Chapter 614: Warrior's Battle

Chapter 614 Warrior’s Battle

“You know me?”

The man standing before Chen Xiaolian wore a military uniform and held an M4 automatic rifle in his hand. He was none other than the former leading figure of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, one of the resident guilds of Zero City, Bluesea.

At that moment, however, there was a baffled expression on his face.

“Mr Bluesea, you… don’t recognize me?” Chen Xiaolian was stunned. “I am Chen Xiaolian.”

“Sorry, I have never heard that name before.” Bluesea shook his head.

After hearing that Chen Xiaolian was the one driving the sports car earlier, Bluesea had lowered his guard somewhat. At that moment, however, he knitted his brows once more and his fingers rested close to the trigger of his rifle. Still, he did not raise up the rifle to aim it at Chen Xiaolian.

“You… … your name is really Bluesea, right?” Chen Xiaolian suddenly had a foreboding sensation as a speculation formed in his mind.

“I am called Bluesea, but I am certain I have never met you before.” Bluesea carefully assessed Chen Xiaolian’s face before shaking his head firmly. “I am a soldier. Every face I see will be deeply imprinted into my mind, never to be forgotten.”

“Is that so…” Chen Xiaolian sighed. With a rueful smile, he said, “So, you died, Mr Bluesea.”

“Of course, I know that.” Bluesea’s answer surprised Chen Xiaolian.

“You… … knew?” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes widened.

“It is not just me. Everyone who came here is someone who had died,” continued Bluesea heavily. “Even if you find it hard to accept, you will have to believe it.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and shook his head. “I know. It is just, the death that I am talking about is not this one…”

He was absolutely confident that the man standing before him was Bluesea.

Since Bluesea could not remember him, that meant…

Bluesea had died in the battle of Zero City.

After Awakened ones die, they will be refreshed back into ordinary humans. At the same time, the system will automatically create a set of memories for the Awakened ones.

During Zero City’s siege, Chen Xiaolian had run to an underground spot to lure the Electronic Guardians away and buy time for the others to evacuate. It was there that he had encountered Shen. Later, he also met Miao Yan. 

After that, Chen Xiaolian got out of Zero City. Since then, he had had no chance to make contact with the surviving members of Zero City.

Till this day, Chen Xiaolian did not even know who had managed to survive the battle.

Now, though, he was able to confirm one thing.

In that fight, Mr Bluesea, who had to struggle alone to support Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild after Skyblade’s disappearance… … had died.

“Not this one?” Bluesea knitted his brows deeper.

Originally, Bluesea had assumed that this young man simply did not know what this place was since he had only recently arrived. He may not even realize that he had died.

However, judging from this Chen Xiaolian’s reaction, it would appear that he was not only aware of that, he also… … possessed an even greater understanding of it?

“That thin man… … he will likely not return any time soon. Besides, with me around, it should be quite safe.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “Tell me what I want to know first and I will slowly explain it to you.”

Bluesea nodded. Just as he was about to speak up, however, the ground suddenly shook.

Before he could react, Chen Xiaolian’s face sank.

The quakes coming from the ground were identical to that caused by the smaller Godzilla from earlier.

As expected, the sound of concrete breaking echoed out from somewhere behind them. The sounds echoed about continuously.

“Damn it! The monsters in this instance dungeon were not fully cleared!”

Chen Xiaolian gritted his teeth as he recalled the thin man’s words from earlier.

It would appear that there were more of those Godzilla-like existences within this abandoned New York instance dungeon.

Sure enough, the surface of the ground, which was illuminated by the car lights, broke apart to form three large holes.

“Aah!”

When the ground first quaked, Bluesea’s three companions raised their rifles to aim at the origin point of the quaking sounds. However, after seeing the three large holes, one of them, a female, screamed out sharply and took several steps backward.

“That… what the Hell is that?!”

A look of shock appeared on Bluesea’s face. However, unlike the other three, he did not fall into a state of panic. He simply raised his rifle to aim forward, a nervous expression on his face.

“Slowly retreat, slowly.” Chen Xiaolian hastily extended his hand and pressed down on Bluesea’s shoulder. “Do not open fire.”

