Chapter 298: Group Progress (I)
In fact, what Long Haochen’s team currently feared the most were assassins, because they had no priest that could use the ability Eyes of Truth. With their presence hidden there was no other way to learn about the existence of assassins. Without Haoyue, they were thus completely unable to detect concealed assassins.
Long Haochen released a Holy Mantle in great rush, enveloping all his comrades in its range.
After coming here for the first time, he seemed to have faintly understood that his own life wouldn’t be threatened during these tests, but that might not be the case for the comrades he brought here. Long Haochen expected the following tests to involve a higher number of skeletons, but who could have expected that the opponents would be assassins?
“Protect Lin Xin and Ying’er!” Long Haochen shouted loudly, and at the same moment, the Holy Mantle he released disappeared as easily as a balloon pierced by a needle.
Long Haochen’s team had many strong points, but they had also flaws. They had no real priest among their ranks, nor someone able to use powerful wide scale attacks. Lin Xin was afterall a mage that was only capable of casting defensive spells.
A red glow of light formed ripples on Lin Xin hands, and he managed to continuously launch four Fire Elemental Shields, protecting Chen Ying’er and himself. Two successive muffled sounds rang afterwards. They stemmed from Sima Xian and Han Yu being attacked one after another.
Sima Xian was still better off because his newly changed armor was very solid, but Han Yu wasn’t as fortunate. He hadn’t changed his armor even though it could barely be considered to be at the Spiritual Tier, and after receiving the sudden attack from the unseen assassin, blood gushed out from his chest. This was a very sharp attack which caused Han Yu’s body to sway and almost fall to the ground, with a stuffy snort. By chance, the Soul Linking Chains’ power was released, and everyone shared the damage of this blow.
The group would obviously not await death passively. They stood back to back and prepared their abilities, planning a counterattack.
But those two indistinct assassins disappeared once again.
“What a powerful spiritual energy! Let’s gather for now.” Han Yu’s voice sounded a bit hoarse, and a sharp spiritual energy was bursting forth from his body. Even with the help of the Soul Linking Chains, he had to bear an immense pain. His face was pale and his forehead covered in cold sweat.
What’s to be done? These words appeared in everyone’s mind. They never expected that they would have to so suddenly contend against two assassins of such caliber. Attacking without any warning, disappearing without any trace, and possessing terrible evading skills. Even Long Haochen’s fast moving Demon Wiping Flash didn’t reach them in time. The only possible explanation for this was that those skeletons were also at least at the sixth step of cultivation.
When Long Haochen planned on drawing back, a black silhouette suddenly appeared from their rear.
With a stinging sound that rang lightly, the black silhouette appeared at Long Haochen’s side. Immediately afterwards, this figure let out a white mist, causing a new silhouette to appear. This silhouette seemed to have no physical body, looking just like a specter, but still had the shape of a human.
How could Long Haochen ignore such a good occasion? With a white flash of light, the Saint Spiritual Stove managed to link him to the opponent, and its Pull ability was immediately launched, directly pulling the opponent towards him.
The other black silhouette suddenly appeared once again before Han Yu with another stinging sound, releasing a white mist, but it was blocked by the sudden appearance of a second assassin’s figure.
It was Cai’er that appeared at the last moment.
Suddenly sensing the danger in her state of cultivation, she immediately intervened, just in time.
Although she had lost four of her senses, Cai’er cultivation was based on losing her senses one after another, thus, her perception and her sense of touch were exceedingly sharp. Losing four of her senses had reinforced her leftover ones, enabling her to block the attack of the assassins on the brink of a crisis.
Although the leader of the team had been Long Haochen so far, drawing all the glory to him, how could the Saint Daughter of Samsara with an innate talent of the same level as him be any lacking in intelligence? The fact that she willingly renounced the glory, placing herself at the back of Long Haochen didn’t mean that Cai’er was incompetent.
Sensing the encounter her comrades had, she immediately guessed the type of enemies they were confronting. This white mist was more than enough to show their true nature as assassins. More specifically, it was a type of white dust, used by assassins to make themselves invisible. It enfolded its best effect under these kind of circumstances.
While Long Haochen attracted one of them towards him, the second assassin also became visible, and the group’s attacks naturally also followed.
Because of the attack he had just been inflicted, Han Yu’s body was hurt, and he had to retreat backwards to recover. Wang Yuanyuan’s Gigantic Divine Soul Shield attacked brazenly, carrying an ear-piercing hissing sound, and Sima Xian’s Energetical Ball of Light followed accordingly.
This time the assassin’s actions were finally distinct. Confronting the pincer attack of two of his enemies, that assassin unexpectedly managed to draw back in a flash, using extremely swift movements, just as if he was weightless. Right before Wang Yuanyuan and Sima Xian’s attacks reached, he swept away from their range. With a very natural turn, his body threw itself at Cai’er.
Seemingly, their attacks couldn’t follow his evading speed? What a terrible situation!
