Chapter 223 – You're Definitely Not Four-Star!

“Roar!”

Amidst the roaring, the two Underground Professionals facing Su Ming immediately chose to enter their Demonization states, transforming into Fiends with explosively increased power.

Though not as terrified of Su Ming as Scarface and Baldy, Gloomy and Enchantress were still Upper-Rank Professionals. After learning some information about Su Ming, they cautiously decided to go all out.

Coupled with the considerable exhaustion from their previous battle against Gao Xu and others, suddenly encountering such a powerful enemy left these two Underground Professionals with no room for carelessness, no matter how stubborn they might be.

Thus, both immediately underwent Demonization—one grew goat horns, their lower body transforming into hooves while a tail sprouted from their back, resembling a demon; the other became a seductive, wingless harpy woman, their face twisting into something fierce, much like the legendary harpy.

The activation of Demonization caused both Underground Professionals’ power to surge severalfold, their Auras instantly overwhelming Su Ming’s.

Faced with this situation, as fellow Upper-Rank Professionals, common sense dictated that Su Ming should also employ Demonization to stand a chance.

It went without saying—if both parties were within the same Star Rank, even if there was a gap in their abilities, when the opponent used Demonization, one had to respond in kind.

Otherwise, with the enemy’s power increasing by at least several times, such an exaggerated boost meant that even those one Star Rank higher wouldn’t dare claim they could win in their normal state.

Hence, even when fighting against Gao Xu and others with a somewhat dismissive attitude, these Underground Professionals wouldn’t hesitate to use Demonization once their opponents did.

Unless, like Lord Crow, who was two full Star Ranks above Su Ming and had absolute Rank suppression, they might reluctantly forgo Demonization—leading to Su Ming’s temporary overwhelming dominance. But against opponents of the same Star Rank, undoubtedly, Lord Crow would never entertain such thoughts.

Thanks to this mindset, the two Underground Professionals expected Su Ming to immediately enter his Demonization state to counter their assault.

Who would have thought Su Ming had no such intention?

He merely swayed his right arm, burning with ghostly blue flames like fire, and slowly advanced step by step toward the two Underground Professionals.

His utterly composed demeanor instantly provoked an extreme reaction from Gloomy and Enchantress.

“He’s not even using Demonization?”

“Seeking death!”

They sneered coldly and unhesitatingly launched their attacks at Su Ming.

Gloomy, transformed into a horned demon, raised the massive Sword in his hand—its blade as thick as a wall—and swung it down at Su Ming with a sonic boom.

Enchantress, now like a harpy, was even more direct. Her iron claws, like those of a wild beast, tore through the air as they shot toward Su Ming’s head with a piercing sound.

Both struck with lethal moves from the start, holding back not in the slightest.

But, as the saying goes.

They had made the wrong choice.

“Boom—!”

When the ghostly blue, flame-like radiance exploded as if detonating, a straight punch with the force of a meteor impact blasted forth, crushing the incoming claws, shattering the descending greatsword, and landing heavily on the leading enemy, unleashing a terrifying force upon them.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah…!”

A wretched scream erupted from the harpy’s mouth.Her sharp claws shattered along with one of her arms, exploding into a shower of blood without leaving even a single bone fragment behind.

The horned demon wielding the greatsword didn’t even have time to scream before being struck by a straight punch carrying immense force, immediately following in the footsteps of the previous brute by exploding into fragments, dying beyond any doubt.

When dealing with the brute earlier, Su Ming had needed to utilize the ability of his [Silver Arm] and the power of [One Percent – Punch] to shatter an already Demonized Upper-Rank Professional with a single blow.

But this time, Su Ming didn’t need to.

Having advanced to an Upper-Rank Hunter, Su Ming’s own abilities were already no inferior to these Underground Professionals of the same Star Rank. Combined with his right hand’s tenfold strength, even if his opponents had Demonized, he could still achieve complete domination.

Although these Underground Professionals were all Upper-Rank Professionals, their Bloodline Rank wasn’t particularly high and couldn’t possibly compare to Su Ming who possessed Nightmare Species Bloodline.

Even after undergoing Demonization, their power multiplier couldn’t reach tenfold.

With less than tenfold power increase, when directly clashing with Su Ming’s right hand that could unleash tenfold strength under the same Star Rank conditions, which side held the advantage needed no consideration.

