Chapter 212 - 204: Monstrous Strength in the Fire (Part 3)

Chapter 212: Chapter 204: Monstrous Strength in the Fire (Part 3)

But that wasn’t even the deadliest part.

On the vehicle’s unavoidable path, the once-flat asphalt road suddenly shattered! A thick, black-brown, branch-like tentacle, as gnarled as the roots of a century-old tree, burst from the ground without warning, instantly thrusting the road up into a half-meter-high mound!

"Watch out below!"

Hanging on the side of the vehicle with a clear view, Su Qing’s pupils contracted as she let out a sharp cry.

She reacted in a flash, swinging her longsword with the vehicle’s momentum. It struck a tentacle lashing out at the driver’s cab, the precise impact creating a blinding shower of sparks and sending a numbing shock up her arm.

At the same time, the three Flying Swords under Chu Zhaozhao’s control became streaks of light, instantly tangling with and shredding several tentacles attacking from the side, severing a number of fleshy tendrils!

The assault vehicle surged forward. Faced with the sudden barricade, Hu Chen wrenched the wheel to swerve, but the front left tire still slammed hard and unavoidably into the asphalt mound!

The laws of physics are inviolable.

CRASH—!

The immense kinetic energy was instantly converted into launching force.

The multi-ton assault vehicle was thrown off balance as if tripped by an invisible giant. Its front end jerked upward, the left wheel lifted off the ground, and in an instant, it lost all equilibrium!

"Zhaozhao! Jump!"

The world spun for the three people inside the vehicle. In the instant the vehicle began to roll, Su Qing, still hanging on the outside, made a split-second decision and shouted. She and Chu Zhaozhao instinctively let go, using the centrifugal force to fling themselves away just before the multi-ton steel monster came crashing down!

SCREEE—!

The ear-piercing shriek of metal scraping against asphalt tore through the roar of the fire!

The assault vehicle skidded down the road on its side, its roll cage grinding violently against the asphalt and throwing off massive, brilliant sparks. The high temperature instantly scorched the slick pavement, sending up a plume of acrid white smoke.

Meanwhile, the two figures, one after the other, tumbled like kites with their strings cut, crashing hard into the ruins of a half-collapsed shop on the side of the street.

"Cough!!"

The moment Su Qing arrested her tumble, she felt a metallic tang in her throat and coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood onto the dusty tile floor.

Fortunately, the effects of the potion were flaring through her system, forcefully suppressing the churning in her organs and the dizziness. Bracing herself on the ground with her shield-bearing left hand, Su Qing managed to get back to her feet with barely a pause.

Her entire body was covered in small cuts and scrapes from shattered stones and glass shards, but she paid them no mind. The moment she was steady, she frantically searched the dim ruins.

"Zhaozhao!"

"Sister Qing... I, this..."

A weak response came from behind a pile of rubble not far away.

Chu Zhaozhao was propped against a crumbling wall, trying to climb to her feet. To break her fall, she had subconsciously tried to use the iron wires at her waist to cushion the landing, but they were too thin and too light to fully absorb the immense kinetic energy.

The moment she tried to move, her left arm hung limp, her forearm bent at an unnatural angle. She looked down at it, her face paling.

Seizing the moment while the tentacles weren’t in pursuit, Su Qing rushed over in two strides, grabbed Chu Zhaozhao’s uninjured right arm, and helped her up.

"My arm..." Perhaps it was the potion, but she didn’t feel excruciating pain. The numbness, however, was even more terrifying.

"The potion is still active. You’ll be fine."

Su Qing spoke rapidly. She was clearly in much better condition than Chu Zhaozhao, and her mind was racing.

They couldn’t see what was happening outside, but the monster was obviously not idle.

"Zhaozhao, listen to me. Look at me!"

Su Qing reached out and cupped Chu Zhaozhao’s pale little face, forcing her to look away from her broken arm and meet her gaze. On her own face, covered in dust and bloodstains, Su Qing managed a calm and resolute smile.

"Something must have happened to Lin Fan."

"He... He’ll be fine..." Chu Zhaozhao’s voice trembled, her eyes filled with panic.

"I know he’s fine, but we can’t wait any longer."

Su Qing’s voice was frighteningly steady.

"Your brother and the others are waiting for you over there. It’s only a few kilometers, not far.

In our current condition, there’s no way both of us can get away. The potion’s effects are extremely potent, and your legs aren’t injured. When we charge out, you just run! Run as hard as you can! Three minutes! It’ll only take you three minutes to get there!"

