After running for about five or six more minutes, Duan Jiude suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Why did you stop?" Ye Gou turned back, his expression puzzled.
"We can't outrun it anymore," Duan Jiude said, pointing toward the direction of the waterhole. "Our only option now is to find a way to deal with it."
"Deal with it? You're only at C-level. What are you even thinking?" Ye Gou retorted irritably. "There's no escape route by the waterhole. Going there will only add two more human corpses to the count."
"No, that's not what I mean. I want to give it a shot," Duan Jiude said firmly before running off toward the waterhole on his own.
"What the hell?! Has he lost his mind?" Ye Gou muttered under his breath, exasperated. "A C-level trying to take on a C-level boss? Does he think he's Xu Que or something?"
Despite his complaints, Ye Gou reluctantly followed after Duan Jiude.
Seeing Ye Gou catch up, Duan Jiude smirked and said, "Big guy, you head to the other side of the waterhole and wait."
"What?" Ye Gou was bewildered. "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely. Just go over there and enjoy the show," Duan Jiude replied with a mischievous grin.
Completely thrown off, Ye Gou did as instructed, heading to the far side of the waterhole. As soon as he turned around, he was stunned into silence.
"What the... he returned to town?"
Ye Gou felt like the biggest fool alive, duped and discarded.
"Damn it, what kind of teammate did the boss recruit? How is he this unreliable?" Ye Gou grumbled, but before he could vent further, a six-meter-tall Black Fiend Ghost Sha burst out of the forest.
"ROAR!"
Faced with the hulking creature, Ye Gou swallowed hard.
"Mother of—no wonder that brat ran. I want to run too!"
Before Ye Gou could consider purchasing a teleportation scroll, the Black Fiend Ghost Sha barreled through the waterhole, charging straight for him.
"Shit!" Ye Gou cursed, his sword poised for a desperate defense.
But what happened next left him utterly dumbfounded.
*Slash!*
A blade's flash struck the Black Fiend Ghost Sha from behind, carving a gaping, bowl-sized wound into its head.
"Splurt!"
Dark blood gushed forth as the monstrous creature turned, its eyes blazing with rage.
Just as it prepared to retaliate against its attacker, another slash sliced upward, skimming its lower jaw.
Ye Gou was stunned—he had never seen such precise, ruthless techniques before.
If Xu Que were here, he'd undoubtedly warn Ye Gou not to underestimate those who had lost everything or been betrayed. They often have nothing left to lose and are capable of unimaginable feats.
As the knife wound traced a gruesome line across the Black Fiend Ghost Sha's face, blood flowed freely. Though the attacks weren't fatal, the continuous blood loss was enough to wear the beast down.
The Black Fiend Ghost Sha clutched its face, letting out a guttural growl.
"What are you standing there for? Finish it off already!" Duan Jiude shouted while circling to the side, looking for a weak point.
"Oh! Right!" Ye Gou snapped back to reality, rushing to join the fray. Together, the two engaged in a grueling battle against the Black Fiend Ghost Sha, whose injuries piled up rapidly.
Then, the beast lunged at Duan Jiude with its massive claw.
Seeing the incoming strike, Duan Jiude abruptly halted, letting the spiritual energy dissipate from his body.
"What the—!" Ye Gou was utterly baffled by Duan Jiude's reckless maneuver.
But in the next instant, his confusion turned to astonishment.
At the very last second, Duan Jiude dove into the waterhole, the beast's claw skimming the surface above him. From beneath the water, he propelled himself upward with a burst of spiritual energy, launching himself like a missile toward the Black Fiend Ghost Sha.
*Slash!*
The blade of his Mirrorwater Knife cleaved diagonally into the creature's neck.
"Damn it!" Duan Jiude abandoned the embedded weapon and retreated swiftly.
"ROAR!"
The beast roared in fury, its bloodshot eyes locked onto Duan Jiude. It lashed out blindly, smashing its giant hands into the ground in a futile attempt to crush him.
"Run!" Duan Jiude shouted, already sprinting away. "I'm out of tricks. If we keep at this, we're both dead!"
Ye Gou hesitated for only a moment before following Duan Jiude toward the spatial rift, both of them fleeing at full speed.
"Not bad! You've got skills!" Ye Gou said, half-joking as they ran.
"Save your breath for running," Duan Jiude replied wearily.
"From now on, you're my Brother De!" Ye Gou grinned, his admiration genuine.
Though Duan Jiude's cultivation was lacking, his tactics were nothing short of brilliant—earning Ye Gou's respect.
After a relentless chase, the Black Fiend Ghost Sha, weakened by blood loss, began to falter.
Finally, after another five minutes, Duan Jiude came to a stop, a sly smile on his lips.
"Is it dead?" Ye Gou asked.
"Yeah, it's done for," Duan Jiude replied, chuckling.
The two returned to the battlefield, where Duan Jiude struggled to retrieve his embedded knife.
"So, where to next?" Ye Gou asked as he sifted through the loot.
"Let me rest for an hour to recover my strength. Then, we head back to the C-level dimensional space," Duan Jiude said, collapsing onto the ground.