Chapter 48: Four-Winged Angel
The night had a moon, a very bright moon that illuminated the desolate wilderness.
In this desolate wilderness, four angels with white light wings flew through the air, their cold figures streaking like faint shadows as they approached Linley.
"Such speed." Linley was startled.
Linley's current situation was one of strong offense but weak defense. His offense was strong enough to kill Saint-level initial-stage experts. But his defense was insufficient; he could withstand attacks below the Saint-level, but he couldn't hold up against the attacks of a Saint-level initial-stage expert.
"Hmph." Linley suddenly stomped the ground. The 'Supersonic' support magic enveloped him, and his entire body gracefully dodged to the side. In terms of pure speed, Linley was actually slightly slower than these four angels.
"Yow——"
A piercing cry rang out. A black shadow, even faster than the four angels, appeared abruptly. Then, the black shadow directly crashed into the angel closest to Linley.
"Die." The angel coldly punched at the black shadow.
"Bang!" The fist, shimmering with white light, heavily struck the black shadow's body. The black shadow was knocked to the ground, but it rebounded and charged up again with even greater speed.
"Whoosh!" Two sharp claws swung up, viciously swiping at the angel twice.
The first claw collided with the angel's fist, while the second claw directly tore into the angel's body. The angel's body was already on the verge of collapse. After being hit so fiercely by the claw, its body trembled, the muscles on its surface began to split, and blood gushed out.
"Boom!" The black shadow coiled up and then slammed into the angel again.
This collision accelerated the angel's bodily collapse.
"Bang!" With a loud sound, the angel's body directly exploded. The original white light wings also vanished into nothingness. A two-winged angel had died in battle.
Lan, watching from behind, stared at the black shadow in shock.
She could tell that the black shadow was Linley's pet, that cute shadow mouse. But at this moment, the shadow mouse had grown to about a meter in length. Originally, it was only twenty centimeters long, the size of a palm. Moreover, this black shadow mouse's speed was terrifying... even faster than the two-winged angels.
Linley wasn't too surprised.
"Over six years ago, in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, when Bebe fought with Hei Lu, they were about evenly matched. In these six years, Hei Lu hasn't grown much; he's reached his limit. But Bebe has been growing all this time... Now, Bebe's speed alone far surpasses Hei Lu's. As for defense, I'm afraid even Buck, the Saint-level undying warrior, isn't much stronger than Bebe." Linley was very clear about Bebe's terrifying nature.
Bebe now was incredibly fast.
Linley trained hard every day, while Bebe ate and slept, ate and slept. Yet his strength grew faster than Linley's.
Just looking at Bebe's current transformed size was proof. He could now grow to a meter long.
"Squeak squeak~~" Bebe called out excitedly, while transmitting mentally, "Boss, leave these two-winged angels to me. Their attacks can't even hurt me."
Linley was speechless.
Two-winged angels were Saint-level initial-stage. And they couldn't even hurt Bebe?
Just what kind of freakish magical beast was Bebe?!
The other three two-winged angels, seeing this black shadow mouse kill their companion with lightning-fast claws and a charge, were both shocked and enraged.
Before they could react, Bebe charged at another one of them.
"Don't bother with it. Kill Linley." Lan's cold voice rang out.
The three angels no longer paid attention to the terrifying black shadow mouse and directly attacked Linley. But even though they ignored Bebe, Bebe wouldn't let them go.
After all, Bebe was much faster than them.
"Whoosh." A black phantom flashed, and Bebe appeared beside one of the angels.
Linley, meanwhile, dodged far away. He had no confidence in facing a group of angels, but if it were one-on-one, he still had some confidence. After all, Linley wasn't a freak like Bebe, whose defense was that strong.
"Yow!"
Bebe opened his huge mouth and bit at the angel.
"Bang!" The two-winged angel's fist immediately slammed heavily at Bebe, but Bebe's sharp claws actually grabbed the angel's right fist, and then he bit down on it.
"Crack!"
The right hand was bitten off directly.
The two-winged angel, enduring the pain, angrily struck at the black shadow mouse with his left hand. This furious strike gathered almost all of the two-winged angel's energy, and his left hand shone as brightly as the sun.
"Bang!" The left hand struck the black shadow mouse's body, but at the same time, Bebe's claws viciously swiped twice at the angel's chest.
Muscles were torn open, and blood sprayed.
Bebe was knocked to the ground, but the two-winged angel's body trembled a few times. The meridians inside his body completely shattered, and even his internal organs couldn't withstand the terrifying energy and collapsed. Blood flowed freely, and the two-winged angel fell to the ground with a crash.
Another angel dead.
"Boss." Bebe stared nervously at Linley.
"Bang!"
Linley was sent flying by a punch, but that two-winged angel also trembled slightly and then fell to the ground with a crash. Another nearby two-winged angel immediately chased after Linley.
"Boss." Bebe moved at his maximum speed. Combined with Linley's own dodging, Bebe intercepted the other two-winged angel just before he could reach Linley.
Bebe glared angrily at the two-winged angel in front of him.
"Boss, are you okay?" Bebe transmitted mentally.
"Barely. If I took another two hits like that, I wouldn't hold up." Linley wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The black scales on his chest were cracked in one spot, and blood was flowing out.
Linley felt a lingering fear.
Just now, two angels had attacked him together. Linley's speed was slightly slower than theirs, so he could only choose to trade blow for blow. He took one of their attacks while killing one of them.
"My speed still isn't enough. If either my speed or defense could match Bebe's, I wouldn't be in such a mess." Linley sighed inwardly.
