Jiang He noticed Chi Zhilei's aura vanish. In that instant, rage surged in his chest, but he quickly regained his calm.
When the ambush had just struck, Old Jiang had been watching idly from the side.
The fact that Jiang He failed to react did not mean that Old Jiang failed to react.
Since Old Jiang had not taken action, it meant that Chi Zhilei was not in danger. She had merely triggered her life-saving mechanism and had been teleported back to the school.
Compared to her, what Jiang He needed to focus on more was the demon before him!
It was far too powerful.
Especially its speed—it was terrifyingly swift.
So swift, in fact, that under its sudden ambush, Jiang He did not even have time to utter a Word-Spirit.
Fortunately, during previous battles, Jiang He had already formed the habit of applying buffs to himself and his teammates before stepping into the domain of the next demon.
Thus, he already carried enhancements such as the Tarot, Words Carved into Bone, and others.
Because of this, when he was struck by the ambush, he was only gravely injured, but not instantly killed like Chi Zhilei.
At this moment, Jiang He's thoughts whirled, fiery flames ignited at the roots of his hair, engulfing his entire body in an instant—
Flame Body, activate!
As the specialty and skill took effect, his grievous injuries flipped into a beneficial state.
The more wounded he was, the fiercer his flames. The fiercer his flames, the stronger his physique!
In the blink of an eye, his power surged several levels higher!
At the same time, the Spell Word 「Spirit Heal」 he had inscribed upon himself activated, rapidly repairing his internal organ injuries.
The situation that had been on the verge of death immediately turned around.
Relying on the specialty effect of Flame Body, Jiang He halted his fall, hovering midair, his gaze locked firmly on the half-bodied demon before him.
After its first strike, the demon did not stop. Instead, it rose on its toes, bent its legs, and, stepping on falling rocks, assumed a running stance.
Seeing this, Jiang He decisively opened his mouth.
「Judgment」
As Jiang He's physical strength soared, his speech grew much faster as well.
When ambushed before, he could only utter a single syllable. Now, he could pronounce a complete Spell Word.
Unfortunately…
It was still half a beat too slow.
When the Word-Spirit activated, the half-bodied demon had already unleashed its full power. With a shockwave spreading outward, it vanished from its spot.
The next instant, it appeared before Xiao Xue. Although restrained by 「Judgment」 and unable to move, by relying solely on its sheer momentum, it crashed violently into her!
Xiao Xue's arms turned into blade limbs, crossed before her, yet they were shattered piece by piece.
With bones breaking and tendons snapping, the moment the demon struck her body, her life-saving teleportation activated, and she disappeared on the spot.
At this point, from the start of the demon's ambush, only a single second had passed.
Of the three-person squad, only Jiang He remained.
So this was a true terror-grade demon?
Without the life-saving mechanism, it needed less than a single second to slay both Chi Zhilei and Xiao Xue!
Jiang He fixed his gaze on the half-bodied demon, still bound by 「Judgment」 and falling alongside the rubble. His thoughts flashed, and he reacted swiftly—
This was the control time Xiao Xue had bought.
He had to use this window to unleash enough damage to bring down this demon!
He spoke.
「Instant」
As the Word-Spirit activated, Jiang He strode through the air with his blade, surging forward like a wave of fire, closing the distance to the demon, and swung down the Phoenix-Resting Wooden Blade.
「Candle Dragon」
A fiery dragon roared out, its jaws wide open as it lunged at the demon, seemingly to burn it into ash.
Yet at that very moment—
The demon regained its mobility.
With a step of its toes, it vanished from its place.
The next instant, it appeared ten meters away.
The usually unstoppable Candle Dragon flame bit at empty air, soaring off into the distance, lighting up the darkness below.
Below them lay what seemed like a school's athletic field, grass in the center surrounded by a red running track.
Jiang He and the demon, along with countless falling stones, were about to crash to the ground.
Yet the demon seemed unwilling to let Jiang He land.
It stepped off once more, appearing before Jiang He, and lashed out with a direct kick.
No tricks, no technique, only speed and power pushed to the extreme!
That single kick was enough to explode any D-rank Transcendent!
—Except Jiang He.
Since last Saturday, Jiang He had fought daily against the Metal Knights.
And as beings whose combat strength scaled infinitely, the foundation of their enhancements was pure strength and speed, followed by attribute and skill power…
In other words, Jiang He had already pushed his Battle-Energy Ratio past three hundred and had fought countless times against opponents far surpassing him in strength and speed!
He had gained considerable experience in dealing with such battles!
Had he not been caught off-guard by the demon's initial ambush, he never would have looked so disheveled.
Just as now—the demon's movements were as fast as lightning.
Yet in Jiang He's instinct, its attack trajectory was so clear, almost…
Simple.
With a single 「Instant」, flames roared as he adjusted his angle.
Jiang He easily dodged the demon's kick.
In that moment, the demon launched more than a hundred additional kicks, a storm of strikes that filled the air, shattering even the falling stones into dust!
But Jiang He kept dodging, erasing, spewing fire—again and again dissipating the attacks.
Though it looked dangerous and frantic, in truth, he was completely in control.
And as time went on, his movements grew lighter and smoother—
Not only because of the self-damaging cycle of the "eraser," which toughened his physique.
He was also leveraging the skill [Lingering Echo lv6], stacking the power of the Word-Spirit 「Instant」 over and over!
The first utterance was a mere twofold speed.
The second raised it to fourfold.
The third, eightfold.
The fourth, sixteenfold.
By the fifth, Jiang He had already reached thirty-two times speed!
Since 「Instant」 only increased movement speed and not reaction time—
Last week, when Jiang He reached sixteenfold speed, he had lost control and slammed into the ground.
But now, at thirty-twofold speed, he was still perfectly in command—
The five-sense enhancement and supreme intuition brought by the [Inspirer] profession precisely made up for his lack of reaction speed. Coupled with his growing combat instinct, he had gained the ability to master extreme speed.
This was the true reason Jiang He could battle the Metal Knights and reach a 347 Battle-Energy Ratio!
At this moment, Jiang He had fully caught up to the demon's speed!
But it was still not enough.
Jiang He spoke.
「Instant」
「Instant」
Seven times "Instant"—one hundred and twenty-eightfold speed, unleashed!
Jiang He did not wield the Phoenix-Resting Wooden Blade, but raised his right hand directly, shaping his palm into a blade, igniting a fiery edge upon it.
Slash.
No process, only the result.
Before him, the demon's remaining half-body was cleanly severed. The darkness clinging to it was erased by the "eraser."
The two remaining muscular legs lost their force and fell with a crash along with the rubble.
Jiang He also landed upon the ground.
At this moment, his right hand hung twisted and limp, every inch of bone within it completely shattered.
He had won.
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