It could be said that, limited to just his right hand, even without Demonizing, Su Ming’s strength wasn’t inferior to—and might even surpass—same Star Rank existences that had entered Demonized state.

Thus, these two Underground Professionals met tragic ends.

And this scene shocked everyone witnessing it.

Including Gao Xu.

Including Bai Xuefei.

Including Duan Xiaofei.

Even Bai Ruxiang, Xu Yanyan, Wang Yihan and others who had previously seen Su Ming display his Divine Might by defeating the brute with one punch couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Impossible…! Impossible…!!!”

The harpy clutching her broken arm retreated as if struck by lightning while letting out disbelieving screams.

As fellow Four-Star Hunters, they had taken this opponent seriously enough to fight two against one while even directly entering Demonized state. Yet their opponent hadn’t even used Demonization or any alchemical weapons, and with just one punch, their side suffered one death and one injury.

How could such a thing happen?

How could there be such a powerful Four-Star Hunter in this world?

“You’re not Four-Star! You’re definitely not Four-Star!”

The harpy screamed like this.

She absolutely refused to believe that someone with such power could be a Four-Star Hunter like herself.

Unfortunately, aside from his right hand’s strength and extraordinary Spirit Sense, Su Ming’s performance in other aspects didn’t exceed the scope of a Four-Star Hunter.

Moreover, before this, his performance in other aspects hadn’t even reached Four-Star level, only reaching the limit of Three-Star.

These were visibly apparent facts that no one could dispute.

Of course, none of this mattered anymore.

“Boom—!”

The right fist burning with eerie blue flames struck out once more, landing on the harpy’s terror-stricken, despair-filled face, declaring the end of this battle between opponents of the same Star Rank but vastly disproportionate power.Finally, the Enchantress followed in Gloomy’s footsteps. Under the devastating impact of the right fist strike, as if struck by a meteor, she erupted in a spray of blood and was sent flying backward, crashing into the rock wall with such force that the ground trembled faintly.

By the time the dust settled, the Enchantress was buried beneath the shattered fragments of the rock wall.

Su Ming didn’t even glance at the scene, his gaze shifting instead toward the direction where Scarface and Baldy had fled.

Immediately, Su Ming exploded into motion, shattering the ground beneath his feet as he shot like an arrow in pursuit of the two escapees.

The scene fell into dead silence.

“Gulp…”

Someone swallowed hard, the sound unnervingly clear in the oppressive stillness.

Gao Xu and the others exchanged glances, eventually falling into a shared silence, their eyes filled with disbelief.

“…Am I dreaming?”

Bai Xuefei’s murmured words echoed the unspoken thoughts of many.

Even Bai Ruxiang, Xu Yanyan, and Wang Yihan, who had witnessed the power of Su Ming’s right hand before, were still utterly shocked, let alone Gao Xu, Duan Xiaofei, and Bai Xuefei.

Duan Xiaofei even turned to look at Gao Xu.

“Are you sure you fought him before?”

What Duan Xiaofei really wanted to ask was how Gao Xu had only been repelled instead of killed when facing such an opponent.

But out of respect for their long-standing friendship, Duan Xiaofei left some face for Gao Xu.

Gao Xu’s face stiffened, his eyes flickering uncertainly as he seemed at a loss for words.

Finally, he managed to utter in a hoarse voice,

“He… got stronger.”

That was all he could say.

And it was the most genuine thought in Gao Xu’s heart.

Su Ming had truly grown stronger.

And not just by a little.

At the very least, when they had fought before, Su Ming definitely didn’t possess his current level of strength.

Although the power of his right hand was terrifying, he hadn’t fully unleashed it just now—he had been fighting in his normal state.

Yet even so, he had effortlessly defeated two Underground Professionals of the same star rank.

Such capability didn’t exist before, absolutely not.

Combined with the speed of Su Ming’s punches when dispatching his opponents and the velocity he displayed while giving chase, Gao Xu was certain that Su Ming’s previously criticized deficiencies in other areas seemed to have been remedied.

It was as if he had suddenly evolved.

Yes, just like when a lower-rank Professional breaks through their limits and advances to an upper-rank Professional, undergoing a complete transformation.

Could it be…

A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to Gao Xu, but he didn’t dare entertain it further.