These Specter Assassins that appeared inside of the Tower of Eternity were obviously not easy to handle, but unfortunately for them, though some of their attacks couldn’t reach, one mustn’t by any means forget that the squad still had Long Haochen.
Specters indeed didn’t have weight and possessed a formidable immunity to physical attacks, but by the Pull ability of the Saint Spiritual Stove, they were restricted to a great extent. Their lack of physical substance also became their greatest weakness.
The specter that fell victim to Long Haochen’s Pull ability was forcibly drawn in his direction. Left without another choice, it could only seize the opportunity to launch an attack at Long Haochen. It used both of its hands like two sharp stings, bursting forth with dozens of dots of light. They enveloped Long Haochen completely, however, Long Haochen’s powerful attack was ready to welcome it.
Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light burst forth with a powerful Asura Strike.
In the midst of ear-piercing hissing sounds, the Asura Strike took the shape of a gigantic blade made of intense light. This was not a mere physical attack, but a magical one using the combination of Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light, and the light essence put into the attack.
Without any suspense, in the next instant, the Specter Assassin was cut in two by the tyrannical liquid spiritual energy contained in this attack.
After his first success, Long Haochen instantly activated the Pull ability of his Saint Spiritual Stove again, just when the second Specter Assassin was about to reach Cai’er with its attack.
Forcibly pulled away, this Specter Assassin immediately faced a Shining Sunlight Strike from Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light.
As a matter of fact, the Asura Strike had been overkill, and even against the mere combination of Shining Sunlight Strike and Demon Wiping Flash, this Specter Assassin was left without any way to resist. It directly crumbled to nothingness before Long Haochen’s attack.
As expected, the death of those two assassins also gave rise to two new lumps of white light. Only, this time, they looked a little different than the former balls of light.
Although they had just handled the two Specter Assassins, everyone was still drenched in cold sweat. This was especially the case for Han Yu. The sharp spiritual energy that had invaded his body was finally dispersed with difficulty. And during this process, the Soul Linking Chains that linked the seven of them had never disappeared.
This meant that everyone had been helping him bear the pain coming from this sharp energy attack.
Han Yu, still filled with trepidation after this experience, declared, “If not for the Soul Linking Chains, I’m afraid that this last blow would have caused me to lose all fighting capability. And if another attack came, death would have undoubtedly followed. What a strong offensive power!”
Long Haochen nodded in response, “This sort of Specter Assassin is the same as the previous skeleton, good in attack, but weak in defense. The greatest trait of those Specter Assassins should be their speed. If not for the Pull ability of the Saint Spiritual Stove, I’m afraid that dealing with those enemies would have been quite challenging.”
Sima Xian scratched his own head, “Then, should I try harder to learn the use of the Eyes of Truth?”
Everyone immediately gave him bewildered looks, and Lin Xin patted his back, “Hey, if you could really learn it, why would you have been waiting until now for that? How could someone of your temper not know about the utility of the Eyes of Truth?”
Sima Xian gave him a bitter smile, “Being unable to learn it isn’t my shortcoming. Innate dispositions, it’s all about innate dispositions!”
Looking at his comrades, Long Haochen asked, “Do you want to keep going forward, or would you rather retreat?”
Everyone’s expressions changed. Clearly, their group of five would have died if they didn’t have Long Haochen and Cai’er with them. This unquestionable outcome would have happened although this was only the second test, and they were still far from being able to tell what lied at the end of this first floor. Everyone started to feel discouraged from this.
“Did everyone lose all self-confidence from this alone? Then you’d better not come to the Illusory Shrine.” Long Haochen coldly said, “Here, we can at least confront the tests one after another, and step back anytime. But in the Illusory Shrine, we will have to face many unknown dangers. We can’t possibly keep facing weaker enemies forever. Only by confronting greater danger can we become true powerhouses.”
“Let’s keep advancing. Boss, if it comes to the worse, we’ll just draw back. With the Soul Linking Chains, what is there to fear?” Sima Xian declared imposingly, full of vigor as he carried his immense Energetical Ball of Light.
The others started to also show resolute expressions. And as for Cai’er, she had returned to Long Haochen’s side once again. Though she didn’t hear what her comrades said, her actions already told a lot about her thinking. As she held onto Long Haochen’s neck while curling her legs around his waist, they once again became in the real meaning a knight and an assassin forming a single entity.
Long Haochen took a deep breath, replying, “Since only enemies of the sixth steps are on the first floor, we will very possibly be facing changes in the number of enemies or their types. There won’t be any change in their overall strength. Don’t feel pressured by the danger, everyone. Sima spoke true, since we have the Soul Linking Chains, what is there to fear? Let’s just keep going forward.”
Saying this, he led his comrades while taking three more steps forward. After seeing no reaction, he then took three more steps forward.
This time, there was a reaction. Two figures silently appeared nearby. Like before, they encountered skeletons, but this time they were different from the ones they met in the very beginning. All because those new skeletons had mounts.
