Chapter 133: Imagination Determines Your Combat Power

The source of the sound was the white monster’s right hand. It had fired the bone spear from its fist like a cannonball, leaving a dark, hollow void in its wake.

Propelled by massive force, the bone spear moved as fast as lightning, a white blur streaking through the air. In the blink of an eye, it reached Ye Chen, aiming straight for his chest and leaving him no room to dodge.

"Holy hell... so much for close-quarters combat! Why are you using ranged attacks again?!"

In the nick of time, Ye Chen resorted to his old tactic. He barely managed to hold his giant four-pointed throwing star in front of his chest like a shield—the same move he had used against Ah Miao, the savage, that night.

But there was no comparison between the skill levels of Ah Miao and this white monster; they were in entirely different leagues. If Ah Miao’s water-blade attack had merely stirred ripples on the surface of his crude shield, this white bone spear was like a heavy bomb dropped into the water.

Ye Chen’s giant four-pointed star didn't even hold for a second; it shattered into pieces like glass.

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered as the white bone spear pierced through his body and embedded itself deep into the wall behind him. The immense momentum sent Ye Chen tumbling. Despite holding out for so long, he had ultimately failed to escape the fate of being impaled.

Fortunately, his last-second block had slightly altered the spear’s trajectory, preventing it from piercing his chest and causing it to tear through his shoulder instead. This was the third time Ye Chen had been wounded that night, and each injury was more severe than the last. This was, without a doubt, the strongest and most difficult opponent he had ever faced.

Taking on a challenge above one’s weight class was never as simple as it seemed. He was now at his wit's end; he had already cycled through all the skills he possessed.

It was fortunate that the fight wasn't happening in the marketplace. If that little girl, Ye Shanshan, saw this, her heart would break.

Blood poured from the wound on his shoulder, pooling on the ground and leaving the onlookers feeling a sense of deep, gripping anxiety. The old man whose front door had been smashed by the "human cannonball" just moments ago looked at the young man struggling to rise and muttered anxiously, "Get up, young man!"

Meanwhile, the white monster’s bone shield had fully reshaped itself, returning to a flawless state. The tiny cracks in its bone armor had already been filled. As for the bone spear on its right hand, the manufacturing process had just begun—a mass of white, foam-like substance surged and churned within the dark hole in its fist.

Sensing that his opponent’s methods were bizarre and unpredictable, the white monster didn’t wait for the bone spear to finish reforming. It simply started walking toward Ye Chen. It decided not to give the boy another chance to unleash his skills, for that giant four-pointed star had posed a genuine threat.

*I must kill him, otherwise my brother and I won't make it out of here!*

The white monster transitioned from a walk to a slow jog, then gradually picked up speed, the "clack-clack" sound of its movements growing increasingly rapid.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Get up, hurry! He’s coming again..."

Ye Chen rolled over and propped himself up with one arm. The piercing pain did not cloud his mind; instead, it made his thoughts sharper than ever.

Someone else yelled, "Look out!"

With a loud "thud," the white monster leaped high into the air, raised its left fist, and smashed it toward the back of Ye Chen’s head. Barely having managed to kneel, Ye Chen felt a shadow loom over him. A warning of crisis surged in his heart, and he instinctively performed a forward roll, narrowly avoiding the skull-crushing blow.

The white fist struck empty air and then slammed into the ground. With a deafening boom, the solid floor cracked, and everyone in the room felt the house shake.

*...How can its strength be this high? Is this the power of a C-rank physical-type awakener?!*

After a series of rolls, Ye Chen turned around and saw the white monster’s back exposed after its landing. He sprang up and latched onto the creature’s back.

The bone armor covering the monster’s flesh was its greatest defense—those bones were harder than most metals. Coupled with its high-speed regenerative abilities, his skills might be able to pierce the defense, but would it give him the chance?

The answer was no. It was wary of the power of his giant four-pointed star.

*Too bad you underestimated me. I’ve always been a close-range fighter.*

*And I think I know how to hurt you now: attack through the gaps in your armor and strike the flesh directly.*

As he pondered this, Ye Chen held his broken blade in a reverse grip, aiming for the gap near the neck, preparing for a precise strike. Once he stabbed it in, he would condense the blade’s edge to shred its organs into a fresh fruit smoothie.

Sensing someone on its back, the white monster subconsciously shook its body to throw him off. Ye Chen gripped the gaps in the bone armor to hold on, but he couldn't deliver the stab because he had to use the blade to block the monster’s reaching white hand.

In that moment, he caught a glimpse of a row of foam-like objects emerging from the monster’s back, running along its spine.

"Could it be... Oh no!"

Ye Chen’s pupils contracted sharply, and he hurriedly flipped off the white monster’s back.

*Swish... swish... swish...*

A row of bone spikes, each about thirty centimeters long, instantly erupted from the monster’s spine.

Had Ye Chen still been clinging to its back, he would likely be dead by now.

"Holy crap... you're a walking weapon!" Ye Chen cursed angrily.

He clutched his wounded shoulder and backed away, not daring to get close again. *My skills are limited, but the ways to use them are infinite. It’s time to put my brain to work.*

He had previously gauged that the damage from a single rhombic dart was inferior to the broken blade, but the darts could compensate for the range gap. Conversely, the giant four-pointed star wasn't as agile as the broken blade in close quarters.

Ye Chen began to jog in a circle around the white monster.

*You can't reach me, but I can do this...*

He held his broken blade level, channeling his inner energy into the tip. The invisible blade extended, retracted, extended, and retracted again. The fluctuating blade acted like a spear, poking into the monster one strike after another.

The bone shield couldn't defend against every invisible strike, especially as Ye Chen constantly changed his position. The white monster lacked the keen perception of the team leader; it could only rely on instinct and guesswork.

A moment later, one strike finally bypassed the bone shield, slipped through a gap between the bones, and successfully pierced into the flesh. As the blade retracted, it brought out a spray of blood, staining the white armor bright red from the inside out.

*Roar... roar!*

Feeling the trauma to its core, the white monster finally let out a pained howl. *So, once your defense is broken, you are just as vulnerable, as weak as a sand rat.*

Enduring the pain, the monster lunged at Ye Chen again, preparing to repeat the bone spear tactic.

Ye Chen, now wiser, didn't give it the chance to use the shield-bash and retreated rapidly. For a brief moment, he realized that apart from its powerful skills, the creature’s combat technique was incredibly raw.

Seeing that its attack missed, the white monster closed in for a body slam. Ye Chen crossed his arms to barely block the impact and rolled backward. But the damage from this was nowhere near as severe as the previous shield-bash.

*Weakness... weakness... your weakness is behind your armor!*

Frustrated by the low efficiency of his attacks, Ye Chen roared internally.

*The gaps in the armor are too small, but there is one place you have never defended...*