Hearing the teasing in Kalina's words, Lin Luoluo flushed scarlet with embarrassment.
She wanted to explain, but she didn't know where to begin.
At that moment, Bai Chen explained in Lin Luoluo's mind while fighting Kalina:
"Xiao Luoluo, all you need to know is that this rule exists simply because a rule like it needs to exist.
Do you really think all the Contract Spirit Masters who died in here were killed by Demons?"
Bai Chen's tentacles deftly dodged the head of the warhammer and curled around its handle instead, trying to wrest the weapon away.
But Kalina's strength was astonishing. With a flick of her wrist, she sent a tremendous force through the warhammer, shaking the tentacles loose.
The two of them had come across several Contract Spirit Masters' corpses along the way. Some had indeed died under suspicious circumstances, clearly killed in sneak attacks.
Seeing that Lin Luoluo still hadn't seen through the dark rule at work, Bai Chen quickly explained it to the girl as he fought.
Simply put, if someone with no status or background died here, then their death was just that.
But if someone with status died, and the power behind them investigated, the "no private fights" rule would give them a means to hold others accountable and take revenge!
Bai Chen's cruel words left Lin Luoluo too shocked to speak.
She stared blankly at the fierce battle ahead. The enormous warhammer seemed weightless in Kalina's hands, each swing carrying the force of ten thousand tons. Every strike left a deep crater in the ground, sending shattered stones flying.
Bai Chen, meanwhile, relied on his flexible body and versatile tentacles to keep her in check.
Bai Chen was directing almost the entire battle.
Of course, Bai Chen also knew how much those words had shaken Lin Luoluo, so he didn't force the girl to accept the idea immediately. Instead, he gave her room to come to terms with it gradually.
"Bang!"
After another violent collision, one of Bai Chen's tentacles took a direct hit from the warhammer, sending his entire body sliding back several meters.
This won't do. Before I activate Throne Form, the gap in strength is too great.
The S-Rank hammer-type Contract Spirit belonging to the girl before him had already reached Second Tier. Even at the same level ten, the difference in strength between one that had advanced and one that hadn't was enormous.
"Activate, Throne Form!"
Having exchanged several blows with Kalina and gradually begun to fall behind, Bai Chen chose to activate his Life Skill without hesitation.
"What! Xiao Bai, how can you use a Life Skill on your own?!"
Lin Luoluo still hadn't recovered from the dark rule Bai Chen had just described, and now her worldview had suffered another tremendous blow.
Didn't a Life Skill have to be activated by a Contract Spirit Master and their Contract Spirit together? Why could Xiao Bai do it on his own...
Before she could figure it out, a vast surge of energy poured through her connection with Bai Chen.
As Throne Form activated, Bai Chen's spherical body instantly reshaped itself. Countless streams of black matter erupted upward, rapidly forming a fierce and magnificent black throne.
The white-and-purple battle suit on Lin Luoluo's body was also covered in an instant by a flow of black-and-purple energy, transforming into a gothic tulle dress dotted with starlight!
Tentacles supported the throne, keeping it suspended in midair.
More than a dozen tentacles, several times thicker than before, stretched out from behind the throne and waved wildly through the sky, whistling through the air!
Kalina, who had just felt a flicker of pride at gaining the upper hand and thought the genius from the Lower City was nothing special, froze.
She stopped attacking and stared in disbelief at the scene before her, which defied all common sense.
"What! There's a second form?!"
It wasn't that Kalina had seen too little of the world.
She came from the Upper City and had seen many geniuses.
Kalina knew perfectly well that the girl's Contract Spirit was only First Tier.
Her own already crushed the other in terms of level.
Even at the same level ten, the question of whether one had advanced placed a tier-wide chasm between them!
Yet as soon as the other party activated this boss-like form, the pressure on her Heaven-Shaking Hammer rose to a new height!
Was this some kind of joke?!
Her Heaven-Shaking Hammer, which ranked near the very top among weapon-type Contract Spirits and possessed S-Rank rarity, was actually feeling such immense pressure from a Contract Spirit of a lower level!
Could this be an S-Rank Life Skill?!
The thought exploded in Kalina's mind.
Only an S-Rank Life Skill could possibly produce such an exaggerated effect against an opponent of a higher level!
