Evil and Devour (Part 2)

"Bang!"

The cold tentacle, carrying a terrifying impact force capable of splitting mountains and shattering jade, struck Luo Ya's right hand with solid force.

"Sizzle—"

As the formidable force transferred to Luo Ya's body, it forced him to slide back a significant distance, carving a deep trench into the ground. Furthermore, the dark battle qi energy Luo Ya had condensed onto his Blood-colored Glove was instantly dispersed.

Had this Blood-colored Glove not been an Artifact of exceptional quality, it would likely have been pierced clean through by that cold tentacle!

It seems her Mysteries of Evil has reached a very profound level. Luo Ya shook his slightly aching right hand and quickly made his assessment.

Against an attack of that caliber, even among Saint Realm peak experts, few would be able to react in time to defend. Once struck in a vital area like the heart or head, it would undoubtedly be a one-hit kill.

"Luo Ya, if you don't get serious, you're going to lose." Milia, standing to the side, had been startled when she saw that perilous moment.

After regaining her composure, she immediately gave Luo Ya a subtle reminder to get serious.

It was clear that Luo Ya had only been using his less-mastered Profundity of Dark Element to fight, which was why Beiya had managed to seize the initiative.

"I understand." Upon hearing Milia's reminder, Luo Ya's expression grew a bit more solemn.

Given the strength Miss Beiya had just displayed, he truly needed to treat this seriously.

Hearing Luo Ya's reply, both women watched his next movements with even greater focus.

It was obvious that Luo Ya was about to use the Profundity of Devour he was most proficient in.

"Demon Hand!"

To the surprise of both women, Luo Ya did not immediately condense the Devouring Vortex. Instead, he gathered a palm-sized blood-colored vortex in the center of his right hand!

"Come again!" Holding this blood-colored vortex, Luo Ya felt sufficient confidence in his heart; this move alone was enough to defeat Beiya.

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, Luo Ya's body transformed into a black arc of light, charging toward the silver-haired elf lady hovering in mid-air.

Under the moonlight, the elf lady was not flying; she was controlling two tentacles to anchor herself to the ground, keeping her body suspended about thirty meters above the earth.

"Merge!" Discovering that Luo Ya had taken the initiative to attack, the elf lady did not grow careless. She instantly controlled all her tentacles to retract, intercepting Luo Ya's path to protect herself.

To think she could achieve this level? It truly is a move that excels in both offense and defense. It was sharp and troublesome when used for attacking, yet it appeared somewhat impregnable when used for defense.

If she could control even more tentacles, she would likely be able to cover herself in every direction without a single blind spot.

Of course, this did not mean she could only condense this many. If she wanted to, she could extend hundreds of ice tentacles just like Luo Ya. But those ice tentacles would merely be for show; their power would be incomparable to the eight tentacles she was currently manipulating.

Just as Harvey could only manifest four bodies for the time being, given Beiya's current level of comprehension of the Mysteries of Evil, she could likely only control eight tentacles with the ease of moving her own arms.

"Take this!"

Although the opponent was using all her tentacles to defend herself, Luo Ya did not retreat in the slightest, instead controlling his right hand to continue charging forward.

At the same time, within the palm of his right hand—which appeared blood-red due to the glove—a violent, cold dark airflow was frantically gathering. The wild blood-colored vortex grew larger and larger, resembling a blood-red gateway.

"To think he could use this move in such a way, impressive!" Milia had seen Luo Ya's previous techniques, which made her admire his improvements to the move even more.

"Boom!—"

As if a gate leading to Hell had truly been opened, an endless, devouring suction force erupted from the blood-colored vortex.

Under this incredible suction, nearby mountain debris and even the surrounding trees were ruthlessly devoured, annihilated into nothingness!

"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!"...

The silver-haired elf lady was the only one facing this move head-on, so she naturally bore the brunt of the impact. Sensing the danger, she hurriedly split several tentacles to anchor onto the sturdiest-looking giant trees nearby, or pierced directly into the ground, rooting herself deep into the earth to resist the suction force.

"It's useless."

One had to admit that Miss Beiya's response was quite good; at the very least, as long as Luo Ya didn't trigger the Black Hole within his body, she could resist that exaggerated suction force.

But in Luo Ya's Profundity of Devour, 'devouring' was only one aspect; its primary function was control, while the most critical point lay in the 'annihilation' part.

Sure enough, as Luo Ya closed the distance to her, he simply pushed the blood-colored vortex in his right hand forward. The tough, cold tentacles were directly and forcibly shredded, collapsing into their original dark element energy.

"Poof!", "Poof!"...

As one tentacle after another was crushed, the elf lady herself was left directly exposed within Luo Ya's attack range.

Without the help of those ice tentacles, she couldn't even resist the suction of the blood-colored vortex, and her body was involuntarily pulled toward it.

It was easy to imagine that if Luo Ya did not reduce the power of this move, she would likely be sucked in and pulverized!

After all, elves were merely flesh and blood.

"Ssh—"

Just as the elf lady was sucked to within half a meter of Luo Ya, the blood-colored vortex suddenly dissipated, and the elf lady regained control of her body.

With lingering fear, she stepped back a few paces. Beiya generously admitted her defeat: "Your move is powerful; I lost!"

To be honest, before the formal duel, Beiya had never thought she would lose, as she had already planned how to break the 'suction' move.

But what she hadn't expected was that Luo Ya could move flexibly while carrying the Devouring Vortex. Furthermore, the most terrifying aspect of the Devouring Vortex was not the 'suction' force that mortals rumored it to be, but the terrifying power of destruction that seemed capable of annihilating everything into nothingness.

Under that terrifying destructive power, the tentacles of evil she had condensed were easily destroyed as if they were mere toys.

Once the Tentacles of Evil were broken, she had effectively lost.

"When you used that Devouring Vortex earlier, it always condensed in mid-air, and the release process was rather rigid. If an enemy were prepared in advance, they could avoid the brunt of its power to some extent."

"I never expected you to have the sudden inspiration to channel it through your palm. Releasing it this way, unless the enemy possesses movement speed similar to mine, they simply cannot dodge it." Seeing that the battle between the two had ended, Milia quickly approached and began to critique their recent fight.

Among these observations, Luo Ya's flexible improvement of his own technique was a significant highlight.

"Actually, I had the idea for this move a long time ago, but my body previously couldn't withstand its maximum output." Luo Ya explained simply after hearing this.

Luo Ya had long envisioned using his own palm to execute the profound mysteries of 'devouring'.

However, if he were to trigger the power of the Black Hole within his body to push this move to its limit, his palm would not be able to endure it, potentially causing his hand to be annihilated into nothingness first.

But after equipping the Blood-colored Glove, which he had confirmed to be an Artifact, this weakness was compensated for to a certain degree.

Because with his current strength, even a maximum-power Devouring Vortex could not destroy an Artifact.

"So that's how it is." Upon hearing Luo Ya's soul transmission, Milia's gaze lingered on Luo Ya's right hand for a brief moment.

No wonder he was wearing a peculiar glove when they met this time.

After exchanging thoughts on the battle, the three of them returned to Yelan Castle to rest.

In the mountains behind the castle, the sparse and peaceful chirping of cicadas returned to the night.

Only the vast expanse of devastated trees and the scarred, battered ground served as proof of the heart-stopping, intense battle that had just taken place there.