The battle continued in extreme ferocity, each of Ruminas' punches now carrying more terrible power than before, causing Manducater to tremble despite it's tough skin.
However, the price for this power was the strange black lines that continued to spread across her body. Ruminas' eyes wavered slightly as she realized the color of her pupils was changing, but she had no time to worry too much—the monster before her was still alive, and still had enough strength to counterattack.
The Manducater roared, six tentacles swinging towards Ruminas with incredible speed.
But this time, she did not avoid it but faced it head on.
Her arms stretched out, black and yellow qi twisted together and exploded violently, tearing the three tentacles apart in an instant. The monster roared in pain, but did not retreat . It changed the direction of its attack, punqing straight at Ruminas with enough force to crush anything in its path.
She leaned slightly, the punch grazing her cheek, creating a strong wind that tore through the ground behind her. Ruminas took advantage of the opening, throwing an uppercut to its qin, sending the Manducater's head flying backwards.
But just a second later, it immediately counterattacked.
The long tongue shot out like a snake, wrapping around Ruminas' neck and squeezing tightly. Her breath was momentarily stopped. Her fighting instincts prevented her from panicking. Her hand swung up, the qi swirled around like a tornado and tore off that terrifying tongue.
The Manducater roared again, retreating, but its eyes suddenly lit up with a cruel light. Its skin suddenly changed, becoming shiny like metal, and from its flanks grew a series of sharp spikes.
Ruminas frowned.
She recognized the change—the Manducater was evolving in the midst of battle! Its intelligence was no longer what it used to be, it was now adapting by the second. If this continued, she would no longer have the advantage.
"It must end immediately!"
She clenched her fists, all the remaining yellow qi gathered in her hands, but then she suddenly realized—the amount of yellow qi was too little! They were gradually being completely invaded by black qi.
"No! If I let the black qi take over completely, I will lose my mind!"
Ruminas clenched her teeth, tensing her entire body to steady her mind.
But the Manducater gave her no time to think. It charged forward like a whirlwind, each punch carrying terrifying force.
Ruminas tried to defend herself, but the pain from her heart did not stop. In just a moment of distraction, Manducater punched her straight in the stomach, causing her body to bend over, her internal organs violently shaking. A stream of blood spurted from the corner of her mouth, but she still tried to maintain consciousness.
The Manducater does not stop.
It swung its two arms down like hammers from the sky, forcing Ruminas into a passive position. For the first time in this battle, she truly felt pressure. She had become too dependent on this evil power, and now, it was slowly taking control of her body in a way she did not want.
"No... I have to wake up...!"
She gritted her teeth and used all her strength to punch the Manducater straight in the face, creating an explosion of air that sent the monster back several steps. But just as she was about to take that opportunity to counterattack, a black aura surged from her chest, as if to swallow her will.
In that moment, the Manducater recovered and charged forward again. Ruminas felt her heart pounding, her breathing becoming heavy, but there was no way back. She gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and once again, charged into battle.
The battle is still ongoing, and neither side shows any signs of stopping.
[The Heroic Queen advises you to stop quickly, otherwise there may be no way back]
Ruminas' head was so disturbed by the voices that it felt like it was about to explode that she couldn't hear anything from the system anymore.
The power from her 'qi' also began to change.
She simply reached out her hand and a pitch black hand gathered from the qi appeared and pressed down and pinned the monster to the ground.
Ruminas didn't know where this ability came from, but she knew that she just needed to use everything she had to defeat the monster.
Manducater roared and used all his strength to break free. At that moment, Ruminas also attacked but after a few blows, she staggered slightly and was sent flying by a swing from Manducater.
"It's getting worse and worse…"
The voice in her head became clearer and clearer, it had no emotions, it was unrecognizable as a creature, just like a monster from hell with an endless thirst for blood.
At this point, Manducater realized that his opponent was in a bad state, so he started to change his tactics, he didn't try to fight anymore because he knew Ruminas' strength was very high at this time, instead he dodged.
If it held out long enough, Ruminas would completely lose control and that would be its chance.
Ruminas didn't care about anything and just kept attacking, but her attacks were strong but lacked precision and strategy, making it easy for Manducater to dodge.
"Stop right there!" she roared, her voice no longer the same as before.
