Chapter 61: The Black Tortoise Body
Chapter 61: The Black Tortoise Body
Ji Xinghuo's eyes remained calm and collected.
Long Junying already had an arrow nocked on his bow, but instead of changing the direction, he released it and took down an elite Shi Liamian.
The deep gorge beneath his feet was a hundred meters wide and even taller than the opposing crag. Even if the Shi Liamian Giant wasn't injured, it wouldn't be able to leap across.
Moreover, it was now severely wounded.
With composure, Ji Xinghuo drew out a Blazing Arrow, pulled the string, and released it. At that moment, the Shi Liamian Giant leaped into the air, reaching the same height as him but still at a distance.
A red light streaked across the night sky.
Like a tracer bullet, it accurately struck the Shi Liamian Giant.
Boom!
A ball of high-temperature flame exploded, enveloping the Shi Liamian Giant in metallic shrapnel. The impact set its hair ablaze, and the flames quickly engulfed its entire body, turning it into a raging inferno.
The blast's shockwave halted the Shi Liamian Giant's leap, causing it to plummet into the deep gorge.
The Shi Liamian Giant let out a miserable roar.
The material of the Blazing Arrow was unique; its head was coated with a layer of combustible metal similar in nature to magnesium, found in the Starry Realm. When rubbed against air at high speeds, it generated heat, and upon impact, it would explode. While the explosive force wasn't exceptionally strong, falling short of Earth's explosives, the flames the Blazing Arrow produced were formidable. They could reach temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius, making them challenging to extinguish and covering a vast area.
Most monsters would be burned to a crisp with just a slight touch of these flames.
But the Shi Liamian Giant wasn't an ordinary monster.
Its body was as hard as rock; unlike the regular Shi Liamian, whose rocky skin was only a surface trait, this giant's entire body, from the outside in, seemed sculpted from stone itself.
Super Limit Ability: Black Tortoise Rock Body!
While not as renowned as the Super Limit Ability, Earth Pulse, the Black Tortoise Rock Body possessed superior defensive capabilities, rendering it nearly impervious to blades and bullets. Once activated, its entire body had no weak spots.
The Blazing Arrow's flames burned its hair, but they couldn't affect the Black Tortoise Rock Body, and the fire quickly extinguished.
However, the Shi Liamian Giant had already fallen into the deep gorge.
Rumbling...
Like a massive boulder, it tumbled into the gorge, the impact echoing between the cliffs.
Ji Xinghuo glanced downward.
The Shi Liamian Giant had rolled to the bottom and immediately jumped up, all four of its arms spreading its stone claws. It forcefully embedded them into the mountain, using all six limbs to frantically climb the precipice, ascending toward the ledge where Ji Xinghuo stood.
"Foolish creature," Ji Xinghuo murmured with a faint smile, paying it no further heed. He continued to shoot at the horde of Shi Liamians with his Dragonhawk Bow.
Over a hundred Shi Liamians had their ferocity triggered. Blindly following their leader, they charged forward, unable to discern their enemy. With snarls and claws, they leaped into the deep gorge, tumbling downward.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh...
Ji Xinghuo swiftly fired five arrows.
Like a roll call, each one found its mark on a once-evolved Shi Liamian.
At this point, the Shi Liamians were within two hundred meters of him, well within his confident range, and with his elevated position, even under the starry night sky, their frenzied running was no hindrance. Each arrow struck true, piercing eyes, resulting in instantaneous death.
With each shot, the invisible outline created by the Stealth Ring flashed faintly.
Some of the sharper-eyed Shi Liamians finally spotted their enemy.
But it was of no consequence.
Ji Xinghuo drew out a Capacitor Arrow and took aim downward.
By now, the Shi Liamian Giant had climbed over a hundred meters, leaving a trail of pits and holes in the cliff face, and the platform beneath its feet trembled.
The Myriad Phenomenon Forest roared to life!
The next second, Ji Xinghuo released the Capacitor Arrow.
Crack!
Like a bolt of lightning, it struck the desperately climbing Shi Liamian Giant, the arrow deftly maneuvering through the gaps between its wildly flailing arms and accurately hitting the wound between its legs.
Even though the bleeding had stopped, and the Basalt Body had hardened the flesh around the injury, this spot remained the weakest point on its body.
The Capacitor Arrow pierced the rock and embedded itself, releasing a surge of high-voltage electricity.
"Awoo..."
The Shi Liamian Giant howled in pain and spasmed, losing control of its body. Just as it had climbed to this height with great difficulty, it now convulsed and fell back into the deep gorge, crashing heavily.
Boom!
The gorge floor shook, sending stones flying, and several Shi Liamians that had crawled this far were unlucky enough to be crushed to death.
The Shi Liamian Giant also sustained further injuries, cracks appearing on its skin.
However, it immediately climbed back up, leaping onto the cliff face and continuing its frenzied ascent, having completely lost its sanity.
Ji Xinghuo ignored it and continued to take down the other monster-level Shi Liamians. In the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupil interface, his Spiritual Source Energy continuously increased: +1, +1, +1...
Among this group of Shi Liamians, fifteen had already evolved, and after two rounds of shooting, they were all dead.
Only the leader and the regular Shi Liamians remained.
They showed no signs of retreat, their ferocity unleashed as they madly climbed the stone cliff.
Ji Xinghuo's hands moved almost non-stop, his Third-Rank Thousand Dexterity Hands pushing his archery skills to an incredibly high level. He was fast, stable, and accurate, pulling and shooting arrows at a rate of nearly one per second.
The Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow flapped its wings with each shot.
With each arrow released, a climbing Shi Liamian fell, their bodies turning into corpses even before they hit the ground.
He maintained this rhythm, his expression calm and collected.
