[V6C136 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
A dense rain of bullets flew over, however, a surge of demonic energy actually emerged from the forest and flushed away the projectiles. Thereafter appeared a silhouette with a long sniper rifle strapped to his back.
“It’s you?!” The two spoke at the same time. Although their languages were different, it didn’t deter them from understanding one another’s words and emotions.
Qianye’s joy regarding his imminent breakthrough had been wiped away entirely. Meanwhile, that pained expression on Eden’s face revealed his gloomy mood.
The many days of sleepless battles had long since become an endless torture for the two opponents.
Qianye simply picked a random defensive region from the vast Misty Wood, and it was quite a distance from their last battlefield, too.
There was a dagger in Eden’s right hand, while his left hand was shrouded in black demonic energy. At a glance, the latter almost looked like a round s.h.i.+eld. There were two obvious bullet marks on his chest plate, but the bullets hadn’t penetrated his armor.
Apparently, his hurriedly activated defenses had blocked the attacks from the b.l.o.o.d.y Datura and Mystic Spider Lily. Moreover, he was prepared to counterattack at melee range.
The demonkin’s so-called frail const.i.tution was only relative to the other dark races. It didn’t mean a human could easily take advantage of it. Many demonkin were also quite powerful in melee battles by virtue of their odd but powerful abilities—these skills weren’t any less troublesome than human secret arts.
Dark Abyss was one of the famed demonkin clans. The corrosive power of their primary talents had inflicted distress upon countless enemies on the battlefield. Sometimes, a cloud of demonic energy would mow down a swathe of enemies. Moreover, it also served to diminish some of the special effects produced by human champions.
Eden was an important character in the Dark Abyss and the Evernight Council. What he relied upon wasn’t just his outstanding bloodline and his inborn talents—he was just as remarkable in melee combat.
The ambush this time had come at a fairly short distance, no longer within optimal sniping range. Since the other party couldn’t even blast through his defenses, Eden decided to eliminate the enemy at melee range instead of using a roundabout method.
This course of action couldn’t be more correct. In truth, the only problem was that he had encountered Qianye this time.
Qianye’s gaze fell upon Eden’s blade. The latter’s expression s.h.i.+fted yet again, almost as if the dagger was suddenly heating up in his hand.
The reason was simple. Melee battles might not be Eden’s weak point, but against Qianye with his heavy sword and armor, weak had become a gross understatement. The two had only ever engaged in a single meaningful close-quarter battle. Back then, Eden was nearly hacked into two along with his blade. From then on, he had made it his top priority to stay away from Qianye’s melee range.
But now, they had arrived at an awkward distance.
The two glanced at one another but neither made the first move.
Qianye was moved—this was the first time he had seen Eden clearly in full view. His first reaction was that the Li family’s sketch was about 80% accurate, and then a sense of familiarity emerged once again. He felt as though he had seen this demonkin somewhere.
Eden made the prompt decision to flee. Qianye, of course, wouldn’t let such an enemy escape so easily.
It was almost like they had gone back to several days ago. The two once again started their unending entanglement.
Perhaps an evenly matched opponent was the best grinding stone. Both parties felt that the other was becoming more and more troublesome. Every battle was incomparably perilous—a slight mistake would leave each combatant with a new injury.
Although Eden could hardly retaliate in melee combat, he could now block a couple of blows from Qianye. This was a stark contrast from the first exchange where he was almost killed. This difference was enough to give him some s.p.a.ce to maneuver and extricate himself from melee range.
But similarly, Eden’s hiding abilities were no longer as effective as before. It was becoming difficult to maintain an optimal firing distance for the Carol of Shadows. Several times he had been discovered by Qianye even before he could pull the trigger. What ensued was a frantic tempest of counterattacks, effectively turning the hunter into the hunted.
Several days went by in this fas.h.i.+on. Qianye was starting to feel fatigued in both body and spirit. His aura was also growing empty, and he needed to rely on the Glory Chapter even after drinking the giant tree sap. Otherwise, the absorption would be reduced drastically.
But a battle could break out at any moment—a few minutes of cultivation time had become an extravagant activity. Moreover, there were significant risks involved.
Qianye was just planning to take a break when he suddenly turned back and saw Eden not so far away.
This was also a side-effect of their prolonged conflict. The safe distance between them was shrinking day by day—they would usually discover each other at the same time, and at a distance that was neither fit for sniping or melee combat.
For Qianye, he couldn’t break Eden’s defenses without merging the Twin Flowers. However, the time it would take to combine the guns was enough for Eden to escape. Eden’s handgun, on the other hand, did possess enough firepower, but that powerful heavy sword would descend upon him should he fail to injure the other party sufficiently.
This encounter was no different. Qianye had in his hand a piece of dried meat, a part of the empire’s standard field rations. Eden was holding onto a bottle of medicine and had just finished applying the contents to half of his wounds. The demonkin scion’s external appearance was even more miserable than Qianye. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his cheeks were sunken. Moreover, there were several bleeding wounds on his body that hadn’t yet healed.
