Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 74 - 71 VS Monster 3 (Fourth Release/Please subscribe!)

Chapter 74: 71 VS Monster 3 (Fourth Release/Please subscribe!)

The opponent’s sudden counterattack did not throw Zhu Shi into disarray.

On the contrary, she seemed to have anticipated it, swiftly ducking to avoid the shadowy hammer with agile high-speed movements while spinning her body to release another slash.

The sweeping blade light transformed into a silver fan, cutting the opponent in half at the waist on the spot.

However, in the face of that monstrosity’s inconceivable immortal body, neither decapitation nor bisecting at the waist proved effective. Even my initial attack causing it to explode internally had no effect, let alone such a straightforward fatal wound. Perhaps it was because of this immortal body that the monster disregarded evading or blocking any attacks it received.

Sure enough, the monster mysteriously regenerated. Without even glancing at Zhu Shi, it charged straight at me.

Its intentions were transparent, aiming to kill me, the one with powerful firepower, at all costs. But what was the principle behind its resurrection? If we truly couldn’t kill it, we might have to attempt capturing it alive. It was uncertain whether its immortal body could withstand its own not-dead-yet self-destruct mechanism.

I wanted to test its resurrection mechanism. Did its immortal body have conditions and costs? Did it only resurrect upon receiving fatal damage, or could it repair even ordinary injuries?

I signaled with my palm in the direction of the monster, indicating that I was about to attack. The signal wasn’t for the monster, but for Zhu Shi. Without any prior coordination, we couldn’t forgo these "superfluous actions." Seeing this, Zhu Shi immediately retreated.

Time slowed down, and then suddenly accelerated, as my gaze focused on the monster’s legs. With a loud blast, the monster’s legs exploded into nothingness, and it fell towards the ground.

But before its body hit the ground, it regenerated once again. Still that same undetectable process of recovery, as if frames were missing from a film. Clearly, its resurrection wasn’t only triggered by death.

It quickly regained its charging posture. But this time, I had no time to strike again.

The monster’s speed was blindingly fast. Even with Zhu Shi’s interference, I could only manage to launch that one strike just now. And the moment I realized my attack was ineffective, the monster had already charged in front of me, and my field of vision suddenly and swiftly receded.

At first, I thought I had been sent flying, but that wasn’t the case. It felt as if my throat was torn by a claw, and then my head was ripped off, so fast that even the pain couldn’t catch up. My headless body still stood in place, spurting dark red blood like a fountain.

"Zhuang Cheng!" Zhu Shi’s cracking voice called out from afar.

"Ha ha ha ha!" The monster raised my head like a triumphant general, bursting into wanton laughter.

It was the first time it spoke, "What’s the use of having strong firepower if you’re so fragile!"

Hearing this, I also let out an exclamation, "You’re right."

Just as the monster had said, if not for Zhu Shi’s restraint, I doubt I could have even managed that one strike during its charge. The gap in speed was just too vast. This was true for me, and for any Flame Ability User fighting alone, the outcome would be the same.

Seeing my decapitated self suddenly speaking, the monster showed an astonished expression. I seized the opportunity and detonated my own head.

My body was a mimicry of flames, and naturally, so was my head. After the explosion, my sight plunged into darkness. However, through the scattered flames, I could sense my surroundings. The monster’s arm was blown to pieces, and it reflexively let out a shocked yell. If I intended to, I could have turned him into dust on the spot, but I needed to keep his head intact, so I had to minimize the range of the explosion.

The explosion was brief and didn’t cause me much pain. Under my control, the scattered flames flew back to my headless "corpse" like homing birds, reforming my head. My vision returned.

The monster’s arm also regenerated, and it stared at me in disbelief before suddenly turning to flee.

Faced with an opponent who also possessed an immortal body, its first reaction was not to continue fighting, but to run. Was it because it felt a two-against-one situation was disadvantageous, or because it wasn’t as confident in its own immortality? Regardless, I couldn’t just watch it escape.

Meanwhile, Zhu Shi appeared in front of its escape path, swinging her long sword through the air.

A sword light as swift as lightning shot out, bisecting the monster again at the waist.

"Zhuang Cheng, I’ve figured out the principle behind its immortal body!" As she attacked, she shouted across the distance to me, "It can only resurrect a limited number of times. We just need to keep killing it repeatedly!"

"I understand."

Even though I didn’t know what "principle" Zhu Shi was referring to, the idea of depleting the opponent’s regeneration power made perfect sense.

I heeded her advice and focused my gaze again, blasting the monster’s torso apart.

