Chapter 32: Soak and Drown
Crystal-clear water splashed everywhere as Su Xiao rushed into the shallow river. Baha swooped down from a low altitude like a hunting hawk, its claws extending forward to grab Amu's two horns.
The bushes behind rustled, and a blue-skinned man holding a long bow burst out. His loose green clothes didn't hinder his running; instead, they gave him a unique aesthetic.
Yes, aesthetic. The blue-skinned humans of the Divine Kingdom had a unique beauty in both their attire and weapons. At first glance, they seemed simple, but the details were exquisite.
"Ee—yo!"
The blue-skinned man who burst from the bushes let out a strange cry and leaped low. Midair, he nocked an arrow and drew the string, his eyes aligned with the arrow, aiming at Baha dozens of meters away.
Bang! Bang!
The slender bowstring vibrated, and two long, sharp arrows shot through the air. The tail feathers at their ends caused the arrows to spin slowly, enhancing their stability.
The arrows stirred up airwaves as they flew. One arrow aimed straight for Baha's head, while the other predicted the trajectory of Baha's wing movement.
Zzzt~
The Realm Severing Thread in Su Xiao's hand tightened, and Baha in midair suddenly shifted downward, the two arrows barely grazing above it.
Su Xiao's fingers curled, retracting the Realm Severing Thread. Without needing his command, Baha tilted its wings and charged into the dense forest to the left.
Leaves scattered as blue-skinned figures rushed out from the thicket. The moment they emerged, they drew their bows and fired.
Whoosh, whoosh...
Two arrows flew past Su Xiao, causing him to pause. Both arrows had predicted his evasive direction.
Pfft!
One arrow pierced Su Xiao's lower back. The next moment, at least a dozen arrows embedded themselves in the river water near him.
A numbing sensation spread from Su Xiao's lower back, but he didn't stop. He continued charging forward. These arrows completely ignored physical defense. Not only did they have terrifying base damage, but they could also stack damage-marking effects. If hit by six or seven arrows in a short time, Su Xiao would be dead for sure.
Choosing to endure that one arrow was a wise decision. If he had tried to dodge, he would have been hit by at least four arrows. Those dozens of blue-skinned humans were all prediction archers—the more you dodged, the faster you died.
Wind whistled past his ears as Su Xiao sprinted across the shallow river and stepped onto the opposite bank, each step leaving deep footprints.
Another strange cry came from behind, and the sense of crisis suddenly dropped.
At the edge of the dense forest across the river, Su Xiao stopped. The dozens of blue-skinned humans stood on the other side of the shallow river, lined up, watching him from a distance.
"You... come from... the Eastern Continent?"
A man with feather ornaments on his head and slightly more ornate clothing spoke. His Sera language was somewhat awkward and stiff.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't reply. He glanced back and then walked into the dense forest.
Before long, Baha, who had split off to run, came to rendezvous. As for Bubu Wang, it had been following Su Xiao the whole time.
Su Xiao grabbed the arrow in his lower back, frowned, and pulled it out. He looked at the arrow in his hand and casually tossed it aside.
The Apostle's Eye in midair descended. Just before entering the dense forest, Su Xiao had scanned the data of one enemy.
[Due to overwhelming Intelligence attribute advantage over the enemy, 100% of the enemy's data has been obtained.]
Name: Withered Flower (Female)
Category: Tianba Clan
Health: 100%
Source Power (Drown): 5072/5200 points
Note: Source Power is divided into two categories: Soak and Drown.
Note: Soak is melee type, Drown is ranged type.
Strength: 125 (True Attribute, due to Tianba Clan's racial flaw/talent, +17 correction during Strength judgment)
Agility: 145 (True Attribute)
Endurance: 127 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 83
Charm: 105 (True Attribute)
Skill 1, Heavenly Clan (Passive, LV.59): Health +8300 points, extremely tough physique.
Skill 2, Archery Grandmaster (Basic Passive Ability, X): The Tianba Clan are darlings of the mountains and forests, and extremely diligent. Every Tianba Clan member begins rigorous training before age 10 and takes pride in it.
Skill 3, Source·Erosion (Passive, Lv.45): After reaching adulthood, Tianba Clan members drink "Source Water" to undergo a transformation. Their skin and blood turn blue, they gain strong self-healing abilities, and they are immune to mental-type temptations, control, etc.
Skill 4, Drown (Exclusive Passive, Lv.37): After hitting an enemy with a ranged attack, it inflicts an additional 270 points of damage that ignores physical defense and creates a damage-deepening effect, dealing percentage damage based on the enemy's maximum health. Initial effect: 2.7%.
Note: The damage-deepening effect can stack up to 5 times, with a maximum effect of 16.7% of the enemy's maximum health per attack.
Skill 5, Source·Spread (Unique Active, Lv.3): This ability has been self-sealed. There is a chance it will be unsealed during intense emotional fluctuations.
