Chapter 22: The Elusive Enemy
Two hours later, a massive biological sphere composed of Karans sank to the seabed. The sphere had been compacted, with over 99.99% of the Karans inside already dead.
The biological sphere was dozens of meters away from the sperm whale on the seabed, the two colossal entities motionless in the depths.
A spatial fluctuation appeared, then vanished in an instant.
Inside the sperm whale, Dika, covered in silver scales, appeared in the whale's esophagus. Not far away stood Su Xiao.
Su Xiao's expression was grim. The ruthlessness of the Karans exceeded expectations; they had mobilized their entire race to reach the seabed. Now that the Karans were virtually extinct, what meaning was there in destroying the coordinates?
Su Xiao stared at the Karan before him, who resembled Tuka. He was contacting Reincarnation Paradise, attempting to have it temporarily strip him of his Arbiter status, but the answer was negative.
Within the rules, Reincarnation Paradise was omnipotent, but temporarily stripping an Arbiter's status fell outside those rules.
"Such an outcome... is somewhat unexpected."
Su Xiao looked at the Karan in front of him, suddenly realizing the other might not understand human language.
"Our defeat is only a matter of time. The biological core's energy is depleted, and the spacecraft can't return to space. Before we lose, I will kill you, this human."
This Karan actually spoke human language. Considering he had descended to Earth twenty years ago, it wasn't surprising.
"Oh? You've learned human language."
Su Xiao paused, examining the Karan with surprise.
"You said you'd kill me just now. Let me think..."
Su Xiao pretended to ponder, vaguely guessing something, a smile spreading across his face.
"Earlier, I killed a Karan named Tuka. He looked very similar to you. If I'm not mistaken, he was your descendant, your son?"
Su Xiao's words made Dika's gaze even colder.
"Tuka... my excellent descendant, who would have inherited my responsibilities. He shouldn't have died. You should be the one to die."
Dika's voice was low, his sharp teeth grinding audibly.
"I see. Your descendant Tuka was strong. After I severed his limbs, he still survived for a long time. Want to know how he finally died?"
Su Xiao wore a gentle smile, deliberately provoking this Karan to attack him. As for the fight with Tuka, he hadn't tortured him; they had simply fought to the death.
Dika was already furious, his vertical pupils narrowing into black slits.
"Just before I was about to finish Tuka, a group of mutated rats appeared. Tuka was gnawed into bones by those weak rats. Calculating the time, his body tissues might have already returned to the earth, in a 'special' way."
As Su Xiao finished speaking, the Karan before him suddenly vanished, and a sound of wind came from behind his head.
Su Xiao stood motionless, activating the shield of [Mikasa's Will]. With his current stamina attribute at 20 points, the shield's durability had greatly increased.
Bang.
Dika's heavy punch landed on the shield, sending Su Xiao flying forward as the shield shattered with a crack.
The power of this punch was terrifying. If Su Xiao had been directly hit, he would have been severely injured.
After rolling twice on the ground, he steadied himself, crouching low with his head down, shoulders trembling.
"Heh~, lucky."
This time, Su Xiao was genuinely pleased. He had thought the mission might fail, but the enemy had attacked him.
However, Su Xiao vaguely sensed that this Karan might not have attacked solely out of anger. It seemed his target was Su Xiao himself, not the coordinates.
Compared to directly attacking him, destroying the world coordinates would have been simpler. If the coordinates were destroyed, Su Xiao wouldn't have survived long either.
Unfortunately, Dika didn't know this; his only goal was revenge.
Having achieved his goal of provoking the enemy, Su Xiao stopped wasting words. Holding Dragon-Slaying Flash, he slowly walked toward Dika.
Prompts appeared one after another. Since the Karan had attacked Su Xiao, an Arbiter, he naturally had the right to counterattack.
"Arbiter!"
Su Xiao shouted, and a barrier dozens of meters in size appeared. Unless Su Xiao died in battle, Dika couldn't leave this barrier.
