Free Web NovelChapter 1283: Chapter 98: Incineration
For some reason, the piercing attack from Dragon Slash had no effect on Huang Yan, but the Blue Steel Shadow Energy definitely hurt him.
Su Xiao actually didn’t want to maintain this posture, but he was in a dilemma, with a vague sense of threat coming from behind. He couldn’t retreat. As for continuing to attack Huang Yan, that was also not viable; he had a feeling that Huang Yan could ’explode’ at any time. The opponent was just waiting for him to attack.
Huang Yan, with his chest pierced, was actually suffering as well. Although he could ignore physical attacks, the Blue Steel Shadow Energy caused unbearable pain within him.
As the battle began, the situation quickly reached a stalemate, with both sides looking for opportunities and waiting for the opponent to show flaws.
Su Xiao wanted to defeat Huang Yan for two reasons: to obtain the exclusive title of the arena, and because of his bet involving Paradise coin and Soul Crystals.
Huang Yan, on the other hand, didn’t want Su Xiao to reach second place. He knew the arena’s title was special, and as mortal enemies, he certainly couldn’t let Su Xiao succeed.
seconds, 3 seconds.
seconds passed, and both sides still remained at a stalemate, but this stalemate favored Huang Yan. The blade of Dragon Slash had already turned red-hot, with the high temperature conducting to Su Xiao’s palm through Dragon Slash.
This stalemate absolute cannot continue. Huang Yan was like a powder keg, and before finding the opponent’s weakness, Su Xiao must keep a certain distance.
Su Xiao didn’t believe there could be an ability nearly immune to physical attacks. Even if it’s a Natural Devil Fruit, there would be some way to counter it like Armament Haki.
The Counter Shield appeared around Su Xiao, who held the Dragon Slash tightly and leaped back.
The long knife withdrew from Huang Yan’s chest, his eyes narrowed, and the cluster of flame in his palm dissipated. This flame required 10 seconds of preparation time and had a terrifying close combat capability.
As Su Xiao leapt in mid-air, Huang Yan snapped his fingers.
Boom!
A pillar of fire erupted from the ground, enveloping Su Xiao within.
Kaka kaka...
The Counter Shield around Su Xiao began to crack, not because the Counter Shield was fragile, but because it was using its energy to resist the high temperature.
With a snap, the Counter Shield shattered, and Su Xiao escaped from the pillar of fire. Throughout, he felt not a trace of heat; the heat was all absorbed by the Counter Shield.
Su Xiao landed, his Dragon Slash exuding wisps of white steam. The red-hot blade quickly cooled; this temperature wasn’t enough to melt Dragon Slash, the blade remained bright.
In the first round of exchanges, Su Xiao lost. He hadn’t expected Huang Yan to be immune to physical attacks, and the opponent seemed to know some of his combat methods, though not completely.
Su Xiao used Dragon Shadow Flash to appear behind Huang Yan when the opponent’s actions obviously paused. From this, it could be judged that the opponent was unfamiliar with Dragon Shadow Flash ability.
Su Xiao’s advantages lay in speed, strong attack ability, and the ability to penetrate space.
Huang Yan’s advantages were immunity to physical attacks and his troublesome flames with fluctuating temperatures.
After some preliminary exchanges, Su Xiao discovered something strange: Huang Yan had no Mana Value. Instead, the energy within him was a kind of life energy, which felt like Huang Yan used this energy to help combust, and this energy couldn’t create flames.
There was no elemental fluctuation, no the unique feel of Devil Fruit, nor was it Nen energy, Ninjutsu, etc.
Su Xiao looked at the ground nearby, the soil burning fiercely. The nature of Huang Yan’s flames reminded Su Xiao of Uchiha Itachi’s Amaterasu; it burns whatever it touches, soil, rocks are all fuel, the only thing it cannot burn is water, or rather, water is just one of them.
Su Xiao retrieved a small can of compressed kerosene from Storage Space and poured it onto the flames nearby.
Ssss~
A pungent smell spread out, the flames seemed to have a tendency to be extinguished by the kerosene; this wasn’t real flames.
Huang Yan saw this but didn’t stop; he even didn’t continue using his flame ability. He kept accumulating flames at a certain location, and when he completed the accumulation, the entire Death Swamp would be turned into cinders.
