Lei was escaping the iron mantis throughout the room. The mantis wasn't as fast as he was, but it moved around the battlefield unobstructed, and unlike Lei, didn't spend any qi to move.
How long can this critter chase me? Doesn't it get tired when it overworks itself? It's covered in so many injuries, do these even have an effect? Lei lured the creature away from his comrades, who were engaged with the bug swarm.
"No!" The mantis yaoguai suddenly shouted from behind his back. "You'll pay for this!".
Who? Pay for what? Lei quickly glanced at the yaoguai, who was chasing Rui Ming. What did Rui Ming do to piss him off so much?
The yaogai suddenly stopped chasing Rui Ming and fell back, then raised his fist and proclaimed:
"Fine, Xin! You forced my hand!"
Lei was astonished. It wasn't Ming, but Xin who got the yaoguai angry? He tried to find him as he circled around a stone, avoiding the mantis' hits. It sliced the top of the stone off in one hit, denying him cover.
"Brother! Aaagh! No!" Wu Xiaoyun screamed out desperately. Lei looked at her, and then looked where she was looking. He saw Xin standing on top of Su Xing's corpse. Oh.
To Lei's surprise, the mantis stopped chasing him, and crossed its pincers together. A ranged attack? Wait, no! Something else!
The back of its abdomen started expanding, and from below its carapace, a set of blade-like wings emerged!
Lei felt his soul sink, but used this brief relief to consume a spirit stone.
Lava Spit!
Meanwhile, Murong Zhan fought the giant mantis. His collarbone was sliced badly through the armour. If it wasn't for its high quality and the hit angle being suboptimal, he'd be in big trouble. Both opponents were seriously injured, but Murong Zhan was still bravely defending the cauldron.
"Careful!" He heard a voice from his flank, belonging to Rui Ming. He jumped to the side and saw the yaoguai leaping towards him! By the gods, will I catch a break?
I'm toast, Murong Zhan thought. He fell back and prepared to block with his glowing chakrams. But his opponent didn't reach him with his leap, and almost tripped when he landed.
Folding Wind! Windsplitter! Rui Ming used a technique to pull the yaoguai towards himself, disrupting his jump's trajectory, then split the wind that emerged from the first technique to empower his next hit! He infused his legs with a serious amount of wind qi and performed a leap of his own!
Stab! The yaoguai was stabbed under its pincer, and he felt his blade enter the flesh under the thinning joint carapace. Crack. Rui Ming's blade broke, and he was left to hold a pathetic stump.
Meanwhile, the iron mantis finished its transformation. It turned its glowing white eyes to Lei and flew towards him! It wasn't exactly a bird's flight, and was more akin to a series of leaps, but in terms of speed and mobility, it rivaled Lei's propulsion dao shard!
No. No. No! Lei evaded the creature and ran towards the middle of the room. He quickly glanced towards master Taowei, who was engaged with a giant mantis of his own.
"Middle!" He only had time to say one word. Master Taowei glanced back at him, but didn't respond. Crash! He attacked the mantis' shoulder, trying to disengage.
On the other side of the room, Xin sneaked up on the yaoguai, holding the cauldron in his hands. Who said we have to pour it on the iron mantis and not its master?
"Shit!" The yaoguai noticed him and leaped away, allowing Rui Ming to survive. Xin threw Rui Ming a weapon — Su Xing's broken glaive, the top half that he just sliced! Rui Ming wasn't in the position to criticise this gift, so he grabbed it and instantly reinforced Murong Zhan, hoping to kill the giant mantis that was attacking him before the yaoguai reengages.
"Hehehe." The yaoguai looked the young hunter into the eyes, and pointed his scythe-hands at him. "What now?"
Xin felt like they were winning the battle, but apparently, the yaoguai thought otherwise. Right, he exhausted our qi pools, there is nothing we can do to damage him now! Our weapons are gone, and so are our trump cards!
Primal Thorn! The yaoguai launched an attack at Xin. Xin dropped the cauldron and tried to dodge, but this rank one technique sliced into his ribs.
Iron Lung! At the last moment, Xin exhaled and reinforced the point of impact with metal qi, but it didn't seem to matter. His armour was sliced like butter, and there was a wooden thorn between his ribs!
Xin swallowed a cry of pain. I am not giving you the pleasure of hearing it, bug.
"Ugh?" The yaoguai quickly averted his gaze, looking at the iron mantis.
The creature was about to lunge at Lei, who seemed awfully comfortable with this. The yaoguai noticed this and stopped its leap, but the mantis still kept walking towards Lei, driven by its instincts. It's that damn rock, hanging on the ceiling! A new order — ...
"You fight me!" Xin leaped towards him, his palms raised in a praying mantis pose himself!
"Shit! Die!" The yaoguai got spooked by Xin engaging him so bravely. This completely defied his understanding of this combat's hierarchy.
Stab! Stab! Xin tried to hit the creature with his Resonance Palms, but it deftly evaded. The yaoguai kept its sharp reflexes even after transforming into a human. Moments later, the yaoguai recomposed himself. I can just slash at him, it thought, with no regards for his block, and there is nothing he can do about it! Rank two against a mortal, he's got no chance!
