"Run, run! Step on it!"
Inside the sports car's barrier, unlike Yaxiu who still had the leisure to taunt, Sonia and Diya nervously gripped Yaxiu's shoulders in the front row, their voices hushed as they urged the driver to flee, so terrified their legs had gone weak.
How could they not be scared?!
A full twenty-odd growth-stage snake-scorpion dragons and eight growth-stage thousand-feather bird-dragons! These were no ordinary pack creatures, but massive beasts on par with Two-Winged Sorcerers—each capable of taking on Sonia in a one-on-one fight!
Especially the thousand-feather bird-dragons. Those things could maneuver and fly, specialized in long-range aerial strikes, and even knew how to use the reverse golden rain to conceal their figures. On the Time Continent's ranking of knowledge creatures, they were considered dangerous foes requiring extreme caution.
Sonia still remembered the countermeasure against thousand-feather bird-dragons mentioned in Tips for Clearing the Time Continent: "Kneel on the ground, stick out your rear, hug your head to protect vital areas, and curl into as tight a ball as possible."
"This way, most likely only your rear will take damage. Even if you die, you will only lose the soul of your rear. Aside from feeling a bit empty while taking a dump, it basically won't affect daily life in reality."
Because the book had been borrowed from the library, quite a few upperclassmen had left marginal notes. Everyone spoke very highly of this countermeasure and even shared numerous tips on sticking out one's rear.
Though it looked utterly ridiculous, Sonia hadn't laughed when reading it; she had memorized it diligently. These notes and shared insights were the crystallization of sorcerers' wisdom. If the seniors knew that the experience they had painstakingly gathered was despised and mocked by juniors, they would probably be overjoyed—sorcerers who didn't respect knowledge deserved to pay a heavy price.
If a Two-Winged Sorcerer couldn't beat a thousand-feather bird-dragon, they simply couldn't beat it; that was completely normal. All sorcerers had their strengths and weaknesses. Just as ascetic sorcerers could counter all melee physical enemies while being countered by ranged enemies adept at inflicting negative curse and elemental damage, even the most genius and well-rounded sorcerer would run into Void Realm creatures they couldn't deal with.
Even Legendary Sorcerers had blind spots they couldn't cover.
As a sorcerer, having the drive to shore up one's weaknesses was essential, but one also had to learn risk management. Even cheaters like Yaxiu and Sonia couldn't avoid dying, let alone others. Diya taking two whole years to step onto the Time Continent wasn't because she was restricted by her faction realm.
As long as it reduced the penalty of death, never mind sticking out one's rear—people would even take a dump while doing a handstand.
Death was merely a part of life in the Void Realm. No sorcerer would vow to slaughter every Fishcleaver Dragon in the world just because they gave up first blood to one, nor was there any "Fishcleaver Dragon Protection Society" hunting Yaxiu down because he specifically targeted Fishcleaver Dragons to farm Swordsmanship Orbs.
"The Void Realm is a place that drives people mad. Sorcerers and sorcerers, sorcerers and knowledge creatures, knowledge creatures and knowledge creatures—all beings slaughter one another inside, yet harbor no resentment toward each other. Everyone clings to life and fears death, yet they live towards death." —Mori Tower Second Floor · Void Realm Library · Famous Quotes.
That was why the Sword Princess and the Witch were so terrified.
Neither was a coward. Half an hour ago, when killing the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon, they had been braver than Yaxiu. So it wasn't death they feared, but suffering a massive loss!
If they died here, with the snake-scorpion dragons and thousand-feather bird-dragons each taking bites, more than half their souls would probably be devoured. In reality, their bodies would be paralyzed and out of commission, and entering the Void Realm next time would probably take several months.
Even if they had to die, they wanted to die far away to get bitten fewer times by knowledge creatures!
"Don't panic."
The roar of the colossal monsters was right at their ears. The protective barrier chimed with rapid clicking pings as the barrier's energy gauge plummeted. Danger threatened to grind them all to pieces in the next second.
