Chapter 5: The Water Bubble and the Collapse of the Barrier
Atlantis 1:14 AM
"Insect Bone, are you going to leave this person by yourself, or do you want to immediately enjoy the thrill of turning into ash in a blink of an eye?"
An icy-cold tone echoed in my ear, letting me return to earth from that dazed state I was in just now.
And so, I realized that the people who use this sort of tone to talk also have another good use, which is to be used as an alarm clock early in the morning; that way, I definitely wouldn"t oversleep.
If I get woken up by the coldness, then there"s a hundred percent guarantee that I wouldn"t fall back asleep.
Among the people whom I know, there"s still another one who speaks like this.
Just as I"d clearly seen the situation before me, the triangular-mantis person had already pulled out his hand that was covered with black and red blood. Then he stepped back, as if he was also afraid of the newcomer.
"Cough cough…" As soon as the triangular-mantis person backed away, I immediately felt as if all the air had once again returned to my nose, and quickly took a deep breath. But at the same time I did this, an intense pain came from my stomach, causing me to have the illusion of almost spitting out the air that I"d breathed in.
"Chu!" Gasai suddenly appeared beside me at some point, wanting to help me up, but he was stopped by Tenju, the face-changing person, who was standing directly in front of me.
I"m in enough pain already, dude, please don"t make more trouble for me, alright…
"If you move him right now, Insect Bone"s poison will immediately spread throughout his body." The face-changing person curved into a cold smile that made one want to reward him with a slap, as he very directly informed us of an issue concerning my life in a tone that seemed to imply it was not important to him.
"…When did you become so well-intentioned, Andellar?" Accurately exposing the face-changing person, Gasai really didn"t pull me up; it could be seen that the words the face-changing person just said was true.
Based on my experience, later on, these two people will get so caught up in their conversation that they’ll forget about me, so the first thing I should do right now is save myself.
After all, reality is not a TV series. In the TV series, the supporting role, who"s about to die or had gotten poisoned till he"s on the verge of death, could still have the fort.i.tude to listen to the people beside him talk nonsense before he finally got sent for medical treatment. However, for a little normal human like me, I think I probably wouldn"t have that sort of perseverance to "ai ai ai"* and then wait wait wait until they finish saying everything they have to say.
[T/N: That part"s probably onomatopoeia for crying out in pain]
I have to save myself!
That"s right! I should immediately save myself!
When you"re bitten by poisonous snakes and bees, how do you treat it?
I remember the quickest method seems to be spraying urine on it and the like…
But, with so many people present, if I call someone over to help me, I have a feeling that I might get beaten up.
Ignoring the me on the ground, who was having an inner struggle, the face-changing person, Andellar, pulled out a very familiar silver needle in a natural manner. "When our target is the same, I will become very well-intentioned, so you don"t need to doubt me." Then, he looked over to my side.
I have a bad feeling about this.
In the next second, who knows when that needle had left the face-changing person"s hand, as it directly stabbed itself next to the wounds on my stomach.
"Wa—!" I saw black blood spurting out from the few holes that those fingers made.
I"ll die, I"ll die! He wants to kill me!
"Relax, I"m only helping you force the poisonous blood out." The face-changing person looked at me with an expression that said I was overreacting.
If, this guy had once stabbed someone with a needle and caused a bunch of blood to burst out of him right in front of you, I think you"d probably have the same reaction as me right now.
But this time he really seems to intend on helping me. After the silver needle was pulled out, my b.l.o.o.d.y wounds slowly turned back to red, and it wasn"t as painful as before.
"That, Leido and the others…" Since he can help me do bloodletting to remove the poison, I turned toward that side, where they had already been laid flat on the ground to let Chifuyu and Yido remove the poison together.
"I"m not interested in them." Andellar narrowed his eyes, and looked at me with the kind of gaze a snake would use. "But if you want to make a deal with me, then I could help you out."
Someone said, any deal can be made, including jumping off a building or getting hit by train; it"s all up to you; but the only one that you cannot make is a deal with the devil.
I immediately shook my head.
"Then never mind." Andellar shrugged.
