Chapter 118: Label’s Resolve! Riven, Please Hurry Up!

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The two remaining ninjas desperately unleashed all their remaining power in one last combined technique, a legendary Dual Jutsu of ancient origin.

"Dual Jutsu – Great Calamity of the Heian Era: Yamata no Orochi’s First Head!"

RUMBLE!

They drained every last drop of their spiritual energy and even sacrificed a portion of their soul essence just to make certain they could take down their opponent.

FLUOSH!

From the purple-colored demonic portal a giant white snake emerged with terrifying speed. It leaped ferociously toward Label with its jaws wide open and venom dripping from its fangs.

"SHYAAAAAAH!"

The furious serpent opened its jaws even wider and landed heavily over Label’s body, biting deep into her shoulder and forcefully pushing her away from the exhausted ninjas.

"Aaaagggh! W-What’s this...?! Another Spirit?!"

The ninjas smiled weakly in satisfaction before blood began pouring from their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears. They collapsed heavily onto the ground, completely spent from the technique.

"They sacrificed themselves just to beat me...!" Label thought as she clenched her teeth against the searing pain. "Their loyalty and pride... their bravery is immense...! Even these people... lowlife assassins and thieves... are better than I am..." she thought for a bitter moment.

Then she forcefully shook her head.

No!

That’s not true at all!

Label’s eyes glowed bright red as spiritual energy and pure alchemy essence flowed out of her body like raging green fire.

"I am not below them!!!"

With pure anger she pierced the giant snake’s throat with her sharp claws and then tore its jaws away from her bleeding shoulder.

"Gryaaaaaasshhhh!"

The snake hissed furiously and quickly leaped forward to fight her once more. It coiled its powerful tail tightly around her body in an attempt to crush her while opening its jaws and releasing a deadly stream of venom.

"Cough...! Cough, cough!"

Label coughed up blood but kept moving even as the deadly venom of the snake coursed rapidly through her veins.

A pair of black-feathered Tengu wings suddenly surged behind her back. She took a powerful leap forward through the air.

Her claws regrew even sharper than before as she swung them angrily at the serpent, slashing across its face and tail and freeing herself from its crushing grip at the same time.

"GGGSHHHH!"

The snake hissed in agony and quickly smashed her with its own massive head, sending her flying downward and crashing hard into the ground once more.

The creature immediately leaped toward her again with jaws wide open, ready to finish her off.

Label slowly felt her transformation beginning to fail. It had been an unstable formula made on the fly after all.

But she refused to give up. Little Chemy by her side infused her entire body with concentrated alchemical fire, causing her to blaze with bright green flames.

"I won’t give up...! I-I won’t die either! I’ll wait...! Until Riven returns, so we can avenge my dad together!"

With pure rage she leaped straight into the giant snake’s open jaws herself, carrying the last of her most powerful explosive bombs with her.

"GULP."

The snake swallowed her without a moment of hesitation.

It was a terrible mistake.

"?!"

Its eyes widened in sudden panic as thick smoke began to pour from its nostrils.

Then...

BOOOMMM!!!

The serpent inflated like a grotesque balloon and exploded in a shower of blood, scales, and flesh.

Label slowly emerged from the bloody remains of the giant white snake, coughing up blood mixed with residual poison.

"Ugh...! W-We need to make an antidote, Chemy... h-hurry..." she muttered weakly. "W-Wow, the snake... the snake remained as a solid corpse— Ahhh..."

Label slowly returned to her normal form, unable to stop the heavy bleeding from her shoulder wound with ordinary health potions. She collapsed onto the ground, completely exhausted.

At that moment the two collapsed ninjas were suddenly awakened at the same time. Their eyes widened as they saw their smallest companion strike their necks with a special waking technique that could restore an unconscious man back to full energy in an instant.

"Looks like you survived."

"Is the girl dead?"

"No..." the smaller ninja said after a quick glance. "But she’s slowly dying. The little pet she has... might be trying to save her."

"Annoying," muttered one of the others while gripping his knife tightly.

"Lord Kagehisa still hasn’t returned..." one of them said while staring at the dark bubble of energy floating in the middle of the air. "Just what’s—"

Crack, crack...!

CRASH!

The bubble of darkness suddenly shattered like fragile glass, exploding into countless scattered pieces.

"?!"

As they gasped in shock, they prepared themselves to receive their master — the man they had followed all the way here from their distant clan.

"Lord Kagehisa, you have return—"

However, they did not see their lord.

Instead a tall, muscular young man with long lion-mane-like black hair and sharp red eyes stood glaring toward their direction.

His shirt was torn to pieces and his body was covered in deep scars and wounds that were rapidly healing. He was no longer bleeding, yet he remained soaked in his own blood from the fierce battle.

Then he casually threw something heavy at their feet.

"..."

"..."

"..."

It was Kagehisa’s lifeless body.

Their hands trembled violently as they fell to their knees in pure despair.

"K-Kage...!"

"Lord...! Lord Kagehisa...!"

"Kagehisa-samaaaaaa!!!"

They screamed in disbelief and horror. Tears of anger and grief streamed down their faces as Riven looked at them with cold, burning anger of his own.

Label still lay on the floor, twitching in residual pain.

A giant snake corpse rested right beside her. Had she truly killed it alone?

The three ninjas were in terrible condition. She had somehow found a way to defeat them.

Noir was only just beginning to wake up. He seemed to have fallen unconscious during the earlier chaos.

Riven walked past the kneeling ninjas without a second glance and knelt beside Label. He quickly absorbed the remaining poison from the giant snake and synthesized a potent antidote on the spot before carefully feeding it to her.

Slowly her wounds began to close and she regained consciousness.

"R-Riven?" she whispered weakly. "What... happened?"

"It’s done," he said quietly. "I am proud you survived this far. It took longer than expected, but I had faith you would make it."

"Eh?" Label suddenly noticed she was completely naked. Her black dress had been torn apart during the transformation. "Gyaaaaahhhh!"

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