Chapter 971: Strategy, power, and cunning
It was precisely at this point that the third skill that Bai Zemin had evolved 1 Order using the power of Soul Manipulation came into play; the third skill that even after a few minutes of battle to the death had not participated... at least not under Thao Zhi's knowledge, of course.
This was because the third skill Bai Zemin had evolved was Invisibility, and he had used it even before exchanging words with the enemy.
Actually, Bai Zemin took a certain risk in choosing Invisibility to be the third skill to evolve. However, since the requirements were so high and thanks to his instinct, he somehow managed to win the gamble and gained something that was waiting to be revealed until now to expose its value in combat.
[Invisibility (Second Order active skill) level 5: Consumes 60 Mana points to activate without additional consumption for the first 50 seconds and consuming 2 Mana points per second after the stipulated time to keep active. The user can consume 20% of the total Mana as extra to be untraceable by beings up to 2 Orders higher for 3 minutes, being untraceable by beings up to 3 Orders above for 3 seconds. Note: Effects disappear when revealing murderous intent.]
[Second Activation: Consumes 600 Mana points to make invisible up to 5 non-living objects or 1000 Mana points to hide 1 living being. Note: The user must be in continuous contact with the object(s), otherwise the Invisibility will be broken].
The reason why the Cosmic Particle Cannon disappeared was because Bai Zemin used the enemy's defensive barrier to his advantage, and when everyone's eyes were focused on his "salute spear" he created a clone and used Invisibility to send it to the wall.
The Cosmic Particle Cannon was always on the wall... But Thao Zhi couldn't find out thanks to the Second Activation of Invisibility as Bai Zemin lured him away from the area before the effect faded out.
From the beginning until now, leaving aside the enemy's overwhelming magic power which was a bad surprise, Thao Zhi had been playing in the palm of Bai Zemin's hand.
This was proof that by using the right tactics, not getting carried away by pride and arrogance after accomplishing great things, and using to the fullest extent possible what one had... even someone weaker could take down someone considerably stronger!
Of course... It remained to be seen whether Thao Zhi had been taken down by Bai Zemin and company or not.
...
"What's that!" Shangguan Xinyue exclaimed with astonishment and a slightly pale face as she saw the large red-colored energy beam closing the distance in an instant and disappearing beyond the small opening her daughter had left in the ice sphere just as Bai Zemin had instructed her to do beforehand.
Bai Zemin did not respond immediately but activated Regeneration to replenish his Stamina to the maximum spending only 1 Mana point and then used Overlap Regeneration to recover his Mana to the fullest; all in a second.
It was in that second when a terrifying explosion shook the sky and the earth alike.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Shangguan Bing Xue was in a weakened state after spending practically 90% of all her Mana to create the four ice cubes that after her command became the huge ice sphere used to enclose the enemy inside. In fact, had it not been for the earring Bai Zemin had just given her she might have fainted.
The shockwave from the explosion hit the ice walls hard from inside the sphere and millions of fragments flew everywhere.
In fact, the shockwave was so powerful despite being suppressed that her weakened body flew backwards uncontrollably, but fortunately for her, Bai Zemin already expected something like that so he hurriedly caught her while retreating in a hurry.
Shangguan Xinyue gritted her teeth and while using the different gusts of wind to her advantage and to boost her and her allies' speed she extended her small hand backwards and called out in a loud voice, "Icy Winds!"
Part of the winds blowing in the sky moved at her will and reinforced by her Mana began to strengthen the ice sphere, making the ice that was on the verge of collapse become much harder and tougher than before.
However, even with almost all of Shangguan Bing Xue's Mana and the support of a powerful soul evolver such as Shangguan Xinyue, the power of the skill Blazing Blood Punishment cast by Bai Zemin proved to be far above even if he had restrained himself when he released it to avoid shattering the Earth.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Followed by a second blast that caused countless black cracks with golden edges to appear several kilometers around, a dragon-like roar sounded from below just before the giant ice sphere exploded.
[You have obtained records of Third Order Black Calamity 'Lin Yun' level 200....]
Bai Zemin was not happy despite slaying the beast in the portal. As he hurriedly embraced Shangguan Xinyue and Shangguan Bing Xue's bodies and covered them both, Bai Zemin quickly used Overlap Regeneration and changed his Agility points to convert them into Health to increase his endurance.
Shangguan Xinyue and Shangguan Bing Xue did not fight in Bai Zemin's arms but both women cooperated as they felt the terrifying shockwave blowing towards them at immeasurable speeds.
"Ice Wall!"
"Wind Wall!"
"Blood Wall!"
The three chanted practically at the same time as three thick, glowing walls rose into the sky just a blink of an eye before all hell broke loose.
RUMBLE!!!!!!
