Chapter 27: Weakness
After Su Xiao had slashed out at least several hundred blade auras, he was slightly out of breath. Unleashing blade auras was no easy task.
"Roar!!"
An enraged roar came from within the fleshy ball. The life force Mira had originally used to enhance her strength was now forced into regeneration to withstand the slashes, causing her to waste over 60% of her life force.
With a cracking sound, the fleshy ball burst open, blood and flesh splattering everywhere. Naked, Mira stood on the iron plate. A strong wind blew, and her waist-length white hair fluttered in the wind.
Mira's appearance had drastically changed. Her originally dark green hair had turned snow-white, and her face had become much younger, resembling a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl.
An emerald light gathered in Mira's hand, and a green long spear quickly formed. Just as the spear was about to materialize, her expression changed.
Bang!
The flesh on Mira's shoulder exploded. This wasn't Su Xiao's attack; it was Mira's failure to advance to a fifth-stage witch. Her appearance began to rapidly revert. First, her hair color changed, followed by her facial features.
Reverting to her original form, the corner of Mira's mouth twitched. Judging by her expression, she seemed ready to fight Su Xiao to the death.
An avatar manifested behind Mira. This avatar was fully clad in red armor. As soon as it appeared, it merged with Mira. This was a characteristic of a fourth-stage witch: fusion.
Blood-red patterns appeared on Mira's skin. Her body grew larger, and in an instant, she transformed into a humanoid monster.
After transforming, Mira's size wasn't too massive. She stood just over two meters tall. While her muscles were clearly visible, they weren't overly bulky. The claws emitting a blood-red glow gave Su Xiao a very dangerous feeling.
[Comparing both parties' Intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Our Intelligence attribute is 0.96 times that of the enemy. Obtaining 100% of the enemy's data.]
Data as follows:
Name: Mira
Category: Witch · Avatar Fusion
Health: 100%
Mana: 4750 points
Strength: 94
Agility: 95
Endurance: 99 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 99 (True Attribute)
Charm: 16 (47 points before Avatar Fusion)
Skill 1, Psychic Body Link (Passive): Due to the witch's special constitution, for every 1 point increase in Intelligence attribute, 1 point of Endurance attribute is also increased. Both Intelligence and Endurance are True Attributes.
Skill 2, Black Witch · Fourth Stage (Passive): Health +3500 points, Mana +3000 points, Willpower +12 points.
Skill 3, Avatar · Fang of Life (Special Ability · Stage 1): Can absorb the life force of other living beings to restore oneself.
Skill 4, Avatar · Poison of Death (Special Ability · Stage 2): Can convert the nature of life force, transforming it into highly corrosive energy.
Skill 5, Avatar · Blood Knight (Special Ability · Stage 3): Can manifest the avatar as a Blood Knight and control blood within a 5-meter radius.
Skill 6, Avatar · Resentment (Special Ability · Stage 4): Fuses with Avatar · Blood Knight. All attributes are greatly enhanced, and the basic melee combat abilities of the Blood Knight are acquired (Melee Combat Mastery: Recovers 15 Health points per second. Can turn into blood to dodge fatal attacks).
Skill 7, Avatar · Spear of Life (Special Ability · Stage 5): This ability has been disabled (due to failed advancement to Stage 5).
...
After fusing with her avatar, Mira transformed into a humanoid creature called "Resentment." Judging by her blood-red eyes, Mira hadn't lost her sanity from the fusion. On the contrary, she was very calm.
"It's been a long time since I've turned into this ugly thing."
Mira flexed the claws in her hands. Her ten claws were like ten reverse-curved short knives, gleaming coldly.
The reason Su Xiao hadn't approached Mira earlier was precisely because of her ability to manipulate blood. Now, that ability was even stronger. Standing ten meters away from her, he could already feel his own blood stirring, as if an invisible force was affecting his blood flow, threatening to cause it to reverse.
