A Fight to the Death, the Blow That Decides Victory!

"Boom--!"

Just as Obanai struck her pose.

The Rock Demon, a hundred meters away, moved!

The colossal rock beast, weighing well over 200 kilograms, unleashed a terrifying burst of power completely disproportionate to its size.

He pushed off the ground with both legs.

The hard rock surface instantly cracked and collapsed over a large area, forming a huge pit with a diameter of more than five meters.

The massive body of the Rock Demon, like a heavy siege shell fired from its barrel, tore through the air and shrieked with an overwhelming force as it violently crushed towards Obanai!

Blood Demon Art: Rock Smash!

Rock Demon's right fist, covered in barbed rocks, rapidly expanded in mid-air, transforming into a giant stone hammer the size of a millstone. With terrifying kinetic energy enough to instantly flatten a small hill, it slammed down fiercely towards Obanai's head!

Before the punch even arrived, the tangible pressure of gravity caused the ground beneath Obanai's feet to crack under the strain.

"Wow! How can someone of this size possess such a high level of speed?!"

Obanai's heterochromatic pupils contracted sharply.

"Serpent Breathing - Third Form - Coil Choke!"

At the critical moment when that giant fist, as large as a meteorite, was less than half a meter from Obanai's head, a moment of life and death.

Obanai's body suddenly "folded" in a bizarre way!

He seemed to lose the support of his spine in an instant, his upper body lying flat backward, almost touching the ground. At the same time, he exerted force with his legs, like a venomous snake rapidly swimming in the grass, sliding out along the edge of the huge fist wind of the Rock Demon by a hair's breadth!

"Boom--!"

The giant Rock Demon slammed its fist down hard on the ground where Obanai had just been standing.

Accompanied by a deafening, terrifying roar!

A massive rain of rocks and soil transformed into a deadly storm, shooting wildly in all directions!

The soldiers who had retreated to the high ground were thrown about by the terrifying shockwave, and their screams of agony filled the air once again.

Did you dodge it?

Rock Demon's attack missed, and a hint of surprise flashed in its magma-like eyes.

Before he could retract his right arm, which was deeply embedded in the ground...

"Serpent Breathing, Second Form - Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head!"

A cold voice suddenly rang out from the right side of the Rock Demon.

Obanai, using the falling debris as cover, had somehow slipped into the Rock Demon's close-range defenses like a ghost.

The wavy Nichirin Blade in his hand drew a distorted purple-white streak in mid-air, like a venomous snake with its fangs bared, stabbing fiercely at a tricky angle into the rock crevice below the right rib of the Rock Demon!

In Obanai's eyes, no armor can be a solid piece of iron; there must be weak points in the defense at the joints.

However.

"Clang--!"

When the wavy blade penetrated less than an inch into the gap between the Rock Demon's ribs, it burst out with a large burst of dazzling sparks, and then could not go any further!

The immense recoil force surged wildly through the hilt of the knife into Obanai's arms, making his hands go numb and nearly causing him to lose his grip on the hilt.

"What?!"

Extreme shock flashed in Obanai's eyes.

"The density of this armor... this is not ordinary rock at all!!"

"With my current wrist strength, even if I find the joint gap, I won't be able to completely sever it in a short time!"

"Ha! Human swordsman, your blade is too weak!"

The Rock Demon let out a muffled laugh.

He completely ignored the Nichirin Blade stuck in his ribs, and with a sudden sweep of his left arm, like a giant battering ram, he swung it fiercely towards Obanai in mid-air with a terrifying whistling sound.

"Danger!"

Kaburamaru hissed rapidly against Obanai's neck.

"Serpent Breathing, Fifth Form - Slithering Serpent!"

Obanai forcefully twisted her waist in mid-air to generate power.

Using the recoil from the Nichirin Blade stuck in the Rock Demon armor, his body spun around like a python coiled around a tree trunk, circling the edge of the Rock Demon's sweeping left arm three times in a breathtaking manner, narrowly avoiding the fatal horizontal slash!

Then, he slammed his fist on Rock Demon's shoulder, propelling himself backward dozens of meters like a cannonball, landing steadily on a huge boulder.

Large wafts of white breath spewed from Obanai's mouth. After just one round of probing exchange, the oxygen in his body was severely depleted.

