Chapter 121.1: No War in Cliff City Part 1
They were safe! Even though Ji Jue’s lifeline turned out to be a boy prettier than him, it still felt a little strange.
The moment that familiar face appeared in his vision, Ji Jue couldn’t help but finally relax. So this is the sense of security a White Deer Chosen One One can give me? As expected of An Ran. Truly reassuring!
What began as a long-prepared opening shot was nothing more than a greeting. The moment An Ran took the high ground, a storm of steel poured out from his sleeves. Lightning rolled on and on, while iron fell like a torrential downpour, and the earth trembled violently.
All Ji Jue could see were streaks of straight white lines tearing through the air, all pointing toward the enemy swallowed by the storm below. Scorching iron fragments, accompanied by thunderous impacts, pierced the skull, neck, heart, liver, hands, tendons, legs, and groin of the Swarm Chosen One.
The terrifying power comparable to anti-material sniper rounds exploded into bursts of blood mist. The sheer impact shattered and flung away countless chunks of flesh and bone, and yet, he still did not stop. It was almost like post-mortem abuse.
“Mr. Ji, be careful!” An Ran said tensely. “His matrix is the Empire’s Iron Guard!”
The Swarm Path inherited from the Empire’s legions and was famed for resilience and defense. The Mountain Dragon Corps had repeatedly faced overwhelming numbers in brutal trench warfare. After months upon months of endless attrition, numerous enemies had been ground down and killed by this matrix, like meat in a grinder.
Through White Deer’s instinctive perception, An Ran had already sensed the blessings and aura on the opponent: precognition that allowed one to foresee the enemy’s next move, First Strike; Lion’s Vigor, which allowed one to ignore pain and interference and maintain full combat ability as long as they were still breathing; and Storm Sweep, which made every charge and attack unstoppable.
If it truly was the Iron Guard, then these injuries alone were probably not enough to take him out of the fight.
From the spreading sea of blood, that mangled body twitched once more. On the shattered face, flesh and broken gums opened and closed as half of it struggled to move again, instinctually offering a prayer.
“O exalted Lord of Soldiers, I dedicate all suffering unto you...”
Within the surging scarlet flames, the shattered corpse riddled with holes rapidly recovered. Flesh regenerated, bones reconnected, skin wriggled and grew back. On that corrupted face, twisted demonic horns emerged, and one blood-red eye after another opened across his cheeks.
Then came a layer of dark crimson armor, like coagulated blood scabs, forming within the flames.
Bang!
The iron fragment An Ran had thrown embedded itself in the armor. After acquiring the common, almost mass-produced blessings within the Swarm path, such as Battle Frenzy, Burning Soul, and Blood Drinking, the true effect of the Iron Guard matrix was activated.
Battle Revival!
In the blink of an eye, he was back to full health! Ji Jue’s mind went blank.
After I finally managed to take off a chunk of his HP, this bastard just entered phase two and healed back to full. How the hell are you supposed to fight this?!
Even though such a terrifying effect surely consumed an enormous amount of spirit matter, the problem was that, according to Ji Jue’s memory, the Iron Guard’s higher inheritance ritual granted a power called Soul Seizure, which allowed the user to steal spirit matter from slain enemies.
The efficiency of the theft was at most fifty to sixty percent, and it came with severe mental burden and side effects, but the enemy was already in a corrupted state anyway. There was no way to make him any more insane than he already was. Could he really be expecting that he would somehow cancel that out with a negative-plus-negative-equals-positive situation?
Boom!
Another deafening impact tore through the air. If not for Horsey suddenly burning its tires and executing a sharp in-place dodge, Ji Jue would have probably been smashed straight off the vehicle. All the opponent had done was casually reach down, pull up a broken chunk of curb from the ground, and throw it at them.
Even so, it still smashed in the truck bed. Amid Horsey’s wailing horn, it was instantly dented and deformed. Ji Jue’s eyes nearly split open at the sight.
“My fresh paint job from two days ago!!!”
Damn it. His vehicle didn’t even have insurance. He had searched all of Cliff City and couldn’t find a single insurance company willing to cover a three-wheeled monstrosity like Horsey. As for the bodywork, he would probably have to fix it himself.
The blood-soaked Chosen One of the Swarm raised his head, lifted his longsword high, and screamed madly, “Charge! Charge! Charge!! Mountain Dragon Corps is invincible! Invincible! Invincible!”
Once again, he began singing that impassioned military anthem, completely immersed in the battlefield. Laughing wildly, he waved his hand and cut down all the iron fragments An Ran had thrown at him, advancing forward step by step.
Suddenly, he staggered. A motorcycle parked by the roadside roared to life. Without the slightest hesitation, it accelerated and leapt into the air. The hundreds-of-kilograms vehicle spun midair and slammed straight into Herbert, only to be cleanly split in two by a single strike, exploding apart. Fuel sprayed everywhere and ignited into flames, yet he seemed entirely unaffected, completely ignoring the fire.
