Chapter Four: The Ultra-High-Risk Forbidden Zone

Tang Ya, confronted by monstrous forms of dinosaurs and crocodiles, dared not be the slightest bit careless.

She swiftly unleashed her ultra-high-risk forbidden domain—Dark Infernal Curse:

“Within the domain, Tang Ya’s own speed is increased tenfold.”

“Her black hair is freed from the constraints of gravity, able to float, disassemble, and reassemble at her will.”

“Each strand is infused with hellish black fire, capable of incinerating all living things.”

An absolute darkness radiated from Tang Ya, spreading outward in all directions. Like a drop of ink falling onto white rice paper, everything nearby—the ground, the walls, the air, even the dust—was quickly swallowed by the darkness.

Forbidden domains were mysterious powers that had existed since the formation of the Celestial Continent, unique fields that allowed their users to alter the reality around them.

To her left, the colossal crocodile opened its maw, the ghastly pale face embedded in its chest fixing its gaze on Tang Ya.

Its crimson tongue writhed incessantly, a predator unable to restrain its bloodlust at the scent of prey.

The crocodile wielded its own monstrous ultra-high-risk forbidden domain—Soul-Stealing Phantom Mask:

“Any target subject to the Phantom Mask’s gaze has their speed reduced tenfold.”

“And if struck by the ghostly tongue, spatial disorientation follows, the victim’s senses toyed with by the Phantom Mask’s will.”

Even before she could move, Tang Ya felt her speed markedly suppressed under the crocodile’s baleful gaze.

She swept her hands, commanding her floating black hair to gather into a high-speed, whirling tornado that enveloped her completely.

Raging black fire formed a barrier of overwhelming force at the tornado’s edge, intimidating her foes.

The crocodile’s ghostly tongue found no opening through the black infernal whirlwind; the ghastly mask twisted in frustration.

Unable to find a weakness, the crocodile resolved to gamble everything.

It leaned forward, powerful hind legs coiling, propelling its massive, hulking form like a cannonball toward Tang Ya in the tornado.

Its enormous head lunged, gaping jaws snapping for her skull.

The tornado, however, blocked the Phantom Mask’s line of sight, allowing Tang Ya to regain her speed.

She darted aside with lightning swiftness, evading the crocodile’s devastating bite.

At the same instant, the tornado transformed into a five-meter-tall black crescent blade, which swept down toward the crocodile’s bulging body.

A slit of darkness flashed—a single stroke from the infernal crescent cleaved the crocodile clean in two!

The warden never anticipated that the deputy would be felled by Tang Ya in a single instant.

The Tyrannosaurus’s massive jaws opened in a furious roar, unleashing its own monstrous ultra-high-risk forbidden domain—Thunderous Suffocation:

“Any target enveloped by the tyrannosaur’s sonic waves suffers neural disorder, afflicted with the effect of temporal tremor: no matter how fast one acts, every move is delayed by two seconds.”

With its roar still echoing, the tyrannosaur raised a forelimb, sprouting octopus-like tentacles that shot out toward Tang Ya.

Under the temporal tremor’s effect, though Tang Ya’s mind issued the command to dodge, her body did not respond in time. The tyrannosaur’s tentacle seized her, immobilizing her in a crushing grip.

Two seconds may sound brief, but in a battle at such speed, it spells death.

Her body was tightly bound by the thick tentacle, the force immense; the situation was dire.

She willed her black hair to form blades for escape, only to realize even their formation was subject to the two-second delay!

At the razor’s edge, she activated another rare forbidden domain—Reaper’s Regeneration:

“Any limb or body part, as long as it is not more than seven-eighths of her total weight, can rapidly regenerate if severed.”

This power required no casting time; it took effect instantaneously.

Her body was crushed by the dinosaur, but two seconds later, she was whole again, and the black infernal blade formed by her hair sprang to life.

The warden thought he had killed Tang Ya by crushing her body, never expecting her to strike back.

A surge of black hair quickly wrapped around herself, freezing her in place, while another wave shaped itself into five infernal blades, slashing at the warden’s head and limbs.

The warden saw the five blades flying at terrifying speed, but his body was paralyzed. Left with no recourse, he activated his own human ultra-high-risk forbidden domain—Phantom Waltz:

“For ten seconds, immune to all physical harm, and movement speed increased twentyfold.”

With the domain’s invincibility, the warden thought the tide had turned.

But as the blades reached his limbs, the much-vaunted invincibility failed utterly—his two forelimbs were sliced off as easily as tofu, the tentacles gripping Tang Ya falling limp to the ground.

Swish—swish—swish!

The tyrannosaur’s head and both legs were severed in an instant, its massive skull thudding to the floor.

Shang Yi, watching from behind Tang Ya, was dumbstruck—two such terrifying monsters dispatched in a handful of moves?

She was simply unstoppable.

He was still reeling when something shot out from the darkness.

“Grenade!”

His pupils shrank; he scrambled frantically out of the blast radius.

Boom!

As the grenade detonated, Shang Yi caught sight of two black shadows darting toward the prison gates.

Reacting swiftly, he pulled a submachine gun from his portable space and fired a burst at the fleeing figures.

Ratatatatatat—

One shadow dropped instantly, while the other escaped unscathed.

The escaping shadow glanced back at Shang Yi, its face twisted in a strange, unsettling expression, then vanished through the prison gates.

The fallen figure was the deputy warden, possessed by the crocodile monster. The one who got away was the warden, possessed by the tyrannosaur.

The warden’s forbidden domain, which granted immunity to physical harm, had absorbed the hail of bullets.

Shang Yi turned to Tang Ya, who was gesturing at the unconscious prison guards on the ground, drawing circles with her hand.

He immediately understood—only three monsters had been eliminated so far; the rest still possessed the bodies of the unconscious guards.

Donning a night-vision visor, he moved through the prison, hauling every unconscious guard he’d left behind to the gate.

When all the guards were gathered together, he looked to Tang Ya.

She nodded, then unfurled her domain. A tornado of black hair coiled around the unconscious guards, encasing them.

Within the whirlwind, countless walls of wind wove in and out, forming innumerable infernal blades that quickly shredded the guards’ bodies.

A horde of hideous monsters crawled out from the corpses.

Tang Ya immediately accelerated the blade formation and drew its radius tighter.

Trapped inside the tornado, the monsters were ceaselessly slashed by the spinning infernal blades, their howls echoing through the darkness.

As the formation shrank, the monsters were ground and shredded like meat in a giant grinder.

Minutes later, all was silent within the tornado blade formation.

Counting the warden and deputy, there were twenty mangled monster corpses in all.

Tang Ya used her hair to gather up the remnants, feeding each bloody piece to herself.

A few minutes later, she had devoured every last scrap.

She pointed at her stomach, beckoned to Shang Yi, and walked deeper into the prison.