Chapter 611: Breaking the Web, Shattering the Skull, Execution

Chapter 611 -524: Breaking the Web, Shattering the Skull, Execution

Just as the Spiritual Spider Web was about to touch his body…

“Dispel!”

Ellis’s voice rang out at the perfect moment.

A ray of pure Arcane Magic precisely struck the weakest energy node in the Spiritual Spider Web—a vulnerability created by Holland’s interference.

CRACKLE!

The already unstable web, now attacked from both inside and out, tore apart like a piece of tattered cloth. It disintegrated a short distance in front of Roland, leaving only a few stray Spiritual Silk Threads.

Roland’s massive body passed through the remnants of the web unscathed. He was now face-to-face with the Heartstealer, which had just finished feeding and had perhaps not yet fully integrated the memories it had devoured.

An eerie light flared in the Heartstealer’s dark eye sockets. Its four thick tentacles no longer attempted to cast complex Spiritual Energy abilities.

Instead, they whipped and stabbed viciously at Roland’s vital points from different angles, moving like poisoned steel whips, accompanied by air-tearing shrieks and condensed, destructive Energy.

At the same time, its head, covered in slimy skin, tilted back slightly. Its maw opened, brewing a silent but far more insidious shriek intended to directly concuss the soul.

However, in the eyes of Roland—whose dynamic vision and reaction speed had skyrocketed from his partial Dragonification—its movements were still half a beat too slow.

Roland didn’t dodge or evade. His right hand, covered in Dragon Scales with fingers that had taken on the shape of sharp claws, shot out like lightning to meet the tentacle lashing at him from the front—the one with the most concentrated Energy. He grabbed it and twisted.

CRACK!

A sickening crunching sound.

He had snapped the tentacle clean in two.

Eerie blue, spiritual-energy-infused blood and shattered nerve tissue splattered everywhere.

At the same time, he swung his left arm, brazenly parrying another tentacle stabbing at his ribs with the outside of his forearm, now covered in a rock-like texture and Dragon Scales. Sparks flew at the point of impact.

He didn’t even bother with the other two tentacles lashing at his legs and flank, merely adjusting the tension of his muscles and the angle to receive the blow.

WHAP! WHAP!

With two dull thuds, the tentacles struck his Stone Skin and Dragon Scales, leaving behind faint white marks and a slight stinging pain. But they failed to cause any real damage, much less halt his advance by even half a step.

And now, nothing stood between him and the Heartstealer.

Just as the creature’s brewing shriek was about to be unleashed…

Roland’s massive left hand, covered in Dark Gold Dragon Scales…

…like the claw of a hunting Giant Dragon, five fingers spread wide, descended with terrifying, world-tearing power, viciously grabbing for the Heartstealer’s slimy, slightly tilted-back head.

Its speed was extreme.

The Heartstealer’s last instinct was to jerk its head aside to dodge, but the Dragon Claw seemed to have predicted its every evasion, shadowing its movements and closing in with unerring precision.

SQUELCH!

A deeply unsettling, sticky, muffled sound—a mix of shattering carapace and soft tissue being pulped by immense force—erupted in the silent night sky.

Roland’s five fingers dug deep into the Heartstealer’s head.

Viscous, dark purple fluid and fragments of shattered carapace shot out from between his fingers.

The Heartstealer’s brewing Spiritual Roar stopped abruptly. In its place came a final, violent spasm and a chaotic torrent of consciousness, a death throe only perceptible through Spiritual Perception.

Its thick tentacles drooped limply, twitching, as its body went slack like a deboned snake.

Roland’s expression was blank. The five fingers embedded in the creature’s skull snapped shut and twisted to the side.

CRUNCH!

An even crisper cracking sound rang out as the connection between the Heartstealer’s neck and skull was utterly destroyed.

He casually tossed the mangled corpse, now devoid of all signs of life, aside like a piece of trash. It landed on a pile of ore with a heavy thud.

