Chapter 63
The behemoth in front of her is like a towering mountain blocking the sun. The blood oozing from its left eye is too horrifying to see and she knows that she is the one who caused the wound.
Phoenix is really scared right now but she is trying to hold on to her will and that sliver of hope that her skills might be enough to fight against the beast. She was praised by her master as the best fighter in the Shadow Squad, second only to Fairy who excel on bought martial skills and strategy. Her only purpose in facing the beast king is to stall for some time until the girls would send her a signal that they are ready and in position to fire.
"Graaahh! A puny… mortal… ant… wants… to… die!" the Golden back Spiky Wild boar said as it raised both spikes on its hands and swung them with all its strength.
A crisscrossing wind blade appears and flew towards Phoenix breaking even the ground as the sharp edges passed through it.
Her headgear immediately calculated the safest path in just a second and now it would only depend on her own ability if she can manage to follow the path and evade the attack. If she is unable to, she would end up like those 50 something cultivators who were all cut in half.
With a twist of her body, the exoskeleton provided enough support and power on her leg to propel her on the upper-middle safe spot of the crossed wind blade. Her graceful action while jumping, somersaulting and landing without harm on the ground has accidentally caught the attention of the red-robed cultivator wearing a white mask.
He actually just woke up after sometime when he fell on the ground and was stunned to see that he is still alive. Then he saw someone confronting the beast king, and to his astonishment, that person is a young woman wearing metallic braces on her body. Her heroic figure suddenly imprinted itself in his eyes, though he knows that the young woman is just a mortal but he didn't care.
His eyes are stuck on the fighting scene in front of him without even blinking, as he is afraid that if he blinks the woman would suddenly disappear. He didn't know where this mortal woman came from or why is she here, all he can understand now is that because of her, he was saved.
Seeing that the little human was able to evade its initial attack, coupled with the throbbing pain from its eyes, the beast king became really enraged. Then, its brutish emotion began to go out of control as anger is slowly filling its head, it began to run wild throwing one wind blade after another draining a huge amount of its spiritual Qi without it knowing.
Phoenix suddenly found herself surrounded by a dense amount of wind blades that even her headgear is having a hard time calculating the path of the projectiles. So without a choice, she had to use one of the trump cards that her master Shin Jiao had given her, the shield array disk. She was able to evade most of the shade wind edges but still was hit many times but because of the shield array disk, she was able to keep her life.
Her body was not spared from being bruised by the powerful impact of the wind blades, as she would always be thrown to the ground or slammed towards a tree.
Meanwhile after seeing the dense amount of wind blades the heart of the man wearing a white mask is in turmoil. He didn't know if the woman would be able to save herself from that situation but right now he really wanted to get up and help her. He didn't know the reason why he is feeling this way but it's just how he is feeling right now, but no matter how hard he tries his body is unable to move as it is still too weak.
Blood slowly trickle down the side of Phoenixes mouth as she tried to suppress the pain she is feeling all over her body. She knows that right now many of her bones are broken. So without another word, she took out a small transparent green pill and pops it in her mouth. It suddenly produces a cooling sensation throughout her whole body. She also remembers the warning in taking this pill, as it is too potent it could cause one's body to explode due to the huge amount of healing energy. These pills should only be taken by a cultivator, but if a human took it, one should have a good foundation in martial arts and body refining technique.
Right now she didn't have time to sit and run the body refining technique they were taught. So, the only way to alleviate the side effect of the pill is to fight with all her might. That way the pill would be used by her body and would provide her with an almost unlimited amount of energy.
"What… is… that? You're… body… how… come… it… heals… too… fast? I… will… get… that… thing!" the beast king suddenly blurted as it madly dashed towards Phoenix.
In its mind, if it can take one of those pills that the mortal took. It could immediately heal its eyes just like what it noticed in the frail body of the mortal. But before the beast king could attack, Phoenix suddenly moved towards it.
The man saw this and immediately felt panicked.
"No! Don't!" he shouted as he forcefully lifted his body from the ground.
Right now his body is already around 30% healed, although the movement is still very painful however he can already manage.
But to his astonishment, he once again saw the fearless woman this time actively attacking the beast king. Then the woman took something out from a pouch behind her, it was a beast core, he then saw on her hand a thing like a sword hilt where she inserted the beast core. Then something came out from the stump of the hilt where the blade was supposed to be. As it extends it took a form of a sword made from pure spiritual Qi with a very high temperature.
Even the Golden back Spiky Wild boar stopped on its track after seeing the weapon in her hand. The heat it suddenly sensed from the sword is something that it knows that could deal damage on its body. So with caution is stood there in a defensive stance forgetting its previous purpose of taking the pill out of the human's corpse after it killed her.
Phoenix didn't stop when the beast king raised its defenses, she just continues dashing towards it. Her only goal is to spend this energy inside her by exchanging some blow with it so that the pill's side effect would be controlled; if not then she would surely die.
She quickly jumps up and slashed the flame blade towards the beast king's head. This motion actually surprises the beast king as it didn't expect that the tiny human it is facing has a teleport likeability. So it quickly crossed the two spikes it holds in its large hands and blocked the attack. But to its surprise, the two spikes didn't hold up as both were cut in half. The blade directly sliced a deep wound on its chest but because of the heat, the wound was cauterized almost immediately.
