Fighting Daie Once More

"That's all." Alice spread her hands, indicating that was the extent of what she had deduced. With that gesture, her body relaxed once more. Yet just a moment ago, when Nikola had fallen into panic, rage, and vigilance, this body had been rigid, its gaze even ferocious. Over any given stretch of time, control of this body actually rested in Nikola's hands. It could seize total control whenever it wished, but this state of absolute dominance could not yet be maintained for prolonged periods. In most situations, it did not dare do anything too extreme while in control, fearing Alice might take her own life afterward. Otherwise, Young Master Shiheng would have died long ago—Nikola despised him more than any other human in the world. Alice naturally knew what Nikola had been worried about just now, just as she had noticed that during their exchange, Ne's attention had also drifted over, listening to and observing Nikola's reaction. The matter of the relic bones was not a secret in itself; the secret lay in where they actually were. This was buried by Nikola at the deepest reaches of its consciousness, guarded with all its might. "So, how about my proposal?" Alice looked up, gesturing toward the glacier overhead. Above the glacier was the Great Spike traction field, where a desperate battle was underway. "No," Nikola refused once more. This former paragon of the Great Spike race had long ceased considering itself a Great Spike, though it certainly had no intention of siding with humanity either. "The only successful experimental subject will not die easily. She possesses a vitality source energy block on her..." The so-called vitality source energy block was the piece of jade bone Rusty Sister had acquired inside the Great Spike mothership at Mount Xilang. This was the first time anyone had uttered its name; it seemed to be a source energy block with a unique function. The jade bone was virtually useless to other humans, but it could rapidly mend Rusty Sister's injuries. Beyond that, over the years it had been silently repairing her broken, ravaged body. After years of continuous consumption, very little of the jade bone remained. "And what if it has already been depleted?" Alice did not give up, pressing on. "Or what if she is torn to shreds directly in combat? A vitality source energy block wouldn't be able to save her then." "No. They will protect her, protecting her with everything they have. Even if they perish, she will surely be the very last to die. So I am in no hurry." When Nikola spoke those words, it did so without any emotion or sentiment. Yet such a purely objective statement suddenly struck Alice as wonderfully beautiful, evoking a pang of envy. Perhaps Nikola was right. After all, in Young Master Shiheng's everyday descriptions of that bunch, the female warrior known as Rusty Sister seemed to be just like that—cherished and guarded unequivocally by every single one of them. *Fine, I suppose I'm a bit jealous,* Alice muttered to herself inwardly. "Besides, do you know how many vitality source energy blocks are inside that traction field?!" Nikola's voice rang out again as it continued, "Because of her unique and extraordinary constitution, that place is virtually a spring of life to her. As long as she enters the traction field, she will be practically immortal." ... The people above the glacier knew nothing of this. Had they known, they might have staked everything to deliver Rusty Sister into the traction field. Han Qingyu should have strapped her to his back and carried her along just now. And now, just as Nikola had anticipated, even amidst such brutal, agonizing combat, everyone in Stream Blades—from the core group and elite combatant unit down to the ordinary soldiers—subconsciously tracked Rusty Sister's position, striving to shield her. Although no one had ever spoken of or admitted it publicly, the lonely, pitiful little girl beneath that steel armor had always been the darling of Stream Blades' hearts, even if she was a warrior stronger than most of them. "Qingzi..." Amidst surging source energy, Rusty Sister called out almost the entire way, as if afraid Qingzi might lose his bearings inside the Great Spike swarm. A Red Shoulder charged in from the flank. *Whir!* The iron armor surged forward with the roar of an explosive burst. Yet with a *whoosh*, a corpse-like figure swiftly blocked the space before her. Weize's body was sliced open by the Red Shoulder's column sword—there was a wound, but no blood. At the same time, the combat saber in his hand slashed open the Red Shoulder's arm. The death energy trait invaded. The Red Shoulder's injured arm rapidly withered, drained of vitality. Few on the chaotic battlefield noticed this. Under different circumstances, the entire world might have been stunned by the formidable, terrifying nature of Weize's death energy trait. This was also the first time Weize had unleashed his trait on the battlefield since ascending to Super-tier. Previously, even throughout Stream Blades' grueling rush, he had never used it... Aside from Weize himself, only four people knew the secret behind it: Wen Jifei, Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, and the Little Prince. *Thwack!* The tip of a black spear pierced clean through the wounded Red Shoulder from behind. Wu Xu yanked the spear back and spun around. Riddled with wounds, he continued spearheading the charge... Stream Blades pushed forward. *Bang! Bang!...* Gunfire echoed incessantly along the way. By now, Stream Blades had been unable to see Han Qingyu for quite a while. Their line of sight was blocked by the tall, dense swarm of Great Spikes. Han Qingyu could not see them either. Both sides could only rely on their memory of each other's prior positions, pushing toward each other in a bid to link up. *Bang!