The two didn’t move immediately and proceeded to standoff in silence.
“Pfft!” Qianye spat out the remaining meat in his mouth. Eden poured the remaining medicine onto his wounds and placed a hand on his handgun.
Qianye was often more cautious of those handguns than that ridiculously shaped sniper rifle. In Eden’s eyes, there was a sense of great danger emerging from Qianye’s body. It was as though a primordial beast were hiding within.
Qianye had also noticed how the safe distance between them was shrinking constantly. This meant that both of them were walking on the razor’s edge—the compet.i.tion was no longer just about strategy and techniques, but also involved a great deal of luck. And the latter was the most unreliable of resources on the battlefield.
Qianye pondered briefly whether or not he should just use the Shot of Inception and finish off this powerful enemy. However, Eden’s abilities were growing endlessly, especially the ability to extricate himself from being targeted and flee at great speeds. Qianye wasn’t quite confident that he could strike Eden squarely, at which point he would be at the mercy of the enemy.
Both sides were apprehensive. After a while, they retreated at the same time and faded into the mist. Since neither was confident about their chances, it was best to restart the round and see who would become the hunter.
Their combat styles had changed unknowingly. They were no longer going all out with their lives on the line but patiently probing each other from afar. Both of them would retreat after missing a shot.
Their combat skills were also being tempered on the verge of life and death. Presently, any small movement by one of them would be promptly detected and countered by the other.
They were like brilliant chess players. They kept sounding out their opponents repeatedly but produced no killing moves. They simply couldn’t find the right opportunity, and neither would they give one to their opponents. The end result was the exhaustion of stamina without any serious injuries.
Perhaps they themselves hadn’t quite noticed how their combat skills were improving by leaps and bounds. Their battle, at this point, could already be called a form of art.
Qianye had gradually formed a strategy—what he had to do in order to finish Eden off was to pay the price to approach melee range, and then end the game with a Nirvanic Rend. This price, however, was bound to be a grievous injury. But Eden was no slouch, either. He definitely wouldn’t give Qianye this opportunity.
Not long after retreating, Qianye rushed back toward the battlefield. This time, he made no attempt at concealing his aura, making himself a prime target for Eden and his heavy sniper. Qianye believed that Eden wouldn’t let such an attractive target pa.s.s by.
It was indeed extremely enticing. Eden hesitated several times but finally decided to take action. He knew that this was a trap, and he had no intention of going too deep. He didn’t expect to kill Qianye in one shot, either—it was enough if he could injure the other party and tip the scales slightly in his favor.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Eden knew that they were no longer evenly matched, and this only worsened after he was injured. Qianye’s defenses were ridiculously powerful, and his regenerative abilities were almost unbelievable. If this were to go on, he would have to either admit defeat and retreat, or become the loser in this blood-letting strategy.
Blood sprayed out from Qianye’s body following the crisp rumble of a gunshot, the impact throwing his entire body back by a meter. But Qianye neither rushed forward as Eden had expected, nor did he draw East Peak. Instead, the Twin Flowers appeared in his hand and merged into one.
An area of crystalline ripples appeared on Qianye’s palms. There were vaguely enchanting flowers pulsing in and out of view, seemingly on the verge of blooming.
A sense of extreme danger emerged in Eden’s heart. What he saw wasn’t the beautiful scene of the merging Twin Flowers, but instead, the aura in Qianye’s body awakening like a primordial beast.
Eden couldn’t care about anything else and fled immediately with a loud hiss. He erupted with power and pushed his speed to the extremes, covering a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. He was virtually flying at this point, leaving behind billowing waves of demonic energy.
A beam of light appeared silently on his trail. Nothing in the way could stop it, be it the giant trees, the purple substance, or the mist—everything vanished quietly, just like the shrinking demonic energy.
The light quickly devoured the demonic energy trail, but Eden’s fleeing figure deviated slightly at this point. The light brushed past his body in silence and produced a hole in the giant tree trunk up front.
Even so, Eden didn’t manage to evade the entirety of the attack. The armor on his arm was completely destroyed, and a large patch of his flesh was charred black. The dark area soon turned into a greyish white powder which quickly scattered in the wind. A large part of his arm had actually been shaved off, even revealing the bones.
Eden howled loudly as his demonic energy erupted yet again. The threads of energy shot toward the front where they formed a hexagonal tunnel of sorts. This peculiar tunnel completely ignored the trees and branches in the vicinity, as though it had appeared in a different dimension altogether. Eden moved twice as fast after stepping into this tunnel and soon vanished into the distance.
When Qianye arrived, all he saw were a few strands of undispersed demonic energy.
“Demonic Traversal! G.o.ddammit!” Qianye halted his steps hatefully.
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