CRASH!

  The heavy sound of impact shattered the noise in the cultivation room once more.

  Pandora’s figure, like a leaf battered by a giant wave, was sent flying again.

  But just like st time, in the instant before she were hit, she managed to bring the sword of Elsa up, pcing it directly in the path of the monster’s attack.

  Her consciousness hadn't even had time to analyze the blurry afterimage, but her arm, her muscles, already following the survival rules etched into her soul, had swung the sword defiantly.

  It seemed her combat instincts were still reliable…

  CRASH!!

  However, reality quickly gave her arrogance a resounding sp.

  This attack was completely different from the ones before. The monster seemed to have predicted her block, its angle of attack incredibly tricky. The heavy force bypassed the sword’s defense and nded squarely on her side.

  SNAP!

  A clear, teeth-grinding sound of bone breaking rang out.

  An unbearable, sharp pain shot out from her ribs.

  It was her ribs… her ribs were broken.

  Pandora made the most accurate judgment almost at the same instant her brain registered the impact. She opened her mouth and a mist of blood, mixed with bits of her organs, sprayed out uncontrolbly!

  Most of the scarlet blood mist spshed onto the greatsword in her hands, the one transformed from Elsa.

  Buzz—

  The sword of Elsa let out a soft hum, as if it had received a long-awaited meal. The originally sinister scarlet glow seemed to be completely ignited at this moment, becoming deeper, more pure.

  A strange, gentle power flowed up the hilt and into Pandora’s body, rushing to her broken ribs.

  With the power from Elsa, Pandora forcefully suppressed the excruciating pain that was about to swallow her whole.

  The moment her feet touched the ground, she kicked off hard, twisting her body to forcefully steady herself and block another horizontal sweep from the monster.

  The pain, like a maggot burrowing into her bones, continuously radiated from the wound in her ribs, reminding her of the heavy blow she had just sustained.

  But she didn’t dare to rex in the slightest.

  She knew very well that against an enemy this fast, the moment she let her guard down was the difference between life and death.

  Whoosh…

  Adrenaline, under the extreme pressure on her body, was secreted frantically.

  The pain was repced by a strange numbness.

  The feeling was a bit like the dizziness of anemia, as if all her senses were forcibly suppressed, but not quite the same.

  Because as the pain was numbed, her body, on the contrary… became even more excited.

  The world in her eyes seemed to slow down.

  The monster’s figure was no longer a blurry, indistinct afterimage. Its incredibly fast pounces and swipes seemed to be stretched into frame-by-frame slow motion in her eyes.

  It was no longer an indistinct blur, but a… “trajectory” that could be observed, that could be analyzed!

  Pandora saw it!

  She saw the trajectory!

  She moved a step ahead, pcing the greatsword in her hands precisely in the path of that trajectory!

  She blocked it!

  No.

  She didn't.

  CRASH!

  A force heavier than any before smmed violently into her bde, and then, without losing momentum, sent her flying again, like a broken sack!

  SPLAT—

  Another mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips.

  Elsa let out an anxious, urgent call, but her head was buzzing, and she couldn't make out what Elsa was saying.

  But…

  “It doesn't matter.”

  Pandora lifted her head, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth.

  Her gaze, far from dimming due to her grievous injury, instead held a sickly, feverish glint.

  Deep within those clear eyes, a sliver of a… crazy smile was suppressed, one she herself didn't even notice.

  She already knew.

  The monster, being stared at by Pandora with such eyes, also seemed to feel a kind of inexplicable discomfort. It let out an angry hiss and attacked again!

  But this time—

  Pandora didn't predict, didn't block.

  She just, with a slight shift of her body, took a small, light step back.

  The monster’s certain-kill attack… just… missed!

  The sword light fshed.

  Fast as a startled swan.

  In the instant the monster froze after its missed attack, Pandora’s sword had already arrived.

  The sharp, tough bde easily sliced through its tough hide.

  A deep wound, reaching the bone, appeared from its deformed shoulder all the way to its abdomen.

  “Hsss—!”

  The second-rank Agile Live Iron Golem let out a pained, furious shriek.

  It quickly disengaged and retreated, putting distance between itself and Pandora.

  Its scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Pandora, and for the first time, an emotion called “disbelief” appeared.

  At the same time, on Pandora’s face, covered in blood and sweat, a smile she wasn’t aware of, one with a touch of sickly beauty, spread across her lips.

  But, even if she had realized it, she probably wouldn't have cared at this moment.

  Because, she had grasped it.

  She had finally grasped the core pattern of the monster’s attacks!

  She discovered that its seemingly fwless attack trajectory, at the instant she swung her sword to block, would always have a slight… irrational twist.

  And this was the fundamental reason why she had been defeated the first two times, even though her predictions were correct.

  But in reality, was that slight twist really irrational?

  Pandora’s gaze was sharper than ever before.

  She looked at the monster, which had retreated into the red fog after its missed attack, letting out an angry hiss, her brain working like the most precise analytical instrument.

  This special zombie monster before her had a body structure that had seriously deviated from a normal humanoid form.

  Its upper body was bloated and heavy, packed with explosive muscles; while its lower body was withered, rotten, and had almost degenerated into a useless appendage.

  This extremely unbanced body structure determined that its habits of exerting force, its methods of attack, must be fundamentally different from those zombie monsters that maintained a humanoid silhouette!

  It was more like a… deformed spider, using its upper body to violently drag the wreckage of its lower half.

  In the first few probes, it wasn't so obvious, and its attack trajectory barely conformed to convention.

  But once it used its full strength, this disharmony, born from its body structure, was completely exposed.

  This was also the reason why Pandora had been able to successfully block the first few times, but all subsequent attacks had missed.

  However, now, she had found its “rules.”

  So, it was time for her to…

  counterattack.

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