The Manducater continued to retreat, its eyes filled with calculation. It had seen Ruminas' weak point now—she was no longer in control, her attacks were becoming more and more wild and lacking their original sharpness. If this continued any longer, Ruminas would be completely consumed by that evil power.
But Ruminas didn't notice that. She only felt frustration rising in her heart as she watched the monster continuously dodge. Her golden eyes were now completely black, no longer reflecting any light of her own consciousness.
"Die!"
She roared, her hand slamming down on the ground. Another giant arm of black qi appeared, not just one this time, but three, all grabbing at Manducater at once. The surrounding rocks shattered, the ground shook violently.
Manducater, no matter how fast, could not completely dodge. An arm had already caught its leg, pinning it to the ground.
Ruminas laughed coldly.
"Got it"
She rushed forward with terrifying speed, throwing a punch straight at Manducater's chest. With just one punch, a huge amount of 'qi' exploded at the point of contact, sending Manducater's body flying far away, rolling on the ground.
BOOM!
A large crack appeared on the monster's body. But it was not dead. It pushed itself down on its hands and shakily stood up. Its eyes flashed with fear… but also hope. The more Ruminas lost control, the higher its chance of survival.
But Ruminas was running out of patience.
She raised her hand, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. All the black energy in her body seemed to boil, gathering in her palm, forming an unstable, swirling sphere.
The Manducater felt a pang of danger. It roared, trying to move, but its legs were pinned. It could not escape.
"Let's end it here."
Ruminas clenched his fists, preparing to strike the final blow—
—But just then, a terrible pain shot straight through her head.
"AARGH!"
She staggered back, clutqing her head. Pain tore through her soul, as if another will were fighting for control of her body. The disembodied voice in her head grew louder.
[Stop it!]
Another voice rang out through the system, but she couldn't make out who it was. It was all chaos.
Manducater immediately realized that the opportunity had come. It gathered all its remaining strength, broke the black qi arm that was holding it, and then charged forward to counterattack.
POP!
A punch straight to Ruminas' face sent her flying backwards, her body slamming into the ground. The pain from the punch mixed with the pain in her head temporarily blinded her.
The Manducater did not miss the opportunity, continuing to charge. Another blow landed on Ruminas' chest, then another on her stomach. Blood splattered everywhere.
Ruminas coughed, but her eyes were still filled with killing intent. She raised her hand, and black qi gathered around her and attacked, but the monster quickly retreated.
Ruminas staggered to his feet, his wounds healing at a rapid rate but with it came the ever-increasing erosion of his sanity.
"Must… finish quickly…"
Ruminas' remaining consciousness echoed these words.
A golden light flashed in her eyes but was quickly extinguished, only to flash again a moment later. This was a sign that Ruminas was still trying to resist the erosion.
She gathered the black 'qi', forming dozens of arms of qi and then pursued the Manducater. The monster ran away very quickly but the arms coordinated to block its path.
It roared, using all its strength to destroy one arm to escape but immediately another arm was added.
A powerful punch from behind shattered its armor and it fell to the ground, arms quickly punqing and pressing it down.
Ruminas stood right behind, using more force to completely crush its body once and for all but at this moment—
She completely lost her mind…
…
Ruminas opened her eyes again and found herself in a dark space, then she realized that in front of her was a pair of glowing red eyes looking towards her. Then the surrounding darkness began to wrap around her body and pull her down.
"Let me go!"
Ruminas fought back fiercely, but here she had no power at all, just like a normal person. Finally, when her body was more than half submerged, leaving only her head and one arm, she realized that she had been too hasty in her desire for power.
"Damn it, am I really going to die here…" Ruminas didn't feel sadness or despair, but only a feeling of unwillingness.
Being defeated like this was unacceptable to her.
But then, there was a 'crack' sound.
And Ruminas' arm was suddenly grabbed by someone and pulled out of the darkness. She opened her eyes wide to look at the person in front of her. Although she couldn't see her face, she recognized from her armor that this was the Heroic Queen.
"You…"
"Go back, I'll take care of this."
Before Ruminas could say anything, she was pushed and when she regained consciousness, she found herself back in reality, where she was about to finish off the monster. Her eyes were now golden again and she quickly realized something.
"I must finish it off quickly!"