Chapter 280: An Intense And Unexpected Battle!

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After the Crimson Frog King was sent crashing into the cavern walls by Riven’s powerful attack, the massive creature still survived. Its elastic and highly shock-absorbing skin proved far more resilient than expected. Suddenly, from the gaping wound left behind in its stomach, Vladimir forced his way out. He broke free from the giant creature’s insides in a messy burst of acid and gore, leaving Riven and Daniela completely speechless. Even Noir made a rare face that mixed pure disgust with deep shock.

"Why didn’t you save me?!" Vladimir groaned as he stumbled across the muddy water. His body was completely covered in thick gastric acid, and he glared at the groaning, twitching form of the Crimson Frog King. The wound on the monster’s stomach seemed to be slowly killing it, yet the beast still refused to fall. "And this damn thing..."

"Ew, he emerged from the stomach?!" Daniela asked in pure disbelief, taking an instinctive step backward. "I-It’s almost like that really old movie... Alien was it? Or something like that!"

"Yeah, Vladimir was a really bad parasite if you think about it," Riven nodded while glaring at Vladimir’s acid-covered face with a mix of irritation and dark amusement.

"Stop joking about my predicament and come finish this thing off before— Huh?!"

Vladimir panicked as the Crimson Frog King suddenly proved it was far from finished. Even with a massive gaping wound in its abdomen, the creature forced itself upright with stubborn determination. Crimson Ki flared around its muscular body like a burning aura of pure rage.

"GROKYOH!!!"

With a thunderous roar that shook the entire cavern, the Crimson Frog King took a heavy step forward and slammed both of its massive palms onto Vladimir. The strikes disrupted the flow of energies inside his body and left him completely powerless for several critical seconds.

That single palm strike was quickly followed by several more powerful blows aimed at his chest, head, shoulders, stomach, and even his groin. The brutal combination finished with a powerful kick that sent Vladimir flying across the swamp. He crashed hard into a huge tree growing from the murky water.

BOOOM!!!

"Oh no..." Daniela said while gasping softly. Although she looked shocked and surprised by the violence, she made no effort to save him or help him in any way.

Daniela had been present when Vladimir tried to kidnap both her and Riven earlier. Even though her feelings were not completely clear on the surface, she still held hatred for everything he had done before.

"It isn’t dead yet!" Daniela said, her eyes fixed on the Crimson Frog King. "Even with that big wound... he’s definitely smaller than the Swamp Witch, and yet he’s pushing forward with so much energy!"

"Yeah, this guy is a little more special than other dungeon bosses," Riven replied while carefully analyzing the monster. "His gimmick is being really damn good at martial arts for no clear reason..."

As Riven continued studying the creature’s movements, its glowing eyes locked onto him with pure killing intent. The Crimson Frog King raised both arms and began forming a complex series of hand seals that no ordinary monster should have known. The seals glowed with dense crimson energy as the beast prepared something deadly.

At the same time, a dense sphere of compressed Ki gathered between its palms. The energy surged with great power and released small crimson shockwaves that rippled across the surrounding water and made the entire swamp tremble.

Then the creature took one powerful step forward and leaped incredibly high into the air. Its muscular giant frog legs showed off an amazing leaping ability that closed the distance in an instant.

Within a split second the giant sphere of crimson Ki was shoved directly toward Riven’s face. Riven’s expression hardened immediately. He could clearly feel the overwhelming power behind that technique. If it landed cleanly, even someone as durable as him would take serious damage.

And yet the damn frog was still incredibly fast.

BOOOMMM!!!

A massive explosion erupted on impact, blowing Riven backward while his face and the rest of his body burned with intense crimson fire. The heat and force of the blast shook the entire cavern and sent waves of muddy water flying in every direction.

Noir panicked at the sight. The black wolf howled loudly and released a powerful shockwave of dark electricity that struck the Crimson Frog King and paralyzed it for a split second. Noir then ran toward the place where Riven had been thrown.

However, as the wolf reached the spot, Riven suddenly revealed that he had never been there at all. His body dissolved into pure spiritual energy and vanished completely.

"Eh?!"

Daniela and Noir were both left completely speechless as they noticed a dark shadow appearing directly underneath the Crimson Frog King while it was still falling from its high leap.

From that shadow Riven emerged with perfect timing. He had used Abyssal Shift to move between the shadows at the exact same moment he left a Spiritual Clone behind in his original position.

He had cleverly imitated the Ninjutsu techniques that Kagehisa and his retainers often used — Replacement Jutsu and Shadow Clone Jutsu — but he employed them smartly with his own unique powers.

In the moment the frog came to attack him, he had already created a perfect clone around his body. By transferring his real body through Abyssal Shift into the shadow beneath the frog, he completely avoided that powerful point-blank attack.

"GEGEH?!"

The Crimson Frog King panicked and made a funny, high-pitched sound. Its face showed clear disbelief as Riven’s heavily armored and clawed arms struck it from below. The young man received the falling monster with a relentless barrage of powerful punches.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"G-GAAAHA?!"

The Crimson Frog King screamed in pure agony. It vomited thick blood everywhere yet still clenched its mandibles tightly. With stubborn determination it raised one hand and gathered a large quantity of crimson Ki once more, preparing to fire a deadly blood Ki beam directly toward Riven’s face.

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