It was an ordinary night. Heming had slept for barely two hours before stepping outside the tent. He watched the Scout Bat circling overhead—something he himself had once relied on. Now there was someone else relying on it, too.
What exactly was his relationship with her? Heming wondered. Friends? Colleagues? Cousins...
Heming stood outside, lost in thought for a while, then went into the tent and began practicing the Pitch Black Heart Method. He could now clearly feel tiny traces of energy growing inside his body, though there wasn't much, and the energy wouldn't gather together. Still, this seemed like a breakthrough.
The Scout Bat's warning signal jolted Heming and Rie awake at the same time. Heming gestured for Rie to stay inside, then jumped out. Someone in a Pitch Black uniform was restraining the Scout Bat...
"I'm Guangcheng Heming. I was sent by the Japan Okinawa branch to carry out a capture mission. The mission is complete, and I'm waiting for the others to rest before we leave." Heming gave a brief explanation, inviting the other person to state his business.
The man released the Scout Bat and apologized to Heming. "I'm Guangcheng Mingjie, the current leader of the Urban Action Team at Pitch Black's Africa branch. Qiming called me, so I brought the rest of the team to investigate what you found... Wait, what's this? Contact Qiming right away. Tell him to get the nearest special-class personnel here. We've found an S-class creature..." He didn't finish. Instead, he ran quickly in the direction Heming had come from...
Heming understood why the man's tone had changed so suddenly. With the situation urgent, he didn't waste a moment. He took out his phone and called Qiming...
"Hello, Qiming? It's Heming. I'm still in Meihe. There's an S-class creature here, and Mingjie told me to have you contact the special-class personnel." Heming quickly relayed the essentials.
"What? All right, go check it out first. I'll contact people now. Remember, don't get too close, and don't take Rie with you. Tell Mingjie to hold on!" Qiming seemed to understand how serious the situation was. He didn't sound as casual as usual. After giving his instructions, he hung up.
Heming first ran into the tent and told Rie, "There's an emergency. I have to go check it out. Stay here, and have the Scout Bat keep patrolling."
Rie didn't know what had happened. She nodded slightly...
Heming could now directly sense the powerful energy fluctuations in the distance. They must have been Mingjie's...
"Leader, what do we do? I can't hold it anymore. Its energy is too strong!" shouted someone in a black cloak.
"Let go. I'll deal with it. The higher-ups have contacted people, and they should be here soon." Mingjie took the blue greatsword from the palm of his hand. This was his weapon, Deep Blue Evil Rhyme. (Deep Blue Evil Rhyme: According to legend, Deep Blue, a swordfish that was a god's pet, was sentenced to death after attacking something deep in the ocean. After it died, the god made its body into a greatsword to commemorate it.)
The restraint was lifted. The Mi Magic Beast—one of the divine beasts of an African tribe, with a bull's head, a horse's body, and a snake's head for a tail, and the claws of a bird—charged furiously at Mingjie.
The Mi Magic Beast had appeared once before, long ago. Back then, it had badly wounded a Pitch Black special-class operative before escaping. Meeting it here now might have been fate, because the operative it had wounded was Mingjie, before he became a team leader.
Last time, at an African wildlife preserve, Mingjie had encountered the Mi Magic Beast by chance, and the two had attacked each other. Before long, the Mi Magic Beast used Fire Rain. Its effect on plants was unimaginable. Mingjie had no choice but to protect the plants first, using his energy to block the fire rain. In the process, the Mi Magic Beast struck him twice with its snake-headed tail, leaving him gravely wounded. Mingjie's former team leader happened to arrive then, and the beast fled...
This time was different. Mingjie could go all out against the Mi Magic Beast. Meihe was a polluted place, and its plants weren't as vulnerable to fire as plants on Earth. Besides, Mingjie had no reason to protect them...
Moving quickly was another of the Mi Magic Beast's special moves. Its limbs were those of a bird. They weren't suited for attacking, but made it incredibly fast. Mingjie didn't stand idle. He used his ability, Hidden Weapon...
