Chapter 583 White-Hot

"Rip!"

A sharp harpoon tore through the air, whistling as it thrust toward the enemy straight ahead.

Carrying a fierce gust, the tip of the prong pierced the adventurer's flesh, yet it did not meet the resistance of blood and bone one would expect.

It felt weightless, ethereal.

With just a slight push, the adventurer's body—which appeared to have been skewered by the harpoon—began to fade and dissipate amidst invisible ripples, like a disturbed reflection in water.

Seeing this, the roaring elite fishman guard froze in shock.

Before it could process what had happened, a lethal threat loomed from behind.

Its shadow cast on the sandy beach violently writhed. Dark energy crawled up and wrapped around its calves like tentacles, locking it in place.

Two Short Daggers struck from the blind spot behind it—the left held normally, the right in a reverse grip. Like a bee's sting, they gently brushed across the fishman's neck.

The restraining dark energy dissolved back into harmless shadow. The harpoon clattered to the ground.

Uttering a despairing gurgle, the fishman guard clutched its neck with both hands and struggled painfully as it fell to the ground. Glowing blue blood seeped uncontrollably through its fingers, quickly forming a pool on the sand.

His chest heaving, the gloomy-faced middle-aged man panted heavily. He leaned down and stabbed the fishman in the head two more times to confirm the kill.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the teammates in his party who were currently fighting the fishmen. Seeing that none of them had suffered serious injuries and were generally in a relatively safe state, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Although the adventurers had ostensibly formed a united front, it was an impromptu alliance. They had never practiced fighting together.

As a result, their battle against the sahuagin looked like a massive group clash, but in reality, they were still fighting individually in their separate parties.

The gloomy adventurer's name was unknown. The overall strength of the squad he led was only average among the adventurer parties on the field.

Building a party was not easy, and he cherished the life of every member.

To maximize his teammates' survival rate, this captain had deliberately chosen a relatively rearward, inconspicuous position on the battlefield.

When facing the fishmen's attacks—even the lackeys that could be easily dispatched in a few exchanges—he had his members prolong the fight a little longer, provided their safety was guaranteed.

On the surface, they appeared to be contributing to the battle just like the other adventurers. In truth, they were coasting through the chaos, preserving the party's strength.

From the perspective of the gloomy adventurer and his party, this approach was certainly understandable.

To some extent, it was precisely because of this cautious nature that he had survived navigating the seas for so many years—despite possessing combat power and tactical acumen that were far from outstanding compared to other adventurer captains—and had even managed to build a Class Grade party.

Unfortunately, no matter how low-profile and inconspicuous he was, under the cunning gaze of the sahuagin priest Urk, the gloomy adventurer's identity as a "Captain" and his "agile combat style" were still sharply perceived. He ultimately became the optimal target for [Slow] on the battlefield.

"Hum—"

Pale pink magical light dragged a meteor-like tail through the air, crossing the spatial distance to gently land on the gloomy adventurer, who tried to dodge but failed.

It did not affect the surrounding environment. Whether it was the sand kicked up by his movements or the fallen leaves carried over from the distant woods by the sea breeze, everything else maintained its original trajectory and speed.

Only the gloomy adventurer himself seemed to have had a slow-motion button pressed on him.

As a Class Holder of the [Rogue] class who manipulated shadow energy, his light and agile movements abruptly turned sluggish. Even the blood seeping from a careless harpoon scratch on his arm slowed down, only returning to normal speed once the drops fell from his body due to gravity.

This was a large fishman force with considerable discipline and scale.

Knowing clearly that [Slow] only had a crowd-control effect and a limited duration, Urk had already directed the elite fishmen under their command in the sahuagin language long before casting the spell.

Almost at the exact moment [Slow] took effect on the gloomy adventurer, three elite fishman guards that had been either lurking or feigning attacks in the surrounding area charged toward him.

Under normal circumstances, as a Rogue with a respectable Class Level, facing such a siege—even if he couldn't pull off a counter-kill—dodging and evading would have been a breeze.

But the spell effect of [Slow] perfectly struck the fatal weakness of his combat style. The gloomy adventurer's body and even his mind were decelerated, leaving him no time to react.

