Chapter 46: Snatch!
The moment the Ant King fell, over a dozen bullets and a torrent of long-range abilities rained down on Mizuki, Old Smoke, Dust, and the others. This was the handiwork of the hundred-plus contractors watching from the sidelines.
While driving these contractors away before the battle would have been a good choice, doing so would have only caused them to band together, making things far more troublesome.
Mizuki and the others had anticipated this situation. Instead of charging toward the Ant King's corpse, they actually retreated a few steps.
"Our only chance is now. Rush in and snatch it while it's chaotic!"
"Captain, let's go."
"Wait, let those rogue cultivators be the cannon fodder first."
The courtyard of the royal palace was filled with clamorous shouts, accompanied by the sound of chaotic footsteps.
Among the hundred-plus contractors, at least eighty or ninety surged forward, relying on their numerical advantage to forcefully seize the heart.
Had Mizuki and the others given up? Of course not. They were waiting for those watching contractors to charge in. Only in chaos would they avoid being focused down, and individual strength differences would become more apparent.
This wasn't the first time Mizuki and the others had faced a similar scramble, so they were experienced.
The sound of hurried footsteps merged into one. Nearly a hundred contractors all fixed their eyes on the Ant King's corpse. These people were surprisingly tacit in their actions—they didn't attack the corpse itself but instead randomly threw skills around it.
Boom!
A fireball landed. As it hit the ground, a figure that had been invisible appeared. This was an assassin who had tried to sneak up to the Ant King and steal the entire heart.
Unfortunately, the descending fireball blasted him out of stealth. The moment he appeared, a barrage of skills was hurled at him. His figure twisted, likely activating a life-saving ability.
But in the next instant, blood sprayed from the assassin's body as his ability was forcibly interrupted. Dozens of attacks struck him, and he didn't even have time to scream before being blasted to pieces.
A large group of contractors swarmed toward the Ant King's corpse. After they charged forward, the ranged fire began to thin out, as those attacks had been their own.
"Mizuki, the timing is about right. Keep an eye on Dust's side. I'll watch Bai Ye. Have the Frost Giant force its way in."
Old Smoke shouted, but received no response.
"Mizuki?"
He shouted again while observing the surroundings.
"Look over there. This guy… seems a bit fierce."
Following Mizuki's direction, Old Smoke turned his gaze.
"Holy shit."
Old Smoke's eyes bulged, seemingly stunned by what he saw. At that moment, a pale blue energy blade flew straight toward him—Su Xiao's blade aura.
A puff of smoke erupted from Old Smoke's shoulder, forcibly shoving him aside. The blade aura flew past him and finally struck a half-collapsed wall behind him, cutting it clean through before disappearing from sight.
Clang, clang, clang…
The crisp sounds of slashes rang out continuously. At this point, Su Xiao was only about five meters from the Ant King's corpse, surrounded on all sides by contractors, their eyes bloodshot and murderous intent boiling.
Dozens of counter shields floated around Su Xiao as he held the Dragon-Slaying Flash, his gaze quickly scanning his surroundings.
Su Xiao was now surrounded by a large number of contractors. Taking the Ant King's heart directly was clearly not an option; he needed to at least drive back the surrounding contractors first.
"Where did this guy come from?"
A dozen or so contractors blocked by Su Xiao looked him up and down.
"He jumped down from the watchtower. Looks like that sniper with insane firepower."
"Bullshit. Since when does your sniper charge into the middle of things?"
"Huh~"
"Never mind who he is. Kill him. The Ant King's corpse is right in front of us. Anyone who blocks us dies. This is about our survival."
Under the threat of forced execution, all the contractors began to fight desperately, unleashing their full potential just to snatch a piece of the Ant King's heart.
Even a small piece could save their lives. If they could grab a large chunk, they'd be set. No one could resist such temptation.
Numbers gave these contractors courage, but unfortunately, Su Xiao excelled in chaotic battles like this.
"Charge!"
Over twenty contractors rushed at Su Xiao from the front and both sides. Instead of immediately dealing with them, he waved his arm, sending the dozens of counter shields flying to encircle the Ant King's corpse a few meters away.
With the increase in Azure Steel Shadow's level, the maximum distance the counter shields could be from Su Xiao was three meters. Beyond that, the energy connection would be abruptly cut, causing the shields to quickly shatter.
However, if Su Xiao actively severed the energy connection, the counter shields could exist independently for one minute, regardless of distance.
This time, Su Xiao wasn't using the counter shields to protect himself but to prevent anyone from stealing the Ant King's heart while he was busy killing.
These people hadn't lifted a finger to kill the Ant King, yet they swarmed in the moment it died. Naturally, Su Xiao wouldn't show mercy—not that he ever did.
The sounds of battle cries reached Su Xiao's ears. He stomped the ground, and a red aura surged from his body, causing the twenty-plus contractors charging at him to hesitate.
"What's with this guy?"
The contractor in the lead, sporting a middle-part hairstyle and wielding a heavy sword—clearly a strength type—stopped in his tracks.
"Get out of the way."
A main tank slammed into the middle-part guy from behind, forcing him forward a few steps. The middle-part guy had already lost his desire to continue charging.
A whoosh of wind came from ahead. A figure appeared in front of the middle-part guy, who instinctively raised his pitch-black heavy sword.
Ding!
Sparks flew several meters high as a long blade struck the heavy sword.
[Warning! Warning! Your weapon has sustained severe damage!]
[Warning! Your weapon is damaged!]
The middle-part melee fighter had no time to heed Reincarnation Paradise's warnings, as a tremendous force was pressing down on his hands.
Before their weapons clashed, the middle-part guy thought his weapon's weight would give him an advantage. His heavy sword weighed 270 jin, a true heavy weapon. But reality proved otherwise.
Forget parrying—the moment their weapons collided, the middle-part guy nearly dropped to his knees.
"Strength type…"
Before he could finish, his hands suddenly felt lighter. Thinking the enemy had withdrawn his blade, he realized his weapon had broken.
Pfft.
A spray of blood. An arm and half a shoulder flew into the air. An excruciating pain, nearly driving the middle-part guy mad, surged through him. Worse, his entire body went numb, filling his eyes with despair.
Pfft.
The pain vanished as a head flew up.
Su Xiao killed a melee fighter with two slashes, feeling no surprise. This fighter only had standard attributes, not true attributes, so the gap was naturally huge.
Having just killed one contractor, Su Xiao sidestepped to dodge a bullet. His instinct ability had warned him of the incoming shot 0.4 seconds earlier.
The surrounding contractors were stunned, having witnessed Su Xiao kill a man with two slashes—the first breaking the weapon, the second taking the head.
Instinctive fear made these melee contractors instinctively retreat. One slower main tank awkwardly ended up at the front of the crowd, seemingly challenging Su Xiao.
Su Xiao's gaze fell on the main tank—a burly figure glaring back at him.
"Get lost."
The main tank stepped forward. Unlike the melee fighters around him, he wasn't afraid of contractors with strong offensive abilities. In fact, main tanks were the bane of such fighters.