Chapter 49: Conserve Resources
On the chaotic battlefield, the area around them had been cleared due to the explosion of the Pyrotechnician's spiritual flame.
The Pyrotechnician, Su Xiao, and Gulu stood in a rough triangular stalemate. Gulu's shout of "My Father" genuinely stunned the Pyrotechnician.
"You all..."
The Pyrotechnician slowly stepped back, a feeling of "my life is over" surging within him.
"Come on, let's see if I can take someone down with me."
The Pyrotechnician tore off the mask on his face, revealing the lower half covered in burn scars. He could have removed these scars, but he kept them as a reminder of how dangerous the mission world could be.
Gulu shifted her gaze, tilted her head with a smile, and winked her left eye, signaling: kill the man first for the Scarlet Card, then have a 1v1 duel.
Clang~
The long blade hummed softly as Dragon-Slaying Flash was drawn from its sheath. Su Xiao slightly lowered his body.
Here it comes!
The Pyrotechnician's hands formed claws, his body leaning slightly forward.
Bang.
"Ring Burst..."
The Pyrotechnician barely got half his ability out before he forcibly choked it back, nearly spitting blood.
Clang!
A long dagger blocked Dragon-Slaying Flash. Gulu, wearing a Gothic dress, held the long dagger in her right hand while her left hand gripped her right wrist. A tremendous force was transmitting from the long dagger, causing her legs to gradually bend.
An assassination-type going head-to-head with a melee-type—her strength was completely overwhelmed. If not for one of Gulu's Holy Spirit rank +13 equipment pieces, she would have been sent flying, completely off-balance.
"Uh..."
The Pyrotechnician didn't know what to say for a moment. The situation was changing too fast, and every step defied his expectations. After a brief thought, he turned and fled.
Clang, clang, clang!
After three strikes from extremely tricky angles, Gulu leaned back with all her might, her Gothic dress fluttering. Her pale little hand pressed against the ground, suddenly creating a large crater—the force of the slashes she had just endured.
Gulu leaped backward in an agile posture, and mid-air, she quickly vanished.
Seeing this, Su Xiao held Dragon-Slashing Flash horizontally in front of him and closed his eyes.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
Clang!
A blue-green slash streaked through, with droplets of blood splattering. Gulu reappeared as she retreated, a cut mark appearing on her collarbone. The cut wasn't deep, as four layers of shields had simultaneously appeared, and Gulu's Gothic dress was a Holy Spirit rank +14 light armor. A pay-to-win assassination-type versus a technique-type.
"Tch, his perception is sharp as a ghost."
Gulu wiped the blood beside her face with her thumb. She could sense that her opponent was in average condition—probably hadn't fought in a while. If she provoked this sword-wielding man's fighting spirit, she'd be in serious trouble.
Clang, clang, clang...
A dense barrage of blade auras came rushing in. At this moment, Gulu realized that the simpler the combat style, once it reached a certain level of power, it became truly unstoppable.
Gulu noticed that within a dozen meters around her opponent, there was a circular perception zone. Entering that zone meant facing overwhelming, continuous slashes. This was a technique so powerful it was nearly forming a "Blade Domain."
Gulu displayed incredibly sharp evasive abilities, dancing among the blade edges as if among knives, a smile gradually spreading across her small face.
Dodging the last blade aura by tilting her head back, Gulu released the long dagger in her hand. She was about to unleash her ultimate move.
Gulu clapped her small hands together, and the floating long dagger suddenly split apart. In an instant, all the daggers disappeared.
Su Xiao took a step back. The split long daggers, like countless fine needles, appeared exactly where he had been standing, roughly at his abdomen height.
Gulu's lower left eyelid twitched twice. Her ultimate ability had missed. This was the second time it had missed—the first was when she sparred with the Tuanzhang, who had sealed his strength to the Seventh Rank.
Gulu stared intently at Su Xiao. Suddenly, he vanished from her sight.