Furthermore, because his status as captain had him standing at the very front of his squad, there was a certain distance between him and his teammates, making it difficult for them to support him.

The [Rogue] class was even less adept at defense, possessing a much lower margin for error compared to classes like the Warrior.

"Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!"

Three sharp harpoons viciously skewered his body from different angles.

One stabbed diagonally upward from his ribs, shredding his internal organs; one nailed straight through the center of his thigh, bursting his femoral artery and causing blood to gush; the final one pierced through from his back, the harpoon tip bursting through his chest with fragments of his heart still clinging to the blade.

His prepared lifesavers—the combat techniques meant only for emergencies and his high-quality Healing Potions—had absolutely no time to be used under the influence of [Slow].

His screams came to an abrupt halt as his mutilated corpse collapsed.

The gloomy adventurer died on the spot.

Of course, it didn't end there. The radiant energy of [Slow] had landed almost simultaneously on the six targets Urk had locked onto.

However, compared to the perfect counter it provided against the gloomy adventurer, the other adventurers' reactions varied.

Similarly distanced from her teammates due to her own combat style and combat techniques, Lorraine failed her Saving Throw. Though she was affected by [Slow], her movements and thoughts hindered, it did not disrupt the [Scorching Heat Domain] she was already sustaining. The elite fishman guards that tried to seize the opportunity to attack her suffered massive burning damage the moment they drew near, and their striking power was somewhat weakened by the pain.

In the end, she only suffered some minor injuries. After chugging two mouthfuls of a Healing Potion, she was fine.

Tieg and Zephyr—the former possessing a formidable physique and astonishing defense, and the latter fighting while surrounded by his teammates—both avoided serious injury. A second after Zephyr was struck by the spell, his party members rushed up to support him.

As for the tabaxi, Sasha, although his predicament forced the Barbarian Aken beside him to take two extra wounds to the back, he managed to ride out the effects of [Slow] under the other man's cover.

And from Xia Nan's perspective, this was a completely unprecedented experience.

First of all, before anything else, one thing had to be made clear.

The [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat—obtained from the Evil God Secret Realm, which had helped him countless times on his adventuring journey—specifically defended against "mind control spells," including but not limited to charm, fear, and hypnosis.

Only when a spell hitting Xia Nan met this criterion would it trigger the Feat's inherent resistance buff and damage reflection effects.

With this as the premise, even though the actual manifestation of [Hold Person] was to paralyze the target's body—leaving them mentally aware but unable to move—

Its core essence was still to use magic to interfere with the target's mind, thereby controlling their actions.

It belonged to the category of "mind control" spells.

There was no substantial difference between it and spells like [Charm Person] and [Dominate Person].

But [Slow] was different.

Looking at the magical schools, unlike the "Enchantment School" of [Hold Person], [Slow] fell under the broader category of the "Transmutation School".

Its spell essence was to achieve a crowd-control effect by altering the speed at which time flowed over the target.

Under these circumstances, when that cluster of pale pink magical light precisely struck the rapidly moving Xia Nan, the frontline defense of the [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat was bypassed, proceeding directly to the Saving Throw phase.

If the save succeeded, there was naturally nothing more to say; if it failed, he would be influenced by the spell for a short time until the next check.

Hmm—it was worth noting that the key attribute for a [Slow] Saving Throw was "Perception".

And for Xia Nan, who had elevated [Heavy Tide] to the max Level 5 and pushed his Perception attribute to an almost exaggerated "13" points, facing a 3rd Circle Spell cast by Urk—who was by no means a Transcendent Tier Grade Spellcaster—

Passing the check wasn't exactly a terribly difficult task.

"Vmm-boom!"

The pale pink magical light shattered in an instant.

But at the same time, the process of making the Saving Throw caused Xia Nan's highly mobile body to abruptly stall for half a second.

In a fast-paced battle, things changed in the blink of an eye.

The span of a single sharp breath was enough for the elite fishman guards he had previously bypassed to catch up, their sharp harpoons thrusting straight for his back.

With his sharp Perception, Xia Nan instinctively spun around, his straight sword sweeping upward in a fluid arc. The blade caught in the gaps of the harpoons, sparking violently from the intense collision.

