Chapter 280: Tragic End and Joyous Grind - Part 1

Emotion blinded Callop's judgment. He attacked Tang Shaoyang out of anger, now he was puzzled and also tensed up at the same time.

He was puzzled as to why Tang Shaoyang's injuries were healed suddenly. He was tensed up because the man survived his friend's [Grand Skyfall]. Without a doubt that the man was much stronger than him. If he fought the man in one vs one, he would lose his life for sure.

But his friends were always there for him. Before the man could make his move on him, two spinning arrows shot toward Tang Shaoyang. The arrow created a spiral fierce wind that left cuts on the scorched ground.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast it was, the two arrows were detected by Tang Shaoyang's [Spirit Eyes]. He turned around and swept his scythe.

Clang! Clang!

He reflected the arrow upward with the scythe and his hand was trembling. Right after that, he turned around again, trying to rush toward the lone Spearmaster.

He was about to dash forward, an earth wall rose. Tang Shaoyang did not falter as he punched the earth wall with his free hand. The earth wall crumbled under his punch and his figure disappeared instantly.

[Flash Step]

His figure flashed toward Callop but the latter was prepared for this. Callop figured out that he just needed to survive until his friends got closer to him.

As Tang Shaoyang appeared in front of him and slashed the scythe down to him, Callop brought his spear upward to meet with the scythe.

Clang!

The clash caused a spark and Callop's hand trembled. He found out that the opposite party had an inhumane strength, 'No wonder he could block the last move of the [Grand Skyfall] with his raw strength.'

Meanwhile, Tang Shaoyang could feel that the opposite party tried to push his scythe. He could easily press the man down with his pure strength, but this was not going to help him to kill the Spearmaster before his friends came.

He had to kill the Spearmaster before the others came to help. After what happened just now, he learned his lesson. First, do not let them use a big skill such as [Grand Skyfall]. Not that he was afraid of the skill but the risk was too big. Second, killing them once they were separated. Because if they were close to each other, it would be extremely hard to kill. They would support and protect each other, and their coordination was not a joke even for someone as quick as him.

Tang Shaoyang let Callop push his scythe upward. From the Spearmaster's perspective, it was a big opening. He was defenseless, and the Spearmaster did not want to let this golden chance slip out.

[Triple Phantom Thrust]

Callop pulled the spear and thrust the spear three times in a second. Black energy covered the spear leaving a black streak trail.

Tang Shaoyang grinned as the three thrusts met with his [Flame Shield]. The crimson sphere crumbled in the spear's third thrust. The sphere turned into a crimson flame and rushed toward Callop.

The Spearmaster responded quickly, he revolved the spear toward the incoming flame, creating a strong wind to disperse the flame. The method was working but that was not the main issue. As soon as the flame dispersed, axes formed around Tang Shaoyang and revolved.

[Revolving Axes]

The axes sliced through the Spearmaster's plate armor repeatedly. He was caught unprepared, and the strong axes sent him flying back. At this time, Tang Shaoyang threw [Wild Axes] toward Callop who was still in the air.

The two axes pierced through his chest all the way to his heart. Callop's vision blanked as his body crashed along with the axes. His body and skins shredded by the [Revolving Axes], and his heart split by the axes too. His face and body were hardly recognizable.

[You have leveled up!]

[You gained four attribute points!]

[Your second class [Slayer] has reached level 89!]

[The fixed attributes have been allocated!]

[You gained four attribute points!]

[Your second class [Slayer] has reached level 90!]

[The fixed attributes have been allocated!]

[You gained four attribute points!]

Along with the level up, the exhaustion and mana were also recovered. He returned to his peak again.

"Callop!" Wayne yelled furious as he and his party came out of the shield energy. They were trying to save their friend but Tang Shaoyang killed him too fast.

At the hundred meters distance, the two archers, two mages, and the two clerics stopped their advance. The two Grand Cleric cast various kinds of skills at Wayne who kept charging forward.