* A source energy bullet suddenly grazed right before Wu Xu's eyes. "Off course!" Wen Jifei's furious shout followed immediately after. Even in such a tense crisis, Wu Xu had still led Stream Blades off course. When Wen Jifei opened his mouth, he was so angry his chest ached, fuming to death, but... Half a second later— "Hahahahaha..." From the very vanguard to the rear of the battle array, the scoundrels suddenly burst out laughing. Amidst a fight to the death, while struggling desperately to hold on, they laughed loudly and unrestrainedly. Great Spike column swords shattered their arms and shoulders; blade tips stabbed into their chests. Still they laughed, swinging their blades as blood sprayed from their mouths... They lunged forward. Even if they fell, they would fall toward the Great Spikes. ... Han Qingyu heard their laughter. From the moment he dropped into the Great Spike swarm, he had not pursued kills. The only thing he did was protect his body as best he could, expending all his strength to forge toward the direction Stream Blades was advancing. Even so, Great Spike corpses still littered the ground in his wake, and numerous fresh wounds covered his body. In such a combat environment, so long as an injury was not fatal and did not impair his mobility, Han Qingyu chose to endure it in exchange for disrupting the Great Spikes' formation and gaining a chance to advance. The previous burst had cost him far too much while aggravating his injuries. Keeping his source energy surge stable, Han Qingyu seized every split second to adjust his condition. Only a single combat saber remained in his hand... Yet the column swords—Han Qingyu had never ceased sensing the blue-glow column swords along the way. Finally, two column swords appeared simultaneously within his perception and range of control. Perhaps because the distance was shorter now, or perhaps because the swarm of Great Spikes that had heavily pinned down the column swords had been pulled apart, Han Qingyu tested an internal tug. The column swords shifted slightly. He was in no rush to summon them over, for a shadow, a vigilant foreboding, had lingered in his subconscious all along: Daie might be on its way, or perhaps it was already here. "Qingzi, watch out!" On the other side, Wen Jifei suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs toward the sky. He still could not see him. He shouted because Wen Jifei harbored the exact same vigilance. At the same time, he had noticed another anomaly: the Great Spike horde's defense had suddenly become far more orderly. *Whir!* The moment the shout fell, he risked his life to leap into the air. Five explosive bursts fused into a single roar. Wen Jifei vaulted into the air. Around him, top combat power Xu Shiliang led three others into the air alongside him, shielding him in their midst. Midair, Wen Jifei spun his body rapidly, sweeping his sniper rifle in a circle. Through the sniper scope, images of the surrounding battlefield whipped past in a blur... Wen Jifei was looking for Daie. That creature was considerably taller than other Great Spikes and looked distinctly different, so it should not have been hard to spot. Yet the swarm was simply too dense. If it crouched low... "...Xu'er!" *Bang!* Wen Jifei shouted and fired simultaneously. This time, Wu Xu had not strayed off course. He yelled because in Wen Jifei's field of vision, a massive figure, moving so fast it blurred into an almost incorporeal streak, was charging low. As it lunged forward to strike, it gradually straightened upright. Daie! It truly was here. Only unexpectedly, its ambush target was not Han Qingyu, but Wu Xu. *Whoosh!* A column sword thrust from the flank, aiming straight for the back of Wu Xu's heart. *Boom!* Wu Xu exploded with power and whipped around, raising the Binggu Spear horizontally to parry. *Clang—screeech!* Following the collision, the sound of the column sword grating across the spear shaft was piercing. Riding the impact, Wu Xu retreated at breakneck speed, not hesitating to slam his back directly into the swarm of Great Spikes. Yet his speed still lagged behind Daie's. The tip of the column sword angled upward. *Pffft!* It pierced through, sinking into Wu Xu's chest and thrusting deeper... At this point, no one could intervene in time to help. If the column sword pushed just a bit further, it would pierce Wu Xu's heart, and he would die. Against such damage, his regenerative ability would not be fast enough to save him. Given the disparity in their speeds, this would happen within a second. Yet Daie suddenly stopped. Without warning, it ceased its forward thrust, planted its feet firmly, pulled back its column sword, spun around, and raised it in a horizontal guard. *Clang!* A smaller blue-glow column sword was struck down to the ground less than a meter before it could pierce Daie's right shoulder blade. At the same time, *whir!* The sound came from the opposite direction—from Wu Xu's side. Han Qingyu's figure skimmed low past Wu Xu's side, delivering a two-handed slash as his combat saber chopped down. *Clang!* Another sharp clang rang out. Daie snapped back around, once again blocking Han Qingyu's sneak attack. However, lacking enough gathered momentum, its massive body was driven back over ten meters before it skidded to a halt. At the same time, drained of subsequent power following the clash, Han Qingyu dropped to the ground. Standing there, *cough!* He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. In that split second, a standoff formed on the battlefield: A colossal, burly alien, at least over four meters tall, holding an enormous column sword, stood amidst Stream Blades' formation. It did not move, watching the other side in silence. Less than twenty meters across from it, a human figure who appeared tiny by comparison stood with his back to the Great Spike swarm, saber in one hand, head tilted slightly up, watching it as well. That towering alien was called Daie, the highest-ranking and most formidable Great Spike humanity had ever witnessed. That man was named Major Qing. Over a year ago, at the zenith above the coast of Oceania, he had slain a Daie. "Gulu..." Daie spoke, uttering something unintelligible, and the movement of the Great Spike swarm gradually ground to a halt. The warriors of Stream Blades paused as well.