Man on the ark, forced to become king

"If I were you, I would stay quietly in the woods instead of running out to meddle in other people's business."

There's no need to explain.

W was never someone who could have a calm conversation with strangers. Her thinking was simple—take the initiative to attack, and you're the enemy. She didn't have the habit of wasting words with enemies. Even if she had to talk, it would only be after she had won the battle and rendered the enemy unable to fight back. At that point, she could say whatever she wanted.

So she did it without hesitation.

Flames erupted from his palms, and if nothing went wrong, the flames would completely engulf the stone figure, burning him and his bulky armor to ashes.

However, an accident happened.

The person stood there stiffly, doing nothing, but W felt a strange sensation in his body. The flames he unleashed unconsciously shifted at an angle, only covering half of his armor, and brushed past the person.

hum~

The moment the flames reached them, a dark light shone on the gray-white armor, and a circular protective shield appeared in the air, blocking the remaining fire.

'What's going on? My body... my body is preventing me from attacking him with my full strength.'

This situation had never happened before. No matter who the opponent was, W had never felt this way before. Even if it were the Regent himself, she would dare to stab him without the slightest hesitation.

However, when facing this person of unknown identity, she felt bound by her bloodline; the Sarkaz blood flowing through her body was restricting her, preventing her from using her full strength.

"Interesting spell, no wonder it dares to meddle in other people's business."

W grinned, his figure shifted, and he left his original position. Even more violent flames swept out, forming a vortex that surrounded the armored man.

It's just the influence of bloodline; it's far from enough to restrain her!

Single-target spells can be deflected? Then use spells with a wider area of ​​effect, leaving enemies nowhere to hide!

Let the flames engulf us!

Boom!

Faced with the raging fire that was engulfing them from all directions, the armored man raised his heavy hammer and slammed it into the ground with all his might.

With a thunderous roar, the earth shattered, rocks crumbled, and violent forces tore the ground apart. Giant waves of earth and rocks surged outwards from the center of the hammer, burying the engulfing flames.

"Stand up, fertile soil and rock!"

Like a whisper, or perhaps some kind of incantation, the shattered flames, under W's control, regrouped. The armored man neither dodged nor evaded, letting the flames collide with the dark, glowing magical shield. He raised one arm and chanted softly.

Click!

The magical shield cracked and crumbled, and the visible impact dispersed the flames.

W stumbled and felt the ground beneath his feet suddenly shake violently. He immediately abandoned his prayer and jumped several meters away.

The next second, a grayish-white rock hand emerged from the soil and pressed down on the ground. A huge body, also made of rock, emerged from the ground, several meters high, and the rock hand, about half the size of a person, slammed down with a whistling sound.

"This is a bit troublesome."

The rock giant that emerged from the ground was not fast, and was even somewhat clumsy, so it was easy to dodge.

but……

W glanced at the flames that had landed on the stone's body and shook his head inwardly.

The extinguishing fire can burn anything with life and energy, but this thing in front of us, no matter what its internal structure is, is just a layer of pure stone on the outside. If we try to burn it, it might be able to burn for a while, but it's hard to say how long it will take.

Just as she had expected before the fight, this guy was indeed a stubborn and unyielding rock. Not only was he as hard as a rock, but the magical artifacts he created were also incredibly powerful. Dealing with this kind of person was a huge waste of time; she had to grind him down little by little.

Of course, if you really want to end the battle quickly, there is a way. Just increase the power of the flames, and you can even burn stones to pieces.

But is it really worth it for her to fight so hard with a rock?

She was there to resolve the Blood Demon's rampage, not to perish together with some random person—besides, this guy was probably just a busybody and not one of those Blood Demon lunatics.

Why would she risk her life? Wouldn't she be crazy to do that?

If someone actually did something like that, the Blood Demon hiding in the shadows would probably laugh himself to death.

“Hey, you guy who plays with stones, I think I can explain the situation here.”

After thinking it over, W decided to explain that since they couldn't take down this person in a short time, there was no need to waste time on it, and there would be no benefit in continuing the fight.

As for the issue of saving face... does she seem like someone who cares about saving face?

If force can't solve the problem quickly, then use words to explain. As long as the problem is solved, losing face doesn't matter.

She has a fairly flexible bottom line in this regard.

Chapter 214 Flame and Rock

“Before I arrived here, the people of this village had already been corrupted by blood magic and turned into mindless walking corpses. I burned this place down not to kill innocent people, but to send them to their release as soon as possible.”

Avoiding the rock giant's fist, W explained loudly, while simultaneously unleashing a long braid of fire that wrapped around a vulnerable opening in the rock giant's body.

—A single block of stone is difficult to melt, but a rock giant, as a magical creation, is not a single entity. Flames without a fixed shape can penetrate deep through the gaps and disintegrate the inner magic that supports the stone's movement from the inside. This is the wisdom of combat.

