Chapter 289 - 147: Su Chen: There Is a Disparity Even Among Peers

In a massive, chaotic battle, there was one thing all combatants had to be wary of: the sheer number of unidentified AOEs.

The phenomenon of ’friendly fire’ was a common occurrence.

This was especially true for Rune Casters, who often unleashed their attacks without restraint. With no "friendly fire" toggle, accidentally injuring teammates was a frequent problem.

It’s not the god-like enemies you should fear, but the pig-like teammates.

Su Chen’s lightning shield was suddenly struck by a forked Lightning Chain from behind, sending sparks flying.

"My bad..." the person behind him apologized meekly.

Su Chen ignored it.

He had more important things to deal with.

In that instant, a towering figure descended from the sky, two clusters of Soul Fire beneath its helmet staring down at the tiny silhouette below.

WHOOSH!

A roaring sword strike fell, its dense, deathly Destruction Sword Momentum cleaving straight down.

The unparalleled Sword Momentum was like a collapsing mountain or a tsunami, completely shrouding Su Chen’s figure in the shadow of death.

CLANG!

The two swords clashed with a thunderous roar.

"Holy shit..."

To the unspeakable shock of those watching from behind, the tall figure holding the Holy Sword didn’t dodge or evade. Dozens of python-like muscle fibers in his arms contracted at an overclocked frequency as four layers of Attached Damage fluctuations compressed into one on his blade’s edge.

Divine Sword Radiance tore through the air like daylight splitting the sky. In a direct clash, it actually shattered the enemy’s massive soul-wrought sword. The momentum didn’t stop there, but the Sword Momentum’s power ultimately failed to sever the creature’s arm completely.

The Death Knight was a master of undead skeletons and had no concept of pain.

Even when Ruoruo’s Spiritual Energy Arrow struck its head, it only caused the pair of pupils burning with ghostly fire to flicker for a moment.

After one of its arms was temporarily disabled, it began to frantically absorb the surrounding battlefield corpses, preparing to reform its limb and even a greatsword made of bone.

As it madly absorbed the corpses, the entire space seemed to clench. It threw a punch wreathed in Destruction fluctuations at the enemy before it. Simultaneously, it opened its mouth and let out a psychic shriek, an invisible soundwave attempting to pin down the figure in front of it.

Judging by the way the surrounding defenders’ shields shattered on contact, causing them to bleed from all seven orifices, even the lightning mage who had just accidentally caused friendly fire had collapsed unconsciously.

But Su Chen was unaffected.

His figure vanished, reappearing in the distance to dodge the city-destroying punch.

BOOM!

The shockwave from the punch grazed past him, but it obliterated an entire section of the city wall behind him. The aftershock swept out, turning several residential buildings into a pile of rubble.

"Die!"

Su Chen appeared high in the air, his Holy Sword raised, a blade-like glint in his eyes.

WHOOSH!

As if his sword were channeling the light of heaven itself, an extremely compressed holy shockwave tore through the night. With a diagonal slash, his blade plunged through the center of its skull, not only shattering the helmet but splitting the entire head in two.

The four layers of Attached Damage fluctuations erupted in a violent surge, creating a shockwave that caused the entire head and neck to explode.

Su Chen couldn’t be bothered to check if the Rune within was intact. Faced with this incredibly troublesome, heavily armored monster, his only option was to kill it with everything he had.

Otherwise, if the damage wasn’t sufficient, it would just quickly regenerate its skeleton, leading to endless trouble.

To that end, he had forcibly tapped into his body’s potential. The muscle fibers in his arms inevitably began to tear and bleed internally from the second burst of Power.

However, this phenomenon was quickly resolved by his innate Vitality Burst characteristic.

’The Soul Core is still intact.’

This was a point of relief for Su Chen.

But...

"Petty theft is not a good look."

Before a furtive figure could snatch the Dark Element core crystal, a surging, invisible gravitational force violently seized it and dragged it back.

However...

Outside the city walls, more than one person had come.

"Did you miss me?"

A cold, rough voice rang out. The Desert Beast Master, having merged with his Shadow Leopard Beast Soul, appeared like a phantom, cutting his way toward them.

His limbs were covered in black scales, and Bone Blades extended from his forearms, aimed straight for Su Chen’s right side.

But before he could get close, a three-meter-tall humanoid Light-Cast Warrior descended with a crash. It raised a massive, holy-glowing shield with its left hand to block the attack. The Desert Beast Master’s full-power strike landed squarely on the shield’s center.

CRACK!

A golden light exploded on the holy shield’s surface, and the shield itself shattered on the spot.

