Chapter 289: Kick Him While He’s Down

Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Kick Him While He’s Down

"Hss-gurgle..."

The monster’s terrifying hiss instantly turned into a gurgling sound, like air leaking from a puncture.

Its massive, swift body trembled violently. The glossy carapace covering its body turned a dull gray at a speed visible to the naked eye. Not only that, but the shell and flesh around the wound looked as if they had been instantly desiccated by some invisible force, rapidly decaying as the rot spread outward.

Just like that, right before Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes, the massive creature was disintegrated from within by that strange, violet-black lightning in a matter of moments.

In just two or three seconds, it was like a statue instantly eroded by a thousand years. It lost all signs of life, collapsed, and shattered into several large chunks of brittle, gray wreckage that crumbled at the slightest touch.

Most importantly, not only did this rune precisely extinguish the lizard-beetle monster’s life, but its lingering might and heart-pounding energy fluctuations also instantly intimidated the other four monsters inside the cabin.

C-level Strength, even from a mere rune, represented an incomprehensibly fatal threat to D-level monsters!

Seraphina Sinclair realized at once. ’This is it! While they’re still reeling in terror!’

A cold glint in her eyes, sharp as a blade, she didn’t hesitate for a second.

She didn’t know how long the Intimidation effect would last, but she knew she had to seize this fleeting advantage.

Seraphina Sinclair’s gaze immediately locked onto her next target: the two-faced vulture monster circling uncertainly.

It could fly, giving it the highest mobility and making it an extreme threat. It had just been driven back by the aftershock of the Lunar Thunder, and its mind was in disarray.

’Kick ’em while they’re down!’

Seraphina Sinclair kicked off the ground, her body shooting forward like an arrow released from a bow. Instead of retreating, she advanced, charging straight at the two-faced vulture monster, which was momentarily sluggish from fear.

The vulture monster’s two faces screeched sharply at the same time. One dove down in an attempt to peck at her, while the other, panicked, tried to pull upward. Its brain was clearly short-circuiting.

A smirk played on Seraphina Sinclair’s lips. She swept her long blade upward with her right hand, while her left had already discreetly pinched another rune between her index and middle fingers—a D-level Moon Flame Evil Cleansing Talisman.

Although its power was far inferior to the Lunar Thunder Rune, it was still a rune of the same level as the monster. Its lethality went without saying!

A flash of the blade, a burst of flames—

The long blade drew a spray of foul blood, and the Moon Flame rune precisely struck the weak spot on the vulture monster’s chest and abdomen, exposed by its overly aggressive charge.

"GAAAAH!!"

Both of the two-faced vulture monster’s faces contorted in unison as it let out a horrific shriek of ultimate agony. No longer able to stay airborne, its massive body spiraled downward like a kite with a snapped string, the flames spreading madly across it and turning it into a blazing fireball.

THUD!

It smashed heavily onto the ground, twitched a few times, and then went completely still amidst the dying flames. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t even glance at the result. The moment her blade flashed past, she relied on her keen Perception of airflow and the slight aura suppression from Basic Concealment to immediately retreat backward and to the side, her figure almost leaving an afterimage in the dim light.

The instant she pulled back—

BOOM!

A giant palm covered in heavy Bone Armor slammed down viciously right where she had been standing, shattering the stone tiles and kicking up a cloud of dust.

It was the Bone-Plated Greatbear!

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Several sharp wooden spikes shot from another angle like javelins, sealing off her escape route on the other side. They came from the twisted Treant.

A stream of ghastly green slime also dripped silently from above and to the side, landing on the ground she had just passed. It instantly corroded a small pit, emitting plumes of acrid white smoke.

It was the Monstrous Centipede, which was scuttling rapidly along the walls and ceiling, its venomous compound eyes locked firmly on her.

The three remaining monsters had completely recovered from the initial Intimidation. Their ferocity was fully ignited; the successive deaths of their comrades had not made them retreat, but had instead provoked an even more violent killing intent.

They were no longer fighting individually, but had vaguely formed a coordinated attack!

The bear applied pressure with a frontal assault, the Treant harassed and contained her from a distance, and the Monstrous Centipede watched for an opportunity to launch a fatal, venomous sneak attack.

These were D-level monsters.

When faced with threatening prey, they would coordinate with each other.

But so what?

If all five monsters had ganged up on her, Seraphina Sinclair might have been a little wary. But now, with only three left...

Even if they were all monsters just a hair’s breadth away from C-level, what did it matter?

In the end, they weren’t true C-level monsters!

But Seraphina Sinclair truly possessed the ability to easily slay D-level monsters!

The battle was without suspense. After cutting down the last monster, Seraphina Sinclair raised her hand and flicked the blood from her blade.

Droplets of blood splattered onto the concrete floor, blooming like dark red plum blossoms.

The cabin fell into a brief, deathly silence. The air was thick with the rich scent of blood, mixed with the acrid smells of burning and corrosion.

The remains of the five monsters were scattered about in various twisted poses—gray and brittle, charred black, dripping with slime—collectively forming a grotesque post-battle tableau.

She slowly exhaled a breath tinged with the taste of iron as the frantic beating in her chest gradually subsided. She glanced around. Under the dim yellow light, the cabin looked even more dilapidated than when she had arrived, its walls and floor covered in cracks and stains.

But the danger was, for the moment, gone.

At first, Seraphina Sinclair waited for the corpses to dissolve into points of light and for a reward to appear.

But after waiting for a long time, the remains still lay there silently, showing no signs of disappearing.

’Something’s wrong.’

Seraphina Sinclair tightened her grip on her blade’s hilt, her knuckles turning slightly white. Her gaze swept around the cabin, and she finally noticed something different.

Behind the bronze door panel, there had indeed been monsters, but there were also human remains.

But inside this cabin, there were only these few monsters and not a single trace of human tissue.

At first, Seraphina Sinclair had assumed that any human bodies had probably been devoured completely by the monsters, but now that she thought about it carefully, it didn’t seem right.

This godforsaken place could even pause time. And judging by the state of things when it was paused, time must have stopped the instant the humans died. How could it have waited until the monsters had finished devouring the bodies?

In other words, there were no human corpses in this mobile cabin at all.

Seraphina Sinclair was a little confused.

Based on her experience in the previous two areas, she had surmised that the mobile cabins in this special zone came in only two varieties.

One was like the first area: no monsters and no human bodies, only supplies.

The other was like the previous bronze door panel: after dealing with the monsters, you could get an extra reward for killing them.

So this current situation...

Seraphina Sinclair scratched her head. ’What’s going on here?’

’The monsters are definitely dead, but no reward has appeared.’

She circled the cabin several times but couldn’t see any reward inside the mobile cabin.

’What is the meaning of this?’

No reward, and the bodies haven’t disappeared!

Seraphina Sinclair glanced back.

Oh, great. The door panel hadn’t even opened!