Chapter 225: Bloody Battle! Real Core of the Team (I)
Long Haochen was the only person within the two teams that was capable of using Spiritual Gathering Halo. It was a secret skill he chose to learn specifically for the sake of the team.
After the crisis above the carriage’s roof was temporarily settled, he had no choice but to return to the side of the teams to command them. It was clearly visible that no matter whether it was in the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad or the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad, everyone was completely blinded by the desire to kill.
The 21st Demon Hunt Squad was still a bit better off. For the time being, Wang Yuanyuan had yet to unleash her Gigantic Divine Soul Shield’s real power, and Sima Xian restrained himself from using Madness. But those from the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad, including Li Xin, were already going all out. Splendid radiances broke out nonstop, as they slaughtered the demons frantically.
The eyes of the young lady Bai Xiaomo had already turned red. Chanting one incantation after another, she gave birth to mad surges of thistles and thorns. Her body was already surrounded by a dozen plants able to launch piercing thorns, and the pods that caused enemies to slow down were present in the quantity of seven or eight. Her cute little face was already pale, but even so, she kept chanting without pausing at all. Without a doubt, she had already overexerted herself. If she kept going, she would endanger her own life.
Long Haochen leapt down from the carriage, and with a swift lateral movement, dashed in front of Bai Xiaomo. He pushed his shoulder against her back and immediately interrupted her incantation.
“What are you doing?” Bai Xiaomo turned around, and shouted very fiercely at Long Haochen.
Long Haochen replied furiously, “Have you forgotten my warning? You have to economize you spiritual energy! Do you think you are able to kill all those demons? Protecting ourselves is currently our most fundamental goal.”
“Get lost! Do you think you have the right to tell me what I should do? My father and mother both died at the hands of those bastardly Birdy Demons, you know?! Back off, this lady doesn’t need you to look after her.”
“Pouch.” Lifting his hand, Long Haochen slapped Bai Xiaomo with enough force that she fell to the ground, “Bastard! Do you think your life only belongs to yourself? In this team battle, even if you don’t care whether you die or not, don’t tell me you don’t mind causing your comrades’ death? From now on, you are not allowed to cast any more spells, or else, I’ll beat you up.”
Long Haochen’s voice was full of unquestionable fury. After dishing out these words, he dashed to the front with a side step, and kicked Dian Yan back into line, while sweeping the Holy Spirit Sword in his hand. Then, he hit Wang Yuanyuan’s shield to produce a loud bang.
“I want you to get into formation NOW! Are you looking for death?” As he gave this command, Long Haochen’s body burst out with golden tyrannical bursts of light. Sweeping his two heavy swords, he produced two Light Thorns, that were turned into Holy Sword Light Thorns with the help from Yating’s amplification. His attack cut seven or eight Berserk Demons in half at once. At the same time, sunlight fire erupted from his body and aimed at the Birdy Demons in the sky. With this offensive, he bought his comrades some time to take a breather and reorganize their force.
They had already constantly fought for a whole duration of ten minutes, but only now, as they finally paused, everyone discovered that they already found it extremely hard to breathe. Although no one sustained injuries, their series of full power attacks had largely consumed their internal and external spiritual energy.
Long Haochen turned around and coldly swept his glance over everyone present, “Starting from now, whoever violates my orders will immediately be banned from this squad.”
A fireball of over half a meter in diameter suddenly came from the sky. It struck a point close to Long Haochen and obliterated several demons with a violent explosion.
This fireball had been initiated by Haoyue, from the top of the carriage, to protect them. Long Haochen turned around once again to confront the demons. In his hand, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light had been withdrawn and was exchanged with the Holy Spirit Shield. As soon as it appeared, it released the supplementary effect of the Holy Spirit Set, causing a white drizzle to halo around everyone’s bodies, further adding the effects of Spiritual Gathering Halo. The effects were immediately perceivable, and the thirteen members of the two Demon Hunt Squads felt their breath loosening up.
“Li Xin, Yi Jun, you will be in charge of aerial defense. Lin Xin, release Repelling Ring of Fires at my signal against the clustered enemies. Dian Yan, follow me to confront the enemy. Wang Yuanyuan, Sima Xian, you two take care of the flanks. Cai’er, Han Daosi, adapt your positioning to the situation. Disperse!” These orders were of course directed at the two Demon Hunt Squads.
At this time, Long Haochen finally took command over the two teams for real. With extraordinary efficiency and resolve, such that no one dared refute his words, he incorporated everyone from the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad.
From his fight at the carriage’s roof, they had already clearly witnessed the formidable strength Long Haochen displayed in battle. In particular, the 4th Demon Hunt Squad’s Demon Hunters learned to their astonishment that Long Haochen actually turned out to be even stronger than they imagined in their wildest dreams. Above all, at the time the twelve Grand Birdy Demons were disposed of, the shock of witnessing this scene was already a lot more violent than any speech.
When Long Haochen jumped down from the carriage to rejoin their battle formation and shouted at them in such a way, not even sparing his own allies from his harsh rebuke, he completely shocked everyone who had been fighting with such bloodthirst.
