Shiheng's pupils abruptly contracted. Nalan Ruoshui's heart-wrenching cry struck everyone's hearts like a sledgehammer. Blood still seeped from Huohe's dangling arm, while Kelan Kai's figure vanished beneath the shadow of the swift raptor, his fate unknown.
The swift raptor's tail swept toward them with a piercing whistle, its force enough to overturn a boulder. Before Kelin Xiaoman could even cry out, its terrifying pressure enveloped her. Xifaman was about to charge forward with his sword when Shiheng suddenly stepped forward, shielding Kelin Xiaoman.
His body tensed in a way that defied all reason. Veins bulged along his muscular arms, and his previously steady aura suddenly surged. The air around him actually trembled slightly under the sudden eruption of his strength.
"You want to touch my people? Over my dead body!"
Shiheng's roar was hoarse yet deafening, utter madness and resolve churning in his eyes. The sorrow in Nalan Ruoshui's tears, Huohe's dying gasps and love for Nalan Ruoshui, Kelan Kai's unknown fate, the swift raptor's mocking gaze, and his own bone-deep terror of death-his fury reached its limit, and every emotion twisted into a single cord that slammed into his heart.
Adrenaline flooded every limb and bone. His skin flushed an unnatural crimson, and his bones cracked sharply. His original berserk state broke through its limits completely, his strength, speed, and explosive power soaring to their utmost in an instant. The pressure of a seventh-level warrior erupted from him, faintly surpassing even that of the seventh-level swift raptor!
"The peak of a seventh-level warrior?" Shiheng lowered his head and looked at his suddenly enlarged palms. A blood-tinged smile tugged at his lips. "Today, beast, you'll taste the peak of my berserk power!"
Rather than retreating, he advanced, leaping toward the swift raptor's tail. The refined iron saber he had gripped at some point hummed in his hand. Infused with berserk power, its blade actually took on a faint golden glow.
The mockery in the swift raptor's eyes abruptly turned to astonishment. It had never expected this human, who had seemed unable to withstand a single blow, to unleash such terrifying strength. Shiheng twisted aside to evade its sweeping tail, then used that momentum to launch himself at its neck like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Your life is mine!"
The blade slashed down in a gleaming ribbon, carrying all Shiheng's hatred, obsession, and will to survive as it hacked savagely at the swift raptor's scales! A piercing crack suddenly exploded through the air! Shiheng's heavy fist, carrying all the brute strength in his body, smashed into the dragon scales covering the swift raptor. That seemingly indestructible armor could not withstand this devastating force. Fine cracks instantly spread across it, before it shattered like fine celadon struck a crushing blow. With sharp, grating cracks, it broke into countless razor-edged fragments that sprayed in every direction, tracing cold streaks of light through the air.
Shiheng had thought this strike would severely wound the magical beast, but his gaze suddenly darkened. This swift raptor was far more intelligent and cunning than he had imagined, giving him no chance to keep attacking its injured spot. Its enormous body rapidly shifted and twisted in place, its thick limbs repeatedly pounding the ground, sending dust flying and cracking the earth. The remaining dragon scales on its body rapidly moved and changed positions with its movements. The flesh exposed where its scales had shattered was instantly covered by overlapping layers of intact armor from nearby, sealed without a gap. The target Shiheng had locked onto vanished in an instant, and he could no longer find that opening.
As his cunning opponent kept shielding its weaknesses, killing intent surged within Shiheng. Yet he also knew that he had no clever means available now. Only the clumsiest, most brutal, most reckless approach could break through this magical beast's defenses. Relying solely on his fearless ferocity, he had to smash every hard scale on the swift raptor's towering, mountain-like body one by one and destroy them completely. Only then could he tear through its defenses, find an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow, and finally slay this rampaging magical beast.
By now, Shiheng's overwhelming fighting spirit and obsession with revenge had devoured all his reason. His mind was a blur. No tactical planning remained, nor any fear of pain-only the most primitive instinct to fight and kill. His eyes were blood-red, his blood and vital energy surging throughout his body. Every punch and every collision exhausted all his strength. Only one unwavering obsession remained in his heart-to utterly annihilate the magical beast before him, reduce it to dust beneath his fists, and give it no chance to catch its breath or strike back.
A harrowing, unimaginably brutal battle thus began on that desolate plain, continuing without pause for an entire day and night.
The blazing sun rose and set, and darkness descended and receded. Like a fighting puppet that knew neither fatigue nor fear of pain, Shiheng remained relentlessly locked in combat with the swift raptor, never retreating half a step. Dense, hideous wounds already covered his entire body. Bloody gashes torn by its claws reached the bone, cuts from fragments of its scales bled without stopping, and internal injuries from violent collisions repeatedly sent the metallic sweetness of blood rising into his throat. Yet he seemed entirely unable to feel pain, oblivious to the wounds covering him as he continued launching one frenzied attack after another at the swift raptor.
Not far away, Kelin Xiaoman was frantic, her pretty face deathly pale. Her hands continuously formed seals for water-element healing magic, and pale blue healing light streamed toward Shiheng's body. She poured every last bit of her magical power into casting without pause, trying to close his wounds and stop his blood from flowing away. But she was only a fourth-level mage, and her healing magic had limited power. Against those hideous, constantly bleeding wounds that exposed bone, her meager healing power was no more than a drop in the bucket. It could barely slow the worsening of his injuries, but could not truly restore his increasingly overtaxed body.
Meanwhile, the swift raptor, which had initially held the advantage, was gradually falling behind. It had never encountered a human so utterly fearless of death. Though he was already grievously wounded, though every attack meant enduring excruciating pain, he still fought like a madman, refusing to retreat. That fighting style, heedless of life and death and bent on killing his opponent even if they perished together, thoroughly shook the magical beast.
Its initial contempt and ferocity gradually faded, replaced by a trace of irrepressible fear. Its enormous body slowly weakened through their repeated clashes, and its attacks lost their sharpness. The dread within it continued to spread. For the first time, an urge to retreat and flee actually appeared in its once-ferocious eyes. It even shifted backward instinctively, wanting to escape this human warrior who cared nothing for his own life.
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