Chapter 246: Double Hunting
In the Dark Wood World, there were no demon beasts. But there were many demoniac plants.
The most notorious one of them was the 'Dry Snake Vine' that often clung to the trees, which could be as long as hundreds of meters and as thick as a python. The bumps on its skin contained corrosive sap, too. It could be really tricky if one was caught.
Fifty students were all in their crystal suits now. They were doing final checks on their suits.
Li Yao observed his opponents carefully.
After two months of hard training, everyone had advanced greatly. They were riding their crystal suits so naturally that the suits seemed to be part of their bodies.
Most of the students were already in the high levels of the Refinement Stage. With the enhancement of the crystal suits, the air around them indicated that they were as powerful as the Building Foundation Stage Cultivators.
It was going to be a brutal battle!
While Li Yao was observing the others, he was being observed, too.
He'd chosen the Bloody Blade Battlesuit that he was familiar with, with camouflage patterns painted on the skin. It was striped with yellowish and greenish colors and did not look very attractive.
But no one dared to look down upon it.
If someone could take down Zhou Zhenghao, the 'steel man', they would be definitely stronger than they currently looked.
Long Qianyue and Yuan Yeshi were scanning and detecting the characteristics of Li Yao's crystal suit carefully. They each had their own plans on how to deal with him.
After a moment, the screen inside everyone's crystal suit displayed a countdown.
Three, two, one!
The second round of the elimination match had begun!
50 crystal suits, unleashing intensive exhaust flames, dashed into the dark, primitive forest from all directions.
The moment he entered the forest, Li Yao turned the power rune arrays down to minimum and switched to stealth mode. He moved in the forest quietly.
Instead of searching for the light spots scattered in the forest immediately, he decided to get familiar with the territory and figure out a forest combat strategy first.
"Swish!"
A Dry Snake Vine lunged at him ruthlessly.
"Shua!"
After a flash of the saber, the vine was cut into two slices.
The corrosive sap from the fracture almost reached Li Yao when he shunned it hurriedly. The sap fell to the ground and emitted terrible smell.
Li Yao observed his surroundings carefully. All the plants in the Dark Wood World were larger than normal. The thorns were thicker than his thigh. None of the trees here were lower than a hundred meters, forming a cage that locked everything inside.
He stayed in the forest for quite a while, and it was not until cries and explosions were echoing not far from him that he shifted his attention to the map.
Two hundred light spots were glimmering in the map.
Some of the light spots had been gathered together, releasing a brightness that was even more distinctive than fireflies at night.
They were the ones that were already claimed by some students. There were not many unclaimed light spots now.
Under the guidance of the map, he leaped forward from tree to tree like an agile ape.
Very soon, he found a light spot floating in the air among twigs.
The shining miniature beast puppet flew upwards the moment it felt a crystal suit was drawing near.
Li Yao stomped on the tree and followed it like an arrow just unleashed from the bow. He caught the light spot in his hand.
His spiritual threads crowded into the miniature beast puppet and activated the control program.
The miniature beast puppet stopped moving and stayed over his head.
The first light spot had been collected!
Soon, the second and third light spots were dancing over Li Yao's head, too.
However, just like he could see the light spots on the map, so could everybody else.
As more and more light spots were claimed, there was too little meat for so many wolves. Conflicts were brewing.
Under the fourth light spot, Li Yao came across another student, who already had four light spots over his head.
The two of them stood and stared at each other quietly.
All added together, there were only eight light spots here in total, which was not enough for either of them to win.
Therefore, they didn't start fighting immediately.
After a moment, Li Yao slowly retreated to darkness.
The other student was relieved. He thought that Li Yao feared his capability and didn't want to fight over a single light spot.
However, the relief didn't last long. Li Yao dashed out of darkness at him like a giant serpent!
His retreat was only meant to increase the distance between them so that he could sprint!
Fast!
Li Yao was too fast!
The student was aware that Li Yao was not a newbie, but it never occurred to him that Li Yao would be so strong!
There was no time to dodge. He waved his chainsword by instinct.
Li Yao felt great danger, but he still went directly for his opponent.
He lowered his body, allowing the chainsword to leave deep damage on his left shoulder. Then, in a flash of moonlight from down to top, he broke through the other student's spiritual shield and slashed his saber at his opponent's neck, the weakest part of the crystal suit.
Dazzling spiritual energy sparks burst out from the other student's crystal suit. He was immediately determined to be 'dead' by the system and fell to the ground, unable to move anymore.
The light spots on his head were freed and pulled over by Li Yao's spiritual threads.
Now, Li Yao was in possession of eight light spots, which made him extremely bright in the map.
