Chapter 37: Tier-Five Vicious Beast

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Tier-Five Vicious Beast

Weighing the pros and cons in his mind in a flash, Jeremy decisively reached out. A sharp stream of magic power tore through the water; the natal Holy Artifact Maboroshi immediately took the shape of a giant longbow named the Silver Plume Twin Butterflies. The silver alloy bow radiated a cold light, exuding an arrogant and powerful aura.

He tilted his head slightly, giving an order to Evelyn, who was hiding close beside him, his voice deep and decisive: "Deal with a portion from a distance first to wear down their formation. If they notice and pursue, immediately retreat from the hiding spot, change the movement direction, and continue kiting."

"Understood." Evelyn nodded, perfectly in tune with his pragmatic tactic.

She raised her hand; the Azure Spirit Longbow immediately materialized. The bow bore a cyan-green color as if dotted with the intense vitality of nature. Moon Epiphyllum flowers condensed from magic power wrapped along the bow’s body; the glowing lines moved gracefully with the water current. At the same time, three arrows extending sparkling cyan-green light were already nocked on the string.

Evelyn’s actual combat experience was extremely accurate. The moment her two slender fingers let go, the three arrows tore through the seawater’s resistance, darting out like lightning, embedding straight into the throats of the three Nightmare Beasts patrolling at the outermost edge.

Jeremy’s sharp gaze swept over the three corpses that had just been hit.

The exact moment the arrows pierced the skin, a series of thorny green vines immediately erupted, tightly wrapping around and crushing the beasts’ bodies. Before they could even open their mouths to let out a cry for help, their bones were crushed, and they completely lost their lives, sinking down onto the coral reef.

Evelyn’s first core skill was named **[Parasite]**.

Its operational mechanism was incredibly ruthless: a combination of toxin and physical crowd control. The enemy struck would immediately fall into a hallucinatory state due to the invading toxicity; their nervous system would be completely manipulated. Simultaneously, the arrow would turn into a magical vine, brutally draining the opponent’s vitality to reinforce the constricting force.

Although the stolen vitality could not be converted back to nourish the master, it absolutely enhanced the binding capability and the paralyzing effect of the venom.

Throughout the past week, under the string of days being tortured by instructor Griffin, Jeremy had the opportunity to spar and engage in actual combat with all four teammates. Grasping the strengths and weaknesses of their skill sets, he easily noticed that the condensation speed and destructive power of Evelyn’s arrows right now were significantly sharper and stronger than a few days ago.

It seemed the life-and-death pressure from the recent individual freshman tournament had truly forced this stoic-faced girl to hone her skills to a new height.

Jeremy did not hesitate, drawing the silver bowstring with his bare hands. Magic power condensed into brilliantly glowing light arrows. He coordinated rhythmically with Evelyn’s arrow release pace, coldly shooting down clean every Nightmare Beast that had just vaguely noticed the anomaly and intended to swim over to check.

The nature of the Nightmare Beast leaned toward illusionary control abilities. Their physical defense capabilities were extremely fragile, so sniping them from a distance did not require too much effort.

By the time the inner patrol squad of the beast pack actually realized the blind spot in their formation, the number of their fallen kin had already reached nearly twenty.

"Roar... ooh!"

The enraged Nightmare Beasts let out murky roars that shook the water currents. They frantically scoured around, swimming erratically to search for the hidden enemy. Seaweed and giant coral reefs were knocked away by their bodies, swaying violently exactly like a nest of water snakes twisting wildly upon being broken.

Jeremy and Evelyn briefly met eyes, immediately abandoning their old hiding spot. Both utilized magic power to push the water, decisively retreating far away, occupying an underwater rock ledge at a higher position to widen their field of vision.

The waves of arrows from the two crisscrossed, coordinating without a single gap. Before long, the initial formation of over fifty Nightmare Beasts had been cleared out, leaving only about thirty clinging to life.

According to the material list Griffin requested in the commission mission, they needed to collect a total of forty Nightmare Beast corpses. Jeremy raised his hand, releasing black magical vines, neatly wrapping up the floating corpses at the bottom of the sea and pulling them straight into his spatial ring. His mechanical brain automatically checked the quantity.

They still lacked over a dozen more to meet the quota.

