This was already the second time this had happened.
The last time, Wu Xu had begun plummeting from the peak of top-tier, falling all the way down until he was barely different from an ordinary human, unable to beat Zhe Qiuhong in a one-on-one fight.
This time, the drop had only just begun, yet he had tumbled straight down from super...
"So are you still at top-tier right now?" Seeing Wu Xu sway slightly, Wen Jifei reached out to steady him and asked with concern.
Wu Xu turned his head and nodded. "Mm."
"That's good. If you dropped any further, you'd have to get ready for another duel with Tangtang. Hey, Xu'er, you can still beat the Little Prince in a blade duel right now, right? How about we just don't tell them about this?"
"...Mm, I probably can. Not telling them... is fine too." Wu Xu's gaze was dead serious, as if he genuinely worried about it.
Those two rascals had probably never dreamed they would ever have a day where they could turn the tables on him. If they found out, there was no telling how insufferably far they would push their luck.
"So is this an issue with the Near-Death Surge?" Wen Jifei suddenly asked.
Wu Xu looked at him.
"Last time, as I recall, was also after you triggered the Near-Death Surge. Could it be that because your life and energy were completely overdrawn, your body activated a self-defense mechanism to throttle and lock down your energy mobilization? Like turning down a faucet." Wen Jifei pondered aloud. "Come to think of it, Tangtang is still locked below top-tier even now."
Hearing his reasoning, the few people present felt that was almost certainly the case.
The only difference was that ever since He Tangtang had triggered it that once, he had remained clamped down tight, whereas after Wu Xu's drop last time, the rebound had actually propelled him straight up into the next rank.
Did this mean everyone could start looking forward to what might happen to him down the line?
Could he advance straight beyond super?
What was above that?
Unable to learn the Near-Death Surge himself no matter what, Han Qingyu even began to feel a hint of envy.
Raising his hand, he tossed the blue light column sword back and said, "Keep this for yourself."
Wu Xu caught it, glanced at the extra column sword Han Qingyu was now carrying, nodded, and held the blue light column sword in his hand for the moment.
That gave him an arsenal of three weapons: the Binggu Spear, the greatsword, and the column sword. Once they got back, he would have to get someone to modify his spare combat uniforms by adding a row of large clasps across the back to hang the blue light column sword.
Stream Vanguard now possessed four column swords in total. On the spot, Han Qingyu swapped the newly acquired large column sword for Rusty Sister's small column sword.
Once finished, he was carrying two blue starlight column swords, one large and one small, plus two standard-issue dead iron straight swords. Four weapons in all—he looked like a walking armory.
Still, considering the massive Great Spike invasion and the growing likelihood of getting bogged down in melee brawls against mobs of enemies, it was actually necessary.
Rusty Sister, on the other hand, was now outfitted with two weapons: her knight broadsword and the large blue light column sword. Given the armored frame's bulky physique and imposing figure, the large column sword actually suited her much better.
And so, the group paused by the beach, conversing as they waited for Yang Qingbai and the Legion Commander, who had searched far into the distance, to return.
As for Wu Xu's injuries, there was nothing they could do; even Zhe Qiuhong could do little. The surface of the wounds had already closed on its own, and for the remaining damage, neither medicine nor surgery would help—Wu Xu could only rely on his own body to mend slowly.
No one asked about the underwater battle, for they all had a fair idea of what it must have entailed. Put simply, it was trading a life for a life—only, by sheer fortune, Wu Xu had come out on the winning end of the trade.
"Run!"
When Han Qingyu suddenly yelled this single word, no one else, whether near or far, had sensed the slightest anomaly.
Yet over the communicator, Chen Buer's voice barked at the exact same moment: "Run!"
The instant the cry left his lips, Han Qingyu lunged forward. With one hand, he seized Wu Xu by the shoulder and hurled him backward into the distance; with the other, he drew the small column sword and hurled it with all his might into the air above the sea.
The thing was rising from the seabed.
At the moment Han Qingyu sensed it and reacted, it was still a considerable distance away.
Yet it was blisteringly fast. Knowing it had been discovered, it accelerated abruptly, bursting straight out from the sea.
It was a nearly rectangular Great Spike craft, roughly the size of four heavy trucks stacked two by two.
