Chapter 75: Slaying the Enemy
If they were only facing a single Level 3 Hex Master, even one whose experience bar had reached 90%, the official Walkers could have taken him down through sheer numbers. Capturing him alive would have been harder, but still possible.
Now, though, they faced four powerful enemies, and the situation was entirely different. Who was the hunter and who was the prey? That was anyone's guess.
This is going to be tricky, Zhang Yuanqing thought as he felt a quiet anxiety rising in his chest, but he didn't panic. Wordlessly, he drifted closer to Li Dongze and Guan Ya. He had plenty of cards left to play, and if the situation spiraled, protecting those two would be his first priority.
Green Vine's pretty face took on a serious expression, and she swept her over the four "venomous beasts" before saying in a low, commanding voice, "White Dragon, Big Muscle, you two team up and keep Rampaging Recklessly occupied. Li Dongze, your evasion is high, so you handle the spider woman. I'll take the insectoid. Tang Guoqiang, the snake is yours.
"Guan Ya, you are our best marksman. Provide suppressive fire wherever it's needed. Yuanshi, you're on ambush duty. Use your own judgment. Everyone else, pick a captain to support and make sure the compositions make sense. Once we finish off the three creatures, we converge on Rampaging Recklessly together."
"Understood!" the other Walkers answered in unison.
***
Big Muscle made the first move. A fireball blossomed in his palm. Gripping it tight, he stepped forward and hurled it with everything he had.
Rampaging Recklessly didn't budge. He simply tilted his head, and the white hot fireball grazed his neck before smashing into the wall behind him.
Sparks exploded outward with a boom, but instead of scattering, they coalesced into a towering silhouette—Big Muscle himself.
This was Fire Walk, the Level 3 Fire Sage's active skill. Within twenty meters, the user could ride to any location with flames, achieving something close to teleportation.
Having closed the distance instantly, Big Muscle's body erupted in searing fire. His aura turned savage and wild as he pressed right up against Rampaging Recklessly and unleashed a flurry of blows.
His fists rained down on the Hex Master's chest, stomach, and face, each impact throwing off a shower of sparks and driving the monster stumbling backward.
Thud, thud.
Rampaging Recklessly planted his feet and caught Big Muscle's wrist in a viselike grip, and his face split into a wide grin. "Not a bad punch. That actually stung a little!"
Then, he drove a kick straight into the captain's lower abdomen.
Big Muscle flew sideways like a poorly struck football, slamming into the wall at the far end of the corridor. The entire structure shuddered on impact.
It wasn't a gap in technique. It was a gap in raw power. The venomous creature Rampaging Recklessly had fused with specialized in defense and brute strength.
***
At the same moment Big Muscle was sent flying, White Dragon surfed upward on a sheet of clear water, the current carrying her to the second floor. She didn't draw the long blade strapped to the back of her hand. Instead, she conjured two orbs of water in her palms and drove them toward Rampaging Recklessly.
"You're asking to die!"
To him, this attack was riddled with openings, and seemed practically suicidal. He drew his fist back, tensed every muscle in his body until they bulged, and threw a punch straight at White Dragon's head.
Splat!
Her head exploded, bursting into a spray of water droplets, only to reassemble a heartbeat later. Her momentum didn't falter as she pressed both water orbs against his chest.
A sharp hissing filled the air, and the scales that Big Muscle's flames had heated to a scorching red now billowed with white steam.
Bang, bang!
Two gunshots followed immediately, and Rampaging Recklessly felt a stab of pain in his chest. The bullets had cracked the scales he'd thought indestructible. The rapid shift between extreme heat and cold had turned them brittle.
His amber, slit-pupiled eyes blazed with fury as he glared down at Guan Ya's position in the living room. "You rotten woman..."
She didn't spare him a glance, nor did she fire again. The others still needed her covering fire elsewhere.
***
The spacious living room had descended into total chaos.
The lone Nocturnal Specter lurked in a corner, calmly observing the battle, in no rush to act. He maintained the patience an assassin should.
On the west side of the living room, the spider woman's opponents were Li Dongze, two Earth Wraiths, and two Wood Demons.
She reared up on four legs, her body towering high, while her other four legs stabbed around her like spears in a dizzying blur of afterimages.
Li Dongze held the front line, his walking cane blocking, sweeping, and thrusting. With that single cane, he deflected the four "spears" striking at him from every conceivable angle. He seemed to anticipate the spider woman's attacks, and whenever a blow proved impossible to parry, he simply sidestepped it with fluid, precise footwork.
