Hands.
They tightly bound Jiang Qiao, pinning him firmly in place.
Straight ahead.
The bluish-gray hands reaching out from the pile of hair were drawing ever closer. Their twisted fingers gouged furrows into the ground as they dragged the bodies hidden within the hair out from beneath the strands.
Jiang Qiao lowered his head and glanced at the hands covering his body.
He gave a derisive laugh.
"Is that all?"
Before his words had faded, his body suddenly tensed.
"Boom—!"
Pitch-black lightning burst violently from his body, transforming into a shield-like Ball Lightning that enveloped him.
Countless fine arcs of electricity leaped.
Intertwined.
Exploded.
They wove an armor made of lightning around the outside of the Ball Lightning.
The lightning was berserk.
The hands wrapped around his joints, struck by the burst of lightning, melted and collapsed into nothingness as though splashed with molten iron.
The moment Jiang Qiao regained his ability to move, He flicked his right hand, and "Stove Fire" surged from his palm once more.
The red flames seemed to possess a will of their own. Following his gesture, they swept forth with a roar, forming a wave of fire that met the overwhelming tide of hair and arms head-on.
"Screech—!"
The instant the flames collided with the hair, an ear-piercing shriek erupted.
Countless strands of hair let out screams like living creatures being burned alive in the firelight. The figures that had only half-crawled out of the hair were swallowed by the wave of fire before they could fully emerge.
The bluish-gray arms writhed frantically.
They clawed at the air.
Like dying people futilely trying to seize a lifeline.
But in the end.
They were still swallowed bit by bit by the flames.
This was the Vicious Ghost's third attack, yet it still had little effect