Chapter 19: No Escape
With Baha’s shout of “Go after her,” the first to charge forward were not the secret arts masters, nor the desperados of Smoke City, but the clergy of the Healing Church.
These clergy members usually appeared kind, but in battle, that was far from the truth. To heal the sins of “Smoke City,” they sometimes had to resort to forceful measures, such as physically reforming and persuading the violent criminals.
This reformation process required strong combat power, and moreover, it was not only a technical task but also a physical one.
Nearly 300 clergy members surrounded Eunice. They stood on the ruins, and behind each of them, silver chains appeared. These were the product of fusing primordial soul energy with a portion of their souls. These silver chains were the representative item of the Healing Church, much like the holy seals of the secret arts masters.
Eunice looked around at the surrounding clergy. When she was still in the Healing Church camp, she had thought about using these clergy to fight for her, but she had failed. Now, having completely broken with the Healing Church, these clergy had become her enemies.
With a bang, an air blast spread out. A crossbow bolt, its surface covered with wind holes and its tail connected to iron-sand-like soul energy, was caught by spider silk and stopped a few meters away from Eunice. This bolt was aimed directly at her head. The soul energy threads connected to the bolt’s tail were extremely tough, a common weapon of the Smoke City desperados.
These desperados had once captured anything: lone strong individuals, secret arts masters, exotic beasts from District 32, and even some strange and eerie things. Anything valuable was their target for capture and sale.
These desperados came from Districts 1 to 3. They were not brought by Su Xiao but had followed the clergy on their own initiative, acting spontaneously.
The bolt, caught mid-air by the spider silk, signaled the start of the battle. The secret arts masters were acting for payment. One of them took out a small glass bottle, deeply inhaled the soul energy inside, and his pupils turned into earthy yellow vertical slits.
This secret arts master stomped the ground beneath him. With a rumble, a large area of the surrounding ruins shook. A giant hand made of rock appeared, followed by a torso, legs, and a head—a rock giant had formed.
As soon as the rock giant appeared, another secret arts master raised his hand. Iron-sand-like energy with sparks drifted out from his sleeve and entered through the gaps in the rock giant’s body.
With a whoosh, the rock giant burst into flames all over. The flames quickly extinguished, and the rock giant transformed into a lava giant, magma flowing down its entire body.
“Grant you, a soul.”
A secret arts master wearing a hood spoke, then collapsed to the ground with a thud. Almost at the same time, the lava giant’s large hand moved.
The lava giant stepped over the encirclement of the clergy, its magma-covered giant hand slapping down toward Eunice. Clearly, the secret arts masters were the type to act fiercely without many words.
With a sizzle, the lava giant’s slapping palm was severed. A strand of spider silk flashed in mid-air and disappeared.
“I quite enjoy fighting against many.”
Eunice’s hand clenched in a fist, dozens of spider silk strands connected to her fingers.
Sizzle~
Several heads flew into the air, and a few clergy members who had rushed within a dozen meters of Eunice collapsed to the ground. The attack came without warning; the spider silk had appeared unnoticed.
A strand of spider silk was pulled taut and swept outward. It looked like Eunice intended to sever the heads of dozens of clergy members at once.
“Spider, where are you looking?”
A female secret arts master in red robes appeared behind Eunice. She wasn’t standing behind Eunice; she had grown onto Eunice’s back, her lower body having turned into fluid.
Pfft.
A spider’s armored leg pierced through the female secret arts master’s head, but she was still smiling. Her entire body turned into fluid and began to climb over Eunice’s body.
Eunice stood still. Suddenly, screams came from within the fluid on her body. All the fluid surged toward a spider eye on the back of Eunice’s hand and was absorbed.
“This round, you win.”
A brooch appeared in Eunice’s hand. The brooch rapidly aged and decayed. Almost simultaneously, a silver chain coiled toward Eunice, but she didn’t pay it much attention.
Jingle.
The silver chain wrapped around Eunice’s neck. Her eyes showed disbelief. She immediately looked at the brooch in her hand. The decayed residue, like sand, slipped through her fingers. She had not been randomly teleported.
A dark blue feather fell beside Eunice. Above her, Baha was spreading its wings, having activated the Demon Hawk Domain. The space here was sealed.
One silver chain after another rolled toward Eunice, blocking even the sky above her. Darkness gradually enveloped Eunice. Her expression turned cold, and purple light surged from her body.
Hundreds of silver chains intertwined, forming a massive sphere. No matter how the silver chains tightened, the sphere did not shrink.
Seeing this, Su Xiao drew his long blade. The enemy was about to go all out. At this moment, he couldn’t just watch.
He had a temporary cooperation with the Healing Church, and the Magic Association was hired. Having these two sides help besiege the enemy was fine, but if he treated them as cannon fodder, within three minutes, all their people would withdraw. After all, no one was a fool.
The hundreds of silver chains formed a sphere, creaking as they tightened.
With a squelch, dark purple liquid splattered from within the silver chains. A spider’s armored leg stabbed out, severing many silver chains. This caused dozens of nearby clergy members to groan, their faces turning pale.
“Hiss!”
The spider’s screech spread. A giant spider broke free from the silver chains. It had eight pairs of armored legs, and its abdomen was covered with dark gold stripes.