Each exchange looked perilous, yet he emerged unscathed every time.
The two Wood Demons, renowned for their agility, circled the spider woman and fired at her bloated arachnid abdomen and head. Every shot found its mark, bullets tearing through the swollen black flesh and drawing spurts of yellowish green fluid.
The spider woman had no impressive defenses, but she possessed a terrifying regenerative ability and considerable speed. Wounds torn open by bullets sealed themselves within seconds.
Zhang Yuanqing watched, slack-jawed. Squad Leader's close combat skills are this strong? I'm sorry, Squad Leader. I shouldn't have called you a vision ward worth 75 gold...
On the south side, Level 3 Wood Demon Green Vine led two Water Ghosts and two Fire Sages in a ferocious engagement with the humanoid insect. Tables and chairs shattered under them as they fought, and the floor itself cracked.
The beautiful woman in the qipao possessed monstrous strength. She matched the insectoid blow for blow without giving an inch, and with her teammates coordinating with her, she even managed to suppress the creature.
The quietest fight belonged to Tang Guoqiang and the serpentine creature. The middle-aged man in the hardhat had clamped onto the snake's tail with both arms, his feet planted firmly on the ground, drawing an endless supply of the earth's power. He didn't budge a millimeter.
The great serpent coiled around him in fury, its body tightening, muscles straining, trying to crush the man's bones to powder, but an Earth Wraith's hide was thick and tough as an iron ingot. The serpent tried lunging at him, striking with its venom laced fangs, but Tang Guoqiang's hardhat projected an earthy yellow barrier of light around him each time, deflecting every bite. The two were locked in a stalemate.
Guan Ya spread her arms wide, alternating her fire between the spider woman and the insectoid humanoid, constantly shifting her stance to support the entire battlefield.
Big Muscle and White Dragon are being suppressed, even though they are working together. They can't hold out much longer. We need to finish the three creatures fast, Zhang Yuanqing thought as he studied the enemies' characteristics, weighing which item to use.
The Dream Entry Jade Talisman is a lifeline. Its summoned entity is a Sovereign tier evil class. I can't use it unless things get truly desperate. The Red Veil loses a charge with every use. Another last resort.
The Red Dancing Shoes... These creatures either have overwhelming defense or regeneration. The shoes could suppress them, but they wouldn't secure a quick kill, and using them would reveal that I possess a rule-type item.
He recalled how the Red Dancing Shoes had pinned down the Enchanting Demon when he'd killed Ou Xiangrong, grinding the creature down bit by bit. The most terrifying aspect of that rule-type item wasn't its destructive power. It was the relentless, unstoppable pursuit.
I haven't seen the others use any items... Well, that makes sense. Not every Spirit Realm Walker can acquire items. Every one of mine was bought with my life. Xie Lingxi has three items, but she's survived an S-rank dungeon and she's the young heiress of a noble Spirit Realm Walker house...
Something else seemed strange to him as well. The creatures should all be Spirit Realm Walkers. Why hadn't they used any skills? Was it a side effect of the transformation, or had they lost so much of their rational thought that they were unable to control their abilities anymore?
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Li Dongze was in danger.
***
Li Dongze saw the spider woman's abdomen convulse as she reared her head high.
He knew immediately that something was wrong. Instinct took over and he threw himself sideways. A glob of sticky webbing splattered across the spot where he'd been standing.
He kept on rolling. Wads of silk shot after him one by one, each narrowly missing, until finally a strand caught both his legs and glued them firmly to the floor.
The spider woman's eyes blazed a fierce, blazing crimson, and two of her iron-spike legs rose high and plunged downward.
Bang, bang!
The two Wood Demons aimed at the spider woman's head and fired.
Her skull snapped sideways as if struck by a club, and her body lurched with it.
That saved Li Dongze's life. One of her spider legs had stabbed deep into his shoulder; the other punched a hole in the floor beside his waist.
The spider woman hissed and erupted in rage. Overcome by the instinct of raw hatred, she abandoned Li Dongze and lunged at the Wood Demons who had shot her in the head.
The two Earth Wraiths dragged Li Dongze to safety.
Li Dongze sucked in a sharp breath. His shoulder was agony, and it felt as if someone was pouring boiling oil over his ankles again and again.
The spider silk was powerfully corrosive, possibly even toxic.
"Squad Leader, are you okay?" Zhang Yuanqing asked as he hurried over.
Li Dongze looked down at himself. He was a mess, and completely drenched in blood. Still, he managed a rueful smile. "Of course not. This is very undignified. I can't fight anymore. The Level 2 Earth Wraiths can't withstand her lunges, and your evasion is a bit lacking, Yuanshi. You can only ambush her. You can't hold the front line."
