Chapter 146: Fire Girl's Strength

No.

As evil thoughts arose, Rayan shifted his gaze away from the cleavage of sola.

sola was not a tool, not only not a tool for gratification, but also not a tool for him to grow stronger. Otherwise, when he parted her legs, he wouldn't feel any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.

He couldn't quite say he loved Olivia; it was more of an attraction and an impulse. But for sola, he did have feelings. Though not love, it was a kind of ambiguous emotion that existed somewhere between siblings and master-slave, care and carnal desire, control and being controlled, dominance and submission. From any perspective, it was only natural for him to be atop her, but Rayan still was reluctant to do so.

Relying on women to advance was not his style. Not for any other reason than that he was a man, a man who could stand tall and independent. He would never ask sola to sacrifice herself for a momentary increase in strength—even if she was willing to do so.

sola lit the fire and placed the meat of a Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion on the true fire to grill. Soon, the aroma of the meat wafted through the air.

She took the opportunity to present the heart of the Fire Scorpion to Rayan, waiting for her master to eat first.

Rayan shook his head, "sola, I really don't have an appetite for that kind of thing. You eat it all."

sola was slightly disappointed, but she didn't insist and began to devour the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion's heart, eating it in big bites.

When she finished the last bite, sola's body suddenly shook, and her wheat-colored skin seemed as if it was about to ignite. But this state was fleeting, and sola quickly returned to normal.

"What's wrong, sola?" Rayan looked at his female slave with confusion.

"Nothing."

sola forced a smile, "It was just really delicious."

Rayan's lips formed a grim line; he knew sola was hiding something from him, but since she didn't want to speak, he didn't press her.

"Let's eat."

"Okay." sola breathed a sigh of relief, and everything went back to normal.

After a satisfying lunch, Rayan had fully recovered. The bounty hunters from the Mad Dog Group were transporting Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions and hadn't returned yet, but he was already eager to move on to the next level.

"sola, the fifth level is full of Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions, isn't that a bit too difficult?" sola asked with a worried expression.

"I've thought about that too. The strength of a Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion combined with a group of Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions is certainly no match for a whole group of Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions, but since I can defeat a Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion, there's no reason not to challenge myself to see how big my flaws are under pressure."

"But..."

"Don't worry."

Rayan's mind was made up, Crow Sword already in hand. "If it really gets dangerous, I can still use the blinding effect of Blood Crow Strike and combine it with Stealth skills to quickly escape the battle."

sola could only nod and follow behind Rayan towards the fifth level of the Fire Scorpion cave.

Upon entering the fifth level, Rayan felt a strong oppressive force. Seven or eight Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions had already spotted the firelight and were howling as they pounced toward him.

Rayan took the initiative to use Blood Crow Strike to weaken the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions' defense, allowing the next Blood Crow Strike to cool down sooner.

The two-minute skill interval had to be endured no matter what. The toughest part was after the first Blood Crow Strike when none of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions had died, and the damage from the Blood Crow skill was too evenly distributed. Rayan had to rely on the sword techniques of Crow Sword and his own agility to survive this gap.

But Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions were much more formidable than Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions. After just a few exchanges, Rayan had been hit three times. Though not fatal, it was quite painful. Fortunately, fire damage was almost negligible to him; otherwise, he would have been burnt to ashes by the furious Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions.

sola stood by, biting her lip and pressing her hand against her chest as if that was the only way to keep her heart from leaping out of her mouth.

Rayan was initially a bit flustered, but as Crow Sword flowed like water, he gradually found his rhythm in facing these powerful enemies. The attacks of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions were still sharp and seemingly unbreakable. He could only retreat while fighting, and his Tenth Tier Battle Qi defense was slightly disrupted but still not too embarrassing, holding on until the time for the second Blood Crow Strike.

After the second Blood Crow Strike, the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions were still unharmed.

Rayan began to maneuver around the Fire Scorpions, his Gale Boots and the slight wind spirit affinity playing a crucial role. He managed to endure the second skill interval with minimal injuries.

Seeing her master becoming more composed in this disparate battle, sola felt slightly more at ease, but she remained vigilant, her pupils flickering with the shadow of true fire, ready to rush forward to protect Rayan at any moment.

After the third Blood Crow Strike, the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions began to show signs of fear, and their copper-colored chitinous shells appeared to be cracking. Unfortunately, none were injured.

In the previous battle, Rayan had used three Blood Crow Strikes to completely annihilate a Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion and a group of Sixth Rank Fire Scorpions. But this time, not a single Fire Scorpion had perished.

