Book 12: The Strength of the Preparatory Team
Chapter 86.3: The Origin of Destruction, He Caitou
A soul tool fort"s offensive advantages were blatantly obvious as shown by He Caitou"s ability to launch omnidirectional attacks. However, in exchange for such firepower, it was nigh impossible for him to move and so he was simply unable to dodge An Lengye"s attack.
An Lengye"s attack was a surprise attack that was launched with perfect timing. Although Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection covered the entire arena, that didn"t mean it was omniscient; there were still a few instances, such as this one, that could exceed his senses.
"She has a soul bone—a skull bone." Huo Yuhao used his Spiritual Detection Sharing to transmit his thoughts to his teammates" spiritual seas.
There was no doubt about it—this was the strength of An Lengye"s released soul bone, strength that allowed her fourth soul skill, Frost Tornado, to surpa.s.s the level of a Soul Ancestor. Only then was she able to stop the members of Shrek from advancing. Otherwise, if Xu Sans.h.i.+ and Bei Bei charged over, and He Caitou was allowed to recover and start attacking again, the match would"ve been settled.
The might of An Lengye"s amplified attack had already reached the level of a Soul King. Bei Bei furrowed his brows greatly, then placed his hands in front of his body and quickly moved horizontally. He released a dense cloud of lightning to protect his own body, but he was still forced backwards by An Lengye"s powerful attack. However, his footwork placed him right in front of He Caitou. Since his opponents were able to spot the problems of a soul tool fort, why wouldn"t he be able to, as the leader of Shrek"s Seven Monsters?
Right after that, however, Bei Bei suddenly felt the pressure on him lighten. Layers of barriers had appeared behind him, black barriers that rippled like water.
Xu Sans.h.i.+ turned back and smiled naughtily at him. His second soul ring was flickering, and he didn"t seem to exert any force at all as he took on the strengthened Frost Tornado.
This was Xu Sans.h.i.+"s second soul skill, Mysterious Underworld s.h.i.+eld.
On the surface, it was a soul skill similar to the s.h.i.+eld Wall. However, the defensive power of Xu Sans.h.i.+"s Mysterious Underworld s.h.i.+eld was far superior compared to s.h.i.+eld Wall.
This was especially true for the ice-type skill he was currently defending against. A portion of the attacking ice melted upon contact with Xu Sans.h.i.+"s water barrier, depleting most of the attack before it could strike Bei Bei. One could tell from the smile that Xu Sans.h.i.+ gave Bei Bei that this attack wasn"t pressuring him.
Although the strength of the Frost Tornado had been boosted to the level of a Soul King, she faced the same problem as He Caitou. In the end, An Lengye was still a Soul Ancestor and could not properly control the skill. Furthermore, her attack was one that targeted a large area. Its destructive power was far from the Thousand-strike Lance, which focused all its power on a single target.
However, An Lengye"s actions had given the Thousand Spirits Academy enough time.
The four possessors of the Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+eld quickly regrouped. Although they were all injured, with Bai Chen and Ye Mao"s s.h.i.+elds having been blown apart and their right arms bleeding. They were still defense-type soul masters. As a result, they could still defend themselves and weren"t fully drained of their fighting strength.
When An Lengye launched her all-out attack, they had regrouped and quickly stood in front of her. Shen Ce was also able to recover to some extent thanks to the time An Lengye had bought them, while the red-faced Fei Yuyan quickly got back to her position by riding the Blaze Tiger.
She had originally competed against An Lengye for the position of vice-captain, but now, she finally understood that the gap between them was too simply too vast.
Shen Ce shouted out, "Let me do this!" At this moment, not only was he filled with the intent to fight at this moment, but he also felt grief and indignation. From his point of view, the match was going to be decided without his opponent"s three strongest members having made a single move. As the saying went, an army burning with righteous indignation was bound to win. At this moment, he was prepared to put everything at stake for this fight.
A cold glint flickered through his eyes as the Thousand-strike Lance"s fifth soul ring lit up. He let out a shout as he flung his weapon out.
This time, he had fully concentrated his spiritual power to defend against Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Shock.
By now, Fei Yuyan finally understood the role she needed to play in this fight, and her strength-amplifying soul skill appeared once again. Additionally, she rode the Blaze Tiger to stand in front of Shen Ce and protect him from potential sneak attacks.
Shen Ce"s target wasn"t anyone else but the person who"d disrupted his attacking strategy, the same person who"d caused the trajectory of the Thousand-strike Lance to swerve towards his own teammates—Huo Yuhao. Despite knowing he had no hope of victory, he still attacked to see how strong his extremely mysterious and extremely powerful enemy was.
The Frost Tornado blocked not only Bei Bei"s a.s.sault but also Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection. As a result, the Blaze Tiger-boosted Thousand-strike Lance"s incandescent glow only appeared in Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection the moment it left the Frost Tornado.
"Not good!" Bei Bei cried out involuntarily.
How was Huo Yuhao some kind of mysterious expert?! His real strength was only that of a two-ringed Rank 27 Soul Grandmaster.
There would only one outcome if he were to face the Soul King-ranked Shen Ce"s Thousand-strike Lance that had been additionally boosted by a fire-attribute control-type soul master—Death!
