Evil Explosion Technique.
The destructive power of the Evil Explosion Technique far surpassed the corpse explosion technique Si Ming had devised himself.
Twenty Death Qi Blasts erupted all at once, turning the area dozens of meters around the three combatants into a roiling sea of shockwaves in an instant. The complex waves crashed everywhere, mixed with necrotic fragments that could corrode and pierce. And with this chain of explosions as its opening salvo, the battle between the three began in earnest.
First came a sharp blade aura, then an explosion of holy light. The two forces burst forth at the same time, dispelling the brief blast of air caused by Si Ming. But even if it had been brief, it had bought him precious time. For Si Ming, who was in Summoner Mode, that was enough to get everything else in place.
The air began to writhe silently.
A Sub-Giant Skeleton nearly ten meters tall and a Rock Giant over a dozen meters tall joined the battle at the same time. There were three Sub-Giants and three Rock Giants. They swung their massive fists and brought them crashing down toward Song Tian and Jacob!
They moved fast, and their strength was immense.
Yu Zhiwei watched from afar, her eyes gleaming. Valentina, meanwhile, instinctively placed a hand on the exquisite hilt of the Willow Leaf White Garden.
And in the next instant—
A flash of blade light!
One of the Sub-Giants was split in two, its body cleaving apart. The three Rock Giants, which weren't hindered by positive energy, merely slammed their fists into a sturdy barrier of light.
"In the name of Tyr, I banish the created!"
Jacob's voice rang out. Cracks immediately appeared across the Rock Giants. Meanwhile, Song Tian, wielding the Snow Drink saber, had already charged to within three meters of Si Ming!
The blade was sharp, its light swift.
At that very moment, Yu Zhiwei took a sudden step forward from the viewing area. She raised her hand and her staff at the same time.
"Deploy!"
Her voice rang out as a shield abruptly unfolded in front of her. The barrier, which also covered Valentina, was immediately swallowed by an even larger wave of shock and heat. The Stone Giants and Sub-Giant Skeletons were massive weapons formed from necrotic aura. Naturally, they could also be detonated as high-yield bombs with the Evil Explosion technique.
Five in total, fused into one. A massive mushroom cloud formed, with flames blazing beneath it. There was no doubt that this force could destroy a cluster of high-rise buildings in an instant. And the two people hit head-on would naturally bear the brunt of the damage.
The shockwave turned into a gray-white tide, surging into the distance.
The next moment, a battered figure was hurled out of the blast like a cannonball, still bursting with great showers of light particles as he flew through the air.
It was Jacob.
His limbs seemed unharmed, but he was in a thoroughly wretched state.
Even so, a blazing holy radiance still shone in his eyes.
"In the name of Tyr, the use of necromancy is forbidden here!"
It was like a verbal spell—or perhaps simply an anti-evil formation. The light in his eyes dimmed abruptly as he spoke. Then a vast, invisible force of suppression appeared above the area where the chain explosion had gone off, pressing down all the way to the ground!
The effects of the Evil Explosion spell were completely suppressed. Song Tian, who had been at the center of the blast, now came clearly into view. He was uninjured; his five-colored true energy shield had blocked most of the blast's force. But four figures in black robes stood in front of the target of his attack, holding him in place with an unseen force.
Telekinesis.
It was not as precise or as lethal as Yu Zhiwei's, but its sheer power was a cut above hers. It had blocked and neutralized Song Tian's full-force strike. In two seconds at most, it would be able to pin him down completely.
"Necromancy can actually do this much... Is he even human?"
Valentina murmured from the viewing area. She had a teammate in Sen Continent who practiced necromancy, so she knew that corpses brought back to life couldn't use the special powers they'd possessed when alive. The only way was to spend enormous resources upgrading low-level undead into high-level undead. But even then, these upgraded undead were nowhere near as strong as living people of the same level!
Where had he gotten so many resources to cultivate all these high-level undead... No! Where had he gotten enough mental power and necrotic energy to control so many high-level undead? Under normal circumstances, when facing a powerful close-combat fighter and a counter-class rushing in at close range, a Summoner of the same level could only hope to survive for two seconds!
Two seconds.
Jacob had sacrificed his ability to fight, at least for the moment, to buy those two seconds for Song Tian.
The next moment, the four black-robed figures suddenly weakened. Freed from the telekinetic pressure, Song Tian surged forward with a low growl!
He had only one chance. He could only swing his blade once.
Song Tian's eyes held nothing but Si Ming now. His entire being surged upward, his spirit and energy merging with the Snow Drink in his hand. A mighty, violent blade light in five colors flashed into being.
Great Five Elements Divine Blade, ten layers of power.