Just as he finished saying this sentence, the other side that was ignored finally spoke, "Andellar, you want to spoil my plans!?" The triangular-mantis person let out a scream, and the surrounding white fog once again appeared.
"Don"t be so serious. I"m not interested in your plans, especially this sort of old method that I"ve already stopped wanting to use." Coldly laughing, the face-changing person snapped his fingers, and the group of blood snakes approaching him immediately disappeared in less than half a second, so easily it was as if all the effort we put into our previous struggle with the white fog was fake. "However, this human being is my prey, and the person whom my Lord needs. If you dare to raise a hand against him, I will let you know the meaning of "too late for regrets." "
The face-changing person"s words seemed to be very effective, because I saw the triangular-mantis person trembling a little, and didn"t dare to continue retorting. "Then, if I want to kill the others, you wouldn"t interfere, right!?"
"Of course."
I was stunned as I turned my head to look at the face-changing person.
He stared at me from high above, revealing an icy-cold smile.
The cave"s ceiling was shaking.
A small rock fragment fell down and hit the top of my head.
Then, it was a series of huge tremors, with a feeling that seemed as if the ceiling would collapse if we don"t hurry and escape.
"That"s right, I forgot to tell you something." Andellar snapped his fingers and very leisurely folded his arms, completely ignoring the various expressions, like the tensed looks on our side and the opposing side"s expression of wanting to beat him up. "On my way here just now, I saw those Seven Hill Academy students, along with a couple of others on the ground, in the middle of breaking your large-scale barrier. I reckon in a few more minutes, the sealing barrier that you set up in Lake Town will be destroyed, and then all the robed contestants will immediately rush to this place. So if you want to kill the witnesses, I"d advise you to start as soon as possible, or else you won"t have the chance to do it anymore."
His expression was totally that of someone watching a good show.
"Why didn"t you say so earlier!?" The triangular-mantis person roared in frustration and anger.
"You want to blame me?" With a high tone, the face-changing person had a you-can-come-at-me-if-you-want att.i.tude.
Then, the triangular-mantis person became discouraged, and angrily glared at Gasai, who was beside me and was planning to heal my wounds. "Not a single one of you can escape!"
In that same second, the surrounding white fog swarmed towards us.
"Knowing that those are worms makes this easier." Unexpectedly, the first one to stand in front of us was Chifuyu. He pulled out four triangular sheets of talisman paper from his backpack. "Big*…Gasai, you help Yang Yang treat his wounds first."
[T/N: As in big brother]
Finally someone noticed that I was in so much pain that I was about to start cursing.
I swear, when I get back and choose my electives, I"ll definitely pick a medical self-help cla.s.s. Otherwise, if I have to be left hanging in pain for half a day every single time, I would really want to cry.
I"m not the same as you pain-resistant aliens!
Looking at the huge white fog that was rushing toward everyone, Chifuyu very calmly snapped his fingers. The four talisman papers immediately flew out, hovered in midair, and simultaneously ignited into white flames. "Jùshǒu xīfāng de hù shén, jiànglín yú sìfāng dàdì, yǔ wǒ xiāngyìng." At the same time he finished chanting the three sentences, a large-scale light array that hasn"t been seen in a long time appeared on the ground.
[T/N: The protector G.o.d that guards the west, descend to earth in the four directions, and coordinate with me.]
From this it can be seen that the triangular-mantis person"s barrier really seems to have started to weaken. I remember that when Chifuyu tried to activate the array before, it didn"t seem to work that easily.
"Chu, bear with me for a moment." Gasai patted my shoulder, drawing my gaze back in just a second, only to see him stretch out his hands, and form a circle with his fingers. "Fēng zhī yīn, shuǐ yǔ yèxiāngfēi yìng, èr’èr shāng huí yù."
[T/N: The sound of the wind, water and leaf mutually reflected, twenty-second healing of the wound]
A soft creamy-white glow appeared on the holes in my stomach.
So the hundred-sentence song can also be used for healing. Disregarding my wounds, I quickly took out my notes and copied it down.
