Chapter 51: Strong Enemy and Vital Weakness
The flowing mist surged, sealing all exits of the dwelling where the Alien King resided. Upon arriving here, the only advantage was not being surrounded by the heavy armored troops.
Even so, Su Xiao could not guarantee victory at this moment. The Alien King's previous state was troublesome, but merely troublesome. The ability to control rock and air through mental power was formidable, especially compressing air into solid form, which countered all melee combatants.
The good news was that the Alien King was no longer a ranged-type enemy. He had transformed his form, inheriting the combat techniques and experience of the previous 37 generations of Alien Kings. Now, the Alien King was also a melee fighter.
Compared to the Alien King from before, the current Alien King exuded even greater oppressive force.
Su Xiao's eyes locked onto the Alien King as a roll of bandages appeared in his hand. The Banishment split apart, clinging to one end of the bandage, which he pulled open to wrap around his left arm, preventing further blood loss from the wound.
The Alien King supported himself with his newly grown bone tail. Finger-thick black conduits hung from his waist, dozens of them, their tips sharp, giving off a strange aesthetic as they drooped. These were not decorations but weapons capable of killing enemies.
The Alien King looked down at Su Xiao from a height, his eyes devoid of contempt. He was considering how to kill this enemy as quickly as possible.
With a whoosh, the Alien King's bone tail lashed out, leaving a black afterimage. His feet stomped the ground, and almost simultaneously, the bone tail behind him split into three. Though thinner, they appeared more agile, and each had 20-centimeter-long scale blades on both sides of the tip, converging at the apex for maximum penetration.
This was the form of the two side bone tails. The middle bone tail had barbs all over its tip, designed to tear out large chunks of flesh when pulled from an enemy's body, or shatter bones if it pierced them.
Each bone tail was over four meters long, slowly swaying, their tips all aimed at Su Xiao.
The Alien King's true agility attribute was as high as 161 points, which he hadn't fully utilized earlier. Now in his second form, he was about to unleash a seventh-rank speed with that 161-point agility.
Worse still, the Alien King had eight abilities that hadn't been detected. Among these eight, at least six were likely melee combat abilities.
Bang!
The Alien King vanished from his spot, disappearing abruptly. Even Bubu Wang couldn't track his movements.
It was normal for Bubu Wang to lose sight of him. In his Shadow Flame state, Su Xiao could perceive the Alien King charging straight at him.
Just as Su Xiao was about to raise his blade for a forward slash, a brief image flashed in his mind. In it, his first slash cleaved through an incoming bone tail, then he dodged a second by turning his head, only for a third to pierce his throat.
The image stopped abruptly, its subjects all phantoms. This wasn't precognition but perceptual prediction—a skill honed through mastering combat techniques to a certain level.
With a crack, an air burst exploded before Su Xiao's face, the wind pressure lifting his black hair as a bone tail shot toward his left eye.
'Blade Path Sword: Nether Darkness.'
The world around him suddenly turned pitch black. Three blue slashes appeared simultaneously, striking at the Alien King.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Alien King was knocked back, shattering the three slashes of Nether Darkness with his three bone tails.
The darkness dissipated like burned paper, slowly fading around them as the world returned to normal. A shallow blood mark appeared on Su Xiao's face.
Su Xiao didn't act rashly. He hadn't yet figured out the Alien King's general abilities. Engaging a melee-type strong enemy without caution was unwise.
Black-red blood dripped from the Alien King's chin. The wound on his temple was healing; his brain had likely recovered during the inheritance, or he wouldn't be this rational.
The Alien King raised two of his bone tails. Compared to the middle barbed tail, he clearly preferred using the two side ones.
Su Xiao guessed that the barbed bone tail might have some special ability.
With this in mind, Su Xiao slightly lowered his stance. He was in Shadow Flame state, with 31 minutes left before his mana was depleted.
In Shadow Flame, Su Xiao could barely trade blows with the Alien King. Once it ended, the speed and blade technique boosts would vanish, making the fight impossible.
Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao and the Alien King vanished, a blue and a black afterimage colliding.
Su Xiao's perception was nearing overload. Even so, in his senses, the Alien King was incredibly fast, barely manageable.
Two bone tails came at Su Xiao from both sides. He ignored them, slashing his blade at the Alien King's neck.
The Alien King's third bone tail dropped from above to block his neck, meeting the edge of the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
No clang sounded. The long blade passed through the bone tail—Su Xiao was in a spatial penetration state.
The blade edge aimed for the Alien King's neck as his two bone tails pierced Su Xiao's skull. In this situation, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't cancel the spatial penetration.
As the blade swept through, Su Xiao had only 0.2 seconds left before exiting the state. He appeared behind the Alien King, using the momentum of the swing to slash at the back of his neck.
Pfft.
A head flew up, the Dragon-Slaying Flash trailing a wisp of blood.
Stinging pain shot through Su Xiao's abdomen and chest. As he severed the Alien King's head, the two bone tails had already pierced his torso.
Su Xiao kicked the Alien King's back, forcefully leaning backward. With a tearing sound, the two bone tails pulled out of his body.
Blood quickly soaked Su Xiao's clothes. He had nearly been stabbed through the heart.
The Alien King's headless body didn't fall. Kicked into midair, a bone tail coiled around the flying head.
Upon landing, the Alien King used his bone tail to toss his head up. A conduit from his waist split into threads, rapidly climbing upward to stitch the head back onto his neck.
Crack, crack.
The Alien King rolled his neck, expression unchanged. He had deliberately let the enemy cut off his head. Complete destruction of the head would kill him, but decapitation could be reversed by stitching it back with his ability in time.
Seeing this, Su Xiao confirmed that beheading was useless. The vital point must be elsewhere.
Su Xiao's mind raced, recalling all of the Alien King's previous actions. An image surfaced: when he had stabbed through the Alien King's body earlier, the Alien King had used rock to create a substitute, avoiding a chest puncture.
The Alien King's vitality was immense, even willing to trade a beheading for mutual injury. This suggested that when Su Xiao had nearly pierced his chest, the Alien King would have gained more by exchanging wounds.
The Alien King's vital point was his heart. That was why he had chosen to use his rock manipulation ability to avoid that stab, rather than seizing the chance to wound Su Xiao.
As this thought crossed Su Xiao's mind, the Alien King flicked his bone tail and charged forward.
A metallic clang rang out as Su Xiao struck the first incoming bone tail. Before he could dodge, the second pierced his arm.
A crystal layer spread over Su Xiao's left arm. He clenched his fist, using the crystal and arm muscles to trap the Alien King's second tail.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
A shockwave spread, slowing the Alien King by a fraction. As Su Xiao turned his head to dodge the third stabbing tail, his long blade thrust toward the Alien King's chest.
With a whoosh, the Alien King leaped back in an afterimage, the blade striking empty air.
It had to be admitted that Su Xiao's earlier judgment was correct. He was no match for the Alien King. After entering the second form, Su Xiao was far more injured than the Alien King.
Pierced shoulder, pierced abdomen, pierced left arm, pierced right lung lobe, moderate blood loss, fractured right 4th and 5th ribs.
Su Xiao had never suddenly burst out with power exceeding his strongest state, nor had he ever experienced sudden growth in a life-or-death battle. No matter how he looked at it, he had over a 90% chance of losing this time.
In his fight with the Alien King, losing meant death. There was no chance of a desperate comeback. The moment of defeat, both sides would ensure the other was thoroughly dead.
Su Xiao let out a long breath. He wasn't dead yet, which meant he hadn't lost.