Chapter 148: Xia Zheng vs. The Vampire Maiden

Chapter 148: Xia Zheng vs. The Vampire Maiden

On the ground, alongside the legions of undead crawling up from the depths, over a thousand elite vampires clad in crimson and white robes appeared. These vampires looked almost indistinguishable from humans, and the two forces immediately clashed in fierce combat.

Meanwhile, with a seismic tremor, the cave behind them slowly sealed shut, completely cutting off any possibility of retreat.

However, Xia Zheng and the others had already mentally prepared themselves. Many had even readied themselves for death in battle, so this development did not cause a major stir.

High in the air, Xia Zheng nocked an arrow and drew his bow. A blazing arrow shot forth, creating a deep, rumbling sound like muffled thunder as it tore through space.

The vampire maiden similarly nocked an arrow and loosed an ice-blue bolt, bringing with it a biting chill.

Boom!

When the two arrows collided, the crimson and blue energies eroded each other before finally annihilating in a massive explosion. The resulting shockwave blew the combatants on the ground scattering in all directions, though thankfully no casualties were inflicted.

Intimidated by the sheer destructive power of the two extraordinary individuals, Luo Bing quickly issued orders to distance the ground battlefield far away from their zone. The vampires did not object, and both sides tacitly shifted positions.

"Again!" Seeing that his opponent possessed formidable strength, a surge of heroism rose in Xia Zheng's chest. He once again nocked his bow, while simultaneously conjuring floating shields to hover around him and a spinning Water-Droplet Sword to guard his perimeter.

The vampire maiden opposite him seemed to have no intention of launching a sneak attack, watching him leisurely instead.

This time, Xia Zheng did not use the Blazing Flame Arrow, but instead unleashed a fusion technique—the Blazing Ice Sword.

A violent vibration emanated from his body, causing the expression of the vampire maiden across from him to instantly turn solemn. She could naturally sense that this move of Xia Zheng's was extraordinary.

Consequently, the vampire maiden rapidly flicked her ten fingers in succession, sending out trails of starlight that quickly fixed themselves in the air to form glowing points of light, which gradually bloomed.

"Blazing Ice Sword!" Xia Zheng released the bowstring formed from his spiritual power, and a cluster of ice-blue arrows shot toward the maiden.

The vampire maiden felt an immense sense of crisis, but she had already completed her prior setup and pointed her final finger forward.

"Rise!" Immediately, the starlight points fixed in the air burst into brilliant radiance. A line of starlight rapidly traced along the surrounding points, quickly completing the outline and ultimately forming a magnificent constellation chart.

Roar!

The moment the constellation chart appeared, a massive starry sky bear roared and slammed into the oncoming Blazing Ice Sword.

In an instant, the starry sky bear was frozen solid. But the very next second, the block of ice was forcibly shattered, and the blue flames that ignited blazed on the bear's body for only a few seconds, merely damaging its fur slightly without causing any serious harm.

"So strong!" Xia Zheng was extremely astonished. The power of his fusion technique was immense, yet this was the first time it had been defeated by such an incredible skill. It seemed this maiden was definitely not an ordinary vampire; could she be of royal rank?

Logically speaking, the dynamic difficulty of Chapter Three capped out at A+, and S-rank vampires shouldn't appear, but right now, Xia Zheng began to have his doubts.

After shattering the Blazing Ice Sword, the starry sky bear continued to roar as it lunged toward Xia Zheng. In the distance, the vampire maiden manipulated the starry sky bear with her spiritual power, constantly shifting her hand gestures and postures.

Xia Zheng beat his wings and soared aside, causing the starry sky bear to lunge into empty space. However, the beast pursued relentlessly, continuing its attack on him.

"You courting death, beast!" Xia Zheng abruptly thrust out one palm and made a fierce gripping motion toward the starry sky bear. Instantly, his spiritual power materialized in his mind into several iron rings and an iron cage, binding the starry sky bear in place.

The vampire maiden exerted herself to cast spells, but suddenly sensed a terrible premonition. Her expression changed, and a cocoon of blood-colored human-shaped light instantly surged around her body.