The giant spider flicked its armored legs, sending the broken silver chains flying. A faint, illusory spider web appeared behind it.
This was not Eunice herself. At this moment, Eunice’s lower body was submerged into the giant spider’s head. Her face and neck were covered with purple veins.
Purple aura spread, enveloping the surrounding kilometer.
[Warning: You are about to be corroded by an unknown poison. Endurance attribute being judged…]
[Judgment passed. You will temporarily be immune to this poison’s effects.]
[Warning: If you remain within the poison range, you will undergo a second judgment in 2 minutes.]
A series of prompts appeared. Su Xiao only glanced at them before stepping forward and charging toward the giant spider a hundred meters away.
‘Blade Path: Azure Demon.’
Clang.
A blue-green blade aura cut through the air. A several-meter-long gash appeared on the giant spider’s rear abdomen, purple blood and fluids gushing out.
Eunice, atop the giant spider’s head, shifted her gaze and stared intently at Su Xiao. She knew that if she killed him, today’s crisis would be resolved.
Eunice pointed at Su Xiao from a distance. A deceptive laugh came from behind her, and purple light bloomed at her fingertip. Just as this ability was about to affect Su Xiao, Eunice suddenly interrupted it. She had a very strong intuition that using this ability would put her at a disadvantage.
It could only be said that a spider’s sixth sense was exceptionally strong. This sixth sense had saved Eunice many times.
‘Blade Path: Flow.’
Su Xiao slashed out. An elegant wind scar appeared. The giant spider dozens of meters away let out a screech.
Clang, clang, clang…
Metal clashed. Three armored legs that suddenly appeared attacked Su Xiao in succession, but they were all blocked by finger-thick silver chains.
A clergy member nodded at Su Xiao. There was a black mark on his forehead. This clergy member’s body had been borrowed by the Black Smoke Apostle.
The Red-Eyed Woman stood in the distance, her lifeless eyes seemingly fixed on Eunice. Even with Eunice’s strength, if she were dragged into a dream by the Red-Eyed Woman, she would die.
The Red-Eyed Woman of the Healing Church and the Masked Man of the Magic Association, Bas, were actually exiled to Smoke City because their abilities were too dangerous—so dangerous that they couldn’t stay in the Eastern Continent.
On the Eastern Continent, the Red-Eyed Woman and the Masked Man Bas were mobile natural disasters.
If the Red-Eyed Woman fell into a deep sleep, she would unconsciously drag a large number of people nearby into a dream. These confused dreamers would kill each other in the same dream, venting things they dared not do in reality. The Red-Eyed Woman watched from a god’s perspective, unable to stop it.
The Eastern Continent had a secret file recording the deaths of 6,752 civilians in a single night. That was the day the Red-Eyed Woman’s ability awakened. Now, every night, the Red-Eyed Woman had to go to District 30 of Smoke City, a desolate place where she could sleep.
Silver chains coiled, and a gravity field enveloped the surroundings, restricting the giant spider’s movements. Blade auras flashed, cutting the giant spider until it was covered in wounds. One of its armored legs was even severed by ‘Blade Path: Flow.’
Under the siege of hundreds, Eunice defended with spider silk and armored legs. Nearly a hundred interwoven spider legs surrounded her, bound together by spider silk, forming an inverted defensive shell.
Rumbling sounds came from all around. Eunice wiped the blood from her face. She had tried to counterattack while enduring the surrounding assault, but the cost was severe.
In just 1.7 seconds, she had almost been instantly killed by the combined attack of the secret arts masters. Nearly a hundred secret arts masters, each with top-tier seventh-rank combat power, attacking simultaneously—their killing power was terrifying. Moreover, the leader had a damage amplification ability.
‘I need to find a way to escape. In another 30 seconds, no, in 20 seconds, I won’t be able to withstand the attacks.’
Eunice’s mind raced. There were too many enemies, and nearly half of them were skilled in binding, trapping, and the like. The clergy’s abilities were extremely annoying. They seemed weak in killing power but were like cutting flesh with a dull knife, slowly torturing.
‘I have to gamble. At least I’ll make that bastard die.’
Eunice made up her mind. Even if she died here today, she would drag Su Xiao down with her.
Space ripples appeared in front of Eunice. Baha appeared inside the dim defensive shell. It was like light illuminating the darkness—no, it was the Apollo in its claws that illuminated the darkness.
Baha vanished, leaving only the fully activated [Blazing Sun’s Wrath·Apollo]. From its appearance to its disappearance was an instant. Doing this was its specialty.
This [Blazing Sun’s Wrath·Apollo] had been activated once before and was very unstable. Based on Su Xiao’s sensing, this thing would likely explode suddenly within 10 to 17 hours, a significant deviation from the expected time. Therefore, he decided to gift it to Eunice.
“No…”
Eunice raised her hands in front of her, leaning back as far as possible. It was too late to stop the explosion. That damned bird had brought this explosive here, timing it 0.1 seconds before the detonation.
Boom!
Solar flame filled Eunice’s vision. Around the giant spider connected to her, a large cluster of silver chains gathered into a barrel shape, enveloping the giant spider. The outer layer of the silver chains was wrapped in a crystal layer, and the outermost was iron-sand-like energy.
Inside the barrel-shaped defensive layer, solar flame surged upward, forming a pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky.