Chapter 301: Breaking

Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Breaking

Long Ming stared at the notebook in front of him, a growing discomfort churning within him. He could tell something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

He took a deep breath, then rose and left.

"Long Ming, where are you going?"

Wang Yang and the others called out in astonishment.

Long Ming didn’t answer them, simply walking straight out of the classroom.

In the hallway, Long Ming came face-to-face with Luoxue.

Luoxue gave him a slight nod.

Long Ming nodded back instinctively, and the two passed each other.

「A short time later.」

Long Ming pushed open the door to his home.

「In the living room.」

Long Yuan and Bai Wei were in the middle of a conversation. They seemed a little surprised to see Long Ming return.

"Son, why are you home? Did you forget to take your medicine?"

Bai Wei asked with concern.

However, Long Ming just stood there silently, head bowed, without saying a word.

"Wait here, I’ll get it for you. You have to take your medicine on time."

Bai Wei immediately hurried upstairs.

Long Ming, meanwhile, watched all of this in silence.

Soon, Bai Wei came back down with a medicine bottle and a glass of water.

"Son, quickly, take your medicine."

Bai Wei handed the glass of water and the medicine bottle to Long Ming.

But Long Ming didn’t reach out to take them. He just stood there, silent and motionless.

"Son, why aren’t you taking it?"

Bai Wei asked with concern.

Long Ming slowly lifted his head, revealing his tear-filled eyes.

He finally understood what was wrong. It was the longing and pain coming from deep within his heart.

Long Ming looked deeply at Bai Wei and Long Yuan, his eyes filled with reluctance. Finally, he spoke.

"Stop pretending. Fakes are just fakes. No matter how real you pretend to be, you’re still not real."

Bai Wei and Long Yuan glanced at each other, and faint smiles finally appeared on their faces.

...

---

「Royal Palace Plaza.」

Hilic opened its mouth in a frenzy, gathering a terrifying amount of Power.

"Dodge!"

Qian Xing shouted a warning to the others.

The expressions of Qiansha, Brubo, and the others changed drastically as they scrambled to dodge.

ZZZT!

A beam of light shot from Hilic, sweeping across the plaza.

"AHH!"

Soldier after soldier was engulfed and consumed by the beam, which carved a massive trench across the entire plaza.

"Damn it!"

Qian Xing and the others fanned out and charged, swinging their weapons to hack at Hilic’s legs and leaving a series of gashes.

Just then, the snake heads on Hilic’s back lunged, snapping viciously at Qian Xing and the others.

Qian Xing and his group swung their weapons, severing the attacking snake heads.

But the next second, the severed bloody tentacles writhed, and new snake heads grew back from the stumps as if they were immortal.

At that moment, Hilic raised its right claw, bent down, and plunged it into the ground.

"This is bad!"

The faces of the warriors paled.

One after another, sharp, keratinized spikes made of blood tentacles erupted from the ground.

Luoxue and the others dodged to the side just in the nick of time.

"AHH!"

Soldier after soldier was impaled on the spikes, letting out blood-curdling screams.

At the same time, the impaled soldiers were instantly drained of their blood by the spikes, turning into shriveled corpses.

The wounds on Hilic’s body healed at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Dammit!"

Legion Commander Brubo charged from the right with incredible speed. He leaped into the air and swung his massive blade, hacking into Hilic’s neck.

KRAK!

A ten-centimeter-deep gash instantly appeared on Hilic’s neck.

Hilic suddenly whipped its head around to face Brubo. It retracted all the blood spikes, pulled its right claw from the ground, and swept the back of its massive claw toward the landing Brubo.

Brubo, startled, raised his giant blade to block!

BANG!

He was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing hard into the ground and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Seizing the opportunity, Rein charged forward in a fury, swinging his giant axe down on Hilic’s right foot.

"Take this!"

KRAK!

The entire great axe bit deep into Hilic’s right foot.

Hilic cried out in pain and nearly stumbled, then whipped its head around to look at Rein, who had launched the surprise attack.

Rein sensed the danger and was just about to pull his great axe free.

But tentacles surged from the wound and wrapped themselves around the weapon.

BZZZT~

Hilic opened its mouth, gathering a furious beam of light that it blasted toward Rein.

Rein decisively let go of the great axe, turned, and leaped backward to dodge.

BOOM~

The massive explosion sent Rein flying, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Just then, Agaka seized the opportunity to charge at Hilic. Activating his power-assist to its maximum, he leaped up and brought his blade down on the beast.

Hilic’s crimson eyes darted to the side as it raised its left arm to block the blow directly.

KRAK!

Agaka’s blade struck the arm, carving out a gash.

His heart sank. ’This is bad!’ he thought.

Just then, Hilic violently flung its arm.

Agaka was instantly sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground in the distance.

Hilic then directed two of its snake heads, locking onto the fallen Agaka from a distance. Just as it was about to deliver the finishing blow...

SWOOSH!

A red arrow shot toward Hilic’s eye, but one of the snake-headed blood tentacles caught it in its jaws and flung it aside.

Qian Ying was taken aback.

At that moment, numerous snake heads turned toward Qian Ying, opened their mouths, and fired a barrage of small energy beams.

Qian Ying dodged rapidly.

But one of the beams still struck her shoulder.

BOOM~

She was sent flying.

At this, a furious Qiansha charged forward, leaping into the air and swinging the massive sword in his hands.

"Die!"

KRAK!

The massive sword struck heavily against Hilic’s chest, carving out a huge wound.

Hilic looked ferociously at Qiansha and swiped at him with its left claw.

Having landed his blow, Qiansha kicked hard against Hilic’s chest to propel himself backward.

THUD~

The moment Qiansha landed.

A massive shadow suddenly fell over him.

Qiansha froze.

"Watch out!"

Qian Xing and the others’ expressions tightened as they shouted the warning.

Qiansha looked up.

He saw Hilic’s outstretched right claw descending on him with tyrannical force.

Just as he braced himself to meet the blow head-on...

Qian Yun saw this and immediately activated the Giant Hammer in his hands. He charged in from the side, ramming Qiansha out of the way.

ZZZT~

The entire mechanical hammer crackled with violent arcs of lightning.

Qian Yun swung the hammer fiercely, smashing it against the descending claw.

BANG~

The Giant Hammer and the claw collided, sending sparks of lightning flying in all directions.

"You bastard!"

Qian Yun’s muscles swelled to their absolute limit, his veins bulging as if they were about to burst.

"Oh no!"

Qian Xing and the others all charged forward to help him.

Just then, the snake heads on Hilic’s back opened their mouths and fired a barrage of dark red beams indiscriminately at the charging warriors.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Qian Xing and the others were all blown away by the explosions.

"ROAR!"

With a roar, Hilic unleashed a terrifying crimson aura from its entire body. The muscles in its right arm swelled, and it slammed its right claw down, crushing the Giant Hammer—and Qian Yun with it—into the ground.

CRUNCH~

Qian Yun was instantly flattened, his flesh, blood, and armor shattering and scattering everywhere.

"Father!"

Seeing Qian Yun’s sacrifice, Qiansha charged forward in a blind rage.

"Qiansha, don’t be reckless!"

Qian Wei and the others’ faces paled when they saw this.

But Qiansha was blinded by hatred and couldn’t hear them at all.

Hilic turned its head toward the charging Qiansha, and its snake-headed blood tentacles whipped toward him.