At the same time, I heard a sort of loud crashing sound. The surging white fog seemed like it had hit a wall as it became completely cut off at a place ten steps away from Chifuyu, unable to advance. The light array on the ground rotated slightly, flashing a silvery purple light, completely unmoved.
The face-changing person did as he said: he really didn"t interfere at all as he simply stood by the side and watched, with the corner of his mouth still curved in a strange smile.
"A few little children believe that you could stand against me by playing a trick like this?" The triangular-mantis person "ji ji ji" laughed again, "I don"t have much time to be playing around with you…" Saying that, he stretched out his hand and hit the barrier that Chifuyu made. A strange sound rang out, and I saw that a slightly golden crack had actually appeared in midair, before it slowly expanded.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Chifuyu"s face.
The crack gradually enlarged.
Just as we all thought that Chifuyu probably wouldn"t be able to stop him, a subtle voice sounded out behind the triangular-mantis person.
"Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, ràng gōngjí zhě jiànshì nǐ de piāohàn."
[T/N: The one who signed a contract with me, allow the attacker to witness your swiftness and bravery]
Silver engraved with red totems, a spear tip protruded from the triangular-mantis person"s chest. It accurately pierced through his heart, abruptly punctured his flesh.
On the ground, the teleportation light array was slowly rotating.
Savior, I saw the legendary savior.
"How did you guys all end up in this shameful state?"
Who knows where he"d popped out from, Senior narrowed his blood-red eyes, with one hand holding the spear, and the other weirdly throwing out a half-rotten human head. With a "kou dong" sound, it rolled twice, and then it was instantly swallowed by the white fog.
The face-changing person whistled, "Not bad, your movements were rather quick."
On the spot, Senior immediately noticed his presence, "You again!"
"That"s right, me again." Andellar shrugged, very smoothly replying.
While the two people were talking to each other, the triangular-mantis person, who didn"t die yet, suddenly turned his head back a-hundred-and-eighty degrees to face Senior. "Ji ji ji, another one has come to die…"
"I"ll send you off to die!" With the same straightforward and neat speech as always, Senior actually knocked the triangular mantis" head back to its original position in the front, with a "pa" sound. "Chifuyu, Yido, immediately send all the injured people to Lake Town"s entrance. The medical team is already waiting there. This is really too exaggerated: they were actually blocked outside the town since the day before and couldn"t get in! They"re joking with me!" In just a few seconds, Senior already had the whole situation under his control. Sure enough, he"s not some normal strong alien!
Gasai removed his hands, and I saw that the wounds on my stomach had already vanished; not even a trace was left.
This is really too amazing, Jack*.
[T/N: No idea why that was used. It probably doesn"t mean anything.]
The cave once again shook tremendously for a moment, and more rocks fell down.
"Chifuyu, over here." After withdrawing his hands, Gasai didn"t spare any time. He formed several hand signs and then his hand slapped down on the ground. A large-scale red light array suddenly appeared. It"s an array that I haven"t seen before.
As soon as they heard him say that, Chifuyu and Yido immediately supported the two injured twins into the array.
"Ziray!"
The five-colored rooster head fiercely glared at the triangular-mantis person before reluctantly letting himself be dragged in.
I want to stay behind and watch.
"Chu, go with them." Senior Gasai told me.
"I…" What should I do?
"None of you can leave!" The triangular-mantis person"s movements were a lot faster than us. In the next second, he shook off Senior"s long spear, broke through Chifuyu"s talismans, and reached out his deformed palm as he rushed straight toward our side.
Acting decisively, Gasai grabbed me with him as he jumped back. At the same time, the red array and the people on it all disappeared. "Xiao Ting, protect Chu." Hearing his order, the little black snake MeiMei immediately turned into the large black bird again, and flew over to me, circling above my head.
The triangular-mantis person had rushed at thin air, and I could almost see smoke rising out of his triangular head.
Then, he turned around, his blood-red eyes glaring at Gasai and Senior (He was probably afraid of the face-changing person, so he didn"t even glance at me at all).
The black iron whip issued a crisp sound as it landed on the ground. Next to it was the silver spear.
Different from just now when he had to take many things into account, Gasai stood beside Senior. Behind the mask, his purple eyes were filled with a considerable amount of confidence.
