma, Orphelia had also released a colorless, odorless toxin into the air. A deadly gas that had already infiltrated his lungs.
This was Orphelia's ability.
Regardless of the type of poison, she could wield it at will.
The corrosive miasma capable of dissolving flesh was merely one of her many venomous tools. A myriad of toxic gases seeped into Fang Li's system, infiltrating him unnoticed.
He didn't even know how many different poisons had already entered his body.
What was certain was that it wasn't just physical, it was also an attack on Prana. A venom that gnawed at the very flow of energy, making the circulation of Prana increasingly sluggish and unstable.
If not for the resistance granted by his Explorer's Will mitigating half the effects, he might have already collapsed.
Even if he used the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to sever the poison within him, as long as he remained in this toxic field, it would only invade him again immediately after.
Realizing this, Fang Li simply ignored the raging poison in his system. He disregarded the pain, the weakening of his Prana, forcing all of his focus onto his Mystic Eyes.
A cold, ice-blue radiance flickered violently in his gaze.
Then, Fang Li raised his hand high, gripping his Ogre Lux.
"Flashing Scabbard— Ten Lives!"
A colossal blade of light descended from above, like divine judgment crashing down from the heavens.
"Pū Chī————!"
With a sound like reality itself being torn apart, the monstrous miasma hands surging toward him were cleaved apart in an instant.
It was as if the ocean itself had been split asunder, a breathtaking and awe-inspiring sight.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 70 chapters on my patreon, and I've also activated a (date to date) subscription model on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395