Before it could regenerate again, I condensed a soccer ball-sized fireball in my palm and fired it at the area where it was located.

One fireball after another, they bombarded the spot like rapid-fire artillery. The explosions were relentless; the playground’s grass churned like a pond hit by continuous heavy rocks, with the monster’s panicked screams faintly audible and the ground shaking incessantly.

While the human eye couldn’t see through the dust and debris, my heat-sensing ability clearly grasped the scene, and I manipulated the fireballs to avoid damaging its head.

After that, it was just a matter of repetition, of doing precisely as Zhu Shi had said, killing him over and over until he could no longer resurrect.

But what exactly was the principle behind his "immortality" that Zhu Shi mentioned? I couldn’t help but be concerned about that. At least, his resurrection couldn’t be a reversal of time. Although the injuries he suffered were indeed fully healed, the residual heat of my attacks on him continued to persist. If it were a reversal of time, wouldn’t the residual heat also be reversed?

While I pondered this, a cursed voice of a monster emanated from within the dusty haze.

"You’re forcing my hand..." he cried with frantic abandon, "Into the abyss with all of you!"

In an instant, I thought he was planning to banish us into a shadow world using Shadow Power, like Agent Kong had done in the past. I had been wary of that move from the beginning and was always watching for shadows. Even if Zhu Shi didn’t know how to respond, I was confident I could protect her.

However, the ability he wielded far exceeded my expectations.

From within that cloud of dust and soil, a piece of his shattered corpse suddenly released a swelling black fog. In the blink of an eye, the black fog had breached the bounds of the dusty air and enveloped me completely.

My vision turned pitch black in an instant, and a strange sense of dizziness and nausea overwhelmed me.

Was this poison gas? I immediately held my breath. While toxins had no effect on me, I couldn’t afford to underestimate an abnormal poison. Moreover, I was more concerned about Zhu Shi in that moment. Had Zhu Shi inhaled the black fog?

Contrary to my expectations, the black fog faded away within a second, and the sense of dizziness and nausea vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

What shocked me even further was the radical change in the scenery before me.

Just moments ago, I had been on the athletic field of the park, but now I found myself in a gray, worn indoor corridor. It somewhat resembled a hallway inside an office building, although it lacked doors and windows; there were only dreary walls.

Not only had I been transported to this place, but Zhu Shi had been as well.

She was standing about twenty meters away, at the same distance from me as before our transfer. She seemed a bit dizzy, pressing her head for several seconds before finally lifting her gaze to spot me and quickly running over.

I decided to ask her for insight first, "What’s going on here?"

"We’re in a space that doesn’t belong to the real world. We’ve been trapped in a Different Space," she said, frowning as she surveyed our surroundings, "That black fog wasn’t poison, but rather a force created to transfer us to this Different Space. I never expected he would have such a method..."

"A space that isn’t part of the real world?" I immediately tried to sense my flames left in other places.

Soon, I felt the connection to my flames.

The "Fireflies" I had distributed throughout Saltwater City still existed, and I could still feel the heat that had spread when bombarding the monster earlier. Scenes from the real-world athletic field emerged in my consciousness. Naturally, both Zhu Shi’s and my figures were no longer there, but the monster’s figure was also absent.

Could it be that he escaped right after reviving while transferring us to this Different Space? No, I couldn’t feel the residual heat that I’d left on him in the real world.

Rather, I got the impression he was also in this so-called Different Space... but the feeling was incredibly vague. I could only confirm his presence, not his location. It seemed like he could be ahead, behind... or really, in any direction.

Just then, from all around us came a grating laughter that was akin to that of monsters.

It was the voice of that monster.

He didn’t seem to be here with us, rather he was speaking remotely through a device like a loudspeaker. What’s incongruent is, by simply looking around, one could ascertain that there were no loudspeakers to be found.

"Let me give you some credit for managing to force out my last resort," he said, sounding completely assured of his victory.

"Is this also part of your power?" I asked, "Transferring your enemies to this kind of Different Space?"

"Yes, this is my true power," he boasted confidently, "Once locked in, you’ll never escape."

At these words, Zhu Shi let out a disdainful laugh.

It was not the kind of laugh she would produce when she was with me, but an aggressive posture that only emerged when facing an enemy.

She held her sword high, standing tall and fearlessly surveying the surroundings.

The monster’s voice turned frosty, "What’s so funny?"

"You’re lying," Zhu Shi declared, as if she saw right through him, "Let’s set aside the immortality for now. The phenomenon of transporting enemies to a Different Space isn’t your power at all."

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