He could feel that several crystal suits were coming close at a high speed even without the help of the crystal suit.
He moved his shoulder, and found that although its defense capability had been greatly diminished, the shoulder could still function normally.
Li Yao licked his lips. Then he began carrying out his plans.
Half a minute later.
After a rattling sound, a crystal suit charged out of the bushes towards the target it just locked.
When he reached it, he found that his target was rigid and had no light spots over his head because he was already determined to be 'dead'.
Above his head, two Dry Snake Vines snuck down toward him.
He waved his blades and cut the two vines into pieces. But before he caught his breath, a chainsword pierced into his chest from inside the tree in front him and eliminated him instantly!
Li Yao had dug a hole in the middle of the tree, put the chainsword in it, and pasted the bark back.
With the burst of his spiritual energies, the chainsword was boosted and hit the newcomer instantly!
The student collapsed, completely stupefied.
Two light spots were floating slowly.
Li Yao smiled and stretched his spiritual threads to catch them.
He had gathered ten light spots, which met the first requirement.
Now, the countdown began. He needed to keep the light spots for ten minutes.
Since he had ten light spots already, his mark on the map turned into dangerously red, making him a target for everyone
Li Yao started running without any hesitation.
In less than two seconds, the place where he had been stood was pierced by more than 10 flying swords.
Soon, he noticed that he had several pursuers. He put the body movement technique he'd learnt in the dust storms into practice, turning himself into an erratic leaf in high winds.
For a time, he was on the top of the hundreds-of-meter tall trees; for a while, he was among the branches that were tangled together; for a moment, he was diving to the ground like he was committing suicide and didn't turn his direction until he was only half a meter away from the ground.
The followers found it difficult to chase him. Two of them even crashed into each other because of Li Yao's delicate, small-scale movements.
The distance between Li Yao and his followers grew larger and larger.
Right then, ahead of Li Yao, the bark of a giant tree twisted weirdly. A faint brightness shined and disappeared.
Li Yao felt that his heart had been pricked by a needle. He knew a great danger was coming. But there was no time for him to react except to lift his left arm in the hope to hold it back.
"Shua!"
He felt that his left arm was on fire. Dozens of warnings appeared on the screen of the crystal suit, indicating that his left arm had lost all functions.
If it were in a real battle field, his left arm would've been cut off already.
A crystal suit in an exotic shape revealed itself in the trunk. It was tall, thin, and green in color. Two sickles were installed at the ends of its arms. All in all, it looked like a metal mantis.
"Green Sickle Battlesuit, one of the most dangerous melee crystal suits, has four mimesis rune arrays on its skin, which gives it with the ability of imitation. The crescent chainswords on its arms can even tear apart the shells of a demon general!"
Li Yao remembered that the wearer of the Green Sickle Battlesuit was Yuan Yeshi.
"Li Yao, it never occurred to me that you could avoid my critical attack after only two months of training. That's tremendous progress. Good for you!"
Seven light spots were floating over Yuan Yeshi's head. He rubbed his crescent chainswords that looked like two giant sickles. Sparks were dancing as he said, "I really would like to figure out how you defeated Zhou Zhenghao one month ago. Please, do tell me everything about it with your true abilities!"
Li Yao took a deep breath and crouched. Two dust storms with wind and thunder were forming in his eyes.
Suddenly, he blinked. All his killing scent was gone. He turned around and went on fleeing to the deep forest.
Yuan Yeshi was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why Li Yao would choose to run away when he had brought up his killing scent and was ready for a desperate fight.
Half a second later, a crystal suit that looked like a silver fox in moonlight showed up beside Yuan Yeshi.
It was the Moon Fox Battlesuit driven by Long Qianyue, who had nine light spots over her head.
The other four pursuers were there, too, only to find that the top two experts of the training camp had already come.
They looked at each other in discontent. Knowing that they could do nothing about it, they retreated silently.
Yuan Yeshi's face turned pale. Faced with the greatest enemy in the camp, he crossed the crescent chainswords before his chest.
Long Qianyue glanced at him and shook her head. She said, not without contempt, "I'm well aware of your capability, which does not interest me."
After that, she dashed toward the direction in which Li Yao had fled like a silver laser.
Yuan Yeshi felt that his face was burning. He roared, "Long Qianyue, you can't be certain of victory if we were to fight in real combat! Don't be so outrageous!"
Gritting his teeth, he circled and followed up from a different angle.
Long Qianyue and Yuan Yeshi, the two best candidates in the training camp, were closer and closer to Li Yao, like two fangs of a beast, or a pair of pliers, that were ready to press him into pieces.