"Absolute overwhelming power, and an ultra-high density defense with no blind spots."

Obanai stared intently at the Rock Demon opposite her, her mind racing with calculations.

"We can't rely on brute force. We must utilize the unpredictable, linear nature of the Serpent Breathing to exert continuous pressure, like water dripping on stone, peeling away his armor bit by bit!"

This is destined to be a long, brutal, and extreme death match, like dancing on the edge of hell!

"Human, your slippery, eel-like movements are indeed astonishing. But before absolute power, all techniques are nothing but futile struggles!"

The Rock Demon roared, and the rock armor on its body emitted a terrifying "crackling" sound.

Blood Demon Art: Thousand Rocks Locking Bones!

The Rock Demon slammed its fists heavily into the ground.

The entire quarry seemed to come alive in an instant!

"Boom--"

Hundreds of sharp rock spikes, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, burst forth from all directions Obanai's feet!

These rock spikes were not only incredibly fast, but even more terrifying was that they seemed to possess a tracking ability. Like countless giant rock pythons, they intertwined and coiled in mid-air, forming an enormous rock cage, attempting to completely strangle Obanai within it.

"Don't even think about it!"

Obanai's eyes were cold.

The battle has escalated to a whole new level!

To the government soldiers who had retreated to higher ground, the quarry below had been completely transformed into an apocalyptic Rengoku.

A hail of rubble and massive rock spikes danced wildly in the air.

The Rock Demon's massive, mountain-like body was like a tireless destructive machine, constantly unleashing the heavy punches of "Rock Smash," each strike leaving a shockingly large crater in the earth.

And in this raging storm filled with death and destruction.

That small, black-and-white striped tattoo displayed terrifying mobility that surpassed human limits.

Obanai seemed to transform into a truly venomous serpent.

He completely abandoned any defense, focusing all his energy on dodging and counterattacking.

With the aid of Kaburamaru's extraordinary vision, Obanai could always find every crevice to survive among the densely packed rock spikes.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Purple and white serpentine sword energy flashed wildly in the dark night sky.

Each collision between the blade and the rock armor would erupt in the darkness with sparks as brilliant as fireworks, accompanied by a deafening metallic roar that echoed throughout the night sky.

Time, in this intense, extreme tension, slipped away second by second.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Half an hour!

This brutal, meat-grinding battle lasted a full half hour!

For a Pillar-level swordsman, half an hour of intense, Total Concentration Breathing is like recklessly draining their life force.

Obanai's condition at this moment has reached an extremely bad point.

Crimson blood flowed down his cheeks, even staining his golden pupils red.

It felt like a raging fire was burning in my lungs, and every breath was accompanied by excruciating pain, as if I were swallowing razor blades.

The tiger's mouth of his hands, which were gripping the knife, was completely torn open, and blood dripped continuously down the hilt.

"My physical strength... has decreased by more than 70%."

"But that's not enough! Just a little bit more!"

His bloodshot, heterochromatic eyes were fixed on the Rock Demon not far away.

Even the Rock Demon, with its "Bedrock Armor," was not unscathed after half an hour of continuous, high-intensity attacks.

His once indestructible rock armor, after hundreds and thousands of cunning cuts from Obanai, finally succumbed to the strain and became covered with dense, deep cracks.

Especially around the Rock Demon's thick neck.

The rock armor there was heavily guarded by Obanai, and most of it had already peeled away, even revealing the dark red flesh underneath!

"Now!"

"This is the only chance. If we don't settle this here, I'll be the one who dies."

Without any hesitation.

Obanai frantically squeezed out the last bit of strength in her body and all the oxygen in her lungs in a near-self-destructive way.

"Total Concentration-- "

"Serpent Breathing - Ultimate Technique!"

The Kaburamaru emitted a sharp hiss against his neck, as if sensing its master's desperate resolve.

"--!"

"Serpent Breathing - Fourth Form - Double-Headed Serpent Slash!"

At that moment, Obanai's figure left two afterimages in the air that were indistinguishable from real ones!

He unleashed the most terrifying speed he had displayed in the past half hour.

The pebbles beneath his feet were completely crushed into dust. He was like a bolt of purple-white lightning, piercing through the Rock Demon's defenses, which had become somewhat sluggish due to exhaustion, in an incredibly bizarre arc!