Zhou Wen picked up his pace and entered the battlefield in a most ingenious manner, appearing behind the Skeleton General.
The Skeleton General keenly noticed Zhou Wen's appearance and gave up attacking Li Xuan. It struck backward, transforming the bone spear into a cold beam that stabbed at Zhou Wen's head.
Without waiting for the Skeleton General to raise his spear, Zhou Wen crouched down and lunged for the underside of the skeleton horse. This prevented the bone spear from locking onto him; thus, resolving the Skeleton General's thrust.
Xu Miantu struggled to his feet as he looked at Zhou Wen with a look of disbelief. Zhou Wen had actually managed to hold back the Skeleton General!
Zhou Wen oscillated between the skeleton horse's sides, occasionally tumbling to the ground. It looked extremely pathetic, but his actions worked.
Xu Miantu knew how difficult it was. He had the same idea as Zhou Wen earlier, hoping to hold back the Skeleton General to give Li Xuan time to finish off Jiang Hao.
However, he had been swept away the moment he approached the Skeleton General and nearly died from severe injuries. It made him deeply realize the huge differences between the Mortal stage and the Legendary stage.
Zhou Wen was likewise at the Mortal stage, but he had managed to hold back the Skeleton General. It might look pathetic, but he remained unharmed the entire time. It left Xu Miantu amazed.
Thinking back to his mockery of Zhou Wen, his originally pale face blushed an abnormal red.
Jiang Hao was alarmed to see Zhou Wen hold back the Skeleton General. Despite all his plans, he had never expected a Mortal stage high-schooler to be capable of holding back a Legendary Skeleton General.
In fact, Jiang Hao long knew of the existence of the Skeleton General in the vicinity. He had planned on taking Li Xuan nearby and letting the Skeleton General finish him off.
Unfortunately, this plan had been foiled by Zhou Wen. Jiang Hao had no choice but to take action himself, but he ultimately failed.
While Zhou Wen was holding back the Skeleton General, Li Xuan had already rushed towards Jiang Hao. He unleashed a barrage of punches that shimmered like shooting stars at him.
He knew that it wasn't pragmatic to expect a Mortal stage hold back the Skeleton General for extended periods of time. He had to finish off Jiang Hao before Zhou Wen was killed by the Skeleton General.
Jiang Hao now truly realized how terrifying this intemperate scion, Li Xuan, was. Despite using similar Legendary Companion Beasts—even with him having two—he was still completely overpowered by Li Xuan.
"I don't believe I can't last two minutes. We are both at the Mortal stage and are using Legendary Companion Beasts!" Jiang Hao battled Li Xuan with gritted teeth.
Bang!
In less than twenty seconds, Jiang Hao was hit on the left elbow by Li Xuan, snapping the bone armor in two.
The color in Jiang Hao's face drained as he rapidly retreated. However, upon seeing Li Xuan pursue him like a leech, his eyes flashed with a ruthless glint. With a swing of his left arm, the Explosive Scaled Snake tattoo shimmered as a brightly-colored blue-green venomous snake tore out from his arm, coiling towards the pursuing Li Xuan.
Seizing this opportunity, Jiang Hao pushed his speed to the limit, allowing him to traverse four to five meters. He was attacking Zhou Wen from behind with a dagger!
"Ah!" This sudden development caused Xu Miantu to cry out.
Zhou Wen was already in a perilous situation while holding back the Skeleton General. Now, with Jiang Hao sneaking an attack on him, death seemed inevitable for him.
Li Xuan was alarmed and furious as well. However, with the Explosive Scaled Snake blocking him, he didn't have the time to rescue Zhou Wen.
While the bone spear thrust around at lightning speed, a dagger stabbed at Zhou Wen's waist from the back. At this critical moment, Zhou Wen exerted strength into his legs, allowing him to do a sharp turn. A powerful twisting force erupted from his waist muscles as his body twisted at an odd angle.
Zhou Wen's feet were still facing the Skeleton General's side, but his torso had already turned to face Jiang Hao.
The bone spear stabbed at Zhou Wen, just brushed past his cheek. This left a faint wound on Zhou Wen's cheek, but he remained stoic. Without even blinking, he threw a punch at Jiang Hao's dagger.
A look of mockery flashed in Jiang Hao's eyes. Although the Explosive Scaled Snake had left his body, he still had the bone breastplate protecting him. It was also a Legendary Companion Beast and, although it wasn't a Strength-type, it augmented his Strength a little. It wasn't something a typical Mortal stage human could withstand.
Furthermore, the jade dagger was made of special materials. Not only did it have the ability to kill dimensional creatures, but it also had a terrifying sharpness to it.
"Die!" Jiang Hao steeled his heart as he exerted all his Strength, gathering it at the blade tip. He wanted to slice through Zhou Wen's fingers.
"Dodge! You can't handle it!" Li Xuan cried out in panic.
Xu Miantu spewed another mouthful of blood—a result of his anxiety, not his injuries.
At the instant the fist and blade met, a sanguine glow shimmered across Zhou Wen's fist. The red carapace instantly wrapped around his fist, condensing like a dark red boxing glove.
"Companion Beast!" Jiang Hao's eyes constricted as an ominous feeling arose in him.
As Mortal stage Companion Beasts were rare, he had subconsciously imagined the Companion Beast to be at the Legendary stage. This alarmed him greatly.
However, the distance between the fist and blade was just too narrow. Just as the thought came to Jiang Hao, Zhou Wen's fist had already struck the blade of the jade dagger.
Crack!
The mighty force tore through the blade as cracks rapidly extended, shattering the entire dagger, turning them into countless fragments.
Bang!
Zhou Wen's punch didn't pause as it struck Jiang Hao's dagger-wielding fist. It smashed the bones in his hand and arm.
The fractured bone tore out of Jiang Hao's flesh as blood gushed out. Without the protection of the bone armor, his arm popped like popcorn. He flew out with a tragic cry.
All of this happened in a split second. As Xu Miantu watched, he glared with a wide-open mouth, momentarily speechless.
Li Xuan was thrilled. Ignoring the Explosive Scaled Snake that embroiled him, he charged forward and smashed open Jiang Hao's head in midair. There were no more chances for him.
Zhou Wen was calm. After destroying Jiang Hao's arm, his body twisted around like a loach and, using the momentum, lunged for the skeleton horse's back. This made the Skeleton General miss once more.
Everything happened with such fluidity, as though it had been practiced countless times. It was a beautiful sight.
"Who the hell is he?" Xu Miantu snapped to his senses as his mind was filled with puzzlement. He refused to believe that Zhou Wen was merely an ordinary high-schooler from Guide City.