Chapter 337

Chapter 337: Battle Inside the Ship

The slender Heart-Seizing Demon before Midi seemed different from those he’d encountered before.

The psychic energy radiating from it pressed down heavily, making it hard for Midi to breathe.

A temple head?

The thought flashed through Midi’s mind.

On the Behemoth’s back, where the Blue Truth Sect’s headquarters lay, the strongest figure was the Leader himself, followed by the heads of the four great temples.

Each temple head stood second only to the Leader, towering above all others.

In his past life, adventurers had thrown countless lives into defeating these five, paying a bloody price to bring them down one by one.

Though Midi had been a respected commander by then, he’d been too weak to join those high-level battles. He’d only watched from afar as they fought the weakest—the Fourth Temple’s head.

That temple head had radiated the same chilling, unnerving aura.

Clearly, this demon’s psychic energy differed from ordinary Heart-Seizing Demons.

“To think you know of the four great temples. How… interesting your mind must be.” Loz, the Third Temple’s head, transmitted via telepathy, his four tentacles glistening with mucus as he stared at Midi like a meal.

*His surface thought-reading is strong!*

Midi tensed. He hadn’t sent that speculation through telepathy—Loz had ripped it directly from his mind.

But such shallow reading meant little. Battle moved faster than conscious thought.

Steeling himself, Midi channeled the Spirit Dragon Sword within and struck back.

A bolt of psychic sniping lanced from his brow toward Loz.

It missed.

A pale gray mist shrouded Loz. Through psychic sight, Midi watched his attack bend upon hitting the haze, veering further off-course until it dissipated.

The mist, Midi realized, was countless floating prism-like particles.

Psychic ability: Mind Prisms.

Heart-Seizing Demons lacked the layered defenses of Thought Capturers, but their mastery of psychic energy bred cunning tricks.

“Pathetic tricks won’t save you.” Loz’s eyes flared gray-white.

A psychic snipe shot from his clawed finger.

Midi deflected it with psychic refraction—too risky to attempt the focus-heavy psychic reflection mid-combat. The attack gouged the floor harmlessly.

Loz snorted and fired two more snipe blasts in rapid succession.

“You think this works on me?” Midi frowned, unease prickling his instincts.

Launching consecutive psychic snipes demanded skill beyond his current level. Yet defending against two was trivial—he’d once blocked seven from different angles.

So why bother?

This temple head clearly knew about Midi’s dual abilities as Thought Capturer and psychic user. *He must’ve studied my last fight through magical communications,* Midi concluded.

Since that was the case, the temple head should’ve known mere quantity couldn’t overwhelm him.

Why would Loz drain himself to fire two psychic snipings consecutively?

For a battle-hardened expert of this level, such a blunder should’ve been impossible.

There had to be abnormal factors at play—something Midi overlooked.

What?

Midi’s thoughts spun furiously, but in this white-hot clash of mind-related abilities, answers remained elusive.

Only one option remained—endure directly.

"Psychic refraction!"

As twin psychic snipings surged toward him, hexagonal light patterns resembling honeycomb cells enveloped Midi.

Useless!

The slender beams rotated like drill bits, shredding through the psychic refraction. Worse, the initially deflected attack erupted beneath Midi’s feet, piercing upward through his defenses.

Three attacks now—two above, one below—sealing all escape routes. The Thought Capturer’s prized refraction shield shattered like glass.

No warning. No mercy. Instant peril.

Strike only to kill, masking lethal intent until the final moment—this was Loz’s way, the Third Temple leader’s signature.

Three beams struck true.

"Die!" Loz bared his fangs with mad laughter… which died abruptly.

Through telepathy, he sensed Midi’s consciousness persisting. Through psychic vision, he watched the beams pass clean through their target as if piercing smoke.

An illusion.

"Mind-Related Illusion Formation!" Loz’s four tentacles thrashed wildly. "When?!"

"From the start." The real Midi materialized half-meter behind the fading mirage, face corpse-pale yet wearing a mocking grin.

He’d cast the illusion when dodging Loz’s elemental mage "Lightning Flash" upon entering the All-Seeing Demon’s hall. The overlapping positioning made detection impossible at range.

No prophecy guided this—just an adventurer’s ingrained caution. Traps set in enemy territory always proved useful.

And useful it was.

Three kill-shots wasted on empty air. Worse, Loz’s gray-white psychic energy now revealed its traits—penetration and tracking capable of breaching even Midi’s deep blue defenses.

Though cleverly defended, Midi remained disadvantaged. A grazing hit from earlier pulsed with lingering agony—such attacks meant instant death for any Heart-Seizing Demon or Thought Capturer.

"Commendable caution, human." Loz regained composure. "But revealed tricks won’t save novices."

The three errant beams arced skyward before diving anew—tracking bullets attacking from multiple angles. No illusions remained to deceive them.

Facing unavoidable gray-white death, Midi smiled. "Scary looks don’t kill. See through the trick…" He vanished. "…and it’s harmless."

Demon Shadow Flash carried him thirty meters in an eyeblink—sword raised before the octopus-headed foe.

"Impossible!" Loz’s white eyes widened.

In this lethal psychic duel, Midi chose crude physicality—the perfect counter.

"Notice your snipe’s slowness?" Midi locked gazes with the temple head, blade descending.

Loz’s gray-white energy traded speed for tracking and penetration. Common psychic sniping sacrificed all energy for unstoppable force—recall how Midi nearly died evading The Saint’s attack.

But Loz’s slower version? Dodgeable through Demon Shadow Flash. Hence the triple-ambush attempt earlier.

Now understanding the weakness, Midi exploited it. If unblockable, then evade. With Sky Sword Dance mobility and Demon Shadow Flash’s agility, three beams couldn’t corner him.

Better yet—close the gap for physical attack.