Because it was simply too unbelievable and too disheartening.

In any case, he refused to believe it.

He refused to believe that he had been repelled by a lower-rank Professional who hadn’t yet advanced to the upper rank.

…

About five minutes later, Su Ming returned.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch up.”

Su Ming expressed this with some regret, informing everyone that Scarface and Baldy had escaped.

There was no helping it. Even after successfully advancing to the level of an upper-rank Hunter, Su Ming’s most outstanding ability remained his strength alone.

It was only through strength that Su Ming, leveraging the uniqueness of his right hand, could surpass others of the same star rank, leaving them utterly defenseless.However, his other abilities were still lacking.

Even though they were no longer considered flaws or weaknesses as before, Su Ming’s capabilities aside from his right hand were only at the level of a Four-Star Hunter, not much higher than others of the same rank.

In fact, due to having just been promoted, Su Ming’s speed was only slightly faster than some Four-Star Hunters who weren’t particularly skilled in that area, and couldn’t compare to veteran Four-Star Hunters at all.

Under these circumstances, it was perfectly normal for him to be unable to catch up to Scarface and Baldy, who had decisively fled.

Poor Gloomy and Enchantress—if they hadn’t tried to confront Su Ming head-on and directly clashed with his strongest area of power confrontation, they wouldn’t have been so thoroughly defeated before Su Ming even brought out his trump card.

If they had chosen to engage in hit-and-run tactics against Su Ming, even with his dual-profession abilities, without undergoing Demonization, without using Spirit Arts, and without activating his Vision Mark, Su Ming would have truly needed to bring out the power of his [Silver Arm] to defeat them both.

Unfortunately, there are no “ifs” in this world.

Su Ming still forcefully killed two Four-Star Underground Professionals in front of everyone, while allowing the other two Four-Star Underground Professionals to escape.

This alone was enough to make everyone view him in a new light.

Indeed, as soon as Su Ming returned, the way everyone looked at him had already changed significantly.

Especially Gao Xu, Duan Xiaofei, Bai Xuefei, and others—their gazes toward Su Ming were filled with gravity.

Their eyes didn’t look like they were viewing someone of the same rank, but rather like they were looking at a stronger expert of higher rank than themselves.

Su Ming paid no attention to this and simply said one sentence.

“Let’s rescue people first.”

And so, everyone began implementing rescue operations.

The injured needed treatment, the severely wounded needed emergency care—especially Li Jing and Lu Yang, who were on their last breath and would likely die immediately if not treated.

Fortunately, everyone present came from great families—wealthy and powerful. While they might have lacked in certain aspects of strength, their financial resources were definitely not lacking. Even if they couldn’t all possess alchemical weapons, their supply of various alchemical potions was certainly abundant.

With the treatment from numerous alchemical potions, including some high-grade items of extremely high rank, even those on their last breath like Li Jing and Lu Yang were saved from the brink of death.

The members of the Bai Family also performed self-rescue and eventually regained their mobility.

Even many survivors from other families were eventually rescued—perhaps this could be considered a silver lining amidst the misfortune.

Of course, there were also many who wouldn’t be returning.

But ever since being ambushed and killed by the Sorcerer troops of [Sin], most members of the Six Great Families were destined not to return.

How the Six Great Families would react to their sacrifices—Su Ming didn’t know.

He simply waited until everyone had finished preparations and said another sentence.

“If there are no problems, let’s leave this place quickly.”

This had become the most urgent matter.

Having fought to this extent, both sides had already paid a heavy price.

And their objective had been achieved—while their exploration of these ruins might not have been comprehensive, they had already learned the secrets about the ruins’ significance and [Sin]’s purpose.In that case, the top priority was to escort the crucial Wang Yihan out before the people of Sin could react and turn back to deal with them.

Everyone clearly understood this as well.

“I have no objections.”

Duan Xiaofei seconded the motion.

“Me too.”

Bai Xuefei no longer insisted on asserting her individuality as she had before.

Li Jing and Lu Yang were still unconscious and temporarily unable to offer their opinions.

Finally, only Gao Xu remained. He gave Su Ming a deep look and, under Xu Yanyan’s gaze, nodded.

“The mission is complete. Let’s retreat.”

And so, the group began to withdraw from these Ruins.

(End of Chapter)