Owl X Teamwork X Resistance

The man in sunglasses pushed open the car door, his shoes crunching softly on the rubble of the scrap metal pile.

He didn't rush to move; first, he raised his hand and pushed his sunglasses up, revealing a pair of narrow, elongated eyes.

Those eyes swept over the corrugated iron walls of the steel foundry, then landed on the mud figure crawling out of the dirt, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Worm, it took you so long to reach the base of the wall?"

The mud figure ignored him. Its two arms, twisted from mud, were finally pulled out of the ground, and the entire figure pushed itself upwards, with half of its body protruding above the ground.

Its head was a blurry lump of mud, with only the two eyes gleaming with a dark yellow light.

There's someone inside.

The sound of Worm came muffledly from under the mud shell.

"The qi is very mixed, there's more than one."

Xiao put his hands in his trench coat pockets and strode toward the steel casting workshop.

"Grey Elder said that the brat hid something in the workshop."

"Take your things first, and then take them with you."

The Worm didn't reply, but simply pulled its body completely out of the soil, its entire body covered in a layer of wet mud, leaving a sticky footprint on the ground with every step it took.

The two Shadow Beasts approached the iron gate slowly, one after the other.

The iron gate was pushed open from the inside.

When Jiang Ye came out, Iron Wall was holding his shield horizontally in front of him, with Scrap Iron still falling from the fresh crack on the shield.

The Worm- shaped humanoid was only a dozen meters away from them, its muddy arms already reaching into the air.

"Alliance Leader."

Iron Wall didn't turn around; his voice was tense.

"This thing grows back after being cut; it's impossible to kill."

Jiang Ye's gaze didn't fall on the Worm; instead, it passed over the Iron Wall's shoulder and landed on the sunglasses-wearing man approaching from a distance.

"More than one."

Iron Wall's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

Gray Beak approached from the side, clutching a short knife, the blade still smeared with mud from cutting Worm.

Shattered Eye crouched behind the steel frame next to the iron gate, his light-colored pupils slightly contracted in the hazy daylight. He was looking at the man in sunglasses, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Leader, something's off about that guy in the back."

The sound of the Shattered Eye was kept very low.

"I can't see through it."

Jiang Ye didn't reply; he was sensing something.

Xiao's spiritual energy was extremely well concealed; his entire body seemed to be wrapped in an opaque membrane, making him appear no different from an ordinary person at first glance.

But after dealing with Illumi, Jiang Ye was no stranger to this way of concealing his aura. People from the Zoldyck Family family and the Shadow Beasts, as long as they had formal Nen Ability training, could hide their aura completely.

Worm are much rougher.

The gas from that thing dissipated into the mud, mixing with the soil so that it was impossible to find without careful examination. But as long as it moved, the gas would surge and churn along with the mud.

Two Shadow Beasts, one in the light and one in the shadows.

"Iron Wall, the Worm are yours and Bago's."

Jiang Ye had already moved when he finished speaking.

His pace quickened suddenly, and he rushed towards the owl, his entire body skimming the ground.

Without hesitation, Iron Wall turned around and roared, slamming his giant shield into the ground, the shield face pointing towards the Worm.

Bago burst out from the other side of the iron gate, clutching two iron bars in his hands and a third in his mouth. He let out a wild roar and then surrounded the Iron Wall from both sides.

Shattered Eye silently slid out from behind the steel frame, holding the short knife in a reverse grip in his palm, and circled around to the side and rear of the Worm.

The Gray Beak didn't move.

He stood still, his short sword held horizontally in front of him, his gaze fixed on the direction where Jiang Ye and Xiao were fighting.

He had to keep an eye on things; if anything went wrong with the alliance leader, he had to step in immediately.

When Jiang Ye rushed to within five meters of Xiao, Xiao moved.

He did not draw his weapon.

The man in sunglasses pulled his right hand out of his trench coat pocket, spread his fingers and pushed forward, revealing a semi-transparent gray fabric in his palm, like a square scarf, with the edges shimmering with the Conjuration.

