Chapter 315 Pierced Through the Chest, Falling Powerless to the Ground

Adventurers at the level of Xia Nan, Margaret, and Thordin might still be far from the experts who had completed their class advancements to reach the "Transcendent Tier" or "Legendary rank."

But compared to ordinary people—or even newly advanced Class Holders—they were absolute monsters.

To exaggerate slightly, if you threw the dwarf right into a Goblin Lair and he didn't fight back at all, relying only on defensive combat techniques, those little green-skinned runts could wail on him with wooden clubs and rotten teeth for quite a while without ever breaking his defense.

Faced with Xia Nan's speed and explosive power, an ordinary adventurer would likely only feel a light breeze brush past. Before they even realized what had happened, their head would already be flying through the air.

Combat techniques, Feats, and most importantly, physical attributes—this comprehensive enhancement allowed them to completely crush weaker enemies in battle.

The sheer speed of their movements far exceeded ordinary human imagination.

Truthfully, from the moment the three parties converged to Abi deciding to make the pact under Saloyan's temptation, the appearance of the magic circle, and the others stepping forward to stop it—the entire sequence hadn't taken long at all.

Then they were blocked by [Fear] and [Stinking Cloud] and struggled to break free. Xia Nan was the first to succeed his saving throw, only to be grazed by [Lightning Bolt]. After suffering heavy injuries, he used [Tears of Spring Breath] to recover, then cast [Fang Hunt] to charge forward again, right up until Abi pressed his thumb onto the contract.

This entire sequence made it seem as though they had each experienced a lot, as if an incredibly long time had passed.

In reality, it only took as much time as Abi needed to wait for the magic circle to form, walk from the outside to the center, bite his finger, and press it down.

What followed was much the same.

The cast of [Slow] and the shockwave of air occurred almost simultaneously, and the ambush and death of the Rogue, Goldensand, followed right on its heels.

Even with Xia Nan's rapid reaction—casting [Fang Hunt] to rush in for support the very instant Goldensand emerged from the shadows and leaped high to swing his dagger at the devil—he only barely reached them by the time the Rogue's corpse, scorched by fel flames, plummeted into the magic circle and the Gate of Purgatory opened.

Aiming for the devil's neck and head, his fully charged [Spinning Slash] hadn't even fully swung out before an overwhelmingly thick stench of sulfur forced him to pull it back. A heavy polearm chopped out from the side with immense momentum, threatening to cleave his body in two.

He held his two-handed greatsword diagonally at his side, blocking the strike.

At the same time, the powerful force carried by the polearm knocked him back. He stumbled backward, stamping a long trail of cracked footprints into the ground before he barely neutralized the residual force and regained his balance.

By this time, the devil minions that had crossed over into the Material Plane alongside his attacker had already pounced on the Blackwood Squad on the other side of the battlefield.

Two Spined Devils flanked Thordin, three Imps besieged Margaret, and the final remaining one flapped its wings and charged at the mage, Joshua, in the rear.

Just as the bizarre, dark-purple-skinned devil—standing nearly two and a half meters tall—roared and swung its second strike at Xia Nan, the Imp cackled and plunged its steel pitchfork into the mage's chest. If he could help it, Xia Nan certainly wouldn't have sat back and watched this unfamiliar adventurer squad lose a member; they were temporary allies, after all.

But no matter how overpowered he might be, he was still just a Level 2 Class Holder. How could he possibly cross the distance in such a short time to stop that sharp pitchfork, which had already left its wielder's hand and was plunging down in his field of vision?

It was even beyond the range of his [Gravity Control].

The shrill, abruptly silenced scream echoed faintly in his ears, accompanied by the piercing shrieks of the devils.

The once-cold air of the spacious lair had long been filled with the scorching heat of hell.

Ignoring the dull ache in his nasal cavity and throat as he breathed, Xia Nan focused his attention to the absolute limit, staring intently at the enemy before him.

This was an otherworldly fiend with a complete humanoid form, blending elegance with sheer savagery.