His scarlet eyes locked onto Ji Jue. He activated Storm Sweep once more at full charge, and he surged forward through the blood flames!
Then, he slammed head-on into an empty off-road vehicle in a deafening crash. Before he could regain his footing, Ji Jue gritted his teeth and pointed at a rust-covered road maintenance truck nearby.
“Kill him!!!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ji Jue had completely stopped caring. Most of the civilians had already fled, so there was basically no risk of collateral damage anymore. Besides, he was doing official business for a government agency. Who would even bother compensating for this kind of damage? Tonight’s entire bill was on the Security Bureau!
Under the earth-shaking tremors, explosions and collisions rang out one after another. Tong Hua, who stood beside him, was completely stunned.
From afar, a loud horn blared. Wind and shockwaves surged forth as tires spun wildly and vehicles sped forward.
“Fucking hell!” Tong Hua screamed, unable to hold herself back.
Wait a second, dude, wait a second, calm down! Who the hell is the one actually here to destroy Cliff City?!
And for the grand finale, here came a fuel tanker Ji Jue had straight-up hijacked from the road nearby!
The mercury tether shot through the window, yanked the terrified driver out and tossed him aside. Ji Jue wiped away the nosebleed caused by excessive spiritual consumption and shouted without hesitation, “Go die, fucker!!!”
BOOM!!!
The wreckage of countless vehicles swallowed the figure whole. After the violent collision, a deafening shout powerful enough to shatter every window in the entire block resounded. Flames danced and gushed, shockwaves spread and expanded, and thick smoke billowed into the sky.
Wild tongues of fire shot into the air, turning the dull yellow clouds a deep blood-red. A scorching heatwave rushed straight at them.
Tong Hua swallowed nervously. She turned back, as if wanting to say something, but then saw that Ji Jue still hadn’t stopped. He lowered his head and, without hesitation, rummaged through Horsey’s truck bed, pulling out... a six-barreled machine gun?!
Ever since the last time he merely stepped outside and got instantly locked onto by a sniper, Ji Jue had made it a rule that whenever he left the workshop, he would bring all his tools and equipment with him. Since he had Horsey, there was no need to carry anything himself.
This machine gun had been repaired just a few days after he returned from the rift realm. He had originally planned to return it to Ms. Layla after finishing his errands, but he never expected it to come in handy today.
Under Tong Hua’s expression, as if she had seen a ghost, Ji Jue’s hands moved so fast they left afterimages. He pushed his Flawless Craft to its absolute limit. In just a few breaths, he had assembled it onto a hardened mercury support frame.
The barrel was already raised, locked firmly onto the burning wreckage and flames in the distance.
Tong Hua stared at him. “Hey, you. What are you doing?”
Ji Jue looked solemn. “Don’t let your guard down. The unlucky ones in horror movies always die like this. All smoke but no damage[1], you know?”
Tong Hua opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to speak.
Damn it, horror movies only have unlucky college students dying off one by one. None of them are psychos who casually detonate fuel tankers in the middle of the street! Who the hell switches to terrorist mode the moment they panic?!
She heard footsteps coming from within the flames. One step, then another. Staggering forward, a blurred figure that looked almost like a charred corpse dragged a broken, half-melted blade out from the burning hellscape and walked out of the inferno. He was... still alive?!
However, his body and blood were burning.
“Voices... their... voices...”
Instinctively, Herbert staggered forward, glancing around in a confused, difficult search. All sound had vanished, and it was so quiet. But when his scorched eyes looked ahead, through the haze of illusion, he seemed to finally understand.
Fire. It’s fire.
At the end of this hellish nightmare, that overwhelming tide filling the sky and covering the earth was so beautiful, like a crystallization of destruction and death. That was the end of the path.
From his carbonized throat came a sound like a wailing laugh. He panted, struggling forward, one step, then another toward Ji Jue.
But now, Ji Jue was no longer afraid.
Someone appeared beside him. It was Mr. Zhang. Just like that, he watched as the dying beast shattered little by little in its own wailing, the burning footprints abruptly coming to a halt halfway through.
Herbert fell backward, staring up at the sky. In his dimming vision, the blood-red hue above seemed to slowly fade away as well. The sunset was magnificent, the evening glow brilliant and radiant.
A broken arm lifted, futilely reaching toward the last strand of fading sunlight.
And then, it all fell apart. The endless war finally came to an end. At last, he could sleep properly.
1. “Smoke but no damage” is a common trope or meme in anime, games, and film. It refers to a scene where a character unleashes a big ultimate move, causing a massive explosion and clouds of smoke, but once the smoke clears, the opponent casually walks out completely unharmed. ☜
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