"Boom!"
The moment communication between the Water Demon and the Ghost Rider broke down, the entire lake suddenly boiled.
The Water Demon's body expanded wildly. Turbid lake water surged and gathered, and in the blink of an eye, it coalesced into a one-eyed giant over twenty meters tall.
"ROAR—!"
Its single massive eye glowed with a dark green, malevolent light. Its gaping maw spewed a fishy, foul-smelling mist as it unleashed a deafening roar.
"BOOM—!"
The giant's palm slammed down like a falling sky, but the Ghost Rider twisted the accelerator at the last second. The Soul Chariot shot out of the attack's range just in time.
Where he had stood moments before, a deep crater five meters wide now gaped, mud splattering in every direction.
"CRASH!"
But the crisis was far from over—the lake's surface suddenly cracked, and hundreds of human-sized water elementals crawled onto the shore.
Their forms were grotesque and distorted: some resembled drowned corpses, others multi-legged hydras. Like a tide, they surged toward the Ghost Rider.
"His—"
Burning chains sliced through the night sky. The Ghost Rider swung his arm, and the flaming chains in his hand lashed out like a whip of fire.
"SIZZLE!"
"CHI-CHI-CHI-CHI—!"
Suddenly, a bloated, corpse-like water elemental leaped from the mud. Its rotting arms stretched three meters in an instant, fingertips morphing into jagged icicles aimed straight for the Rider's throat.
The Ghost Rider snapped backward. His burning chain struck the monster's wrist like a venomous snake lunging from its den, vaporizing the entire limb into white mist.
The creature staggered back—but the Ghost Rider gave it no chance to recover. He wrapped the chain around its neck, hoisted it overhead, and hurled it to the ground. It exploded into a billowing cloud of mist with a thunderous "BOOM!"
"PAH-PAH-PAH—!"
Seizing the opening, several multi-legged hydras lunged from the side. Their watery tentacles cracked through the air like steel whips, creating sharp, explosive snaps.
The Ghost Rider swept his chain in a wide arc, severing the first two tentacles that came at him. Hellfire erupted from his left hand, seizing the remaining tentacles and yanking them hard.
"BANG!"
The force dragged the entire hydra forward. The Ghost Rider drove his knee—ablaze with hellfire—straight into its core. The creature detonated instantly into a rain of scalding droplets.
Six more tentacles stabbed toward him simultaneously. He rolled sideways, evading the assault. As he landed, his iron chain spun like a propeller, crushing every tentacle in its path.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The hydra shrieked in a high-pitched wail, its severed limbs writhing as they tried to regenerate—but the Ghost Rider was already atop its head. He stomped down with both feet, hellfire erupting from his boots.
"LAUGH—!"
Another plume of white mist rose into the night.
A water elemental suddenly melted into a liquid film and surged over the Ghost Rider, enveloping his entire body. He didn't dodge—he let it consume him.
"BOOM!"
In the next instant, he erupted in flames, turning the watery prison into scalding steam.
"BOOM—!"
The lake's surface exploded once more. Over a dozen water elementals—now mounted as spectral cavalry—charged across the shore on steeds of churning water, wielding spears condensed from the lake itself. Frost spread wherever their hooves struck the earth.
"SWISH!"
The Ghost Rider yanked the chains violently. Hellfire raced along their length, transforming them into a colossal flaming whip over ten meters long. With a single sweep, he cleaved the front row of cavalry in half—riders and steeds alike.
Water vapor rose like a mushroom cloud, casting an eerie rainbow in the moonlight.
More and more water monsters emerged from the lake. The Ghost Rider swung his chains relentlessly, and the hellfire traced a dazzling net of flame through the darkness. Each strike sent up great plumes of steaming white mist.
"Roar—!"
The water demon suddenly let out a shrill scream.
The entire lake shuddered violently, and the water surged into the air, condensing into tens of thousands of transparent chains.
Pain-wracked human faces surfaced on the chains, wailing eerily as they coiled around the Ghost Rider from every direction.
"Clang!"
The knight's iron chain clashed with three of the watery tendrils, and a blinding white light erupted at the point of impact.
Though he successfully vaporized the demon's attack, more chains had already wrapped around his limbs. Countless pale ghostly hands stretched from the lake's surface, clutching at his body with desperate strength.
"You've brought this upon yourself, knight! Die in despair!"
The water demon's voice echoed from all around.
"Boom—!"
The Soul Chariot's engine roared, its tires scorching twin marks into the earth—but it was still being dragged inexorably toward the lake.
The Ghost Rider struggled fiercely, his flames incinerating dozens of the watery chains, yet new ones kept forming.
"Plop!"
Despite the countless chains and ghostly hands dragging him down, the Ghost Rider was pulled completely beneath the dark surface of the lake.
The moment he submerged, the flames in his eye sockets flickered wildly.
"Crash!"
The entire lake began to spin madly, forming a colossal whirlpool a hundred meters wide. Trapped at its center, the Ghost Rider endured the water's razor-sharp currents tearing at his form.
The water demon's true shape appeared along the vortex wall, directing high-pressure blades of water to slice into the Ghost Rider.
Hellfire sputtered weakly underwater, and every counterattack the Ghost Rider launched was dulled by the churning current.
"Hahahaha! You've run out of tricks!"
But just as all seemed lost, the Ghost Rider did something the water demon never expected:
He stopped resisting.
"Giving up? A smart choice!" the demon mocked, its voice swirling through the vortex.
Slowly, the Ghost Rider raised his head. The flames in his eye sockets blazed with sudden, ferocious intensity.
"Boom—!"
Hellfire erupted from his body like a nuclear blast. His chain whipped wildly, carving a counterclockwise fire tornado through the water.
Where fire met water, a hundred-meter-tall column of steam exploded skyward, blanketing the landscape in thick white mist.
The vortex destabilized as the opposing forces tore at each other.
To the water demon's horror, the currents it controlled began evaporating, disintegrating under the infernal vortex.
"This is impossible! What did you do?!"
The Ghost Rider's chain suddenly lengthened, piercing the vortex wall like a dragon's fang and latching onto the demon's hidden core.
With a sharp yank—
"Bang!!!"
The lake detonated. Tens of thousands of tons of water vaporized in an instant.
The shockwave uprooted trees along the shore. Through the dissipating mist, the battered water demon crashed onto the now-dry lakebed.
The Ghost Rider strode across the cracked earth, each step leaving smoldering footprints behind.
He seized the dying demon and brought his flaming skull close to its twisted face.
"Look me in the eyes."
The Eye of Judgment activated. In that instant, the water demon witnessed the final moments of every soul it had drowned—the despair of mothers clutching their babies as floodwaters swallowed their village, the regret of those who leapt from buildings, lured by its whispers.
"Ahhhh! No! Please…"
Its form began to crumble.
The Ghost Rider tightened his grip, and hellfire engulfed the demon completely.
"Go back to hell."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
When the blinding light faded, only a charred circle remained on the lakebed.
The night wind swept away the last traces of steam, and moonlight once again bathed the scarred battlefield.
Silently, the Ghost Rider walked toward the sho
re. The Soul Chariot sensed its master and rumbled to life.
He cast one final glance at the now-calm lake—and the fire in his skeletal eyes flickered, just slightly.
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