Not a single Shi Liamian made it within thirty meters of the ledge.
Finally, the Shi Liamian Giant climbed up again, moving faster than the others as it charged directly at Ji Xinghuo. However, it was greeted by yet another Capacitor Arrow.
The deep gorge was filled with the corpses of the Shi Liamians, their blood staining the stream red.
A few dozen Shi Liamians were still alive, and their survival instincts kicked in, overwhelming their loyalty to their leader, causing them to turn and scatter in all directions.
Ji Xinghuo did not bother to pursue and waste his arrows, as he wouldn't gain any Spiritual Source Energy anyway.
He peered down into the deep gorge.
The Shi Liamian Giant lay still after its fall, but since he hadn't obtained any Spiritual Source Energy, he knew it wasn't dead yet.
It had fallen onto a huge boulder, its body covered in cracks and bleeding profusely.
"Playing dead?" Ji Xinghuo mused.
He didn't rush down recklessly, but he also wasn't sure if the Shi Liamian Giant still had the ability to counter-attack. Super monsters could go berserk before their death, and even superhumans might not be able to withstand that.
He drew out a Blazing Arrow and shot it down.
Boom! The flames engulfed the Shi Liamian Giant, and it let out a miserable howl as it jumped up from the fire.
"As expected, playing dead..." Ji Xinghuo smiled. Super monsters weren't that easy to kill; their vitality was incredibly tenacious, beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Instead of climbing the cliff again, the Shi Liamian Giant jumped into the deeper part of the gorge, rolling and crawling, quickly leaping between the mountain walls and rocks, fleeing without looking back.
Ji Xinghuo turned and gestured to the little green snake in the tree.
"Let's go."
The little green snake had witnessed the entire battle, and with its intelligence, it could understand things that monsters couldn't. Its eyes were filled with shock and curiosity, and it also understood what Ji Xinghuo meant.
It hesitated for a moment.
Finally, it quickly swam over and crawled onto Ji Xinghuo's shoulder, hiding itself in the crevices of his ceramic-steel armor.
It wanted to see how Ji Xinghuo would kill the Shi Liamian Giant.
Ji Xinghuo leaped down from the stone cliff. The precipice below wasn't a vertical ninety-degree drop; in fact, it had a slope. With his Windstorm Battle Boots, he walked on the precipice as if it were flat ground, rushing down into the deep gorge in just a few seconds and chasing after the fleeing Shi Liamian Giant.
At this point, the Shi Liamian Giant had already escaped for several hundred meters.
However, the magnetic field sensing had already locked onto it, and Ji Xinghuo activated his Windstorm Step, matching the speed of the fleeing Shi Liamian Giant.
He neither closed in nor fell back.
The Shi Liamian Giant was already badly injured, so there was no need to engage it head-on. He could easily kill it by simply exhausting its stamina.
On Ji Xinghuo's shoulder, the little green snake poked its head out from time to time to observe.
It didn't understand how Ji Xinghuo was tracking their enemy. That terrifying monster had long escaped its scent range, and although it changed direction and hid several times, Ji Xinghuo always managed to find its direction immediately, never falling for its tricks. Then, from a distance, he would shoot an arrow, startling the prey and causing it to continue its flight.
The chase went on for over an hour.
The Shi Liamian Giant had fled more than thirty kilometers but still couldn't shake its pursuer. However, it was nearing its limit.
On several occasions, it turned back, ready to fight its enemy to the death.
But Ji Xinghuo didn't give it a chance, immediately creating distance, and when it fled in another direction, he quickly caught up again.
"Almost there," Ji Xinghuo muttered. "Another twenty minutes, and it'll be exhausted."
Ji Xinghuo weaved through the dense forest and deep valley, driving the Shi Liamian Giant to flee for its life.
Its speed had dropped to less than a third, and its blood loss was becoming more severe. Drops of blood marked its path.
The Basalt Body could harden its body, greatly increasing its defense and temporarily stopping the worsening of its injuries, but it consumed a lot of stamina and star power. It also didn't have any self-healing effects.
The fact that the Shi Liamian Giant could persist this long was already impressive.
Once the Basalt Body was deactivated, its injuries would immediately worsen, leaving it on the brink of death. Even without any attacks, it wouldn't survive for long.
So, he wasn't worried at all.
"Hmm?"
As Ji Xinghuo was chasing the giant, he suddenly frowned, sensing the presence of others through the magnetic field.
It was a hunting team of five people. They seemed to have been attracted by the sound of the Shi Liamian Giant's escape, and they were now approaching from ahead.
"Shi Liamian Giant!"
"It seems to be injured. Quick! Let's kill it..."
These people were speaking the language of the Western Alliance, and although Ji Xinghuo had graduated from the Fengming Language University, his major was in the language of the Starry Realm. On Earth, he relied on a translator, and studying the language of the Western Alliance had no job prospects, so he could only understand part of what they were saying.
First, there was a shout of surprise, followed by the sounds of combat. After a pitiful howl, the Shi Liamian Giant fell silent.
When Ji Xinghuo sensed that something was amiss, he immediately rushed over at full speed.
Spiritual Source Energy +27, the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupil interface prompted.
Ji Xinghuo's expression turned solemn as he anticipated that something unpleasant was about to happen. So, he covered his face and continued to approach, deliberately making loud footsteps.
"Who's there?"
"Show yourself!"
Ji Xinghuo appeared from the trees, about a hundred meters away from the group.
The five superhumans surrounded the corpse of the Shi Liamian Giant, already in a defensive formation, warily eyeing Ji Xinghuo as he emerged from the starry night.
Each person's expression was different—surprise, excitement, apprehension, caution... the range of emotions was wide.
But their eyes shared one thing in common: greed.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
