Chapter 967 Bodyguards
The only mercy Jin's minions would show the likes of these people who had collaborated to insult their master was the mercy of death. Their master had always been a shining beacon for a better future, a second chance for some of the monsters even though most had been initially forced to swear fealty.
Nubwort, who was at the very front, was the first to have the pleasure of beating the shit out of these pissy pants cultivators. He took a standard grade six spear out instead of his personal one and stabbed the very first Roaring Tiger in sight. The spear went through his throat smoothly like a pen penetrating a lump of playdough. Blood immediately clogged in the Roaring Tiger Cultivator's lungs and started to flow out of the hole created from the spear. All the cultivator could do was to desperately move his hands towards the spear.
As if that was not enough for a show of power, Nubwort raised the spear with one arm in an angle and shoved his spear deeper, piercing through another cultivator's heart before the weapon tip hit the ground.
And that was just the opening scene.
Behind him, the 'goblin teenagers' came out and using standard grade weapons they began their assault against the defenceless cultivators. The daggers ripped through the tendons of Flame Ripper's opponents while Dread Reaver chopped some of their heads off when they were responding to the hurt from his brother.
Wyrstriker accompanied Nubwort and followed up with his attack as he jumped over the Orc General's shoulders and stabbed two cultivators with his dual-wielding spears.
As he witnessed the onslaught of deaths, Hao Pai snapped out of his fear and started to command his clan members to move forth as one and try to save the injured ones. Alas, that second command was too tall an order for most veterans to follow.
Heads were chopped off, bodies filled with holes and those cultivators who had their tendons ripped out would be rendered useless their entire lives, making death a more desirable option. That way, if they got resurrected, they would at least leave with their body intact.
Still, Jin and his minions pressed on with their attacks. Hu Yuan Ba did not want to dirty his own hands, and the compensation was more than sufficient for Jin's reputation to get smeared. Of course, a bit of revenge was an added bonus, especially when he couldn't stand this sort of people in their world. Whatever the consequences might be, Jin was sure he had enough powerful contacts to make certain things go away if necessary.
He did not stop his minions and allowed them to act freely as long as the damage was contained within the garden. (Jin had a weird hunch that Yuan Ba might be petty enough to ask Jin to pay for damages outside the garden or maybe twist his words in their verbal agreements.)
In the meantime, Ayse released her lightning magic on the cultivators that were standing on the walls. Some of them managed to evade the first strike, but they did not suspect it would be a tracking magic attack where the bolt of lightning would continuously move to strike the cultivators last position until they were out of Ayse's range of attack. But for those who did not evade, they were hit with a bolt of lightning so strong, it vaporises their skins instantly. To be able to stand after that was considered a miracle.
On the other hand, Sandy and Shu started to tag team and used the ground and plant elements within the garden to slow and impede the other Minor Clans as they attempted to rush in for an all-out attack. Vines and quicksand pit magic were used in conjunction, causing them to suffer the next barrage of attack from Weslie who had brought a steam tech gun out. (The tech gun, however, had been made to look like a normal assault rifle with a grenade launcher attachment. Only with a closer inspection, one could see steam coming out of the chambers whenever Weslie fires them.)
The vines wrapped around the cultivators' legs and dragged them towards the quicksand where it would sink their enemies in. It was then, the vines would do its job by strangling the cultivators while preventing them from climbing out.
Along with Gold, her grenade shot was energised with magic and eventually the shot was dispersed into various mini bolts when it reached an optimal height out in the open, hitting the various clan members stuck in Shu and Sandy's offensive support combination. She had dubbed their combination attack "Mini Meteor Shower" (If this was a mini shower of grenades shots, Gold could not fathom the 'normal' shower or even bigger ones. One thing was for sure, he was happy she didn't name the attack a Golden Shower.)
With those four dealing with the weaklings, Drex had begun fighting with the supposed clan leaders. It was easy to tell them apart since their arms had bands showing their individual clan affiliation as an easy identification within the Clan Meet. Being the Dark Elf leader, he had been specially picked by Kraft to do training more intense than the other younger elves.
When Drex begged for mercy because of his age, Kraft made him worked even harder to the point the old fox had to resort to memory wipes in order to keep him sane. Yet, these memory wipes were short term wipes. Eventually, Drex still could remember the training and suffering he went through. Thus, killing these leaders were not an issue, but rather keeping the impression intact of a bodyguard and restraining himself to not be stronger than Jin. (The Dungeon Supplier did not know the measure of his strength and already thought that Drex was amazing enough.)
Drex thought these clan leaders would offer some sort of resistance, but it looked like he had underestimated their capabilities. With a single glance, he was able to tell that all of them were beneath Jin's Cultivation Grade, only strengthening his resolve to remove them from the battlefield instead of burdening Jin to battle and waste his time. His quick punches without the need to wield a weapon scared most of the onlooking clan veterans, and they started to avoid him like the plague whenever possible as death was inevitable for whoever faced him.
Ke Mi was not idle either. Her zither music was a welcomed addition to the group's morale. A short, powerful high strung instrumental offered the group a strength buff that allowed them to handle more hits than previously. (In short, a boost in their constitution)
Jin felt that it was not just an increase in the toughness of his minions but that the music also had a slight regenerative effect on one's health and stamina. As a person who still had to cope with a slight headache from a hangover, it was indeed a soothing music piece.
It didn't take long for people to notice that Ke Mi was boosting the strength of her guards and they mistook her for the real culprit of their overall might. Thus, she was constantly targeted until an unlikely ally came to help.
"Frost Echo? Why are you here?" Jin asked as he saw the Orc King, who was under the influence of his cosmetic inscription.
"What do you mean why I am here?! To freaking protect you! Shiva kept complaining about Ifrit and Slydra's teasing her about their avatars having fun killing wimps. She ordered me to be here as well!" Frost Echo explained as he erected a thin transparent barrier of ice around Ke Mi while ensuring she does not freeze from his ice. The cultivators who tried to attack Ke Mi was immediately frozen within the vicinity.
"He probably felt left out. You remember how he could not come on the steamboat on time because of his Royal court work? Probably he needed something to vent upon." Moloch shared his theory via the System Channel while his puppet skillfully evaded slashes and strikes and used his cards to cast reflect magic to avoid the barrage of chi techniques.
The attacks bounced back and struck the cultivators themselves. The stronger the reflected skill, the more deadly the retaliatory attack was. He was unable to use this type of magic against high-level opponents yet, but against these groups of mid-low-grade cultivators? It was basically child's play.
And while Jin's side was having fun fighting against such weak opponents even with some restraints on their side, there was one who remained …or at least tried to stay stoic.
"I, Buay Hao Pai, challenge you to a single duel!" He shouted in the midst of this messy fight, and his pointing finger point did not deviate. It was for Jin to decide whether he wanted to enter the fray or not. Even Drex left the challenger alone. In fact, they all wanted to see if their master would reveal his new tricks instead of keeping them in the dark.