Jeremy reached out and drew a short blade, intending to dive down to swiftly finish off the remainder. However, the exact moment the toe of his shoe left the rock ledge, the seabed suddenly shook violently.

The natural magic elements in the water suddenly rioted, swirling into suffocating pressure currents. The Nightmare Beasts that had been frantically searching for the enemy were now exactly like birds frightened by a bent branch; they immediately abandoned their lair, turning around and scattering to swim desperately in all directions.

Jeremy’s survival instinct, honed through countless boundaries of life and death, immediately screamed a warning. Just as he was about to turn around to remind Evelyn to retreat urgently, his line of sight collided with a terrifying scene.

The giant Phantom Shark carrying the aura of death that they had encountered when first diving into the sea... somehow broke the spatial barrier, appearing from the void right next to the coral reef right behind Evelyn’s back. Its massive body rolled with a pitch-black undercurrent, charging toward her position with the speed of lightning.

In the beast’s bloodshot pupils, as large as shields, overflowed greedy, bloodthirsty desire. The jagged teeth, as sharp as poisoned saw blades, flashed a cold light at the bottom of the deep sea.

"Evelyn, watch out!"

Jeremy roared. Instantly, his firm arm drew the bow; magic power exploded brilliantly. A light arrow tore through the water’s resistance, shooting straight with absolutely accurate trajectory, embedding into the fragile soft flesh inside the Phantom Shark’s gaping maw.

At the same time the warning roar sounded, Evelyn also felt the murderous intent striking the back of her neck. Her combat reflexes were extremely sharp. Without needing to turn her head, she immediately drew her bow, blindly unleashing five arrows simultaneously backward, while borrowing the very recoil force of the magic power to accelerate, instantly withdrawing from the fatal coordinate.

Jeremy’s arrow piercing its palate caused the Phantom Shark to let out a murky roar of pain. However, this vicious beast not only did not pause to dodge, but also frantically thrashed its giant tail fin. The surrounding water immediately condensed into a barrage of pitch-black magical thorns, tearing through the wind and shooting like a rain shower toward Evelyn, who was retreating.

The undercurrent surged violently. Even though she exerted all her strength, Evelyn still could not completely escape the wide-area damage range.

*Thwack!*

A few razor-sharp thorns pierced through her defensive layer, embedding straight into her back. The pain tearing through her internal organs surged; Evelyn coughed, a mouthful of bright red blood spurting from the corner of her lips, quickly dissolving into the salty seawater.

Smelling the stimulating scent of fresh blood, the Phantom Shark became even more crazed. It ruthlessly crushed the arrows still embedded in its throat, then roughly swallowed them into its stomach. Its giant, blood-red snout gaped open again, spewing straight out a stream of venom as thick as tar.

In just a blink of an eye, the space around Evelyn was completely enveloped by the pitch-black poison. Her vision was entirely obscured by the slimy darkness, losing all sense of direction.

This Phantom Shark was wrapped in an incredibly perfect natural camouflage barrier. It not only possessed an absolute invisibility effect, but not even a single trace of demonic aura fluctuation leaked out. But with just a quick glance at the dense, carved magic runes that had just flashed on its forehead earlier, Jeremy immediately affirmed: This beast... at the very least, must be a tier-five magic beast!

A crushing realm disparity for Novice students.

Inside the venom sphere, Evelyn’s body began to be eroded with burning pain, creating blood-filled holes all over her uniform.

The bone-piercing pain from the thorn wounds on her back spread, ravaging throughout her nervous system. Evelyn bit her lower lip hard, tightly gripping the Azure Spirit bow in her hand to the point her knuckles turned white. The blood in her body felt as if it was being congealed by the poison.

She squeezed out her last bit of magic power, exerting all her strength to draw the bow and unleash a life-and-death strike. However, the black liquid surrounding her was exactly like a bottomless cosmic black hole. The moment the cyan-green arrow flew out, it was immediately swallowed by the slimy darkness, not creating even a ripple.

Also in that moment of despair, the Phantom Shark loomed into view from within the pitch-black liquid patch. Its giant body lunged forward as fast as a torpedo, forcefully ramming its pointed snout carrying a thousand-pound force straight toward her.

