Chapter 658: Silver Bow

Chapter 658 Silver Bow

“Dodge!”

Chen Xiaolian hastily pushed Qiao Qiao. Leveraging on the resulting force of the push, both of them shot away from each other, barely dodging the bolt of light from the Thunderstorm Tank.

The bolt of light carved out a deep gully along the ground and it nearly struck a mech-piloting Irregularity standing some distance before Chen Xiaolian.

“Damn it! Yu Ren! You nearly hit me! Have you never operated a Thunderstorm Tank before?!”

The Irregularity shouted at the Thunderstorm Tank.

The mech that the Irregularity was piloting was not the type that fully encased its pilot. Rather, it was more of a large external exoskeleton machine. The head portion of the mech was originally supposed to have a transparent, semi-enclosed cover. However, perhaps for the sake of convenience, the cover had been left fully opened.

On the left arm of the mech was a large alloy chain saw. As for its right arm, it had a three-fingered fist. There was a heavy-duty laser minigun installed on it as well.

Taking advantage of the brief opening when the Irregularity had shouted out, Chen Xiaolian kicked forward with both his feet, closing the distance between them until there were less than 50 metres between them.

Seeing Chen Xiaolian charge him, the Irregularity did not raise up the mech’s minigun to open fire. Instead, he sneered and adjusted his mech to enter a melee stance.

Chen Xiaolian’s heart grew tense. Seeing as how the opponent before him could show such confidence, his melee capabilities must be considerable.

Using both hands, Chen Xiaolian gripped the Sword in the Stone tightly. He rushed forward like an arrow while positioning his body low, almost at the same level as the ground. Then, when his body was about to make contact with the ground, he abruptly vaulted up into the air. 

Contrary to Chen Xiaolian’s expectations, the mech, which appeared massive, was not bulky. Faced with Chen Xiaolian’s charging move, it immediately engaged its front thrusters and the mech flew backward at the same speed as him.

At that moment, the relative speed between the two had fallen to zero. It was as though Chen Xiaolian was simply jumping up while facing the mech.

At the same time, the mech’s large alloy chain saw swept toward the path that Chen Xiaolian was taking.

Chen Xiaolian desperately twisted his body and changed the positioning of the Sword in the Stone, from an upraised stance to a horizontal stance before the right side of his body.

When the alloy chainsaw struck the Sword in the Stone, Chen Xiaolian felt an intense tremor travelling into both his hands. Although he had managed to block the strike, his body was sent flying.

What a terrifying level of power!

Chen Xiaolian's heart sank.

When Chen Xiaolian approached the mech with his charge earlier, the Irregularities in the distance had stopped firing for fear of injuring their own. Instead, they rushed forward. However, thanks to the strike from the alloy chainsaw, Chen Xiaolian was sent flying a distance of tens of metres back.

With such a distance between him and the mech, they no longer have to fear accidentally hitting the mech.

To Chen Xiaolian’s surprise, though, the Irregularity piloting the mech did not choose to increase the distance between them. Instead, he engaged the back thrusters. The turbines behind the mech unleashed two streams of faint blue light and the mech charged in pursuit of Chen Xiaolian.

“Don’t you know this Karraryze mech is a melee type? You dare challenge me?!”

There was an excited smile on the piloting Irregularity’s face as he sent the mech’s chainsaw hacking down onto Chen Xiaolian’s figure.

Chen Xiaolian, who was still in the air, forcibly shifted the positioning of his body. The moment his left shoulder struck the ground, his figure jumped up, the Sword in the Stone shooting upward.

Ding!

A clear sound rang out as the chainsaw snapped into two the moment it struck the Sword in the Stone. However, the front part of the broken chainsaw struck Chen Xiaolian’s body, sending him flying once more. Thankfully, its chain had fallen off, saving Chen Xiaolian’s waist from being cut apart.

The first time the mech’s alloy chainsaw struck the sword, it had not received any damage.  Thus, the piloting Irregularity had not expected the chainsaw to break so easily by the second strike. Seeing that, the Irregularity fell into a state of shock. 

The Sword in the Stone’s passive skill had activated.

Killing Blow!

Against weapons that were beneath the Sword in the Stone in level, the skill allowed for at least a 50 per cent chance to immediately break the enemy weapon.

The alloy chainsaw was merely an auxiliary melee weapon installed onto the mech. Even the mech’s level would not exceed [A] class. Could the alloy chainsaw? The fact that it had managed to take one strike from the Sword in the Stone without breaking was already good luck on the Irregularity’s part.

The chain around the broken alloy chainsaw was also cut in the process. Released from the hold of the chainsaw, the chain flew backward at the opened cover and the Irregularity piloting the mech. 

The Irregularity furiously tilted his head to the side and was barely able to dodge the sharp chain. Even so, a bloody scar could be seen on his face after that.

When he turned his head forward once more, however, he was greeted with a bone blade slashing toward his neck.

Bluesea.

Although firing the organic high-temperature blaster at full power twice had greatly sapped his stamina, he forced himself to bring out the bone blade. Then, acting in concert with Chen Xiaolian, he moved to kill the Irregularity piloting the mech.

The Irregularity was shocked. He furiously engaged the thrusters to pull the mech up to avoid the incoming strike before joining up with his allies to finish off Chen Xiaolian’s group.

