Chapter 767 - Acute
"That was close. Help me up quick, we need to leave before they realize I was bluffing!"
Huffing and puffing Hao Xuan extended his hand which Burak swiftly grabbed, lending him a much-needed shoulder as they started sprinting towards the exit again.
"'You will stay here until I call for you.'"
That was perhaps the best bluff Hao Xuan had ever pulled off, and quite successfully to boot.
After using 'Sunder the Heavens' he quickly realized there was no way he would be able to do it again. His hands almost shattered into pieces from the sheer pressure that traveled through them.
But he obviously couldn't let them know that so Hao Xuan pretended that it was just a warning strike and not at all intended to behead Lazar, which it obviously didn't manage to do.
Thankfully, more often than not the idea of something is far more powerful than the actual act itself.
None of the Ether beasts wanted to try and go against Hao Xuan to check for themselves, not to mention his academy-award-winning acting didn't leave much room for negotiation as they swiftly made their escape before Lazar and his pack of ether beasts could pick up on the clues.
That said, such a high purity level of the Lycan bloodline could do wonders when working in tandem with his physique's already supernatural healing abilities to speedily close up any internal wounds that were caused by it.
Hao Xuan only needed a couple of minutes of focus to regain more than 80% mobility and get back on his feet again.
Most of the second floor was empty, only it had a lot more interconnected hallways that led nowhere. By the time they reached the first floor, it was already quite late.
There were droves of various beasts and strange creatures lingering every few meters. That along with the darkness did not help their chances of getting out any time soon.
Isak's flame came in really handy at this point since burning everything in front of them was much faster than picking a fight one by one. He fired off streams of black flame and fireballs one after w=another without holding back.
The only problem was that in an enclosed space such as this, it was not easy to control it.
Many of the barbarians including Hao Xuan got hit by it on more than one occasion. Thankfully Isak always managed to pull back at the last second and other than a blackened face, there wasn't much damage.
"You go ahead, we will distract them so you can look for the way out without getting interrupted," Burak suggested after they dispatched the third wave of monsters. There didn't seem to be an end to them and their numbers only got bigger with time so this was the best option.
And since Hao Xuan was the only other than Isak and Burak that could easily hold his own in a dire situation, it was best for him to go despite the danger.
And their plan bore fruit since Hao Xuan managed to find the exit mere minutes after leaving. The only issue was that it was blocked by some debris and a fair few creatures.
Hao Xuan examined them from afar. Most of them were the same thread-like creatures that controlled corpses of various sizes and strengths. Killing them would not be easy since simply chopping off a head or two didn't stop them.
And if he picked a fight with them, others might follow the noise and he would be sandwiched in between a rock and a hard place.
Hao Xuan recalled the layout outside of the pyramid and picked a spot a couple of hallways to the left of the entrance. This area should lead directly outside.
After making sure there was nothing else nearby, Hao Xuan punched the wall with almost half his strength.
But instead of an impactful thud that he was expecting, it felt like he punched a giant rubber. All the force behind the punch was redirected right back, sending him reeling back several meters.
"Fffff-" Hao Xuan shook his wrist back and forth to redistribute the force into the surroundings. He had to forcefully stop himself from cursing out loud.
It was a good thing he was a little prepared otherwise the force was enough to do some damage to his inner organs.
"What the fuck is this," he walked up to the wall and ran his fingers along its rough surface.
But when he started putting some pressure on it, a semi-transparent barrier showed itself that kept reflecting all the force back at him.
"So it's like a containment barrier?"
No wonder the other creatures couldn't leave.
Hao Xuan tried a few other things but only when he called out the glaive and tried to cut the wall did he see a sliver of hope. The barrier was ripped open for just an instant before it closed itself again.
It looked like it could perfectly deflect all blunt force and energy-based attacks. Only cutting or slashing would work but for a very short moment.
With a few more strikes Hao Xuan got a pretty good idea of what to do.
He channeled most of the Chaos Qi towards his left hand. A small ring of rolling black clouds appeared around the palm of his hand. In the center of this ring, the air swirled, trembled, and then broke apart.
Wisps of yellow and orange flame flickered before being replaced by a bright white light.
*Crackle~*
Hao Xuan jerked his hand back and forth in a circular motion and a lightning bolt slowly materialized within his grasp.
"Hm, worked better than expected..."
Hao Xuan could already separate the elements and control two of them which he found the easiest, but to materialize a solid bolt of lightning in the palm of his hand like some kind of a thunder god, this was was new.
But unlike before, he could acutely feel every single energy and hence control it that much easier. Once he knew which was which, it became a lot easier to separate them.
This was thanks to the Lycan bloodline. Just like many mythical level bloodlines, it had a lot of strengths and talents.
"Alright, let's try this again."
He swung the glaive with his right hand and before it could even leave the wall, the lightning bolt tore through the air and impacted against the defenseless wall.
*BOOOM*
It burst open and Hao Xuan jumped through without even waiting for the debris to settle.
Upon seeing the familiar sky overhead and the surroundings, Hao Xuan quickly called for the others. (Read Chapter 692 (He, Who) to 695 (Mistakes were made) as the events there are a detailed version of what happens next)