Ironjaw's form in the water was exceptionally agile and swift. His snake tail suddenly swung, and before the vortex it brought up could fully form, those sharp claws wrapped in fine, hard scales had already closed in before Louisa, viciously targeting her throat and the gaps in her waist armor.
He couldn't understand why this vampire would choose such an impractical suit of armor. If forced to name an advantage, the material was exceptionally sturdy—his full-force attacks landing on it couldn't even leave a white mark.
However, this advantage in defense seemed rendered meaningless before the deliberately exposed large gaps in the armor.
In another setting, Ironjaw might even think this armor was some kind of entertainment costume for special occasions.
Though puzzled, this didn't prevent Ironjaw from precisely concentrating all his offensive power on these armor "weaknesses."
However, this vampire's skills were not to be underestimated either.
Though the armor had many gaps, her movements were shockingly fast. She could always deflect, divert with minimal motion, or forcefully resist with controlled blood, resolving all of Ironjaw's tricky attacks.
Keep in mind, he was a snakeman—naturally advantaged in underwater combat.
To so calmly block his swift, storm-like consecutive attacks meant the opposition was clearly also a true expert who'd stepped into the hall domain.
This point had been anticipated before the fight began and didn't surprise Ironjaw.
"Not using that greatsword on your back?" Ironjaw asked during a combat lull.
"Then you'll need to try harder."
"Hmph! Arrogant!"
Unable to gain advantage for long, a ghostly light flashed in Ironjaw's eyes as he immediately employed underhanded tactics.
From his fangs, wisps of dark green venom secretly seeped out. In the high-speed swimming combat, in the instant of crossing paths, this venom was skillfully dispersed into surrounding waters, rapidly spreading.
The poison talent some snakefolk awakened was actually quite limited on land—where would there be opportunities to actually bite opponents or spray poison in their faces during combat?
But in water, this ability's practicality greatly increased.
Venom spread with the water, penetrating everywhere.
Now, he just needed to tie down this vampire and let toxins accumulate in her body...
...
Louisa was somewhat disappointed.
She'd wanted to use this opportunity to properly test this new armor's extreme performance in actual combat.
But the pressure this hall-level snakeman opponent brought her... seemed somewhat insufficient.
Even without using the armor, she felt she could handle it.
This was thanks to the "water of life" Lin Jun regularly distributed along with other resources. Louisa's level had quietly risen to LV58.
Though still nominally diamond rank on the surface, combined with the many skills Lin Jun had successively added for her, her true combat power had long since stepped into hall-level territory.
Though the snakeman's offensive before her was indeed vicious, the claw winds bringing up currents sharp enough to easily sever rock-armored Puchis dozens of meters away caught in the waves, they never brought Louisa true crisis sense.
As for the toxin?
Louisa wasn't blind—she'd long noticed that dark green color quietly permeating the water.
The snakeman might think his storm-like attacks had entangled her, preventing escape from this poison zone. In reality, Louisa didn't care at all.
[Poison Resistance LV9]
When Boss added skills, passives and resistances always took priority.
The poison wasn't completely ineffective, but to accumulate to a degree that could affect her movement would probably require half a day of continuous soaking.
Though the opponent failed to reach expected testing intensity, she couldn't find a better sparring partner for the moment.
Armor...
Activate!
In an instant, those A-grade magic crystals already embedded in the armor simultaneously emitted purple halos!
Magic power was forcibly sucked and gathered from surrounding waters, even forming several small magical vortices around Louisa. Chaotic energy collided with itself, even producing tiny magical explosions!
Ironjaw's instincts screamed warnings!
He almost without thinking forcefully swung his snake tail, rapidly retreating dozens of meters, looking with shock and uncertainty at that figure wrapped in violent magic power.
"What... the hell is this thing?!" His hoarse voice carried undisguisable horror.
In the reflection of his contracted vertical pupils, Louisa actually slowly spread her arms. Her body trembled slightly from some extreme stimulation as a long, low moan escaped her throat that seemed both pained and pleasured: "Ah—"
Immediately after, those originally ferocious metal barbs on the armor suddenly seemed to gain life and became flexible.
Without affecting joint movement, like living things they curved and branched inward. Sharp tips tore through subcutaneous flesh and blood like countless greedy roots, spreading toward the depths of her body.
Only now did Ironjaw realize this equipment was actually half a torture device.
Watching that vampire who seemed to find pleasure in pain yet whose aura became several times more dangerous, Ironjaw couldn't help squeezing out a curse through gritted teeth:
"Pervert!"
A certain observing knight Puchi also nodded its mushroom cap in agreement.
Blood was drawn out along those barbs penetrating her body, flowing and connecting through the armor's grooves and gaps, finally condensing and solidifying to wrap Louisa completely in a layer of translucent dark red blood crystal, leaving only a pale, excited face exposed.
