Chapter 569: Chu Mo Island (Thirty-Four)

Chapter 569: Chu Mo Island (Thirty-Four)

That sultry female voice carried an alluring charm that stirred the imagination. However, the gap between fantasy and reality was often vast.

The group quickly pinpointed the source of the voice. What entered their field of vision... was a gigantic monstrous butterfly. Its appearance was identical to the smaller variant they'd encountered in the corridor, though this one's body alone measured human-sized, with wingspans stretching several meters across either side.

"Enlarged, it's actually an even more disgusting creature", Feng Bu Jue muttered.

"It doesn't matter", Hong Hu replied. "After the Fei Chai Shu Incident, something like this is merely a fleeting cloud to me."

"Hey... What exactly was the Fei Chai Shu Incident?" Fei Chai Shu twitched his lips as he interjected. "Could you please stop assigning ridiculous codenames to things I'm involved in?"

"You've got guts", the Blade Butterfly Queen couldn't understand what the players were saying. As a typical roadblock-style minor boss, she had no story hooks to trigger—her sole function was combat. Consequently, both her thoughts and dialogue revolved around that singular purpose. "Daring to talk trash about my beautiful appearance right in front of me... spouting nonsense!" Her tone suddenly turned venomous, culminating in a furious roar, "Want to die!"

Before her roar had even finished echoing, she opened her gaping maw and spat a glob of viscous, ink-green saliva toward the five players.

The five reacted with lightning speed, scattering in different directions within a second to escape the attack's range.

The mucus projectile hurtled forward, slamming into the crystal crust beneath them. With a "Pssshhh—" sound, it released a noxious white smoke.

"Watch out you don't get splashed by her saliva—it's a highly corrosive attack!" Fei Chai Shu warned loudly.

"Hehehe... That was just a greeting", the monstrous butterfly sneered before continuing, "I've got plenty of ways to kill you!" Saying that, she opened her maw again.

A strange, guttural noise—"Fukka fukka"—erupted from her throat. The next second, a swarm of black Phantom entities poured forth from her mouth.

"So it was you behind that earlier attack too?" Tian Ma Xing Kong spoke while drawing his fist to his waist, raising his other hand into a tiger-claw position as he declared, "Evildoer! In this open space, I won't hold back out of politeness anymore!" With his stance set and his momentum built, his next line was obvious...

"Tianma Liuxing Fist!"

With that battle cry, a radiant fist beam erupted. Fast as thunder and lightning, powerful enough to shake mountains and overturn seas.

The Meteor Strike Fist currently before them far surpassed in both speed and power the one Tian Ma Xing Kong had launched in the corridor.

The Blade Butterfly Queen, possessing no small amount of capability, immediately recognized the threat level of this attack. She swiftly flapped her wings and retreated, leaping upward into the air.

In an instant, her enormous wings swept out a powerful gust. The queen used this recoil force to propel herself diagonally backward into the air. The knife butterflies she had just released moments ago had become cannon fodder to block the Meteor Strike Fist.

"So you're another otherworld traveler..." The Blade Butterfly Queen finally understood the identity of her opponent upon seeing the skills being used. "How boring..." she said, before opening her maw for her third attack. This time, what emerged wasn't liquid or solid—it was an invisible soundwave.

"Ying—" a high-pitched screech burst from the queen's mouth, like a transparent ripple gliding through the air. It raced forward toward Tian Ma Xing Kong at incredible speed.

Brother Horse was already deep in combat rhythm, his attention completely focused. Even though the soundwave approached rapidly, he calmly evaded it. A slight shift of his shoulders and a bent-knee propulsion maneuver sent him sideways more than ten feet in an instant.

Unexpectedly... the attack wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface. When the transparent soundwave struck one of the crystal pillars behind Tian Ma Xing Kong, it refracted.

"Ying—Ying—Ying—" Meanwhile, high above, the Blade Butterfly Queen launched three more attacks in rapid succession, adding three more soundwaves before the first had even dissipated.

This sudden change caught the players off guard. With the crystal pillars varying in shape, the refraction trajectory of the soundwaves became completely unpredictable. They couldn't even determine how many times the soundwaves could refract.

Under these conditions, attempting to evade four high-speed soundwave projectiles as they refracted repeatedly through the maze-like terrain was obviously extremely difficult.

Thus, Fei Chai Shu, ji bu, Hong Hu, and Tian Ma Xing Kong all instinctively chose the same response—they leapt upward into the air.

This indeed seemed like a reasonable choice. After all, there were no toxic mists in this Crystal Labyrinth, so fighting in the open upper space was logical. However... what they hadn't anticipated was that this move had directly triggered the Blade Butterfly Queen's trap...

Sssshhh—

"What's going on?" Fei Chai Shu had barely risen above the boss's head when he felt himself collide with something. It was a transparent, extremely flexible physical substance. Like a curtain spread across the air, invisible to the naked eye.

The moment he made contact with this physical substance, his entire body became immobile. He was like a fly caught on flypaper, one side of his body completely stuck, unable to pull free.

"Dammit! We've been tricked!" Hong Hu was in the same situation, his body spread-eagled face-down in midair. "There's an invisible web here!"

