Chapter 195: Stage Five Core
My fist crashed through scale, flesh, and bone, slamming the monster’s head into the tunnel wall. Concrete shattered on impact. The fragments pelted my shoulders as the beast let out a guttural shriek, its skull nearly splitting beneath my knuckles.
The blow’s backlash reverberated through my arm, the explosive rush of qi in my veins muting the intense pain. My Primordial Tyrant Scripture devoured every fragment of elemental Qi around us, flooded my muscles, and sharpened my senses, making each heartbeat an explosive thud.
I breathed in sharply.
The monster reeled, massive body thrashing, tail whipping violently.
Its jaws snapped shut inches from my face, breath searing hot, venom sizzling as it splashed across my chest and arms.
The Qi surged across my skin, shielding me from the worst of it. I moved faster, each step closing the gap before it could fully recover. It swung at me again with a massive claw, slicing the air, but I ducked beneath it, fist driving up under its jaw.
The impact lifted cracked its teeth, sending them skittering across the flooded floor.
The beast stumbled back, disoriented.
I controlled each breath—calm, focused, ready. The hunt had begun.
"Is that it?" I spat blood, stepping forward through clouds of settling dust, cracking knuckles already healing from the fracture. "I thought Stage Five would mean something."
I hit it with everything. My arm throbbed, but I kept steady and pushed forward without hesitation because Qinglan’s signal came closer.