Regardless of Danger

"Watch out for the acid!" Su Yuehe exclaimed.

An Changqing had just unleashed a powerful strike. His momentum was spent, and he hadn't yet recovered his strength. Faced with the swift and fierce pillar of acid, it was too late to dodge.

Right at that moment, a dark silhouette shifted sideways at an astonishing speed, blocking An Changqing.

It was Chen Guan.

When An Changqing launched his attack, he had anticipated the swarm leader's counterattack and had been keeping a close eye on its movements.

Seeing the pillar of acid rushing over, he didn't have time to think. Reacting purely on instinct, he once again used his body as a shield and the coffin as a wall.

Sizzle.

The dark green pillar of acid splashed solidly against the lid of the Black Iron Coffin. The harsh, sizzling sound of corrosion was ten times louder than before.

Plumes of white smoke carrying a pungent, foul stench billowed upward, instantly obscuring their vision.

"Chen Guan!" An Changqing and Su Yuehe cried out at the same time.

However, as the white smoke cleared, the Black Iron Coffin still stood tall. There wasn't even a single trace of corrosion on the lid.

Only the residual acid slowly trickled down the smooth walls of the coffin, burning small pits into the ground as it dripped.

Chen Guan stood behind the coffin, his face slightly pale. Aside from the deadly acid, the impact of that blow had been significant. It left his arms numb and his chest feeling somewhat tight, but he was otherwise unhurt.

His Toughness talent allowed him to quickly recover. He exhaled a breath of stale air and looked at the swarm leader with a cold, piercing gaze.

The swarm leader was not a mindless monster. Evidently, it hadn't expected its powerful acid to be completely ineffective, and it paused for a moment in surprise.

Now was the time.

"Yuehe, interfere with it! Chen Guan, with me!"

An Changqing reacted incredibly fast, instantly seizing the opportunity. His figure darted out once more, his sword light flashing like a rainbow as he aimed straight for the relatively fragile joint between the swarm leader's compound eyes and mandibles.

Su Yuehe's flute music once again became sharp and urgent, focusing on disrupting the swarm leader's consciousness, causing its movements to become momentarily stiff and chaotic.

Chen Guan let out a low roar. No longer on the defensive, he gripped the handles on the side of the coffin with both hands. His muscles bulged as he swung the heavy Black Iron Coffin up once again.

This time, he didn't smash or ram. Instead, he treated the coffin as a massive, edgeless blunt weapon. Accompanied by the howling wind, he swept it viciously toward the swarm leader's supporting legs on one side.

He was aiming right for its lower body!

The swarm leader had just broken free from the sonic interference when it saw a massive dark shadow sweeping toward its midsection. It instinctively tried to dodge, but An Changqing's sword light had already reached its face, forcing it to divide its attention.

Bang!

The heavy Black Iron Coffin slammed solidly into the two middle limbs on the swarm leader's left side.

Crack. A teeth-grinding sound of shattering bone rang out.

The swarm leader let out an agonized shriek, its massive body stumbling. Its left supporting legs were visibly deformed. Although its carapace and bones were extremely hard and hadn't been completely snapped off, the joints had clearly suffered heavy damage.

An Changqing's sword light took the opportunity to slash past its compound eyes, leaving a deep wound that exposed the bone. Dark green fluid gushed out.

Having suffered heavy damage, the swarm leader flew into a vicious rage. Disregarding everything else, it swung its intact right limbs and sharp bone spikes, sweeping frantically at An Changqing and Chen Guan, who were close at hand. At the same time, acid began to brew in its mandibles once more.

"Retreat!" An Changqing decisively fell back, simultaneously parrying an incoming bone spike with his sword, sending sparks flying.

Chen Guan also immediately pulled back the coffin, placing it in front of him to protect himself and the retreating An Changqing.

Thud, thud, thud. Several bone spikes and limbs smashed viciously against the coffin wall, producing dull, loud thuds, but they still couldn't shake it in the slightest.

However, the tremendous force forced Chen Guan to take two steps back, his blood churning.

Seeing its attacks fail, the swarm leader grew even more frenzied, but with its left legs injured, its movements were already hindered.

The surrounding ordinary Rock Beetles also seemed to fall into chaos after their leader was wounded.

"Now's the time! Let's finish it off in one go!"

An Changqing's eyes were sharp, recognizing this as a perfect opportunity. He took a deep breath, and golden light once again flared around his body, though it was much dimmer than before. Clearly, continuously using his ultimate moves had drained him significantly.

Chen Guan suppressed the tightness in his chest and tightened his grip on the coffin. He knew he had to create an opportunity for An Changqing to land the final blow.

He thrust the coffin forward aggressively, feinting an attack to draw the swarm leader's attention.

The swarm leader fell for it, swinging a bone spike to smash the coffin.

Right as the bone spike was about to hit the coffin, Chen Guan shifted his footwork. His body slid to the side like a slippery loach, pressing against the flank of the coffin. At the same time, he channeled power from his waist, using the momentum of the swarm leader's attack to forcefully yank and flip the coffin sideways.

This wasn't a head-on clash, but a clever use of the enemy's own force.

The swarm leader's left legs were already unsteady. Pulled by this sudden lateral force, its massive body instantly lost balance, staggering and tilting to the side, exposing its relatively vulnerable abdomen.

An Changqing, who had been waiting for this exact moment, had a brilliant light burst from his eyes. Following his sword, he transformed into a streak of golden light, like a thunderbolt piercing through dark clouds, aiming straight for the swarm leader's exposed chest and abdomen.

Squelch!

The golden sword light pierced through the swarm leader's body without any resistance, erupting from its back.

The swarm leader's shrieks came to an abrupt halt. Its enormous body convulsed violently a few times before crashing to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Dark green blood gushed from the wound, quickly dyeing the ground beneath it green.

With the leader dead, the remaining Rock Beetle swarm immediately fell into disarray. Having lost their unified command, they stopped their frenzied attacks. Some began to flee in all directions, while others started tearing at each other.

"Clean up the rest," An Changqing said as he withdrew his longsword. His face was a bit pale, but his eyes remained bright. He looked at Chen Guan and gave a solemn nod. "Thank you."

A hint of guilt lingered in his eyes.

If Chen Guan hadn't risked his life to block the acid at the critical moment and taken a gamble to create an opening, the battle would never have gone so smoothly, and he might have been injured.

Ultimately, it was because he had reservations, focused solely on hiding the effects of his own ability.

His ability was called Reversal of Fortune.

One of its specific manifestations was the ability to redirect any attack that did not exceed his own tolerance limit.

Take the acid from just now, for example. If he had used his ability, he could have returned the acid at one hundred and twenty percent of its power. In the entire school, only his childhood friend, Su Yuehe, knew about his ability.

It was indeed a very powerful ability, but compared to Chen Guan's selflessness, he felt he was too narrow-minded.

Chen Guan waved his hand, signaling him not to mention it.

He leaned against the coffin, panting slightly. This battle had also taken a massive toll on his stamina, especially that final, clever maneuver to redirect the force and flip the creature, which required an extremely high level of body control and explosive power.

Su Yuehe also breathed a sigh of relief and stopped playing her flute. Her face was paler than before; clearly, the sustained, high-intensity support had placed a heavy burden on her.

Even though she was only providing support, she was merely at the Second Tier, and her spiritual energy couldn't compare to An Changqing's.