Unafraid of the clash, his arm muscles bulged as he suddenly exerted force. Using the combat technique of [Spinning Slash], he swung his sword powerfully right from that grappling stance, forcing the incoming harpoons to deflect to the side. They crashed into the other bladed weapons plunging down behind them, and he tagged on a max-level [Heavy Tide] for good measure.

The air distorted, and the fishmen were hacked down, tumbling head over heels.

Two of them, already unsteady on their feet, crashed to the ground spread-eagle like drunks, knocked completely off balance.

Knowing his original surprise charge had been spotted, Xia Nan stopped trying to evade the melee.

His straight sword, [Ember Fall], carved several arcs through the air, and the pursuing sahuagin guards were instantly reduced to headless corpses.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coast.

The fishman priest Urk, who had been carefully observing the targeted adventurers' reactions after casting the spell to probe their combat prowess, naturally witnessed the entire aftermath of the spell.

The good news: the [Slow] spell had achieved its expected results.

Urk possessed a clear understanding of the fishmen's strength and the limits of what this spell could accomplish.

They certainly didn't expect a single spell to kill six Class Holder adventurers.

In fact, the death of the gloomy adventurer was an unexpected bonus.

Their true goal was to briefly restrict the movements of these key adventurers to shift the overall flow of battle, buying time to prepare the sacrificial ritual.

Facts proved that their tactic was highly effective.

Although the actual outcome of [Slow] only inflicted minor injuries on the core figures, including Lorraine, the ensuing chain reaction instantly stalled the momentum on the coast that had been tilting in the adventurers' favor. It even subtly began to tilt back toward the fishmen.

The only piece of bad news.

That black-haired adventurer cloaked in the phantom of a black wolf, whom Urk had initially dismissed as an ordinary Rogue trying to launch a sneak attack on them.

His combat capabilities far exceeded their expectations.

Urk didn't think just anyone could violently power through the effects of [Slow] and take down several elite guards in just a few exchanges.

A thoughtful gleam flashed through Urk's cloudy, white-rimmed fish eyes as they further gauged Xia Nan's combat power and resistances.

'Outstanding speed, Strength above average, Fine equipment. High probability of possessing multiple enchanted items,' they thought.

'Has corresponding resistance to mind control spells. Hmm—his Perception should be exceptionally high.'

Combining the information Urk had gathered, they felt a long-absent sense of trouble.

If this young-looking, black-haired adventurer really managed to close the distance, even they—they had to admit—would be in quite a bit of danger.

Subconsciously, Urk elevated Xia Nan's threat level to the highest on the battlefield.

Urk estimated the time required for the ritual to be completely finished.

On the other side, the [Mage Hand] they were controlling had already dragged the corpse of "Algae Scale" Dodd near the corpse pit.

"Rumble!"

Sand and gravel splattered as the entire coast shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.

On the surface of the towering Coral Altar, glowing blue array patterns lit up one by one. A blurry, hazy shadow enveloped the horrifying pile of corpses beside it.

Using a massive amount of corpses and flesh as sacrifices—including a high-level Class Holder like "Algae Scale" Dodd—

The sahuagin's sacrificial ritual was on the verge of completion.

Keenly sensing the shift in the magical particles in the air, Xia Nan channeled [Heavy Tide] and swung a powerful sword strike, driving back a fishman commander who had tried to intercept him while he was slowed down.

He spun around, his gaze locking onto the scene ahead.

His eyes darted between the altar, the fishman priest, and Dodd's corpse.

His brain worked rapidly, analyzing the situation on the battlefield.

Thanks to the fishman priest's stalling, although no one had explicitly told him the progress of the sacrificial ritual, it was clearly not far from being completely finished.

What should he do?

Should he continue his assault on the priest and execute the decapitation strike, or change targets and try to stop the ritual?

As these thoughts flashed by, a vague plan had already formed in Xia Nan's mind.

But before he had time to turn the plan into action—

Because his outstanding performance had drawn heavy attention, a dazzling magical glow was already falling toward his position from the tip of Urk's Bone-White Staff.