Chapter 129: Fiery Death Match
“Blazing Fist of Fury!”
Anan roared excitedly, his eyes burning.
The sadness of losing his blood crystals had been quickly replaced by the thrill of battle. He loved giving names to his attacks; it felt powerful, and it could also confuse his opponents, making them anticipate the wrong move.
It was one of his tactics.
“Boom—”
With a swift, deceptive feint, his straight punch unleashed a swirling torrent of flames towards the girl on the fungal carpet.
The previously writhing tendrils recoiled from the approaching fire.
This concentrated blast of intense heat was too much for the fungus to absorb.
The moisture within the tendrils evaporated rapidly; direct contact with these flames was dangerous.
A hard counter.
Like pitting a Grass-type Pokémon against a Fire-type.
“Crackle—”
The fungal carpet ignited, and the girl quickly severed the connection to avoid being consumed, the flames spreading rapidly across the burning tendrils.
“Gurgle—”
The fungal carpet’s movement was slow, its size making it an easy target. Even as the girl desperately tried to retreat, Anan’s next attack arrived.
“Heavenly Tyrant’s Blazing Strike!”
“Boom—”
Another fiery punch, same attack, different name.
The blast incinerated another section of the fungal carpet. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it was completely consumed.
Victory seemed within his grasp.
But the girl on the fungal carpet wasn’t alone.
She had backup.
“Whoosh—”
Hearing the whoosh of a fist behind him, Anan didn’t turn but slammed his palms together.
Too fast to turn and face the attack.
“Fwoosh—”
Flat streams of fire erupted from his back, like miniature thrusters, propelling him forward several meters, narrowly avoiding the blow.
“Boom—”
The fist missed, but he still felt the force of the displaced air.
That was close… that would have broken a few bones, at least…
“Boom—”
He intensified the flames from his back, leaped into the air, the combined force propelling him upwards, hovering about ten meters above the ground.
Hovering, he finally turned to see his attacker.
“Damn… it’s you again…” He spat, the molten saliva sizzling on the ground, spreading a small fire.
That C-rank Awakened again… she dared to attack him again? Wasn’t she afraid of dying?
The woman’s face was covered in soot, her fists bloody and charred, the flesh burned away, revealing the bone beneath.
But she glared at him defiantly.
That look… he’d seen it many times, a delicious appetizer before the main course.
And they always popped so satisfyingly when cooked, like juicy meatballs exploding in your mouth.
He licked his lips.
Since she’s asking for it, I’ll give her what she wants.
“Boom—”
The flames behind him intensified, shifting from crimson to a bright blue-violet.
With a roar, he shot downwards like a meteor, a trail of blue-violet flames in his wake.
The Awakened below tried to roll away, but he was too fast.
She dodged the direct hit, but his fist slammed into the ground beside her, the force of the impact creating a wave of fire that engulfed her.
“Rumble—”
The blast threw her into a nearby building.
Although it was a hit, Anan frowned, looking towards the area he’d been burning earlier.
The path he had burned was now a raging inferno, the vines writhing and twisting before turning to ash, a hellish landscape.
But… the ground is shaking…?
He’d felt the tremors when he’d hit the ground earlier, coming from the direction of the Boss.
“Rumble…”
And the sounds of collapsing buildings, a faint, emerald green glow visible through the smoke and flames.
Something wrong with the Boss?
I have to finish this quickly. Can’t delay the Boss’s mission.
And he couldn’t let the Boss die here. If the Boss died, the Voodoo Cult would collapse. Where would he go then?
Having dealt with the C-rank Awakened, he turned his attention back to the blood-red fungal carpet.
It reminded him of the mushrooms the Boss had talked about, but thankfully, it couldn’t reach him.
He just had to… burn it from above.
Hovering in the air, he aimed his hands at the fungal carpet below.
“Focused Flamethrower!”
A bright violet stream of fire shot downwards, burning a hole through the fungal carpet.
He swept his hands back and forth, the elongated “flame swords” slicing through the blood-red tendrils.
And he could feel the fungal mass weakening with every pass.
Then, the tendrils below retaliated.
“Shhh—”
They intertwined and extended upwards, like ropes, towards him.
“Too slow, too slow, too slow!”
He easily dodged the tendril-ropes with their barbed tips. His flames couldn’t sever the thick strands, but they could ignite them.
And that was enough. He could sense these burning ropes wouldn’t last long.