But he was completely right! Now was not the time to compete over the amount of killed enemies. Not when their immediate and much more pressing priority was to make it back alive.
From the beginning, everyone from the 4th soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad only saw obeying Long Haochen’s orders as lip-service, and the many demons before their eyes simply signified contribution points! Further adding the deep hatred everyone had for these demons, as well as their cruel and overbearing conduct, they naturally lost control over their urge to mindlessly slaughter the enemy.
At this moment, Long Haochen appeared suddenly, renounced his most powerful attacks to shift to his Guardian Knight mode, while supporting the whole team with the supplementary function of his Holy Spirit Armor and the Spiritual Gathering Halo.
Listening to Long Haochen’s rebuking shouts, their killing intent faded away at great speed, and everyone unconsciously acted accordingly to his orders.
Bang– The Holy Spirit Shield was used to block, repelling two Berserk Demons. Long Haochen completely abstained from attacking, only using both the Holy Spirit Shield and the Holy Spirit Sword for defense, meanwhile relying on his own power to resist the incoming enemies.
From the previous battle, his companions’ energy consumption was enormous, and they now needed time to recover their spiritual energy and rest their bodies, otherwise, how would they break out afterwards? Thus, he could only do his utmost to strive for buying more time for his companions with his strength alone.
From the rear, it could be clearly seen that Long Haochen’s feet moved in a particular rhythm: with speed, efficiency, and more importantly, balance. He was just like an unyielding wall extending over a range of ten meters. He would instantly appear wherever an enemy tried to charge, and stop it before it could intrude. Divine Obstruction’s golden glint uninterruptedly covered his body and only when this golden radiance would reach its peak, he would occasionally launch a Light Thorn, reaping the demons’ lives while swiftly retreating. Though his Spiritual Gathering Halo was enveloping their group nonstop, it could be said that at this time, Long Haochen’s display belonged to the ultimate achievements of Guardian Knights at the rank of Earth Knight.
And this was after one moment ago, he proved on the roof of the carriage that he was also a formidable Retribution Knight.
In a team, a single powerhouse’s influence was in itself not so important, but a great leader was the real core and soul of a team. Long Haochen was now using action to show his companions what they should do. The other twelve were also excellent figures of the Temple Alliance, but at this very moment, in their eyes, Long Haochen seemed to have reached another level. Even Cai’er was no exception to that.
Perhaps, with the use of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, Cai’er’s fighting strength would be able to surpass Long Haochen’s like before, but be it in regard of observation skills or talent as commander, she was still far beyond comparison with Long Haochen. This observation was done completely without relation to her feelings towards him, but were based purely on objective judgement.
Cai’er suddenly realized that even if Long Haochen and herself weren’t in such close relationship, as long as they ended up in the same team, he would still have become its final captain. His speed of growth was just monstruous.
From the carriage’s roof, Leng Xiao was also observing Long Haochen. The death of the twelve Grand Birdy Demons gave her ample time to make her preparations, and the ordinary demons that came in, even though monstrous in numbers, weren’t any threat to her.
Who the hell is that youth? Since when has there been such a character in Sis’ caravan? Is he really only at the fifth step? And what is that three-headed magical beast in the end? Why does he cause me such palpitation? It seems that this dominance directly originates from… my blood vessels? But, no, it’s impossible, my bloodline is already the most noble one in existence! Even the bloodline of the most powerful human powerhouse cannot possibly surpass mine!
Yue Ye was still silently staying seated on the roof. Her eyes were still attentively watching the scroll floating in front of her, as if the external world was completely unrelated to her.
A rich purple color rose up frantically, as the purple moon in the sky became incomparably distinct. Her chanting scale slowed down, becoming even heavier. The air carried a faintly more humid scent, which was caused by Yue Yu’s thickly condensed magic essence.
The bright purple moon shifted back to a black color, and the horizon similarly grew darker.
A long and mournful hiss resounded in the sky, and immediately, a golden bolt of lightning suddenly shot out of nowhere, directly striking at Yue Ye.
Leng Xiao was shocked. Her figure flashing, she blocked the attack meant for Yue Ye. On her staff, the incomparably intense blood-colored light took the shape of a shield, repelling the sudden golden ray of light.
With a loud rumbling sound, golden-colored snakes dispersed all around, and Leng Xiao’s shield was smashed to pieces. Even her body was hit by that golden bolt of lightning and her legs went soft, almost causing her to fall from the roof.
In the air, a golden silhouette swooped down like a hurricane. That was also a Birdy Demon, and quite a terrifying one at that. His whole body was of a glinting golden color, and the lance in his hand also took the shape of a golden lightning bolt.
Approximately two meters tall, he had a pair of golden wings at his back, filled with dazzling golden lightning. He dived fast in Leng Xiao’s direction.
A Golden Birdy Demon Among the entire Birdy Demons’ clan, there would only be three of them at most, and each of them was a clan leader. This Golden Birdy Demon didn’t seem to possess the strength of the eighth step, but was at least at the peak of the seventh step. Spraying out lightning, its body was filled with overbearing power.