Chapter 428 - Miserable State
The reasons why everyone was so anxious were varied. However, apart from the soul evolvers and soldiers who had their brothers and comrades fighting inside the forest, the most anxious person was undoubtedly Mayor Bai Yong.
This was because 90% of his soul evolvers were inside the forest facing the enemy right now! If the fire spread and reached them while they were in the middle of the fight then they would all die! This meant that Bai Yong would be losing a limb, from a certain point he would be losing at least 60 to 70% of his total strength just like that!
On the other hand, Commander Jin Shun had mixed feelings. He felt joyful but at the same time, he was terrified by what Mo Zan had just done.
This was because everyone knew what happened when the mutant beasts were cornered by the flames.
All the affected beasts would start looking for a way out even if they had to face the fire! Simply put, a stampede of mutant beasts could crush Baiquan Camp in its entirety!
Mo Zan didn't seem to care at all. He watched as the flames spread more and more with the help of the fierce winds.
"Hahahaha!" Mo Zan laughed out loud as he shouted with bloodshot eyes, "Bai Zemin! Coward! Come and fight me like a man! Is everyone in that shitty faction of yours trash who only knows how to run?!"
As he jumped into the trees, Chen He's expression was as cold as ice. He arrived at the top of a tree 450 meters away from Mo Zan and watched as the flames had already engulfed approximately 200 meters wide and 300 meters long of the forest.
The mutant beasts were not in that area yet, even those Unclassified creatures were at least 1000 meters deep into the woods so the worst-case scenario had not happened yet.
Chen He did not utter a single word. After taking a deep breath and while holding all the air in his lungs, he pointed his bow forward and after imbuing a pinch of his Mana, the blue-colored magic string appeared.
Then, he pulled the string back with all his might while silently activating the strongest skill of his weapon.
An arrow of purple energy slowly began to form and as Chen He imbued more and more mana into the arrow the purple color became deeper and deeper to the point where even the blue color of the bow began to change slightly to purple.
1...2...3 seconds.
Three seconds was the time needed to channel the Third Form of the three arrows that Chen He's magic bow could shoot. This particular Third Form increased the chance of a critical hit by 50% and the piercing ability of this attack could only be described as terrifying.
Chen He had only been forced to use this attack once so far when he faced a level 42 defense-type mutant beast, an attack which granted him victory after a tough battle in which his attacks could not break through his enemy's tough defense.
This was the second time someone forced him to use this attack, and to Chen He's dismay, the enemy was a human whose physical body was extremely weak; especially since the enemy was a mage!
Chen He gritted his teeth and after expending all his Mana he released his grip on the bowstring.
Outside the forest, Mo Zan kept shouting and taunting the enemy. His words were more and more cruel and his vocabulary had no limits.
Seeing how that powerful archer fled with his tail between his legs and seeing how his flames swallowed everything in their path made his ego, damaged by the demonstration of the power of the enemy leader, puff up again.
'Hmph! So what if you are strong? At the end of the day, it's no use if your attacks can't overcome mine!' Mo Zan regained his confidence without even thinking that the enemy archer might be exhausted after fighting for so long under so much tension against an entire army.
Just then, Mo Zan's next words got stuck in his throat as his body shuddered in fear.
"Don't fuck with me!" he roared as he stretched his palms forward and shouted in fright, "Pyro Eruption!"
BANG!
A fiery red magic circle flashed before him and the next moment a huge fiery flame shot forward like an endless torrent. Walls of fire after walls of fire flew forward and incinerated everything in their path.
The power of this skill was undoubtedly a lot more terrifying compared to the power of the Fire Meteor skill previously used by Mo Zan as it was focused in a single direction while Fire Meteor was a weaker skill focused on covering large areas at the same time.
The crimson flames turned everything in their path to ashes and seemed to be unstoppable until they suddenly stopped dead in their tracks as if they had finally met a wall that could not be overcome.
This stalemate only lasted an instant as the next moment the flames burst noisily with sparks flying everywhere and began to burn even more of the forest as if a large tank of fuel had been thrown into the flames that were already doing their work before.
Swoosh!
The purple-colored arrow dimmed greatly after piercing the power of the several crimson walls of fire. However, its penetrating power was clearly demonstrated as without altering its intended trajectory it continued flying forward.
Mo Zan still had his hands extended forward and the magic circle had barely disappeared when his expression froze.
Bang!
The purple arrow hit his right hand and with a shrill scream, Mo Zan's body was sent flying more than thirty meters before falling heavily to the ground.