The situation took a dramatic turn. Su Xiao went from being passive to active.
There were still 43 minutes until the coordinates were successfully established. Now, even if he couldn't defeat the enemy, he only needed to hold out for 43 minutes.
Dika clenched his fists. The space around his silver-scaled fists was distorting. This distorted space could shred enemy defenses, rendering all defenses meaningless against these silver fists.
Su Xiao took a deep breath, activating his Mind's Eye ability to its fullest, sensing the surroundings. The enemy possessed spatial abilities—this was his first encounter with such power.
Whoosh~.
Dika vanished from his spot. Su Xiao crouched low, blade in hand, quickly scanning the area with all his senses.
A gust of wind pressure struck the back of his head, lifting his black short hair. He immediately turned his head to dodge.
The silver-scaled iron fist brushed past his cheek, the distorted space on the fist's surface leaving two bloody cuts on his face.
Su Xiao quickly made a judgment: first, sidestep to evade, then spin around and strike the enemy.
Bang.
A sharp pain shot through his back. Dika's fist landed on Su Xiao's back, punching straight through his chest.
The fist entered from behind and emerged from the front.
"Pfft."
Su Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood, his breathing becoming difficult. His right lung had been shattered.
Suffering such a fatal injury, Su Xiao's vision darkened. He forced himself to stay alert; losing consciousness now meant certain death.
Reversing his grip on Dragon-Slaying Flash, Su Xiao stabbed the blade through his own abdomen. The long sword pierced his stomach and then the enemy behind him.
The enemy was behind him; attacking from any other angle would be detected. Only this way could he wound the enemy.
If the enemy was ruthless, he had to be even more ferocious.
"Hmph."
The enemy behind him let out a pained grunt. The fist that had pierced his body vanished from his chest cavity, blood gushing from the hole in his chest.
Looking at the wound on his chest, Su Xiao inexplicably thought of Ace from the One Piece world, who had his chest pierced by Akainu's fist. The injury was very similar.
Dragon-Slashing Flash's ability "Bloody Battle" triggered, temporarily increasing Su Xiao's stamina attribute by 12 points for five minutes.
After coughing up several mouthfuls of blood, Su Xiao pulled Dragon-Slashing Flash from his abdomen and drank a potion.
[Victory Potion] instantly restored 70% of his health and removed poison and curse effects.
With his injuries somewhat recovered, Su Xiao immediately released Bubuteni. Bubuteni was confused at first, but upon seeing Su Xiao's severe wounds and the bloodied enemy, he immediately wanted to charge at the enemy.
"Stay back."
Su Xiao summoned Bubuteni not for combat, but for the Snow Goddess's aura effect, which restored 1 health point per second.
The enemy was too fast—no, saying fast was wrong. The enemy could teleport. That speed was beyond description; in an instant, the enemy appeared behind him, leaving Su Xiao only the extremely brief moment of the punch to react.
Su Xiao released Realm Severing Thread, using himself as bait to try and capture the enemy.
Dika slowly retreated, a penetrating wound on his chest and abdomen, blood continuously flowing, as if waiting for something.
Although Su Xiao wanted to charge at the enemy, he was too severely injured to do so.
Whoosh~.
The enemy vanished again. Su Xiao immediately leaped forward. The wind of the punch passed by, and he dodged the attack.
Zzz...
The Realm Severing Thread tightened. Su Xiao pulled hard on it mid-air.
Blood splattered in the air, but Dika's figure had already disappeared; he had teleported again.
Dika stood in the distance, several wounds with turned-up flesh on his body, panting heavily.
One, two, three... Su Xiao silently counted in his mind.
When he reached seven, the enemy vanished again. Su Xiao spun around and slashed, simultaneously tightening the Realm Severing Thread.
His slash missed, and the thread didn't catch the enemy either.
The wind of a punch came from his side. Dika was beside him.