Volume Three: The Academy Runs Completely Amok [Illustration] Chapter 261: Bloodstained Spider (I)

Central United Academy Commercial District, City Center

A woman with black hair and wearing a butler's uniform.

A girl with pink hair and heterochromatic eyes.

The two men faced off atop the building.

The ground was littered with the remains of several buildings that had been cut down by the Sick Spider, as well as mountains of corpses.

I felt the Blood Flame burning quietly within my body, distributing the power generated by the burning flames evenly throughout my body, while using blood crystals to reinforce my bones and soft parts. The pool of Blood Pool beneath my feet was bubbling and gurgling, as if an army of Blood Beast could emerge from it at any moment.

The Sick Spider opposite me looked at me with disdain, its silvery silk threads shimmering around it. Normally, I might have felt a surge of smug satisfaction at an enemy's contempt, but against her, I dared not be careless. Though her face was full of disdain and contempt, her posture was impeccably upright, her silk threads protecting every blind spot, and her eyes gleaming brightly. Disdain, yet not carelessness; absolute confidence in her strength without ever letting her guard down—this was the mindset of a true powerhouse.

Compared to the enemies of the organization he had encountered in the past—I. B.'s morbidity and underestimation of his opponents, Payne's sadism and madness—this stunningly beautiful woman who appeared to be only in her early twenties was the most dangerous opponent.

"You really annoy me."

She spoke first.

"... I'm really sorry then. Do we have some past conflict?"

"No," she shook her head, but the disdain on her face did not diminish at all; instead, it grew even more disgusted. "You... for some reason, just looking at you reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

"A woman who looks a bit like you, that bastard Kasser..."

"..." Kasser?

Who is that?

Generally speaking, the only organization that comes to mind when I see someone like that is the Blood Fiend.

And this "Kasser"...

Could this be Blood Fiend's true name? Or is "Blood Fiend" just a pseudonym or nickname?

This is an important clue, remember it quickly.

"I don't know this 'Kasser' you're talking about," I fabricated, trying to keep my expression normal. "If that's all, can we just leave it at that? You go do your thing, and I'll go back to breastfeeding the baby (just kidding)."

"That's it? Ha, don't be ridiculous. Did you accumulate all that energy in your body just to keep warm?"

She saw right through me! Why didn't she complain about "breastfeeding"?

"... Maybe it really is?"

"Stop talking nonsense!!!"

The next instant, my intuition, honed through countless battles, suddenly reacted. I tilted my head to the side, and at the same time, I felt something brush past my ear—

Then the corner of the rooftop beneath my feet was cleanly sliced open.

"Ouch? You dodged it?"

"... Hmph, I was prepared."

Despite saying that, the cold sweat dripping from my forehead betrayed my inner turmoil.

Every opponent I encounter makes a move has some kind of warning sign, ranging from a striking light effect or noise to a subtle sound of air being cut or a change in airflow. If I can catch these warning signs, I can avoid the attack nine times out of ten.

However, her cutting attack just now came without any warning! It was fast, accurate, ruthless, without a sound or even a fluctuation in the air! If it weren't for my intuition, I probably would have been decapitated!

The Sick Spider frowned impatiently.

"Prepared in advance? You mean... these beasts?"

Just a few meters behind her, several thin silver lights flashed, and the Blood Beast that were about to launch a sneak attack were instantly dismembered! At the moment they were shredded, the pieces of their bodies exploded violently one after another, but the Blood Flame were blocked by the silver thread shield before they could touch her body.

"You actually sent a few beasts to ambush me? Are you underestimating me? You ants!"

"Cut--"

The instant she made her move, I leaped backward at lightning speed, dodging the silver threads that pierced the ground beneath my feet! With a flick of my wrist, I unleashed a hail of blood crystal missiles at her, only to shatter into fragments amidst a flash of silver light—this time, I didn't try to make the blood crystals explode, because she would definitely use her Thread Shield to defend herself again!

But--

"So-called 'cutting off' is useless against liquids!"

A large amount of blood gushed from my body. Ever since I swallowed the Serpent's Egg, my blood-producing ability has increased dramatically. A huge blood clot, hundreds of cubic meters in size, instantly condensed and splashed onto the Sick Spider!

"Idiot!"

A flash of silver light.

In that instant, I thought of the story of Moses parting the sea.

The massive wave of blood was cleaved in two by the silver line, as if an invisible wall had been erected in the middle, preventing it from closing! Not only the blood, but everything on the same plane as the cut—buildings, the ground, the clouds high above—was forcibly severed! I made a decisive choice in an instant; with a thought, the separated wave of blood immediately exploded in the air. At the same time, my shoes and socks turned to ashes in the flames, and my blood-stained feet moved through the air, using the propulsion of the exploding Blood Flame to create distance.

I didn't expect her wire-cutting attacks to be so powerful, capable of separating even liquids and gases and leaving them unrepaired for a long time—it was practically like sword energy from a novel. But her fighting style is easy to understand: she uses wire to cut and wire to defend, a simple yet extremely efficient method. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility of other abilities as well.

Let's test the waters first.

Blood Crystal Bullets, Crystal Spears, Blood Rainbow, Blood Beast —I unleashed all my attacks at the Sick Spider. The rumbling explosions echoed through the sky, and the aftershocks alone turned the buildings beneath my feet into rubble. From a distance, it probably looked like a grand Fireworks, though the scorching air would likely scare away many spectators.

That's not enough.