“You… … what did you say?”

Bluesea had his rifle aimed forward. He did not immediately open fire, but his finger was firmly placed on the trigger.

“Soon, some monsters will be coming out from there. Do not let them notice you. Leave it to me,” said Chen Xiaolian with a determined voice. “Those monsters… … can shoot fire. As I am alone, I cannot protect all of you.”

“You can’t be thinking of…” whispered Bluesea as he looked at Chen Xiaolian with widened eyes.

“Leave it to me.” Chen Xiaolian smiled as he gently patted Bluesea’s shoulder, indicating that he should retreat.

Before Bluesea could respond, Chen Xiaolian had charged forward.

As he did so, three Godzilla-like monsters emerged from the large holes on the ground.

Those three appeared slightly smaller compared to the one Chen Xiaolian had encountered above ground earlier. They were only two metres tall. If the earlier monster was a low-quality version Godzilla, these three could only qualify as crappy versions of Godzilla.

At the very least… … when pitted against ordinary humans like Bluesea, there was not too much of a difference in terms of body size.

After emerging from the holes, they noticed Chen Xiaolian, who was rushing toward them.

At the same time, however, Chen Xiaolian heard an ever sharper scream coming from behind him.

It was the woman by Bluesea’s side.

Chen Xiaolian’s heart had just sank when he then heard a sound that was even worse than a scream.

Without showing any hesitation, the woman opened fire at the three monsters.

The sounds of gunfire reverberated out and countless bullets flew forward.

“Damn it! What are you doing?”

Chen Xiaolian only had time to curse out. By then, it was too late.

The woman had hastily opened fire only to find that she was unable to hold the assault rifle properly as she fired with it. The recoil from the assault rifle caused her to stagger backward. As a result, only a few bullets managed to hit one of the monsters. The rest of her magazine was spent on decorating the ceiling of the underground parking garage.

As for the bullets which managed to hit the monster, it only bit into the monster’s outer skin, failing to bring about any substantial harm to the monster. It did, however, succeed in attracting the monster’s attention. The monster abruptly unleashed a roar. Getting into all fours, it then charged toward the woman.

As for the other two monsters, they too, were attracted by the woman. However, they did not charge forward. Instead, turning to face the woman, they lifted their heads up high and began inhaling deeply.

“Ah, shit!”

Chen Xiaolian swore inwardly. It was already too late to rush toward the charging monster. He could only stand his ground. Holding onto the long blade, he thrust it into the ground.

“Mr Bluesea! Lead them away!”

Chen Xiaolian shouted out as he thrust the blade into the ground.

At that very moment, the two monsters finished their inhaling action.

Two bluish streams of flames sprayed out from their mouths toward Bluesea and his group.

Chen Xiaolian stood in between them and their targets.

This time, Chen Xiaolian no longer used the blade to split up the flames. Instead, the blade emitted a relatively brighter golden light, which formed a thin layer of barrier before him.

Earlier, when he was above ground, he had only ‘split’ the flames. This time, he dared not do so.

There were two of those fire-breathing monsters this time and the blade may not be able to split the combined might of the stream of flames. Even if he could, Chen Xiaolian had no assurance that the split flames would not hit the people behind him.

Judging from his earlier experience with the flames, even a slight graze from the flames would instantly turn an unprotected ordinary human into charcoal.

As it was, those four people were Chen Xiaolian’s only source of information. Not to mention, Mr Bluesea was there as well.

In order to ensure their survival, he could only…

Face it head on.

The golden barrier before Chen Xiaolian immediately spread out to stop both streams of flames.

When the streams of flames struck the golden barrier, they were not split apart. Instead, they were stopped by the barrier before falling down like a waterfall, turning the ground beneath the barrier red from the heat.

The third monster, however, quickly rushed forward on all fours. It circled around the barrier to make its way toward Bluesea’s group.

Watching the monster rush toward Bluesea’s group, Chen Xiaolian became anxious. However, there was nothing he could do about it.

After entering this ‘World’s End’, Chen Xiaolian’s own strength and skills remained. However, he was unable to access his personal system. Other than the clothes he was wearing, he had nothing else.