"You're a bit slow on the uptake..." ji bu chimed in lifelessly from nearby, clearly having fallen victim to the same trap.

"What is this...? Ugh, the more I struggle, the tighter it gets..." Tian Ma Xing Kong naturally couldn't avoid this fate either. He was struggling fiercely.

"Hehehe... Foreigners will always be foreigners..." the Blade Butterfly Queen laughed. "All the creatures here know that the skies above the Crystal Labyrinth belong to 'her.' " She proudly flapped her wings. "This altitude represents the maximum height any island creature can reach. Go any higher, and you'll fall into 'her' web." She turned her gaze toward Tian Ma Xing Kong and added, "Heh... Keep struggling all you want. The more violently you move, the faster 'she' will come." She paused. "Although I'd prefer to kill you myself, unfortunately... The moment you got stuck to the web, you became 'her' prey. I wouldn't dare anger 'her' since... 'she' prefers living things..."

At this moment, the Blade Butterfly Queen turned her gaze downward. "You should feel sorry for the one who didn't jump up—he at least dies quickly, without experiencing the horror of..." The queen's words were cut off because when she looked down... there was no corpse in sight, not even bloodstains.

"What's going on?" The Blade Butterfly Queen muttered, slightly alarmed. "Even if my soundwave just grazes a target, it should reduce them to dust... There's no way he could dodge all four waves within this limited space..."

"No, I definitely couldn't dodge all of them", Feng Bu Jue's voice suddenly came from behind the queen, interrupting her self-talk.

"What!" The Blade Butterfly Queen's heart leapt in surprise, but her combat instincts didn't falter because of shock.

In that instant, solely based on the direction of the sound, the queen spun her blade-like wings to counter.

Those giant butterfly wings, sharp as a Blade Guild weapon, swept outward in a flurry of deadly arcs, their elegant butterfly shadows dancing with multiple layers of killing intent.

"With your speed, trying to hit me with physical attacks will be difficult..." Feng Bu Jue said casually. He didn't even activate his 【Spirit Sense Body Technique - Modified】, effortlessly dodging the wing slashes using only the moon steps at normal speed.

"How is this possible?" the Blade Butterfly Queen exclaimed.

Her heart filled with shock and confusion, a string of questions flashing through her mind: How could this kid change direction so nimbly in midair? How did he dodge my soundwaves just now? Most incredibly... how could he predict my attacks in advance, performing those seemingly impossible evasive maneuvers?

"I'd really like to answer all your questions first... before I strike", Feng Bu Jue said while already appearing directly beneath the queen. This position was her defensive blind spot. "But your attack methods are too troublesome... I'll skip the explanations."

Before his words had even finished echoing, Feng Bu Jue delivered an upward sweeping kick—a storm leg. The arc-shaped slash emitted a brilliant blue-white glow... cutting upward from beneath the Blade Butterfly Queen's soft abdomen, cleaving her in two.

With a snap of the fingers, this minor boss met her doom.

The two halves of the giant butterfly corpse swiftly fell away from either side of Feng Bu Jue's body, crashing heavily to the ground. The steel-hard wings struck the crystal crust, producing a metallic clashing sound.

“Hmm…” Feng Bu Jue hovered nonchalantly in midair, stroking his chin as he tilted his head to glance at his four teammates stuck above him. “Well then… time to deal with you folks next.”

“We seem to be stuck on an extremely large and densely woven spider web,” Hong Hu promptly described their predicament, his voice calm. “My entire backside—from the hindbrain down to the neck, spine, buttocks, and limbs—is completely glued to the web’s surface. I can’t break free, and I can’t even reach into my satchel to retrieve anything.” He shifted his head slightly, catching sight of Fei Chai Shu and the others from the corner of his eye. “I suspect the rest of you are in the same boat. So… Feng Bu Jue, you’re our only hope.”

“Oh… in that case…” Feng Bu Jue mused, “Let me try using Storm Leg first.”

With that, he twisted midair and kicked four times in quick succession. Four crescent slashes shot upward, forming a quadrilateral pattern that enclosed Hong Hu within its bounds.

However… after a few soft furu-furu sounds, the slashes passed straight through the web and vanished into the sky.

“What’s going on?” Feng Bu Jue’s confusion lasted less than half a second. Before the first half of his exclamation faded, he had already reached a conclusion. He answered himself aloud, “Non-physical attacks just pass through, huh?”

“Hold on, let me try cutting it with equipment,” Feng Bu Jue called out, pulling out the Wjq-308 Military Shovel from his satchel. With a cautious application of Moon Step, he propelled himself upward and came to a stop at an optimal height.

He had chosen the military shovel over the Must-Break Armor Blade for practical reasons. The latter was a cleaver, with a short distance between its handle and blade—too risky. If he brought his hand too close to the web during the cut, he might end up entangled, arm and all, or even pulled in completely. That would truly be a case of drowning in a puddle.

“Don’t move around, everyone,” Feng Bu Jue warned his teammates aloud. “If I get trapped too, you all know the consequences.”

“Understood,” Hong Hu replied.

