Even amidst the sound of engines approaching from a distance and amidst the occasional gunfire as the gunman confronted Bai Zemin's group, the sniper's shot resounded in such a way that it was like thunder descending from the heavens in the middle of a starry, cloudless night.
Bai Zemin's eyes flashed and his body moved first, before his mind sent the order. As if the survival instinct had already taken root deep inside him, he glanced out of the corner of his eye to his left and raised his hand to head height just a second before the bullet hit him.
Bang!
The sniper bullet empowered by 2 skills that took its power to new heights slammed into Bai Zemin's palm. More specifically, the bullet meant to take his life impacted on the Rank 1 Skullbreaker Glove.
"Man, that hurts." Bai Zemin waved his left hand a couple of times as he grimaced at the sight of the clear white-colored mark on the bottom of the previously all-black glove.
Even though the penetrating and deadly power of the bullet was denied, Bai Zemin actually felt the flesh on his hand seem to be squeezed by a pair of hard and firm pincers. If it wasn't for his high Stamina, Health, and Strength, that attack would have definitely made him bleed.
He turned his gaze to his left side and, as if his gaze traveled through a space-time tunnel, his cold stare met the panicked gaze of the female sniper several hundred meters distance away.
The female sniper could not believe her eyes. A sniper's eyes were everything, but for the first time, she would not and could not believe what her eyes were showing her.
She could understand if the enemy wasn't killed after receiving her strongest attack… But forget about dying, the mysterious young man caught the bullet with his hands as if he was catching a tennis ball!
Just as she was going to prepare a second shot, she saw the silver-haired girl standing next to the terrifying young man suddenly raise her right hand and conjure up a five-meter ice spear.
The ice spear flew in her direction as the silver-haired young woman waved her hand gracefully.
The sniper could not help but smile bitterly as she saw the spear about to pierce her head.
Not only was that young man hard as a mountain, but that silver-haired girl next to him was incredibly lethal. Even the other young woman who had so far not attacked had a frighteningly powerful defensive skill.
Where did these three monsters come from? the woman thought before the spear finally reached her head.
However, just as she had already given up and prepared to accept the Reaper's embrace, the ice spear stopped an inch away right between her eyebrows.
A bead of sweat slid down her face as her terrified eyes once again met the gaze of the two monsters nearly 1 kilometer away. Under her eyes filled with disbelief, the silver-haired girl said something to the mysterious young man before waving her hand. The ice spear that threatened her life exploded and turned into small ice fragments that fell to the floor slowly before melting.
The female sniper looked down at her Barrett and sighed as she said, "Let's go home."
She disassembled her weapon and carefully stowed it in a briefcase before calmly exiting the building. She understood what the young man in black armor and the beautiful silver-haired woman meant to transmit to her. The previous attack was a warning, and she had no doubt that she would die if she continued to be stubborn.
She was only working for Kang Rong for profit anyway. But if her life was the price to pay, then she would rather not get involved in these matters.
"After finishing this and making a few arrangements I would like that sniper to join us." Bai Zemin commented calmly as he continued to move forward.
"Our group currently only has Chen He as a professional sniper, the rest can only hit the target at a maximum of 500 meters far away since they only started training a few weeks ago. It would be good if that sniper joins us later." Shangguan Bing Xue agreed with what he said.
"You two are really…" Nangong Lingxin forced a smile as she said, "The battle isn't even over but you're already thinking of recruiting enemies?"
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at her and said indifferently, "What do you mean? Didn't we tell you before that this battle was already over before it started?"
Nangong Lingxin sighed and shook her head. Sometimes it was hard to tell if the two people beside her were incredibly arrogant or if their words really came from their self-confidence.
"More are coming." Bai Zemin pointed ahead. A truck was approaching with several menacing-looking armed men, "Although it's a pity, we'd better hurry up a bit. Otherwise there will be no end to this."
After saying that, he pointed forward and the Blazing Ring on his index finger momentarily glowed before a large crimson flame burst forward.
The flames coalesced to form a beast hundreds of feet long and roared as if it were an enraged dragon. Under the frightened eyes of the armed men boarding the cargo truck, the flames engulfed the vehicle next to them inside.
Boom!
The truck exploded noisily. Pieces of broken metal flew skyward before falling to the ground once again as they left a trail of crimson fire wherever they passed like meteors falling from outer space into the Earth's atmosphere.
Everyone inside them died even before they could let out a single cry of pain.
"While mankind needs brave men, sometimes sacrifices are necessary." Bai Zemin thought aloud.
Seeing the miserable fate of the more than thirty men in the truck, the other men inside several other vehicles who were preparing to attack hesitated. Many of them were unwilling to face such terrifying monsters.
"Forget it." A police officer with some power sighed and his eyes glittered with weariness as he said, "Just let the soul evolvers take them on. What's the point of continuing to go when we'll just become meaningless cannon fodder anyway?"
Soon, this message was transmitted over the radio to all the officers. Bai Zemin's group stopped receiving assaults from armed men.