Alarms rang wildly in Ironjaw's heart. All his strength exploded as he twisted and slashed with claws. The torrent he brought up wasn't simple waves but condensed into four crescent-shaped sharp water blades that tore through seawater in a crossing formation toward Louisa!
Louisa neither dodged nor evaded.
Two water blades grazed past her blood-crystal-wrapped sides, viciously slashing the stone wall behind, leaving two cuts over ten meters deep. Fragments crumbled and fell.
However, the other two water blades that directly struck her body were like waves hitting a reef—with a dull explosive sound they completely shattered. The scattered chaotic currents quickly calmed as all force dissipated into nothing.
Not even a trace was left!
Such astonishing defensive power shocked Ironjaw momentarily. Unable to leave even a mark meant that even if he had more powerful moves, he probably couldn't break through this armor's defense, let alone cause fatal injury.
And Louisa finally took down that greatsword she'd been carrying on her back. Her blood likewise climbed the blade, transforming it crimson.
"Didn't you want to try this sword?" Louisa's voice was somewhat ethereal. With large amounts of her blood used for combat, she'd fallen into a half-intoxicated state, yet under the armor's influence her combat movements weren't affected.
She just casually swung once.
The blood clinging to the blade separated, transforming into a blood-colored slash thin as cicada wings yet faster than visual limits could track. It broke through seawater and in an instant swept past Ironjaw's position!
Ironjaw only felt his right arm go cold. Shocked, he turned to look—a fine blood line had soundlessly appeared at the connection between arm and shoulder.
He instinctively moved slightly. His entire scale-covered right arm severed cleanly at the shoulder, slowly separating from his body and sinking toward the dark seabed.
And at the slash trajectory's extended end, a snakefolk mercenary hiding behind a distant rock pillar observing the battle suddenly stiffened.
Starting from his brow, a blood line extended straight down. Then his body soundlessly split into even halves that drifted apart.
"Can't even react?" Louisa disappointedly muttered to herself and raised that crimson greatsword again.
Fear seized his brain. Ironjaw forcefully prevented himself from screaming, not daring to hide anything more. He suddenly opened his mouth and spat from his throat the second and last pearl storing a rift.
Louisa didn't know what it was but still slashed with her sword.
The second rift-sealing pearl was destroyed by the blood blade and prematurely activated!
A finger-wide unstable rift appeared between both sides. Terrifying suction instantly erupted!
Louisa bore the brunt, her entire body pulled over by irresistible suction. Her left arm raised, the armor catching on the rift's irregular edge!
Terrifying suction acted on the blood crystal armor. That indestructible blood crystal surface showed fine cracks for the first time. At the edges, tiny blood crystal fragments even peeled off and were devoured by the rift.
However, those barbs penetrating her body on the armor were activated again. Louisa grunted dully. More blood was forcibly drawn, surging toward the arm armor along the barbs.
The cracks were visibly filled and repaired by newly born blood crystal. Though repair speed was slightly slower than destruction, it still forcibly withstood the rift's continuous tearing!
Ironjaw was amazed the armor was solid to this degree, while also realizing this might be his last chance!
Ironjaw's surviving left arm muscles bulged. His snake tail pushed speed to the limit. Borrowing the suction, he transformed into a blurred afterimage directly lunging at Louisa's face exposed outside the blood crystal!
The situation was critical. Even Lin Jun prepared to intervene to maintain this duel's fairness and justice.
However, just as his sharp claw tips continuously closed in, Louisa's crimson eyes suddenly shed all blood color, transforming into pale white!
[Petrification Ray]
Ironjaw's wildly charging form suddenly stiffened. Starting from his chest and abdomen, gray-white patterns spread. Hard scales rapidly lost luster, turning to stone.
Though only partial petrification, it still made his movements freeze for an instant.
Louisa didn't even move her trapped left hand.
She merely used her single-handed grip on the greatsword to slap it horizontally across Ironjaw's horrified face.
Like swatting away a large watermelon, the surrounding seawater became even murkier.
Ironjaw's headless body still maintained forward momentum, sliding past Louisa, then completely lost all strength and slowly fell toward the dark abyss below.
After this, the rift continued trapping Louisa briefly before finally unable to sustain itself, gradually closing and disappearing.
Louisa withdrew her left arm completely covered again in blood crystal. Her pale eyes returned to crimson as she looked toward where Ironjaw's corpse sank: "The final choice... had some merit at least."
A knight Puchi lightly floated to Little Pig's head, tentacles sliding across her cheeks.
"You had your fun fighting, but what about me? Such a big hall-level opponent and you just casually killed him?!"
Crisis far exceeding the previous battle enveloped Little Pig!
(End of Chapter)
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