“Don’t worry, even if I wanted to move, I can’t,” Ji Bu muttered.

“Aaah… I moved too much earlier and got stuck even tighter. I’ve got no strength left now…” Tian Ma Xing Kong added in a wooden tone.

Fei Chai Shu, however, offered a surprisingly encouraging reply: “Take your time, don’t stress. If things get desperate, I’ve got my own escape method. But it’s a last-resort move—preferably, we won’t need it.”

His teammates might not have understood, but readers surely did… right? Yes, Fei Chai Shu’s final escape plan was to simply throw his sunglasses (a physical object) onto the ground.

“Great. Then I’ll save you last,” Feng Bu Jue responded to Fei Chai Shu’s encouragement with an unexpected remark.

Fei Chai Shu felt a pang of gloom but, after a few seconds of thought, grasped Feng Bu Jue’s logic. If the “her” mentioned by that minor boss was indeed on her way, Feng Bu Jue might not have time to rescue everyone. In such a case, prioritizing self-sufficient members for last was the logical choice.

“Good news—the shovel can cut through this web, though it’s pretty slow,” Feng Bu Jue said, his tone light as his hands worked furiously. “At this pace, I’ll have Hong Hu down in about five minutes.”

The first to be freed was Ji Bu, as he carried an excellent cutting weapon. Once Ji Bu was loose, the group’s prospects would brighten considerably. Feng Bu Jue had already planned their next steps—once Ji Bu descended, he’d use the fan to slash wildly while Feng Bu Jue held him aloft at a precise height.

“Oh, by the way… what exactly did you do earlier?” Ji Bu asked curiously as Feng Bu Jue worked.

“I told you,” Feng Bu Jue replied evenly, his hands steady. “I didn’t dodge them.” He paused, adding, “I tried to at first, but failed. Thankfully, my equipment absorbed the damage.”

“Huh?” Ji Bu blinked. “Your armor’s that strong?”

“Is that so hard to believe?” Feng Bu Jue shot back, his expression deadpan.

In truth, his armor wasn’t that powerful—far from being able to shrug off attacks from a boss-class monster. Two factors had saved him. First, Artemis’ Embrace could significantly reduce damage from all ranged attacks. Second, the Echo Armor had a hidden attribute for resisting soundwave assaults.

Though the Echo Armor’s item description didn’t explicitly mention this effect, its background hinted at it: “After collecting fragments of Black_Bolt’s whispers, Dr.Doom used that immense energy to create this device. When the user activates the Utility Belt, they gain an invisible ‘sound’ armor.”

This intangible “sound” armor naturally resonated with sonic attacks. And Black_Bolt’s voice was the king of all soundwaves—his casual conversation could flatten dozens of acres, his roar could destroy stars, and his full-throated scream could tear space-time itself.

Combined with these two armors, Feng Bu Jue had barely survived the onslaught.

Of course, his own efforts mattered too. If he hadn’t used Zero-Time Calculation to evade and subtly shifted his position to avoid direct hits, even equipment advantages might have failed—two or three simultaneous strikes might’ve broken through his defenses.

“So you didn’t dodge at all?” Ji Bu, ever perceptive, didn’t pry further about the armor’s specifics and pressed on.

“That’s not quite right,” Feng Bu Jue replied. “I didn’t dodge because I felt something odd from the start…” He licked his lips, elaborating, “Brother Horse’s Tianma Liuxing Fist was angled upward, but the trajectory wasn’t extreme. The most effective way to evade that strike would’ve been to fly sideways at a right angle to its path.”

He paused for two seconds, adjusting his grip on the shovel to better reach the web. “Given this boss’s speed and capabilities, flying straight upward would’ve been the optimal choice. But she didn’t do that—she retreated diagonally, as though she were afraid to charge upward abruptly.”

He continued, “Later events proved that as early as dodging the Meteor Strike Fist, the boss had already laid her plans and set her trap…”

“Wait—how do you know those soundwaves were her ultimate move?” Hong Hu interjected.

“Simple,” Feng Bu Jue replied. “Judging from the abilities she’s shown, the soundwaves are her strongest option. If she had other major techniques, she’d have used them when I got close.”

“Hm… makes sense,” Hong Hu nodded.

“In short, she unleashed her hidden, high-powered technique to force us into the air,” Feng Bu Jue said with a chuckle. “Under normal circumstances, aerial combatants instinctively jump higher than their opponent to gain the advantage. Even I have that habit—it’s natural, considering my ability is only temporary hovering, not true flight like Superman. Unless we can maneuver freely in all directions, that reaction is unavoidable…”

“Exactly,” Fei Chai Shu added. “The higher you jump, the longer your hovering time—basic physics.”

“Precisely,” Feng Bu Jue continued. “This boss exploited our habitual instincts. Her trap was near-perfect—those who stayed grounded were hit by soundwaves, while those who jumped were ensnared in the web. The only survival option was to leap to her height and stop mid-flight… but we ‘foreigners,’ clueless about this big web, had no way of knowing that.” He glanced sideways at his teammates. “Of course, I hadn’t figured out all this earlier. I just… saw you all leap upward, so I took a gamble to test my suspicions.”

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end