Chapter 336 The Mad Margaret

At the very moment the two hooded figures made their move, J and Margaret completed their first direct confrontation.

When J rushed forward with his black membrane, Margaret didn't even back down. She stood still, the pale blue water membrane that had condensed on her right arm spreading across her entire arm, its density so high it was almost solid.

J's black dagger slashed towards her shoulder, the two liquids colliding violently at the point of contact.

Then J's expression changed.

The black membrane covering his body was mostly pulled away the moment of impact.

The moisture detached directly from the black water, causing the armor to dry and crack rapidly, and even the shape of the short blade began to collapse and deform.

Getting close not only failed to break her extraction technique, but actually brought him even closer, exponentially increasing the efficiency of his extraction.

A wildly enthusiastic smile spread across Margaret's face, a stark contrast to the tired, quiet expression she wore when organizing lists at the branch.

"You're so weak! You're so weak!"

J's first reaction was to pull away. His nail membrane was dry and cracked, and his short blade had collapsed. All his conventional methods were ineffective in front of this woman. His intuition told him that he should get away.

But he didn't have time to retreat.

Margaret's left hand had already gripped his forearm. The moment the pale blue film of water touched his skin, the remaining black liquid was visibly drawn away from the point of contact, flowing down her palm and into her arm.

J's forearm dried out instantly.

The black liquid did not disappear after the water was removed.

The residue on the skin surface changed texture; the originally flowing liquid dehydrated and solidified into a layer of pitch-black hard shell, clinging tightly to J's forearm, with a density far exceeding any previous form.

The surface of the hard shell is rough and dry, with thick black paste seeping from the cracks. The rotten sweet smell is concentrated several times after dehydration, and it is so pungent that it is choking.

Margaret's hand, which was gripping his forearm, paused slightly.

When the pale blue water film touched the hard shell, the extraction speed suddenly slowed down. There was not much water left to extract; what remained was the concentrated dehydrated substance.

J glanced down at his completely dry forearm and his lips twitched slightly.

He knew his own methods all too well.

The diluted state is his optimal solution for dealing with most opponents; it allows him to spread out and control the situation. However, water is never his true form; it is merely a carrier.

This woman did something he wouldn't normally do: she stripped away all the outer shell, leaving only the purest core.

J did not break free from Margaret's grip on his forearm; instead, he took a half-step forward.

He grabbed Margaret's wrist with his other hand, and the black, hard shell on her dried forearm cracked the moment they touched, the thick ointment that squeezed out of the crack seeping into the edge of Margaret's watery film.

The moment the cream touched the pale blue water film, the water film turned black and stagnated in some areas, interrupting the extraction rhythm for a beat.

Margaret's smile faded slightly.

On J's other arm, the black liquid was actively dehydrating. The remaining moisture evaporated from the surface, the liquid collapsed and solidified, and within seconds the entire arm was covered with the same jet-black hard shell as his forearm. He clenched his fist, the hard shell squeezing against his knuckles with a crackling sound, its density far exceeding that of the previous liquid dagger.

J's expression calmed down.

"You've done me a huge favor."

His voice was low, with a cruel composure in it.

Upon hearing this, Margaret's smile, which had faded slightly, widened again, becoming even bigger than before.

She shook off J's wrist, took a half step back, and moved her left knuckles, which were stained with the ointment. The pale blue film of water swirled around her fingertips, squeezing out the blackened, stagnant parts and shaking them off onto the ground, where the film began to flow again.

"It's better to be stronger."

She tilted her head and looked at J, her tone filled with undisguised excitement.

"The way you fought just now, anyone who didn't know better would think you were only at level three."

The two people moved at the same time.

Margaret's close-combat style has nothing to do with her image in the division.

Her fist, coated with a pale blue film of water, slammed into J's chest. At the moment of impact, the water film condensed on her arm was compressed to its limit, forming a thin and dense water shell in front of her fist.

J blocked with his hardened forearm; the two substances collided with a dull thud, and J's heel dragged two deep marks on the ground.

This woman possesses immense strength, and her physical skills are among the best in the fourth tier.

J retaliated, his hard-shelled fist slashing towards Margaret. A few drops of concentrated ointment from his fist were flung out with the swing, landing on her shoulder armor and emitting white smoke.

Margaret turned her head to avoid the punch, and her left elbow struck J's ribs. At the same time, the water film in her right palm burst open, and the condensed water was instantly controlled by her to shoot out a water blade from her palm. It grazed J's cheek and cut a finger-width groove in the wall behind him.

Primarily melee combat, with water control as a secondary skill.

She kept blocking J's retreat with her body, preventing him from getting away, while continuously drawing her water and intermittently disrupting J's rhythm with condensed water blades.

J's hard shell proved far more effective than its liquid form in close-quarters combat.

Each punch he threw carried concentrated sap, leaving a blackened, contaminated area upon contact with Margaret's water-film armor. He wasn't as fast as Margaret, but each punch was heavier, and the density of his hard shell could withstand her water blades.

