Chapter 85: Hunting Wind Bandits (2)
A large battle broke out in the sky.
As soon as the battle commenced, there was no room to hold back. A storm whipped up right then and there as waves of rapid energy began to fly everywhere.
The Harpies were still students of Arcana Techniques, even if they were the Hunting Wind Bandits.
Dozens of Harpies unleashed their Arcana Techniques at the same time. The combined currents of Origin Energy from the Arcana Techniques caused the weather to change, producing all kinds of dazzling displays of light and strange scenes.
The lower-level techniques included Origin Energy Bullets, Explosive Fireball, and Corrosive Splash; the mid-level techniques included Ice Storm and Jade Flames; the high-level techniques included Darkness Pyrolysis and Light Shattering. All kinds of techniques were being tossed out left and right, unleas.h.i.+ng shocking destructive potential.
The two shuttles also began to counterattack forcefully.
The diplomatic envoy began to unleash their powerful Arcana Techniques in response, and layers of defensive barriers began to appear as well. The Zhu Clan’s guards were also unleas.h.i.+ng their bloodline abilities, causing many different kinds of strange images to fill the sky as the beasts howled viciously, unleas.h.i.+ng incredible power.
The Harpies were better at utilizing the power of nature, while humans were better at unleas.h.i.+ng power from their own bodies. As a result, the two sides had vastly different styles of combat, but these different sides mixed quite well.
Under their alliance, the two Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were able to withstand the attacks of the Hunting Wind Bandits.
“Blocked it! We blocked it,” someone yelled excitedly.
Su Chen, however, frowned disdainfully.
Since the Hunting Wind Bandits had chosen them as their targets, it would be laughable if they were able to block those attacks so easily.
That salvo had merely been the appetizer. The main course was still yet to come.
As expected, the Hunting Wind Bandits soon began to change up their battle style.
It became apparent that the Hunting Wind Bandits were primarily trying to target not the people on the shuttles but the shuttles themselves.
Arcana Technique after Arcana Technique slammed into the Cloud-Piercing shuttles. It looked like the Cloud-Piercing shuttles were about to be slammed into pieces.
Even though the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were durable and also had defensive barriers protecting them, they were still unable to withstand the ferocious attacks of all these bandits.
Hundreds of fireb.a.l.l.s slammed into the shuttles’ defensive barriers, causing them to flicker violently. Scattered Moon Mist felt her heart pang every time as the barriers grew weaker and weaker. It seemed as if they were soon to fail, and once that happened, the shuttles would definitely be sunk. She could die, but the broodmother could not fall into the wrong hands. If the broodmother was seized or some kind of accident befell it, that would be a tragedy that words could not describe.
To protect the shuttles, Scattered Moon Mist was forced to command her personal subordinates into action.
This was like using them as meat s.h.i.+elds, but it gave the Hunting Wind Bandits an incredible opportunity. These Harpy bandits floated in the sky, cackling with delight as they furiously attacked the shuttles. Brilliant light flashed everywhere, and Harpy soldiers would plummet out of the sky from time to time.
“Despicable! Shameless!” Scattered Moon Mist yelled angrily.
Her anger only incited more mocking and ridicule.
“Do you still refuse to act even though the situation has reached this point?” Zhu Xianyao said as she retreated, some anxiety on her face.
“What point has the situation reached?” Su Chen countered. “Is it very dangerous?”
“What?” Zhu Xianyao was taken aback. She didn’t understand what Su Chen said.
Su Chen, however, chuckled and looked up at the sky as he said, “Look……”
In the sky, Zhu Yunyan was currently fighting with one of the Hunting Wind Bandits’ leaders, Red Raven.
The Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was quite powerful. He was an expert in wind techniques - most Harpies were, so a lot of their attacks involved generating a storm of wind and sending it at someone. He was a bit like Feng Anya. While the Raven King was able to innately control the wind, Red Raven had created a similarly powerful technique to control windstorms. There were also some differences; Feng Anya’s windstorms were made purely from wind, while Red Raven had imbued his windstorms with flames.
The flames and wind mixed together quite well, eventually forming a lare flaming bird that spat out a steady stream of flames and wind at Zhu Yunyan.
Zhu Yunyan was forced to focus all of her attention on defending herself when faced with the powerful wind and fire Arcana Techniques that this expert was shooting at her.
As someone with the Slyheart Fox Bloodline, Zhu Yunyan was not alone. Her servants were also fighting by her side.
Zhu Yunyan had three permanent servants, one at the Spirit Burning Realm and two of them at the Light Shaking Realm. Of the two Light Shaking Realm cultivators, one possessed a Rainbow Demon Bloodline, which primarily served as a utility puppet and was not so suited for battle. The other was Rong Xiangqian.
When Zhu Yunyan took to the battlefield, so did these three servants, but unfortunately they were not fighting with Zhu Yunyan at the moment. Instead, they were fighting a few other pirates. Another Seventh-Ring Arcana Master was handling the Spirit Burning Realm puppet, while two Fifth-Ring Arcana Masters were dealing with the two Light Shaking Realm puppets.
The Zhu Clan had another Spirit Burning Realm cultivator and three Light Shaking Realm cultivators traveling with them, but they were also being bogged down by other bandits.
The same went for Scattered Moon Mist’s side - all the powerful individuals were similarly being tied up.
It appeared on closer examination that this was a very interesting setup - the stronger experts had all been matched up against, and each one of them had an opponent to fight.
A battle was intrinsically chaotic, fierce, and disordered. The side with the military advantage was usually the one attacking.
