Chapter Ninety-Six: The Unusable Finisher

The spiral sword spun rapidly in the wind, driven by its own whirling force, and shot straight for the burrowing fiend’s eyes. Though it lacked the Crimson-Plain Hound’s automatic tracking, Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s archery was already exquisite at this moment, and with the blessing of the hawk’s eye, it would not miss.

A clear chime rang out again. As if aware of the spiral sword’s danger, the burrowing fiend gave it no chance to draw near. When it was still more than a dozen meters from its head, it was blocked by the fiend’s raised forelimb, which resembled that of a mantis.

“Fantasy Collapse, detonate.” Even after the spiral sword was stopped, Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s expression did not change in the slightest. As though she had foreseen the fiend’s movement long ago, she simply thrust out her right hand and clenched it hard into a fist. With her motion, the spiral sword, which had struck the burrowing fiend’s forelimb, erupted in a violent explosion, blasting a sizable crater into the ground. By then, the spiral sword had been nearly twenty to thirty meters above the earth.

The air along the broad avenue flowed swiftly, and now and then a cool breeze swept through. Another gust passed, dispersing the smoke born of the explosion. The burrowing fiend emerged from within it. On the forelimb of its right arm was a blackened scorch mark; beyond that, it was utterly unscathed.

Silently regarding the burnt forelimb, Zhuang Xiaoyuan did not even frown this time and continued her projected attack. If the fiend had managed to block the Crimson-Plain Hound’s strike by relying on the fragile defense of its eyelids, then its forelimbs and the carapace upon its back were surely even harder. She had already expected that the spiral sword would be unable to wound the fiend’s forelimbs.

But what of it, if it could not harm the carapace or the forelimbs? From the burrowing fiend’s defensive movements just now, it was clear that if the spiral sword’s attack struck its eyes, or even its head, it would absolutely inflict damage. And what Zhuang Xiaoyuan had to do now was force her own attacks to reach the fiend’s head.

The divine power within Zhuang Xiaoyuan was being consumed continuously, but at this point she could no longer care about such matters. Relying on Chloe’s transfer ability, she dodged the burrowing fiend’s advances again and again, while the longbow in her hands loosed spiral swords without the slightest pause. Yet not once had her attacks broken through the fiend’s defenses to reach its vulnerable head. As the spiral swords flew, the scorched patches on the fiend’s forelimbs and the carapace on its back only multiplied.

“Aaooo!” The burrowing fiend and Zhuang Xiaoyuan traded blows in round after round: one could not break the other’s defenses, while the other could not catch even a shadow. This stalemate continued for several minutes. Then, for reasons unknown, the burrowing fiend suddenly roared at Zhuang Xiaoyuan and turned to run south.

“Hm? South... the South City Gate. This thing must have an evil god nearby.” Noticing the fiend’s change in direction, Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s expression shifted slightly. Though her heart was filled with hatred for this fiend and with burning rage over the sacrifice of her subordinates, the last shred of reason still told her that if she allowed it to keep advancing south, caught between attacks from within and without, the South City Gate would surely be breached. With the wall gone, humans would have an even harder time resisting the tide of fiends.

He could not be allowed to pass. At last, reason completely overpowered fury and hatred. Zhuang Xiaoyuan once again drew back the bowstring in her hand and unleashed a mad barrage, trying to seize the fiend’s attention. Even if an evil god was directing it, if she could stir its rage and drive it into a berserk state, then perhaps she could keep it from continuing toward its intended destination, though a berserk fiend would be even harder for her to handle.

Yet Zhuang Xiaoyuan had still misjudged things. No matter how she attacked, the burrowing fiend had made up its mind and continued south. Each time she struck, it only defended and never counterattacked. Its head and forelegs were blocked by its forelimbs; its hind legs were shielded by the scorpion tail behind it. No matter how she attacked, she could not draw its attention. That could only mean one thing: the evil god commanding the burrowing fiend was of no low rank, or else something behind the fiend had been pressing upon it all along, driving it onward.

“Tch.” Biting her lower lip, her face dark, Zhuang Xiaoyuan looked up at the distant, empty sky, then lowered her eyes to the burrowing fiend that continued south without sparing her a glance, and made a decision.

If her current attacks could not rouse the fiend’s attention, then she would use a stronger attack. And she would have to appear before its eyes, so that it could see her; only then might she seize its notice. That was the only way left. Of course, if she could destroy the fiend in a single blow, that would be the best outcome of all.

Though Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s present combat strength made a head-on confrontation with the burrowing fiend extremely dangerous—so dangerous that calling it a death sentence would not be an exaggeration—at this moment, it was still the only path. No matter what, the gate could not be allowed to fall.

Having made up her mind, Zhuang Xiaoyuan no longer hesitated. While leaping forward at high speed, she used her transfer ability to further accelerate her advance. A few seconds later, she had already overtaken the burrowing fiend and reached the ground in front of it. By then, the South City Gate was not far away, and from the rooftop where she stood, Zhuang Xiaoyuan could already make out the city wall of the South City Gate in the distance, along with the unbroken thunder of artillery fire.

The black longbow melted away in her hands and returned to pure divine power, which Zhuang Xiaoyuan drew back into her body. Divine power could not be wasted lightly. With an unruffled expression, Zhuang Xiaoyuan jumped directly from the rooftop and blocked the center of the road before the burrowing fiend’s path. At that moment, she did not seem to be standing against a fiend of overwhelming strength at all; she showed not the slightest trace of tension or panic. Her heart was perfectly calm.

Because here, at this moment, only she could stop it. She had to stop it. Under no circumstances could she let it approach the South City Gate. This was faith. This was will. This was her promise to everyone in Maple City. Though no one could hear it, that did not matter. It was Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s oath to her own heart.

She would absolutely hold this fiend back. She would absolutely protect everyone still fighting. She would absolutely wait for Wen Hui and the others to return.

With those three absolutes in her heart, Zhuang Xiaoyuan, wholly focused on the enemy before her, did not notice that the transformation cards within her body were all beginning to emit a faint golden light. The silver divine power that had originally occupied two-thirds of the nebula vortex rapidly contracted, while the golden divine power expanded at speed. Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s total divine power was also rising step by step.

Descending from the rooftop to the center of the road, facing the burrowing fiend charging straight toward her, the incantation of her strongest finishing move surfaced in Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s mind. Unfortunately, only half of that incantation was there; because of the limits of her current abilities, she still could not see the lines that followed. This, too, she had already expected. Did Huang Xiaoyan’s Heaven Thunder Orthodox Law not require the aid of a True Essence Blood Talisman to be used? Chloe had no True Essence Blood Talisman to draw upon.

“Projection.” Abandoning the finisher she could not use, Zhuang Xiaoyuan could only choose the most powerful Noble Phantasm within Chloe’s memories.