[-5 HP]

William grunted, casually throwing out a punch at what annoyed him.

[+1 XP]

He didn’t dare take his eyes off this ‘Corrupted Lifeform,’ terrified that he would get instantly killed. Unlike the Lingzhi Viper, there was no thought about conserving his Spiritual Energy. He used Observe.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Name: Corrupted Lifeform

Level: 88

Cultivation: Demonic Novice (8th Level)

Health: 1700/1700

Spiritual Energy: 760/760

Spirit: 152

Strength: 114

Stamina: 103

Agility: 71

[+1 XP] x 11

[Trait Activated | -1 XP]

“Princess!” William yelled as he cleared the annoyances around him, “Be ready to save me!”

This corrupted beast was the first thing he faced where he was completely outclassed. Other than the agility attribute, it crushed him in every way. That meant he might actually die if he wasn’t as careful as possible.

With agility slightly in his favor, he would need to use it to its full potential while chipping away at its health. Of course, the alternative if he was about to face death was Princess Jin coming to the rescue.

William shivered when the sickly yellow eyes stared at him calmly as if mocking him for bothering to try and fight against his inevitable death.

He couldn’t tell any of the other features of the corrupted beast. It was a black, misshapen mess that never really stayed the same. It frequently shifted into shapes that were familiar but bizarre at the same time.

The only saving grace William could see about this situation was that Princess Jin was utterly ignored. That was one headache he didn’t have to worry about at the moment.

The shrieks that were let out by the spirit beasts crushed from the Lingzhi Viper’s continued thrashing about made William realize that it was mandatory to get rid of it. The crazed beast might be helpful to him now, but that would change without a doubt.

He needed to get rid of it. It was the only spirit beast that could cause him significant harm other than the corrupted beast, and he didn’t want to keep a watch out for that when fighting for his life.

[+1 XP] x 73

[Trait Activated | -7 XP]

William’s path to the Lingzhi Viper was not far, but it was definitely slow. He had a constant mob of fodder spirit beasts in his way, and more importantly, most of his attention was still on the corrupted beast that stared at him unblinkingly.

He had killed enough fodder that three wouldn’t immediately replace the one that was taken out, and that was enough for him to get a clear shot at the Lingzhi Viper.

William’s fists lit up with Qi for the first time in minutes, making the weaker beasts around him pause. That was even more of a boon since it gave him a more straightforward pathway to his target than he assumed.

Without hesitation, he shot toward the Lingzhi Viper and thrust his palm into the side of its damaged skull. He ignored its pained hiss, once again keeping more of a watch on the corrupted beast lurking above as his legs lit up with blazing Qi.

He was happy that the Lingzhi Viper’s retaliation missed him by inches, which was basically a mile wide with his reaction speed. The original attack from minutes before had blinded the beast, which was paying dividends.

William grunted as he kicked up, with all his Qi-infused strength, into the underside of the Viper’s mouth. The repeated blows to the weak points were too much for the higher-level beast to take.

[+6825 XP]

[Trait Activated | -683 XP]

[Level Up! | 5 Stat Points Added]

He thought he heard Princess Jin cheer when the Lingzhi Viper’s head exploded in a shower of gore, but he had already shifted his focus entirely to the corrupted beast. It moved leisurely, ever so slightly closer to the princess.

“Princess Jin!” William yelled immediately, “Be prepared! This one is too strong!”

He thought he faintly heard her reply, but that was mostly drowned out by another voice.

Ý̴̖̉͂ͅo̸̧͕͉͋̃̇ù̷̹̣̈ ̵͙͔̳́̾̀t̶̺̬͓̕h̷̲͔͌ǐ̷̡͖͕n̸̻͛̽k̸͙̿ ̴̧̗̍͝ŝ̷͚͠h̶̪̫̰̓̕͘e̴̪̾ ̵̖̬̱̐̄ẃ̸̥͖i̵̹͙̮͛l̶̫̫͑͝͠l̴̨͉̑̍̉ ̵̼̯̟́̇b̴͙͗͠e̶͖̲̅ ̴̼̦͕͐́à̷̞̺͌͘b̶͔̀̌l̶͇͘ĕ̵͉̜͜ ̷̝͇͗̎̏t̷̩̼͖̾ơ̶͖̎͜ ̶͈̩̆̒ǔ̴̜s̵̘͎̜̉è̷͓̺̺ ̶̥̭̪́̒̐t̴̡̜̑͊̈́h̷̝̠̆͠à̴͎͝t̶̨̻̮͊ ̸̡̡͆l̵͈͙̫͗̑ï̸̢̺̣t̸͎͓͉͛͆̕t̵͇͚̩̾͝l̵̖̩͍͑ě̴͓̏ ̸̮̭̜̈́̂̔ť̶͈̂͜r̴̢͇͚̉̇̕ḯ̷͍̘n̷̘̪͍̄̓k̷͙͈̈̕ȅ̵͍͊͝t̴̰̖̓́̏?̶̖̿͗͠

William wasn’t the only one who shuddered in disgust at hearing a voice that could only be described as nails on a chalkboard. The fodder spirit beasts around him shrieked, with some even collapsing to the ground.

His vision was a little unfocused, and his mind equally so, but he still had the sense to check on Princess Jin. Mainly because the tunnel fell into darkness. It was hard to make out, but he could see a dark shape where Princess Jin was supposed to be. He didn’t think it was possible to feel more afraid when he found that she was likely crumpled on the ground, as unresponsive as the beasts that fell around him.

