Chapter 378: The Final Battle
The incoming group of soulbeasts were coming in two major groups. Between the two, a little over two hundred soulbeasts were gathered with class fours and fives taking up about half their numbers. If it was just Bai Yunfei fighting these groups, even his gun fu wouldn’t be able to cover such a large expanse of area the soulbeasts were covering. Unlike the grouped together soulbeasts like before, these ones were all over the place. Any person would be hard pressed to go from one spot to the next in order to take down all of the soulbeasts.
Unless Bai Yunfei reactivated the ‘coil’ form or made the Cataclysmic Seal grow big, him being able to kill all the soulbeasts would be a pretty difficult question to answer.
So it was fortunate that Long was here with him. His strength was equivalent to Bai Yunfei as a late-stage Soul Ancestor, and with his outstanding abilities, his strength was definitely beyond that of any other average soul cultivator his level. Presumably, those three swords he was using were of mid-earth tier quality.
Armed with their respective weapons, the two soul cultivators charged straight for the soulbeasts. Bai Yunfei toted his Lightning Eagle to fire off several rounds at the dozen class four soulbeasts. Clashing with the other soulbeasts as he did, Bai Yunfei’s other arm wielded the Fire-tipped Spear to battle furiously with any soulbeast willing to engage in close combat with him.
This time, Long didn’t use the ‘Ninety-nine Lightnings’ like he did before to kill all those soulbeasts. It was clearly a move not meant to be used with reckless abandon. On the other hand, the ‘Lightning Flash Slash’ was used to charge straight into the group and behead a dozen soulbeasts in one stroke. Then in another bolt of purple light, Long killed another few soulbeasts in a flurry of blood.
This way of fighting wasn’t unfamiliar to Bai Yunfei since that was how he had fought for the last two hours to halt the advances of the soulbeasts. Each time a soulbeast came up, he’d stab at it with his spear. The class five soulbeasts took some more effort to kill, and there were a few soulbeasts that managed to step far enough into the village, but Bai Yunfei would kill those off with a flying dagger or two.
“Swish!”
Only having just stabbed a soulbeast through, Bai Yunfei heard the sound of whistling from behind, causing him to quirk his eyes. Shifting his feet just half a meter to the right with the Wave Treading Steps, Bai Yunfei watched as a sharp green blade swish down, leaving behind a deep hole in the ground where it struck.
His new foe was a mid-stage mantis ant. This particular species possessed the body of an ant the size of a large boar and had long bladed arms like a praying mantis.
When its first move failed to land, the mantis ant immediately struck again, this time a horizontal stroke at Bai Yunfei’s midriff.
In response, Bai Yunfei held his spear vertical to his body to block the strike. After the second strike had been blocked, Bai Yunfei was surprised to see the mantis ant try again with a downward stroke on his head, but he responded in kind. Lifting his left arm, he blocked the arm with his Returner Bracer with a “clang”.
Then, there was only a small screech from the ant before it was sent flying away from Bai Yunfei in a flash!
+10 Additional effect of the Returner Bracer, activated!
30% chance to deflect 15% of the damage done. The damage dealt cannot exceed the defensive power of this equipment and cannot deflect long-ranged attacks.
Chasing up to the ant, Bai Yunfei lashed out with his fist rather than his spear since it was a little too close for that. Unwilling to give up the chance, Bai Yunfei’s left hand immediately activated the Ninefold Fist Force to deliver a blow on the still flying mantis ant.
“Bang!!” Came the explosion. A huge indentation formed on the carapace of the ant, but not deep enough to be fatal. Due to its body being sent even farther away thanks to the punch, and the positioning of everyone there, the ant found itself flying for Long who was fighting a little farther away!
“Skree!!” Realizing that it was heading ‘straight’ for Long, the ant lifted its long arms up into the air to make use of this opportunity to strike down Long!
