Chapter 110 - 37: [Witch Gold, Nether Copper, and Ace Tactician]

Chapter 110: Chapter 37: [Witch Gold, Nether Copper, and Ace Tactician]

Seizing the opportunity provided by the flames, Musa quickly sharpened his blade. With a backhand flick of his whip, he entangled Talia’s arm. Raising his Witch Gold Scimitar with his other hand, he executed a sideways aerial flip, leveraging his momentum for a vicious downward cleave!

[Biological Posture Detection: Aerial Assassination]

[An attack method that leverages momentum from a jump or a high-altitude fall for a swift kill. The high-impact force of a natural descent can break armor and shatter shields. Commonly seen in Desperate Assassins and certain arboreal beasts. Not limited to humanoid creatures.]

[Database updated.]

[Recorded into the "Artificial Biology - Biological Posture Material" database.]

[Available for unit utilization.]

A split second before the blade could strike Talia, a loud crash rang out as Musa was violently knocked away once again by the impact of Samael’s [Lion Hunter’s Gladiatorial Combat] combat skill. Roaring in fury, Musa unleashed a backhanded slash at Samael with his Witch Gold Blade.

Samael raised his Nether Copper Knight Sword to block. The sword was sheared cleanly in two by the freshly honed Witch Gold edge, but this also caused Musa to lose his chance for a fatal strike once again.

He gasped for breath, his stamina and Spiritual Energy heavily depleted. The blast wound on his chest, deep enough to expose bone, was still bleeding profusely, and the torn flesh on his calf, courtesy of Talia, had yet to fully heal.

Talia swung her Hammer Spear, the [Conquest] skill blanketing a large area in front of her. Musa narrowly dodged with a backflip, but in the very next instant, Talia stepped aside, revealing Samael charging madly right behind her!

CLANG CLANG CLANG.

Using [Footwork Focus] to gain momentum, Samael accelerated his heavy Nether Copper Body before leaping into the air. With both feet leaving the ground, he delivered a brutal flying kick directly into Musa’s chest!

The Nether Copper Body was too heavy to effectively use [Footwork Focus] for dodging, but it was still perfectly viable for accelerating a running start. The immense kinetic energy packed into his heavy, accelerated frame was devastating. The Nether Bronze Combat Boots shattered two more of Musa’s ribs. Vomiting another mouthful of blood, Musa drove his Witch Gold Scimitar into the ground, barely managing to prop himself up.

[Target Status Detection:]

[Biological Structure Integrity: 32%]

[Spiritual Energy: 12%]

[Stamina: 18%]

Samael clambered back up from the ground with heavy CLANGS. Gripping his broken sword, he hurled it with staggering force! Musa struggled to dodge, but his battered physical condition—coupled with his dwindling stamina and Spiritual Energy—no longer supported his continued use of the war dance. His desperate evasion was only enough to shift the trajectory; the broken blade that was meant for his chest embedded itself dead center in his shoulder.

Talia lunged forward and threw a punch, her black clawed armor smashing into his face. The blow knocked Musa to the ground and fractured one side of his jaw. This was immediately followed by Samael’s freezing Nether Copper fist. Accompanied by a copper-tinted gust of wind, the strike shattered the other side of his jaw.

"You are an excellent Warrior." Samael leaned over Musa, gripping the man’s throat with one hand while raising his Nether Copper palm with the other. Semi-molten Nether Copper oozed from his palm, coating his fingertips and the back of his hand to form a Nether Copper Claw Armor. "But not an excellent tactician."

"There is no death here," he said, staring into Musa’s dying, glacial eyes. "Only me."

He raised the Nether Copper Claw Armor.

Combat skill: [Seize]. This was the technique Talia had demonstrated for him earlier today, with his consent, so he could scan and record it. The Nether Copper Claw Armor pierced through Musa’s abdomen, ripping out viscera and spine alike. A freezing chill spread outward from his internal organs as rigor mortis gradually washed over him. All things would eventually perish; only death was immortal, and only nothingness was eternal.

Samael fished a Witch Gold Compass from Musa’s robes. Under the moonlight, the needle on the compass pointed silently at Talia in front of him.

"Face it, fight it, change it. Eliminate old enemies and forge a new life." He handed the compass to Talia, who nodded and reached out to take it.

The two of them stood up. Their Black Armor and copper armor were heavily stained with blood as they headed toward the Exile Camp beneath the twin moons.

"Don’t... don’t come any closer!" The final Red Shell Beetle Guard Demonizer held up the last flamethrower, aiming it in panic at the Exiles in the camp before him. "Stay back, or I’ll burn everyone here to death right now!"

Samael and Talia exchanged a glance before calmly raising their hands.

The Red Shell Beetle Guard Demonizer breathed a sigh of relief, but a sudden, rigor-mortis-like chill abruptly pierced through his body. He instinctively squeezed the trigger of the flamethrower, only for the trigger to simply fall off.

"The prefix to the term ’Exile’ is ’Demon Race.’" A gentle yet eerie laugh echoed right next to his ear. A hand reached out from behind him and gently plucked the flamethrower from his grasp. "No matter what, we are still members of the Demon Race. We might not be able to defeat higher demons, but for a mere Demonizer to act like this... you’re looking down on us far too much."

He turned his head with great difficulty, meeting the chuckling, squinted eyes of the Casting Technician, Yaki Yevir.

"Your flamethrower seems a little rusty. Let me hold it for you," Yaki said, patting his shoulder softly.

The Demonizer slowly turned to his other side. Gwyneth Helder, sporting gauze on her face and wearing gloves, was holding a Nether Copper Dagger. Like an experienced surgeon, she expertly slipped the slender blade beneath his outer shell and smoothly carved a full circle. As effortlessly as a crab processor popping off a carapace, she detached his mangled, bloody armor.

She tilted her face up, offering a serene smile.

"The Red Shell Beetle Guard is a very popular delicacy at the banquets of the Eastern Desert Demon Race," she said tenderly. "Therefore, I am quite familiar with their nerve and organ distribution."

She reached out with blood-soaked hands. As if cradling an apple, she reached into his chest cavity through the gaping hole left by the removed carapace and pulled out a still-twitching heart.

"Is it done?" Samael asked Yaki as he and Talia painstakingly went about collecting and recovering the Nether Copper fragments scattered all over the ground from their earlier battle.

He still had no way to manufacture more Nether Copper at the moment; every bit he used up was one bit less in his reserves. There were always some minuscule shards that couldn’t be recovered, leading to unavoidable attrition. He needed to figure out a way to unlock the [Nether Copper Casting Method] or [Nether Copper Generator] nodes in his tech tree as soon as possible.

"It is done. Thank you both for your help," Yaki nodded.

"Then hurry up and help us clean up the battlefield! We made too much noise, and the garrison from the Imperial Foundry will be here any minute!" Talia and Samael shouted in unison.