But this Lv7 Corona Guardian, empowered with a 100% characteristic bonus, had managed to block the sneak attack. After a violent shudder, the sword of punishment in its right hand still swung forward.

"Huh..."

The Desert Beast Master’s face was full of surprise; he hadn’t expected this Light Forged Guardian Warrior to be such a nuisance.

UGH!

In an instant, a psychic wave struck him. The formless ripple stabbed straight into his Sea of Consciousness, making his mind ring. But relying on his incredible Symbiosis characteristic, he silently diverted all the damage the moment it landed.

The damage was silently diluted and transferred.

The Desert Beast Master himself remained unscathed, but seeing his opponent successfully retrieve the Soul Core, he couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

He didn’t dare linger and take any more risks. His figure abruptly turned vaporous as he prepared to activate Shadow Leap to retreat.

Coming here was easy, but leaving would be hard.

VMM!

Su Chen had already clenched his right hand to the side.

The Runes on the surface of his gauntlet lit up instantly. The embedded Dark Gravity Rune activated, rapidly pulling and distorting a section of space. The spatial fabric became viscous and folded, coordinates shifting, forcibly halting any attempt to teleport.

"You..."

The Desert Beast Master’s body, half-merged with shadow, suddenly froze as if caught in a mire. He was not without his tricks and trump cards, and he immediately switched to the Shadow Assault technique.

But the reduction in his movement speed was tangible.

Terrifyingly, a gravity anchor pinned his figure in place, precisely locking down his spatial coordinates.

Immediately after, a four-layered Vector Force Field pressed in from all four directions—above, below, left, and right. It intertwined with the Dark Gravity fluctuations to form a deadly web that viciously tore at his limbs and joints.

His bestial body was abnormally tough, with muscles and bones like iron. Combined with the constant dilution and transfer of damage, the force of the attack was continuously weakened, failing to completely rip him apart right away.

During this brief stalemate...

The next second.

A Holy Radiance Spear blasted down from the heavens like divine punishment, aimed straight for his head.

Su Chen had never relaxed his Global Perception. With an early warning, he instantly teleported away amidst the swirling Light and Dark Particles.

The Five-Star Holy Light Judge from Oran City had made a move.

BOOM!

When the Holy Radiance Spear struck the ground, it also annihilated the shattered remnants of the wall, leaving a terrifying crater in its wake.

All the key players were now arriving on the scene.

In a corner of the battlefield, a group of powerful experts had suddenly charged in.

"A little interesting."

When Su Chen reappeared, he glanced down at his arms, which had once again become inexplicably red and swollen. He realized he had been silently struck by an ominous curse.

In his subconscious, a fragment of a memory flashed through his mind.

A pair of eyes, staring intently from beyond the scorched earth, had clearly subjected him to a Secret Technique curse.

This method was even more absurd than those of publicly known Curse Warlocks; it had actually made him relapse into the previous negative state of his body.

VMM!

Ruoruo understood immediately, quickly casting a Purification Skill on him. A small wisp of black ash was cleansed from his body. As for the recurring after-effects of his injuries, they healed completely in less than a second.

BANG!

BANG!

At that moment, gunshots suddenly erupted.

After the continuous casting of Dark Gravity ceased, the Desert Beast Master, relying on his powerful resistance to break free from the gravity anchor, was hit by two consecutive sniper rounds. One struck him squarely in the head, and the other pierced his shoulder.

A shot from an anti-materiel sniper rifle, against an unshielded opponent, merely punched bloody holes in him without achieving complete penetration. His fortitude was truly immense.

However, the crowd of Summoned Pets contracted to his opponent were in for a treat; the consecutively transferred damage was more than enough to give them a beating.

And the Desert Beast Master was clearly the center of attention.

The opportunity was too good to miss.

Before the enemy could teleport away.

CLANK!

The sound of metal chains echoed from the void as chains imbued with both brilliant light and darkness bound the figure who had failed to escape.

The ’national team’ had arrived to take over.

They couldn’t possibly ignore the one who had just slain the Death Knight. Seeing that he was now being targeted, they immediately rushed over.

"Do you need anything? Runes, perhaps?" a fully armed Ghost Assault Team captain suddenly appeared at Su Chen’s side.

"Give me a Lv6 Holy Blade Skill. My cuts aren’t as clean as I’d like."

Su Chen glanced at him and spoke without ceremony.

Through the successive kills, his Holy Sword had been transmitting a sense of joy, but if there was one drawback, it was that the attached Holy Blade Skill was a bit low-level and needed an upgrade.