Bai Yunfei was prepared for this. At some point prior to the ant’s screeching, the Fire-tipped Spear had already transferred to his left hand so that he could hold onto the Fire Eagle with his right.
“Click.”
The trigger was pressed, and with a bang, a single bullet of elemental fire shot straight for the mantis ant.
“Skreee!” The ant screeched again upon notice of the incoming attack. A flurry of green light exploded forth from its body and towards its small legs, resulting in a green whirlwind to appear beneath it. It pushed the ant several inches away in a successful evasion of the bullet while also aiding the ant’s next strike at Long!
Since he had been so concentrated on fighting the soulbeasts in front of him, Long was caught off guard by the fact that a soulbeast from Bai Yunfei’s side was suddenly coming towards him. As soon as he realized an attck was on him, he turned his head just in time to see the soulbeast shift several inches to the side, and then a small bullet filled with elemental fire graze past the soulbeast and towards himself!
The pupils in his eyes rapidly dilated; this type of attack from Bai Yunfei was completely unexpected to him, and he hadn’t the time to dodge this ‘fatal’ strike from him!
Would Long meet his unexpected demise at the hands of his supposed comrade?!
Of course not!
No sooner did Bai Yunfei see the mantis ant dodge the bullet for it to head for Long did he smile, as if unworried about the fact that it was about to kill his fellow soul cultivator.
“Swoosh!” The displacement of wind could be felt around Long’s ears in the next moment. Just as he was just about to resign himself to what came next, he realized that the bullet that had only been just inches away from his eyes had without warning turned slightly to the left!
There was a muffled sound of flesh being penetrated before the mantis ant was heard screeching again. Looking at the ant, Long was surprised to see that the fire bullet had somehow shot into the ant’s head and out its back as if it had eyes!
“Thud!!!” The mantis ant collapsed onto the ground and spasmed for several moments before finally dying….
“Wh–what…?” Long’s mind went blank. He saw what just happened in front of him, but his mind was unable to completely comprehend it.
It wasn’t until Bai Yunfei dispatched another two soulbeasts trying to take advantage of his distracted self with his guns that Long realized where he was. With just a quick look at the Fire Eagle in Bai Yunfei’s hand, Long suppressed his curiosity and began to fight again.
What should’ve been impossible to do was without a doubt due to the special effect of the Fire Eagle!
Fire Eagle stats:
Equipment Grade: Mid Earth
Elemental Affinity: Fire
Upgrade Level: +10
Attack: 950
Additional Attack: 500
Soul Compatibility: 10%
+10 Additional Effect: Upon ascertaining a target within a 500 meter radius, the next shot will have the ‘homing’ effect applied to it.
Cooldown of five minutes.
Upgrade Requirement: 100 Soulpoints
Its effect was different than the Lightning Eagle in that it had to be manually activated rather than by chance. Furthermore, its effect was the ultimate ‘homing’ effect!
This meant that as long as he used his soulsense to target something, he could activate the effect with a fire bullet to chase it down! The bullet would chase its foe down until it hit or was blocked!
The only drawback to this effect was its relatively long cooldown time, so Bai Yunfei tried not to use it too often.
……
Ten minutes later, Bai Yunfei and Long were both finishing up the rest of their soulbeasts. Not a single one had managed to make it into the village yet, but due to the outbreak of elemental power in the battle, two of the houses on the outer rim of the village were destroyed.
Not even able to take a break, the two soul cultivators spotted a flock of soulbeasts head towards them. Injured they were, but the soulbeasts were coming with great speeds still!
“Damnit!” This flock of soulbeasts coming at them now made the situation even worse than when they were first fighting the two groups of soulbeasts since the area of coverage was now even bigger than before!
“We’ve no choice but to attack with all we got!”
Glancing at each other, the two men nodded and then sped towards the soulbeast with even more soulforce blazing from them than before.
……
“Gun fu!!”
……
“Three Swords Style….Five Hundred Lightnings!”