Chapter 319: Despair
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
The horde of four-hooves mutated beasts were fleeing at high speed with more than a hundred eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures chasing after them. Tentacles were coming out from nowhere, whipping like lightning or twisting with power. The four hooves-mutated beasts were quickly dying, one after another.
"Too frightening." Lord You Lan looked pleased with the scene. He quickly flew over until he was no more than five kilometers away from the central long vine. Because of the short distance remaining, in the blink of an eye, he already arrived at the vine.
The eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures, who had momentarily targeted him, gave up as soon as he reached the vine. The first vine leaf world had one rule—one only had to successfully arrive at the long vine in order to pass to the next leaf. Successfully passing the trial meant that they would no longer be attacked by any creature from the first vine leaf world. It did not, however, mean that other demigods or Transcendents would have to stop attacking them.
Lord You Lan put his white teeth on display as he laughed joyously, "Hehehe! These eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures may not have a particularly good comprehension of the Laws of Profound Mysteries, but their speed and power are at both at the Deity realm. Each of them is more powerful than General Ku Meng was. With their ability to launch sneak attacks from the Mirage, I would find it difficult to face even one, not to mention such a mass of them."
"Chen Jiu, your powerful close combat ability might mean that ten eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures have to work together to defeat you, but in Dong Bo Xue Ying’s case? Wasn’t he the one who relied on the Mirage to make it so others couldn’t easily attack him? Unfortunately for you, this horde of eight-tentacled beasts are all Mirage Creatures."
Lord You Lan had been waiting for this exact moment. He had been excitedly planning ever since his servant discovered the group of eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures within the mountain.
...
The first reaction Xue Ying, Chen Jiu, and Unclu Fu had when they saw the hundred or more eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures was to regroup and flee. They could tell from a single glance that they would not be able to defeat them.
"Damn!" Xue Ying felt numerous golden threads wrapping around him. Every time he tried to enter the Mirage, they entangled him, reducing his speed by at least half. At that speed, he was unable to escape the incoming calamity of the eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures.
"You Lan!" Chen Jiu was going crazy. This time around, he wasn’t shouldering his life alone; he was also shouldering the lives of every member of Flying Sword Mountain Manor!
"Uncle Fu, escape, quickly! Just break the talisman, and wait for me back in the Xia Clan World. We’ll go back to Deity World together as soon as I get out of here alive," Chen Jiu sent to Uncle Fu, who began to panic. He quickly took out Deity Scrolls and started casting them.
"Don’t use them on me. Cast them on Xue Ying instead," Chen Jiu continued. "You don’t need to worry about me, since I have Deity Armor, but Xue Ying won’t be able to hold on for long."
"Understood." Uncle Fu might have worried for his Manor Master, but he knew Chen Jiu was also worried. Since Chen Jiu was using the Deity armor, the Mirage Creatures would be unable to bypass his defenses to attack him directly. Casting more blessings on him would only serve to waste the scrolls.
Hua~hua~
Uncle Fu tore two Deity scrolls apart. Two layers of light, one red and another white, enveloped Xue Ying’s figure. Together, they gave his body the appearance of being wrapped in red-white colored gauze.
"Lock!" Uncle Fu used another Deity scroll. A transparent greyish fog entered the Mirage and twisted directly around the eight-tentacled Mirage Creatures. Having already killed all of the mutated beasts, the Mirage Creatures had now shifted their sights onto Xue Ying and the other two. With their high speed slaughter, they were soon no less than fifteen hundred kilometers away.
"Alas." Uncle Fu fretted. This large-scale array would tie down enemies no matter where they are. Be it the real world, the Mirage, the Shadow Space, or any other layer of existence, the array would enter that world and tie the enemy down. To hinder 139 Mirage Creatures at the same time, however, the array’s power had to be evenly distributed, so it could only cut the speed of those creatures down in half instead of immobilizing them.