It possessed the signature upturned pointed ears and sharp facial features of an Elf, but the pale fangs protruding from its lower lip and its steel-like, knotted muscle lines made it look more like a half-orc from some savage tribe.

The most eye-catching feature—and the source of its title as a "Barbed Devil"—was the bizarre, dense, and thick thorn-like beard growing from its chin.

Not hair in the traditional sense, these spike-tipped tendrils were like a nest of dark-brown venomous snakes with lives of their own, rubbing and tangling against each other to produce a teeth-setting rustle.

It was a stark contrast to the other side of the battlefield, where the Spined Devils and Imps—also from Purgatory—were behaving like feral beasts.

Although the Barbed Devil before him was also bare-chested, it wore a thick cloth wrapped around its waist, and its forearms and calves were even fitted with what appeared to be Fine-grade bracers and greaves.

Even the weapon in its hands was a polearm of clearly exceptional craftsmanship, its surface etched with intricate patterns.

It didn't let out any excited howls, nor did it recklessly vent the desires brewing within its body.

It merely stood quietly in place, watching Xia Nan.

The pressure spiked!

Xia Nan could feel a tremendous pressure radiating from the devil in front of him.

As mentioned before, monsters of the same Challenge Rating posed completely different threats to adventurers in actual combat due to their varied fighting styles and special abilities.

For example, the Petrification Lizard, which relied primarily on its "Petrification Gaze" to hunt, versus the Owlbear, a pure stat monster that relied entirely on its physical body.

The Barbed Devil's Challenge Rating was exactly the same as theirs: "3".

Its physical attributes were slightly weaker than the Owlbear's, but its intelligence was clearly vastly superior.

This granted the Barbed Devil the learning capacity of an intelligent creature, allowing it to truly accumulate experience from every battle. Thanks to its humanoid structure, it could even learn techniques like weapon mastery and combat skills.

To be honest, before a genuine close-quarters clash, Xia Nan wasn't entirely sure if he was a match for the devil standing before him.

And what made him feel even more pressure was the infernal devil that had just completed the pact, possessing Abi's body and wreathed in dark fire.

Setting up and activating the teleportation circle seemed to have consumed a portion of its power, causing the flames around it to dim slightly.

Yet there was no sense of weakness about it whatsoever. It simply stood in the center of the battlefield with the posture of an absolute ruler, commanding and directing the frenzied devils.

What should Xia Nan do?

With the overly narrow passage making escape virtually a dead end, he now had three choices.

First, bypass the Barbed Devil in front of him to support the dwarf and the female swordsman on the other side, helping them clear out the numerous weaker devils before concentrating their forces on the stronger enemies.

Second, similarly avoid the Barbed Devil and execute a decapitation strike by attacking the devil manipulating Abi's body. This might solve the problem once and for all; without the power it provided, the devils summoned to the Material Plane would be left without an anchor.

Third, face the Barbed Devil's attacks head-on, eliminate it as quickly as possible, and then judge the battlefield situation to decide whether to support the female swordsman and the others or attack the devil leader.

His mind raced.

The rushed timeframe and the excessive number of variables on the field made it impossible for Xia Nan to find an optimal solution in such a short window.

Reality wasn't a strategy game. He might be able to use the speed provided by [Fang Hunt] to briefly slip past the Barbed Devil's pursuit—

But then what?

Once bypassed, the enemy wouldn't just stand there doing nothing like an idiot, nor would it lose aggro simply because he moved a little further away, like a mob in a game.

It would most likely chase him down and continue its assault.

With that premise in mind, if Xia Nan chose the first or second option, it meant he would have to face a pincer attack from the front and back. He would worsen the current brief 1v1 situation into a 1v2, or perhaps even worse.

Furthermore, the successive casts of several spells earlier rendered the so-called "decapitation tactic" mere empty talk.

He completely doubted that, at his current level of strength, he had the ability to dispatch this powerful devil in a short time. If he got close and was hit with another [Slow], how would he handle it then?

