Chapter 118: Arc Reversal!!
Cho’s burning eyes blazed brighter, pupils dilated with a mixture of pain and sadistic anticipation.
His grin twisted with pure malice and genuine hatred for this stubborn mortal who refused to die like prey should.
"Enough games," the demon hissed, his once-cultured voice now a guttural growl that seemed to emanate from the depths of hell itself.
Hellfire flared around his claws, the flames casting his scarred and bloodied features in stark, demonic relief.
Each flicker of fire revealed new wounds from their prolonged battle. Burns and seared flesh that painted his crimson skin even darker.
"Fireball!"
Massive spheres of searing flame roared to life, each one the size of a small building and blazing with temperatures that could melt steel.
They streaked across the black sand like miniature comets trailing destruction in their wake.
Jack darted and teleported desperately, his agility pushed to its absolute limits. He dodged the barrage by mere inches.
Sweat poured down his face, evaporating almost instantly in the superheated atmosphere. His muscles screamed from the constant strain of dodging attacks that could vaporize him in an instant.
But Cho weaved through the floating orbs with startling agility for something so large, his reflexes and centuries of combat experience allowing him to avoid the invisible traps with grace.
Each near-miss was calculated, each movement precise despite his mounting injuries. He was starting to feel where the orbs were.
BOOM!
One orb finally caught him as he pivoted, detonating against his side in a shower of electric fury.
[-1,179 HP]
[Cho HP: 12,384 / 22,000]
The demon’s snarl of pain transformed into something far worse.
A sound of pure, animalistic fury that seemed to shake the very foundations of the canyon around them.
His perfect composure, maintained even through their brutal exchange, finally shattered completely like glass under pressure.
What emerged was the rage of a cornered beast who had been forced to acknowledge a mortal as a genuine threat.
Without warning, Cho reached to his own shoulder and ripped away a slab of his crimson flesh.
The wet, nauseating tearing sound echoed off the stone pillars, accompanied by the splash of dark blood hitting the sand.
Sinew stretched and snapped audibly as he peeled away skin and muscle with the casual brutality of someone removing a bandage.
Jack’s stomach lurched violently, bile rising in his throat. Just watching something mutilate itself with such purpose made every instinct scream in revulsion.
"What the hell..." His voice cracked with a mixture of horror and disbelief.
Cho held the bloody, dripping scrap of his own flesh in his palm, dark blood streaming down his arm in rivulets that hissed when they hit the superheated sand.
His burning eyes never left Jack’s face, drinking in the human’s disgust with sadistic satisfaction.
He brought the gore to his lips and blew across it like extinguishing a candle.
The skin ignited instantly, transforming into glowing embers that spun into the air like burning autumn leaves caught in a hellish wind.
Those cinders scattered across the battlefield and then Jack realized with growing horror what was happening.
His Static Orbs began exploding one after another in violent chain reactions, triggered by the flaming fragments of demonic flesh.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Electric blue flashes tore through the twilight air, each detonation destroying another of Jack’s carefully positioned traps.
[Static Orbs remaining: 9]
’He figured out how to neutralize them,’ Jack realized with a cold spike of dread. ’This demon is too smart.’
A new roar split the superheated air, deeper and more menacing than before.
"Fire Wave!"
The ground beneath their feet convulsed violently. Cracks spider-webbed across the obsidian sand as hellish energy built beneath the surface.
A wall of flame ten meters high and ten meters wide erupted from the earth, surging forward like a tsunami of destruction.
The heat was so intense that Jack’s exposed skin felt like it was burning even from a distance.
Jack’s pulse hammered against his throat.
He had no time to hesitate.
Playing defensively would only let Cho control the fight completely.
He snapped his will toward the remaining orbs, sending them spinning to new positions as he made a desperate gambit.
[-1,179 HP]
[-1,179 HP]
[10,026 / 22,000 HP]
Instead of retreating, he sprinted directly at the advancing wall of death.
Lightning crackled across his body as he dove straight toward the inferno, teleporting at the last possible second.
Jack’s heart leaped with desperate hope. ’Two orbs hit him while he was casting. Maybe I can...’’
But his moment of satisfaction evaporated like smoke as a dark pulse of warning shot through his bond with Corvin.
The sensation was like ice water flooding his veins, his companion’s terror bleeding through their connection.
’Something’s wrong... something is very wrong....’
It was too late to change course.
Cho was waiting exactly where Jack had teleported, positioned with the precision of someone who had fought countless desperate opponents before.
The demon’s intelligence was terrifying, he’d used the fire wave not just as an attack, but as an elaborate setup for this perfectly timed ambush.
His burning eyes held the satisfaction of a chess master who had just delivered checkmate.
A blazing fireball already spun in the demon’s clawed hand, compressed hellfire rotating with lethal intent.
Point-blank range.
No time to dodge. No room to maneuver. The trap had been perfectly laid and expertly sprung.
The sphere of destruction erupted toward Jack like a cannon shell loaded with the concentrated fury of hell itself.
Desperation flooded Jack’s system as he slashed the air with his hand, every instinct screaming at him to do something, anything.
"Arc Reversal!"
Lightning flared around his hand, the skill activating with a crackle of displaced energy, but he’d misjudged the timing by a crucial split second.
His panic had made him trigger the ability too early, and the reflection window snapped closed just as the fireball struck him with devastating force.
The explosion hit him like a battering ram made of pure flame.
[-800 HP]
[Jack HP: 79 / 1,875]
[Critical condition! Immediate healing required!]
Agony obliterated all thought. Jack’s world became nothing but fire and pain as he staggered, flames eating through his armor and searing his flesh. The smell of his own burning skin filled his nostrils.
His vision blurred, consciousness threatening to slip away entirely.
Through the haze of pain, he could see Cho advancing for the killing blow, crimson form wreathed in triumph and hellfire.
Corvin’s shriek of desperate fury cut through the roar of flames.
The great raven dove like a bolt of lightning, spectral talons clamping onto Jack’s arm and wrenching him skyward in a frantic rescue attempt.
Wind screamed past as Corvin beat his wings, hauling Jack’s broken body up and away from the fire-choked battlefield below.
Jack dangled limply in his companion’s grip, every breath sending fresh waves of agony through his burned and battered form.
His vision flickered between consciousness and darkness, the ground spinning sickeningly far below.
’This is it. I’m going to die here, and there’s nothing I can do about it.’
"Get down here! I’m not done with you!"
Then, through the fog of pain and despair, a voice whispered through his mind.
The tone was deep and resonant, ancient beyond measure.
"Jack... repeat after me."