Chapter 29: The Ability That Left Feitan Speechless
"Not bad, huh."
Feitan let out another sinister laugh, flipping back to create distance.
After the initial exchange, Su Xiao had gained some insight into Feitan's capabilities. Feitan was extremely fast, but his attack power and defense were not particularly strong.
When facing this type of enemy, one had to be careful with defense, otherwise, it was easy to capsize in a ditch.
Su Xiao pressed one hand against the energy shield in front of him. This shield had consumed 400 mana points, and its defensive strength was enough to make Feitan question his existence. Without any visible movement, the four-meter-wide, four-meter-tall energy shield split apart, forming dozens of basketball-sized hexagonal energy shields.
These dozens of small energy shields floated around his body. Because of their hexagonal shape, they could be assembled into a circle to envelop Su Xiao. These energy shields looked like crystal carvings, translucent and reflecting light in the somewhat dark basement.
Whoosh~
Feitan charged at high speed to Su Xiao's front, thrusting his blade toward him.
With a clink, the hexagonal energy shield blocked Feitan's thrust. What happened next left Feitan quite bewildered.
Apart from the hexagonal energy shield that blocked Feitan's attack, the other energy shields dispersed outward the moment Feitan's strike landed, leaving only one hexagonal shield in front of Su Xiao. The reason for this was to both block the enemy's attack and not hinder Su Xiao's counterattack.
The long blade in Su Xiao's hand slashed toward Feitan. Although his movement speed wasn't fast, his sword speed was.
Feitan stomped the ground beneath him and agilely leaped backward.
After jumping back several meters, Feitan landed. A "red line" appeared on his lower abdomen, and blood slowly seeped out.
Feitan had been cut by Su Xiao, nearly disemboweled. However, Feitan's speed was too fast; the blade only grazed shallowly. As the Cyan Steel Shadow energy invaded his body, Feitan's eyes widened, his pupils trembling for a moment before recovering.
Given Feitan's willpower, Su Xiao didn't expect the Cyan Steel Shadow energy to have any other effects. It was enough to deal true damage to Feitan—130 points per slash plus 9% of his lost mana value in true damage. With Feitan's physique, he wouldn't last long.
Shizuku and Franklin, who were retreating, saw this scene. Franklin's pace gradually slowed as he prepared to help.
"Feitan's injured. Should we go help him?"
Shizuku also stopped.
Feitan noticed Franklin and Shizuku stopping out of the corner of his eye and immediately spoke up: "I'm just getting started. Give me half an hour."
"Alright."
Franklin shook his head helplessly and disappeared with Shizuku through a hole leading further away.
Boom!
The rumbling continued as Su Xiao and Feitan engaged in fierce combat within the basement.
Feitan's speed could only be described as ghostly. He used his speed advantage to dart around the entire area, trying to suppress Su Xiao.
But Feitan couldn't suppress Su Xiao. Su Xiao's movement speed wasn't fast, but his sword speed was on par with Feitan's, and his movement speed was only slow in relative terms.
After taking a slash from Su Xiao, Feitan clearly understood that he couldn't let his guard down. His body was still somewhat numb, and a large amount of Nen energy had been devoured, causing a dull pain inside.
The devouring of Nen energy was a nightmare for Feitan. His ultimate move, "Rising Sun," could create a small sun. The more injured Feitan was before using "Rising Sun," the higher the temperature of that small sun.
However, using the ultimate move "Rising Sun" required Nen energy. If his Nen energy was completely devoured, even if Feitan was chopped into a human stick, it would be useless. Without Nen energy, he was doomed and couldn't turn the tables.
Clang, clang. Clang...
Su Xiao and Feitan exchanged a dozen slashes in an instant before separating, sparks flying. Their figures had already disappeared from the sight of the gang members, who could only see sparks occasionally flying up in the basement, accompanied by the sound of air bursts.
Zheng!
A blade aura flashed. Feitan, who was running at high speed, suddenly stopped, executing a bridge pose. The blade aura grazed past the tip of his nose.
