Chapter 41: Blinded by the Strongest
Boom, boom, boom…
Su Xiao slashed through three radiant rings in succession. The recoil force caused large cracks to spread across the ground beneath his feet, and his right arm holding the blade felt somewhat numb. If this dragged on any longer, he would surely lose. Morisha only needed a few mana points to generate a single radiant ring. In other words, while destroying a ring required significant energy, reforming one cost her almost nothing.
What was worse, the radiant rings were merely one of Morisha’s many abilities. She still had three or four stronger techniques she hadn’t used yet.
The blade sliced through the air, ultimately striking a radiant ring. This time, instead of shattering into light elements like before, the ring directly exploded.
Shards of the ring flew in all directions, two of them grazing Su Xiao’s neck and side ribs, leaving behind wounds of moderate depth.
Pulling a piece of ring shard embedded in his shoulder, Su Xiao realized he had been outmaneuvered by Morisha. Looking at her now, only 29 radiant rings remained around the woman. The one that had shattered did not reform.
Under Su Xiao’s astonished gaze, Morisha swung her energy longsword and charged at him with incredible speed.
Bubu Wang, who had blended into the surroundings, stood dumbfounded. He simply couldn’t understand why Morisha would willingly rush toward Su Xiao.
Bubu Wang didn’t get it, and Su Xiao was also somewhat surprised. Morisha was clearly a mid-range attacker with melee combat as a secondary option. Yet here she was, charging straight at him.
It wasn’t that Morisha had lost her reason. She had only recently mastered this current form. To ascend from an ordinary witch to this state, the unknown artifact within the fourth layer alone was far from sufficient. She needed a massive concentration of elements, combined with a homologous life force—specifically, the life force of witches—to help her withstand the high temperature of the Solar Flame, thereby permanently attaining this form.
The elemental witches Su Xiao had fought earlier had already helped Morisha gather the necessary elements and provided the life force. In truth, Morisha had deliberately let them die, sacrificing her subordinates to obtain this form.
As for how she would reorganize her forces after defeating Su Xiao, Morisha wasn’t worried at all. With her current strength, the Witch Kingdom in the southern region would provide her with combat support, granting her a batch of even stronger subordinates. This was the world of witches—the strong take everything.
Having just acquired this nearly perfect form, Morisha’s heart was filled with indescribable joy. In her mind, she was now undoubtedly one of the three strongest witches on the Dark Crow Continent.
Yet, having just ascended to that rank, Morisha faced a setback in her very first battle. The one-sided massacre she had envisioned didn’t materialize. Though she held a considerable advantage, the results fell short of her expectations.
Moreover, Morisha had only recently obtained her current abilities. She had already mastered mid-range combat techniques and was now eager to test her melee capabilities. After all, Morisha had originally been a close-combat expert among witches.
Morisha was using Su Xiao as a touchstone, a stepping stone on her path forward. Now, she, Morisha, was the protagonist of the Dark Crow Continent, not some unheard-of witch hunter. Even if he had the terrifying record of killing over a hundred witches, it only irked Morisha—the displeasure of failing to crush her enemy in terms of raw power.
Morisha wore a gentle smile, the kind that only those supremely confident in themselves would show.
The distance between them rapidly closed. When only five meters remained, the 29 radiant rings around Morisha shot toward Su Xiao.
The rings came from all directions—front, back, left, right, and even several from above.
Counter shields materialized around Su Xiao, dozens of them spreading outward to collide with the incoming rings.
Boom!
Dust and debris flew. Though all the counter shields shattered, the radiant rings fared no better. Most were broken, and the intact ones were knocked away.
Morisha suddenly accelerated, a golden afterimage flashing as she appeared before Su Xiao. The one-point-three-meter golden energy longsword came down toward his head.
Clang!
Sparks flew as Su Xiao blocked Morisha’s strike. Given her explosive overall physical attributes, the force behind this blow was immense. However, with his own Strength, Agility, and Endurance all maxed out at 99 points, Su Xiao was hardly intimidated by Morisha’s sword.
The longsword and blade pressed against each other. Morisha wielded her sword with both hands, while Su Xiao habitually used one hand for his blade. His left hand was typically reserved for ranged weapons or grabbing enemies directly.
Morisha exerted force with her hands. The exhilarating sensation of close-quarters combat made the corners of her mouth curl up.
Just as her longsword began to press down, Morisha noticed the resistance from the blade was minimal. Looking closely, she saw Su Xiao had actually released his grip on the longsword.
Su Xiao’s action of letting go surprised Morisha. Her thought was, “This guy only fights with brute force.” If she wasn’t mistaken, the enemy was about to abandon his blade and pounce on her for hand-to-hand combat.
Su Xiao appeared to release his longsword, but his pinky finger hadn’t let go.
The energy longsword broke through Dragon-Slaying Flash’s parry, slashing toward Su Xiao’s head. As if foreseeing this, Su Xiao ducked his head in advance.
The energy longsword swept over his head, severing a few strands of black hair. Under Morisha’s bewildered gaze, the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash spun a full circle in Su Xiao’s hand before he gripped it again.
Slap!
Su Xiao tightened his grip on Dragon-Slaying Flash, simultaneously crouching and raising his right leg. Wood Spirit quickly coiled around his calf.
With a thunderous crash, Su Xiao delivered a straight kick to Morisha’s lower abdomen. Morisha let out a guttural sound, spitting out sour liquid. As her body began to fly backward from the force to her abdomen, Su Xiao had already swung his blade toward her throat.
Morisha’s peripheral vision caught the edge of Dragon-Slaying Flash. Judging by the angle of the slash, this strike wouldn’t reach her.
Just then, a black-and-white figure appeared behind Morisha. Bubu Wang’s hind legs planted themselves on the back of Morisha’s head. As he leaped into the air, he casually healed Su Xiao with a quick spell.
Golden hair flew as Morisha’s head tilted forward a few centimeters. Dragon-Slaying Flash sliced across her neck.
An icy sensation spread across Morisha’s throat, and the spot where she had been kicked in the abdomen throbbed with searing pain.
Boom!
Morisha crashed into a distant wall, splattering a large patch of blood across its surface.
In just about five seconds of close combat, Morisha was completely disoriented. She crouched on one knee, eyes wide, spitting out another mouthful of blood while silently resolving: she must not engage in melee again. Their judgment, experience, and timing in close-quarters combat were on entirely different levels.
A whistling sound of breaking air approached. Morisha didn’t need to look up to know that the enemy with terrifying melee prowess had arrived. She tightened her grip on her longsword.
With a crisp crack, a light orb beside Morisha exploded. There were five such orbs in total.
Intense light radiated outward from Morisha as the center. This was her exclusive ability, one of her ultimate moves—Blazing Sun. It consumed 20% of her mana, unleashing an indiscriminate attack within a 100-meter radius. The attack’s intensity depended on distance, and each use consumed one Light of Radiance orb (five in total).