"The Realm of Crystal Pillar-- "

The blood congealed into 32 enormous crystalline prisms, 12 with pentagonal bases and 20 with hexagonal bases, resembling the outer layer of a soccer ball. These Crystal Pillar pressed down on the humanoid figure enveloped in Blood Flame, their bases meeting to form a near-spherical space, trapping her within. But it wasn't just about confining her; these 32 Crystal Pillar were only blood crystals on the outer shell; the inside was actually filled with highly concentrated liquid blood.

"The Crimson Furnace!"

Countless small holes were opened on the bottom of the Crystal Pillar surrounding the Sick Spider. The highly concentrated blood filling the Crystal Pillar was immediately driven by some invisible pressure and forced through the holes into a spherical space, like being injected with a syringe. The blood began to burn fiercely the moment it was injected. The power of the highly concentrated fuel was far beyond that of ordinary blood. In addition, the heat in the confined space could not be dissipated but only continued to accumulate. Now it had become a furnace even more terrible than purgatory!

The heat couldn't dissipate, so I couldn't sense what was happening inside the Crystal Pillar, but judging from the rumbling sounds emanating from it, it must be quite magnificent. The flames of Blood Flame refracted through the Crystal Pillar, reaching the outside world in a breathtakingly beautiful and deadly allure. The highly concentrated blood filling the Crystal Pillar was dwindling; the furnace was about to burn out. It was time...

"Burst!!!"

The remaining blood was injected all at once, compressed to its limit within the spherical space, and then exploded together with the blood crystal!

Crimson flames bloomed in the air, and the Blood Flame engulfed everything within a one-kilometer radius. If I hadn't intentionally compressed the explosion range of the blood, everything on the ground within a ten-kilometer radius would have been melted or even vaporized and disappeared!

"... Did it work?"

I used the propulsion from the spraying Blood Flame to float in the air, trying to make out what was happening in that red mass.

The Crimson Furnace is barely considered powerful among the moves I've imagined. In my mind, it's a watershed moment: enemies that it can kill are trash, while enemies it can't handle are troublesome figures that require real caution.

As for the Sick Spider--

A flash of silver light streaked across the fire and reached me in the blink of an eye.

It was a shimmering silver humanoid shape, with countless silver threads wrapped around it to form the shape of a woman, isolating the person inside from the outside world.

They arrived so fast that I was a beat too slow to react.

"Depend on--!"

"I already said they're just insignificant ants!!"

Countless silver threads unfurled, revealing the Sick Spider inside.

She was almost unharmed, with only a few faint, almost invisible scorch marks on the hem of her clothing. Despite her apparent lack of injury, her icy face was blazing with fury. The terrifying killing intent sent a chill down my spine. Knowing that inaction would mean certain death, I ignited the Blood Flame within me, my left hand, wreathed in hellish heat, reaching out towards her—

However, she gently placed her hand on my arm, the silver thread wrapped around her hand perfectly insulating me from the intense heat, her movements so gentle they seemed like acting.

"To be able to scorch the hem of my clothes, it seems you have some skill, so—"

She slightly curled the corners of her lips; this is probably what they mean by "smiling in anger."

Then, a dozen or so silver threads wrapped around my arm.

"--It's okay if I tease you a little, right?"

[img=640,900]http://rs./web/novel/images/UploadPic/2015/07/2914db6a-f9ee-46ab-8fb1-85cf06ab9036. jpg[/img]

Faced with this situation, I blurted out a really silly thing.

Will it hurt?

Of course not.

Click!!!

A dazzling flash of silver light, and she was right, I didn't even have time to feel the pain.

In the next instant, before the pain could reach his brain, his arm was sliced into pieces.

From the elbow to the fingertips, it all became segmented.

Blood droplets, bone fragments, nerve segments, fingers—all of it.

"Whoosh--Explode!!!"

My arm, which had been sliced into pieces, exploded. I had no time to marvel at how bizarre it was to have my own arm blown off, because a hand wrapped in silver threads had already pierced through the rolling Blood Flame and pressed against my chest!

"Even those filthy, lewd breasts are exactly the same as Kasser's... You really are annoying!"

The slender hand commanded the large breasts to change shape, but this ambiguous movement lasted only a moment—

Pfft!

The threads shot from my fingertips passed through my breasts, pierced my ribs, and ran through my lungs, penetrating me completely.

Was it because it was worried I'd play some trick with the splattered blood? The thread didn't cut me immediately; instead, it remained embedded in my flesh.

"Fly!!!"

The silver thread suddenly tightened, and a powerful pulling force flung me out. I didn't even have time to scream before I was slammed hard into the building next to me! The excruciating pain of my spine hitting the concrete almost made me faint. Just then, the thread tightened again, and in that instant, I even had the illusion that my internal organs were about to be ripped out of my body!

Now I'm directly connected to the Sick Spider by silk threads, like a meteor hammer. I'm the hammer, and the silk threads are the chains. With a slight flick of the Sick Spider's finger, I'm flung to the next building! I smash through a glass window on one side, knocking away all the desks and humans on the floor, before flying out of the window on the other side! Countless shards of glass pierce my face and body, and my skin is covered in bruises. My throbbing brain urges me to protect my body with blood crystals, but every time I create a blood crystal, it's shredded by the silk threads! If it weren't for the blood crystals I created at the beginning still holding me up in my bones, I'd probably be torn to pieces by now!

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Finally, it's time for the illustration! Thank you so much, artist! Unfortunately, the image size cannot exceed 500k.