This wasn't energy intrusion but a physical-level control, like magnetism attracting metal. Therefore, the Cyan Steel Shadow energy couldn't counteract it.
Su Xiao leaped back two steps, and the feeling of being controlled vanished.
Seeing this, Mira grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Unable to engage in melee combat, and with blade auras consuming too much energy, it was time to test his overall capabilities.
Su Xiao thrust the Dragon-Slaying Flash into the iron plate beside his foot. The Duke of Annihilation appeared in his hand. He pulled the bolt, aimed, and fired.
The iron plate beneath Mira's feet dented as she charged straight at Su Xiao on the speeding train.
Boom!
An orange-red beam shot from the muzzle of the Duke of Annihilation. This was a fire-elemental bullet. During their earlier fight, Su Xiao had noticed that Mira was afraid of fire. She wouldn't even utter a sound when her skull was shattered by a bullet, but when burned by flames, she screamed in agony.
With a crisp cracking sound, Mira, who was charging forward, stopped. Her head had vanished. Even so, Mira was still alive.
The moment Su Xiao put away the Duke of Annihilation, he pulled the Dragon-Slashing Flash from beside his foot. After Mira's head was blown off, the feeling of his blood being controlled completely disappeared.
Clang.
A blade aura slashed through, cutting Mira's headless body in two. But that wasn't the end. The Dragon-Slashing Flash, coated with Cyan Steel Shadow energy, rapidly slashed through various parts of Mira's body. After over a dozen slashes, Mira was chopped to pieces.
A large pile of severed limbs and broken arms stacked on the iron plate. These limbs and arms gradually liquefied, their color clearly turning into a pool of blood.
Su Xiao took out a fiery red bullet, pulled the warhead off with his bare hands, and sprinkled the special gunpowder from the casing onto the pool of blood.
A small Alchemy Bomb appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He tossed the bomb while leaping backward.
The Alchemy Bomb rapidly turned incandescent red in mid-air. The pool of blood surged, forming the shape of Mira's head.
"No!"
Mira let out a desperate roar as the Alchemy Bomb landed in the pool of blood.
Boom!
After a not-so-loud explosion, a pillar of fire shot up at least a dozen meters high. The intense heat began to deform the train's steel wheels, sending sparks flying everywhere.
The pool of blood crackled and popped as it burned, and a piercing scream came from within the blood.
"But I am..."
Pfft, pfft.
Two shots from D·Assassination scattered the head formed of blood. At the fourth stage, witches had already begun to transcend the realm of humans, let alone fifth-stage witches.
Mira had nearly advanced to a fifth-stage witch. She had coerced other witches into ravaging cities to prepare for this advancement. Just one step away from success, she encountered Su Xiao.
The flames raged for a full five minutes before extinguishing. Half of the train carriage had melted into a candle-like shape. Mira, of course, could not have survived.
[You have killed Blood Resentment · Mira.]
[You have obtained 3.5% Pioneer Source. Total Pioneer Source obtained: 6%.]
[You have obtained 770 points of Holy Healing Church Reputation. Current reputation: White Level.]
[Special Reputation Quest: Witch Hunter. You have obtained a Chest · Legendary Rank (This is a high-quality Legendary Chest. Probability of obtaining a Legendary equipment increased by 30%).]
[Your Curse Resistance has increased by 15%. It has now reached 65% (The higher the base Curse Resistance, the more difficult subsequent improvements become).]
[You have completed the Side Quest: Origin of the Black Fish Worm.]
...
The rewards for killing Mira far exceeded those of most fourth-stage witches. She belonged to the top echelon among fourth-stage witches, even having her own title among witches: Blood Resentment.
After collecting Mira's death certificate, Su Xiao took out her bounty notice, marked an X on it, and jumped off the train. The next target would be even more thrilling than hunting Mira. It was a witch gathering point in the west, where over 70% of the witches on the bounty list were located. More importantly, a fifth-stage witch was there.