He thought back to the thin man’s blaster from earlier. Judging from its firepower, despite its lack of a lock-on function, it was still a high-grade item. Unfortunately, Chen Xiaolian used too much force to tug it away from the thin man’s hand, damaging it in the process.

The present him only had the long blade he liberated from the thin man’s hands. Other than that, he had completely no weapons left on him.

In order to stop the two streams of flames, Chen Xiaolian cannot move away at all. As he was without any long-range weapons, he could only watch as the third monster rushed into the distance.

Fortunately, Bluesea’s rate of reaction was much faster than most people. The moment the woman pulled the trigger, he realized that things were going in the wrong direction. Grunting, he grabbed the woman and pulled her with him as he ran backward.

Seeing that the bullets failed to do much, the woman became dumbfounded. Bluesea pulled her by her hand and shoved her toward the other two men. “Run! Do not open fire! Just run!”

After saying that, Bluesea raised his assault rifle and opened fire at the incoming monster as he retreated.

The monster’s movement speed was fast. However, they were in an underground parking garage, which was filled with cars. Thus, its movements were somewhat hampered as a result. Additionally, while the bullets fired could not do any substantial damage to the monster, it did inflict some pain upon the monster, thereby affecting it.

Thanks to the assistance of the two men, the still dazed woman was able to stumble toward the nearby stairs. Considering the monster’s size, it would be difficult for it to enter the staircase.

As Bluesea hoped, his shots had managed to catch the monster’s attention. It released a roar, turned, and charged at Bluesea.

After using up one whole magazine, he stopped shooting. Turning around, he quickly ran backward. As he ran, he retrieved a new magazine from his tactical vest and inserted the new magazine into his assault rifle.

By then, there were less than 10 metres between Bluesea and the monster.

The monster leaped high into the air and swung its claws at Bluesea. At that very moment, a cold glint flashed out from Bluesea’s eyes.

Following the standard military tactic, he threw his body over to the side and rolled away, dodging the monster’s attack by a hair’s breadth. Next, he quickly raised his assault rifle and aimed carefully at the monster’s right eye.

A three-round burst of gunfire struck the monster’s right eye. Although its whole was body was protected by the hard scales, its eyes remained the softest and most vulnerable part.

Blood spurted out and the monster lifted its head up high to unleash a long roar. Its roar echoed through the underground parking garage, causing it to shake as a result.

After firing those shots, Bluesea did not continue firing. Instead, he retracted the assault rifle and quickly ran away. He ran in the direction opposite to that taken by his three companions.

At that moment, Chen Xiaolian was still holding onto the long blade that he had inserted into the ground. As he still had to stop the two streams of flames, he was unable to move at all. All he could do was clench his teeth and look at Bluesea’s general direction through the corner of his eyes.

Utilizing Skyblade’s power, Chen Xiaolian could reach a strength that was infinitely close to that of [S] class for a moment. Under such circumstances, even if he had to face off against the colossal eight-storey monster from Zero City’s invasion, Chen Xiaolian was confident that he could win. The flames from the two monsters before him had quite the intense level of temperature. However, they were still far lacking compared to the blue beam from the monster that was capable of breaking through the Sentinel mech’s shield in less than half a second’s time.

Unfortunately, while it was easy for him to block off the two streams of flames after using Skyblade’s power, he could not move around while maintaining the defensive barrier.

If Chen Xiaolian was the only one within the underground parking garage, it would be easy for him to kill off the three monsters. However, Bluesea and his group were now a factor of concern for Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian was confident that he could withdraw the defensive barrier, dodge the incoming streams of flames, and kill off the two monsters with just one attack. However, he had no assurance that the two streams of flames would not hit Bluesea and his companions.

Thankfully, despite having lost his powers and memories of being an Awakened, Bluesea was still a soldier.

An elite soldier.

After roaring out, the third monster charged toward Bluesea. This time, he dared not dash on all fours. Instead, like Godzilla from the movies, it moved forward in a bipedal manner, its left arm raised to cover its left eye.

As for its right eye, only a bloody hole remained. White and red coloured liquid flowed down from the hole.

Although the monster did not possess any true intellect, it would appear that it did possess animal instincts.