"Before I and my brother left the base, the number of grenades they had in arsenal was less than fifty." Nangong Lingxin pointed out as she looked at the large village in the near distance. "Probably during the previous week those fifty grenades were used to deal with mutated beasts with high defense or to open the path to a village so they could take the supplies inside."
"Even if they had grenades they would only serve to increase the deaths on their side." Bai Zemin said coldly as he carefully rubbed the Rejection Ring on the middle finger of his left hand.
If he had activated the special attached skill of this Magic grade treasure, everything would have been faster and easier. However, many would have died in the process and this was what Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue wanted to avoid. Killing was easy, but both were aware that the biggest enemy was not the humans; it was the different races that were rising to power.
To fight against the zombies, the wild beasts, and against the goblins, humanity needed to unite if it did not want to be annihilated. Of course, such a thing was incredibly difficult since humans were stubborn, greedy, and proud; generally, no one was willing to be beneath anyone unless they really had no other choice… And for that, their lives would have to be on the line.
That was precisely why Bai Zemin and the others knew that they would have to fight against their own race if they wanted to dominate. Because a soft confrontation would only lead to more harm than good.
"Considering this is a big city, I know it's normal for the accommodations to be better but…" Bai Zemin looked at the extremely luxurious villa in front of him and sighed, "This dude with the surname Kang sure lives the life. This villa is at least three times more luxurious than mine even from the outside."
"What's the use of having luxuries if you can't protect them?" Shangguan Bing Xue scoffed and took a step forward. She drew her sword from the scabbard attached to her waist and with expert movements slashed several times.
Bang!
The courtyard gate that was made of steel was cut into hundreds of pieces before falling to the ground and raising a heavy cloud of dust.
Before the dust cloud was completely accentuated, Shangguan Bing Xue's face changed slightly and she jumped back while staring straight ahead.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Ice arrows, bolts of lightning, earth pikes, ice pikes, wind blades, and other types of elemental attacks rained down from the courtyard of Kang Rong's villa towards the group of three. But that was not all.
A soul evolver stepped forward and began muttering some strange words. Ten magic circles appeared before the soul evolver. The ten magic circles lit up and ten beasts appeared.
There were grizzly bears, there were white wolves, there were bulls, there was even a six-foot eagle.
Roar!
The summoned beasts howled at the sky before rushing forward.
Nangong Lingxin's face turned as pale as a sheet. Although her Energy Barrier skill theoretically allowed her to parry any attack as long as she had enough Mana, the problem was precisely that she didn't have that much Mana to do something like that!
Stopping dozens of elemental attacks along with several summoned beasts was something that was far beyond what the current Nangong Lingxin could do.
Even Shangguan Bing Xue's face changed slightly. However, she remained calm and raised several ice walls, one after another, in a matter of seconds.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
…
The elemental attacks hit the ice walls that Shangguan Bing Xue had created.
The first walls were shattered quite easily as she had crafted them in a hurry to buy some time. However, after losing about six lines of defense, the walls behind them suddenly became too hard and the elemental attacks began to have trouble continuing forward.
The faces of the soul evolvers in charge of protecting Kang Rong's villa turned ugly as their attacks were stopped by a single person. In the past, whenever they work as a team, no matter whether it was soul evolver, wild beast, or an army of armed men, everything collapsed.
"Continue attacking!"
"I don't think that mage can hold off Mana consumption for a long time!"
After shouts filled with shame and anger, another round of elemental attacks was conjured by the mages and flew out. The speed of the elemental attacks was much faster than the charging speed of the ten summoned beasts so even before the summoned beasts arrived in front of the ice walls, the second round of elemental attacks was crashing into the ice defense.
Soon, the ten summoned beasts arrived before the ice walls and began to attack. Some slashed with their claws, others simply crashed hard against the thick ice, while others began to leap over the courtyard walls to go around the walls blocking the entrance to reach those who were being protected behind.
However, all these people were incredibly mistaken.
Because even though there were one or two First Order soul evolvers among the enemy mages and Shangguan Bing Xue was also just a First Order existence like them, the difference between the Soul Power of the two sides was simply too great.
Not only was the Soul Power within Shangguan Bing Xue's soul significantly greater, but it was also much purer, brighter, and thicker. This was because she, unlike those who leveled up by fighting against enemies of equal or lower levels, she had been fighting and defeating First Order existences even when she was still an Unclassified existence!
Hence, Shangguan Bing Xue's Mana was not only a few times higher than that of the enemy mages!
Even if one did not take into account that the enemies were only First Order existences whose jobs were normal and Shangguan Bing Xue was a First Order existence with a unique job, just the difference in the quality and quantity of Soul Power was enough to seal the fate of the enemies!
After spending around 100 Mana points to build roughly twenty thick ice walls, Shangguan Bing Xue's gaze grew cold and she held onto her sword tightly.
Bai Zemin stood calmly, his expression unchanged. He looked up at the sky and noticed the summoned eagle flying in his direction.
Ignoring the eagle, he looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and said calmly, "If you want then just go. There is no need to hold back against them."
This was all she needed to hear.
She activated her movement skill and jumped a dozen meters into the air.
A massacre descended from the sky.
* * * * * * *
Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3