In an instant, two High Tier Heartstealers were down—one dead, one grievously wounded. Their joint attack was broken.

The last remaining Heartstealer saw its companions fall one after another, leaving no one left to coordinate its Spiritual Energy with.

The eerie blue light in its inhuman sockets flickered violently, revealing extremely complex fluctuations of Spiritual Energy.

Shock, anger, apprehension… and a swiftly budding desire to retreat.

It no longer tried to attack anyone. The light at the tip of its short staff changed, and a much denser Shadow began to spread from beneath its feet.

It seemed to be preparing to cast some kind of short-range shadow jump or stealth ability in an attempt to flee the battlefield.

But how could Roland give it that chance?

After slaying the second Heartstealer, he didn’t even turn back to confirm the kill. He pushed off with his feet, sending gravel flying, and shot forward once more, pouncing on the final target like a falcon locking onto its prey.

At the same time, without turning his head, he let out a low shout.

“Stop it!”

He said this to Ellis.

The young Mage was currently bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. The continuous high-intensity Casting had drained his Magic Power and left him mentally exhausted.

But upon hearing the command, he snapped his head up. Seeing the spreading Shadow at the Heartstealer’s feet and the subtle distortions beginning to appear in the space around it, his pupils contracted sharply.

“Don’t you… dare… escape…”

He gritted his teeth, squeezing out the last bit of controllable Magic Power from his sea of consciousness.

He barely managed to form a simplified Dharma Seal with his hands. Facing the area of distorted space, he rasped.

“Magic Counter!”

An invisible wave of interference, targeting that specific energy structure, spread out.

Although its intensity was limited due to his lack of Magic Power and it couldn’t completely interrupt the Heartstealer’s Spell-like Ability, it successfully caused a momentary lag and disruption in the channeling process of its shadow jump.

For Roland, that momentary lag was an eternity.

He had arrived.

The last Heartstealer was forced to abort its jump. Facing the ferocious Roland pouncing toward it, it let out a desperate, high-frequency Spiritual Roar, pouring all its Spiritual Energy into the short staff without reservation.

The murky crystal at its tip erupted with a blinding, violet-black light. A torrent of Spiritual Energy, far thicker and more violent than any of its previous attacks, shot straight at Roland like the final strike of a dying viper.

Roland neither dodged nor retreated. He crossed his Dragon Scale-covered arms in front of his head and chest, the residual glow of the Stone Skin Technique glinting off his Dark Gold Dragon Scales, and charged head-on into the torrent of Spiritual Energy!

BOOM!

The violent collision of energy set off a visible shockwave, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel.

Roland’s forward momentum was forcibly halted for a moment. The rock-like color on his skin completely faded and peeled away, and fine cracks and scorch marks appeared on his Dragon Scales, but he…

…still hadn’t retreated a single step.

Pushing through the aftershock of the Spiritual Energy torrent, he broke through the last few feet of distance.

The Heartstealer tried to raise its tentacles for a final struggle.

But an Iron Fist, covered in cracked Dragon Scales yet still containing terrifying Power, had already slammed squarely into the center of its chest, right on the core node of the complex Spiritual Energy patterns there, carrying with it the will to crush everything.

THUD!

A dull impact, like the beating of a giant drum.

The Heartstealer’s thick carapace caved in and shattered on impact.

The violent force of the punch penetrated its body, directly shattering the Spiritual Energy organs and fragile internal structures within its chest cavity.

Its entire body was thrown backward like a kite with a snapped string. The short staff flew from its grasp, and the eerie blue light of its Spiritual Energy uncontrollably dissipated from its seven orifices before extinguishing completely.

It landed heavily in the distance, twitched a couple of times, and then fell still.

The night wind swept across the empty lot, which was piled high with slag, carrying with it the faint scent of blood and char.

All three High Tier Heartstealers had been slain.

The area fell silent for a moment.

There was only Holland’s heavy breathing, Ellis’s slight, exhausted trembling, and the soft crackle of Roland’s joints as he slowly straightened up.