Su Xiao stepped forward quickly, reversing the long blade in his hand and thrusting it straight down toward Feitan's lower abdomen.
Feitan vanished instantly. Su Xiao's thrust hit nothing, the blade deeply embedded in the ground. At the same time, Su Xiao tightened the Realm Severing Thread, but unfortunately, Feitan dodged it at high speed as well.
Feitan wasn't one to passively take a beating. He immediately counterattacked, slashing at Su Xiao several times in quick succession.
A series of crisp sounds rang out as Feitan's slashes all landed on the hexagonal energy shields around Su Xiao. These shields floated around him, sometimes forming a circle, sometimes separating, effectively blocking wherever needed.
After several slashes were blocked, Feitan's movements inevitably had a moment of stiffness. Su Xiao certainly wouldn't miss such an opportunity.
He feigned a slash. Just as Feitan made a defensive move, Su Xiao immediately changed his attack trajectory. Feitan wasn't a pushover; he seemed to have anticipated this and made a corresponding countermeasure.
After Su Xiao quickly executed six feints, Feitan finally showed a slight opening. The long blade came down, and a few drops of blood scattered in the air as Feitan disappeared. Su Xiao had made too many feints, giving Feitan a moment to catch his breath, resulting in only a minor injury.
Combat wasn't just about brute force; wisdom and experience were equally important. Both Su Xiao and Feitan understood this.
The nearby contractors from the Ten Dons' faction were stunned. None of these dozen or so people had any intention of getting close. That basement was simply too dangerous.
"Is this guy really a contractor? Can a second-rank contractor really be this strong?"
A female contractor hid in the distance, secretly turning on her recording function. She already had a title for the footage in mind: "A Certain Ruthless Guy Solo-ing Feitan!"
"I recognize this guy. He's the one who soloed that leader-class creature."
The fighting style of Su Xiao and Feitan was different from that of these contractors. It wasn't about who had more strength, agility, or skills.
Su Xiao and Feitan were competing in strength, speed, combat technique, terrain judgment, timing, combat intelligence, and the ability to gauge the enemy's psychology to predict their tactics.
"Annoying ability."
Feitan wiped the blood from his neck. His collar had been cut, creating a gap through which his smile was visible.
The "annoying ability" Feitan referred to was the hexagonal energy shields around Su Xiao.
When Su Xiao first defended against Feitan's attack, he had constructed an energy shield with 400 points of strength—the strongest he could create.
The maximum size of the energy shield was four meters wide and four meters tall, the largest he could form. Increasing the rank of Cyan Steel Shadow could enlarge the shield's size.
The reason he consumed 400 mana points to construct this level of energy shield was that he had recently developed a new way to use it.
Su Xiao discovered that after an energy shield was constructed, it wasn't unchangeable. By injecting a small amount of mana, he could alter the shield's shape or split it into dozens, even hundreds, of pieces.
Thus, each of the dozens of hexagonal energy shields around him had a strength of 400 points. It would be a miracle if Feitan could pierce them.
Moreover, these dozens of energy shields were split from a single shield, connected by energy links, forming a whole. Trying to pierce one individually was impossible unless the attack's strength was enough to break through all of them at once, making the defense even more terrifying.
Additionally, after an enemy's attack was blocked by an energy shield, all shields except the one that blocked the attack would disperse to avoid hindering Su Xiao's own attacks.
What a disgusting ability. The enemy couldn't harm Su Xiao, but he could exploit the openings created by their attacks to counterattack.
Feitan had been hit by Su Xiao twice, both times because of these dozens of hexagonal energy shields. However, this ability wasn't without flaws; no ability in the world was perfect.
The drawbacks were high consumption (400 mana points; energy shields below 400 points of strength would have unstable links when split) and short duration (10 minutes).
Considering the characteristics of these hexagonal energy shields, Su Xiao named this ability "Counter Shield"—countering the enemy at the moment of their attack.