Chapter 43: Chapter 43
Kiriya appeared at the top of the cavern, brilliant lightning bursting around him like coiling serpents.
In the next instant, he closed in on Phryne and slashed toward her throat with a killing stroke.
This toad woman had a huge, bloated body.
She was clearly a monster built for strength and endurance. Fighting her head-on gave him almost no chance of winning.
Her raw stats alone would crush him.
His only chance was a surprise attack! One decisive strike to settle the battle.
Everything he had done until now had been preparation for this moment.
In that instant, he pushed Thunder Breathing to its limit.
His already terrifying speed rose even higher, and he came down on the toad woman like a bolt of lightning.
Clang!
The sound of weapons colliding was sharp and painful to the ears.
But what made Kiriya feel even worse was the toad-like face grinning wildly right in front of him.
She had blocked his beheading strike at the last possible moment.
"Croak, croak, croak! You’re still too green, Sylvan!"
Phryne laughed loudly.
"You really thought I’d be fooled by those little tricks? I’m Level 5!"
With that, savage strength erupted from both her arms.
She flung Kiriya away, then took advantage of him being in midair with nowhere to step.
Taking a huge stride forward, she swept her axe sideways toward his back.
Clang!
Kiriya hurriedly blocked with Waterfall Basin, but the overwhelming force that came through the blade sent him flying.
His back slammed hard into the stone wall, and his chest tightened so sharply that he coughed up a large mouthful of blood.
’I really can’t underestimate anyone.’
Kiriya smiled bitterly in his heart.
Even a Level 5 who was not good at speed or dexterity was still Level 5. Compared with Level 3, she was in an entirely different dimension.
Ais had clearly held back a great deal when fighting him before.
That had caused him to misjudge what Level 5 really meant.
"Croak, croak, croak! How about it, Sylvan? If you surrender now, you won’t have to suffer like this. I’ll even make sure you have a good time. What do you say?"
Even at this point, Phryne still had her mind fixed on Kiriya’s body, constantly thinking about taking advantage of him.
"Sorry, but you’re just too ugly!"
The moment Kiriya said that, he felt as though a peerless beast had lunged at him, carrying a savage fury that wanted to tear everything apart.
"You dare call me ugly, you blind little bitch?!"
Phryne’s eyes bulged, the whites turning bloodshot.
He had clearly struck her sore spot.
She was so beautiful that even goddesses had to retreat before her charm!
Even male gods were bewitched beyond saving by her allure!
In reality, they were scared out of their wits.
And yet those troublemakers still refused to acknowledge her beauty, constantly putting that bean-sprout Sword Princess in their mouths instead.
Now, after finally finding a toy she liked, that toy actually failed to appreciate her beauty!
It was unforgivable.
He had to be punished thoroughly!
Facing Phryne’s heavy axe strike, Kiriya’s expression did not change.
He did not even move his feet.
’What, did I scare him so badly?’
That thought flashed through Phryne’s mind, and instinctively, she felt something was wrong.
But her attack was already committed. There was no taking it back now.
Snap!
Just as Phryne’s axe was only ten centimeters from Kiriya’s skull, a pair of wooden hands clapped together and caught the giant axe firmly between them.
"Wha—"
Before Phryne could react, another pair of wooden hands locked her arms in place.
Another pair grabbed both of her legs, restricting her movement completely.
Under Phryne’s blank stare and Aisha’s shocked gaze, a five-meter-tall wooden giant rose beneath Kiriya’s feet.
It was bald, with ten arms, like an ultra-ultra-ultra-ultra-miniature version of Hashirama Senju’s True Several Thousand Hands.
’Eight-Armed Arhat.’
After this period of training, all of Kiriya’s Level 2 ability values had risen above A-rank, and his energy reserves had climbed to a new level.
If he had to make a comparison, his current chakra was probably around seven Kakashi, enough to support a Wood Release technique of this scale.
The wooden hands gripping Phryne’s axe tore the weapon away.
Then, together with another pair of hands, they delivered a deeply heartfelt beating to Phryne.
One punch.
Two punches.
Three punches.
At first, the fists were heavy and slow.
But soon, they grew faster and faster, until they were firing like a Gatling gun at full power.
"Ora, ora, ora!"
Boom, boom, boom!
Each heavy punch struck Phryne’s body like cannon fire, making her two-meter frame ripple like water.
The terrifying force passed through her and slammed into the ground beneath, tearing open thick, savage cracks across the floor.
Aisha even felt as though the whole world was shaking violently.
The might of the Eight-Armed Arhat was truly terrifying.
The barrage lasted nearly five full minutes before finally stopping.
The huge wooden body froze in place, standing there like a wooden statue that had always been part of the cavern, completely lacking the fierce, overwhelming presence it had shown moments before.
Phryne lay quietly on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Kiriya gasped for breath.
A wave of exhaustion crashed over him so hard that his knees weakened, and he dropped to his knees on top of the Eight-Armed Arhat’s head.
"That burned through nearly seventy percent of my energy reserves. This big guy eats mana like crazy."
Kiriya smiled bitterly.
In the past, whenever he used magic, he had always managed his energy carefully.
He had never truly experienced what it felt like to run low.
But today, he had faced a Level 5.
Phryne’s strength had forced him to hold nothing back. The moment he caught an opening, he had gone all out.
The power was undeniable.
But the cost was just as terrifying.
"Not yet. This isn’t the time to rest."
Kiriya forced his weakened body back up and jumped down from the Eight-Armed Arhat.
Looking at Phryne, who seemed to have swollen several sizes after the beating, he could not help feeling amazed.
"She took that level of beating and only ended up three or four sizes fatter? Are all Level 5s monsters?"
Kiriya had reason to suspect that this woman had chosen some kind of Development Ability focused on taking hits, or maybe she simply had a Skill that improved her resistance to blunt attacks.
But none of that mattered now.
There was no need to investigate someone who was about to die by his blade.
That thought lasted only a second before Kiriya raised his sword and thrust it straight toward Phryne’s throat.
Slash!
A sharp blade cut through flesh, and blood splattered.
But it was not Phryne who had been killed.
A Bugbear had suddenly lunged out from the side, extending its claws in an attempt to tear into Kiriya’s chest.
Under the circumstances, Kiriya had no choice but to adjust on the fly, changing his sword stroke and beheading the Bugbear instead.
Yet after he killed one Bugbear, dozens more stepped forward, drooling as they stared at him.
Kiriya: "..."
’What the hell? There are so many people lying on the ground, so why are they only staring at me? Do these monsters discriminate by gender or something?’
What he did not know was that he had just used his magic, Forest of All Things, and had even summoned something as large as the Eight-Armed Arhat.
His entire body was radiating dense life energy.
To these monsters, that energy was fatally attractive.
So even with ready-made prey lying on the ground, the Bugbears would still choose to hunt Kiriya first.
No other reason.
This piece of meat was simply too tender and delicious!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The Bugbears surged toward him like a tide, and Kiriya had no choice but to swing his sword again and again.
After the huge fight he had just gone through, his condition had dropped badly. He couldn’t spare any effort to finish Phryne.
Until...
Shing, shing, shing!
A golden figure swept into the 19th Floor, moving through the monsters like a butterfly.
Wherever she passed, monsters were cut cleanly in two, displaying exceptional swordsmanship and battle technique.
’She came after all.’
Kiriya felt helpless.
Now there was absolutely no chance of secretly finishing off that ugly toad!
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