The Nine Hells, an outer plane drifting beyond the Material Plane.
It is the dwelling place of the "devils," the most evil and cunning beings in the mouths of the common folk.
Comets fallen from the firmament, shattered weapons and rotting corpses, swamps of magma, frozen tundra, jagged stone peaks, and silent wastelands...
Amidst the rushing sound of the River Styx, saturated with the aura of death, one can find nearly every conceivable worst environment in this realm.
Furthermore, the magic particles in the air—highly concentrated yet differing in proportion from those of the Material Plane—breed countless dangerous and lethal monsters.
Growing through slaughter and death-matches, they must contend with the extreme pressure of their environment every waking moment.
Compared to the monsters barely surviving in this blighted land, the vast majority of creatures in the Material Plane are like flowers in a greenhouse.
Fragile and delicate.
The Spine Devil is one of the lowest-tier monsters of the Nine Hells.
Like annoying flies, they flutter their wings and screech incessantly; higher-ranking devils often need only a wave of their hand to drive thousands of Spine Devils forward, turning them into insignificant drops of blood within the massive meat-grinder battlefields of Hell, serving as mere cannon fodder.
However, upon arriving in the Material Plane, they transform into powerful monsters capable of wiping out an entire party of adventurers.
The extremely harsh environment of Hell—the churning, boiling rivers of lava and the lethal toxic gases permeating the air—grants the Spine Devil race an innate immunity to ordinary fire and toxins from birth.
Along with this, they possess a certain resistance to the slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage of common weapons.
The pale bone clusters covering every joint of its body and the spikes on its spine and tail that can be launched like arrows make it a killing machine built purely for the battlefield.
Xia Nan remained in a state of alert, standing his ground, his body tense.
His Executioner's Longsword was held diagonally in front of him, his concentration peaked, guarding against bone spikes that could shoot out at any moment.
His expression was grim.
Clearly, the Spine Devil's immunity to fire damage had disrupted his combat rhythm.
He had intended to advance and expand his advantage while the opponent was being scorched by flames.
Now, he could only retreat temporarily and await another opportunity.
At the same time, this meant that the two other fire-oil bombs stored in his waist pouch had become useless scrap in the upcoming fight.
What made Xia Nan even more wary was the exaggerated reaction speed the opponent had displayed in an instant.
The Spine Devil before him had clearly suffered heavy injuries.
Not only was its entire body infected by spores, significantly reducing its combat capability, but half of its wing was broken, stripping it of its most troublesome ability: flight.
Yet, it still possessed physical attributes far superior to his own, using the bone clusters grown from its elbows to forcibly block his [Whirlwind Slash].
This caused Xia Nan to break into a cold sweat. He dared not imagine what the battle would be like if the opponent were in peak, undamaged condition.
He likely wouldn't even have the ability to strike back; the opponent would only need to flap its wings, hover in the air, and launch bone spikes while he fled miserably like a living target.
*Ssh!*
A thought flashed through his mind.
Suddenly, the sound of air bursting echoed in his ears. The Spine Devil's hunched, thin body abruptly turned into a blur, vanishing from its spot.
Wrapped in a pungent stench of sulfur, a long tail embedded with sharp bone blades whipped toward him from the periphery of his vision.
Facing an attack capable of cutting his body in half, Xia Nan neither dodged nor flinched. Gripping the longsword with both hands, he stepped forward to meet it head-on.
*Hum—*
An ochre-red energy field, accompanied by energy particles suddenly gathering in the air, enveloped his body.
[Deadline] Ring: Deflection Field!
The powerful force vanished in an instant, as if it had touched an absolutely smooth curved surface. Accompanied by translucent ochre-red ripples, the pale bone blade slid diagonally upward, deviating from its original target.
Relying on this precious magic accessory that could only be used once a day, Xia Nan managed to close the distance to the hellish monster.
The iron-gray blade flashed with a cold light.
The sulfurous smell, mixed with a choking scent of blood, grew denser. He could even see the dark, long tongue flickering like a snake within the Spine Devil's maw, which was dripping with viscous saliva.
In the next second, his arms exerted force, and the Executioner's Longsword thrust straight forward.
Knowing the opponent's skin was tough, he knew he had to expend more strength to break through its defense.
Within a very brief reaction window, Xia Nan keenly aimed the tip of the sword at the wound in the center of the Spine Devil's chest.
He lunged violently!
*Ssh!*
Thin smoke rose, and yellowish-green pus and blood with slight corrosive properties splashed from the wound.
Xia Nan felt as if the sword in his hand had been plunged into a mud pit; the force was continuously weakened and slowed by the dense muscle tissue.
*Ding.*
Finally, upon hitting something hard similar to bone, the sword tip could go no deeper.
"Just a bit more!" he thought.
Just as he intended to exert a second burst of force to pierce through the cartilage and penetrate the monster's heart, a sharp, piercing shriek erupted, as if it wanted to drill through his skull.
The Spine Devil's hand, as thin as a withered branch, traced a sinister and lethal arc through his blind spot, stabbing toward Xia Nan's ribs.
