Chapter 35: Holy Light
The cold mist drifted away as Su Xiao descended the steps, surveying the enemy contractors ahead. Preliminary observation showed around 180 to 200 enemies.
With so many seventh-rank contractors, even besieging an eighth-rank boss would be no problem. Su Xiao understood one thing clearly: once he got into a chaotic melee with this many seventh-rank contractors, he would most likely be focus-fired and killed instantly.
Even with his current survivability, he couldn't withstand attacks from so many contractors. Those who could fight their way to seventh-rank all had real skills, and most had their own life-saving trump cards.
Through his perception, Su Xiao sensed that these contractors had clearly just been through a fierce multi-party battle, likely having driven back his own side's contractors.
If that was the case, then these enemies present were even more troublesome by another level. The weak ones had already died at the hands of his allies; those who survived were seventh-rank contractors with real strength and backing.
Against such seventh-rank contractors, Su Xiao could handle several dozen at once, but he absolutely couldn't get into a melee with over 150 of them. Although the sixth floor of the Holy Temple was spacious, it was still indoors, and he hadn't yet advanced to eighth-rank.
"Hai Yizuo, this guy isn't an eighth-rank contractor."
Nuquan spoke in a deep voice as several healing-type contractors helped restore his injuries. The slash mark on his chest had healed, and his condition was basically recovered.
"Not eighth-rank? Could it be?!"
Hai Yizuo thought of a terrifying possibility, then dismissed the idea. That kind of thing was absolutely impossible.
"Same as you and me, seventh-rank?"
"Yes, but be careful. This guy might be feigning weakness. We've used that tactic plenty of times ourselves."
Nuquan stared at Su Xiao with full vigilance. Hearing his words, Hai Yizuo inwardly agreed. Reincarnation Paradise had plenty of old yinbi, and the best way to deal with them was to not talk at all and just attack on sight.
The assembled contractors didn't make a move, not because they were stupid, but because they had been traumatized by things like Black Demon, Revenge Baron, and Scarecrow. They were worried about encountering similar threats again.
Hai Yizuo was also worried about this. The intelligence from detection might be fake, but using attack-type items to probe would definitely reveal the enemy's true strength. He prepared to be the one to probe; someone had to step up.
Bang!
A dull sound came from beneath Su Xiao's feet. Holding his long blade, he charged straight toward the group of contractors.
"It's not that kind of thing! Kill him!"
A tank-type contractor shouted excitedly. Finally, they weren't facing something like Black Demon. Facing just one enemy, and a contractor from Reincarnation Paradise at that, was nerve-wracking enough.
Zzzt!
A beam shot straight toward Su Xiao. The attacker was a female contractor floating in midair, with an eye on her staff that continuously emitted rays like lasers.
Su Xiao sidestepped during his charge, easily dodging the beam attack. The beam swept past him, leaving a scorched mark on the ground.
A cement-like substance began spreading from Su Xiao's arm across his entire body. His forward momentum froze, and he was completely encased in the cement-like material, turning into a statue that crashed to the ground with a thud.
Most contractors were stunned. The enemy had been charging ferociously a moment ago, but in the next instant, he was trapped? The contrast was too great.
Bang! The petrified statue shattered, fragments scattering everywhere. It was empty inside.
"He's a space-type."
The seventh-rank contractors' combat experience wasn't for nothing. As soon as the shout rang out, everyone present became alert.
A chilling sense of crisis appeared in the perceptions of Nuquan, Hai Yizuo, Molei, and others. Molei felt someone grab her hand. The hand was small and soft. She turned to see her temporary teammate, Rabbit Sugar, holding her hand.
"It's coming."
Rabbit Sugar's eyes were filled with fear. She specialized in healing and had strong perception of life force. As a derivative benefit, her perception of death was also considerable.
Within the crowd, Su Xiao emerged from his space penetration state. In his left hand, he held an ordinary Apollo.
His prepared [Blazing Sun's Wrath·Apollo] had been used up dealing with Spider Woman·Younis. Currently, he had two ordinary Apollos left in his storage space. Although he had made many during the previous world dealing with Dark Monarch·Agamemnon, he had also used up quite a few reserves.