Stay calm. Stay steady.

But the current state of the battlefield had already exceeded Xia Nan's capacity to cope. His little over a year of experience as an adventurer wasn't enough to help him find the critical turning point to break the deadlock.

Under these circumstances, what was he supposed to do?

His dark eyes swept across the Barbed Devil, "Abi," and the adventurer squad.

"Huu—"

Xia Nan let out a long breath.

He wasn't giving up on thinking, nor was he losing his will to fight.

When fog shrouded the path, crises lurked in the shadows, and the way forward was obscured.

The only thing he could trust was this body of his, and the combat instincts forged through the fusion with his soul.

Clang—sparks flew!

The Fine greatsword from the Rockhammer Smithy clashed violently against the razor-sharp polearm forged in the depths of Purgatory. With a Strength attribute clearly superior by more than a single tier, bulging muscles knotting across the Barbed Devil's arms, and a much larger, more robust physique, its slash practically enveloped Xia Nan's entire body.

Gripping the sword with both hands, he gritted his teeth. The tremendous force transmitted from the blade through his entire body caused cracks to spiderweb across the ground beneath his feet.

Knowing where his own advantages lay, Xia Nan naturally wouldn't pit his weaknesses against the enemy's strengths.

Exerting a sudden burst of power with both hands, he forcefully shoved the greatsword upward!

Simultaneously, he pushed off the ground.

Accompanied by a long, haunting wolf howl, the phantom of a giant, black, mane-swaying wolf transformed into a gale, circling to the Barbed Devil's rear flank.

[Spinning Slash]!

The silver-white wolf fang, glinting with cold light, carved a perfect arc through the air, howling straight toward the enemy's nape.

Yet it didn't bite into flesh as expected.

In terms of pure physical prowess, the Barbed Devil was far above Xia Nan, and its combat experience surpassed his by leaps and bounds.

To have survived this long, it had encountered countless enemies of every variety.

Among them, there had been no shortage of highly agile and burst-damage types.

"Clang!"

The curved combat technique, carrying the full momentum of his body, was blocked by the Barbed Devil as it half-turned, parrying with its blade. The sheer collision of force caused the blade itself to tremble and hum.

Holding the sword, Xia Nan felt a numbing shock shoot all the way from his forearms to his shoulders.

'I can't keep this up. I have to create some distance!'

The thought flashed through his mind.

He abruptly raised his leg and kicked squarely into the Barbed Devil's lower abdomen, simultaneously casting [Fang Hunt] to transform into a black wolf phantom and rapidly retreating diagonally backward.

But right at that moment, the Barbed Devil, possessing vastly superior reaction speed, seemed to realize Xia Nan's strategy of opening up distance.

It didn't dodge his kick at all; it practically leaned into it. At the same time, its upper body pitched forward, bending into a twisted bow shape as it thrust its dark-purple head close.

"Thud"—it was the muffled sound of a blood-and-mud-stained leather boot kicking into flesh.

"Ssst"—it was the sharp tear of the air as the thorns on the Barbed Devil's chin lunged forward like striking vipers.

A profound sense of danger erupted in his heart.

Almost on instinct, Xia Nan focused his intent, pushing his mental energy expenditure to the absolute maximum—[Gravity Control]!

The thorny tendrils that had been thrusting straight for his face, reflected in his contracting pupils, looked as if they had been gently swatted aside by an invisible giant hand.

Their trajectory shifted.

They landed on the Arm Shield that Xia Nan had simultaneously raised to protect his front.

A flicker of surprise flashed through the Barbed Devil's cloudy eyes.

Yet it didn't hesitate in the slightest, lunging forward in pursuit of Xia Nan, who had just touched down wrapped in the black wolf phantom.

That momentary maximum-output burst of mental energy allowed Xia Nan to warp what would have been a fatal blow using [Gravity Control], but it also gave him a splitting headache, causing his vision to blur.

