Chapter 42: Life and Death in an Instant (Fourth Update, Debt Repayment)
This move was developed by Su Xiao after his battle with the Grudge Orphan, Hughes. It was still in the trial phase and had many shortcomings.
Earlier, Su Xiao had discovered that the Counter Shield was excellent for defending against sharp weapons, but it was somewhat useless against blunt force or impacts. Not only would it injure him from the shock, but it also increased the area of his body that was struck.
Therefore, Su Xiao developed this technique, using an energy shield to form a layer of cushioning exoskeleton outside his body. This exoskeleton was not sturdy, but when it shattered, it could greatly mitigate the impact force.
Su Xiao took a deep breath, reversed the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand, and slashed it backward at Die, who was holding him tightly.
Puchi.
Blood splattered. A wound was cut on Die's side. The wound was deep. Die let out a muffled groan, and her body began to tremble.
The corners of Su Xiao's mouth curled up. It was as he had guessed. What had defended against his slash earlier wasn't Nen energy, but equipment or an item.
If Die could defend against Su Xiao's slashes with just Nen energy, her Nen ability would be far too exaggerated. Moreover, she wasn't an Enhancement-type, but a Specialization-type.
After being cut by Su Xiao, Die immediately released her arms and drove her knee hard into Su Xiao's lower back.
Su Xiao was knocked forward a few steps by the knee strike. He reached back to cover his lower back. The hit was strong enough, and it struck him right on the kidney.
Die arched her back, performed a kip-up to spring up from the ground, and Su Xiao, holding his lower back with one hand, advanced with his blade.
Clang, boom!
Mud flew into the air. A series of booming sounds spread out as the two clashed.
Five minutes later.
Bang.
Su Xiao was kicked back a few steps by Die. Warm blood dripped from his chin. Two minutes ago, his left arm had been touched by that heart-shaped Nen energy and had completely lost feeling.
The Azure Steel Shadow energy inside Su Xiao was devouring this peculiar Nen ability. It would recover soon, but until then, he absolutely could not let that arm be hit by the enemy, or it would shatter like ceramic.
Die, a few meters away, wasn't doing well either. She had taken a few slashes from Su Xiao, and her body was twitching slightly. The pain made her eyes roll back in her head.
"Damn energy, it's absolutely shameless!"
Die spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. That previous seductive aura was completely gone. Now, Die was a tomboy, a tomboy with an eight-pack on her stomach. However, this physique, combined with Die's face, created a unique charm. She was a tomboy whose close-combat skills were no weaker than Su Xiao's.
Su Xiao twirled the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand, forming a flash of blade light. He no longer saw Die as a Charm-specialized contractor.
After the initial exchange, Su Xiao discovered that Die was likely a support-oriented contractor. She had control abilities, tracking abilities, and abilities to weaken an enemy's defenses.
Even if the enemy was a support, this was a top-tier third-rank support. Setting aside the gap in attributes and skills, the sheer crushing pressure from equipment alone was enough to give Su Xiao a hard time.
Die's attributes and skills were suppressed, but the equipment she wore was not. That was why she could fight Su Xiao in close combat.
Moreover, as a contractor who had been around in Reincarnation Paradise for a long time, Die had rich combat experience.
Even so, Su Xiao still felt he could defeat the enemy before him. The reason was that this tomboy was actually somewhat afraid of pain. That's right, afraid of pain.
Using Su Xiao as an example, he often fought enemies in close combat. Getting injured was a daily occurrence, and losing limbs was common. Through such harsh tempering, his pain tolerance had greatly increased.
Die was different. She was the lead controller of the Blood Gate Adventurers. During battles, she had many teammates to protect her. Her combat experience mostly came from the Arena, while Su Xiao had fought his way through a hail of blood and flesh.
"Pain can stimulate a person's ferocity and warn the brain where the body is having problems. It seems you're not used to it."
Su Xiao slowly approached Die. Die instinctively took a step back. Realizing she had retreated, she gritted her teeth, feeling very unwilling.
"Only a pervert would enjoy the feeling of pain. You pervert."
"Thanks for the compliment, but I don't enjoy the feeling of pain."
Su Xiao lunged at Die with a fierce momentum. Die, who had taken several slashes, muttered, "Just a weakling from the second rank," and then met him head-on.
Blade light crisscrossed. Because she had taken several slashes, Die began to lean towards defense.
Clang.
The long blade slashed against Die's forearm. The feeling from the blade wasn't like cutting into a human body, but more like cutting into some kind of invisible or transparent armor.
Su Xiao squinted, dodged Die's kicked leg, and then made a motion to strike.
If it were like before, Die would definitely choose to take the Dragon-Slaying Flash with her body and then retaliate with a kick to Su Xiao. All of Su Xiao's injuries had come from this pattern.
But this time, just as the long blade was about to slash into Die's chest, her pupils contracted sharply, and a layer of golden shield appeared.
Clang.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash was blocked by the golden shield. Die's chest bounced, generously showing off some benefits, as she retreated a few meters.
Su Xiao calculated silently. Based on the battle situation, Die should have a piece of equipment that could automatically generate invisible armor. The defense of that invisible armor was extremely strong, able to block the Dragon-Slaying Flash with +32 sharpness, showing how powerful its defense was.
This invisible armor would have a 3-5 second gap period every 60 seconds or so. The slashes Die had taken earlier were all during this gap period.
The trouble was, Die also had a second piece of shield-type equipment. The shield generated by this second piece was visible, golden in color, and could be used once every 8-10 minutes, lasting for 2 seconds each time.