Y̴̠͌͑ͅͅo̶͇̱̗͂ȗ̶̡̯͝r̴̪͖͍̾͘͘ ̵͍̰̖̈́̃͝b̶͎̗̔̋l̴͇͎͂̀ợ̸̺̈́̒ǫ̸̠̉̈́̎d̵̘̅̏͋ ̸̺̭̆̋w̶͙͉̰̃i̵̞̘̋͆ͅl̵̻͐͊̄l̸͍̠̒͠ ̵̳̕b̶̝͍̥̆e̶̞̠͇͛ ̸͈̃̀͠d̵̤̊e̷̜̓̂͘l̶̩̗̿̂͝i̶̝̺͋̓̓c̵̰̞̯̄̃ȉ̵̤̥́̈́o̷̢̤̐͠û̴͇̱̻͆͝ṣ̴̪̚.̸̙̱̟́̄͝

William sucked in a sharp breath when a mass on the corrupted beast’s body shifted before turning into a grotesque hand, one that was pointed right at him. He didn’t have to wait long to see what it was planning.

The beast released a bright red burst of energy from its newly formed hand. He almost tore his muscles with the strength he put into getting out of the way. And it happened to be just in time.

[-10 HP]

William hissed in surprise, the heat of the corrupted beast’s attack seared against his back. He felt that the back of his robes had been burned away.

He quickly turned to see the aftermath and gaped in shock.

Even though he had killed well over a hundred of the weaker spirit beasts, more than twice that number were alive in the mob. There was now zero after the attack that looked like a beam of an evil version of Qi.

The ground wasn’t spared either. While there wasn’t a massive hitch or anything so drastic, he could see a slight depression from the attack.

William was reminded of his plan to collapse the tunnel. Something that he was never able to try since the Lingzhi Viper’s presence made that impossible. Thankfully, he didn’t try.

If the corrupted beast’s attack barely affected the ground, then there would be zero chance his palm, punches, or kicks would do anything near causing a collapse on this tunnel.

His eyes widened when the corrupted beast repeated a similar motion. Its palm started to glow a deep red.

R̶͙̲͒ù̴̙͊n̴̳̍̀͘ ̷̳̖̤̔̈́f̵̬̲̣͗ò̴̲͉̽r̶̢̦͎͛̋́ ̸͚́͑͝m̸̙̋̽e̶͈͉͓̋͐͋,̷̬̿͗ ̵̻͍̾̑̊r̶̤͔̅a̸̜̮̯̅̕͠t̸̠͚̩̑̔̚.̷͕̭̟͒̈́

Even at this distance, William had to resist the urge to cover his ears from the agony of hearing it talk. It was a good thing he did because he wouldn't have been able to escape the even larger attack that blackened the spot he was just occupying.

He couldn’t even understand what the hell it was saying, so all this was in the end was another sort of attack. It was a highly unfair one since it only required the thing to speak.

William chose his next spot, further away from Princess Jin’s unmoving body, not wanting to make her an accidental casualty from the attacks the corrupted beast was capable of. The attack itself was something that baffled him.

This was the first time he faced an enemy with a ranged attack. William knew that he needed to get close because he was a close-range fighter with absolutely no martial skills that had any sort of range whatsoever.

A̸͙͎̾̇g̸̢̗̫͒̌̋ã̸͕͓̤̋̀i̷̛̞͒̿n̸͎̳͌.̷̰̫̰́̌

He grunted, disappearing just in time to dodge another attack. It seemed that it couldn’t be bothered to move from its spot and was more than happy to fling the enemy beam attacks his way.

William was also happy about that, exceptionally so. He played along for a few more minutes until his Spiritual Energy was back at its peak, dodging two more attacks from the corrupted beast.

With it able to speak… something, he assumed that it had an intelligence that he shouldn’t look down on. However, there was a suspiciously consistent gap between those red beams shot at him.

William dodged the next attack and appeared significantly closer to the corrupted beast, carefully timing the gap before he saw the red glow on its palm again.

Y̴̜̜̼̋e̶̞̠͗s̷͎̾.̷̯͊͗̐ ̸̖̉͊͑C̴͔̯̓̍̕l̷͍̈́ỏ̸̙̠̻͝ṡ̶̢̱̈́ë̶̺̮r̴̲̂̐͠.̴͔͐

The speech no longer made him fight himself to curl up into a ball, but still, it wasn’t pleasant.

William had to stop the satisfied smile from appearing on his lips when the corrupted beasts attacked right on time. However, he also noticed that its whole body seemed to lose a bit of its black color right after the attack before recovering.

He was close enough that he would be able to launch an attack whenever he wished. However, he wanted to know one more thing, which required using Observe.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Spiritual Energy: 530/760

William was only interested in that one stat. He waited for the beast to throw another one of its predictable energy beams again.

A bright red flash lit up the dark tunnel, with William using the chance to move just that bit closer. Again, he used Observe for that one stat he was interested in, the only one different.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Spiritual Energy: 490/760

Each of those red beams was a significant cost for the corrupted beast. William would prefer to take his time and let it dry out its reserves, but he had Princess Jin to worry about. He didn’t know if she needed healing as quickly as possible, and he didn’t want to gamble on her being able to handle the long fight.

William made up his mind. With the cost each beam signified and the odd reaction the corrupted beast’s body experienced after every attack, it was worth taking a shot.