Chapter 141: Death is Always Unexpected

The sudden turn of events caught everyone entirely off guard.

Never having imagined that the club possessed such a capability, Catherine was completely devoid of any defense. Being hit was an absolute certainty, and she only realized something had struck her after the impact had already occurred!

The moment the dark energy sphere touched her chest, there was no massive kinetic force, nor any explosion. Instead, the potent dark power surging within the sphere burst forth, enveloping Catherine entirely from head to toe. It formed a translucent, purple-black film, the lower half of which fused firmly with the ground, anchoring her in place so that she could not move a single inch. Meanwhile, the upper half of the sphere continuously pressed downward, attempting to compress Catherine’s body inward and ultimately roll it into a spherical shape!

This was the fourth-tier shadow magic featuring the most powerful crowd-control effect:

Shadow Imprisonment!

It fully exploited the "adsorption" capability of the dark elements to forcibly compress the targeted victim inward. If the target lacked sufficient physical resilience, they would often be directly compressed into a tiny sphere less than half a meter in diameter—a horrifying way to die!

As soon as the suction force transmitted into her body, a trace of panic flickered in Catherine’s heart. Given her current physical constitution, "Shadow Imprisonment" naturally could not crush her bones, but breaking free from the magic's control effect required time. She had no confidence that she could shatter this energy film before the giant ape's massive club came crashing down!

After unleashing this attack, the giant ape should have suffered a massive exhaustion of its stamina. With a single swing, it lost all self-control, leaning on its club and dropping to one knee as it panted heavily. This scene, caught in Catherine's eyes, filled her with vexation. It appeared this move was the giant ape's ultimate trump card; if she could simply dodge it, the ape would undoubtedly be at her mercy! At this moment, it truly felt as though a single careless move had ruined the entire game.

It seemed one should not be too protective of oneself during combat; otherwise, once suppressed and forced onto the defensive, the opponent would gain ample leeway to unleash their ultimate techniques, easily giving rise to all sorts of unexpected disasters! Regret filled Catherine's heart as she silently etched this lesson into her mind. Then, she concentrated all the strength in her body into her upper half and struggled violently, intending to free her upper torso first and free up her hands to cope with the giant ape's impending violent onslaught!

Yet, a strange thing happened!

The moment she exerted her strength, the Flame of Antwan within her naturally surged outward following her exertion. As soon as this Flame of Antwan left her body and came into contact with the "energy film" binding her exterior, the violent dark power surging within that film was directly assimilated by the Flame of Antwan. It transformed into the purest form of energy and was absorbed into her body, leaving behind only a faint optical illusion as if the magic still existed.

With this refined energy entering her body, Catherine felt her spirits instantly lift. The restraining and imprisoning force vanished completely; her entire body relaxed, and her heavily depleted stamina surged back by a massive margin! Faced with such a powerful effect, Catherine was inwardly startled, yet her face remained completely expressionless. She still put on a struggling posture, acting as though she were still trapped in the state of imprisonment.

It had to be said that Catherine possessed a remarkable talent for acting. Her struggling movements were intensely realistic, vividly resembling a rat trapped in superglue. Not only the giant ape, but even Vayne—who knew her quite well—was completely deceived. Vayne anxiously gripped Ling Mo’s arm and said urgently, "Master, quickly save Senior Sister! If this goes on, she's going to die!"

As she spoke, her alchemical puppet was already primed for action. Ling Mo pressed down with one hand, gesturing for calm, and muttered in a low voice, "Don't be nervous. Improve your observation skills! If Catherine falls into a mortal predicament, I will certainly intervene."

"But..." Vayne wanted to say more, but she suddenly paused, her eyes widening as she discovered that a new change had already taken place on the battlefield!

The giant ape, seeing that its "Shadow Imprisonment" had successfully hit Catherine and that her target remained fixed in place and completely immobile, finally caught its breath and grew immensely proud. It raised its arms like a superstar, waving repeatedly to the surrounding circle of apes, drawing a chorus of screeches. In particular, several female apes—standing eight feet tall with waists of the same dimension—developed red hearts in their eyes. Had it not been for the Cockscomb Elder holding them back, they would have rushed forward right then and there to mate with the giant ape once, twice, or thrice...

This scene of universal adoration provided the giant ape with immense psychological satisfaction. Closing its eyes, it nostalgically enjoyed the moment for about three seconds before its eyes snapped wide open. Although it lacked a precise concept of time, it clearly knew that the binding time of its "Shadow Imprisonment" against an individual of roughly equal strength had now exactly reached its halfway mark!

With another furious roar, the giant ape mustered all the remaining strength in its body, charged at full speed, hoisted the blood-stained giant club, and smashed it down with all its might toward the crown of Catherine's head!

It was close! Closer still! At that moment, the giant ape seemed to already hear the dull collision of the giant club striking a skull, the crisp cracking sound of the skull shattering, and the joyful "gurgling" sound of blood mixed with brain matter spraying outward. Yet in the very next instant, its simple mind inexplicably thought of the very first female ape it had ever bedded—that slightly shy childhood sweetheart.

Those distant memories, which had originally grown hazy, were now as vivid as if they had happened just yesterday. It could even clearly recall the hint of bashfulness that flashed beneath the brownish face of its childhood sweetheart, and the soft cry of pain she emitted when it parted her legs. It was that beast-like whimper that had ignited all the fire in its heart, making it—wait! No! What on earth am I thinking right now?!

Awakening abruptly from its daze, the giant ape had no time to wipe away the tears that had somehow seeped into the corners of its eyes. To its horror, it discovered that the tiny tribeswoman before it had somehow slipped away from her original position, using an extremely deft movement to evade the full-power blow it had just smashed downward!

Having already exhausted its stamina and left no room for adjustment before launching the attack, the giant ape could now only watch helplessly as Catherine stepped, side-stepped, and spun with graceful and fluid motions. She naturally drifted behind its back, swung her arm, executed a reverse slash, and thrust her dagger forward, effortlessly plunging it straight into its undefended back!

The giant ape felt only a numbness in its back as something cold pierced through its body. In the next instant, it lowered its head and saw the sharp tip of a small fraction of the "tooth" protruding from its chest! Turning its head back to look at Catherine, it tried to squeeze out a smile to praise her for something, but the moment it parted its large jaws, bloody froth rushed forth joyfully and impatiently, choking off any words it might have wished to utter. Carrying boundless regret, it collapsed forward onto the ground, its muscles twitching a few times before it fell completely lifeless.