"...I didn't smell the Blood Demon."

The armored man paused for a second as he raised the sledgehammer, then brought it down again. As the sledgehammer hit the ground, the ground rippled like water, spewing out a large number of sharp spikes.

The churning mud partially blocked the spread of the flames, while the other part, under the control of the armored man, modified the terrain, restricting W's agile movement.

Perhaps out of fear of the scorching flames, the armored man, who looked like a melee brute, did not personally step forward. Instead, he adopted a mage-like fighting style that did not match his appearance, and simply stood at a distance to manipulate spells.

"Are you Pero? I can smell the Blood Demon's scent even through the fire?"

W was somewhat annoyed. The ground, which seemed to come alive, made it very difficult for her to find a foothold, forcing her to hide at a greater distance. However, while this gave her the space to flexibly dodge the rock giants' attacks, it also made it impossible for her to accurately control the flames to attack the manipulators of these spells.

This person was clearly not a novice; he had extensive combat experience and knew how to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, maximizing his advantages.

If this stalemate continues, who knows how long this inexplicable battle will last.

Normally, W, with the blessing of the Golden Tree, would never back down from a battle of stamina and exhaustion. But now it's different. She's been dragged here for so long. How is she going to complete her mission?

"Produce evidence, or I will not stop."

The muffled sound was carried away by the rumble of the earth, making it difficult to hear clearly. It took W a few seconds to discern it before he angrily yelled, "Is your brain filled with stone? Can't you see for yourself what's burning in this fire?"

Oh, it seems those corpses that were corrupted into madness were all set on fire, so there's probably nothing to be found now... Oh well, it's alright.

Taking a deep breath, W ignited a reddish flame in his palm and slapped it directly onto his chest.

"Flame, grant me power... Have I been too kind to you?"

Thump! Creak...creak...

The rock giant's slamming fist was stopped by a slender arm; the palm, covered in a faint red flame, supported the massive fist made of rock, with the faint sound of bones cracking interspersed among the blows.

Even with the blessing of prayer, facing the attack of such a large creature was not an easy task, but W managed to withstand it. The minor bone fractures and muscle damage healed in just a few breaths under the flow of the blessing power, and were not a big deal.

"Hiss...Drink!"

Holding the stone giant's fist in one hand, W's skin glowed crimson in the flames, while his free palm rested on the hilt of a dagger, allowing the dark blade to protrude from between his fingers.

Lean back, gather your strength, and throw a punch!

Crimson flames ignited from the tip of the blade and spread across the entire arm.

The skin cracked, with spiderweb-like fissures appearing.

Flesh and blood burned in the crimson flames.

The disproportionately slender arms, seemingly fragile, unleashed astonishing power against the colossal size of the stone giant, shattering the hard rock like arrows fired from a large crossbow and penetrating the giant's body through the cracks in the stone.

boom!

The next instant, flames danced wildly!

Shining flames burst forth from every crack in the rocks, completely destroying the magical foundations that sustained the stone giant and turned the massive creature into a pile of stones.

The price to pay for this was that after the stone giant fell, the arm W used to attack was completely deformed, large pieces of flesh were peeled off, and the remaining area was charred black, with the exposed bones clearly visible.

pat~

A small piece of broken metal fell to the ground, and the shape of a dagger could still be vaguely seen. W grinned wildly and dragged his completely useless arm forward step by step.

Her sturdy combat boots had been engulfed by flames at some point. With each step she took, she left burning footprints. Subtle flames flowed across the rolling ground, seeping into the earth along cracks and directly destroying the magical energy surging underground, calming the restless soil.

"Did I give you face?"

W repeated himself, his frenzied momentum as he strode forward through flames causing even the armored warriors who had just lost their magical creations to involuntarily take a step back.

"You should be glad that I'm giving you one last chance."

"Get out of here and out of my sight."

If it were up to her own nature, W would have burned this mud-playing guy to a crisp long ago, but she doesn't have that much time to waste on this smelly, hard rock right now.

If this guy is sensible, she wouldn't mind occasionally showing kindness.

"I……"

The armored man raised the sledgehammer in his hand, but before he could speak, he was interrupted by the unusual surroundings.

A crimson mist appeared out of nowhere in this area, seemingly possessing extremely strong corrosive properties, causing the spherical shields enveloping the armored figures to hiss and crackle.

The fog came out of nowhere, catching even W off guard, and another piece of flesh was corroded away from his already crippled arm.

Blood-red magic... She'd seen quite a few these past few days, and this kind of insidious effect was undoubtedly the work of those blood demons.

What's strange is that she had already checked and found no trace of blood demons or related spells around the village, except for the corrupted madmen. Where did this situation come from?