In that fleeting boundary of life and death, Evelyn truly smelled the rotting stench of the death scythe pressed against her neck.

The absolute pressure of a tier-five magic beast paralyzed the muscle fibers on her body; her movements became sluggish exactly as if playing in slow motion. At the locations burned by the venom, aside from the flesh-tearing pain, there was also a numb, stiff sensation as if her entire body was about to turn to stone.

Evelyn raised her emerald eyes, looking at the dark sea surface and the giant black shadow charging close. The tenacious desire to survive deep within her heart suddenly became as faint as a firefly’s light falling amidst a storm, rapidly being swallowed by the endless darkness.

Facing the irresistible death, her face still did not show a single ripple of panic. The gripping force in her hand slowly loosened. The Azure Spirit longbow turned into countless shattered light specks and then dissipated into the water current. She half-closed her eyes, calmly letting go, proactively abandoning all efforts to resist.

Not far away, Jeremy had just painstakingly shifted his position to dodge the magical thorn rain echoing from the monster’s previous attack. He had just used fire magic coating the outside to disperse the splashing venom, and raising his eyes, he took in that entire scene of giving up.

The golden depths of his eyes darkened, a hoarse curse bursting out:

"Truly insane..."

Seeing that Evelyn was about to be chewed into minced meat by the Phantom Shark’s jagged teeth, Jeremy completely cast aside all calculations of gains and losses. Magic power exploded; the natal Holy Artifact in his hand changed its form in the blink of an eye, from a longbow turning into a long chain — the Soul Devourer chain.

*Swish!*

Jeremy’s biceps bulged with strength, swinging the metal chain carrying a razor-sharp cold aura piercing through the water screen, whipping straight toward the girl.

Right as the freezing chain links tightly wrapped around Evelyn’s slender waist, Jeremy’s wrist bent, jerking hard with a violent beat. Her entire body, drenched in fresh blood, was pulled violently forward by the pulling force, narrowly escaping the vicious beast’s fatal bite by a hair’s breadth, crashing hard into his firm chest.

The Phantom Shark’s attack missed its target, but it absolutely did not stop. It roared, thrashing its tail to tear the water, continuing to lunge forward.

Jeremy lowered his head; his gaze quickly swept over his teammate’s body, patched with blood holes and countless corroding poison spots. Without hesitating half a second, he reached out his long arm, directly wrapping it around to tightly hug her waist, lifting Evelyn’s entire body up, channeling all his magic power down to the toes of his shoes, rapidly treading water to retreat deep behind a giant staghorn coral reef.

In this seabed environment, having obstacles for cover would provide hope to prolong the survival rate a bit more.

This one-eyed Phantom Shark possessed invisibility capabilities at a masterful level. Judging by the cunning ambush situation just now, it definitely had locked onto its targets and silently stalked them from a very long time ago.

Such a massive body moving in a state of invisibility without disturbing even the slightest fluctuation in the water current... The hunting instinct of this beast had truly reached a terrifyingly cunning and perfect level.

Jeremy gritted his teeth. He understood full well the cruel laws of nature: the higher the realm of a magic beast, the more outstanding its intelligence and slyness.

With their current condition, one person depleted of magic power, the other heavily injured and poisoned, facing a tier-five magic beast... successfully escaping back to shore was almost an impossible mission.

Jeremy held Evelyn tightly with one hand, waving his magic ID card with the other, originally intending to use his intent to activate the optical screen to send an emergency message, calling that instructor Griffin to come clean up the mess.

But the moment his finger touched the glass surface, a harsh truth immediately struck his brain: Moonlit Island is an area with a specific matrix topographical structure. At the depth beneath this sea region... all communication signals are completely blocked.

A surge of frustration welled up in his chest; Jeremy narrowed his eyes, murderous intent beginning to condense.

The invisible pressure radiated by the tier-five Phantom Shark made the surrounding water currents become heavy, pressing down to the point of making it hard for one to breathe.

Both Evelyn’s back and legs were torn apart by the razor-sharp thorns spewed out by the monster persistently tailing them; fresh blood continuously flowed out, mingling into the sea.

The violent shockwaves of magic power from the continuous attacks also rebounded onto Jeremy, causing his internal organs, even though just recovered from the arena match, to now continue bearing bone-piercing pains.