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Yang Yi slid down the flesh pillar but soon noticed something was wrong with his body and quickly retracted his right claw.

After absorbing a large amount of fresh water, he recovered somewhat, but the blood beads seeping from the armour on his right arm dried up instantly, and his entire right hand thinned dramatically, as if a straw had been jabbed into it and took a hard suck.

【Moisture in your right arm has been siphoned. -7 HP.】

He noticed the warning in his activity log.

As for what had done the siphoning, there was no need to guess. It was the Salt Wedge, 20 metres below.

His original plan was to climb down and drive the Salt Wedge into the corrupted whale’s core to finish it off for good. But the weapon turned out to be even more dangerous than expected. Just getting close to it caused his body fluids to be forcibly drained. No wonder it had to be sealed in a crystal container under strict protection.

Yang Yi paused to check how much fresh water he had left in his ring — 327 litres. He had used too much on the way.

After all, when the air chamber contracted, the salt inside would get whipped around by the airflow. Even with a shield, it was inevitable that some moisture would be stolen away by the flying salt.

It meant he needed to finish this quickly. If he could avoid triggering Refuse to Die, all the better. As long as he minimised contact time, the damage would be reduced accordingly.

Relying on the one-armed armour to climb up? Not realistic. In a cyclically chaotic environment, climbing was already an arduous task. By the time the armour made it up, Yang Yi would’ve long since run out of fresh water and turned into jerky.

Given all that, speed was the way to go, and he was confident in it. His agility stat was the highest, and he could further boost his burst power with Limb Enhancement on his legs.

He hydrated heavily, dodged another incoming storm, soaked himself in fresh water, and then took out the vial of mana-replenishing potion, and downed it in one go. It was like drinking a bottle of foul, slimy seaweed, with fibrous clumps clinging to his mouth.

【You drank an unknown magic potion.】

【Spirit +2, Mana +5, Sanity -20. Duration: 2 hours. Mana will be reduced to zero when effect ends.】

His activity log showed the potion’s effects.

"So, it can actually increase Spirit?" He widened his eyes, surprised, as anything that boosted Spirit was extremely rare. The side effects, though, were harsh. Mana dropping to zero meant splitting headaches that would cripple movement.

Even in a berserk state where pain was ignored, it was a kind of headache tied to physical impairment; movement speed would drop significantly, possibly leading to unconsciousness. Thankfully, the duration was long.

The potion's detailed info was available:

【Name: Spirit Elixir】

【Type: Consumable / Potion / Unique】【Rarity: Rare Treasure】【Description: A unique potion created by Witch Suna after discovering that werewolf fur is a byproduct of mana. She based this on an advanced mana formula. Main ingredients: spinal fluid of the heretic Yang Yi, a large amount of werewolf fur, and werewolf blood. Effect: Spirit +2, Mana +5, Sanity -20, lasts 2 hours. Mana drops to zero when the effect ends.】

With his mana boosted by 5, Yang Yi could use Limb Enhancement multiple times. He directly enhanced both legs to increase his explosive strength. Strange runes appeared and transformed into tiny limb-spiders that crawled into his lower body to modify it. In an instant, both his legs swelled visibly, muscles tearing through pants and skin, though very little blood leaked out.

Lower-body Strength went up by three points, and with the explosive force enhanced, his actual speed was now much faster than before.

As for the Boiling Blood Potion, it was off the table. They were already low on water and drinking that would be far too risky!

Yang Yi adjusted his stance, ready to sprint down the moment the exhaust burst ended. He’d grab the Salt Wedge and stab it into the Fruit of Bounty, putting an end to the corrupted whale once and for all.

But first, he needed to confirm one thing: would the giant attack him?

Yang Yi flicked his hand, launching two throwing knives that embedded themselves in the giant’s sunken, withered eye sockets. No resistance. Some yellowish-brown fragments scattered from the impact point and then cracks started to spread all over the giant’s head, down to the neck.

Yang Yi did not continue the attack. If the giant’s neck snapped, it would immediately disrupt the delicate balance, the Salt Wedge would fall to the bottom of the air chamber, and that would be a huge problem.

The weapon was essentially a short spear made of compacted salt. If it dropped into a salt pile and the air got stirred again, there’d be no chance of finding it, and Yang Yi couldn’t afford to waste time dragging this out.

He narrowed his eyes and decided to take the risk. That giant most likely wasn’t dead, it just didn’t have the freedom to fight back!

A few seconds later, the air pressure inside the chamber surged violently, then the exhaust vents opened. Sea salt swirled chaotically in the fierce airflow.

Yang Yi timed it perfectly, the moment the air stopped, he launched himself.

His enhanced legs exploded with power. The force of his leap was so immense that it echoed with a thunderous boom, sending jets of fluid and chunks of corrupted whale flesh flying from the impact.

Below, the white mass known as the Fruit of Bounty wobbled slightly, but did not fall. Yang Yi, in a flash, landed atop the fleshy orb. One hand pressed against its surface, the other reached for the Salt Wedge. The whole manoeuvre took less than half a second, but it still drained his HP to under forty.

The massive dehydration made the flesh beneath his werewolf fur shrivel; his face turned waxy and pale. But he got what he came for, he seized the Salt Wedge.

【Your flesh withers. -100 HP.】

【Lethal damage received. Refuse to Die triggered. HP will not drop below 1. All stats except Spirit +2. Spirit -2. Sanity -50. You will enter a 24-hour weakened state afterward.】

Yang Yi’s sanity and HP dropped to 1 in an instant. His flesh shrivelled, his body hunched, resembling the sun-dried corpse of a werewolf left out in the sun for ten days. The Salt Wedge’s power far exceeded Yang Yi’s expectations. It didn’t even need to be driven into a target, mere contact was enough to kill a fully hydrated, water-saturated werewolf.

But everything was still under Yang Yi’s control. Even if Refuse to Die was triggered, as long as the corrupted whale died, the mission would be complete!

However, everything took a sudden turn for the worse.

At the exact moment he grabbed the Salt Wedge, the mummified corpse that had been pierced through the chest by it suddenly crumbled, disintegrating into snowy white salt particles that scattered downward.

With the corpse gone, the arm that had pinned the Salt Wedge into the Fruit of Bounty also disappeared.

Yang Yi, his body withered, and movements dulled, was just about to stab the Fruit with the Salt Wedge when he noticed, the once withered orb had completely regenerated, smooth and gleaming with a pearl-like sheen.

Its recovery had been so fast that even Yang Yi hadn’t caught it, it was as if the previous signs of decay were just an illusion.

“Thank you.” A strange voice whispered in his ear.

The following moment, Yang Yi was struck by a tremendous force, smashing him downward with incredible power. Even though his third eye had caught sight of the attack, his withered body was far too slow to react. 

He plummeted straight into the salt pile below.

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