"I know…Ji ji…I know…" The triangular-mantis person laughed a few times. Long dagger-like armor sprang out of his fingertips on both of his hands, and on them was a black ghastly light. "Your partner."
"That"s right, he"s my partner." Gasai didn"t deny it at all, very straightforwardly answering him.
"One of Jing Lothian"s seven experts, Insect Bone, ranked second counting backwards, and counting forward, the second lousiest. This sort of rubbish and you still had to spend so much time on him." Completely ignoring the triangular-mantis person, Senior coldly snorted.
"There were some reasons…"
"d.a.m.n you! Who are you calling the second lousiest!?" Very obviously, Senior"s words just so happened to jab right at the triangular-mantis person"s Archilles heel. He immediately let out an explosive roar, and his two originally human legs suddenly rose up high and turned huge; all of a sudden, they became sharp sickle-like insect legs. To give an example, if you want to know the exact shape, then please go watch the movie, StarX Troopers*. That type of leg can be seen everywhere, and it can even kill and dismember people; it has quite a lot of uses.
[T/N: Starship Troopers]
"You." Senior very naturally pointed at the triangular-mantis person that was almost about to go crazy. "Compared to another Ghost King"s first expert, you definitely seem a lot more like sc.r.a.ps."
Senior…why do you like to casually provoke others so much…
Red eyes looked over, and fiercely glared at me.
Alright, I get it. I shouldn"t be randomly thinking. I"ll go reflect on it right away.
Standing at the side, Andellar curved into a smile, as he continued to watch the good show.
"Oh right, after spending two days investigating the drainage channel, I can probably tell what this d.a.m.n mantis" goal is." Standing at the same spot and looking at the opponent in front of him, Senior didn"t show any signs of being at a disadvantage at all. Instead, he had an overwhelmingly imposing air. "The yellow blood snake destroys, and the white blood snake eats people. When the people who are eaten suddenly die, their souls will be immediately absorbed by this d.a.m.n mantis. This is his goal."
Absorbing souls?
Wait a minute, I suddenly thought of something important.
When I came here, I heard that similar things had happened in the past, during Ghost King Yelu"s era.
Later on, after the Ghost King"s descent, he began to hunt down elves, humans, and other races everywhere. The point is, he would…absorb their souls.
"Jing Lothian"s subordinate, Insect Bone, for you to have gathered so many souls, it can"t be that your master is preparing to repeat Ghost King Yelu"s wild scheme!?" Senior said that, and then he threw out an object. It was a black crystal ball. "This is a communication device that links you to him. Sorry, I found it in another cave so I just destroyed it in pa.s.sing."
The crystal ball fell on the ground and only issued a little noise, before it immediately broke into powder less than half a second later.
The truth behind Lake Town, has been revealed.
The triangular-mantis person was shaking.
It was an extremely angry expression.
"A couple of little children, you are really looking to die…" He raised his head. His pair of eyes had already become a deep black-red. An unnaturally severe vibration was produced in the cave"s surroundings. "d.a.m.n you!"
In that instant, I saw a lot of knifelike spines bursting out of the triangular-mantis person, and then his whole body distorted, turning into a strange thing with a spider-like body and a mantis head.
"Huǒyàn zhī qì, bīng liè zhī xī, wǒ shì nǐ de zhǔrén, nǐ fúcóng wǒ mìnglìng. Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, zhǎnxiàn nǐ yǐncáng bīnglěng zhīhòu de yán zhī miànróng." Holding the long spear horizontally, Senior chanted a pa.s.sage of a song that I"ve never heard before. "Fēng yún diāo gē, chóng xiàn jí huǒ."
[T/N: The contract of the flame, the aura of the ice, I am your master, you obey my command. The one who signed a contract with me, show your flaming appearance that is hidden behind the iciness.]
[T/N: Fiery Cloud Felling Spear, killing fire reappear]
The silver spear abruptly burst into raging flames. I saw the silver spear melting within the violently surging flames, and then from the center, a long line was once again pulled out.
