Chapter One Hundred: Caught in a Bitter Struggle

“Take everyone except the Red Heart captain to a safe place.”

“What?” Bai Shengye blinked. “You want to take on that one-eyed troll by yourself?”

“The most important thing is getting those girls out of the battlefield. Do you want to see them get hurt?” Hei Yu shouted.

Bai Shengye understood. “All right. I’ll take them somewhere safe, then come back to help you.”

“That’ll do. Everyone withdraw. Don’t get in the way of my fight!” Chi Xin said.

Bai Shengye immediately extended the ice behind them, then scooped up the unconscious girl in one arm and Lingmeng in the other, preparing to withdraw decisively with them.

Although Bai Shengye had once dealt with an ancient-grade demon before—the Lava Behemoth—when he saw the monster before him, he instantly understood that they were not on the same level. This one-eyed troll was, at the very least, beyond what he could handle right now.

“Sorry, beautiful.”

Bai Shengye hefted the unconscious Lingmeng over his shoulder and ran toward the darkness behind them.

Lingxiao Lei and the other light elf girls kept glancing back as they followed him. Soon, their figures vanished into the layers of mist and the pitch-black night.

After Bai Shengye had run a great distance, he erected on the ice a sturdy fortress built of ice bricks, enclosing the girls so they could not come out.

“Ice Fortress!”

The ice walls were solid and thick, and even the chaotic roar of the waves ahead was muffled behind them.

Lingxiao Lei pressed both hands against the thick wall of ice and looked at Bai Shengye.

“Be careful. Even if you can’t beat the demon, don’t get hurt!”

“Don’t worry. Once the demon’s gone, I’ll come get you.”

With that, Bai Shengye ran back toward the battlefield.

On the field of battle, only Hei Yu and Chi Xin remained. After its first strike, the one-eyed troll immediately launched a second; its tendrils swept across, spraying shards of ice everywhere.

Though Hei Yu and Chi Xin were working together for the first time, they were in perfect sync. Exchanging a glance, they leaped away in opposite directions across the ice. As Chi Xin sprang aside, the blade of her greatsword already arced from below to above, severing the tip of a tentacle.

The troll let out a pained howl and immediately lashed the nearby tentacles wildly, shattering the ice even further and churning the sea. Chi Xin evaded at once.

Hei Yu suddenly appeared on the other side before its enormous eye. The tip of his staff flashed once; the light gathered to a single point, yet it blazed brilliantly and was blinding to the eye.

“Demonic Light Slash!”

The troll’s body was huge, leaving it no room to evade. It lowered its eyelid at once and swung a tentacle to block. A streak of pitch-black light cut across its eyelid, yet not even a scratch remained.

This outcome gave Hei Yu a bad feeling. The eyelid should have been the weakest point, and yet it bore no mark at all. Could the gap between their powers truly be that vast? And yet Chi Xin’s earlier strike had been able to sever the troll’s tentacle.

Just then, the three tentacles the demon had hurled at Hei Yu were about to strike the ground. Chi Xin rushed over, stepped onto a slab of floating ice, and leapt up. In midair she swung three slashes in rapid succession, her figure like a rainbow. The three tentacles were instantly severed, and black-blue blood spurted from the cuts in turn.

Hei Yu could not help admiring her. This captain was not only formidable in attack, but also astonishingly agile in the air, decisive in her strikes, and precise in timing. Truly a warrior in every sense.

As Chi Xin was about to land, another tentacle of the one-eyed troll suddenly rose from beneath the ice. She relied on instinct to spring upward, but it was already difficult to avoid. Just as the tentacle bursting from the ice was about to smash into her, she quickly raised her greatsword to block, only to be flung high into the air by the immense impact.

She landed on the ice in the distance and rolled several times, fortunate not to be badly hurt.

“What kind of magic is that?”

The moment she got back to her feet, she asked Hei Yu, who had just launched the attack.

“I...” Hei Yu was momentarily at a loss for words and did not know how to answer.

“Forget about the magic. Let’s beat it first!”

“We’ve already cut off half its tentacles. There are only four left. As long as we cut them all off, it won’t be able to attack! ...Wait, no, that’s not right!”

As Chi Xin spoke, she suddenly turned toward the dark sea. The four tentacles that had been severed just now were writhing madly beneath the water, and growing longer by the second!

Soon, the tips of entirely new, intact tentacles appeared again above the sea.

Chi Xin said in alarm, “It can regenerate?!”

Hei Yu had learned from the Lava Behemoth that ancient-grade demons possessed an immortal regenerative ability, but he simply had not wanted to believe the demon before his eyes had the same power.

Such a colossal creature towering before them, coupled with such rapid regeneration! It was practically impossible to kill. How were they supposed to fight it?

Despair could not help but rise in his heart.

Chi Xin’s long red hair was soaked by the seawater, but her gaze remained as cold as ever, and her longsword gleamed with a chilling light. Yet her heart was unbearably heavy.

“So ancient-grade demons really are beyond what we can defeat...”

Before the two could even steady themselves, another fierce wave of attacks came crashing down. This time, the one-eyed troll truly grew enraged. Ten tentacles rose high above the water like wild serpents, then fell together, striking the ice again and again.

The ice was shattered to pieces, and the sea surged like a cauldron of boiling oil.

Chi Xin and Hei Yu no longer had any ground to stand on. They leaped laboriously between small fragments of floating ice, attacking and dodging in the same breath.

Just as Chi Xin was swinging her sword with all her strength to cleave a tentacle descending from above, two more tentacles flanked her from either side. With the solid ice beneath her feet gone, she had nowhere left to evade. The tentacles on both sides blocked her path like walls, while two towering waves rose with them, slamming her down into the icy depths.

“Captain Chi Xin!”

Hei Yu cried out. In his urgency, he spread his dark wings and was about to rush in to rescue her. Suddenly, broad tentacles crashed down above him like city walls.

Just as Chi Xin sank beneath the water, another tentacle writhed up from below the surface and hurled her high into the air. Before she could gather herself, yet another tentacle swept across and lashed her brutally, sending her flying hard, her bones nearly shattering.

“Space-Time Swap!”

In his desperation, Hei Yu used Space-Time Swap. His figure flickered past the falling tentacle in an instant, broke through the layered waves, and moved into the air.

Then came a series of movements as broken and intermittent as lightning. He threaded through the obstruction of several tentacles, making a few awkward and unpracticed turns, and finally caught Chi Xin as she fell from above, carrying her down to the ice in the distance.

The one-eyed troll’s attacks seemed chaotic and frenzied, but due to the vast disparity in strength, one hit was enough to bring fatal injury—severed sinews, shattered bones.

Chi Xin now lay on the ice, drenched through, with multiple fractures across her body. Yet she still held her greatsword tightly, the will of a warrior shining through her, though her wrist had lost its strength and she could no longer raise the blade.