Chapter 198 — Space Dragon

Chapter 198: Chapter 198 — Space Dragon

Chapter 198 — Space Dragon

Victor looked toward the Space Witch.

He had no idea if she had anything else left in her bag of tricks capable of dealing with the newly strengthened enemy in front of them.

Strangely enough, throughout the fight, Victor and the Space Witch had worked extremely well together.

Almost too well.

Neither of them had communicated much, yet they seemed to instinctively understand when the other was attacking, retreating, or creating an opening.

Victor found it strange.

But there wasn’t exactly time to think about it.

His attention returned to Snake Mask.

Victor exhaled.

It was time.

He began circulating Spiritual Energy through his body, preparing to activate the Black Phoenix Form.

But before he could—

The Space Witch thrust her palm toward him.

Victor’s eyes widened.

A wave of spatial energy slammed into his body.

"What—"

He was thrown backward and crashed against the wall.

The attack didn’t have enough force to seriously hurt him. If anything, it seemed deliberately controlled.

Victor was about to demand an explanation when something tore through the air.

BOOM!

Snake Mask’s spear buried itself in the wall exactly where Victor had been standing.

Victor froze.

The spear had been aimed directly at his heart.

His gaze moved from the weapon to Snake Mask.

Then toward the Space Witch.

She had saved his life.

Victor pushed himself away from the wall.

There was no more time to hesitate.

He needed the Black Phoenix Form.

But just as he prepared to activate it again, something began gathering around the Space Witch.

Victor stopped.

An enormous amount of spatial energy was building in front of her.

Purple-black energy twisted through the air, yet its appearance was difficult to describe. Parts of it were nearly transparent, while others were impossibly dark, almost as if the energy couldn’t decide whether it existed within the physical world or somewhere beyond it.

More and more gathered.

The air around it began to distort.

Victor stared.

Even Snake Mask reacted.

For the first time, there was urgency in his movements.

Whatever she was creating was dangerous.

Extremely dangerous.

Victor could feel it from where he stood.

The Space Witch’s cultivation seemed to be somewhere around Rank Five or Six Spirit Gathering, yet the power gathering in front of her was enough to threaten someone at Rank Ten.

Snake Mask charged.

Victor immediately understood.

He couldn’t let him interrupt Space Witch.

Rapid Dash.

Victor vanished.

He appeared directly between them.

Snake Mask barely had time to react before Victor twisted his body and drove a fully powered Monkey Fist into his stomach.

BOOM!

The strike landed cleanly.

Snake Mask was pushed backward nearly five feet.

It wasn’t enough to seriously injure him, especially after his sudden increase in cultivation.

But Victor didn’t need to injure him.

He needed a few seconds.

Snake Mask retaliated instantly.

His leg whipped around.

Victor saw the kick coming.

He couldn’t avoid it.

The impact smashed into his side.

Victor’s body lifted from the ground and flipped several times before crashing onto the floor. Momentum carried him another thirty feet before his back slammed into the wall.

"Ugh!"

The air left his lungs.

For a moment, Victor couldn’t breathe.

Snake Mask had already turned back toward the Space Witch.

Too late.

The technique was complete.

Victor forced his head up.

His eyes widened.

A massive dragon had formed from the spatial energy.

Its enormous body was made from the same strange mixture of transparent and purple-black energy. Some sections appeared perfectly solid, while others distorted the air around them, slipping partially in and out of space itself.

The Space Witch thrust her hand forward.

The dragon moved.

Snake Mask stared up at it.

There was no room to dodge.

Dark energy immediately erupted from his body.

Something began taking shape around him.

Victor’s expression tightened.

A massive demonic figure emerged, surrounding Snake Mask like a projection.

It stood nearly three times his height.

Its features were monstrous, formed entirely from the dark energy of the Beast God. Snake Mask remained at its center, his movements seemingly connected to the enormous figure surrounding him.

The Space Dragon descended.

Snake Mask laughed.

"Well..."

He raised his fist.

"Let’s see what happens."

Snake Mask launched himself forward.

The demonic figure followed.

Its enormous fist collided directly with the Space Dragon.

For an instant—

Everything became silent.

Then the entire meat market exploded.

BOOOOOOM!

The freezer vanished beneath a violent wave of energy.

Walls shattered.

The ceiling was ripped apart.

Metal, stone, wood, and chunks of frozen meat flew in every direction as the collision tore through the building like a miniature bomb.

Victor’s eyes widened.

Shit.

The shockwave hit him.

Pain tore through his entire body.

"ARGH!"

Victor screamed as spatial and dark energy ripped across his flesh.

Cuts opened across his arms and torso. Heat scorched one side of his body, burning through cloth and skin.

The building was coming down.

Victor forced Spiritual Energy into his legs.

Rapid Dash!

He shot toward the edge of the collapsing meat market.

Again.

Rapid Dash!

Victor burst through what remained of the building and escaped outside.

Barely.

His knees hit the ground.

Victor caught himself with one hand, breathing heavily.

Blood ran from countless cuts across his body. Half his clothes were destroyed, and burns covered one side of him.

Behind him, the remains of the meat market continued collapsing.

Stone crashed against stone.

Dust rolled through the street.

Victor slowly raised his head.

The energy inside finally began to dissipate.

Through the wreckage, he saw Snake Mask.

The man was down on one knee.

He had survived.

But barely.

Victor searched for the Space Witch.

She was still standing.

Barely.

Her clothing had been shredded by the explosion. Most of the fabric covering her upper body had been destroyed, though her pants remained mostly intact.

Victor was about to move toward her when something on her back caught his attention.

He froze.

There, stretching across nearly half of her exposed back, was a tattoo.

An upside-down alchemical flask.

For a moment, everything else disappeared.

Victor’s mind went blank.

He knew that symbol.

The same symbol that had followed him throughout his journey in this world.

Samal.

Victor stared.

Why did she have that symbol tattooed across her back?

The Space Witch stumbled.

Victor snapped back to the present.

This wasn’t the time.

Rapid Dash.

He appeared beside her before she could collapse and caught her, pulling one of her arms across his shoulder.

Victor immediately searched for Snake Mask.

Gone.

Victor’s expression hardened.

Sometime during those few seconds, the man had escaped.

There was nothing Victor could do about that now.

The Space Witch shifted weakly against him.

Victor glanced toward her—

Then immediately looked away.

The explosion had destroyed the front of her clothing as well.

Sorry.

Victor quickly removed what remained of his outer clothing and handed it to her, helping cover her body.

The Space Witch looked toward him.

For a brief moment, their eyes met through the openings of her white mask.

Then her body went limp.

Victor caught her.

"Hey."

No response.

She had passed out.

Victor stood among the wreckage, holding the unconscious woman as smoke and dust drifted around him.

His head was filled with questions.

Who was she?

And most importantly—

Why did she carry Samal’s symbol on her back?

The more Victor thought about it, the worse his headache became.

He needed to leave.

Tower Law Enforcement would undoubtedly be coming after an explosion like that, and standing in the middle of a destroyed meat market with an unconscious masked woman was going to be extremely difficult to explain.

Victor adjusted her weight against him and prepared to move.

Then a voice came from behind him.

"Looks like I’m a few seconds too late."

Victor froze.