Encircled at Death's Door

The snow mist churned for quite a while before finally dispersing.

The logging road looked like it had ended.

A massive crater had been blasted into the middle, its edges littered with overturned frozen earth and splintered wood. Several fragments of black armor were embedded in the snow, still smoking. A broken lance lay crookedly by the crater, the Black Crystal patterns along its shaft flickering before going completely dark.

The mushroom cloud rising into the air had yet to fully dissipate.

Bai Zhu lay at the bottom of a snow ditch, half his face buried in the snow, his ears still ringing.

After a long while, he finally raised his head.

"Milluki."

Keyboard clacking immediately came through the earpiece.

"Yeah."

Bai Zhu spat out a mouthful of mud mixed with snow.

"Did you happen to redraw the terrain map just now?"

Milluki went silent for half a second.

"From a surveillance standpoint, it does need to be remapped."

"You sure are meticulous."

Bai Zhu braced himself against the wall of the ditch and started climbing up. The moment he pressed his hand against it, though, a chunk of snow collapsed and he slid back to the bottom.

"Damn it."

Milluki sounded thoroughly disdainful.

"You're having this much trouble climbing a ditch barely five feet deep?"

"Your lottery bugs just blew me half-cooked, and you still expect me to persevere through crippling injuries?"

"Who told you to run so slowly?"

"Next time, could you include an illustrated guide to escape poses in the box?"

"Did you pay for that?"

Bai Zhu no longer wanted to talk.

He felt the metal box at his waist.

There were only two Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetles left inside, lying quietly there. A red light flashed from their abdomens every so often.

Only two remained.

And he had no idea whether they would explode or turn out to be duds.

Bai Zhu stared at them for two seconds, then said with a sigh.

"You two, let's make a deal. Don't follow your dad's example later. Be good and explode for me, got it?"

Milluki snorted.

"It's useless talking to them."

"Would talking to you be useful?"

"Depends."

"Then I'd rather talk to the bugs."

Bai Zhu snapped the box shut and stuffed it back into his pocket.

That Kaidō spell before leaving had indeed saved his life. Otherwise, he probably would not have survived that explosion. But his Reiatsu was recovering slowly. He had used Shunpo to dodge the lance, then used Reiatsu to protect his vital points during the blast. The little energy he had left could barely support a close-quarters fight afterward.

He did not dare use Kidō casually anymore.

Sōkatsui was out of the question.

That thing felt great while using it, but afterward, he would be nearly finished too.

Bai Zhu crouched by the edge of the ditch, intending to peek out and assess the results, when Milluki suddenly lowered his voice in the earpiece.

"Don't get up."

Bai Zhu froze.

"There are more?"

"Obviously. Do you think these Holy Knights are vendors selling grilled sausages at the village entrance? Their black armor is top-tier Nen equipment anywhere, and their individual strength isn't bad either."

"They got blown into a mushroom cloud and the screen still hasn't cleared? Did they pay Ma Hua Teng to top up?"

"At least six are alive in the rear."

Milluki rapidly switched through the feeds, his speech quickening along with his movements.

"The front line was blown away, and two in the middle are seriously injured. But the six at the back were mostly outside the blast center. Two of them have especially extensive Black Crystal coverage and strong fluctuations. They might be squad leaders."

Bai Zhu shrank back into the bottom of the ditch.

"Weren't you pretty excited just now? Three blew up, three!"

"I was excited that the product test succeeded. That doesn't mean the enemy was wiped out."

"A test? You blackhearted boss, you never even tested your own stuff?"

"Hehe... I don't go out much. It's not like I could use this kind of thing at home."

"Fuck... goddamn it."

There was movement by the edge of the snow pit on the other side of the logging road.

A black-armored Holy Knight crawled out of the collapsed snow.

The armor on his left arm had been blown away, and everything below his shoulder was drenched in blood. Yet the Black Crystal on his chest remained intact. It glowed steadily, binding his shattered armor pieces together.

A second and third Holy Knight approached from behind.

They did not rush in.

The Holy Knight leading them stood at the edge of the blast crater and looked down at the deep pit at its center, still shaken by the close call.

The blasted Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetle shells were still smoking in the snow.

He raised a hand.

All the Holy Knights behind him stopped.

Bai Zhu narrowed his eyes and took a glance from the ditch's edge before immediately ducking back down.

"Milluki, they aren't chasing."

"That means they've started thinking."

"That's really bad news."

Intercepted low-frequency communications came through the earpiece.

"The target possesses high-powered Nen equipment."

"The risk of approaching is too high."

"Switch to long-range hunting."

"Close-range suppression is prohibited."

Bai Zhu objected immediately after hearing that.

"Wait, they were talking about capturing me alive just now. Why has it suddenly become long-range hunting? Their standards changed way too fast, didn't they?"

Milluki's tone remained calm.

"You used three beetles to blow up half their squad. They'd be idiots to rush you again."

"So I made them smarter?"

"You've finally recognized your negative value."

"Shut up."

By the blast crater, the leading Holy Knight pulled a black spike from his waist.

Without hesitation, he drove the short spike into an armor groove beside the Black Crystal on his chest.

Click.

The Black Crystal suddenly shone much brighter.

The remaining Holy Knights did the same at once.

The sound of spikes piercing armor rang out in succession.

The Black Crystal patterns on their bodies began linking together, extending from their chests to their arms, lances, and leg armor, then pressing into the snow through the lance tips. Veins bulged across their bodies as large amounts of blood flowed toward the areas containing Black Crystal.

The monitoring windows on Milluki's end began issuing alarms one after another.

"Their energy has synchronized."

Bai Zhu's scalp went numb.

"Translate."

"They seem to be setting up a formation? Coordinating their Nen abilities?"

"These tin cans have combination techniques too?" In that instant, Bai Zhu thought of someone: Genthru, the Bomber.

"Black Crystal can serve as nodes, connecting six people into a circuit. And these knights are most likely children who failed the church's Holy Spirit process. Their Nen likely shares the same origin. Be careful not to get trapped inside the circle."

The moment Milluki finished speaking, all six lances stabbed into the snow at once.

Black patterns spread across the ground at incredible speed.

It was as if something were moving beneath the snow. Several lines split apart to flank him, closing directly around the snow ditch where Bai Zhu was hiding.

Bai Zhu asked nothing further.

He planted his feet, forced himself upright, and activated Shunpo.

The instant his figure flashed out of the snow ditch, the black pattern ahead of him lit up prematurely.

A Black Crystal spike shot up from his landing point.

Bai Zhu twisted his body by force, his shoulder slamming into the ditch wall as he rolled back down to the bottom.

"Damn it!"

He clutched his shoulder and sucked in a breath from the pain.

"They know where I'll land?"

"They don't know. They're sealing off routes. Every time you jump, there's a landing point. They've blocked all your possible landing points."

"That sounds troublesome."

"More than troublesome. You've already been locked in."

The black patterns had reached the edge of the snow ditch.

Several lines connected to form an ever-tightening circle. Within the encircled area, the ground pulsed rhythmically as well.

Bai Zhu narrowed his eyes at the distant Holy Knights, reached into his system inventory, and slowly drew out his Zanpakuto inch by inch.