Bei Bei"s expression changed, along with those of He Caitou, Jiang Nannan, w.a.n.g Dong, and Xiao Xiao.
w.a.n.g Dong moved horizontally, wanting to stand in front of Huo Yuhao. However, he was stopped by the latter"s left hand. In order to hold onto w.a.n.g Dong, Huo Yuhao didn"t hesitate to use the enormous strength of the Ice Empress" Pincer
The looks on five people"s faces changed while the other two of them had ordinary expressions on their faces—these two people were Huo Yuhao and Xu Sans.h.i.+.
A black light flashed and Huo Yuhao suddenly vanished, a tall figure taking his position. The figure raised a st.u.r.dy s.h.i.+eld, and the image of an enormous black turtle appeared behind him. The light of his fourth soul ring vanished as it was replaced by the light his third soul ring.
In an instant, the intense black light transformed into an ice-cold wave. The air started to twist violently, causing distortions to surround the black wave.
The already enormous s.h.i.+eld of the Xuanwu Turtle suddenly doubled in size as a triangular point appeared underneath it. The instant the Thousand-strike Lance arrived, it stabbed fiercely into the ground. This s.h.i.+eld was directly affixed to Xu Sans.h.i.+"s shoulder, and its surface was slanted!
Boom!
The violent booms forced Xu Sans.h.i.+ and his s.h.i.+eld of the Xuanwu Turtle back seven or eight meters before he was able to stop. And this was with the help of Xiao Xiao"s Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron.
In that instant, w.a.n.g Dong and Xiao Xiao both felt a powerful, mountain-like feeling from their usually lecherous senior who always clung to Jiang Nannan. In that instant, Xu Sans.h.i.+"s eyes became filled with a grave and steady look, along with an unrivalled expression of haughtiness!
When a defense-type soul master faced an a.s.sault-type soul master of the same rank, normally, neither would gain an advantage.
At this moment, however, Xu Sans.h.i.+ had overturned everyone"s way of thinking. He was able to rely on his defensive capabilities to not only block the attack of a Soul King who not only had one more soul ring than him but was also being boosted by another fire-type Soul Ancestor. His current defensive power could be considered to be at the very peak of the Soul Ancestor rank.
The black light vanished, revealing Xu Sans.h.i.+"s straight figure. The s.h.i.+eld of the Xuanwu Turtle in his hands had already returned to its normal size. He used his hand to comb his hair for a bit before he said indifferently, "How relaxing!"
w.a.n.g Dong and Xiao Xiao, who were originally filled with admiration, suddenly slipped and nearly fell to the ground.
Why was Huo Yuhao not worried at all? This was because Xu Sans.h.i.+ had an ability that didn"t seem to have any offensive or defensive capabilities, and yet was a defense-type soul skill that could transform into something magical—the Mysterious Underworld Displacement.
He was able to instantaneously swap places with Huo Yuhao by relying on the Mysterious Underworld Displacement, taking Huo Yuhao"s place to block Shen Ce"s all-out blow. However, Huo Yuhao was switched to the location of the Frost Tornado that Xu Sans.h.i.+ was originally in.
The might of the Frost Tornado was already reaching its end. Hence, although it was still very powerful, it wasn"t life-threatening to Huo Yuhao. At the very least, it would be much better than being pierced by the Thousand-strike Lance.
Furthermore, Bei Bei was able to immediately rush over the instant Huo Yuhao was displaced due to the latter"s Spiritual Detection. He pulled Huo Yuhao behind him, using his back to withstand the last bits of the Frost Tornado"s might.
At this exact moment, Huo Yuhao"s eyes lit up with an eye-piercing red glow as he raised his right hand and pointed a finger towards the sky.
The six blood-colored soul rings once again descended upon the field. The terrifying aura of a hundred thousand year soul beast caused even the protective barrier set up by the hundred and eight soul masters to tremble violently.
This desolate aura filled with a desolate might caused the air surrounding Huo Yuhao to seemingly solidify, and a light image flickered behind his back. Only He Caitou and Jiang Nannan, who were doing their best to hold on, were able to see that the light image was actually that of a scorpion.
"Ice, I am your master!" A low voice pa.s.sed through a previously prepared sound amplifying soul tool and resonated throughout the entire Star Luo Plaza.
Every single spectator who was witnessing this astonis.h.i.+ng scene suddenly felt as if their hearts were being crushed as they heard this voice.
The audience then witnessed a scene that they would never be able to forget for the rest of their lives. The Frost Tornado that was originally wreaking havoc abruptly paused in mid-air. Following that, it instantly rose into the air and turned back towards the students of the Thousand Spirits Academy.
Huo Yuhao didn"t stop there either, and pointed a finger from his right hand towards the Frost Bear. The latter looked as if it had seen the most terrifying creature in the world, causing its body to shudder violently. Afterwards, it shattered with a peng into motes of light that filled the sky before dissipating.
An Lengye let out a m.u.f.fled groan and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood before collapsing. The last thing she saw before fainting was Huo Yuhao"s emotionless and lifeless blood-colored eyes staring at her.