Chapter 91 - 61: Annihilate the Team

Chapter 91: Chapter 61: Annihilate the TeamBoth parties observed each other from a distance of a hundred meters. Ji Xinghuo immediately recognized this five-person team – he had seen them before. Half a Star Realm month ago, when he had just left the Free City, he saw this team on the road. He had kept his distance, but they had slowed down in front of him, clearly with ill intentions. The leader was a White Knight, presumably the captain. He wore a suit of full metal plate armor, silver-gray and thick, leaving only slits for his eyes on the helmet, securing him tightly like a tin can. He also held a cross two-handed great sword, resembling a knight from the medieval period. White Knights possess healing abilities, enduring stamina, and swift recovery, but they lack offensive and defensive capabilities in the early stages, which is why they wear specially made plate armor for protection. The other four were masked or had their heads wrapped in cloth. Still, their professions were distinguishable. One was a female Shadow Blade; as soon as Ji Xinghuo appeared, she blended into the shadows, lurking in secret. Next to the White Knight stood a tall, thin man wearing armor, not as bulky as the White Knight’s, holding a bolt-action steam rifle aimed at Ji Xinghuo. He was a Mechanic. A short distance away was a man with frost covering his body and icy blue pupils, each hand wielding a transparent ice blade, clearly indicating his profession as Ice Edge. The last one was a Hunter. He used a composite hunting bow, similar to Ji Xinghuo’s, and beside him was a Horror Claw Dragon. This creature resembled Earth’s velociraptor; it ran upright on two hind legs with two massive, sharp foreclaws and a plume on its head. It was fierce, cold, swift, and could be tamed as a formidable mount. The Horror Claw Dragon stood over two meters tall with a saddle on its back, dressed in armor specially made for it, enhancing defense without hindering its running speed. A frosty crow circled above the Hunter’s head, waiting for its master’s command. White Knight, Shadow Blade, Mechanic, Ice Edge, and Hunter! Two advanced mutants, three intermediates. This was a classic professional combination hunting team: melee, range, healing, control, and reconnaissance, each member capable of one or two roles, making the team very comprehensive with barely any weaknesses. The five had just killed a Stone Scythe Giant Demon, which was already on its last breath, and before they could rejoice, Ji Xinghuo arrived. They immediately realized there was a problem. "Excuse me, sir," the voice of the White Knight came from underneath his helmet, carrying a tone of respect. He asked, "Is this Stone Scythe Giant Demon your prey?" They dared not provoke mutants capable of hunting Stone Scythe Giant Demons alone. Had it been a healthy Stone Scythe Giant Demon, their entire team would likely have sustained injuries for two or three members, and might even have had a casualty, just to subdue it. Yet this individual had done it alone, seemingly unscathed. This implied that their entire team might not be a match for him alone. They should avoid making an enemy, but they also couldn’t completely relinquish their right to share the spoils, as they had exerted effort as well. Ji Xinghuo barely understood what the White Knight had said. He was about to speak when the Hunter suddenly exclaimed, "It’s you!" The Hunter recognized Ji Xinghuo’s Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow and his knapsack and loudly said, "Brooke, this man is that Ranger we encountered outside of the Free City that day, the young Asian, he’s alone, we have nothing to fear." "Are you sure?" asked the White Knight, surprised. "It’s him, I remember now too," confirmed the Mechanic, nodding. "We let him get away that time." The White Knight was still skeptical; even though Ji Xinghuo was alone, his ability to hunt the Stone Scythe Giant Demon meant that a mutant’s strength couldn’t be judged by their appearance and age. "That Stone Scythe Giant Demon definitely wasn’t his prey, Brooke," the Hunter observed carefully and quickly said. "He bears no signs of combat, just like us, he must have happened upon it by chance." "The injuries on the Stone Scythe Giant Demon were from burns and falls, not caused by arrows." "The real hunter of the Stone Scythe Giant Demon must be nearby, we don’t have much time left. If we don’t make our move now, we’ll miss the opportunity." "He’s been silent to scare us off!" The Hunter acted as if he had figured everything out, but what he didn’t know was that Ji Xinghuo couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Blah blah blah, yada yada yada... Ji Xinghuo didn’t understand a sentence, but from their reactions, he guessed that these people recognized him and clearly didn’t intend to return the prey. Suddenly, a sense of alarm rose in his mind. Bang! The Mechanic fired his gun. The steam rifle in his hands shot out metal bullets, less powerful than an electromagnetic rifle, and although the bullet speed was severalfold slower, it could still penetrate steel within a hundred meters range with extreme precision. As the gun fired, the Hunter also released an arrow. Both team shooters, having fought side by side for years, had developed a high level of tacit understanding. "Charge!" The Hunter shouted, urging his Horror Claw Dragon forward. Ji Xinghuo’s right eye pupil flickered with a circle of light; before the gun sounded, he had entered Myriad Phenomena. He tilted his head to the side, and the bullet flew past his ear. Then he disappeared. The Hunter’s arrow hit empty space. Realizing Ji Xinghuo had vanished, he immediately shouted, "Stealth Ring!" He wasn’t surprised; Ji Xinghuo had disappeared before their eyes that day, and after discussing it later, they guessed that Ji Xinghuo owned a Stealth Ring. "It really is him!" The initially hesitant White