A sudden, freezing chill brushed the back of his head.
The force he had been using to push the sword forward vanished instantly. His left hand released the hilt, and his arm instinctively blocked to the side.
*Bang!*
The sharp claws, driven by the Spine Devil's powerful explosive strength, slammed hard against the smooth surface of the Serpent-Scale Armshield.
It failed to break the defense.
The tough scales of an otherworldly giant serpent were not something that could be shattered by such an attack.
It didn't even leave a mark.
On the other hand, the fierce power transmitted through his forearm caused Xia Nan to stagger, shifting his center of gravity.
Sensing danger, he pushed off with his feet, intending to use the opportunity to once again create distance from the opponent to escape the relentless offensive and gain a moment to breathe.
But after retreating only two steps, a bone spike from the Spine Devil's long tail had already pierced through the air, shooting straight at him.
From the previous few rounds of exchange, Xia Nan had a general idea of the bone spikes' flight speed.
The blade, which had been blocking in front of him during the retreat, lifted slightly as he prepared to parry.
Within his vision, however, fire suddenly erupted around that bone spike.
While its speed surged, its flight path also shifted subtly.
Unable to dodge in time, Xia Nan only managed to tilt his body slightly.
*Hum-Bang—*
Amidst flickering flames, the bone spike, now in a molten state, struck him diagonally.
The light plate armor, which would only be scratched by an ordinary blade, was pierced in the blink of an eye.
Like an iron skewer piercing meat, the bone spike instantly sank into the plate armor.
*Ding!*
That was the sharp sound of the bone spike colliding and rubbing against the buckles of the chainmail shirt beneath the plate armor.
A searing pain suddenly flared in the side of his chest.
Looking down, the bone spike, now wrapped in glaring blood and shattered, melted iron shards, was pinned straight into the ground.
It was only because his reactions were fast and he had tilted his body that he survived; otherwise, the spike would likely have pinned him straight through.
Even with such a timely dodge, this killing weapon from the Nine Hells had still pierced through his double-layered armor, leaving a wound of unknown severity in his chest and abdomen.
Before Xia Nan could catch his breath, a shriek mixed with the stench of sulfur came from his side, accompanied by a terrifying momentum shrouded in shadow.
It was the thick, leathery membrane wing on the other side of the Spine Devil's back, more than twice the length of its body.
*Bang!*
A bone-chilling thud of impact echoed in the air.
The figure holding the iron-gray longsword was sent flying, crashing into the ground.
The thick taste of blood, like rust, filled his mouth.
Xia Nan felt intense pain throughout his entire body. While it wasn't like the time with the Stone Lizard where he felt as if he were ascending to heaven and completely lost his combat capability, it was by no means pleasant.
The situation was urgent; there was no time to judge the specifics of his injuries or know how many bones were broken.
He simply endured the unspeakable pain, using the Executioner's Longsword to support his body as he struggled to stand.
*Ptu.*
He spat a glob of bloody phlegm at his feet.
His dark eyes reflected the hunched figure crouching on the ground ahead like a venomous snake.
"Even though it's heavily injured... is the gap still that large?"
The tactics and techniques that could previously determine the course of a battle or even easily resolve an enemy no longer worked in the face of a substantial gap in raw combat power.
For a moment, he felt a sense of bewilderment.
The only trump card left on him was the "Coin of Fate," which could still be used 3 times. The only 100% effective use he had figured out so far was using the coin to trigger the physical damage immunity of [Iron Bones].
But...
The damage immunity only lasted for an instant, for a single attack.
Could he truly use such a fleeting moment to tip the scales of victory in his favor?
"How do I win?"
"Where is the weakness?"
"How can I survive?"
And just then, the long howl of a wolf coming from far behind him suddenly became incredibly high-pitched.
...
Kalanfor, Outskirts.
The once peaceful wooden house and flower garden had long since been turned into debris in the scorched, rotten mud.
No vegetation, no buildings; it was as if everything in the vicinity had been ground to powder under the clash of majestic powers.
In the open field, only a stretch of blackened, scorched earth emitting residual heat remained.
A short distance away, the terrified screams and wails of the town residents were blurred, as if isolated by the thick purple mist of fungal spores that had reached an extreme concentration in the air.
An ice storm howled. Crystalline snowflakes emitting a bone-chilling frost didn't even have time to hit the ground before being melted into tiny droplets by the residual heat in the soil.
This made the surface of the field appear to be covered in a thin layer of water mist.
"Roar..."
A low wolf howl abruptly sounded.
Its size had grown countless times over, its translucent silver-white fur swaying slightly, and its lithe, long limbs stepping onto the ground, condensing ice crystals.
A Winter Wolf, appearing to be in a soul state and possessing an elegant posture, floated lightly to its master's side.
Its sharp fangs, shimmering with ice-light, were gripping a tattered corpse that had been chewed and torn into a sieve.
One could vaguely see the remnants of a robe on the corpse's surface; a golden sun holy symbol stained with blood fell silently to the ground, picking up a few specks of mud.