One-on-one close-quarters combat was not that rare of an occurrence in this world, but it was almost unheard of in battle. Most people would only think of ways to weaken their opponents and increase their own strength. If using two soldiers to suppress a more powerful soldier was possible, then they would do so. Sometimes, gathering multiple powerful experts would be enough to kill a really powerful opponent.
The current situation, however, was quite strange, as if someone had carefully orchestrated it. Almost all of the powerful individuals were matched up against an opponent of even strength, making it hard to say who would win and who would lose. Only the bottom-rung soldiers, who died in droves without anyone mourning their deaths, were being killed.
Even so, the battle was still fierce and dangerous. Perceiving something like this in the midst of all the yelling and slaughtering was not an easy thing to do.
Zhu Xianyao finally realized the problem when Su Chen pointed it out to her.
She opened her eyes wide. “How is this possible? Could it be……”
“They came prepared,” Su Chen said. “They probably knew who their opponent was going to be before they even showed up.”
“Yet they still dared to show up?”
“Perhaps this is the reason they decided to come,” Su Chen calmly said. “There might be someone who doesn’t trust us entirely and wants to test us, or they might have some other motivation.”
The broodmother was incredibly important, but while it was being raised, it had been lost and found again.
During this period of time, no one knew what had happened to it.
Perhaps nothing had happened to it, but there would always be people who were curious.
Let alone the fact that the Zhu Clan had accompanied them this time.
Who knew what the Zhu Clan’s intentions were in coming along this time?
Was it just to do business? Or was there some other reason hidden behind the scenes?
Had they discovered the broodmother or not? Was there some kind of hidden scheme taking place?
The answers to these questions were all unknown, which made some people uneasy.
Since they were uneasy, it was only natural that they would want to test their suspicions so that they could be at ease.
It would have been strange if someone hadn’t tried to hire some thugs to suss out anything strange that might be going on.
However, Scattered Moon Mist was obviously unaware of this. She was still infuriated by this sudden attack and worried about the broodmother’s safety. Her hair was flying everywhere, and her aura was incredibly chaotic. She was in quite a terrible condition. If something else were to happen to the broodmother when it was under her control, that would be a great shame to her.
With Su Chen’s reminder, Zhu Xianyao also realized the problem with the situation and chuckled. “So that’s how it is! Then we don’t need to pay it any mind.”
Su Chen said, “That won’t work. Given how important the situation is, if we don’t respond appropriately, they will definitely realize that their plan was seen through.”
Zhu Xianyao was stunned. “So what should we do, then?”
Su Chen chuckled. “Don’t they want to test us? Fine, then since they want to see our bottom line, we will need to toss some trump cards out for them to see.”
“Trump cards?” Zhu Xianyao was shocked.
The Zhu Clan was sincerely trying to deliver the broodmother and hadn’t prepared any particular backups. Where would these trump cards come from?
Su Chen said, “Cloud Leopard, Lin Xiao, and the others have probably been feeling pent up lately. Since they would only be sitting around otherwise, it should be fine to let them loosen up.”
Since Su Chen had come, Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the twelve Sword Servants had also come along.
Unlike Su Chen, however, they had snuck in under the ident.i.ty of laborers and were located in the lowest level of the shuttles. Even though Su Chen had entered the boat as a servant, he still lived on the top floor of the shuttle. As such, he normally didn’t have an opportunity to interact much with them. For this reason, Su Chen only had the transmission puppet by his side at this moment. His official business was to manage and maintain the Zhu Clan’s puppets.
When Zhu Xianyao heard what Su Chen heard, her eyes lit up. “I think that will work. If they want some trump cards, we’ll show them some trump cards.”
She flew off to the bottom level of the boat.
Within Cabin Four of the shuttle.
A large group of laborers sat there, trembling as they stared at the situation outside.
Cloud Leopard, Iron Cliff, and the Sword Servants were sitting there playing cards.
“Brother Leopard, Brother Cliff, how do you have the heart to play cards right now?” Old Hu, the head of the laborers in Cabin Four, stammered.
When Cloud Leopard and the others had first shown up, Old Hu had tried to a.s.sert his dominance, but after being taught a lesson, he completely realized who the actual bosses of this cabin were. Thankfully, Cloud Leopard and the others had no thoughts of taking his status, and Old Hu discovered that his position was still secure. He eventually was able to relax.
As time went on, Cloud Leopard and the others performed their tasks dutifully and never stirred up trouble. They seemed totally carefree.
In that sense, their disguises were a failure, but this was already pretty good for them, so there was no need to ask for much more.
Cloud Leopard didn’t even raise his head. “What are you panicking about? We have a roof above our head if the sky collapses. Lin Xiao, flip the cards.”
Lin Xiao chuckled as he showed his hand. “Sorry, Brother Leopard, I’ve won yet again.”
“d.a.m.n!” Cloud Leopard angrily slammed the table.
At that moment, a ma.s.sive fireball slammed into the shuttle near Cabin Four. Even though the shuttle’s defensive barriers were able to keep the attack at bay, the violent wave of energy still caused the boat to shake, and all of its occupants cried out in alarm.
Cloud Leopard and the others, however, continued to play cards. Cloud Leopard began to pull out the gold, his expression incredibly wretched.
“The enemies are knocking on our front door!” Old Hu yelled loudly.
“I know.” Cloud Leopard was staring at his money pouch sadly.
His luck was no good, and he didn’t have much money left on him.
This made Cloud Leopard feel quite sorrowful.
Old Hu and the other laborers were also quite sorrowful. They were about to die of fright from the explosions happening right outside.
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