Kalina was even more shocked now, because even she had only comprehended two A-Rank Life Skills.
Before Kalina could think any further, the dozen or so thick black tentacles had locked onto her!
The sound of rushing air suddenly exploded!
Black lightning tore through the air between them. The tentacles crossed more than a dozen meters in an instant, attacking her from every direction!
Kalina gritted her teeth, the horror in her eyes replaced by an even fiercer fighting spirit.
When had she, Kalina, ever been afraid?!
She poured every last bit of her Star Energy into the warhammer in her hands!
If I can't dodge it, then I'll smash it to pieces!
At that moment, Kalina also decided to burn her boats.
A-Rank Life Skill, Ice Explosion!
A pale blue phantom began to coil around Kalina's Heaven-Shaking Hammer, an energy shell formed from concentrated, extreme cold.
Her Heaven-Shaking Hammer was a Contract Spirit with both ice and metal attributes!
The metal attribute gave it unmatched sturdiness and weight, while the ice attribute imbued every attack with a freezing chill that could freeze everything!
"Break! For! Me!"
The surrounding temperature plummeted. The ground beneath Kalina's feet cracked and creaked as a layer of white frost spread rapidly outward from her, ice forming in its wake!
Empowered by the phantom, the Heaven-Shaking Hammer grew dozens of times longer and larger, becoming a gigantic ice hammer that seemed to reach from earth to sky. Savage icicles covered its head, radiating a bone-piercing chill!
Kalina gripped the enormous handle with both hands and, using all her strength, swung the giant hammer, which seemed capable of crushing a mountain, down hard toward the throne in the sky!
This was her strongest strike!
She refused to believe that even this couldn't break through the other party's strange form!
Bai Chen watched the scene before him without the slightest panic.
When he saw that his opponent had actually unleashed an ice-type Life Skill, Bai Chen thought to himself that he had this in the bag.
Hammer-type Contract Spirits like this were inherently unwieldy, with wide, sweeping attacks that were countered by his soft tentacles.
And Bai Chen was even less afraid of ice-type Life Skills.
After all, he too possessed a top-tier S-Rank ice ability!
Ice damage could be reduced to the greatest extent possible against him. Using ice against him was like pouring water into the sea.
As the giant hammer came crashing down toward his head, Bai Chen acted with a thought.
The dozen or so thick tentacles coiled behind the throne moved at once.
In the blink of an eye, a massive black barrier formed from countless tentacles stood across the front of the throne.
"Boom!"
The enormous ice hammer and the black tentacle barrier collided violently!
With a tremendous crash, the Heaven-Shaking Hammer's icy phantom shattered layer by layer!
Countless fragments of ice crystals fell like a torrential downpour, scattering across the ground amid a white freezing mist.
Kalina felt an irresistible force travel up the hammer's handle. The skin between her thumbs and forefingers split instantly, and she was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground several meters away.
As the white, misty chill dispersed, the barrier of overlapping tentacles in the air slowly unfolded under Bai Chen's control, like a black lotus blooming.
At the center of the lotus, Lin Luoluo sat on the throne in midair, completely unharmed!
"Wh... how is this possible..."
Kalina braced herself against the ground and looked up in disbelief, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
My all-out attack, an A-Rank Life Skill, was actually... blocked without leaving a scratch?
I couldn't even make the other side budge?
Before Kalina had time to be astonished, the dozen or so black tentacles locked onto her again!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The piercing sound of rushing air rang out again. This time, Kalina didn't even have time to react.
She had just started struggling to her feet when a tentacle wrapped around her right ankle like lightning and yanked her upward!
"Ugh!"
Kalina let out a muffled groan as she was hoisted upside down.
Immediately afterward, more tentacles wrapped around her left foot, wrists, waist...
"L-let me go!"
Panic appeared in Kalina's wild eyes for the first time.
Several tentacles pulled together, lifting Kalina, bound up like a rice dumpling, before the throne. They held her in a humiliating position in midair, directly facing Lin Luoluo, who sat upright on the throne.
Lin Luoluo looked at Kalina, who resembled a rice dumpling, and said shyly, a little embarrassed:
"Sorry, it looks like I won. I'll have Xiao Bai let you go right away. Can you give me the Netherworld Grass now?"