By then the two Wood Demons had been pushed to the brink. They possessed exceptional agility, but they couldn't predict her attacks the way a Scout could.
The only reason they'd lasted this long was Guan Ya's covering fire.
"Go help them," Li Dongze said, brow furrowed tight.
The sudden shift in their fight drew the attention of Tang Guoqiang, Green Vine, and the other official Walkers, whose hearts collectively sank.
Without Li Dongze, a Level 3 Scout, pinning the spider woman down, a handful of Level 2 Walkers had no hope of containing her. The balance would shatter. Not only would they have to fight their own opponents, they'd also have to watch for the spider woman flanking them. If she caught anyone off-guard and killed even a few of them, the scales of victory would tip decisively.
Furthermore, the battle still raged on the second floor. There was no telling how long White Dragon and Big Muscle could hold.
"Leave it to me, Squad Leader." Zhang Yuanqing's voice brimmed with confidence. "I've already figured out their patterns."
He opened his Inventory and drew out a slender yanagiba, forty centimeters of gleaming cold steel. Li Dongze looked on, stunned, as he reversed his grip and plunged the blade into his own thigh.
In that instant, the item born from the Enchanting Demon stirred to life. It drank greedily from its master's blood and vitality, and Zhang Yuanqing felt his strength draining away.
The spider woman has amazing regeneration, he calculated. Ordinary attacks can only do so much. The Bloodthirsty Blade's bleeding effect is the perfect counter.
"Guan Ya, cover me!" he shouted as he slipped into Night Wandering. His figure faded away, inch by inch, until he vanished entirely.
Guan Ya had been firing at Rampaging Recklessly when she heard the call. She pivoted on one foot, twisted at the waist, and swung both arms around. Her muzzles locked onto the spider woman and she squeezed the triggers without hesitation.
Compared to the Wood Demons' pray-and-spray style of firing, Guan Ya's aim was pinpoint. Bullets struck the spider woman's head, shoulders, and chest one after another, punching through flesh and sending blood spraying in all directions.
The spider woman staggered, and the two Wood Demons broke away in visible relief. They'd been seconds from collapsing. Even as they retreated, they kept firing over their shoulders.
Suddenly, they saw something bizarre. The spider woman's pale, slender neck split open from one side, as if an invisible blade had slashed itself across her throat.
The spider woman's body tilted, her eight legs hammering into the floor in a dazzling blur, pushing her body ten or more centimeters to the side and causing her to narrowly escape decapitation.
A figure burst into the air in front of her.
Guan Ya slid her feet apart, adjusted her angle, and was about to let off another burst of covering fire when the spider woman, carotid artery still gushing blood, tore open her small crimson mouth until it stretched all the way to her ears and let out a piercing shriek.
Waves of sound blew through the villa. Every person inside, including the three venomous beasts, felt their brains buzz. Expressions went blank, and minds were emptied of thoughts.
The spider woman reared her upper body high, raised two forelegs, and slammed them down.
Damn it, she's a Musician!
In that split second, Zhang Yuanqing transferred the dizzying effect to Little Goofball inside his body. The curled up, sleeping infant spirit kicked both legs as if caught in a nightmare.
Suspended in midair with nowhere to dodge, Zhang Yuanqing calmly opened his Inventory and summoned the Orb of the Steadfast. The razor sharp spider legs struck his body and were met by the earthy yellow aura radiating from his skin.
The moment he landed, Zhang Yuanqing recalled the orb to his Inventory, rolled sideways, and vanished. He entered Night Wandering once more.
That exchange confirmed one thing. The creatures still retained their original skills, but having lost their reason, they could only wield those abilities on instinct. Fine control was beyond them.
He sprang to his feet, circled behind the spider woman, and drove the Bloodthirsty Blade deep into her bloated, grotesque abdomen. Then he ripped the knife sideways with all his strength.
The belly, covered in ugly, twisted patterns, split wide open. A torrent of yellowish green fluid gushed out, along with revolting tangles of internal tissue. The spider woman shrieked and recoiled, tilting her head back to unleash another piercing wail. Sound waves cascaded outward.
Blood still fountained from the severed artery in her neck. Her abdomen convulsed and writhed, desperately trying to knit itself back together, but the bleeding effect of his yanagiba constricted the effects of her regeneration. All she could do was feel her life draining away in despair.
After a frenzy of dying thrashes and blind charges, she collapsed beside the window, twitching feebly, and finally went still.
