Volume Two: Life and Death at the Northern Frontier, Chapter 144: A Chaotic Battle
Nacht City ruins, lowest level
In the boundless darkness, an eerie scene emerged.
A dilapidated race car, bound by countless silver threads, dangles in mid-air. Below the car are three figures, all with their heads bowed and tense expressions.
Among them were two young men and one young woman. One man wore a fleece-lined hoodie and had a rather handsome face. The other man wore a black trench coat and black trousers and had an extremely ordinary appearance, so ordinary that he would be easily lost in a crowd. Between the two men was a young woman who was less than 1.5 meters tall. The young woman had rather cute features, but she looked listless. Her skin was a bit grayish, and her hair was a strange dark green, reminiscent of moss.
Before the three stood two "people" emanating a terrifying aura.
One of them was a woman with a single ponytail, wearing a white shirt and black jacket, along with a tie and a monocle; her face showed both disdain and impatience. The other was an incredibly tall man with rugged, chiseled features and a body as solid as an ancient rock, radiating an astonishing aura of power.
The organization's senior combatants, the Sick Spider and the Stone Strike.
"Let me confirm first..."
With a deep, resonant voice, Stone Strike spoke, while the Sick Spider turned its head away as if it were too much trouble.
"You're lower-level members, right? What are your names?"
"Jay, Geronimo, how are you two doing?" The handsome man in the hoodie hurriedly answered, trying to get closer to him, but of course Stone Strike and Sick Spider ignored him.
"And you?"
"Payne... uh... first time meeting you, senior, you're pretty awesome too." This time, the one who answered was an ordinary-looking man dressed in black.
"And you?"
"... Xiu Lin." The last one was the girl with dark green hair; although her expression was tense, her tone remained languid.
"Now we're in the execution phase of the organization's plan, so you want to infiltrate the rally, steal the Crystal Realm Fruit, and steal the credit, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. We were a bit overestimating ourselves, but that's only natural. Could you two seniors please be lenient?" Geronimo hurriedly replied, sounding just like he was meeting his mother-in-law.
"So, what was the reason for attacking us?"
"Eek~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. I was clearly at the lowest level of the ruins, but I saw two people strolling around like nothing was wrong. I was thinking, why are these arrogant contestants so cocky? I guess I have to teach them a lesson. I never expected, I never expected, I never expected --"
"Hey, hey, hey, Payne, can't you just drop the fancy 'dick' in front of your seniors? Don't you have a death wish?"
"Shut up, you loser! Why do you have to use questions for every single thing you say?"
Just as Payne and Geronimo were about to start fighting, the Sick Spider stomped his foot on the ground in frustration.
"Both of you shut up! Or we'll start by cutting out your tongues!"
The two immediately covered their mouths and obediently retreated.
"You don't need to be too nervous, we don't have any plans to kill you right now..." Stone Strike said.
"You don't have it, but I do!" the Sick Spider interjected.
"... Anyway, we both have urgent business to attend to and must get to the Crystal Island at the finish line," Stone Strike ignoring the Sick Spider, continued, "And most of the seals in this ruin are still unresolved, so I hope you can temporarily take over our task. After the contestants have found all the seal points, destroy them all along the markings. How about it? Can you do it?"
"Of course... but what about the seal on the Engai Forest?"
"The Engai Forest has a defensive mechanism left by our ancestors to protect the World Crystal Tree, so there are no sealing points set up. You don't need to worry about it."
"Got it! We'll definitely complete the mission in the best possible way!"
"Okay, good, then we'll be going..."
After Stone Strike finished speaking, he merged into the surrounding rocks and disappeared. The Sick Spider glared at them, then flicked her fingers, sending silver threads shooting out from between them. Like Spider-Man, she used the threads to fly into the sky and disappear into the darkness.
Payne and Geronimo breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that their two seniors had left.
"That senior's aura is really awesome! Hurry up, you two, move faster... Hey, Xiu Lin!"
"Huff... huff... huff..."
"Holy crap, you actually fell asleep?"
On the third floor, a group of eight people were engaged in a fierce battle.
"Iai!"
A black flash appeared, and Tani Hana Hibiki's Black Katana through the darkness, striking something hidden within. The thing hissed shrilly, and a dark shadow emerged from its body, transforming into countless sharp scythes that slashed towards her. Xiang swiftly drew a spear from thin air, slammed it into the scythes, and used it as a fulcrum to leap backward, creating distance.
As expected of the Ghost Clan.