"The helper you found isn't all that great."
Vorgan gently stroked the head of the Winter Wolf with his left hand, while the surface of the obsidian hand-axe gripped in his right hand had long been coated in a layer of translucent ice crystals.
Under the protection of frost and ancestral spirits, his physical condition seemed no different from before.
Only on one side of his arm did slight scorch marks on the skin reveal the battle he had just experienced.
"The radiance of the Sun God is no more."
An old, raspy voice, sounding like the friction of tree bark, came from ahead.
Strangely, the tone carried a sense of agreement, as if the person who died before him wasn't a comrade-in-arms, but merely an expendable stranger.
"These followers of His only know how to bully civilians who understand nothing."
Surrounded by thorns and purple mist, the gravedigger of Kalanfor, the swamp druid of the Spore Society, "Bartholomew," spoke.
Fine dark-purple particles shrouded his face, making it impossible to see his specific expression.
One could only vaguely see another, younger face beneath the old skin covered in wrinkles and gray spots.
As soon as he finished speaking, a biting cold wind suddenly swept through from an unknown direction.
A cluster of black thorns that had arrived behind the barbarian from a blind spot at some unknown time was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture.
"How many years has it been since you used that old trick, hm?"
The druid only gave a low chuckle.
"As long as it works."
"Years ago on the ice plains, I met an old man, a Frost Spirit Priest, who had almost touched the edge of 'Legendary.' Didn't he also fall for it and get me to bind him to a totem, where he had to watch everyone in his tribe die before he could close his eyes?"
"Oh, I almost forgot, you probably know him too, hehe."
Vorgan's ice-blue eyes, like a frozen pond, gazed at the dark-purple figure emitting an aura of decay.
The cold expression on his face did not change at all due to the opponent's provocation.
He simply raised his left hand, which had been stroking the Winter Wolf's head.
He brought it to his mouth.
*Rip.*
A section of his pinky finger fell onto the frost-covered ground.
The crimson blood from the wound, guided by some invisible force, formed the pattern of a curved five-fingered beast claw on the snow.
As if sensing the gaze of some hidden existence within a divine kingdom beyond the plane, the druid's aura suddenly changed, and the spores in the air trembled violently.
"Why bother... is a soul close to the Legendary level really worth it?"
The wound was covered by frost, quickly stopping the bleeding.
Since passing through River Valley Town a few days ago, since arriving in the Kingdom of Servia three months ago, since walking out of those ruins in the wind and snow many years ago...
For the first time, Vorgan smiled.
Between his frost-white teeth was the crimson blood remaining from biting off his finger.
"It is."
*Awooo—*
A shrill and high-pitched wolf howl suddenly erupted, accompanying the gradually intensifying ice and snow storm.
...
*Awooo—*
The wolf howl coming from the distance seemed to possess some peculiar power.
It seeped into the skin, penetrated the flesh, and sank deep into the heart.
The previously cluttered thoughts were swept away in an instant.
Leaving only a silent cold.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he downed the last half-bottle of healing potion, the empty glass bottle rolling onto the ground.
A sharp, fierce shriek, accompanied by the choking scent of sulfur, came rushing toward him.
In his vision, the Spine Devil's hunched, jagged body had already turned into a blur, rapidly closing in on him.
Xia Nan did not move.
His gaze was even somewhat vacant.
At this moment, within that long, deep wolf howl, it was as if he had arrived at a snowy plain upon a highland.
He had become a Winter Wolf crouching in the snow, hunting prey.
The muscles undulating and expanding beneath thick fur, the fangs reflecting cold light in the wind... and those emotionless, slightly contracted, freezing beast eyes.
The muddy ground beneath his feet suddenly condensed into frost.
That was the Northern Wind provided to him by the barbarian before his departure.
Not far behind him, at the top of a towering oak tree, a drop of pine resin quietly fell.
*Bang!*
Beneath his leather boots, a miniature depression suddenly appeared in the ground.
The dust floating in the dim light abruptly froze.
The roar of rushing blood made his ear canals vibrate, and his mind was filled with a humming sound; the instantly solidified air became as viscous as water, and the tearing of muscle fibers caused a faint stinging pain.
The chainmail rings pulled against each other, and the metallic clink of the scabbard colliding seemed to invisibly overlap with the rhythm of his pumping heart.
Open eyes, close eyes.
A moment of blur.
The pine resin dropped onto the meadow.
A hot drop of blood sliding down his cheek suddenly brought Xia Nan back to his senses.
In his ears, the shrieking of the Spine Devil had vanished at some point.
He turned around.
Amidst the diffusion of crushed leaves and debris, the grass had exploded and spread along a trajectory, as if split open by an invisible plow, revealing the dark-brown moist soil beneath.
A headless corpse with wings on its back, splashing yellowish-green pus and blood, lay quietly on the ground.
Before his eyes, translucent characters flashed.
"Proficiency +1"
"[Fang Hunt] lv1: (1/100)"