Chapter 434: Abyssal Poisonous Scythe Garden!

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The Heart Demon leaped high and met Riven with its burning claws. Riven met it bare-handed, his Poison Mana and Ki surging and compressing into several Poison Viper Palms that punched holes through the Heart Demon’s body.

The claws swept past his shoulder as he drove another palm into the beast. This time, he could feel his attack doing more than forcing it back. The demon recoiled, its next strike coming before it had recovered from the first. Riven moved his arm out of the way and struck again, keeping close enough that it couldn’t swing freely at him.

"As I thought, this method is made to defeat Heart Demons...!" Riven thought, redirecting the flow of energy into his palms and releasing five snakes from each hand. They bit into the monstrous demon’s body, poisoning it further with his Ki Poison.

The beast tried to tear the snakes away, but Riven kept directing them toward the openings his palms had made. He followed its movements rather than letting it pull away and regain control of the fight. If the poison was working, he needed to keep applying it. He brought his hands forward again, ready to strike before the demon could turn its claws on him.

The beast hissed and roared in response, unleashing an inferno of black flames from its jaws. Riven met the inferno with his palm, gathering poison and combining it with his blade energy before internalizing the combination within his Heavenly Poison Body.

He could see the fire coming as the beast opened its jaws, but pulling back would give it room to attack again. Riven held his palm forward and concentrated on the energy gathering there. He had already seen what his poison could do to its body. Now he needed to turn that into an attack that could reach more of it at once.

He drew on the powerful technique imbued within his Heavenly Poison Body, combining it with his spell to create something completely new.

The poison was ready, but he kept working the blade energy into it, shaping the attack before he released it. He didn’t need another straight strike the demon could try to avoid.

He wanted the blades around it, close enough that turning away from one would bring it within reach of another. Riven spread his fingers and directed the technique outward.

Abyssal Guillotine Garden + Assassination Shadow Blade Poison–

–Abyssal Poisonous Scythe Garden.

A garden of poisonous scythes manifested around the Heart Demon. Each took the form of a massive viper with long fangs that served as scythe blades.

The demon twisted toward the nearest one and swung its claws, trying to clear a path through the garden. Another viper rose beside it before it could finish the movement. Riven kept his palm extended, guiding the attack around the beast instead of letting it gather on only one side. It had fewer places to turn now, and every movement brought its body closer to the waiting fangs.

The vipers lunged forward, their scythe-like fangs cutting through the monster before they burst into explosions of poisonous purple fire.

The beast tried to pull away from the first explosion, only to be caught by the next.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Riven followed it with his eyes, making sure the rest of the vipers reached it before it could escape the garden. He wasn’t going to stop just because the first few attacks had landed. He needed to see how much it could still endure.

"GRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The monster, enraged, roared and released a shockwave, shattering Riven’s technique and instantly crushing him beneath its power. He was sent plummeting to the ground as the earth beneath him cracked and exploded. Riven tried to push himself up, but the Heart Demon pressed down harder, forcing him back into the crater before he could regain his footing. Its jaws blazed with black fire, gathering power for a few seconds before unleashing it directly at him. With nowhere to move, Riven could only brace himself as the flames filled his vision.

TRUUUMMM!!!

A devastating, point-blank attack capable of leveling entire mountains struck Riven’s face and torso as the Heart Demon kept him pinned down. The ground around him broke apart under the blast, yet the monster refused to release him. Riven clenched his teeth against the pain, trying to hold on as the fire continued pouring over him. He had to endure it long enough for his body to adapt.

His flesh and skin instantly began to burn and disintegrate, but new flesh kept growing in their place. The purple runes within him spread across his skin, turning it purple, then as black as charcoal as his body began to absorb the fire. What had been burning him was now feeding him, its poison reaching his heart and strengthening him instead. The pain was still there, but it no longer grew worse with every passing second. Riven felt the change and stopped struggling, letting the flames pour into him.

"?!"

The monster, still releasing its breath, realized it could only damage Riven for so long. The power of the Heavenly Poison Body lay in its ability to adapt to and assimilate all poisons, no matter how deadly! It poured more power into the attack, trying to destroy him before the transformation could finish, but Riven’s body kept absorbing it. Beneath the flames, his hands curled into fists, and he began pushing against the force that held him down, a smile appearing in his lips.

"Thank you for the meal."

Riven now stood over ten meters tall, black miasma spilling from his mouth as his eyes turned deep purple and red. His hair became blazing purple fire, and a halo of poisonous flames manifested behind him. He rolled his shoulders as the last of the black fire sank into his skin, then looked down at the Heart Demon. The monster’s jaws were still open, but its breath had faltered. Riven stepped forward, testing the strength running through his body, and raised a hand toward it.

"My turn."

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