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"Spatial… rift?"
Liu Erlong glanced instinctively at Sam. "Seriously, what the hell is that thing?"
It was her first time ever seeing something like a spatial rift. Honestly, she barely understood what was going on anymore. No one had bothered explaining it to her, so she was still completely in the dark.
And when that crack in space first appeared, it had scared the life out of her.
"The energy in the air… the stuff that's been constantly trying to erode us… it's weakening."
Kurama's senses were razor-sharp. Sure, he'd gotten caught off guard earlier, but that didn't mean his perception was lacking.
"Now that you mention it, I feel it too." Wu Liuqi focused for a moment, then his eyes lit up in surprise. "My body feels lighter. That weird discomfort from when we first got here is gone."
"Be careful! That thing's changing again!" Liu Erlong suddenly shouted.
In the distance, the humanoid mantis was indeed undergoing another transformation.
Its scythe-like forelegs grew longer, their edges gleaming with terrifying sharpness. Its body shrank to around two meters tall, but no one relaxed. The pressure it radiated was even heavier than before.
"It must have absorbed all the void energy in the air and completed its evolution," Kurama muttered. After living for so many years, it didn't take him long to figure it out.
That single sentence made everyone's hearts sink.
It had already been a nightmare to deal with before. And now it had evolved?
This just kept getting worse.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Kurama had no intention of politely waiting for it to finish powering up. A Tailed Beast Bomb blasted straight at its face. He was even hoping to interrupt the evolution mid-process.
Elsa didn't stand idle either. She closed her eyes, drawing in every last thread of her ice magic. She was charging up something big.
Wu Liuqi, still only Tier Three, was completely outmatched here. There was no way he could join the fight. So he stood by Elsa's side, ready to protect her while she prepared her ultimate move.
…Wait.
A terrifying thought hit him.
If that thing really did try to sneak attack them, could he even block it?
Before he could spiral any further, a massive shadow suddenly swallowed the ground beneath them.
It was night, but under the moonlight they could still see clearly.
"This… you've got to be kidding…"
Liu Erlong and Wu Liuqi both looked up, thinking it was another enemy attack. The moment they did, they froze.
A gigantic ice sphere—over a hundred meters across—was falling from the sky. And the closer it got, the larger it seemed.
An ice sphere?
They immediately turned toward Elsa.
Her forehead was drenched in sweat.
"This is everything I've got," she said between heavy breaths, wiping her brow. "If this doesn't take it down… we're in serious trouble."
This was her full power.
The sphere wasn't just enormous, covering an absurd range. It was packed with terrifying freezing energy. The moment it made contact, that bone-deep cold would cling like a curse, instantly freezing its target solid.
"ROAR!"
Kurama bellowed. Solid chakra arms extended from him, slamming down and pinning the humanoid mantis in place.
The mantis reacted instantly. Its forelegs flashed dozens of times in a blur, shredding Kurama's chakra arms to pieces.
Then it beat its wings, trying to escape the sphere's impact zone.
"ROAR!"
Kurama wasn't about to let it get away. Another Tailed Beast Bomb detonated right in its face. Even though the mantis managed to defend, the blast still forced it back into the ice sphere's strike radius.
And then—
The colossal ice sphere crashed straight into its face.
In the distance, Sam—whose body was currently being controlled by the Wisdom King—couldn't offer direct support, but he was closely watching Kurama and Elsa's side of the battlefield.
After seeing the mantis's strength, Sam couldn't help but suspect that the Super-Dimensional Mercenary Guild had gotten scammed by the Douluo world.
Think about it. This was Tang God King's world.
Pulling shady stuff like this? Totally possible.
You're telling me a monster like that was only worth thirty thousand dimensional gold coins?
Are you kidding me?!
No way. When I get back, I'm filing a complaint.
You've got to fight for employee benefits, right?
…Wait. Is that really fighting for benefits? Or just demanding the pay we're actually owed?
Sam shook off the thought and focused back on the battlefield.
"That combo between Elsa and Kurama was clean," he muttered, nodding in approval.
Sure, his own combat experience was still trash compared to someone like Kurama, who'd been fighting his entire life. But even he could tell that was a beautiful bit of coordination.
If he'd been in control of his body right now, he would've applauded.
His gaze shifted to the massive ice sphere now resting on the ground.
"Damn it… something that big smashing down like that has to hurt, right?"
"And Elsa looks completely drained. Kurama's in slightly better shape, but not by much."
He mentally shouted, "Hey, Wisdom King! Can you hurry it up?!"
Wisdom King: "…"
I'm working my ass off here while you sit back and watch this like it's a live-action blockbuster. And you've got the nerve to rush me?
Shameless.
"....."