"I won’t..."

Chu Zhaozhao instantly understood Su Qing’s intentions. She struggled to refuse, but the pain from her broken bone and the intense discomfort left her unable to fight back against Su Qing.

"Shut up! Listen to me!"

Su Qing cut her off with a rare, sharp command. Then her voice softened again, as if she were giving her last words, or like an older sister entrusting a final duty.

"Once the potion wears off, neither of us will be able to escape.

When you get there, tell them to leave immediately! They don’t need to wait for us!

Those soldiers are done for. I’ll find a way to buy some time here.

You all need to leave, get as far away as you can... You still have your brother. You have to protect them."

"Sister Qing, you..." Tears instantly welled up in Chu Zhaozhao’s eyes.

"Hold them back! This is a battlefield!" Su Qing took a deep breath, her gaze turning as hard as iron.

She pulled Chu Zhaozhao into a crouch, and like two cheetahs poised to strike, they silently crept to the edge of the shop’s shattered display window.

Outside, the tentacles were coiling around the overturned assault vehicle like a nest of pythons, circling just beyond the glass.

And the monster, which wore that man’s face, was holding the very spear Su Qing had just thrown to impale it.

It stood not far away, like a Hunter admiring its struggling prey.

Just as the two were about to burst from the ruins, the monster whipped its head around as if it had eyes in the back of its head.

"There you are."

At the same time, the tentacles abandoned the vehicle and whipped toward the two women!

"Go!"

Su Qing shoved Chu Zhaozhao, then charged out, sword in hand!

Chu Zhaozhao stumbled from the push, but a crazed glint flashed in her eyes. She thrust out her one good hand and grabbed at the empty air!

VMMM!

A Flying Sword that had been thrown aside and landed by the road answered her call. It shot up from the ground with a piercing shriek and precisely met the tentacles striking at Su Qing!

She exhausted all of her just-recovered energy in an instant, barely managing to sever three of them before the blade was sent flying out of sight.

It was the last thing she could do.

She watched Su Qing’s figure against the firelight, hesitated for only a moment, and then seemed to make a decision.

Tucking her broken left arm inside her clothes to keep it stable, she turned and sprinted north along the edge of the road.

Su Qing, meanwhile, resolutely met the two remaining tentacles, even though her attacks weren’t as effective as Chu Zhaozhao’s Superpower-enhanced ones.

She blocked one with her shield, then used the strength and reflexes granted by the potion to sidestep the second.

She gritted her teeth, bracing for the impact to split the web of her hand; the memory of the sparks from metal on metal and the violent shock she’d felt on the truck was still fresh.

She channeled all her strength into her right arm. In that decisive moment, it felt as if she had broken through some kind of shackle, and something flowed down her arm and into the blade.

The longsword became a cold gleam of light as she brought it down hard on the midsection of the tentacle that had missed!

"SHFFK—"

There was none of the expected shower of sparks or violent vibration.

There was only a muffled sound, like a hot knife slicing through grease.

The sensation was so smooth that Su Qing herself froze for a second.

The branch-like tentacle, once impossibly tough and covered in destructive energy, was now as fragile as tofu under her sword!

The blade swept through without any resistance, not only cleaving through the energy layer and the tentacle itself, but also gouging a gash in the ground beneath it.

The severed half of the tentacle flew spinning to the ground. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and the thick, black ichor hadn’t even had time to gush out.

"Hm?"

Su Qing stared at the sword in her hand in disbelief. ’Why?’

’Was it the sword... or was it me?’

But this was no time for such thoughts. As the tentacle struck, that ’man’ stood in the middle of the road, adopting the exact same stance Su Qing had used to throw the spear!

And in front of it was the sight of Chu Zhaozhao’s bedraggled figure fleeing in the distance.

"Your opponent is me!" Su Qing’s sharp cry exploded through the air!

Without pausing to catch her breath, she flicked her right wrist, her longsword slashing upward in a vicious arc of light!

SQUELCH!

The tentacle she had previously blocked didn’t even have time to coil around her before this furious slash split it down the middle, sending the severed limb flying!

There was no pause.

Su Qing kicked off the ground with her left foot!

Like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, she became an afterimage, forcefully charging right in front of the ’man’ a second before it could throw the spear!

Her longsword chopped down at the arm that was building up power, forcing the ’man’ to abandon its throw. It twisted its wrist, swinging the spear to meet Su Qing’s sword!

CLANG—!