With the color of the flames as its form, the iciness as its speed, and with elegance in its red metallic l.u.s.ter, the long spear floated up into the air again. The spear was engraved with silver totems, and it had a distinctly different appearance from before, with a raging air around it.
"Zhòu guāng zhī míng, yè yǐng zhī xíng, wǒ shì nǐ de zhǔrén, nǐ tīngcóng wǒ hàolìng. Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, zhǎnxiàn nǐ yǐncáng hēiyè zhīhòu de guāng zhī miànróng." Performing the same action as Senior, the black whip in Gasai"s hand suddenly distorted. "Dōng líng shuǎi, chóng xiàn guāng yù." After distorting, a copper-gold iron whip emerged. On it was a black snakelike incantation pattern, having a similar style that complements Senior"s illusionary weapon.
[T/N: The name of daylight, the form of the night shadow, I am your master, you obey my command. The one who signed a contract with me, show your shining appearance that is hidden behind the darkness.]
[T/N: Wintry Feather Whip, light domain reappear]
Turns out…turns out illusionary weapons also have a secondary change!
[T/N: The secondary change was explained in V7C8, don"t know why Chu said that though]
Having said that, Senior and Gasai"s illusionary weapons seemed to have changed to another kind of mixed elements. But my Minas seems to only have one element…which means that, she will always have only one change?
I glumly looked at the bubble that was still floating in the air, with a heart filled with an infinite desolation.
"Two little children think that you can win just by flipping your weapons" elements?" The triangular-mantis person coldly laughed several times, and then he raised his sharp legs off the ground. Black traces of corrosion started to appear on the areas on the ground that he touched, and thick black smoke drifted around in wisps.
"No, by flipping our weapons" elements, we will definitely win."
Senior swung the red long spear around in a circle above his head with slashing sounds. Golden-red flames seemed to be alive as they drew out into a beautiful circle, and then didn"t extinguish as they hovered in the air. "Let"s see if your regeneration is faster, or us cremating you is faster."
Saying that, the two sides moved at almost the same time.
In the blink of an eye, Senior and Gasai appeared on the left and right of the huge body of the triangular-mantis person. The long red spear waved, and in that instant, a large section of a leg was smoothly sliced off. Before it landed on the ground, the raging golden flames had already burned the entire leg section into ash, without leaving anything behind.
At the same time, Gasai brandished the long whip, and with a few "pa pa" sounds, he had already broke off several sharp spines on the triangular-mantis person"s body. Before they fell on the ground, they were likewise burned up by the hovering flames.
The triangular-mantis person"s face changed significantly. He probably didn"t expect their counterattacks to come so quickly. After losing one leg, his center of gravity was instantly unstable, and his huge spider body suddenly fell toward my side.
Xiao Ting"s movements were a lot quicker than him. She pulled my collar and threw me back quite a big distance away.
The golden flames were burning, and the white fog that originally came to fill the entire cave gradually disappeared. In the end, not even a bit was left.
"You little children…should die!" The triangular-mantis person let out a ferocious roar, and the surroundings shook even more intensely, as if it was going to collapse at any time.
Then he turned his head, and his crazed red eyes looked into mine.
This can"t be, right?
Wait a minute, this brother, weren"t you afraid of the face-changing person?
Before I could even run away, the triangular-mantis person had already gotten up and was charging over to my side.
I closed my eyes, getting ready to die.
Three seconds later, a scream rang out.
But it wasn"t mine.
The scream really was too unpleasant and miserable, so I secretly opened my eyes halfway.
Originally planning to ram into me, the triangular-mantis person"s whole face directly crashed into the eyesore of a bubble floating in the air, and the bubble"s skin even got stuck on his face.
The liquid in the bubble spilled all over his face, and then…white smoke emerged.
The triangular-mantis person issued a piercing scream, with one hand holding his face; the other side of his face that wasn"t held had clearly begun to strongly corrode. Even the muscles and bones inside were exposed, and black blood and white smoke flowed out nonstop.
I looked at the bubble skin that was burst open, and for a second, my heart was filled with terror.
That seems to be the legendary object that"s even more acidic than aqua regia, to actually be able to corrode the triangular-mantis person.
I should see Minas in a new light.