Yet Yaxiu felt not the slightest fear—nor excitement, for that matter. There was only a calm akin to watching a documentary.
During their battles over the past two days, he would occasionally slip into this bizarre state of being "spaced out from doing homework." It had never happened before, making Yaxiu suspect the Time Continent's feng shui was terrible and clashed with his astrological birth chart.
However, in this special observational state, Yaxiu could notice many details he normally overlooked. He could even accurately predict the enemy's next plot move like a seasoned trash-movie connoisseur who had sat through thousands of dreadful films.
The battles over the past two days hadn't been smooth sailing. After all, the three of them were complete novices who had just arrived in a new map, and team fights required coordination. As a result, the Sword Princess and the Witch had actually encountered fatal crises multiple times. But because Yaxiu slipped into this special state almost every time and protected them with "Sword Body Barrier" in the nick of time, they had safely endured the initial adjustment period without mishap.
The Sword Princess and the Witch naturally noticed his exquisite maneuvers, but the issue was that both of them performed plenty of flawless micro-plays in battle as well. They naturally paid no extra attention to Yaxiu showing off, at most nodding in appreciation, and even took it as the standard level expected of the Watcher. Meanwhile, Yaxiu assumed it was just an occasional flash of brilliance; he was past the age of jumping up and hollering over a pentakill, so he naturally wouldn't go out of his way to flaunt it.
However, this particular flash of brilliance... seemed to be lasting a bit longer than usual?
"The good show is about to begin," Yaxiu said calmly as he pressed the virtual controls. The sports car surged, executing a wild dance in place before crashing into the pack of snake-scorpion dragons on the left like a spinning beyblade!
Diya screamed outright, most of her hair turning red as Little Red clearly clocked in to take over the shift. Sonia nearly bit through her lip, forcing down the panic in her throat while gripping the Watcher's trench coat tightly with both hands... Huh?
Was it the reflection of the Witch's hair, visual distortion from the spinning, or...
Was the Watcher's deep-red gradient trench coat really pulsing with arcs of light like a breathing LED?
Boom!
The Wicked Edge neatly cleaved a snake-scorpion dragon in two. The sports car gripped the ground with all its might to whip around, its tires carving out a crescent arc that perfectly dodged the subsequent volley of arrows before roaring as it collided with the charging snake-scorpion dragon troop!
Boom! Crash! Boom! Crash!
Severed limbs of snake-scorpion dragons flew over the protective barrier. Dark-red blood sprayed across the sky above the sports car like water from a sprinkler, but because of the transparent barrier, the blood was held suspended in midair. Only when Sonia and Diya raised their heads did they see the grand spectacle of blooming blossoms of blood.
Yet behind that crimson curtain was a dark-green toxic mist dense enough to blot out vision!
Thud! Thud!
By now, the snake-scorpion dragons had finally caught up to the car. Sharp venomous stingers, rock-shattering pincers, and perilous serpentine maws assailed the vehicle all at once. The barrier let out overloaded pops, on the verge of cracking like an eggshell at any moment!
Just then, shrill shrieks echoed above the cavern!
"Skreech—"
The thousand-feather bird-dragons fell screaming; the most fragile among them had become the toxic mist's first casualties!
With their tactical objective completely fulfilled, Yaxiu pushed the sports car into a sprint at maximum speed, shaking off the snake-scorpion dragons a second before the barrier shattered and safely fleeing the cavern!
This was the trump card behind their audacity to challenge the Heroic Spirit Legion—"Toxic Mist Undercurrent" and "Refraction Curtain Wall"!
[Refraction Curtain Wall (Level 6): The automobile is encased in a curtain wall with 4,000 Health Points. All damage dealt to the curtain wall is reduced by 32%.
Level 6 Special Effect: Additional 30% damage reduction against ranged attacks (32 + 30 = 62%).
Next level requires: Ore Essence 630 / Wood Essence 630 / Mercury Essence 315.]