This caused the beast king to feel great pain and also fear of that weapon. After receiving that wound it immediately took a couple of steps back. While it grabs another two spikes from its back, and with a smooth motion threw two wind blades.
Phoenix after seeing the incoming projectiles once again raised the shield in preparation to face the two wind blades. But instead of evading she let it hit the shield and blow her away, she then uses this momentum to at least increase some distance as she quickly twisted her body and evaded the second wind blade. But her attacks didn't stop there as while in the air she draws the handgun on her side and spew out a couple of bullets which hits the cauterized wound on the beast king's chest. This caused the wound to open like a punctured balloon and a huge amount of blood suddenly spurted out.
GRAAHHH!!!
The beast king once again became enraged, but this time its eyes turned red which means that it turned berserk. It is known that once someone turns berserk, the only way to stop them is to either kill them or knock them down.
"This is bad, I need to help her now!" the man in white mask muttered as he forcefully draws out his blood essence to boost his power-up.
He quickly dashed towards the woman's side and held his sword forward.
"I'm here to help." The man said as he noticed that the woman suddenly became tense and wary of his presence.
He knows that mortal have some prejudice against cultivators as they would always be treated as lowly beings. He learned this the hard way after he experienced a lot of things while traveling. This made him aware of the cruelty in the outside world, unlike the peaceful life they have in their clan.
He didn't say anything else and just rushed towards the beast king. Seeing this Phoenix just followed behind wary that the cultivator might deal a sneak attack on her.
Seeing that two enemies are approaching it, the beast king by instinct moved and used its aura to suppress its enemies.
Boom!!!
Like the sound of an explosion, the mind of the man wearing a white mask was a little dazed. But he recovered immediately because his cultivation is far closer to the beast king. So the effect of the aura suppression in his mind is not too much. But then he felt a little worried as he looks back and there he saw the woman holding her head while rolling on the ground. Phoenix didn't expect that the aura of the beast would cause her such mental pressure.
The man quickly stopped and rushed on her side, swiftly lifting her up and jumping back to a safe distance.
"Are you okay?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Phoenix was startled at the man's actions; she didn't expect that there are other cultivators who would also treat her, a lowly mortal with such care other than her master.
She just nods her head and quickly stood up, she didn't want to appear weak in front of this guy. So she immediately gathers her wit and prepares to attack the beast king once again. This time she turned off the monitor of her headgear and switches the psionic barrier on. Though she knew that it would consume too much power from the core, except she didn't have any choice as the others have not sent her any signal yet.
"I'll distract him and you deal the damages okay?" The man suddenly said as he gets up and dashed towards the beast king.
Phoenix was suddenly dazed; she didn't anticipate that the voice of the man to have an effect on her. His voice is like a deep tone hitting her heartstrings. She then forcefully woke herself from being stunned and followed behind the man.
Jumping up, the man suddenly condenses a thick fireball and channeled it to his sword. And with a wave threw out a flame blade towards the berserk beast king. Seeing this, the beast king actually didn't dodge and just received the damage. But it also swung its spikes which suddenly conjure a huge powerful suction of wind and then a tornado suddenly appears.
The man in the white mask struggled for a bit as he defended himself from the onslaught of sharp winds from the tornado. As his strength is already waining he forces himself to hold on until the woman could either escape or do a sneak attack on the beast king. Either way, he decided to use his trump card and go all out. Though he knows that it will cost him his cultivation to regress, but as long as he could kill the beast king and save the woman, he would have no regrets.
But until now he is still unable to extricate himself from the tornado as he struggles to fend off more sharp winds edges. Seeing that he might not be able to escape this he is now preparing to activate his last recourse.
Phoenix upon seeing the beast king busy itself in attacking the man in the white mask quickly grabs the opportunity to make her move. So she once again condensed the flame on the sword, but upon doing so she could immediately feel her body becoming weak and almost out of breath. And because of that, the energy blade of the sword became longer and the temperature turns up a little higher. She could also hear some cracking noise coming from the sword hilt.
"This artifact would not hold on much longer. I need to finish this as quickly as I can." She muttered under her breath.
But before she could rush towards the beast, she suddenly heard static noises coming from her headgear. As she turned off the function of the headgear so that it could use the power to protect her mind from the pressure of the beast king aura, she could not hear the report of her teammates. But as a leader, although she could not hear the message, judging just from the static, she already knows what it means. So she just raised her hand with a thumbs-up sign.
She then quickly dashed towards the beast king, where she made short work on its tiny legs first to stop its mobility, and then quickly proceed towards its stomach.
GROOOWWWLLL!!!
The beast king shouted as it fell on the ground with both of its legs being cut off. Then it suddenly feels the pain in its stomach as it bursts open seeing its guts coming out. It knows that it fell from a sneak attack even in its berserk condition.
Its eyes suddenly saw a blurred figure materialized in front of it. With anger-filled heart, it raised its weapon and threw a wind blade towards the human.
Phoenix upon seeing this jumps up, but unexpectedly another wind blade was thrown towards her.
Before the beast king could do anything more it suddenly felt something entering its head and everything went black. The corpse of the beast king slumped to the ground as its head was blasted to smithereens.
Seeing that the beast king died, at last, Phoenix just accepted her fate as she knows that this wind blade would cut her in half. She didn't have time to raise the shield as her energy is too low because of the consumption of the blade.
But before she could close her eyes a figure suddenly rushed in and hugged her.