Two people were locked in close combat amidst the ruins, their pale blue and pitch black shimmering alternately in the night.

But Margaret's extractions never stopped.

She had already sucked out all the moisture in the surrounding area, and the air was so dry that breathing was painful.

The ground, walls, insect bodies—everything containing water was being stripped of its moisture, and even the insect blanket covering the ground where the swarming insects lay began to dry out and shrivel.

Then her extraction range changed.

J suddenly felt something was wrong after a punch.

My fingertips started to feel numb, and the numbness was completely different from the numbness I experienced during dehydration.

Previously, the black water was being drained, which meant the external elements were decreasing. Now, the internal elements are being pulled out.

It's blood.

She was drawing his blood.

J's expression finally changed.

The skin beneath the black, hard shell began to turn white, and the blood under the fingernails visibly faded.

He abruptly pulled back his fist and jumped a step, but Margaret followed closely, placing her palm against his chest.

A force pulling outward from within the body erupted from the point of contact.

J grunted, and red seeped from the cracks in its hard shell.

She can draw away anything containing water, including water vapor, liquids, and blood. J's concentrated hard shell prevents external moisture loss, but it can't stop her from directly pulling blood out of the body.

J slapped Margaret's arm, the ointment seeping into the water film, interrupting her extraction rhythm for a moment, and taking advantage of this gap to forcefully create a three-step distance between them.

His breathing quickened, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

At that very moment, a change occurred in another corner of the battlefield.

Rick moved.

Swarms of insects covered the entire workshop ruins, a writhing gray mass from the outer walls to the ground. He had been waiting for an opportunity since the battle began. He remembered what Lu Yuan had told him before he left.

Wooden structures.

At the start of the battle, J used black liquid to wrap the seeds and wooden structures together and dragged them behind him. After the fierce battle, the black liquid was left in a corner inside the workshop.

J's attention was entirely focused on Margaret. The protective layer had thinned considerably, and after Margaret drained a large amount of water, the layer of black water covering the wooden figure had also been drained and shrunk.

Rick seized the opportunity.

A swarm of insects surged from the ground and walls toward the dried-up black water layer, biting into it in the most violent way.

The insect's body will still dissolve when it comes into contact with the black liquid, but the volume of the dried black liquid is not enough. The insect dissolves one layer and then replenishes it with another, and within a few seconds it gnaws a hole in the encapsulation layer.

A thick, insect-like tentacle reached into the opening, grabbed one of the kneeling wooden structures, uprooted it, and then spread it outwards with the swarm of insects at top speed.

The insects passed the baton one after another, and the wooden structures were passed layer by layer in the swarm, moving towards the periphery of the battlefield.

At the same moment J created distance, he sensed something amiss behind him. He turned sharply and saw the torn opening in the outer layer of the package, and the wooden structure being passed around by the swarm of insects.

His expression changed drastically.

Q noticed it too, but he couldn't get away.

The pale white figure's claws gripped his shoulders and waist tightly, the claws already embedded in the body made of black liquid. Any attempt to liquefy and escape would be tracked down and locked back in place by the claws.

Another hooded Night's Watchman's serrated arm wrapped around his upper body, the tips of his teeth cutting into the liquid surface and twisting constantly, each turn shaving off a layer of black liquid.

Q's body had shrunk compared to when he was first captured, and his body was riddled with holes.

But he saw the wooden figure being sent away.

A ruthless glint flashed across Q's ashen face.

Instead of trying to liquefy himself to escape, he did the opposite: the remaining black liquid in his body suddenly surged outward, exploding into a thick black wave centered on himself.

The explosive force was immense; the pale white figure's claws were pried open several inches, and its saber-toothed arm was pushed back half a step by the black wave.

Q managed to squeeze out of the gap in that instant, even though most of its torso had been torn apart.

The cost of escaping would be enormous.

His body had shrunk to less than half its original size, and he was teetering on the verge of collapse. Black liquid surged wildly on his body, trying to repair his riddled body.

But he couldn't care less.

The remaining black liquid gushed out from his body, and a liquid whip lashed out towards the insect swarm channel that delivered the wooden figure.

The liquid whip severed the middle section of the insect swarm channel, interrupting the transmission.

However, one wooden structure has already been moved to the edge of the insect swarm.

The two hooded figures did not chase Q.

The pale white figure's claws, still adorned with fragments of black liquid torn from Q's body, slowly wriggled and retracted into its chest cavity.

The blade's arm was covered in black debris, and the tips of its teeth were still trembling slightly.

The two looked at each other again, then silently moved toward Q.

J's black shell expanded outward from his arms, and the remaining ointment peeled off his body, reforming into a thin layer of black liquid that rushed towards the torn opening, resealing the outer layer.

He and Q worked together seamlessly, one sealing off the entrance and the other cutting off the road, their actions showing no sign of prior consultation.

The wooden figure cannot be taken away.