Hidden Weapon was an ability that might or might not be useful. It could be used for many things, especially assassination...
In a frontal attack, Mingjie was hardly a match for the Mi Magic Beast. The beast made good use of its entire body: striking with its head, sweeping with its tail, biting with its tail, and suddenly spitting fireballs. Mingjie was at a disadvantage at every turn...
Mingjie had pushed his speed to the limit, but Heming, watching from a distance, couldn't make out either fighter's movements...
Mingjie had already suffered several serious attacks. If reinforcements didn't arrive soon, he might not be able to hold on much longer. After all, how could an assassination squad fight a divine beast that had lived for so long?
"Secret Art: Blue Halo Spirit-Dispersing Ninja!" Mingjie unleashed his ultimate move. The skill enlarged the weapon in his hand with energy and allowed him to control it from a distance.
Without his weapon, Mingjie relied on his energy to defend himself. The Mi Magic Beast didn't attack him as wildly as before. It seemed to have noticed something.
Great currents of energy surged in every direction. A blue greatsword suddenly appeared above the Mi Magic Beast's head, leaving it no time to dodge. The beast once again took the fierce blow head-on.
An ultimate move was an ultimate move. That strike finally dealt heavy damage to the Mi Magic Beast, leaving a scar across its back. It was truly enraged. Flame Meteor—its most powerful move...
Mingjie stopped attacking and retreated to one side, because he could already sense that reinforcements were about to arrive.
Divine beasts' ultimate moves were different from humans'. They didn't need to expend their own energy to use them. These special attacks were extremely powerful, and the beasts could unleash them repeatedly...
"Huang Ming, keep those Flame Meteors in check. Ming Jian and I will deal with it!" Kuo Ming's voice rang out. He had created it with energy, sending it directly into the others' minds.
"Hidden Snake Right Negative!" Kuo Ming used his signature technique. The soft sword in his hand spun rapidly, transforming into two hidden snakes that shot forward. Ming Jian was on the other side, holding a light green sword this time.
"Evil Spirit Endowment!" Ming Jian unleashed his ultimate move. Two arms suddenly sprouted from the light green sword, stretching rapidly toward the Mi Magic Beast. Ming Jian didn't let up; he casually tossed out another light green sword.
Attacked from both sides, the Mi Magic Beast couldn't fight back. It wanted to escape, but there was no way out of this situation. It had no choice but to reveal its true form.
With a roar that shook the heavens, the Mi Magic Beast's body burst apart...
"Fall back!" Kuo Ming shouted at Ming Jian!
The Flame Meteors had appeared. Huang Ming didn't seem particularly worried about them; his attention was on the battle below. Each meteor was around four to five meters across, its surface engulfed in fierce flames. If they hit the ground, Meihe might as well change its name...
Powerful energy surged. Blue light covered the rapidly descending meteors, slowing them more and more as their flames began to die down...
The Mi Magic Beast's true form was the African Evil God, Gao'erlufeisiteda, the legendary seven-armed, one-eyed god. It had a bull's head, a snake's tail, three birdlike limbs, and the rest were human arms holding weapons made from human bones...
Lightning struck in an instant. Ming Jian quickly used his sword to block the bolts from darting in every direction. "Huang Ming, hurry! This thing is an evil god. It can attack with lightning from all directions. Keep holding them off!"
Huang Ming increased his absorption of the Flame Meteors. Soon, all the meteors in the sky had completely disappeared...
Ming Jian brought out his signature weapon, a double-edged light sword, similar to a Japanese sword but with edges on both sides and a spike in the middle. Heming had never seen a weapon like it, so he couldn't name it. It was used by some wandering knights in ancient China, and was called the Chopping Sword. Its appearance was unremarkable, and it soon disappeared...
Could they defeat a god? No one knew. Perhaps everything was already in the hands of the world...
Before you continue