The square scarf unfurled in the air, expanding rapidly with the wind, and in the blink of an eye, it covered a square of two meters.

Jiang Ye's pupils contracted.

He couldn't recognize what it was, but he recognized things in the Conjuration; entities that appeared out of thin air must have some special rules.

He didn't take the bait.

He slammed his right foot into the ground, instantly activating Shadow Stealth, and sank into the shadow beneath his feet, disappearing from Owl's front.

The owl's handkerchief missed its target.

"Shadow?"

Xiao tilted his head, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

His gaze swept across the ground— Scrap Iron, concrete, mud—shadows everywhere.

Jiang Ye didn't give him much time. He emerged from the shadow of the scrap metal pile behind Xiao, his right hand already forming a hand shadow.

The wolf's head took shape, and a black and white silhouette leaped out from the shadows. The Divine Dog: Totality growl made the surrounding metal sheets hum.

Hun's charge came without warning; his massive body glided silently along the ground, his fangs aimed straight for Xiao's side.

The owl reacted extremely quickly.

With a flick of his left hand, another handkerchief popped out from his palm, but this time he didn't unfold it; instead, he wrapped it directly around himself. The gray fabric clung to the surface of his trench coat and quickly gathered, like an extra layer of skin.

When the fangs bit down, a ripple appeared on the surface of the handkerchief, indicating that most of the force was dissipated.

Xiao was sent flying sideways by the impact, but the handkerchief remained intact. He twisted half a circle in the air, braced his feet against the pile of scrap metal to absorb the force, and landed steadily.

"Nen Beast."

Xiao pushed up his sunglasses, his tone flat.

"That's interesting."

Before he could finish speaking, the soil beneath his feet suddenly churned up.

The Worm- like humanoid emerged from the ground beside the owl, half of its body still buried in the soil, and swung its muddy arms toward Jiang Ye.

Iron Wall and Bago caught up from behind. Iron Wall's giant shield slammed into the Worm's back, splashing mud everywhere, but the Worm didn't even turn its head, continuing to lash out at Jiang Ye with its arm.

Jiang Ye stepped aside, his arm brushing the edge of the mud as he passed, the stinging pebbles he kicked up hitting his face.

"This thing is indestructible."

Iron Wall slammed his shield down again, his tone full of frustration.

"Cut off its arm, and it'll just pull a piece of mud out of the ground and grow back!"

Bago lunged at it from the side, his two iron rods crossed and wedged the Worm's neck, while the rod he was biting in his mouth was simultaneously thrust into the muddy head.

As a result, the Worm's head broke off, and the mud wrapped around Bago's arms, tightening like a noose.

Bago cursed, released the iron rod, and was dragged out by the back of his collar by Gray Beak.

Shattered Eye stabbed from the side, the dagger embedding itself in the Worm's body. When it was pulled out, mud immediately filled the wound.

"It can fill the soil."

Shattered Eye took two steps back, its light-colored pupils quickly scanning the ground.

"It needs to be removed from the soil."

While dealing with Xiao's handkerchief, Jiang Ye also kept an eye on the Worm.

Iron Wall, Bago, and Shattered Eye surrounded the Worm and managed to hold it off, but that was all they could do.

The Worm's mud arms stretched longer and longer, almost wrapping around Bago's calves several times. If it weren't for the Iron Wall Shield blocking in time, he would have been dragged into the soil.

The situation is more complicated for Xiao.

His handkerchief could be both soft and hard; it could be used as a whip when attacking and as armor when defending. Jiang Ye's Shadow Spike was deflected directly when it pierced through, and the force of Divine Dog: Totality's bite was also neutralized by the handkerchief.

The two Shadow Beasts worked together, one sticking and the other entangling, and Jiang Ye's men dwindled in number and their energy was depleted faster and faster.

"Alliance Leader!"

Iron Wall took another hit, leaving several mud scratches on its shield. He was panting heavily.

"Continuing to fight like this isn't working!"