Soul and Blade
He picked up his binoculars again and looked out. On the deck of the supply ship, several mages were helping two wounded men out of the cabin. One of them was badly burned by the flames; while the other, a girl dressed in a healer's robe, had a gleaming longsword deeply embedded in her delicate shoulder, blood staining half of her clothes.
He's seriously injured, and I'm afraid he won't live much longer! We must inquire about his condition as soon as possible!
"Bring them here immediately!" Tai'ao'duo ordered.
Soon, the two wounded soldiers were brought to the deck of the Vanguard Warrior.
The young healer seemed to be consumed by fear, her entire being in a state of panic. No matter how the adjutant questioned her, she could only tremble, her pale lips tightly pressed together, unable to utter a complete sentence. Even the gleaming longsword embedded in her shoulder swayed slightly with her trembling.
Tai'ao'duo frowned, waved his hand impatiently, and gestured for the ship's doctor to come forward and treat her wound first.
He then turned his gaze to another seriously injured person—who was in an even more miserable state, with the skin of his entire face and even his neck burned off by the fire, presenting a horrifying appearance of charred and cracked skin, making it almost impossible to recognize his original facial features.
Tai'ao'duo was about to step forward to question him, a thought suddenly pierced his mind like an ice pick: Was the skin recently burned by the fire... in this stiff, lifeless state?
A surge of alertness rushes from the tailbone straight to the top of the head!
Sure enough, the next moment, the seemingly panicked and helpless healer girl's eyes suddenly became empty and cold, like a doll devoid of emotion. Without hesitation, she raised her hand and pulled out the longsword that was piercing her shoulder!
At the same time, the crew member on the ground, who was supposed to be on the verge of death from "severe burns," suddenly stood up from the deck! He ripped off his dark cloak, which, although stained, was still made of a very good material, revealing his perfectly intact and agile body underneath!
Tai'ao'duo reacted swiftly, letting out a sharp shout and retreating rapidly, shrinking himself behind the solid human wall formed by his personal guards!
At the same time, a dozen elite guards, under the stern command of their captain, drew their weapons with a clang, formed a battle formation, and surrounded the two spies!
Tai'ao'duo, still shaken, let out a long sigh of relief.
He thought to himself, "The biggest mistake these two foolish spies made was not to risk their lives to take him hostage the moment their disguise was exposed."
****
But General Tai'ao'duo soon understood the reason.
The healer girl and the burn patient moved like two ghostly bolts of lightning, striking in an instant! Their coordination was flawless. Jielusi's longsword suddenly took on a deep black light, and with a flash of cold light, the heads of the three closest soldiers flew off!
Ruixiuli clasped his hands together, and when he opened them again, two magical curved blades flowing with dark energy had materialized in his palms. As his figure moved like a ghost and the blades flew, the two guards who rushed at him were easily cut in half as if they were made of paper, their flesh and blood flying everywhere!
In just a few breaths, the entire squad of soldiers was wiped out before they could even mount a proper resistance. Ruixiuli stomped his foot on the deck, and a sickening sound of bones cracking and tendons snapping filled the air!
A large number of White Bone fragments were summoned and shot out from the fallen corpses, converging in his hand and condensing into a hideous bone blade stained with blood and flesh residue.
The two men's primary target was actually this group of soldiers!
Witnessing this bloody and bizarre scene, everyone alive on the deck gasped in horror!
Although the main force of mages went to the supply ship, there were still five powerful warriors left on board. They roared and pounced forward, their hands radiating magical or Dou Qi aura!
Jielusi's eyes grew colder, and the longsword in her hand, stained with the blood of herself and her enemies, danced in a chilling arc in the air. The souls of the guards who had just died were torn apart as if by an invisible vortex, screaming as they were swept in and pulverized!
"Soul Roar!"
A surge of black soul energy, mixed with countless fragments of souls and filled with agonizing screams, suddenly rippled outwards like a shockwave, carried by the immense dark Magic Power!
The first few powerful figures to charge forward were the focus of her attention. In an instant, they felt as if they had been struck by a heavy hammer, falling into a brief state of disorientation and confusion!
They barely managed to break free thanks to their profound cultivation and willpower, but Ruixiuli's ghostly figure had already descended upon them like a true Grim Reaper! The ferocious bone blade in his hand suddenly slashed out, instantly transforming into countless sharp bone spikes covered in a chilling death aura, shooting out like a torrential rain!
"Puff puff puff puff--!"
The sound of bone spurs piercing flesh was enough to make your teeth ache! Two experts were instantly riddled with bloody, human-shaped sieves! Another was seriously injured, desperately twisting his body to avoid vital organs, but half of his body was also pierced, and he staggered back screaming in agony.
The remaining two sensed the deadly danger the moment "Soul Howl" was activated, abruptly halting their forward momentum and dodging to the side, thus narrowly escaping death.
