Chapter 35: Ghost Bee
“Whew~”
A clear whistle sounded. Lan Jue was using the whistle to control the precise attack trajectory of the metal arrow. This metal arrow was not a lifeless object but a fusion-type summoned creature, combining the characteristics of several rare insects, named Ghost Bee.
The pitch-black Ghost Bee shot toward Su Xiao with a whoosh, its tail-mounted sound sensor leaving a trail of bluish-gray tail flame in the air.
At this moment, Su Xiao was protected by the Counter Shield beside him, but behind him were twenty-nine plasma balls in hot pursuit, forcing him to keep moving.
A sharp, piercing sound of air being torn came, and Su Xiao immediately sensed something hurtling toward him at high speed. He contracted his perception range to five meters, which made it easier to capture the high-speed incoming attack.
A metal arrow pierced into Su Xiao’s perception range, causing ripples to spread through it.
“So fast!”
Su Xiao shifted his attention from Lan Jue to the incoming metal arrow. This thing gave him a strong sense of threat.
The metal arrow felt sharp, swift, and vaguely eerie to Su Xiao. Through his initial perception, he understood one thing: it was best not to be hit by this thing, or the consequences would be severe.
Whoosh~
The Ghost Bee was extremely fast. By the time Su Xiao sensed it, the Ghost Bee had already stabbed in front of the Counter Shield.
Although the Counter Shield had shattered many times among the soldiers, this didn’t mean its defense was low. On the contrary, the Counter Shield with 500 points of durability was quite sturdy. It was just that when surrounded by a large group of soldiers, attacks came from all directions at an overwhelming frequency.
Blue energy meridians flickered on the Counter Shield. The arrow tip of the Ghost Bee was about to strike the shield, with less than twenty centimeters between them.
“Command: Ghost.”
Lan Jue’s mana dropped significantly, and at the same time, the metal arrow Ghost Bee underwent a change.
The pitch-black metal arrow turned cyan, even beginning to shift toward translucency.
The Ghost Bee struck the Counter Shield. There was no collision sound, no shockwave spread. The Ghost Bee passed through the Counter Shield without any obstruction, as if the shield didn’t exist.
It wasn’t that the Counter Shield didn’t exist, but that the Ghost Bee had transformed from physical to virtual. It was now neither matter nor energy.
Sensing this change in the metal arrow, Su Xiao’s pupils contracted. Since this metal arrow could turn virtual, it could also turn physical again.
It would pass through defenses in virtual form, then turn physical to attack the enemy.
Realizing this, Su Xiao’s muscles tensed throughout his body. He raised the Dragon-Slaying Flash sideways. It was too late to dodge now; he had to strike this thing away the moment it turned physical.
Everything around Su Xiao seemed to slow down. This feeling puzzled him. He had experienced it before, when he dodged an axe aimed at the back of his head.
The Ghost Bee’s color changed, from cyan to black, and it stabbed toward Su Xiao’s head.
The Ghost Bee was extremely fast, so Su Xiao only had one chance.
A faint stinging sensation appeared at his left temple, where the arrow tip was aimed. This was a warning from his perception that his head was about to be pierced.
The long blade in Su Xiao’s hand slashed down preemptively. He had already predicted the trajectory of the metal arrow’s descent.
Ding!
The long blade struck the middle section of the metal arrow. A cut mark appeared on the black arrow shaft. The entire metal arrow was pushed sideways by the force of Su Xiao’s slash, clattering against the inside of the Counter Shield.
Dozens of meters away, Lan Jue let out a muffled groan. The veins on his face bulged, giving him a somewhat ferocious look.
“Command: Pierce.”
Lan Jue endured the discomfort in his body and blew his whistle even louder.
As soon as Lan Jue issued the command, the metal arrow Ghost Bee immediately reacted. It stopped spinning and stabbed straight at Su Xiao.
The moment the metal arrow aimed at him again, Su Xiao sensed it and immediately tilted his head.
Whoosh~
The Ghost Bee left a trail of blood, its arrow tip stained red.
Warm blood flowed down Su Xiao’s cheek, leaving a scratch. For a woman, this would be a huge deal, but Su Xiao didn’t care. He didn’t rely on his looks to get by.
The Ghost Bee had just grazed Su Xiao’s cheek and reached the back of his head. It nimbly turned around in midair, aiming its arrow tip at the back of his head to stab.
The Counter Shield beside Su Xiao dispersed, transforming from a circle into dozens of hexagonal small shields. Over twenty hexagonal Counter Shields met the pursuing plasma balls, while three hexagonal shields overlapped, blocking the back of Su Xiao’s head. The Ghost Bee stabbed toward the Counter Shield. Seeing this, Lan Jue’s expression changed.
“Command: Ghost.”
The Ghost Bee turned from black to cyan. The translucent Ghost Bee passed straight through the Counter Shield and Su Xiao’s head.
As the Ghost Bee passed through Su Xiao’s head, his mind went hazy for a moment, then quickly recovered.
Just as Su Xiao recovered, the pitch-black metal arrow was already in front of his eyes. Relying on his high neural reflex speed, he immediately leaned back.
As Su Xiao leaned back, the Ghost Bee was already stabbing toward his face.
Leaning back lowered Su Xiao’s height, so the metal arrow, originally aimed at his forehead, grazed past his brow.
Dodging another fatal blow, Su Xiao barely had time to breathe before the metal arrow came stabbing again. He raised his blade to block.
Ding!
The metal arrow was deflected. The immense force from the impact pushed Su Xiao back a step.
After this exchange, Su Xiao identified the characteristics of this metal arrow. It was incredibly fast; he could only dodge it when fully focused. Moreover, it almost completely ignored shield-type abilities, able to switch between physical and virtual forms.
This metal arrow was extremely troublesome, but it wasn’t without weaknesses. Su Xiao noticed that its turning speed and curved flight speed were actually not that fast. It was only fast in straight-line stabs. Also, Lan Jue was always careful to avoid the metal arrow hitting the Counter Shield. The cut mark on the middle of the arrow shaft showed that this thing wasn’t indestructible—it just had strong penetration.
As Su Xiao dodged the metal arrow, a collision sound came from not far behind him. It was the over twenty small Counter Shields crashing into the plasma balls.
Electric light splattered everywhere, and large arcs of electricity dispersed in the air.
The Counter Shields that collided with the plasma balls gradually dissipated into the air. Su Xiao had already severed the energy link with those twenty-plus shields.
The number of Counter Shields beside Su Xiao decreased, no longer enough to form a circle enveloping him. Creating new Counter Shields required 500 mana points, and without killing a large number of soldiers, he had to conserve mana.
Dozens of Counter Shields circled around Su Xiao, occasionally blocking the attack path of the metal arrow. The metal arrow never directly clashed with the Counter Shields, only occasionally turning virtual to pass through and strike at Su Xiao.
As Su Xiao dodged the metal arrow, a burning sensation spread from the wound on his face.
[You are being eroded by an unknown toxin. The unknown toxin has successfully interfered with your physical state. Due to high resistances, the interference is weakened. Your neural reflex speed -8%, effect lasts 30 seconds.]