When Zi Dan was given the order by Xiong Da to disperse, he was all the more than happy to do so. The horror he experienced upon seeing the lady dressed in Victorian garb, was amplified by the memory of his first encounter in this particular raid.
The feeling of sheer trepidation from the Final Boss was similar to the six legged Valg’s paralysing stare, except that this time around, it was very much courting death.
Hence, Zi Dan rather performed this menial job and let the brave Pandawans do the bulk of boss fighting while he attempts to find this Item of Power those Black Masked Cultivators talked about.
“Hahaha! So much for conserving energy for the Last Boss!” Xia Mao said to Zi Dan with bated breath as he tried to catch up with Zi Dan’s running pace. “More like conserving the last bit of stamina to run away from the boss fight!”
“Pfft! Say all you want! Of all people who had experienced that paralysing stare, you are the only one to understand how I felt! And why are you following me?!” Zi Dan said as he slipped through one of the rooms whose doors were left ajar.
All he could find were even more Valgs lurking inside. The temporary squad leader commanded the cultivators at the back to deal with the threat as he continued forward, in search for more of the rooms.
In the meantime, Xia Mao kept his mouth shut for the moment and continued to follow behind Zi Dan. Even though he knew that Zi Dan was not going at top speed, his regular pace was already demanding for most of the cultivators to catch up. Maybe that was why Xiong Da decided to use the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator as the scout to find that relic to defeat the faerie boss.
And as for the Item of Power, Zi Dan figured that if it existed, it should be in a room where the strongest of Valgs be protecting it. All he had to do was to find it and report it. There was no use wasting his life trying to be a hero. (He was already earning points being a scout, and he felt it was a decent way to survive the raid.)
So far, it was going all fine and dandy by commanding the cultivators to clear the room and giving them first hand information what was inside. Xia Mao eventually gave up chasing after his friend and decided to enter the third room to battle against those Valgs.
“Heh! I knew that Blind Cat can never chase after me! So much for boasting to be a renowned escape artist when you cannot even run well!” Zi Dan remarked to himself as he glanced back for a moment before heading forth to the fourth and final room.
When he was slowing down to check out the last room in the Western Hallway, Zi Dan already felt that something was wrong. Not only that, but he also noticed that he was not slowing down despite his desire to do so. The more Zi Dan tried to resist, the more he sensed that the last chamber was forcing its ‘invitation’ to welcome the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator into the room.
As much as Zi Dan wished to break out of it, he felt that his body did not belong to him at all the moment he entered the room. (Fortunately) to his dismay, the room was completely empty except for a series of open panel glass windows and an antique looking chair in the middle of the room. Right beside it was a man, dressed smartly with a buttoned black shirt.
Or that was what Zi Dan thought.
It was actually the man’s powers manifested into a physical form, covering his entire body with an ominous veil of energy. His hair was gelled all the way to the back, making it look as if he had multiple horns diverging from his head while his forehead had a visible scar on it.
“Heh, to think I will ever see humans ever again.” The man said as he walked to his seat and lean forward when he sat down. With a thinking pose, he looked at the frightened Zi Dan who was already poised in a kneeling posture, all thanks to his innate powers alone.
“Did you see a broken Salamander before you arrive at this particular room? You should, right? Because that is the only viable entrance to reach here.” The man inquired, but Zi Dan was hopelessly keeping his mouth shut even though his body was aching to tell the truth.
“Ah. Not bad. And here I thought this was merely a spineless human. I guess you do have the will to fight back, its just a matter of when.” The man smiled, and he leaned backwards.
“I will make things very simple. Let me connect to your body and together, we will kill that bitch.” The man relaxed further as he folded his legs and pointed at the Zi Dan. Even though he acted as if he was asking, but he was, in fact, giving a command Zi Dan could not refuse.
Zi Dan figured this could possibly be the Item of Power since it was able to talk and powers probably equivalent to the faerie boss he encountered. And recently, he had seen nothing but yapping monsters that growl, shout and gnawed at cultivators.
Even though this could be the best opportunity to steal the final boss kill if what the man said was true, Zi Dan somehow sensed that things were not that simple. The Bullet Cheetah Cultivator felt that he would be in terrible danger if the ‘man’ in front of him decided to take over his body.
Despite knowing that this was just a Raid, Zi Dan was unable to shake the feeling that it was as real as it could get. He could feel that if he did not fight against this monster properly, he might- Nay, he would definitely lose his sanity, soul and maybe will never be the same person again.
Consequently, in a dire attempt to survive, Zi Dan called forth whatever chi he had within him and tried to defy the stasis he was trapped in as much as possible.
“Ho? I did not know the surviving humans learnt some form of magic. This made your body even more desirable. Allow me, Dorian to take over the body and be the master of your craft and together we can defeat that wretched Daughter of the Winter Courts.” Dorian unleashed his powers once more, and Zi Dan could clearly see a Valg-like phantom hiding behind his shadow.
“Damn, why am I the only one fighting a boss?” Zi Dan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. His uncalled determination enabled his chi to overflow, breaking his usual limits.
Without a doubt, this ordeal had made Zi Dan increase half a grade to Grade 5 Peak. His body finally allowed him to break out of Dorian’s mind chains and regain control of his own actions.
If it was a fight Zi Dan had to go through, at the very least, he figured to give his all.
