Chapter 99 Fire Immunity

Spined Devils were not native to the Material Plane.

Their true home was the Nine Hells.

There, they beat their enormous batlike membranous wings through murky skies filled with clouds of flame, shrieking as they searched the ground below for prey.

But creatures from other planes had a way of appearing where they did not belong.

Sometimes two planes overlapped by accident.

Sometimes an unlucky novice summoner made a mistake.

Sometimes a cultist recited the wrong invocation.

Sometimes a greedy fool tried to strike a bargain with a devil.

For one reason or another, Spined Devils appeared on the Aifala Continent often enough that any adventurer worth the name needed to know what they were.

Xia Nan had spent part of his rest in Rivervale Town urgently studying this world’s basic knowledge.

Monsters had been one of his priorities.

Anything he might run into while adventuring, he had tried to memorize.

So he knew exactly what a Challenge Rating of 2 meant.

He could not even reliably kill a Bugbear on his own yet.

There was no chance a monster from the Nine Hells twice its Challenge Rating was something he should fight head-on.

The moment Xia Nan recognized the creature, he changed direction.

The dust from its crash had not even settled.

He sacrificed a little speed and angled sideways, intending to circle around it.

The logic was simple.

Kalanfor was currently exploding behind them.

Even a naturally vicious creature like a Spined Devil should be more interested in escaping than wasting precious time fighting him.

At least, that was what Xia Nan expected.

He had taken only two steps to the left when…

Thwip!

A barbed bone spine shot through the air like a bullet and buried itself in the mud directly ahead of him.

Xia Nan stopped dead.

He immediately leaped backward.

His brows tightened as he stared at the creature.

Something was wrong.

The Spined Devil looked as though it had just come out of another fight.

Badly.

Its hide, tough enough to endure the burning storms of the Nine Hells, had been cut open by some kind of sharp weapon.

A bloody gash split the center of its chest.

One of the huge bat wings that normally carried it through the sky had also been mangled.

The left wing drooped unnaturally from the middle, pale bone visible through the wound.

But what bothered Xia Nan most was not either injury.

It was the purple haze around the creature.

The fungal spores were visibly denser there.

[Is it infected?]

Xia Nan still had no desire to fight.

He slowly edged sideways, away from the Spined Devil, trying to make it clear that he had no intention of threatening it.

The monster answered with a shriek drenched in the stench of sulfur.

“Screee!”

Its body barely reached an ordinary person’s waist.

Yet in the next instant, that small, wiry frame exploded forward with a speed no ordinary human could have reacted to.

Even Xia Nan saw only a blur.

His body moved on instinct.

The longsword rose across his chest.

Clang!

The Decapitating Longsword shuddered violently in his hands.

A concentrated, penetrating force slammed through the blade, traveled into his arms, and spread through his entire body.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Mud sprayed beneath his boots as Xia Nan staggered back three paces.

By the time he steadied himself, the Spined Devil had already retreated to its original position.

It crouched low.

Its wings wrapped around its body.

Its long tail lifted behind it and swayed faintly from side to side.

Like a venomous snake warning an enemy away.

“Huff…”

Xia Nan slowly exhaled.

The numbness in his arms began to fade.

He did not move again.

Instead, he kept the sword raised and stared at the monster.

His mind raced.

[Too fast.]

The Spined Devil was already badly wounded.

It could not even fly anymore.

Yet its explosive speed was still beyond his own.

Which meant one thing.

Running was impossible.

The moment Xia Nan turned his back, those jagged teeth would probably be through his neck before he made it ten steps.

Behind him, waves of hot air generated by the clash between the transcendents in Kalanfor continued to roll across the wilderness.

Each one was hotter than the last.

The smooth iron-gray blade of his sword reflected the crouching monster through the drifting spores.

In Xia Nan’s dark eyes, hesitation disappeared.

So did the urge to retreat.

What remained was resolve.

And a rising battle intent.

He fixed his gaze on the Spined Devil.

Watched its body.

Its wings.

Its tail.

Then he leaned forward.

And charged.

He had no ranged attacks.

If he wanted to survive this encounter, he had to close the distance and kill it up close.

Thwip!

The air screamed beside his ear.

A black blur flashed through his vision.

Xia Nan tilted his head on instinct.

Snap!

Several strands of hair drifted away.

A bone spine sharp enough to pierce steel skimmed past his cheek.

The pressure in its wake stung his skin.

Death had missed him by inches.

His heart slammed against his ribs.

Blood surged through his body until it felt almost boiling.

For an instant, Xia Nan could hear nothing but the roar of his own circulation.

Both hands tightened around the longsword.

The combat technique he had practiced countless times once again took shape.

Step.

Gather strength.

His feet seemed to root themselves into the earth.

Power surged upward from the ground, passing through his legs, waist, shoulders, arms.

Everything in his body gathered toward a single point.

Wrist.

Hilt.

Blade.

Then all of it became one pure slash.

[Spinning Slash]!

Hum…

An iron-gray arc flashed through the air.

It should have carved through flesh.

It should have harvested life.

This time, it stopped.

CLANG!

The impact screamed through the night.

For the first time, Xia Nan’s [Spinning Slash] had been forcibly blocked.

A Challenge Rating of 2 was not just a number.

It meant the Spined Devil’s combat strength had fully reached the level of a Class Holder.

And even while gravely wounded, its body still far surpassed that of an ordinary adventurer.

The instant Xia Nan entered striking distance, it reacted.

Its left arm snapped upward.

A sharp, coral-like cluster of bone protruding from its elbow met the descending sword.

Sparks burst between them.

The blade trembled violently as steel ground against bone.

Then Xia Nan caught movement at the edge of his vision.

The Spined Devil’s tail was rising again.

Silently.

A pale gleam flashed along its surface.

The creature intended to fire another spine while they were locked together.

Xia Nan did not hesitate.

He shoved the longsword forward with all his strength and stepped back, forcing open a sliver of distance.

At the same time, his left hand shot toward the pouch at his waist.

His fingers closed around the Incendiary Oil Bomb he had prepared in advance.

He hurled it straight at the Spined Devil’s face.

Boom!

Black oil and murky powder burst apart in a flash.

Orange fire erupted and swallowed the creature’s long, goatlike skull.

Xia Nan did not pause.

The attack had landed.

This was the opening.

He tightened his grip on the sword and prepared to surge forward.

Then the Spined Devil screamed.

The shriek was so sharp that faint ripples seemed to spread through the air.

The special Incendiary Oil Bomb from the general store in Rivervale Town had roasted countless insects alive.

Against the Spined Devil…

It might as well have been water.

The flames covering its head visibly weakened.

Then, within only a few breaths, the curling tongues of fire seemed to gain a life of their own.

They shrank.

Extinguished.

And seeped into the creature’s pores.

The Spined Devil’s rough skin emerged untouched.

Not a single scorch mark remained.