"Damn it!"
"Those people can't stop Benedict at all."
"We must find a way."
Watching the artificial demons blocking Benedict's path being instantly annihilated, Haihou became anxious again.
Benedict's power was such that ordinary artificial demons couldn't stop him.
It wasn't something that could be solved by sheer numbers either.
"Zephyr, hold Benedict."
After some thought, Green Bull ordered Zephyr to cover their retreat, buying time for Charlotte Linlin and Kaido to escape.
This decision was the result of Green Bull's careful consideration.
After all, compared to Kaido and the other two, Zephyr was not a Devil Fruit user, but merely a very powerful cyborg.
Upon receiving the order, Zephyr paused, then turned to face Benedict.
His massive black fist, accompanying his charge, instantly appeared before Benedict.
Benedict blocked with one hand and retaliated with a punch.
Zephyr was immediately sent flying.
Benedict then ignored Zephyr and continued his pursuit of Charlotte Linlin.
Seeing Zephyr being knocked away and Benedict continuing to chase Charlotte Linlin, both Green Bull and Haihou fell silent.
Wasn't Zephyr too weak?
He was sent flying with a single punch.
Meanwhile.
Charlotte Linlin, seeing Benedict hot on her heels, also felt panic.
The battle had already made her clearly aware of the gap between herself and Benedict.
If she couldn't win, fighting on would certainly mean death.
What truly alarmed Charlotte Linlin, however, was that Benedict was solely focused on killing her.
He had only repelled Zephyr, who was covering their retreat, and abandoned Kaido to chase after her.
"Soul Bomb!"
Unwilling to be hunted by Benedict like this, Charlotte Linlin, while fleeing, opened her mouth and released a soul.
The soul flew out and rapidly expanded, instantly reaching a hundred meters in height.
This soul blocked Benedict's path, and in an instant, they collided.
*Buzz!*
Upon contact, the soul exploded, clearing away all the clouds within a radius of several dozen miles, forming a vast circle of clear sky above and a turbulent sea below.
Benedict, at the center of the explosion, his face cold, passed through the soul storm and continued to pursue Charlotte Linlin, getting closer and closer.
Seeing that her soul bomb had failed to intercept Benedict, Charlotte Linlin's heart grew even more panicked.
She attacked frantically.
One soul bomb after another was thrown out by her, each a hundred meters tall, and after being thrown, they purposefully lunged at Benedict.
Golden light flashed in Benedict's eyes, and his speed increased again.
The attacking soul bombs missed.
In a mere instant, he caught up to Charlotte Linlin.
"Go cool off in the sea."
Benedict grabbed Charlotte Linlin by the neck, pulled, and sent her plummeting rapidly towards the sea.
A roaring sound echoed.
The sea churned with colossal waves, and a bottomless black hole appeared in the ocean.
*Bang!*
The earth trembled.
Then, the active underwater volcano was ignited.
Seawater shot into the sky, scalding hot, and soon, steam filled the sea's expanse, lingering in the strong winds.
The ignited volcano seemed to awaken, erupting repeatedly.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Vast amounts of magma spewed out, scattering across the sky.
At this moment, Benedict paid no mind to the raging volcano.
With Charlotte Linlin in tow, he slammed her into the deep seabed crater, striking her blow after blow.
Charlotte Linlin possessed the physique of a giant and skin as hard as unbreakable steel, which had been enhanced immeasurably after her modifications.
But now.
As the large crater, continuously pounded by Benedict, grew larger and deeper, even revealing magma seeping out, it burned Charlotte Linlin's clothes and then completely engulfed her.
Benedict hovered in mid-air, his brow furrowed.
Logically, Charlotte Linlin should have been killed by him by now.
Because, at this moment, there was no life force within Charlotte Linlin's body.
However, the system notification for killing the Soul-Soul Fruit had not sounded.
Benedict pondered for a moment, and as the seawater rushed back, he immediately used Universal Pull to retrieve Charlotte Linlin's corpse from the magma.
Huh?
As Charlotte Linlin's corpse flew towards Benedict, he noticed something unusual.
Charlotte Linlin's body was rapidly burning, something not achievable by the flames of magma.
Then, a powerful force erupted from Charlotte Linlin's corpse.
It was the power of a soul storm.
Under this force, Benedict's brow furrowed again.
Compared to the soul impact Charlotte Linlin had unleashed earlier, this one was more than ten times stronger, already having a considerable effect on him.
In a moment, Benedict understood.
He then sneered.
"Three Thousand Thunderous Strikes!"
Taking advantage of the fact that the other party had not yet been fully summoned, Benedict decided to utterly destroy this corpse.
"Stop!"
A cold voice suddenly rang out, filled with anger.
Space was directly torn open, and a thick branch swiftly reached for Charlotte Linlin's corpse.
Benedict remained unfazed, unleashing a punch that gathered countless fist marks into one.
Even if it was overkill, Benedict did not want the other party to be resurrected alive.
The other party grew anxious, their speed increasing.
*Boom!*
A booming sound occurred, and everyone in the North Sea clearly felt the ground beneath them tremble.
As if it were a magnitude ten earthquake, the trembling was continuous and violent.
Before Benedict was a crater devoid of even magma, hundreds of meters deep; the earth ached under Benedict's punch.
However, Benedict did not show much joy.
Charlotte Linlin's corpse was gone.
Benedict believed he had destroyed Charlotte Linlin's corpse.
But he also felt it hadn't been completely eliminated.
The branch that had just appeared, piercing through the air, seemed to have taken a portion of Charlotte Linlin's corpse.
Recalling the Yellow Springs Demon King taken away by Imu, Benedict suspected that the other party could use that portion of the corpse to revive Charlotte Linlin.
This was because he still hadn't received the system's prompt.
He had been decisive enough, and fast enough.
Yet, he hadn't expected to be outmaneuvered by someone.
Benedict was in a foul mood.
But there was nothing he could do.
Returning to the surface and looking around, pursuing Kaido and Zephyr was now impossible.
Benedict gazed at the sea below, recalling the branch that had taken a portion of Charlotte Linlin's corpse, and fell into contemplation.
Could that thing possibly be the spirit of the Devil Fruit Tree?
As for Green Bull, he certainly didn't have the capability to snatch Charlotte Linlin away from his side.
Nor did he possess the aura from before, which had caused his attack to momentarily pause when it struck Charlotte Linlin.
It was this pause that had allowed the other party to take away a portion of the corpse.