Su Xiao also sensed this; the omnipresent sense of danger around him grew stronger. Once that thing erupted, he could likely lose.
Ignoring physical attacks, special flames; these were the information Su Xiao had on Huang Yan. Moreover, he speculated Huang Yan’s close combat ability was strong; when Huang Yan was pierced through the chest by Su Xiao’s slash, nine out of ten it was a smoke bomb.
After confirming the basic information of the enemy, Su Xiao charged forward deeply.
A dark shadow swept past, Su Xiao instantly appeared before Huang Yan, slashing downward with his knife, swift as thunder.
White flames wrapped around Huang Yan’s arm, he raised it to block in front.
Clang!
White flames surged forth; Huang Yan actually blocked a slash with his body. No, it was Huang Yan’s flames that blocked Su Xiao’s blade.
A layer of flame armor formed on Huang Yan’s arm, with large cracks appearing where the long knife struck.
Su Xiao exerted force with his hand, puzzled why Huang Yan would block this slash. Could it be...
As if realizing something, Su Xiao bent over and delivered a side kick towards Huang Yan, a wall of flame appearing beside Huang Yan, while green flames surged in his other hand, giving a sticky feeling.
Su Xiao’s side kick shot out, Huang Yan’s hand pressing towards Su Xiao’s chest.
At this moment, Huang Yan suddenly felt a chilling sense of crisis, his hair standing on end. He immediately looked at the Dragon Slash, but the crisis wasn’t coming from it, but from his side.
Aware of this, Huang Yan mobilized 70% of his Heart Flame to form an oval-shaped flame shield beside him; the white flame shield nearly solidified, this is Heart Flame, Huang Yan can use it to create many things.
Su Xiao’s kick was truly insidious. His initial side kick was just an ordinary kick, but the wall of flames Huang Yan released could completely block it.
However, mid-side kick, Su Xiao activated the Active Effect of Spirit of Wood and triggered the Kinetic Boots.
Buzz!
The core engine of Kinetic Boots overloaded, Su Xiao’s kick collided with the flame shield.
Bang!
A wave of impact spread, the surrounding ground crumbled.
Crash, crash.
Cracks appeared on the flame shield beside Huang Yan, who sensed how terrifying Su Xiao’s kick was, but he couldn’t be immune to this kick. That ability to ignore physical attacks had about 1 minute of cooldown left, used last time to resist Su Xiao’s Dragon Shadow Flash ability.
With a snapping sound, the flame shield shattered, and the flames in Huang Yan’s hand formed a sphere, pressing directly towards Su Xiao’s chest.
A 400-strength energy shield blocked Su Xiao’s front, preventing Huang Yan’s hand from pressing onto Su Xiao’s chest.
"Incinerate."
Huang Yan voiced softly, the flame in his hand exploded, forming a wrist-thick pillar of fire, assaulting Su Xiao’s chest.
At the same moment, the flame shield shattered, with Su Xiao’s kick landing on the side of Huang Yan’s waist.
The sound of roaring mixed with the sound of fire eruptions, large plumes of smoke rising, a pillar of fire penetrating Su Xiao’s chest.
With a swoosh, Huang Yan flew towards the edge of the field, crashing hard against the energy wall there. Due to the force, after crashing, he immediately bounced back, leaving large bloodstains on the energy wall, including three fingers crushed into mince.
In the audience, Iron Rat scratched his head, staring at the shattered Swamp of Death, thinking to himself, could this really be a battle between Third-tier Contractors?
Iron Rat knew Huang Yan was strong, enough to rival some Fourth-tier Contractors. If Huang Yan normally advanced his tier position, his strength would definitely be stronger than Iron Rat’s. But Huang Yan was merely a Third-tier Contractor, having sacrificed for the team.
Despite Huang Yan’s significant sacrifice for the team, he also gained considerable benefits, such as his position below only one person within the team, experiences across multiple Derivative Worlds. Without Huang Yan’s sacrifice, there would be no Blood Gate today. His deputy position was unquestionable, and anyone dared question it.
Currently, Huang Yan possesses three main attributes, with True Strength, Stamina, and Intelligence all reaching 90 points. The only slight drawback is his skill level isn’t high, due to the scarcity of Soul Crystals.
