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As the battle dragged on, Sam gradually realized something.
Ever since he sealed the spatial rift, the mantis had been getting more and more irritable.
Most likely, it was running out of Void energy and had no way to replenish it by devouring life anymore.
For Sam, that was perfect.
The more unhinged it became, the happier he was.
Because once an opponent loses their cool, they start making mistakes. And every mistake meant another opening.
Time ticked by.
Ten minutes. Twenty. Half an hour… an hour.
By the time they were done trading blows, night had faded into dawn. The ground was a wreck, pitted and torn apart. Even though Sam had deliberately kept the fight contained, the affected area still stretched as wide as a small town. If he hadn't been holding back the scale, it would have been twice that.
…
Sam's face showed clear signs of exhaustion. Faint blood vessels threaded through the whites of his eyes.
After resting earlier, the Nine-Tails had fully recovered its chakra and finally joined the fight. If it were just Sam alone against that humanoid mantis, this could've easily dragged on for an entire day and night.
He took the chance to catch his breath while the Nine-Tails stepped in.
This was his first real battle in the real world, and he'd fought straight through the night. His body felt hollowed out.
Fighting to the point of near collapse… that was a first.
Still, the mantis was clearly on its last legs now. Once this mission was over, he was definitely taking a long, well-earned rest.
"Watching this live is way more exciting than a blockbuster," Wu Liuqi said cheerfully, somehow producing a bag of snacks from who-knows-where and munching away. "Though it'd be perfect with a bottle of cola."
Sam: "…"
Elsa: "…"
Liu Erlong: "…"
Are you here to crack jokes?
Sam, mid-rest, shot Wu Liuqi a glare, then casually snatched the bag from his hands and dumped the entire contents into his own mouth.
He'd been fighting for hours. He was starving.
"My sliced barbecueeee!"
Wu Liuqi stared at the empty bag, on the verge of tears.
He'd painstakingly sliced and grilled that meat piece by piece yesterday!
"One dimensional gold coin," Sam said flatly.
Wu Liuqi froze for half a second. Then he grinned and instantly pulled out five or six more bags of neatly sliced barbecue.
"Boss, want more?"
A dimensional gold coin!
That could be exchanged for a whole pile of money back in his world.
Sam and the others: "…"
Wu Liuqi really was a business genius in his own weird way.
After stretching his stiff limbs, Sam stood up.
"Alright. Break's over. Time to wrap this up."
Now that he and the Nine-Tails were fighting side by side, he no longer bothered conserving stamina or chakra.
Tailed Beast Bombs. Sword strikes. The powers of the Ope Ope Fruit.
He unleashed one devastating attack after another as if they cost nothing.
A sixth-tier creature was undeniably powerful. But under the relentless assault of Sam and the Nine-Tails, who alternated pressure without giving it room to breathe, even that wasn't enough.
Besides, this humanoid mantis had only just been born not long ago. At sixth tier, it was practically a baby.
Under their reckless, all-out bombardment, about an hour later, the mantis let out a sharp, piercing cry.
It sounded like defiance. Or maybe protest, as if complaining about being ganged up on.
Sam and the Nine-Tails didn't care.
This wasn't a friendly spar. It was a fight to the death. There were no rules.
Though it was called a piercing shriek, the sound was so weak that you could barely hear it from a distance.
And that weakness only fired them up more.
No reason needed. Just from that cry alone, it was obvious.
It was finished.
"Quick, check if the mission's complete!"
At last, Sam seized an opening and decapitated the mantis with a single clean slash. As soon as it died, he sent the body straight to Hell, then immediately pulled out his token to check the mission status.
"…?"
"What the hell? We killed the big boss. And the spatial rift's sealed!"
The completion bar wasn't at 100 percent.
The corner of Sam's mouth twitched.
You've got to be kidding me.
The Nine-Tails and the others were equally baffled. Wasn't it supposed to end after defeating the boss?
First mission jitters, apparently.
After mentally listing several crimes committed by the "black-hearted boss" known as the Transdimensional Mercenary Guild, Sam finally noticed a tiny line of text in the mission guide.
"…Seriously? That small?"
If he hadn't glanced at it by accident, he might have missed it entirely.
"Current mission completion: 95 percent. Note: Eliminate all soul beasts corrupted by Void energy and recover the Void energy to complete the mission."
"So there are still some stragglers, huh?" The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes and bared its teeth in a feral grin. "Stragglers are good."
Earlier, it had been pushed around badly by that mantis to the point of near self-doubt.
Perfect.
Now it had something to vent on.
"....."