Then, Jielusi and Ruixiuli strolled leisurely toward the bridge, harvesting the lives of the ordinary soldiers who had been knocked unconscious and collapsed in the earlier assault. Blood flowed freely, completely staining the gleaming deck red, and more bone fragments and the souls of the newly dead swirled and gathered, replenishing the power of their weapons.
On the deck, no one dared to step forward and attack!
The bodyguards who had stood in front of General Tai'ao'duo collapsed in fear, dropping their weapons and fleeing in panic. The two killing machines thus arrived before the pale-faced general without any further obstacles.
****
Meanwhile, the mage team fighting the fire and searching the burning supply ship also discovered the fierce battle breaking out on the Vanguard Warrior. Realizing the danger, they immediately cast flight spells in an attempt to return and provide support.
They had barely taken off from the supply ship when they were horrified to discover that the "necromancer raiders" who had seemed to have fled in panic earlier had now returned with murderous intent, and their numbers had increased several times over!
This group of thugs had long since shed their disguises, their faces filled with naked murderous intent, like a swarm of frenzied sharks that had caught the scent of blood, charging straight at the Temple of Light's mage team!
Meanwhile, on the command deck of the Vanguard Warrior, Ruixiuli casually kicked aside an obstructive corpse, and the grotesque bone blade in his hand, stained with blood and gleaming with a chilling blue light, was firmly placed against Tai'ao'duo's carotid artery, exuding a merciless sense of oppression.
"Curse Blade Ruixiuli!" Tai'ao'duo spat out the name through gritted teeth. He then glared at the healer beside Ruixiuli, "Jielusi?! It's you, you Traitor! The Temple of Light has treated you well!"
"Nice to meet you, General Tai'ao'duo." Jielusi's face remained expressionless, but she showed no mercy as her longsword flashed with cold light, aiming straight for Tai'ao'duo's heart!
Fortunately, Ruixiuli reacted quickly, wielding his bone blade and narrowly blocking the fatal sword strike with a crisp clang. However, he clearly hadn't used his full strength, and Jielusi's sword tip was only deflected.
As a result, Jielusi's longsword and Ruixiuli's bone blade struck General Tai'ao'duo's left arm, one after the other!
"Tsk, I told you not to upset her," Ruixiuli said with a helpless "kind" reminder, even winking at Tai'ao'duo. "She's been going through... well, menopause! You see, I can't completely stop her."
"... You're the one going through menopause!" Even in her Shadow Form, Jielusi was angered by Ruixiuli's words.
With a flick of her wrist, the blade pierced General Tai'ao'duo's right arm, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound!
"Stop cutting! Stop cutting!" Tai'ao'duo was in so much pain that he was sweating profusely and trembling all over.
He instinctively wanted to cover his bleeding, excruciatingly painful arms, but he was afraid that any sudden movement would further enrage the crazed woman in front of him. He didn't even dare to argue that the "menopause" comment was clearly something Ruixiuli had said—why was he the one being chopped?
Tai'ao'duo's voice was trembling with tears, "I'll cooperate! I'll cooperate unconditionally! Please, please stop!"
****
Behind the two men, an officer, seeing an opportunity, secretly reached for the musket hanging at his waist.
Without even turning his head, Ruixiuli casually flicked his finger, and a piece of bone shard struck the officer in the chest!
"Puff!"
The muffled sound of bones shattering was clearly audible! The officer, with a bloody hole piercing his chest, collapsed heavily onto the cold deck, blood spreading rapidly.
"Surrender, and I'll spare your lives." Ruixiuli glanced at the remaining Temple of Light soldiers and officers on the deck, his tone flat. "Many of you should have fought me before. If you resist, I won't mind giving you a good beating."
Literally, it means to stretch and loosen up!
On the deck, there were indeed several bishops and paladins of considerable strength, their eyes flashing with struggle and resentment. However, after quickly weighing the difference in strength between the two sides, despair took over.
Among necromancers, "Curse Blade" Ruixiuli, who is recognized as the strongest in combat below the Saint Rank, is already very difficult to deal with.
Add to that Jielusi, who is equally formidable in combat and can switch to a healing/support form when necessary—although she currently seems only interested in hacking people to pieces... This is simply an invincible killing duo!
In the distance, the damage control team of necromancers had already swarmed in like a dark cloud of death, completely blocking all escape routes on the sea and in the air!
A senior bishop sighed, loosened his grip on the scepter, and let it fall with a clatter onto the blood-stained deck.
Letting these two killing machines onto the ship was an unforgivable mistake! Even more fatal was allowing ordinary soldiers to participate in the encirclement and kill, pointlessly providing the enemy with the corpses and soul materials needed to unleash powerful necromancy!
Then, like the first domino falling, more people dropped their weapons. The clanging of metal hitting the deck echoed like a mournful death knell, announcing the complete demise of the Vanguard Warrior.