Although the Ghost Clan is very similar to humans, this does not change their essential nature as demonic beasts. Ghost Clan people possess superhuman physical strength, several times or even ten times that of humans, and their motor skills and physical strength far surpass those of ordinary people, making them a natural-born fighting race. However, in contrast, the probability of the Ghost Clan producing superhumans is much lower than that of humans, and almost all of them have superhuman abilities suitable for close combat. Superhuman abilities like Tani Hana Mei's detection ability are extremely rare.
Now, the Ghost Clan, ranked seventh among the ten great clans of demon beasts, has encountered a powerful demon beast that ranks higher than itself.
The Black Abyss Tribe.
"Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss!!!!!!!!!!"
A colossal shadow, four meters tall, burst forth from the darkness. Its lower body had human-like legs, but its skin was an ugly purplish-black. Its upper body resembled that of some large arthropod, covered with terrifying, steel-like muscles. Eight slender arms swung wildly in the air, and its head was a triangular shape like a snake, but its eyes could not be found.
With its roar, countless shadows on the ground floated around it, transforming into whips, blades, claws, and other shapes, unleashing a storm of attacks! Hibiki brought out the full extent of the Ghost Clan's innate superhuman physique and the ability to retrieve blades from the void, wielding swords, spears, and lances in her hands, directly confronting the Black Abyss Tribe!
On the other side--
"Launch! Launch it now, you idiot Ally!"
"Don't rush me! Ailin, hurry up and take down the shadow wall!"
"Don't worry, sister, it'll be quick—"
"Watch out! The next wave of attacks is coming!"
"Get behind the wall on the left! Quick!"
"It's here! It's here! Waa..."
"Amy, quickly open the Light Path and send us there!!"
"I know, I know!!!"
"Jet Point setting complete -- Angle calibration -- Launch!"
A thick, long, moss-covered stone pillar shot into the sky like a giant spear, its target a Strange Bird with a purplish-black body, four eyes, two pairs of wings, and a black mist swirling around its tail. The Strange Bird lazily flapped its wings, tilted its body to the left, and dodged the flying stone pillar perfectly.
"You missed, you idiot Ally ~~~~~~~"
"Youcanyouupnocannobbahhhhhh!!!!"
"Ally! Next time, wait until I use projection to distract it before attacking!"
"You make it sound so easy~~~"
Hey! Get out of the way!
With a flap of the Black Abyss Tribe bird-like wings, sharp, sword-like feathers rained down from the sky. At the crucial moment, Ailin finally dismantled the shadow wall that had trapped the six people. The six, now free, immediately scattered and fled. Emilia and Ally covered their heads and screamed, creating quite a scene.
Besides me and Tani Hana Hibiki, only Ally's ability has direct offensive power, but she has no combat experience whatsoever. The other five don't even have offensive abilities. It must have been really tough for them to have lasted this long.
To be honest, I also wanted to rush over and help out, but unfortunately...
Boom!!!
The scattered blood arrows exploded in mid-air, and the Fierce Flame enveloped a Black Abyss Tribe member. Its body turned into wisps of black smoke amidst screams, merging into the boundless darkness.
When you're about to collapse, you can disappear from the physical form and merge into the darkness to recover health. You guys are probably just paying players, aren't you?!
Before I could even complain, the second spider-like Black Abyss Tribe charged forward, its twisted giant claws opening wide, and countless shadowy threads wrapped around me! In the next instant, countless crystal blades shot out from my body, slicing the threads into pieces.
I took a few steps back and carefully assessed my opponent.
Tani Hana Hibiki one by one, and there was also a group of six fighting another one, while I...
Four of them revealed their physical forms and fought against me, plus the ones I had previously knocked back into the darkness to heal, making a total of... seven.
Oh dear, this is troublesome.
If I were alone, I could easily unleash a massive, spectacular explosion, wiping them out in the simplest and most brutal way, leaving them no chance to even slip into the darkness. But there are seven other people not far away. If I were to unleash a barrage of explosions at this distance, they would also be buried with the Black Abyss Tribe.
The situation over there is getting worse and worse. Damn it, we can't delay any longer.
The goal is to avoid harming teammates and resolve the issue efficiently in a short time.
"Tsk, although I'm still not very skilled at using it, I have no choice but to go for it."
Having retracted the blood that had been circulating outside, I focused my consciousness inward, concentrating on feeling the flow of energy within my blood vessels.
With a hiss, I seemed to hear the sound of a gas stove being turned on, and all the blood in my body began to burn fiercely as fuel.
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Everyone else went to PE class, but I stayed in the dorm to wait for the air conditioner repairman... It's so empty, lonely, and cold.