He had only just stabilized his center of gravity when the screech of a blade cleaving the air rang out against his face through the sulfurous stench.

Howl—[Fang Hunt] activated once again.

Driven to the brink and facing a powerful enemy, Xia Nan's thoughts were utterly ignited by his will to fight.

A flash of combat inspiration streaked through his mind. He captured it in an instant and translated it into physical action.

He stopped dodging and abandoned his usual attempts to flank.

Instead, Xia Nan charged straight ahead, meeting the Barbed Devil head-on.

The pitch-black mane, rendered by energy, swayed in the void as the spectral black wolf roared and pounced forward.

"Clang!"

Shockwaves surged!

The debris on the ground and the fine dust in the air scattered wildly, as if blown back by an explosion.

Riding the explosive momentum of [Fang Hunt], Xia Nan actually managed to use his off-hand to directly block a chop from a devil whose Strength attribute far exceeded his own.

On his left arm, the [Darkscale Coiled Guard] from the otherworldly secret realm blocked this terrifying strike capable of cleaving solid rock.

The majestic impact force, still incredibly potent even after being mitigated by the Arm Shield, caused half of Xia Nan's body to instantly go numb and lose all sensation.

Fighting through the agony, there was no way he would waste this hard-won, precious opportunity.

His right hand, freed up ever since he had cast [Fang Hunt], abruptly tightened its grip on the greatsword and plunged it straight down.

"Schlick."

Equally trapped in the post-collision stiffness and unable to dodge, the Barbed Devil practically watched helplessly as the silver-white greatsword, its surface coalescing with ochre-red energy, pierced right through its chest.

[Gravity Etching]—Detonate!

"Boom!"

The hyper-compressed force field energy suddenly erupted from the blade buried inside the devil's body, exploding from the inside out like a miniature firework.

Flesh and blood were blown apart, blood violently splattered, and its heart was instantly devoured by the energy.

It left a massive, gaping hole right in the center of the Barbed Devil's chest, clear enough to see the rock wall behind it.

Just as Xia Nan was about to pull his sword out to finish the job, his arm having barely begun to exert force, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a flash of dark-red fire.

A fatal sense of peril erupted in his heart.

Half-turning his body, he raised the diamond-shaped shield in his hand with all his might.

A second later, flames from Purgatory blasted against the Snake-Scale Arm Shield.

Xia Nan believed he had done everything up to his absolute limits.

In just a few short exchanges, while staying vigilant against the devil possessing Abi in the rear, he had relied on his perfect control over risk and positioning to proactively create an opening, securing a brief window to strike and inflicting a grievous wound on the Barbed Devil.

He had even astutely noticed Saloyan launching a sneak attack with infernal fire right after the clash, and had pulled off a clutch block at the very limit of his capabilities.

Unfortunately, he was still fighting alone against many, suffering a severe numerical disadvantage. Moreover, his combat experience was ultimately far inferior to that of a devil from Hell, and he sorely lacked an understanding of "devils" as a species.

This caused Xia Nan to overlook the tenacious vitality of these otherworldly fiends—a resilience entirely unlike that of ordinary creatures in the Material Plane.

Even though its heart had been pulverized by the force field energy, the fact that its head hadn't been severed in time still left the Barbed Devil with the ability to make one final move before death.

"Schlick."

The sluggish sound of a sharp blade entering flesh rang out amidst the shrill cackling of the devils.

The Barbed Devil, its chest blown wide open with a massive hole, fell backward onto the ground.

It revealed the black-haired figure standing stiffly in front of it.

The greatsword, chipped and notched from the fierce battle, slipped from his hands.

Intense agony forced Xia Nan to cast his gaze downward.

What entered his vision was splattering, flowing blood, a torn shirt, and the cold, glinting tip of a blade that had pierced straight through his chest from behind...

'Dammit,' he cursed inwardly.

His vision abruptly blurred, and darkness swallowed his consciousness like a rising tide.

He fell powerless to the ground.