Chapter 386: Battle in the Sandstorm
"One transport vehicle is missing!" Xu Huo quickly turned his head. The transport vehicle that had fallen back to the ground earlier was gone!
"Could they be after the vehicles?" Wan Tingfang's face showed shock and doubt. "Going through all this trouble just to steal a car?"
"It's not the transport vehicle!" Xu Huo immediately said. "Can the repair device be placed into an item or game luggage compartment?"
"No." Shi Youzhi caught on, leaping down from the transport vehicle as he said, "Defend the station!"
"You two stay on the vehicle." Ai Jia gave Xu Huo and the others a brief instruction before getting off with the rest of the team. But before they could enter the station, a sandstorm suddenly swept across the desert, pitch-black sand covering the entire station in a sky-obscuring blanket!
The level of this sandstorm was far beyond what Xu Huo's Desert Windmill could compare to. Protected by the soap bubble, he wasn't affected by the sandstorm's impact, but the transport vehicle beneath his feet was shifting from its original position!
"Sea-Calming Divine Pillar!" Wan Tingfang, who had also stayed on the vehicle, took out a stone tablet engraved with the words "Sea-Calming Divine Pillar" and placed it on the vehicle. The drifting, shifting vehicle immediately stabilized in the sandstorm.
The space outside the soap bubble was almost packed solid with sand. Not only could they not see what was happening outside, they could barely hear any sound.
Wan Tingfang pressed down on the stone tablet, turning to Xu Huo with some unease, only to see his gaze drifting across the sand.
"What are you looking at?" She followed his line of sight.
Xu Huo didn't answer. Instead, he took out the Crimson Sword and slashed diagonally to the left front!
"What are you doing!" Wan Tingfang's expression changed drastically. She threw aside the "Sea-Calming Divine Pillar" and tried to snatch the sword, demanding, "Are you working with the attackers?!"
Xu Huo dodged her, then took a few steps forward and continued slashing several times, cutting from the left front all the way to the right. With the final strike, blood suddenly gushed out from the sand!
"Someone's there!" Wan Tingfang also saw this. She immediately pulled out a metal sphere and tossed it into the air. "See through the skin to the bones!"
An emerald green light radiated from the sphere, instantly dyeing the entire soap bubble green. And right beside them, where the light reached, a human skeleton appeared—except its left hand was missing.
Xu Huo knew this must be the person he had just struck. This person was mixed in with the sand, circling the transport vehicle. He had originally planned to make a few feint slashes to close the distance, but he hadn't expected the sword energy to pass through the soap bubble and directly hit the person in the sand.
Logically, with a layer of sand in between, the sword energy shouldn't have been able to injure anyone. But the opponent's hand was severed, which meant either the sand, like the soap bubble, didn't count as the "first touched object" required to activate the Crimson Sword, or the sand itself was the player!
Now that the opponent was exposed by the item's light, he didn't leave. Instead, he started circling outside at an extremely fast speed!
Seeing this, Wan Tingfang said, "What is he trying to do? Is he trying to destroy the soap bubble?"
Injured but not retreating—wasn't the intention obvious enough? Of course, he wanted revenge!
Xu Huo stood on the vehicle roof, continuously swinging his sword, chasing after that player with relentless strikes!
"Aren't you afraid of cutting through the soap bubble?" Wan Tingfang tried to stop him. "There's a sandstorm outside. I don't have a suitable defensive item. If we go out, we'll have to use a ticket!"
"Didn't you see She Ping and the others use items earlier? This soap bubble can withstand external item attacks, but it doesn't affect item power from the inside." Xu Huo didn't stop his actions and continued, "If it has a time limit or a tolerance limit, it will break whether I act or not. I might as well take the initiative."
Wan Tingfang glanced at the one-armed person outside, who seemed to be doing something, and her face darkened. "You're right. Even if we don't move, the other side won't let this go! I'll try to catch him!"
After speaking, she took out a toy centipede as long as her forearm and tossed it outside. The centipede drilled through the soap bubble and stuck to the outside, chasing after the one-armed person.
"A foot-biting centipede. Once targeted, the victim gets bitten every ten seconds, but each bite only stiffens them for half a second."
Xu Huo nodded. Based on the movement trajectory of the player in the sand, he cut ahead to intercept.
One, two, three... ten!
Counting the time, he swung his sword. The sword energy reached the soap bubble, leaving a trail of blood on the sand just inches away. But this strike only caused a flesh wound—the bones under the green light remained unchanged.
"Venomous Snake Fang!" Taking this opportunity, Wan Tingfang used a micro-launcher to fire a miniature arrow. The tiny arrow disappeared into the sand, presumably hitting the target, because the player's figure visibly paused. But the next second, he vanished from the sand.
However, before Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang could catch their breath, the soap bubble was pierced by a sand drill spinning at extreme speed, forming a deep indentation that rushed right up to them!
Both of them reflexively stepped back. But the opponent's move wasn't to attack them—it was to destroy the item that could reveal human bones. When the soap bubble rebounded, the metal sphere floating in the air was knocked off the vehicle roof!
Seeing her item disappear into the sand, Wan Tingfang cursed and fired two more venomous fangs at the sand drill. Then she turned to Xu Huo and asked, "Did it hit?"
Xu Huo shook his head. He could only see the "Friend Value" when the opponent moved close to the soap bubble. The opponent had learned his lesson and wasn't coming near.
The first sand drill was like a charge horn. Soon, dense sand drills began to spin and converge, instantly deforming the soap bubble!
Xu Huo retreated to the middle of the transport vehicle and tried slashing again, but he couldn't see any effect.
Noticing cracks appearing in the stretched soap bubble, he warned Wan Tingfang, "The sandstorm is coming!"
As his words fell, the soap bubble burst. A surging wave of sand followed. Xu Huo put on his protective mask, quickly threw out the Dual-Color Cube and the Fair Wallet, then picked up the Desert Windmill and opened the Umbrella of Justice!
The Fair Wallet could cause the target to randomly drop an item. Although Xu Huo hadn't detected the player's presence nearby, he still chose to throw the wallet out, purely gambling on luck.
The Desert Windmill's fatal weakness was rain. And this sand player's ability was clearly a trait. Using the Umbrella of Justice's rain-summoning property might be able to counter it. If that didn't work, he would have to use the Desert Windmill.
The opponent's trait was sand. The Desert Windmill could release a sandstorm. Trait power and item power might not be compatible, but if the windmill's sandstorm became the opponent's advantage, the opponent might come closer. Only at close range could he do something.
However, to his surprise, the moment the Umbrella of Justice was opened, the sandstorm froze. Then large amounts of sand began to fall. The player hidden in the sand also revealed himself. The Fair Wallet and the Dual-Color Cube were both at his feet, with a lasso beside them.
(Chapter End)