Although he didn't die because the power of the arrow launched by Chen He had weakened to over 70% after colliding with the crimson flames of the Pyro Eruption skill launched by Mo Zan, the remaining 30% of power was enough to turn Mo Zan's right hand along with his entire arm into a blood mist.
It was only after almost a full minute that as he writhed in pain and his face distorted horribly, Mo Zan struggled to stand up.
"You damned bastard... How dare you... An insignificant ant.... I am the strongest!...." he muttered with a pale face as his eyes widened.
Mo Zan really looked like a crazy person who had completely lost all signs of sanity.
Chen He on the other hand tried to pull his bow again, but unfortunately for him, he no longer had even 1 point of Mana to activate the magic weapon. Even killing the enemy with a dagger became challenging as everything around him seemed to be spinning as his Mana reserves hit the absolute bottom.
In fact, Chen He did not dare to leave the safety of the forest. In his current condition, if he left the protection of the forest he would immediately become an easy target for enemy snipers. He would not even know how he died.
Although the Soul Power of a level 45 existence was extremely tempting for someone level 39 like him, Chen He knew that he needed to maintain his life to enjoy the privileges.
Just as Chen He had made up his mind to turn around and return with the rest while praying not to meet a beast halfway, a series of footsteps caused his expression to harden and his body to tense up.
At this point, an unevolved level 25 soul evolver would have a good chance of killing him if it caught him off guard!
"What a mess you caused here."
Hearing that ever confident and slightly proud voice, Chen He unconsciously relaxed and as a result his exhausted legs finally gave way.
From the shadows dimly lit by the ever-approaching flames, Bai Zemin came out first being followed by several people soon after.
Nangong Lingxin, Wu Yijun, Shangguan Bing Xue, Zhong De, Evangeline, Nangong Yi, Cai Jingyi. Kang Lan, Fu Xuefeng, Xiao Ming, Luo Ning, Yan Tu, and many other soul evolvers came out of the shadows. There were even some soul evolvers that Chen He had never seen before.
Some of them were still grunting in pain due to the wounds on their bodies, others had directly fainted so at least they were not suffering from conscious pain. Those less affected had several scratches while those in worse condition were being supported by other soul evolvers after losing one of their limbs in combat.
Only a few were apparently unharmed. Among them, Luo Ning's eyes were red from crying as she saw how people precious to her were injured and how they suffered. She grew up a lot after seeing the terrifying battle between two human factions and understood the reason why her beloved big brother Bai Zemin would never allow another faction to threaten him; only through total victory could one live in peace, otherwise, one would always be at the mercy of another and injuries would always be something to worry about.
Bai Zemin approached Chen He and looked at him. The talented archer's condition was quite miserable, to say the least.
"Well, I guess you already let out all the anger or frustration you had built up." Bai Zemin said calmly as he saw that there were no serious injuries on his body.
Chen He's pale face gained a slightly embarrassed blush when he heard Bai Zemin's words. Most of all, his embarrassment came from the fact that he was being seen by the woman he loved in such a pitiful state as this.
"Are you okay?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked with apparent indifference but the concern in her eyes did not escape Chen He's sharp eyes.
"Mm... I'm okay." He nodded slightly as he felt warm inside. Even something so insignificant and small was enough for him.
While looking at Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun helping Chen He, Bai Zemin suddenly sensed something so he turned away and walked towards the flames.
Wu Yijun's eyes were always fixed on him so when he moved she immediately noticed it. However, instead of following him, she simply stayed and helped her friend as he really needed support right now.
Bai Zemin watched as the flames advanced further and further and fell into his own thoughts. However, before he could think too much, a casual voice sounded from behind him.
"Let me handle this."
Bai Zemin looked over his shoulder and saw that at some point Shangguan Bing Xue had approached. He looked over past her and saw that Chen He was resting quietly while recovering his lost Stamina and Mana.
"Don't worry about it." She said as if she knew what he was thinking.
Bai Zemin shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
Shangguan Bing Xue also said no more after seeing him stay silent and instead decided to get to work before it gets too late.
"The burning smell might end up attracting the beasts soon if we don't deal with this now." Shangguan Bing Xue said as she stretched out both hands in front of her.
Then, she activated her skill Second Order Ice Maker level 1 and gathered a huge amount of frost energy in her hands before explosively launching it forward with a powerful boost from her Magic stat.
The frost energy spread out at lightning speed far and wide in front of Shangguan Bing Xue. Every time the white-colored radiance with faint particles of blue-colored light touched the ground, the burning trees, or anything else, everything was sealed within a thick blanket of white ice.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The frost sealed everything in ice and as the cold spread, the heat began to plummet rapidly. The flames could do nothing against the ice, they did not even put up a fight before they were extinguished.
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