Boom!

A bolt of divine consciousness lightning struck down instantly, hitting the light cocoon and turning the maiden's face pale as a flush crossed her cheeks, clearly indicating she had suffered damage.

Xia Zheng thought it a pity; the blood-colored light cocoon on his opponent had clearly exceeded his expectations. However, it also made him realize that the enemy was not invincible. Clearly, battles between telepaths ultimately boiled down to the strength of one's spiritual power.

The starry sky bear shattered the bindings and the cage. At this moment, the vampire maiden bit her lower lip, looking angered as she manipulated the starry sky bear into launching fierce assaults. Despite its massive size, the starry sky bear was exceptionally agile, and the force of its attacks was terrifying. With a single swipe of its paw, the air was drastically compressed, usually generating a storm-like shockwave.

Moreover, the starry sky bear was extremely fast, lagging no behind his flight speed, seeming almost as if it possessed no mass and did not need to fight against gravity.

The outer Water-Droplet Sword was shattered into pieces by the starry sky bear, and many of his floating shields were smashed as well. To maintain his defense, Xia Zheng continuously consumed his spiritual power. His physical constitution naturally could not withstand a direct hit from the starry sky bear; once struck heavily, it would likely mean severe injury, bringing an end to his dungeon journey.

Yet, though Xia Zheng appeared somewhat battered, he seized every gap to launch surprise attacks on the vampire maiden.

The degree of freedom in his spiritual power was immense and virtually omnipotent, subjecting the vampire maiden to an endless stream of surprise attacks: bullets forged from spiritual power, flying needles and darts, giant boulders, roaring floods, blindingly dazzling orbs of light, or smoke filled with a nauseating stench. In short, Xia Zheng materialized various experiences and memories from his mind through spiritual power, preventing the vampire maiden from ever concentrating fully on controlling the starry sky bear.

Thus, after nearly twenty minutes, the power of the starry sky bear suddenly plummeted. Its entire body grew dim, and both its movement speed and attack force decreased significantly. Looking at the vampire maiden, she was now breathing slightly; it appeared her spiritual power was reaching its limit.

Meanwhile, Xia Zheng had long since tucked two spiritual condensation beads in his mouth halfway through. Whenever he felt his spiritual power dropping severely, he would immediately suck on them to replenish it, keeping his spiritual energy in a largely full state.

Seeing the vampire maiden retrieve a medicinal herb from her bosom—a lush, vibrant green spiritual-zhi-like fungus that emitted a refreshing fragrance—Xia Zheng caught just a faint whiff from afar and immediately felt his spiritual power instantly restored to maximum capacity.

"Want to replenish your spiritual power? It's not that easy." Xia Zheng swiftly cast the "Fly" spell. Through his repeated practice, the casting time for "Fly" had been reduced to around 2.5 seconds, which was extremely fast.

Rumble...

The sky suddenly darkened as a massive shadow spanning five hundred meters was cast downward, and the entire ground felt this heart-palpitating pressure.

The vampire maiden looked up into the sky in astonishment, her eyes filled with shock. She had never expected Xia Zheng's spiritual power to be so abundant, nor that he could cast such a high-tier spell.

However, she had no time for sighs and immediately consumed the zhi-shaped herb in her hand. Instantly, her spiritual power began to recover rapidly, though the speed was still insufficient—at least not as fast as Xia Zheng's spiritual condensation beads.

No matter how fine the medicinal herb, its affinity could never match one's own spiritual power, and conversion rates always varied. Although the herb she produced was already a supreme treasure among mortals, the time required was simply not enough. And precisely, Xia Zheng was not about to grant her sufficient recovery time.

A massive falling boulder descended, leaving the vampire maiden with nowhere to flee; she had no choice but to take it head-on.

She manipulated the starry sky bear to return before her, unleashing all the spiritual power remaining within her body. The starry sky bear instantly swelled in size, growing over ten meters tall like a giant as it roared and thrust its arms upward to meet the colossal falling boulder.