[Toxic Gas Undercurrent (Level 4): The exhaust pipe emits a thick toxic mist capable of corroding souls. The dense fog has a sight-obscuring effect. Operators inside the sports car are unaffected by the toxic mist.
Next level requires: Mercury Essence 600 / Wood Essence 300.]
In order to upgrade these two car peripherals, nearly all the resources they had painstakingly gathered over the past two days had been depleted. Yet it was all worth it—without Refraction Curtain Wall, they would have long been turned into pin cushions by the thousand-feather bird-dragons, and without Toxic Gas Undercurrent, they would have had no way to deal with such a massive horde of knowledge creatures!
Why had Yaxiu insisted on gambling this time? Because he realized that missing this chance might mean never getting another opportunity to lift the veil of mystery from the Heroic Spirit Legion—the legion happened to enter a cavern where space was severely constricted, and he happened to have the resources to upgrade the curtain wall and toxic gas!
Every single element was indispensable. It had to be inside a cavern; they had to have the curtain wall and the toxic mist; and neither the snake-scorpion dragons nor the thousand-feather bird-dragons possessed means to halt movement. Everything then unfolded according to Yaxiu's plan, like pieces of an original jigsaw puzzle locking seamlessly into place to create a miracle-like scene:
They had trapped the Heroic Spirit Legion in the cave and poisoned them to death!
At this point, whether from being tossed around by the car or something else, Sonia had unknowingly ended up in the front passenger seat. Clutching Yaxiu's right arm tightly, she stared at the cavern with lingering terror. "Are—are they all dead?"
"Not yet." Yaxiu glanced at the Void Realm Map. "The thousand-feather bird-dragons should all be dead, but half the snake-scorpion dragons are still left."
"Then let's run! They're going to give chase!"
"No, we should bottle them up in the cave and fight to the finish!"
The Witch's voice sounded like a duet. Yaxiu and Sonia turned their heads and discovered that she too had somehow moved to the front row. Fortunately, the car was spacious enough that Yaxiu, sitting in the middle, didn't feel cramped.
The Witch's hair looked very peculiar right now, displaying a gradient of black and red.
Each Witch sister had her own unique hair color: the Secret Princess was glossy black, the Black Butler was pale violet, the White Queen was pure white, and the Red Apostle was blood red... When her hair was a solid color, it meant only one persona was in control. When her hair showed multiple distinct strands of different colors, there was one primary persona assisted by several secondary personas.
Yet this gradient was something Yaxiu and Sonia had never seen before.
It looked as if... different paints had been blended directly together.
However, with the situation extremely critical, no one was in the mood to care what cutting-edge hair-dyeing technology the Witch was using. Yaxiu pressed the virtual buttons. The sports car again bit into the ground and whipped around with a deafening screech, turning its front to face the cavern once more.
"We aren't running away, and we aren't bottling them up."
Vroom!
With a powerful surge that threw them back against their seats, the sports car plunged into the cavern once more, greeting a snake-scorpion dragon that was just emerging with a French kiss!
Just as the sports car's blades sheared the snake-scorpion dragon into two halves, the other snake-scorpion dragons inside the toxic mist retaliated swiftly, causing the Refraction Curtain Wall—overworked on its very first day on the job—to drop dead and clock out on the spot!
Crack!
The protective barrier broke!
Sonia held Yaxiu's hand with one hand while reaching for her hilt with the other. Diya tensed all over, pulling taut strings of Water-Born Line with both hands, looking ready to leap out at any moment to trade blows with the snake-scorpion dragons.
"Stay in the car," Yaxiu said calmly. As the sports car was about to re-enter the cavern enveloped in toxic mist, he leaned back against the leather seat back and looked up toward the left.
At the same time, Demilo charged out of the toxic mist cavern atop his snake-scorpion dragon. He tilted his head slightly, catching Yaxiu's gaze dead-on.
One was calm, stagnant, pitch-black water; the other was a tranquil lake reflecting countless vistas.
"Next up is round two."
Chapter 241