Knight and Ice Edge were now completely certain. "You won’t escape this time, Asian!" The Hunter shouted wildly. He possessed "Eagle Eye," "Sound Form," and "Elephant Trunk Smell," corresponding to visual, auditory, and olfactory senses, respectively. His reconnaissance skills were fully developed, and he wasn’t afraid of stealthy enemies. In the blink of an eye, the Hunter located Ji Xinghuo by scent. "Over there!" His composite bow fired another arrow, signaling the enemy’s location to his teammates, only a couple of steps away from where Ji Xinghuo had vanished. Crack! The bowstring vibrated, and the arrow shot forth. Almost simultaneously, the Hunter saw Ji Xinghuo’s stealth outline flash briefly and saw Ji Xinghuo also shooting an arrow towards him. Eagle Eye granted him powerful vision; even in the dim environment of Star Night, the Hunter could see the titanium aluminum alloy arrow flying towards him. A black spot rapidly enlarged before his eyes, but he couldn’t react in time. Sёarch* The Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Thud! The arrow shot into the Hunter’s eye, his head bursting open instantly, his scream abruptly stopping. And his arrow missed. The two shot at each other, instantly determining the superior and deciding life and death. Ji Xinghuo stood in the same spot, not having moved an inch. He seemed to have already known that the Hunter’s arrow would miss, unaffected in his actions, he quickly nocked and drew another arrow, which then flew from his bow. This arrow targeted the Mechanic. Steam rifles demanded less in terms of archery skills and boasted high lethality and range, but they were loud and had a deadly flaw—slow firing speed compared to bows. He fired his first shot, immediately worked the bolt to reload, and used his abilities "Hot Melt Hand" and "Steam" to heat the steam furnace in the stock, channeling high-pressure steam to power the bullet. Just as he was ready to aim for his second shot, Ji Xinghuo’s arrow had already hit. "Watch out!" White Knight shouted loudly, using his body to shield the Mechanic, using himself as a shield to protect his teammate. The titanium aluminum alloy arrow collided with his shoulder armor, surprisingly not being deflected away but instead bizarrely changing direction and hitting the Mechanic behind him. "Ah..." White Knight heard the scream from behind, turned his head, and saw an arrow stuck in the Mechanic’s face, with only half of the arrow shaft showing. Such a severe injury was beyond saving. In the blink of an eye, two of the team’s archers were dead, losing their long-range attack capability. "Charge!" "His bows are too strong, otherwise we will all die!" White Knight turned around without hesitation, ordering a charge towards Ji Xinghuo. Bing Feng was even quicker, already having dashed out over thirty meters, his body covered in thick Ice Armor, emitting a chilling aura. The Hunter was dead, but his Horror Claw Dragon still obeyed its master’s command. It had already covered half the distance. Thud! A flash of light, Ji Xinghuo’s silhouette appeared for half a second, immediately followed by an arrow piercing the Horror Claw Dragon’s eye, eliciting a mournful howl as its running body crashed to the ground. Then another arrow shot down the swooping Ice Wind Raven. As Ji Xinghuo shot the Hunter’s war pet, Bing Feng closed in to within twenty or so meters of Ji Xinghuo, a high-level Mutant, very fast, who could already see Ji Xinghuo in his stealth state, but at this moment his heart was colder than the Ice Armor outside his body. Because Ji Xinghuo had already aimed the Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow at him. An arrow shot forth. "Roar!" Bing Feng opened his mouth in a roar, his "Ice Roar" blasting out a large amount of ice from his body, the low-temperature airflow and shattered ice bursting forth, creating a powerful shockwave. Ice Roar was an area attack, but this time it was released for defense. Boom! The arrow Ji Xinghuo shot was an explosive flame arrow, hitting the Ice Roar, immediately detonating into a large burst of high-temperature flames. The collision of ice and fire instantly caused an even more intense explosion, sweeping through a space of four to five meters, like a realm of ice and fire. Bing Feng wasn’t injured by the arrow, but his charge was halted, the explosive force making him tumble on the ground; he just managed to steady himself when he saw another arrow flying towards him, instinctively sweeping with his ice blade, cleverly deflecting the arrow. "Ah!" A scream came. Bing Feng turned to see Team Leader Brooke, an arrow stuck in the eye slit of his helmet, the very arrow he had deflected. "Brooke!" Bing Feng was stunned, unable to believe that the arrow he had deflected had killed his team leader. Was this a coincidence? But that was exactly how the Mechanic had died! Once might be a coincidence, but happening twice in succession meant it was by design! But how could a human achieve this? At that moment, Bing Feng’s mind was in chaos, the accidental killing of a teammate blanking his thoughts, also sealing his fate. An arrow shattered his Ice Armor, piercing through his head. Ji Xinghuo had killed Bing Feng, suddenly turned around, just avoiding a dagger aimed at his back, his right hand already drawing the Thunderbolt Battle Blade, and with a flowing motion, a flash of lightning-like blade light passed by, a black-masked head flew up, eyes full of surprise. A headless body materialized in the air, she was the female Shadow Blade. As Ji Xinghuo shot her teammates, she ultimately closed in behind Ji Xinghuo to launch an attack, trying to give him a fatal strike. However, her action was futile, as she would never know that her movements were all within Ji Xinghuo’s control. The forest grew quiet. The circles of light in Ji Xinghuo’s eyes dissolved, he looked down at the five corpses on the ground and let out a cold snort.