332 Naga

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The heavy doors slammed close as soon as Raven stepped foot inside the Sunken Ivory Castle. 

He then saw a wide clearing and a stone path leading straight towards the main entrance to the Castle Interior. All the vegetation that he saw were already dried or rotting, the trees looked like they will crumble with a single touch. The air carried a foul smell of corpses and a slight hint of rust. 

Raven the felt a strange energy fluctuation arriving towards him, he immediately summoned the Archaic Thousand Arms Hammer and didn't move a single inch from where he stood. 

He allowed the foreign energy fluctuation to go past him since there's no way that he could've avoided it in the first place. After he felt the energy fluctuation go past his body, he then felt several restrictions being placed on him. He didn't fight the sensation and allowed it to happen. 

The said restrictions didn't affect his movement nor his sanity, the restriction targeted his cultivation base and all manner of storage capabilities he has. 

Sealing his cultivation base took many things away from Raven's arsenal. Although he thought he would somehow evade the restriction due to him following a different path, it would seem that he was wrong. His Chaos Force is completely sealed, he couldn't summon even a drop of it. 

Without his Chaos Force, he couldn't activate his Crystal Sky Eye, which means that his surveillance methods took a great hit. And since his nimbleness came from his ability to control his Chaos Force according to how he likes, sealing it means that his agility dropped too. To top this all off, even his Destruction Laws are sealed. 

With his storage capabilities sealed, this means that all of his spatial rings are sealed. He can't even take out the Spatial Abode that he placed on his core. From this point onward, he had to rely on his physical strength and his combat experiences to surmount the challenges on this place. 

This is a rule on this castle, thankfully Raven took out his hammer before the energy swept past him or else he would've had to fight bare handed as well. 

After all of that, he then resumed walking towards the main hub of the castle in order to search for the ingredient that he needed here. 

As he followed the stone path, he came across a water fountain who's water had completely gone still and bad, the fountain itself is covered dark colored moss that crept up to the sides. There is also a foul smell coming from it. Raven could tell that something died in that fountain, but he's not inclined to investigate. 

He continued walking forward and allowed the eerie atmosphere in the field to surround him. He eventually arrived closer to the main entrance to the castle, all he had to do was to push the doors open and he would've gotten in. However, instead of doing that, Raven gripped hammer tightly and immediately went alert.

*Woosh!*

The enemy's body faltered from Raven's attack, the latter then took advantage of this and kicked its chest to send if flying towards the nearest pillar. 

As soon as Raven regained his balance, he then saw the appearance of his assailant. 

It was a hybrid creature with an upper body of human and a lower body of a serpent. It has three sets of wine colored eyes with amphibian pupils, messy hair, two sets of arms that held two spears and it has countless of scars all over his body. Its serpentine body is brown in color and had several patches of white rings all over. 

"Just like I thought." Raven muttered, "Nagas are still here. This will be troublesome." 

A solemn expression appeared on Raven's face as he thought about this. 

This isn't the first time that he had faced a Naga. He often fought them during his previous life, and they aren't as troublesome on the premise that he has all access to his arsenal. In this place where his cultivation base is sealed however, that's another matter. 

Nagas are swift and nimble creatures. Most of them are born with a terrifying battle instincts, those that honed those instincts are even more troublesome to deal with, just like the one he's facing right now. Although they are smaller compared to some Demonic Beasts, the toughness of their body is not joke either. 

Due to them having lower bodies of a serpent, they are extremely flexible. They could attack in weird angles and catch their opponents off-guard. Majority of them could wield weapons, they could also spit out some gastric acids that could melt steel in a blink of an eye. 

In his previous life, he found no living beings on this place. When he entered the castle back then, he remembered seeing a skeletal remains of a Naga right by the doors. And since he didn't see the said remains during this time, he knew that it might still be alive and is nearby. Lo and behold, it really was. 

The Naga immediately resumed its assault as it Raven's attack earlier wasn't even enough to faze it. It moved like a phantom and sent several attacks towards Raven that seemingly turned into a blur due to how fast they were. 

Raven calmly analyzed the attack patterns and accurately dodged everything in quick succession Nevertheless, the Naga didn't stop attacking and it was even using its tail in attempts to make Raven lose his footing. All of this prevented any kind of counter-attack for Raven but he didn't lose patience, he was in no real threat as long as this Naga can't hit him. 

And just like what he thought, the Naga eventually gave up and stopped its barrage of stabs and sweeps. Raven then saw its throat moving so he immediately seized this chance to launch a counter-attack. 

Raven's hammer smacked the chin of the Naga just as soon as it was about to vomit some gastric acids at him. 

The impact launched the Nage up in the air, its mouth bled and some of its teeth flew out, it was even forced to swallow down the gastric acids it was about to vomit earlier. Of course, Raven wouldn't miss this chance to launch some follow-up attacks. 

It was rather unfortunate that he couldn't use the second form of the hammer right now, else he might've already reduced this Naga into a bloody pulp. Nevertheless, even the base form is enough for him to end this battle now. 

He took one mighty step forward and leaned his body backwards. Placing both of his arms at the handle of his hammer, he waited until the Naga came down. 

Just before it hit the ground, he launched a massive sweep upwards and sent it flying upwards once again. The force behind his attack this time was greater compared to last time so the damage he dealt was greater and the height of the Naga's flight was higher as well. The reason why Raven sent the Naga flying up is because he wanted to get rid of its land mobility. Their nimbleness and flexibility are the aspects that makes Nagas difficult to deal with, taking those away is the wise move here.

Several bones inside the Naga's body shattered due to the sheer force behind Raven's attack. This was good since this damage will greatly hinder its movements in the event that it regain is mobility. Needless to say, Raven wouldn't just give that back for free. 

Raven charged up for another strike once again, the Naga had regained some mental clarity at this point and was preparing to defend Raven's follow up attack. It blocked using the spears as it fell down, Raven was of course aware that the Naga will try to defend, unfortunately he wasn't planning to swing his hammer anyway. 

As soon as the Naga fell at the right altitude, it braced itself for the impact but it didn't happen. Instead, Raven grabbed the Naga by the head and smashed its face on the ground three times. 

With a mighty stomp on the back of its head, he forced the Naga's head to embed deep on the stone ground. He then lifted his hammer and smashed the lower back of the Naga. 

The Naga screeched despite being embedded on the ground. What Raven did completely shattered its spine. Now even it wanted to, it wouldn't even be able to stand back up. Blood dripped on the corners of its mouth and it was rapidly losing consciousness. 

Suddenly, it found itself being grabbed by the tail. Raven threw the Naga towards the door of the castle, causing it to be blasted open. As he followed it and entered the castle, Raven suddenly found out that there is at least ten Nagas staring at his direction. 

"Haha." Raven smiled wryly and chuckled, "I'm in danger."