Chapter 64: Lan Jue's Counterattack
As soon as the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, appeared, Lan Jue, a hundred meters away, immediately detected its attributes. Upon seeing the title 'Lord-Class Creature' and its Strength, Agility, and Stamina all above 70, Lan Jue's expression turned grim.
When Lan Jue saw that the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, had a full seven skills, he immediately realized that this thing was a major boss from some world, now summoned here.
What troubled Lan Jue the most was 'Soul Infection (Aura LV.20)', which dealt 5% of maximum health as true damage per minute. This would trigger a chain reaction; if eroded by this aura for a while, he would likely be killed by Su Xiao in a few strikes.
If it were only the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, as a single major boss, Lan Jue was confident he could handle it. But what about the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, plus Su Xiao?
Lan Jue only considered for two seconds before turning and fleeing. Forget the arranged duel, forget settling life and death—he wasn't even sure he could win a 1v1, let alone when the enemy summoned such a damned thing. How could he fight that?
"Command: Self-Destruct."
A swarm of mechanical bees lunged at Su Xiao. Su Xiao didn't even glance at the incoming bees; the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, beside him, had already moved forward to meet them.
Lan Jue's speed was not slow. His Agility attribute was already high, and with escape skills, his fleeing speed was even faster.
Su Xiao didn't give chase. Although the battle hadn't truly begun, an opportunity to beat a retreating dog had already presented itself.
Pulling out the Spider Empress, Su Xiao crouched down, pulled the bolt, and aimed the sights at the fleeing Lan Jue.
The moment Su Xiao locked onto him, Lan Jue stopped in his tracks, turned around, and faced Su Xiao.
Bang.
Smoke spewed from the muzzle of the Spider Empress. A bullet shot out from within the smoke, flying straight toward Lan Jue's head.
"Command: Guard."
Hundreds of mechanical beetles appeared, forming a wall in front of Lan Jue.
Boom! Boom!
Two explosions rang out in succession. The first came from the wall of mechanical beetles in front of Lan Jue; the second came from the Orphan of Resentment, Xiusi, now surrounded by mechanical bees.
Seeing Su Xiao draw the Spider Empress, Lan Jue had already abandoned the thought of fleeing, because he couldn't escape.
Based on his observations, that was a semi-automatic heavy sniper cannon. His initial judgment was that its rate of fire and power were not weak, and its effective range was considerable.
After Su Xiao fired the first shot, Lan Jue roughly estimated that to escape Su Xiao's range, he would have to endure at least five to seven shots.
Setting aside whether he could withstand those shots, the brief pauses required for each defense would allow that skeletal creature to catch up. If that skeleton got its claws on him, with the enemy's long-range and close-range coordination, he wouldn't last long.
What was even more terrifying wasn't the enemy's ranged-and-melee cooperation, but the prospect of both of them closing in on him. Then he would die quickly.
Since he couldn't escape, Lan Jue decisively abandoned the idea. A mechanical beetle appeared in his hand, about the size of a fingernail, its body blood-red. Lan Jue's gaze at this beetle was complex.
"I'm the best, I'm the strongest, won't die, won't die, won't die, absolutely won't die."
As Lan Jue muttered, the blood-red beetle burrowed into his palm. He received a flood of notifications from the Apocalypse Paradise.
[Notification: You are being parasitized by the Mechanical Insect King. Stamina, Intelligence, and Willpower attributes are being judged... If any judgment fails, you will trigger an instant death state.]
[Stamina judgment successful. Mechanical Insect King has successfully parasitized one-third.]
[Intelligence judgment successful. Mechanical Insect King has successfully parasitized two-thirds.]
[Willpower judgment successful. Mechanical Insect King has successfully parasitized into your body.]
[Notification: Due to parasitization by the Mechanical Insect King, Strength permanently -15, Stamina permanently -20, Health Points permanently -200, Intelligence permanently +15.]
[Notification: The Mechanical Insect King will die in 30 minutes.]
[Notification: Your Mana Points temporarily +3000. This bonus will disappear after the Mechanical Insect King dies.]
[Notification: Your summon quantity and type restrictions have been lifted. This effect will disappear after the Mechanical Insect King dies.]
[Notification: After the Mechanical Insect King dies, you will undergo another Stamina attribute judgment. If the judgment fails, you will trigger an instant death state.]
...
A wave of weakness washed over Lan Jue. He used the ability he least wanted to use, having the Mechanical Insect King parasitize himself. During the parasitization process, if any of the three judgments failed, he would die immediately. Even if the parasitization succeeded, he would have a large number of attributes deducted.
After being parasitized, there were three benefits: Intelligence permanently +15, Mana Points temporarily +3000, and the temporary lifting of restrictions on the number and types of summons that could exist simultaneously.
In other words, Lan Jue could summon all the summons in his inventory, as long as he had enough Mana Points. The total number of Lan Jue's mechanical insect summons was 12,604. Summoning all of them would require 4,653 Mana Points.
Simultaneously summoning over ten thousand mechanical insect summons wasn't the ability Lan Jue wanted most. He wanted the ability to lift the summon cap. Of course, Lan Jue was very reluctant to use this ability; using it was almost equivalent to mutual destruction with the enemy.
Although Lan Jue had passed the initial three judgments, after the Mechanical Insect King died, he would have to undergo another Stamina attribute judgment. That would be after he had fought to the point of exhaustion, and with his Stamina attribute permanently reduced by 20. The chances of passing were very slim.
This was the first time Lan Jue had used this ability, and there was a 98% chance it would be the last.
A bullet flew toward Lan Jue. Lan Jue's eyelids drooped. Mechanical bees appeared out of thin air. This time, he didn't even use a summoning gesture; he just directly summoned them.
Over a hundred mechanical bees formed a circle, perfectly blocking the bullet's trajectory.
Boom.
An explosion sounded. Although the mechanical bees couldn't stop the bullet, they could use their powerful explosive force to deflect its trajectory.
Swoosh~