As he swung, Song Tian nearly forgot that this was only a team sparring match. He treated it as a battlefield where life and death hung in the balance.
Then—
Clang!
Metal struck metal.
It wasn't the Profaned Greatsword, but a massive, thick silver-gray wall—a Steel Giant over a dozen meters tall, like a small mountain. Song Tian's full-strength strike had only carved a wound a meter deep into the giant's lowered hand. Though the scattered blade aura had instantly cut seventeen or eighteen terrifying wounds into the Steel Giant, each deep enough to be called fatal, they were only fatal wounds. He still hadn't actually taken down his target.
"It couldn't even hold him back for a second..." Jacob frowned, then relaxed. He still had some strength left, but in the end, he could only smile wryly.
As Si Ming summoned another Steel Giant from his summoning space, Song Tian, who had still been somewhat eager to fight, lowered his blade.
"Not going to keep going?" Si Ming asked him through the Steel Giant's slashed hand. "You haven't unlocked your second Gene Lock, so you clearly still have some strength left."
"Neither have you." Song Tian had already sheathed his blade.
"I couldn't force you to show your close-combat skills, so I've already lost. And I thought I could cut through this Steel Giant you summoned."
He really could have cut through it.
But when he struck, what had reinforced the giant's palm wasn't just its enhanced metal. Si Ming had also infused it with Night Battle Qi, providing additional reinforcement.
It had worked perfectly.
Si Ming shrugged. This hadn't really counted as using his close-combat strength.
He hadn't moved from his spot or swung the Profaned Greatsword in his hand. He hadn't even summoned a Byakhee, unlocked his Gene Lock, or drowned his opponents in a sea of monsters.
Yu Zhiwei's instincts had been right—he really could take on all four of them at once. And as long as those four strangers didn't work closely together from the start, he had an overwhelming chance of winning. That was undoubtedly the result of a foreknower preparing in advance while enjoying the advantage of acting first. After all, before he'd set out, he'd thought that the Celestial Team had at least two third-tier members.
I'd been too cautious.
As the thought crossed his mind, all the summoned creatures surrounding him returned to their own space. He then nodded to the others, who were healing and recovering. The earlier topic about the Celestial Team leader was naturally treated as if no one had ever brought it up.
After all, just being able to fight wasn't enough to get him any Coconut Heart Pastries.
"Not a bad start." Si Ming had, at least, earned the right to make a speech at a moment like this. "It seems we've learned a fair amount about one another. That should take care of the basic questions. We have at least six days before we find out what the next horror world will be. I don't intend to interfere with what any of you do in your personal time, but I think we should meet up every so often."
He raised a hand, and the Main God's beam of light descended. Beneath the orb of light, a circular conference table took shape, with a large clock displaying the time at its center.
"I'll spend some time here every day at noon. If you're interested, you can come by and meet up then. We can have some tea and chat. Maybe, when the time is right, we can even go back to the worlds we've visited before and have an adventure together."
No one objected.
Only Valentina frowned slightly.
"...We can go back to worlds we've already visited? So that's how it works... I always wondered how Rost and the others had gotten so much stronger so quickly..."
She looked up, then realized everyone else was gazing at her with concern, even pity. Yu Zhiwei's overly gentle look especially infuriated her.
"Hmph!" She spun around and walked away.
"Such a charming lady." Jacob spread his hands and smiled. He bowed slightly to the others, then returned to his own private space.
"Let's fight again sometime." Song Tian nodded to Si Ming. "I'll come to the noon gathering."
Then he left.
That left only Si Ming and Yu Zhiwei in the plaza. He wasn't sure when she'd managed to fix her eyes.
Si Ming walked over to her.
"You've gotten me into quite a bit of trouble, compatriot. I almost fell for your trick."
Yu Zhiwei raised both hands in surrender.
"Could you call me Zhiwei? Or at least Miss Yu?"
She didn't deny the rest, which was something to commend.
"It'll definitely hurt. You might even die." Si Ming checked the time. If he went back now, he could still spend some time fooling around with Eve—or take the opportunity to further study and master his enhancements.
"I'm pretty good at enduring pain, you know." Yu Zhiwei tilted her head slightly and gave him a playful wink.
So Si Ming punched her in the stomach.
Battle Qi burst forth, and he even used the Evil Explosion technique. Yu Zhiwei's body was blown into three pieces. Her two severed legs remained where they were, while her upper body flew over a hundred meters through the air amid a sudden burst of blood mist. It tumbled and rolled through a series of falls before coming to a stop, motionless and looking as if she were dead.
But the Main God gave no notice.
So Si Ming glanced at her, several hundred meters away.
"Next time you try a trick like that, I'll aim for your head."
"Miss Yu."
Before you continue