If the scroll’s power were to concentrate on only on three to five creatures, it would more than simply reduce half of their speed. But what difference would it make whether they were under the attack of 139 creatures or 136 creatures? After all, it was not like all of the Mirage Creatures would attack them simultaneously anyway. With their large frames, the Mirage Creatures would not be able to attack together. It was only ever several of them who could attack at one time. Losing or immobilizing three to five creatures in that sort of situation would change nothing.
"Damn, damn!" Uncle Fu became so angry that his eyes turned red. He still had other Deity scrolls, but they would not be of any help.
"Go!" Chen Jiu urged as he tried to flee as fast as possible.
"Manor Master, be careful," Uncle Fu sent before gritting his teeth and finally breaking the talisman.
Invisible power instantly descended and enveloped Uncle Fu.
Hu.
He vanished into thin air, having been sent outside of Crimson Rock Mountain.
Once he was sent out, he would no longer be able to help Xue Ying or Chen Jiu. While he was allowed to attempt crossing the Crimson Rock Mountain again, the rules stated that any Transcendent would have to wait for a hundred years before being allowed to try again. On top of that, since he had already passed the Meteor Bridge and received a reward and a talisman, he would not get those two benefits for the next attempt.
"Aaaah!!!" Chen Jiu tried his hardest to escape.
"Chen Jiu, there are only four hundred kilometers left," Xue Ying encouraged Chen Jiu as he flew beside him. The eight-tentacled beasts were Mirage Creatures, so it made no difference whether he entered the Mirage or not.
Chen Jiu stopped. "It's no use trying to flee. Let’s fight them."
Xue Ying also stopped. Under the effect of the golden threads, they had no way of shaking the Mirage Creatures off. The only way left to survive was to fight.
"Come," Xue Ying taunted.
Hong!
He spread out his Gravity Domain, making sure to leave Chen Jiu out of the effective area; it did not affect him in the slightest.
"These Transcendents would actually dare fight us."
"Human, do not struggle. Just accept your death."
The voices of these eight-tentacled beasts traveled into the real world at the same time as dark-blue tentacles struck from every direction. Dozens of tentacles attacked and retracted, appearing like shadows due to their swiftness. Chen Jiu used his eight arms to defend himself against the attacks coming from everywhere around him. Xue Ying also brandished his spear. There only three to five meters of distance between them.
Due to their big bodies, only ten to twenty of the eight-tentacled creatures could attack simultaneously. With Chen Jiu and Xue Ying joining forces, each could handle seven or eight such creatures.
"Xue Ying, be careful. I can’t protect you as well." Chen Jiu laboriously swung his eight arms to deflect the surrounding attacks. His arms turned bigger, and his palms all turned shield-like to better defend himself. However, when they left the Mirage, the tentacles would not always lash out and would at times try to strangle him.
"Scram!" Xue Ying fared better than Chen Jiu due to his ability to see inside the Mirage. He could see how the creatures moved inside the Mirage and react faster to their attacks. Although the eight-tentacled creatures had large bodies, his Gravity Domain was simply not powerful enough. His repulsion power failed to repel them and could at most slow them slightly.
Every last one of those creatures had eight tentacles. With tens of tentacles attacking them from every direction, and even their sudden emergences from the Mirage…even Chen Jiu was hard pressed to protect himself.
Hong. Peng. Xue Ying continuously attacked with his spear. He no longer dared to use his Star Meteor Annihilation. He had used it once, and very soon, he found himself surrounded on all sides by those creatures. That had happened because his Star Meteor Annihilation was not systematic enough. He had to to fend off strikes coming from all sides, so he needed attacks that could be continuously used, such as the lightning-fast Extreme Penetration.
Just half second later—Peng! A tentacle broke through his defenses and whipped Xue Ying’s back. A surge of violent power comparable to the might of a Deity struck his back. This single attack threw Xue Ying off-balance, sending him forward. Numerous tentacles quickly enveloped him.
When he saw the scene, the eight-armed Chen Jiu, who was barely even able to defend himself, shouted in distress, "Dong Bo!"