This was the shortcoming he had anticipated. When the opponent's overall strength was high, the disadvantages of Blood Crow Strike were glaringly apparent. This kind of disadvantage, unnoticeable when killing low-grade Feral Beasts like bristle pigs, was only impressively revealed in such desperate battles.

This shortcoming had appeared in the previous battle, so Rayan was not surprised. He was also trying his best to use various small techniques to delay time, although he could not fundamentally solve this problem, but at least he now understood what aspects to tackle.

Another time, beyond the shortcoming of the skill interval, another more serious problem emerged—his Battle Qi was running out.

The Battle Qi value of Tenth Tier Battle Qi, for a typical Tenth Tier Fighter, was usually sufficient because they did not possess sword gang power and could not perform finishing moves like "Blood Crow Strike" that consumed significant amounts of Battle Qi.

But Rayan was different. His finishing move, although powerful, could only be performed three times with Tenth Tier Battle Qi. Even if he could complete the fourth Blood Crow Strike, it would not be enough to kill all the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions in front of him.

Given the current situation, he needed at least five Blood Crow Strikes to possibly end this seemingly unwinnable battle.

Now it was still possible to retreat. By using the fourth Blood Crow Strike and taking advantage of the few seconds of darkness, he could quickly enter Stealth mode using the remaining Battle Qi and safely escape the battle. After escaping, as long as he and sola held on for a while, they could launch another attack on the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions, whose recovery would certainly not be as quick as his, and victory would be easily within reach.

But the problem was, apart from a hollow victory, he had actually gained nothing. His confrontation with these Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions would become meaningless.

He gritted his teeth, determined to gamble with his life, and took a risk.

When the fourth Blood Crow Strike was deployed, he did not choose to Stealth out of the battle but continued to endure and grapple with the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions.

The copper-colored chitinous shells of the Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions had begun to show fine cracks, and their movements became unbearably slow, but they still desperately chased Rayan to attack. They had never thought this battle would be so tough and lengthy, but they knew if they didn't quickly kill this young man, then they would be the ones to die.

But they had no strategy left.

Rayan's agility and speed, boosted by the Gale Boots and wind spirit affinity, had been honed in the fierce battle into a "Gale Step," although still at a rudimentary level, it was more than enough to dodge their close-range attacks. Their ranged flame attacks almost caused no damage, completely useless.

Rayan's Battle Qi was depleted, the fourth Blood Crow Strike had already pushed him to his limit. If not for the "Gale Step" he had hastily mastered, he would not have been able to hold on until now.

After another two minutes, sword gang power was ready, only lacking Battle Qi.

Rayan calmly removed all the defensive Battle Qi surrounding him and concentrated it on the blade of Crow Sword. Defensive Battle Qi was a Fighter's most fundamental protection, automatically generated with the advancement in combat tiers. Once the defensive Battle Qi was broken, it meant the Fighter was no different from an ordinary commoner, and if the defensive Battle Qi was broken, it would be impossible to recondense Battle Qi in the short term, with severe cases possibly ending a Fighter's path.

No Fighter would be foolish enough to remove their defensive Battle Qi—it was akin to seeking death—

When sola saw the orange-red glow around Rayan disappear, she was initially stunned, then cried out in alarm, "Master! Don't!"

Rayan could no longer hear sola's cries. The defensive Battle Qi had already intertwined with the sword gang power, darkness descended, the death knell sounded, and the Blood Crow soared—

The overwhelming power swept through the entire corridor, even causing the Fire Scorpion cave to shake.

The already weakened Seventh Rank Fire Scorpions panicked and fled, but there was nowhere to escape, and they were ultimately torn in half by the powerful attack.

The moment the Blood Crow Strike dissipated, Rayan could no longer support his body and collapsed to the ground with a thud—

A Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion that had luckily survived the attack with a broken pincer saw Rayan had lost his Battle Qi, howled, and charged at him, its red stinger raised high, aiming straight for Rayan's brow—

"Master!"

With a fierce shout, sola blocked in front of Rayan without hesitation.

"sola!"

Rayan furrowed his brow and yelled urgently, "Get out of the way, you're no match for it—"

Before he could finish, true fire ignited from sola's eyes, followed by her entire body bursting into flames, transforming into a real fire girl.

—With a single strike, the true fire turned that Seventh Rank Fire Scorpion into ashes.

Rayan froze in place. He finally realized that sola was no longer the little girl who needed his protection.

His oath to the fire spirit was now fulfilled...