Not only that, Die also had a piece of equipment that could temporarily increase her Strength and Agility attributes. The reason he had taken that backbreaker from her earlier was because of the bonus effect from that equipment. During those ten-plus seconds, Die's Strength attribute was at least 5-10 points higher than Su Xiao's.
After some analysis, Su Xiao categorized Die as someone with a large amount of high-grade equipment, but whose attributes and skills were suppressed, similar to him.
Fortunately, Su Xiao could resist Die's charm control, or else he would have lost long ago.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao couldn't help but feel relieved. Luckily, the other two weren't together. If a support was this troublesome, how powerful would Arafuni, the main combatant, be? At the very least, he was beyond what Su Xiao could handle now, even if his strength was suppressed.
Su Xiao quietly approached Die, his long blade slashing repeatedly, leaving slash marks in the air that vanished in an instant.
After another two minutes of fighting, a gleam of light appeared on the necklace around Die's neck. Her speed suddenly skyrocketed. It was that equipment that increased Strength and Agility.
Here it comes!
Su Xiao became alert inwardly. At the same time, this was also an opportunity. Die's equipment that released the golden shield had entered its cooldown phase, while that invisible shield could still last for 10 seconds.
Whoosh.
Die disappeared before Su Xiao's eyes, moving too fast for his dynamic vision to track.
The moment Die vanished, a heavy blow struck Su Xiao's spine.
"Flower Dance: Romance."
Pink energy spread out with Die's knee strike. Blood surged from Su Xiao's mouth.
[Warning: You are affected by the control effect of 'Ekma Secret Blade'. Strength and Stamina attributes are being judged.]
[Stamina attribute judging... Stamina attribute judgment successful.]
[Strength attribute judging... Strength attribute judgment failed!]
[You have entered an abnormal state: Dizziness, duration 2 seconds.]
Su Xiao's heart sank. In the moment before his consciousness blurred, he used all his remaining mana to construct Counter Shields. Two layers of Counter Shields formed around him.
Two seconds passed in an instant. When Su Xiao's vision cleared, he felt a sharp pain in his spine, a heavy blow to the back of his head, a ringing in his ears, and most critically, his neck was being strangled. He was already showing signs of cerebral hypoxia.
Su Xiao's hand reached for the arm around his neck. Die had already formed a guillotine choke with her arms. The chance of breaking free was slim. With blood flow completely blocked, Su Xiao would lose consciousness from cerebral hypoxia within seconds.
A smile appeared on Die's face. She seemed to already see the generous rewards Stan would give, and her rise in status within the Blood Gate Adventurers.
Entering the Holy Grail World was a matter of great importance. As long as she did it well, even if she acted against Arafuni's wishes, Stan wouldn't say anything in the end.
Thinking this, Die tightened her arms around Su Xiao's neck. Her delicate cheek pressed against Su Xiao's ear. Su Xiao could clearly feel this woman's breathing.
Su Xiao exerted force with his arms. Although he couldn't break free from the guillotine choke, he could pull her arms apart a little. As for why he didn't use his blade to slash her, it was because her invisible shield was still active. Striking now would be pointless and might instead cost him his life.
Su Xiao took a deep breath. The severely compressed arteries and veins created a gap, allowing a small amount of blood to flow to his brain.
"3... 2... 1!"
Su Xiao counted silently in his mind. When he reached 1, he released Die's arm and tossed the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his right hand to his left.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash reversed in Su Xiao's left hand, slid down, and he grabbed the middle of the blade. Because his left hand was protected by a metal bracer, the blade didn't cut his hand.
The sharp tip of the blade stabbed backward, brushing past Su Xiao's cheek, heading straight for Die's eye socket.
"This is impossible!"
Die's face lost all color. She forgot about strangling Su Xiao and quickly let go to leap backward. She couldn't understand, couldn't understand how the enemy had caught the 4-second gap when her 'Kinetic Armor' disappeared to attack her. Coincidence? Of course not. This was the intelligence Su Xiao had gained after taking over a dozen kicks, one backbreaker, and five knee strikes.
Puchi.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash pierced into Die's eye socket. Azure Steel Shadow energy surged straight into her brain.
"Ah!!"
Die let out a blood-curdling scream. Su Xiao paid no attention. He grabbed Die by the collar with his other hand and continued thrusting the long blade forward.
Swish. The long blade pierced through Die's brain, stabbing out from the top of her skull.
Su Xiao's movements didn't stop. He pulled out the Dragon-Slaying Flash and slashed at Die's throat.
Blood sprayed several meters. Most of Die's throat was cut open. She stumbled back a few steps, clutching her throat with both hands, blood gushing from between her fingers.
The Kinetic Armor covered Die's entire body again, but it was too late. She pulled out a dark purple potion and tried to drink it, but the liquid sprayed out from the wound in her throat.
"This... impossible, I actually..."
Die took a few steps back, her voice tinged with tears. A few seconds later, her body began to weaken, and she fell to the ground with a thud.
[Hint: The Hunter has killed a high-rank contractor. Scarlet Card drop rate increased.]
A Scarlet Card fell to the ground. This scene was witnessed by the chubby guy who was locked in combat with Umbrella-less Brother. At this point, Umbrella-less Brother was already bruised and battered, in a precarious situation.
"Holy shit!"
Looking at Die's now-lifeless body, the chubby guy stood frozen in place.
Bang.
Umbrella-less Brother's sandbag-sized metal gauntlet smashed into the chubby guy's face, sending blood and snot flying from his nose.
PS: (Feiwen wishes all readers a happy Lantern Festival. Didn't expect to write four chapters, 233. Going to jump rope now. Passing a kidney stone is very painful, a look of despair. Oh, right, asking for monthly votes at the start of the month.)