Bone Fin

The terrifying force of the punch came rushing in, and the Dual Swordsman reacted instantly, changing his footwork. However, he was still a little too slow at this moment.

The punch dragged out an afterimage, the massive fist like a crazed wild boar charging forward.

Once it hit, his body would probably be torn to pieces.

Fortunately, a phantom figure appeared the next instant and embraced him.

Summoning School spell: Embrace of the Green Sprite.

It summoned the power of sprites dwelling among grass and trees, embracing the target to provide protection and healing.

Otto promptly cast his second spell, saving the Dual Swordsman.

The Green Sprite's phantom shattered instantly, and the Dual Swordsman was sent flying, but his body had not suffered much damage.

Pur withdrew his fist, his somewhat Whale-ified eyes fixed on Otto.

"Whatever price Nigel offered you, I'll pay double." Otto could not help backing away. His slightly chubby hand clenched his handkerchief tightly as he hurriedly spoke.

The moment he saw Downs, Otto had recognized Pur. Behind the Village Guardian was perhaps that muddleheaded Paladin.

Of course, from the looks of things now, perhaps he himself was the truly muddleheaded one.

"You can't afford it." A glint of killing intent flashed through Pur's eyes as he walked toward Otto.

Otto keenly sensed that killing intent and immediately understood that this was the most difficult kind of enemy to deal with.

In all his years of traveling as a merchant, he had encountered quite a few incidents, including no small number of cases where criminals preyed on one another.

But most of those enemies had been after money and resources.

So, most of the time, matters never truly reached the point of fighting to the death.

Pur, however, was different. He had faith.

Just like Aro. Aro had convictions, and for the sake of those convictions, he was often impossible to reason with.

Pur was the same. He had convictions as well, perhaps even something beyond Aro's: faith.

"I'm useful!" Otto immediately said. "I know a great deal of intelligence related to Nigel."

"Once I die, that intelligence will be gone too."

After confirming that the other side would not stop so easily, Otto immediately switched to psychological tactics, hoping to make Pur hold back in the coming battle and preserve his own safety.

At the same time, Otto felt some regret.

He truly was not skilled at fighting, and there had been problems with his strategic arrangements as well.

He had made quite a few mistakes in this battle from the very beginning.

For instance, he had a ring with the Force Field School spell Arrow Deflection permanently imbued in it. There had been no need to immediately call the Feather Sky Snake back then.

Instead, he should have had it help Aro swiftly deal with the Village Guardian, then concentrated the strength on his own side.

He also should have begun using high-powered spell scrolls at that point instead of conserving them until now.

As a result, because the Feather Sky Snake had entangled Pur and the Dual Swordsman was also nearby, his scrolls had become difficult to use. He feared accidentally injuring his allies.

There were many more details like that.

If he had not made those mistakes, the battle would be much easier now.

"But it's not too late yet." Otto continued retreating while using his words to draw Pur's attention. At the same time, he lowered his hand slightly, letting his sleeve cover it.

"Nigel's family has actually been secretly gathering intelligence on him all along."

"They even contacted me before, hoping I could slip certain things into his food while taking some of his blood and hair."

"Besides that, there's another extremely important piece of information, something absolutely vital to Nigel." Otto spoke with complete conviction, and his emotions did not seem feigned.

He really did draw some of Pur's attention.

"That is..." Otto shifted his tone as a scroll in his hand was pulled open and spread before him.

Along with his words came a vast blaze of glaring lightning.

Shaping School spell: Lightning Strike!

This was one of Otto's trump cards, traded from others at the cost of five Whale Skin Mine scrolls.

Otto turned his head and shut his eyes so the lightning would not blind him.

At the same time, he continued retreating at a steady pace while beginning to prepare a spell.

The Summoning School was also divided into many branches.

Otto specialized in Void Summoning and Specific Summoning.

Void Summoning involved spreading one's spiritual power and making it pulse and extend at a particular frequency, reaching deep into the unseen to sense and summon one's "summoned creature."

This required constantly adjusting one's own spiritual frequency to synchronize with the summoned creature. It also required sacrificing a portion of spiritual power as payment to the unseen existence, a toll for passage, before the creature could be summoned.

The Feather Sky Snake, for example, had been summoned this way.

Specific Summoning, on the other hand, was the earlier Embrace of the Green Sprite.

It specifically targeted the power of Green Sprites dwelling in the surrounding vegetation.

The summoning spell Otto was preparing now was also a Specific Summoning.

This time, the designated target was something on his body, another organism most closely fused with him—the Nest Beast.

This thing had come from the Old Priest, but under a different cultivation direction, it had undergone tremendous changes.

The Old Priest had enhanced its control over blood and its own motility.

Otto, meanwhile, had enhanced its parasitic nature.

However, each use increased its ferocity, which was why Otto disliked using this thing.

But it seemed he had no choice at this point.

Because just now, he had once again sensed a dormant Nest Beast being activated.

That meant another of his subordinates had suffered grievous, near-fatal injuries and had been forced to activate the Nest Beast's symbiotic healing.

That Downs was stronger and more troublesome than he had imagined.

Yet the very next moment, Otto had no choice but to rejoice that he had made the right decision.

Because amid the smoke produced by the lightning, a massive figure swung an arm, tore through the smoke, and emerged.

Pur's entire body was somewhat charred black. However, his already enormous height grew considerably further, reaching around four meters.

"Strong, but the power my lord bestowed upon me is more than just Whale-ification!!" Pur's still-trembling body swiftly steadied.

Pain was rapidly converted into strength bit by bit, filling his body.

The trait known as Essence of Pain turned suffering into the power for his further growth.

Pur's back rippled, then several bone spurs pierced through his skin, forming protrusions like a whale's dorsal fin, only sharper.

With absolute faith in Naimus in his heart, his Whale-ification completed another evolution!

He successfully gained two additional traits from Whale-ification—

Damage Self-Healing: His regenerative ability was further strengthened and permanently fixed. Most bodily injuries could be rapidly repaired.

Bone Fin: A bony fin grew from his back, granting him the ability to slightly adjust his own weight. Current adjustment range: ±10%.

"The power my lord bestowed upon me will make me grow through pain, then sweep away every obstacle in my path!" His words were followed by his massive body charging forward at terrifying speed!

"Ah!!!"