Bluesea swiftly ran back, occasionally turning around to fire a few shots at the monster. However, the monster would not give Bluesea any more chances to hit its eye. Every time Bluesea opened fire, the bullets would only hit the scales on its head, causing sparks to fly about.

Even so, Bluesea’s actions did hamper the monster’s rate of advance. Although that did not increase the distance between them, it did not decrease.

Bluesea continued running while shooting. What little time he had in between he used to gauge his surroundings.

Thanks to his efforts of luring the third monster, his three companions had succeeded in making their way to the edge of the underground parking garage. They now ran into a door leading to the stairs connecting to the upper floors.

As for the two monsters on Chen Xiaolian’s side, they continued to spray flames out from their mouths. However, the colour of the flames was gradually changing from blue to a bluish white.

That meant the power behind the flames was gradually decreasing.

“Mr Bluesea! Circle around these two!”

With both his hands still holding onto the blade to maintain the defensive barrier, Chen Xiaolian shouted loudly at Bluesea.

Earlier, the monster above ground’s attack had lasted for only 20 to 30 seconds. The intensity of its attack had not changed at all. Presently, however, Chen Xiaolian had had to maintain the defensive barrier for nearly one minute.

That meant the monsters may actually possess a certain level of intellect. Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say, a co-operative nature in hunts.

Those two monsters spraying out flames were clearly attempting to hold down Chen Xiaolian so that their companion could hunt down the weaker Bluesea.

Not knowing how much longer they can continue their flame attack, Chen Xiaolian dared not have this continue any longer.

Only if… … Bluesea could get clear of the stream of flames’ pathing would Chen Xiaolian dare to withdraw the defensive barrier.

Bluesea performed another roll and fired a three-round burst at the monster chasing him. Next, he turned his head to look at Chen Xiaolian and nodded his head. After that, he turned in a different direction, running toward Chen Xiaolian.

Direct! Chen Xiaolian secretly gave praise.

Right after hearing his words, Bluesea had understood his intention and did not hesitate to follow his instructions. Bluesea was definitely an elite soldier with extraordinary qualities.

If so… next up…

As long as Bluesea can make it past the pathing of the streams of flames…

However, Bluesea had just covered half the distance when he suddenly heard a thunderous roar coming from the monster behind him.

Looking back, Bluesea became aghast. The monster had seemingly realized what was going on. It stopped moving and raised its head up high.

“Damn it!”

Chen Xiaolian was stunned. Those monsters were no ordinary beasts.

There was no time to hesitate.

“Find cover!”

Hearing Chen Xiaolian’s shout, Bluesea showed no scruple. With a leap, he rolled himself to the back of a pillar, using it as a shield.

Following Bluesea’s grunt, Chen Xiaolian took action.

The faint golden coloured barrier before him fell apart in an instant. With no more obstacles blocking their path, the stream of flames shot forward.

With a flash, Chen Xiaolian pulled out the long blade from the ground. Next, a chilling light shone out as he sent a horizontal slash at the two monsters before him.

The sword beam sliced through the two monsters’ neck like cutting butter. In just an instant, the two monsters had been decapitated.

However, the stream of flames spraying out from their heads did not stop. As their heads slowly fell to the ground, the two streams of flames swept around the underground parking garage in a chaotic manner.

Having heard Chen Xiaolian’s words, Bluesea had ducked behind a pillar. He used the pillar for cover.

At the same time, the third monster sent a ferocious stream of blue flames at Bluesea.

His hands still holding onto his assault rifle, Bluesea did his best to contract his body so that the pillar could cover him.

He watched as the pillar split the incoming stream of flames into two. The two split flames sprayed out on either side. Even so, Bluesea could still feel the heat from the flames. In just a moment’s time, the heat wave from the flames had nearly suffocated him.

He could even hear cracking sounds coming from the pillar behind him. He had no doubt that a few seconds were all the flames needed to melt the pillar made from reinforced concrete. After that, he would be struck by the flames and not even ashes would be left of him.

Thankfully, the stream of flames only lasted for less than two seconds before coming to a stop.

The sound of something heavy falling down could be heard. Then, the underground parking garage turned quiet once more.

…