Chapter 414: Landslide
Liam hadn’t forgotten about it, but preparing for such a possibility was impossible due to the multitude of shapes it could assume.
That wasn’t even Liam’s first time witnessing it. His first experience had been in the Mutated Battlefield, with a level two magical beast as the culprit.
Magical beasts weren’t mere twisted, mutated, Qi-enhanced versions of animals. They could develop sparks and intelligence, as well as abilities no different than martial arts.
In the bear’s case, it possessed a movement technique, a destructive burst of speed that had unleashed mayhem onto the mountain’s slope, with all that immense power converging on Liam.
Once again, Liam had the fortune, or misfortune, of having experienced the matter already. He had faced rank 3 martial arts cast by a branching expert, and there was only one way of dealing with them.
A forward, violent burst of black Qi blew over the crumbling area. Anything even remotely brittle was destroyed on the spot, while everything else just flew away, creating a storm of debris.
The battlefield transformed. Mayhem kept afflicting the mountain, causing chain reactions that prevented any fighting. Rocks and soil took over the air. The unending earthquake intensified to debilitating proportions, and the whole area caved in, causing a landslide.
Most cultivators spread out, getting away from the chaos’ epicenter, planning to retreat toward more stable areas to make the point of the situation.
Others used that opportunity to take their opponents by surprise, uncaring about what happened to them, with the owls being the main culprits there. Blood spurted everywhere as attacks landed while the slope fell prey to gravity.
A few held their positions to exploit the chaos and advance toward the mountain’s peak or chase after the group that had split earlier. Few succeeded, while everyone else saw claws tear their bodies apart.
The three bears had reacted to the destruction better than anyone else, retaining their blockade. They were level three magical beasts after all. They were beings beyond mere landslides.
And then, there were two who had never once stopped fighting, no matter what happened around them or beneath their feet.
Liam ricocheted among the rolling boulders, his feet launching thundering explosions that left wisps of black Qi in their place, climbing through the landslide.
Blood flowed down Liam’s face, dripping from his chin. Two hideous cuts ran from the top of his head to his forehead. The rank 3 Deflecting Gale had saved him, but not completely, and another third of his Qi was now gone. His body was actually dangerously empty, but a dark pill was already between his teeth.
Liam didn’t hesitate to use a Qi-Storage Pill, which quickly refilled his body, saving his core from using its reserves, letting it focus on producing more energy instead.
Behind Liam, the scarred bear was hot in pursuit, its immense strength and weight putting it at a disadvantage in that unstable environment. It pushed through the falling boulders and caving ground, crushing anything that slammed into it, but was unable to catch up with Liam.
That wasn’t due to the environmental opposition. Mere boulders were less than pebbles in front of the bear’s strength and resilience. Even the biggest ones couldn’t slow it down, let alone injure it.
With enough time and effort, the bear could probably level the entire mountain to the ground, but that was the issue. It was too strong, so its paws crushed any foothold it found before it could generate any meaningful acceleration. Its legs dug through it instead of propelling it forward.
Despite all that, the bear kept climbing after Liam. Occasionally, the landslide would bury it, only for it to leap past it in the next fraction of a second, as soon as its paws found anything remotely viable.
The two were locked in a stalemate, with Liam unable to gain ground. Mere ten meters separated them, and he knew it wouldn’t last.
The landslide would end at some point. Liam wasn’t safe from the bear’s true speed or its absurd movement ability. He had just delayed the inevitable since the magical beast looked fixated on him.
Admittedly, throwing the level three creature around and tickling its insides could explain the fixation, but that was beside the point. Liam knew that escaping was unlikely, as well as something else.
That favorable environment wouldn’t last, so Liam had to strike now.
The body-enhancing pill’s effects were still running, so Liam started chaining Lightning Steps. His body had also improved after the recent training session, holding strong even after the sixth speed burst.
Liam just kept climbing, accelerating as the seventh, eighth, and ninth speed bursts arrived. Then, at the tenth, he made a sharp turn.
While additional iterations of the Lightning Step resounded, Liam didn’t accelerate anymore. He kept his speed steady, at the very limit of what his body could endure without breaking significantly and what his senses could keep up with.
Liam had a fine line to thread, one where a slight miscalculation could easily lead to his death, but it was the quickest method out of that situation.
A level three magical beast’s senses were no joke, especially its sixth one. The bear felt the incoming danger even before seeing the explosions on the rolling boulders ahead converging on its position.
The bear leaped, swinging its front paws at unbelievable speed, only for its figure to descend instead of rise. It had tried to attack, to intercept the threat, but the crumbling ground had been unable to endure its might.
The swing hit empty air, worsening the bear’s stance. Without the front paws, it could only fall prey to the cave-in. Meanwhile, thunderous explosions crossed it and resounded behind it, but not before five deep cuts opened on its right arm.
The pain was sharp now. The bear roared, twisting its body, its rear paws finally landing on something firm, allowing a turn powerful enough to blow several square meters of soil and rocks away.
However, the thundering explosions had already moved elsewhere, again not before leaving a gift. The bear had gained five new deep cuts, this time on its right side.
The bear went into a frenzy. It thrashed violently, chasing after the explosions, roaring, biting, jumping, charging, and swinging. It even attempted to perform its destructive movement ability, but that only worsened its predicament.
The more strength the bear tried to exert, the more it moved, the more the ground crumbled or exploded, at times even vanishing entirely, leaving it powerless to use its incredible might. That thrashing even prolonged the landslide.
Unless the bear calmed down and endured to let things settle or learned to fly, its predicament wouldn’t change. A cultivator might have understood that point, but a magical beast just had no chance.
Eventually, the landslide came to an end. The mountain’s slope settled into a maimed shape. From a distance, it would look as if something had bitten away a huge chunk of its side.
The cultivators who had escaped returned in droves, only to find those fighting the three bears still engaged in careful battles. Everyone else, instead, had temporarily halted their minor scuffles, remaining wary of the owls above, but keeping track of a long streak of boulders to their right.
That side of the battlefield was empty now. The path to slip away seemed open, but no one moved, as if waiting for something, inevitably affecting the newcomers.
An upward explosion of rocks, soil, and debris eventually unfolded in that empty area, intensifying the general wariness. Even the group busy with the level three magical beasts cast glances there, wanting to see how the battlefield would shift.
A paw was the first thing to come out, and the motionless crowd almost scattered again. Few were crazy enough to fight a level three magical beast, and those slots were already taken.
Yet, there was something odd about that paw. It rose ever so slightly multiple times, but seemed to apply no strength. It wasn’t even clinging to the now-stable area.
Then, the entire bear came out, seemingly having leaped through the annoying hindrance, parting enough ground that another landslide sounded ready to start.
The cultivators began to scatter, only for those who threw additional looks behind to notice something odd and stop again, affecting everyone else.
The bear landed on the ground and rolled on its back, its legs sprawled, its motionless figure having sets of five bleeding cuts everywhere, with two creating a deep cross on its face.
Something else jumped out of the hole at that point. A tall, burly man covered in dirt landed next to the bear, his hair a disheveled mess that partially covered his scarred forehead, his feet bleeding, black wisps leaking all over his figure.
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