Boom!
Across the tranquil sea, a colossal trench trailed behind it, the waters churning to either side, while at the vanguard of the trough, a violently erupted wave surged skyward.
The craft broke the surface, revealing its form.
Above the craft, a sharply angled, towering Great Spike launched high into the air.
Two rows of blue light surged from behind its waist. Whir! Midair, it gripped a sword in both hands and slashed diagonally downward toward the shore.
Just how fast was this entire sequence?
So fast that the column sword Han Qingyu had thrown had only just reached midair above the water.
How devastating was the impact of that slash?
So devastating that simply from its sudden eruption and the raising of its blade, the entire expanse of sea beneath it bulged upward, heaving more than a dozen meters into the air.
So, dodge?
Impossible to dodge; there was no time.
Han Qingyu had no choice but to block it! Block it far off, up in the air.
Otherwise, once it landed, everyone currently on shore—including Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, Wen Jifei—might all die.
Sprint.
The force of his forward charge stomping against the ground, combined with the traction pulling him toward the small column sword, catapulted Han Qingyu's body rapidly into the sky, hurtling toward the Great Spike none of them had ever encountered before.
"A Daie!"
Ranked above the red-shoulders—a Daie.
No one could be certain whether this was the one that had previously vanished from the battlefield in Antarctica, but judging from the intelligence that had circulated back then, it was undoubtedly a Daie.
It might very well have come specifically to kill Wu Xu and Han Qingyu.
Earlier, because the two red-shoulders heading for Yuejiang University had been wounded and slain in succession, the red-shoulder dispatched as reinforcements had turned back halfway, and the Great Spike swarm above Shenghai had also assumed a defensive posture.
At the time, humanity had believed it was a phased victory.
Now it seemed that had merely been buildup—or perhaps camouflage—to allow the Daie to bide its time and strike, annihilating high-end human combatants that had been singled out.
It had arrived with utter stealth, and not necessarily from the skies above Shenghai, so much so that not even the Rejecters had detected the craft's trail.
...
Huaxia, on the coast of the East Sea, at the Qianchao River estuary.
Beneath the sunlight, towering waves roiled across the entire expanse of water.
In midair, the Daie raised its column sword high, slashing diagonally down toward the shore.
A small column sword rocketed straight toward it.
The Daie ignored the column sword.
Because at the exact same moment, a silhouette had soared into the air, darting diagonally upward like an arrow of light straight at it.
Han Qingyu leaned back in midair, bursting through curtains of spray as he drew the large column sword.
Clang!
Straightening his posture, he swung forward and upward with both hands.
"Whoa!" Far and near, gasps and cries only just began to sound.
Turning their heads, the Stream Vanguard soldiers present looked on in shock, yet deep down they did not harbor the worry and dread that outsiders might expect.
Because in their hearts, The King had always been practically invincible.
Yet the next second—
A muffled hum: Vwom!
One slashing diagonally downward, the other diagonally upward, the two massive blue light column swords finally clashed in midair.
They didn't even produce a sharp clatter of steel.
The deluge of sea spray suspended in the air abruptly subsided.
The surface of the sea beneath them sank in response.
As if a colossal iron cauldron had been violently slammed onto the ocean, a circular depression resembling the base of a wok abruptly opened across several hundred meters of water—a hundred meters deep. Along its rim, colossal waves vaulted skyward, temporarily concealing the two figures in the air from sight.
Thud! Another muffled impact rang out through the curtain of water.
The very instant their column swords collided, the Daie stomped a foot down onto Han Qingyu's chest.
This proved its sheer power: even amidst a collision of full strength, it possessed enough leeway to execute another maneuver.
And what was more, it was blindingly fast.
Crack, crack, crack... Han Qingyu's sternum, which had become exceptionally tough after being reinforced by the bone source, began to fracture under this single stomp.
Under the violent blow, his entire body plunged rapidly toward the sea.
The Daie pursued him downward.
Whoosh! Outside the water curtain, the Needlefish craft swept past at an angle.
It was flying on its side.
Thus, the figure catapulted from the top of the fuselage came flying horizontally...
Spinning as he drew his blade, Chen Buer pierced through the water curtain, intercepting between the Daie and Han Qingyu.
Chapter 627