Seeing the Tianba Clan's attributes, Su Xiao even suspected that ten Drown-type (ranged) Tianba Clan members could besiege Saint Descendant King Alexander to death.
The energy within the Tianba Clan was Source Power, which had two attributes: Soak and Drown. Drown was ranged, like those who had just chased Su Xiao. As for Soak-type Tianba Clan members, he hadn't encountered them yet, but they were likely not weak.
If a normal sixth-rank adventure group entered the Divine Kingdom, they would be wiped out by these Tianba Clan members. The front-line tank wouldn't be able to hold.
As for blocking arrows with a high-quality shield? Don't dream. Tianba Clan members who mastered "Drown" were all Archery Grandmasters X. The precision and prediction of their arrows couldn't be fully blocked by a single shield.
Don't underestimate Grandmaster-level abilities. Su Xiao's previous Blade Grandmaster ability only reached X after being raised to Lv.50. That meant the warriors among the Tianba Clan all had Grandmaster-level abilities around Lv.50.
The Tianba Clan members who had just chased him were at least several dozen, all with the "Drown" attribute. As for those who didn't come out, they were likely weaker Tianba Clan members, not considered Tianba Clan warriors—neither Drown-type (ranged) nor Soak-type (melee).
More importantly, this was just a small area of the Divine Kingdom. Going deeper might reveal even more Tianba Clan members.
After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao decided to have Amu wait near the cliff face they had come from. The Tianba Clan's Drown attribute was a hard counter to Amu. Having it block Xi there was the best choice.
Amu didn't need to fight Xi. It just needed to wait there. Even if Xi discovered it, Amu could just jump into the Abyss. The chance of Xi pursuing was minimal, and Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha would arrive quickly to support.
Amu walked out of the dense forest and headed downstream along the shallow river.
Su Xiao waited in the forest for about half an hour before moving toward the building complex again.
Soon, Su Xiao returned near the building complex. A gravel path led into the complex, and Su Xiao was now leaning behind a tree, waiting for Bubu Wang to return.
According to Bubu Wang's reconnaissance, the building complex housed over 200 Tianba Clan members. They clearly hadn't lived there long. The daily items they used, though not brand new, had been made recently. Especially their clothing—the embroidery was too exquisite. If one or two people were like that, it might be nothing, but if everyone was, it meant one thing.
The Divine Kingdom was home to many Tianba Clan members. They had large towns, and not every Tianba Clan member was good at combat. Most were likely responsible for labor, producing daily necessities.
Su Xiao made a gesture to Baha. Baha had gone from being a sky overlord to a land long-distance runner. Its gait was as clumsy as possible. With so many Drown-type Tianba Clan members, how could it dare to fly? That would be a fancy, spiral, jet-propelled way to die.
By checking the prompts, Su Xiao learned that this building complex was called "Front Guard Village," located on the edge of the Divine Kingdom. Its main purpose was to prevent the Sera Empire on the Eastern Continent from attacking.
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao thought of a possibility: the Tianba Clan of the Divine Kingdom was wary of the Sera Empire on the Eastern Continent.
In terms of combat power, the Tianba Clan completely crushed the Sera Empire. But if the information they had was tampered with, that would be different.
Iron Feather King had once fought the Abyss Serpent, and the result was the Abyss Serpent's defeat. However, Iron Feather King didn't kill the Abyss Serpent; instead, he made an agreement with it.
For some reason, the Abyss Serpent didn't want the Tianba Clan to leave the Divine Kingdom, so it told them that the Sera Empire on the Eastern Continent had become very powerful and shouldn't be provoked recklessly.
The unknown made the Tianba Clan hesitant to act, so they set up defenses here to prevent anyone from climbing up from the Abyss. To that end, they also created the black mist.
Su Xiao stood among the trees on a high slope, looking into the distance at Front Guard Village. At the main entrance, 12 Tianba Clan members were on guard, and other directions around the village also had small groups of Tianba Clan members.
Forcing his way in was clearly not an option. But luring out a few Tianba Clan members individually, Su Xiao could handle them without issue.
"Baha."
"Yeah, got it."
Baha nodded thoughtfully, though it actually had no idea what Su Xiao meant.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang both turned to look at Baha.
"Hahaha, haha, ha~"
Baha's smile gradually stiffened, and it pointed a wing at itself.
"My spatial ability hasn't recovered yet. I used it twice against Alexander last time and almost lost my life."
"Just go taunt them."
"Alright, I'm going."
Baha strode with a confident gait, running through the bushes. When it was still a few hundred meters from Front Guard Village, it stopped, took a deep breath.
"Hey! Bastards!"
Baha shouted loudly. Any taunt skills were fake; that shout of "bastards" was the real taunt.
Wonderful Bookstore