Translator: CinderTL
Roland's heart sank. A chill shot through his limbs.
The opponent's speed and methods far exceeded his predictions.
Yet he hesitated not a moment.
Mid-air, he forcibly twisted his waist. His left hand, infused with Battle Qi, shot out like lightning, barely catching Theresa's falling wrist.
But this rescue attempt disrupted his own upward momentum, pulling him downward.
"Galvis! Catch her!" Roland roared.
With a surge of strength in his left arm, he propelled Theresa's unconscious body toward the ship's railing, just within reach.
This wasn't a wild throw, but a precise and powerful push, like sliding a heavy object across ice.
On the deck, Galvis knelt, his head throbbing violently, clutching his skull as if it might explode. But his bloodshot eyes were fixed below.
When he saw Theresa being pushed toward the edge, he used his last shred of consciousness and strength to lunge toward the railing.
His arms shot out, barely grasping Theresa's shoulders and armor, and dragged her onto the deck.
The moment Roland pushed Theresa away, the recoil from his precise and forceful thrust sent him crashing back to the ground.
As he swiftly adjusted his stance, preparing to rise and sprint toward the accelerating ship,
the situation took a sudden turn.
The Purple Nightmare moved.
Instead of charging forward, it glided forward like a phantom, instantly closing the distance between itself and Roland.
The two pulsating purple lights on its smooth head locked onto him.
One of its dangling, slimy tendrils shot toward Roland's nape with a speed far exceeding visual perception.
Silent, carrying a nauseating whisper of displaced air, it struck like lightning.
The target was clear:
To pierce his skull and drain his brain!
The icy aura of death pierced Roland's spine like a tangible ice pick.
Though the barrier of Steel Will blocked the mental manipulation and fear, it couldn't fully neutralize the lethal physical threat.
In the nick of time, Roland didn't even have time to fully turn around.
His absolute intuition for danger and combat instincts honed through countless life-or-death battles saved him at that critical moment.
Almost by muscle memory, Roland violently infused the Battle Qi he had just condensed for a leap into his legs and core. His body twisted and rolled to the side at an almost impossible angle.
As his mental power surged, a nearly transparent membrane instantly enveloped him.
Whizz!
With a piercing hum, the slimy tentacle, tipped with sharp suction cups, was successfully deflected by the shield spell.
It grazed past Roland's hair as he rolled.
Squelch!
The tentacle's tip plunged into a half-height reef behind where he had been. The solid rock was pierced as easily as tofu, leaving a smooth hole.
The shield spell seemed to surprise the Nameless Monster, but Roland didn't pause in his roll.
The instant the tentacle missed, before his body had fully stabilized, his tightly gripped Mithril Longsword transformed into a cold arc of light. With a air-tearing shriek, it slashed upward from his rolling stance, its target the base of the tentacle that the Nameless Monster had just used to attack and hadn't yet fully retracted.
The sword strike was swift, precise, and brutal.
The Nameless Monster's icy purple eyes flickered slightly, clearly surprised that this prey could counterattack so fiercely after evading a fatal blow.
Its tentacle snapped back violently, and its massive body retreated with an unnatural, physics-defying lightness.
Clang!
A piercing clash of metal echoed, showering sparks.
Roland's backhanded slash failed to sever the tentacle.
The blade seemed to strike an incredibly tough keratinous layer or an invisible force field, leaving only a shallow white mark and a shower of sparks.
But the impact of the violent Battle Qi and pure physical momentum clearly exceeded the Nameless Monster's expectations.
At the moment the blade collided with the tentacle, Roland keenly captured a crucial piece of information.
Though the monster's retreating movement was eerily swift and carried an inhuman lightness,
it revealed a subtle rigidity and clumsiness when facing a purely physical, ferocious slash—a stark contrast to its overwhelming mental pressure.
It seemed to have been forcefully shoved aside by some immense power, rather than evading or blocking through skillful close-quarters combat.
Its resilient tentacles acted more like natural shields or tools than weapons, their blocks crude and direct, utterly devoid of technique.
The realization struck Roland like lightning.
This terrifying entity's true advantage lay in its unpredictable and devastating mental power, not in close-quarters physical combat.
It was precisely this weakness that allowed his full-force sword strike to force the Nameless Monster's retreating form to pause noticeably, creating a slight distance.
"Now!"
Using the recoil to steady himself, Roland's eyes flashed with fierce determination.
His left hand darted to his back and instantly drew three short spears from their custom leather sheaths.
These spears were pitch-black, their surfaces etched with intensely active Magic Runes—his own forged, disposable enchanted weapons.
With no time to aim, Roland relied entirely on instinct.
The instant the Nameless Monster paused, Roland's arm muscles bulged as he channeled Battle Qi and the last of his mental power.
Three short spears transformed into three black streaks of light, tearing through the darkness in a triangular formation. They shot toward the purple figure with a piercing shriek.
The moment the spears left his hand, the runes etched on their surfaces flared with unstable, blinding red light.
The Magic Elements forcibly injected into them clashed violently within the materials, compressing to the breaking point.
The Nameless Monster's purple eyes blazed, and its invisible force field rippled again, attempting to block or deflect the incoming "little toys."
However, just as the spears were about to strike the invisible force field—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three fiery explosions, laced with chaotic magic shockwaves, erupted less than a meter in front of the Nameless Monster.
The shoddy materials could not withstand the violent energy of the Magic Elements surging within them; they detonated prematurely, before impact.
Flames erupted skyward, sending debris flying in all directions. A searing blast wave, carrying metal fragments and chaotic magic currents, instantly engulfed the Nameless Monster's position.
The roar of the explosion drowned out the mournful cry of the waves, shaking the entire coastline.
Smoke and fire filled the air, temporarily obscuring the view.
But Roland remained fully alert.
He knew that those three shoddy, disposable enchanted weapons could never destroy such a terrifying entity.
Before the shockwave had even fully subsided, the twisted purple figure reappeared from the smoke like a phantom, but its earlier composure was gone.
The invisible Mental Shield fluctuated violently, finally tearing open a sliver under the chaotic magic currents.
The exploding metal fragments and searing blast slammed into its smooth torso.
The tough keratinous hide was pierced in several places, leaving blackened scorch marks.
Dark purple mucus slowly oozed from the wounds, dripping to the ground with a faint sizzling sound.
The pulsing purple light on its smooth head abruptly faltered, and its entire body trembled imperceptibly for the first time.
It was the pain and shock of overconfidence and underestimation.
But this strange emotion didn't affect its actions.
Roland's pupils constricted sharply, and the barrier of Steel Will instantly reinforced itself, forcibly withstanding the follow-up mental assault that struck like an invisible, heavy hammer.
Through the mild, dizzying pain, the deadly tendrils, carrying a faint whistling sound, struck again.
"Hmph!"
A fierce glint flashed in Roland's eyes.
The previous two clashes, especially the recoil from that sword strike and the creature's stiff retreat, had already burned a clear impression into his mind.
This terrifying entity's power relied almost entirely on its bizarre and unpredictable mental force and the lightning-fast strikes of its tendrils.
Once closed to within pure physical combat range...
Its methods would be pitifully limited!
Its reactions, nearly clumsy!
This thought instantly shattered the fog of fear, igniting a resolute fighting spirit.
Escape?
Against that creature's bizarre speed and the constant threat of mental assault, it was a futile hope.
The only path to survival lay within this seemingly most perilous, narrow space!
(End of the Chapter)
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