“So weak! So weak! Don’t you realize you’re just increasing your surface area, idiot?!” he taunted, effortlessly dodging the hundred or so flaming tendrils now reaching for him.
This blood pool’s actions were self-destructive. The flames were spreading across the tendrils, and he could see the girl at the center of the fungal mass wince in pain.
“Stupid… a perfect example of a brainless zombie… now I can finally try… roasted mushrooms…”
“Whoosh—”
As if in pain, dozens of tendrils around the edges began to retract, but the flames clinging to them spread to the rest of the carpet, igniting it.
“Idiot,” he chuckled, watching the mushroom zombie’s self-destructive behavior.
But as the burning tendrils retracted, he felt a sudden unease.
Something’s… wrong…
He shifted, trying to move away from the flames, to escape through a gap in the burning tendrils.
But then the tendrils that had been… hesitantly approaching… suddenly lunged, wrapping around him, burning.
“Fuck!”
“Boom—”
A wave of intense heat erupted from his body, incinerating the tendrils, only a few still clinging to him.
They had only delayed him for a second, sacrificing themselves.
But a second was all it took.
He heard the whooshing sound of the retracting tendrils and moved to the side, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of something behind him.
At the end of the burning tendril, a charred figure, its fist raised, its bloody knuckles exposed, was being pulled towards him.
“Motherfu—shit—!”
Before he could finish cursing, barely having time to unleash a stream of fire towards the figure, a fist, seemingly unaffected by the flames, slammed into his face.
“What the… huh?” He’d braced for the impact, expecting to be thrown back, but he felt no pain.
What he couldn’t see was a bright red crack, spreading across his face like lightning, and a second later, with a “Boom—”, the right side of his head exploded, his mangled remains falling into the burning fungal mass below.
But the attack didn’t stop. The C-rank Awakened, ignoring the flames burning her flesh, shouted, “Yibai!!!”
Pulled by the tendril, she reached the falling Anan and, with a roar, unleashed a devastating punch, her liquefied blood crystal-enhanced strength exploding outwards.
“Thump—”
Her fist connected with Anan’s chest, a sickening thud of flesh against bone, blood crystal veins spreading outwards from the point of impact.
“Boom—”
A second later, his heart exploded, a spray of blood and gore arcing downwards into the burning fungal carpet.
“Gurgle—”
The fungal carpet quickly consumed the remains.
But by now, the flames had spread, the entire carpet a burning inferno.
With its last bit of strength, it flung the C-rank Awakened away from the flames, the barbed tip of the tendril tearing away the burning flesh from her right hand as it detached.
And then the flames consumed it completely.
“Gurgle—”
The massive fungal carpet writhed in agony, and the woman, thrown through the air, landed on the roots and moss below, coughing up blood.
And Anan, along with the burning fungal carpet, had been reduced to ashes.
“Ugh… cough…”
The woman on the ground, after a few ragged breaths, pushed herself up, her arms trembling.
“Whimper… whimper…”
A faint crying sound from her left ear. She reached up and removed the small object clinging there.
A miniature Huayibai.
This miniature clone, attached to her ear, hidden by her hair, had been communicating with her.
And this woman… was Lin Xiwan, who had gone with Huayibai to intercept Anan.
Ignoring the burns on her body and the excruciating pain in her right hand, she gently cradled the tiny, whimpering Huayibai in her left hand.
The burning had caused Huayibai immense pain.
And since the flames hadn’t been extinguished, the pain persisted, the miniature Huayibai whimpering softly, calling out “Mommy.”
“It’s okay… it’s okay… it’s over now…” Lin Xiwan whispered, gently stroking the tiny Huayibai.
Their battle was over, but the danger wasn’t.
Her sister was still in danger. She had to go to her.
As for the questions swirling in her mind… she would ask later…
Her sister’s strange new abilities… the fungus-controlling Huayibai… the Voodoo Cult’s relentless pursuit…
But first, survival.
“Haa…”
Lin Xiwan slowly stood up, her body aching, and stumbled towards an area untouched by the flames, the path she had taken now a burning inferno.
I have to reach her… my sister…
Clutching the whimpering Huayibai, she walked through the smoke and ash, her body swaying.
But after a few steps, her injured body reached its limit, and she collapsed face-first onto the ground.
“Yao…”
Her eyelids fluttered, then closed, and she lost consciousness.
Tears, mixing with the soot and ash on her burned face, streamed down her cheeks and into the earth.
Leave a Reply