Six years ago, Bebe's speed was about the same as his, and his defense was a bit stronger.
But six years later, Bebe's speed was nearly double his. And his defense was who knows how many times stronger. The most troublesome thing was that Bebe was still at the ninth rank. He hadn't reached the Saint-level.
No wonder the Blackscale Cloud Leopard, Hei Lu, felt so frustrated.
Hei Lu was also a ninth-rank magical beast with extraordinary talent, but compared to Bebe, his so-called talent was far, far weaker.
******
Relying on his astonishing defense and speed, Bebe dealt with the other two-winged angel. In the blink of an eye, the four angels were all dead or dying. The leader, Lan, remained in human form, standing in the distance watching.
"Boss, are two-winged angels really Saint-level initial-stage? They don't seem that strong to me." Bebe landed on the ground and communicated with Linley mentally.
Linley smiled faintly and glanced at Lan in the distance.
"Bebe, didn't you notice? After they used the power of the angels, blood seeped out from their bodies. Clearly, their bodies couldn't handle it. They aren't true Saint-level initial-stage experts. They only have the power, but their bodies are too fragile." Linley saw through the essence at a glance.
With bodies on the verge of collapse, just attacking them a few more times would finish them off.
"What a powerful magical beast."
Lan looked at Bebe in surprise and said, "Linley, I've only heard that you have a shadow mouse, but now it seems it's not a shadow mouse. Instead, it's somewhat like the legendary king of rodents..."
"What?" Linley looked at Lan.
What kind of magical beast Bebe was had always intrigued Linley.
"The magical beast with the strongest defense and fastest speed among all magical beast clans. Could it really be this one?" Lan had lived in the Radiant God Realm for many years, and as a four-winged angel, her knowledge was considerable.
There were many magical beasts that, upon reaching maturity, became Saint-level magical beasts.
But the most outstanding among them were only a few. And their numbers were extremely, extremely rare. This was the first time in her life that Lan had seen the legendary king of rodents.
"Boss, what is that woman talking about?" Bebe looked at Linley in confusion.
"She's saying you're the king of rodents." Linley chuckled.
Even Delin Kevott, and even the Pope of the Radiant Church, didn't know what kind of magical beast Bebe was. But this Lan seemed to have some idea. However, it sounded like she was just guessing, not entirely certain.
"Linley, you should feel honored."
Lan had only been surprised by Bebe's performance earlier, but now she had completely calmed down. "Because to kill you, a four-winged angel will die together with you."
Lan's entire body emitted a dazzling white light. Then, four white light wings trembled as they emerged from her back, eventually spreading open. Lan herself rose into the air and began to fly.
A four-winged angel!
"Not good." Linley's expression changed drastically. The more wings an angel had, the more terrifying it was. And as the number of wings increased, the increase in power was geometric.
"Boss, let me go."
Bebe let out an excited, sharp cry, and his body turned into a blurry shadow as he charged at the four-winged angel.
Lan smiled coldly. Her four wings fluttered slightly, and she transformed into a white phantom. Her astonishing speed was no less than Bebe's.
"Bang!"
Lan's holy, jade-like palm struck Bebe's body. This time, Bebe was sent flying backward, crashing into the ground like a meteor, even creating a bottomless pit in the earth. Bebe had been smashed deep underground.
"Bebe." Linley was shocked.
He had expected the four-winged angel to be strong, but he hadn't expected her to be this terrifyingly powerful.
"Boss... I'm okay." Bebe's weak voice echoed in Linley's mind. Linley could fully sense that Bebe was seriously injured.
The strength of a four-winged angel was far greater than that of a two-winged angel.
"Linley, it's your turn." Blood had already seeped through Lan's body surface, but she paid no attention to her gradually collapsing body.
Lan knew she had at least ten seconds left. That was enough time to kill Linley.
The four white light wings trembled slightly, and Lan transformed into a white phantom. In Linley's field of vision, he only saw a blur, and then Lan was right in front of him.
Linley only saw Lan's cold, silver-colored eyes.
Fight to the death!
"Ah~~~"
At this moment, Linley stomped the ground with both feet, trying to retreat, while recklessly pulling out the Bloodsoft Sword. He directly triggered the terrifying killing aura within the Bloodsoft Sword.
This terrifying killing aura had affected even the Saint-level peak expert, Stetler, back then. Let alone this Lan.
The Bloodsoft Sword trembled, and an eerie blood-red color flowed over its surface.
The killing aura directly merged into Lan's mind, charging at her soul.
"This..." A trace of terror appeared in Lan's cold eyes. She felt as if she had returned to the time when she had followed the angel army to other planes and encountered a terrifying demon from the abyss. She still remembered how that demon had casually slaughtered angels, killing nearly all of the hundreds of thousands of them.
Her originally full-powered punch was weakened by this influence.
While using the Bloodsoft Sword, Linley also swung his Blackscale Heavy Sword at her, mercilessly slashing it across Lan's body.
The Earth Essence of a Hundredfold Waves.
"Bang!" Linley was also hit by the punch, which had been weakened by nearly half. The black dragon scales on his chest shattered, and his chest caved in deeply. Large mouthfuls of blood sprayed from Linley's mouth.
Linley, like a tattered sandbag, slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
Lan stood on the ground in disbelief.
"How does he possess such terrifying killing aura?" Then, Lan felt a constraint originating from the laws of the universe. Her soul was helplessly sucked away, disappearing from the Yulan Continent plane.
As for Lan's broken body, it collapsed limply to the ground, blood flowing from her mouth and nose.
(Second chapter!)