By then, he was already regretting his arrogance.

He still had allies in the square. While somewhat embarrassing, as long as he could extricate himself from the melee, he could save himself.

On Bluesea’s end, he was still in a state of fatigue. Thus, his bone blade was too slow and was unable to hit the Irregularity’s neck. It only managed to strike the tough surface of the mech. The strike was incapable of causing a sufficient amount of damage. Instead, it only left a shallow scrape on the surface of the mech. 

Insufficient strength.

The Irregularity felt thankful and engaged the mech’s side thruster, wanting to move away from the enemy encirclement. Suddenly, however, he saw that a clump of black mist had appeared. The clump of black mist slipped into the mech through the opened cover.

Next, the black mist enveloped the mech. Soon after, the external surface of the mech began cracking apart before turning into fine powder. As for the Irregularity, who was not wearing a helmet, a bloody mist had begun floating up from his head.

His wretched screams were silenced by the black mist, rendering them vague and low. In but moments, no more sound could be heard coming from him.

Having lost its pilot, the mech’s thrusters went out of control. The mech that had just flew up crashed down heavily, causing cracks to appear on the ground. The Irregularity’s head portion was no longer visible and only a tangled mess of blood remained. 

Chen Xiaolian was overjoyed. As he was about to get up, though, he felt a heavy thump in his heart. Frantically, he ducked, but a stinging sensation came from his left shoulder nonetheless.

An arrow beam had struck his left shoulder, piercing through his shoulder blade before hitting the ground.

The resulting impact sent his entire body down the ground.

Faraway, the Irregularity with the silver longbow looked directly at Chen Xiaolian.

“Xiaolian!”

Qiao Qiao, who had just reformed her body after exiting her Anti-materialization form, rushed forward to prop Chen Xiaolian up. However, the silver longbowman had pulled the bowstring of his longbow once more.

“Run!”

Bluesea grabbed Qiao Qiao by the collar and pushed her back while using his body to shield them both.

The Irregularity piloting the mech was the only one between them and the mountain path.

At present, those with the ability to fly were all up in the sky, attacking Sister Yun.

In other words, as long as they could make their way to the mountain path, they could avoid getting hit by the enemy’s firearms.

Qiao Qiao, too, understood that this was not the time to be affected by emotions. She gripped Chen Xiaolian’s arm, lifted him up, and ran toward the mountain path.

There were less than 300 metres between them and the mountain path.

The silver longbowman released the bowstring and another arrow beam shot toward them. Bluesea responded with a low roar as he positioned his left arm before him. The tentacles on his left arm quickly stretched out before transforming into a hard and thick shield.

The instant the arrow beam struck the shield, the entirety of Bluesea’s body shuddered. It seemed as though he was being electrocuted. Next, the momentum behind the arrow beam sent him flying as his shield was broken into pieces.

However, that was not all. Immediately after the arrow beam came an artillery blast from the Thunderstorm Tank.

After firing at them earlier, the Thunderstorm Tank had started up its engine to drive in pursuit of Chen Xiaolian’s group. At that moment, the tank had closed the distance between them by half.

The Thunderstorm Tank’s turret moved, locking down on the three of them. At the same time, Bluesea, who had yet to fall to the ground, had raised his right arm as he aimed at the muzzle of the turret.

At the same time that the Thunderstorm Tank released its attack beam, Bluesea fired out a high-temperature beam at the tank. This one was even more powerful than the ones he had fired out earlier.

The two energy attacks collided in the air, causing a sphere of light to rapidly expand from the point of collision. However, the stalemate only lasted for no more than one second before transforming into a raging blast directed toward the Thunderstorm Tank.

This time, the Thunderstorm Tank’s protective shield could no longer save it. It flickered slightly, stopping the incoming wave of energy for only a moment before breaking down. Then, the whole Thunderstorm Tank was engulfed by the wave of energy.

After unleashing that final high-temperature beam, Bluesea forced out the final remnants of strength within him to form a tentacle from his finger. It stretched, growing thinner and thinner, resembling a whip, as it flew toward Qiao Qiao and Chen Xiaolian, who were running away.

Chen Xiaolian, who had suffered from a wound on his left shoulder, was constantly looking back at Bluesea. His right hand was gripping the spear that Sister Yun had left him.

Seeing the whip that Bluesea was sending their way, Chen Xiaolian was quick to understand him. He swung the spear backward to meet the incoming whip.

With his last remaining drop of strength, Bluesea curled the whip around the body of the spear. Next, Chen Xiaolian pulled with all his might, causing Bluesea’s body to rise into the air and fly toward him.

However, as Bluesea’s body was flying through the air, the silver longbowman sent out another arrow beam.

This time, he did not target Bluesea. Instead, he aimed right for the centre of the whip. Be it Chen Xiaolian, Qiao Qiao or Bluesea, none of them were in the position to intercept the arrow beam.

The stretched whip was easily cut by the arrow beam, causing Bluesea to fall. After falling to the ground, Bluesea lay there, not moving at all. 

The silver longbowman standing faraway remained standing still, not showing any intention of chasing them. Instead, he slowly opened up his right palm. A crystal-like arrow appeared in his palm. Then, he nocked the arrow on the longbow.

…