The two archers pulled their string as a red mana arrow formed. They pulled the string to the maximum stretch and aimed at Tang Shaoyang.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two arrows turned into a flame and accelerated toward Tang Shaoyang. The arrows passed through Wayne and reached the target. Tang Shaoyang swung the scythe to block the arrows but as soon as the flame arrow touched his scythe, it exploded and engulfed him.

The fierce flame blazed fiercely, but the flame could not touch Tang Shaoyang's skin as a layer of mana blocked the flame. That was [Mana Shroud], it was basically like armor made of mana.

[Mana Shroud] covered his whole body, from the hair to his toenail. From the fierce flame that engulfed him, he could only feel the heat. The only drawback of this [Mana Shroud] was mana consuming.

His mana would be consumed each time the shroud tried to black an attack. As long as he had the mana, it would protect him unless the attack was too strong to break it just like the [Sky Grandfall].

Wayne was ready to execute one of his strongest skills to kill the man. His sword was glowing in dark red, just as he was about to swing it, a figure flushed out from the flame, unscathed.

Tang Shaoyang landed right in front of Wayne, three meters away. Even though it did surprise him a little as to how Tang Shaoyang left the flame unscathed, he was prepared with his skill.

—Ten minutes is up!

At the same time, Zaneos reminded Tang Shaoyang. The spirit was talking about the [War Cry]'s buff.

'It seems the Lady Luck is on my side,' Tang Shaoyang grinned at Wayne before he opened his mouth.

"Roar!"

A lion-like roar escaped Tang Shaoyang's mouth. Wayne's ears were ringing with the roar as his head was getting dizzy at the same time. The Magic Swordsman was standing too close to Tang Shaoyang hence the dizziness was hard to shake off.

The skill he had prepared also got canceled and he was in his most vulnerable state at this time. The best chance for Tang Shaoyang to kill the swordsman.

The two clerics and two mages could feel the dizziness from the roar, but with their high perception and their distance, they managed to shake it off quickly. The four immediately tried to cast protection spells at Wayne.

Meanwhile, Tang Shaoyang ignored the Magic Swordsman as he cast [Flash Step]. Instead of attacking the vulnerable swordsman, he flashed forward.

His figure disappeared, flashing into the six figures. He appeared between the two archers, two mages, and the two clerics. The mages and the clerics were caught off guard. They just cast their spells for Wayne so they could do nothing when the man appeared here.

However, the two archers reacted quickly as they pulled their strings. The mana arrows formed in their bows, they just needed to release the arrow but a shockwave hit them.

[War Stomp]

Tang Shaoyang stomped the ground, sending the shockwave to his surroundings. The shockwave was strong enough to blow the two archers' aim upward. They shot their flame arrows to the sky.

While the shockwave was strong enough to disturb the aim, this was giving a chance for the two mages and the two clerics to recover their timing to cast more spells.

Tang Shaoyang, of course, had prepared everything, that was why he dared to slip into their formation. After the [War Stomp], he executed his surprise skill.

[Earth Split]

He stomped the ground once more toward Wayne's direction. The ground was shaking fiercely and the ground also started to split open. The crack kept moving toward the just recovered Magic Swordsman.

Wayne was well aware that his friends were in danger. He had to move back to help but the sudden shake caused him to lose his balance, and he noticed the cracked ground moving toward him.

He gathered the strength on his legs and jumped to the side. The Magic Swordsman dodged the split so he would not get trapped in the crevice. While he managed to save his life, the party leader of Red Chivalries had to witness his friends' final moments.

Wayne saw his friends were trying to keep their balance to stand still, but there was one person who remained unaffected, Tang Shaoyang. With his very own eyes, he saw the man swirled his body with his scythe.

The scythe might not reach all of them, but he witnessed himself the demise of all of his friends. The closest to the scythe was the two clerics, the two girls had their heads flown into the air along with a fountain of blood.

The two mages and the two archers had their upper-half sliced into two and fell off to the sides. The invisible blade sliced through their bodies and killed them all.

The Diamond Rank Adventurer watched the whole scene with his eyes wide open. He never thought one day that his party would meet their demise at a remote place like Orin Forest.

It was supposed to be an easy mission to fight the Beast Stampede, but their greediness led them to their doom. The easy task ended up with a tragic end.