"No way! He has spatial abilities too..."
Gulu stopped mid-sentence because Su Xiao had appeared behind her. Her whole body froze, not daring to move. She certainly had stealth abilities, but under her opponent's terrifying combat experience and instincts, she had just entered stealth when she was forcibly knocked out of it.
"Yame..."
Bang! Gulu's body lurched forward as a sword hilt slammed heavily into the back of her neck. Droplets of blood flew from her mouth. She felt like her neck was about to snap.
As Gulu flew mid-air, Su Xiao delivered a straight kick.
Boom!!
A blast of air spread outward. Gulu felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as energy surged into her body, piercing through and then splattering out from her lower back.
Gulu broke through a layer of air, leaving a spray of energy in mid-air as she flew like a cannonball. With a loud crash, she slammed into the nearby Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos.
Hit by Gulu's small body, the massive dragon form of Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos nearly bent into a C-shape. After spitting out a small burst of dragon flame, it rolled away.
Seeing this, Su Xiao paused mid-step. The battlefield was too chaotic; his aim had been slightly off.
Gulu fell to the ground with a thud. Gritting her teeth against the feeling that her whole body was falling apart, she tried to activate her stealth ability but failed.
Gulu was stunned. She quickly checked her condition. Her abilities weren't restricted, but her body energy had dropped to 0 points.
Su Xiao's straight kick, imbued with Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, had sent the energy piercing into the enemy's body, dispersing 3,700 points of mana.
Gulu had just used her ultimate ability, had been slashed by Su Xiao earlier (burning 657 mana), and now took this straight kick. As an assassination-type, she didn't have much mana to begin with, but Gulu was surprisingly tough.
Kicked until she had no mana left, Gulu forgot to get up from the ground. Her trembling finger pointed at Su Xiao.
"You... when you slash me, you burn my mana—I can accept that. But why does your kick also disperse mana?"
Gulu wanted to add, "Why is your ability so shameless?" but considering that saying that might get her beaten to death, she swallowed the words.
"My Father, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been cheeky on the world communication platform. For the Tuanzhang's sake, forgive me this time, okay?"
Gulu wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and sat cross-legged on the ground. She had forgotten how long it had been since she was beaten this badly.
Su Xiao held his blade with one hand and stopped in front of Gulu. Gulu scooted back a bit. This beating was truly brutal.
"Which side are you on now?"
Su Xiao crouched in front of Gulu, his long blade pressed against her neck. This way, Gulu's attitude would be more sincere during negotiations.
"The Northern Border. I can meet the Extreme Ice Lord there. Impressive, right?"
Gulu was indeed much more sincere. She knew that if she didn't handle this well today, she would really die. The reason she kept her tone light was that she wasn't afraid of dying in battle. As for being beaten to death, she could barely accept that—as long as it wasn't a humiliating death.
As it turned out, physical negotiation worked on contractors too, unlike the flashy Charm attribute, which only worked on plot characters.
"Oh?"
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. Gulu understood instantly.
"No way~ The Extreme Ice Lord is very strong. Assassinating him is difficult, and you've already beaten me until I see stars."
"That's not a problem."
Su Xiao took out two bottles of [Vitality Concentrate] from his storage space. In this world, he barely needed these, and even if he did later, he wouldn't need all 13 bottles.
"Why two bottles?"
Gulu's small face turned a bit pale. Two bottles of [Vitality Concentrate] had too many implications. For example, let her drink one, beat her up again, and then the last bottle would be for fully recovering her injuries.
"Conserve resources."
Gulu righteously took only one bottle and traded Su Xiao 300 Soul Coins as payment for the potion and to avoid another beating.
After doing this, Gulu tried to stand up, but she realized her left leg had been broken. Today, she had unlocked a "new achievement": having her leg broken.
Gulu sat on the ground, took out her phone, and with a click, took a photo of herself as a memento.