Su Xiao suddenly appeared beside a muscular healing-type contractor. This bald brother wore full-body armor, with a resolute face that would be wasted if he weren't a tank-type.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer formed on Su Xiao's body surface. A needle-like strand of his mental energy pierced into the Apollo in his left hand, triggering an instant detonation.
The Apollo in Su Xiao's left hand turned blazing red. He immediately let go, but even with the double protection of the crystal layer and Black King Bracer, his left hand was still burned by the high temperature.
Instant detonation of Apollo was a self-damage 700, enemy-damage 1000 tactic. If not for the overwhelming number of enemies, Su Xiao rarely did this.
Undeniably, this method was very effective against contractors, and the environment of the Holy Temple's sixth floor enhanced Apollo's power.
Several contractors near Su Xiao were about to attack him together when they immediately sensed the Apollo's presence. When Apollo detonated, in the enemies' perception, the Apollo became the sole focus; everything else could be ignored.
The contractors within a dozen meters of Su Xiao either lunged outward with wide eyes or let out strange cries as they retrieved scrolls from their storage space, but it was too late.
Boom!
"Holy Light!"
At the moment of Apollo's explosion, Su Xiao vaguely heard a rough shout.
The explosion's shockwave spread outward. With Su Xiao as the center point, all nearby contractors were sent flying. This was just the beginning of the explosion.
Solar flames spread. A perception-type contractor's ears rang as a vast expanse of gold filled his vision.
The solar flames instantly filled the entire sixth floor of the Holy Temple. The entrance to the seventh floor had long been sealed with ice by Amu, who was guarding inside.
An instant-detonated Apollo was different from a normally detonated one. A normally detonated Apollo would instantly deal high true burning damage, as it had already gone through the detonation process and was in a ready state.
An instant-detonated Apollo, however, would immediately spread solar flames. But without the detonation process, the newly spread solar flames would deal 2000-2500 points of true burning damage. Over the next 1.5-2 seconds, the solar flames would reach peak temperature, dealing high true burning damage.
Normal detonation and instant detonation each had their pros and cons. The former had strong instant killing power, while the latter had higher overall damage intensity, about 10% higher than the former. But the solar flames needed a gradual strengthening process.
Within the burning solar flames, two scenes were most prominent. On the right was golden holy light, and on the left was a light green sphere representing life force. This sphere was semicircular and very large.
The holy light on the right came from the bald muscular man's ability. He was clearly a Holy Knight or Holy Light Conveyor-type class branch.
Amid the solar flames hot enough to vaporize human bodies, the bald muscular man raised his hands high, and holy light descended centered on him.
Below, in the flames, a total of 68 contractors were struggling to hold on, using every trump card they had.
In this desperate situation, the bald muscular man's holy light bathed down. For most contractors below, this was hope for survival. But seven of them didn't need this holy light; they had already used their life-saving trump cards, enough to withstand the first Apollo.
The bald muscular man in midair didn't notice one thing: Su Xiao had detonated the Apollo right next to him.
This wasn't a coincidence. Su Xiao had been looking for a healing-type contractor with considerable strength. The holy light within the bald muscular man was very conspicuous in his perception.
"We're saved."
A female contractor with a bun hairstyle bathed in the holy light. She had been in a near-death state, her entire body numb from the solar flames' burning.
This thought had just emerged in the bun-haired girl's mind when she felt pain return to her numb body. This was another type of true damage—a healing-type's true damage.
"Kill that bald bastard! Now!!"
A tank-type contractor shouted tragically before being burned to charcoal by the solar flames. With his survivability and life-saving trump cards, he could have survived the first Apollo, since it was just an ordinary one.
Screams and curses followed one after another. The bald muscular man in midair, radiating holy light, had transformed into a super poison healer. Only after hearing the curses from below did he realize this. [Blood Feather] had strong concealment before activation.
When the solar flames from the first Apollo gradually subsided, all 68 enemy contractors had died beneath the solar flames. The bald muscular man had contributed high true healing damage.
PS: (Updated late again. Still four chapters today, just wrote a bit slowly.)