Scissor-scythe! No! The mantis was about to finish Xin off, but it noticed a big cauldron filled with melting liquid flying towards him, spinning and spilling liquid essence around, and instinctively dodged.
"Agggh!" A part of the cauldron's content still spilled on his leg, which was relatively unarmored, and started melting his natural armor. How could this happen?
Xin turned his back for a brief moment and saw Murong Zhan holding a chakram chain, glowing in the dim light of the cave. Oh, brilliant! He linked the handle of the cauldron with his chain link and threw it, infused with metal qi! Suboptimal under normal circumstances, but life-saving at this moment!
Lei gathered the last bits of qi he had, waiting for the iron mantis to attack him. He still needed a bit of time before using his Lava Spit. He already burnt his mouth and throat, this he didn't care about. His meridians were stressed by moving so much qi through them. Any significant exertion would mean death, so he just retreated, preparing a fire qi infused dodge. How is this thing not dead yet?!
The iron mantis's front pincer was falling off from being melted at the joint, and its chest was covered in burns. Lei's Lava Spit was eating into its abdomen and front leg, making the creature look like an oversized abandoned child's toy.
A few more breaths, a few more breaths. He could feel the meridian stress dwindle, but he wasn't restoring as fast as he hoped. Will I have to sacrifice myself?
Slash! He dodged under the iron mantis' pincer, and avoided being stomped by its sharp front leg. He then kept luring the mantis towards the centre of the room. Just a few steps… The creature leaped towards him with a flap of its wings. Its movement trajectory looked scuffed, was it finally about to die?
Slash! Lei fell back, barely avoiding the hit.
Slash! His blade that he blocked with was sliced in half.
Slash! He was forced to block with his wooden arm. It was first cut at the wrist, and then again at the upper arm. He now only had a wooden shoulder, dripping tree juice.
Lured it perfectly! He prepared to jump backwards as soon as he heard the stone crack above him, intent on breaking his meridians to activate the propulsion dao shard. The creature instantly spread its wings and prepared to leap at him. Shit. My dodge won't work, we are equal in speed, and we're too close to each other!
Smash! Master Taowei charged the creature from behind Lei, his crystal mallet ringing at its chest. He then grabbed it by the "ankles" of its forelegs. Lei seized the moment to jump back.
Crash! A huge stone fell from the ceiling, right on top of the iron mantis, hitting its spine. As it was accelerated by master Taowei's technique, even the iron mantis was shaken, and it was forced to bend its legs to avoid falling prone.
Slash. Stab. One of iron mantis' pincers cut master Taowei's side and was stuck in his vertebrae, his measly rank one dao shard powerless to protect him. The second pincer buried itself between his neck and collarbone, and when the creature retrieved it, the gush of blood erupted above its head. Master Taowei dropped dead.
Lei seized the moment and ran away! He quickly scanned the battlefield, found Xin and reinforced him.
Xin now had a big wound in his abdomen. The yaoguai just lightly glanced at him with his slash, but it was enough to hurt him so much. He was now gushing blood from both his shoulder and abdomen at the same time.
Wu Xiaoyun moved in to reinforce him, and he expected her to heal him, but she just stood there with her pike, her legs shaking.
The yaoguai was about to attack him again. What do I do? I only have one metal infusion block left in me. Should I deliver a Woodcutter's Downswing before I go down? His armour seems to only be rank one, it is vulnerable to metal element, I can certainly damage it! Fuck, his scythes seem to be equivalent to rank two, though.
"Heal me!" He shouted. Wu Xiaoyun stood there, dumbfounded. What's wrong with her?
Is she angry at me for killing Xing? Is she just paralyzed by fear? Shouting at her and forcing her to get her shit together used to work, but now it doesn't! I need to find the right key to her heart, or it's over.
"Yun, you're the best! Please heal me! I need you! Please!" He cried out desperately.
The yaoguai charged him. But he could also feel an ethereal vine soothe the pain in his back. It wouldn't heal his wounds momentarily, but at least it suppressed the bleeding. My plea worked!
Slash! Xin dodged the scythe-arm, sacrificing a lot of space. Another hit will be a stab. Xin dove into the yaoguai and pressed his palms on its ankle, denying him the momentum for a proper hit. He was still scratched badly.
Smash! He heard a sound behind the yaoguai's back!
Wu Lei!
Using his propulsion dao shard, he rapidly charged the enemy master, stuck his hip between his legs to use as a lever, and nimbly threw him over his hip, using just one arm!
The yaoguai flapped its wings to balance itself and prevent the fall, but Xin landed on top of it, his knees on top of its elbows, preventing his scythe arms from stabbing him,
Woodcutter's Downswing! He could hear the armor on its head, that looked like a wooden mask with a face of a mantis, crack.
The creature squirmed and managed to scratch his heel with its repressed scythe-arm, but Xin ignored the pain.
Stab! Stab! He buried his fingers into its eyes, then twisted his hands and kept slashing at the crack he made with his technique.
"Die! Die! Die!" Xin cried out in pain as he kept stabbing him. Without Wu Xiaoyun, he'd bleed out already.
"He's already dead, brother." Lei sighed out as he scanned the battlefield.