The shockwave with purple flames moved outward in an ever-growing ring shape from the center of the explosion as it start point crushed all resistance, turning the three walls into waste practically at the very instant it slammed into them.
Bai Zemin felt no pain but he could certainly feel his body being hit fiercely in the back, and at the same time he tightly clenched his arms around both women he could not fight against the several mouthfuls of blood with small fragments of flesh that shot out of his mouth.
Shangguan Bing Xue and Shangguan Xinyue spat blood as well, but thanks to Bai Zemin they were able to withstand the shockwave blow. Otherwise, their bodies might have exploded.
In fact, were it not for the fact that Bai Zemin's body could no longer be called a human body and were it not for the fact that he had Overlap Regeneration, as well as an armor that greatly suppressed the power of shockwaves... he would have died on the spot.
It was not for nothing that Lilith had classified Blazing Blood Punishment as a World Destroyer attack even in its previous version!
Bai Zemin felt his vision dim and had to use all his willpower to keep from closing his eyes as this would mean the end for him and the rest of them.
"Died?" Shangguan Xinyue asked with a pale face as she stared up at the huge fireball that seemed to cover half the sky and obliterated everything on the ground, constantly expanding and contracting in the distance.
This was the first time she had experienced something so terrifying in her entire life. This was the first time Shangguan Xinyue felt so, so close to death. As she looked at the countless space cracks with white lightning raining down on the earth and devouring everything, she could not help but glance at the young man who was now using them as a support to keep from falling down from the sky with a new level of respect and fear.
This level of destructiveness was far beyond what one could explain with words. This was especially true considering that over 60% of the power of the attack had been suppressed within the ice sphere.
Shangguan Xinyue could not help but think that if that attack were to fall on the mainland without any shielding... the entire Inner Mongolia would probably be wiped off the map forever.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the dark expression on Bai Zemin's face before looking back at the huge fireball that was not different from a sun and responded for him to her mother's question, "No. That alligator is still alive."
"What?!" Shangguan Xinyue watched in disbelief as, from one side of the huge fireball, a figure in an extremely pitiful state flew out.
"Don't- *cough*! Don't let him run away!" Bai Zemin roared as he ignored his wounds and continued coughing up blood.
That monster really had survived through that! Bai Zemin had nothing left to use in this battle, he had given everything in terms of strength and strategy! If the enemy escaped from here and came back later it would become his worst nightmare knowing that his chances of victory were close to 0!
"Dammit!" Shangguan Bing Xue couldn't help but curse as she looked at Bai Zemin chasing after the enemy despite his wounds. She did not delay as she kicked the air step under her feet and quickly followed him.
Shangguan Xinyue gritted her teeth and while wrapping her body in a wind tornado chased even faster than the other two.
As Thao Zhi fled for his life with a horrified expression on his face, he could not help but curse while thanking the gods and heaven for his luck.
He really should have died there, if not for a coincidence that would probably never happen again to any living being in the entire universe in the years to come, he would have died a horrible and unfortunate death!
'King level attack... A brat who isn't even 100 years old really got his hands on a King level attack!' Thao Zhi bellowed in his heart as he increased his movement speed using several skills at the same time without caring at all about Mana consumption.
A King level attack was what was known in Thao Zhi's time as World Destroyer type attacks but on a lower scale. These attacks could usually only be launched by kings of kingdoms with tens or even hundreds of millions of subordinates that boosted the power of that King.
Little did he expect... Little did he expect to meet such an attack after opening his eyes a few months ago through countless years on an Earth infinitely weaker than before!
'Had it not been for my body being sucked into a spatial crack and then brought back when the portal with Black Calamity collapsed my body would have been torn to fragments!'
Despite surviving, however, Thao Zhi's injuries were not light. His total battle power had fallen below half, especially given the fact that he had lost an arm after being hit by the Cosmic Particle Cannon.
'I need to retreat for now. I'll prepare that relic's weapons first and then-'
"Electric World!"
Thao Zhi's thoughts were interrupted as his entire vision was tinged in purple and in a fit of rage he roared, "Fuck off!"
Tens of thousands of wind blades slashed from around his body outward, cleaving a path in the lightning world barely taking any damage in the process.
Shangguan Xinyue continued to press on for several kilometers, managing to damage Thao Zhi's body considerably as he fled. However, Thao Zhi was still faster thanks to his vast arsenal of skills and treasures so there came a point where she could only give her best to catch up with him.
It took Thao Zhi no more than a few seconds to reach the base wall where he had been before and the enemy's flame domain was still burning. However, when he saw Xian Kun's current state, he was shocked and his face turned even paler after realizing that he had been repeatedly tricked by a human kid!
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Guys, 1 chapter more before reset... will do my best!