At some point, Xia Duo had silently arrived behind Sima, her eyes as sharp as an eagle’s as she watched him. If he made even the slightest suspicious move, the short blade in her hand would strike without hesitation.
Under Xia Duo’s threat, Sima could only abandon his weapon and submissively raise his hands.
Seeing this, Po Kong tilted his head slightly and asked in a calm, low voice, “Little Gold, do you know this guy? And you, Sima... whatever? Why did you suddenly try to kill us?”
Faced with Po Kong’s questioning, a crazed smile appeared on Sima’s originally distorted and hideous face. “You damned adventurers, you probably don’t even know what kind of thing you’ve saved! As humans, you—”
“Little Gold is a member of the Dragon Race, right? We already know that, but that’s no reason for you to use lethal force,” Starlight interrupted him, speaking flatly.
“Hmph... Hahaha! What an utterly ignorant thought. How could people like you, who associate with lowly elves, ever understand our grand ambitions!” Surprisingly, Sima did not grow angry; instead, he erupted into a fit of strange laughter.
Hearing Sima’s sharp and piercing mockery, Po Kong’s gaze gradually turned cold. He strode up to Sima, completely ignoring the man’s reaction, and delivered a powerful slap that flashed with golden light.
“I really hate your tone! What right does your House of Red have to talk about lowliness and ignorance? To boast so wildly in front of me—you’re not worthy!”
The slap was delivered with immense force, sending the tall and burly Sima flying. Half of his cheek swelled up instantly.
Sima struggled to prop up his upper body from the ground, spitting out a large mouthful of filth mixed with blood and loosened teeth. He glared viciously at Po Kong and hissed through gritted teeth, “Cough... pfft... War God... battle qi... You’re from the House of Mars! I didn’t expect you to get involved as well!”
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?” Po Kong was slightly taken aback, clearly not understanding what the other man was talking about.
Since the opponent could recognize his battle qi, it meant they must have had dealings with members of his family. After all, War God battle qi was not a skill just anyone could master; even within the House of Mars, only a handful of people could wield it.
“Did you kidnap our missing clansmen? Answer me!” Seeing Po Kong remain silent, Xia Duo flashed to Sima’s side in an instant, pinning his body down with her foot before he could fully stand up, her voice icy.
“Bah! I will not answer an elf’s question!” He stared defiantly into Xia Duo’s eyes, a spray of blood-tinged saliva flying out. “Heh... Hahaha... Dragons, elves... your House of Mars has truly fallen! I should have seen it coming!”
Faced with Sima’s nearly frantic posture, Starlight and the others were momentarily unsure of what to do, though Po Kong continued to ponder the man’s earlier words.
“I don’t know if you’re saying this just to provoke us or what, but if it’s only to stall for time, it’s far too clumsy,” Starlight said, shaking his head as he stepped forward to scrutinize Sima, who was held firmly by Xia Duo.
In such a situation, the man was still acting so stubborn. Could he possibly have some hidden trump card left?
“Original plan failed... then there is only the last resort...”
Sima murmured in a low voice, barely audible, but Xia Duo, standing right behind him, heard it clearly.
With a crisp click, the bracer on Sima’s right hand popped open as if on a spring. Xia Duo instinctively swung her sword to intercept the armor fragments that shot toward her.
That momentary distraction was exactly the opportunity Sima’s right hand needed to escape.
He swung his arm and punched the armor on his chest with all his might. Accompanied by a deafening boom, a crystal stone embedded in his wrist shattered under the impact.
“Oh no!”
Seeing this, a sense of foreboding surged simultaneously in the hearts of Starlight and Xia Duo.
The crystal Sima had shattered was clearly the activation switch for some device. Such a hidden mechanism undoubtedly indicated it was a carefully prepared final trump card.
“To take a member of the House of Mars with me... it’s worth it! For Red... Hahahaha!” Sima’s laughter was filled with twisted pleasure. At the same time, a dazzling light erupted from him and the members of his squad who were being held captive.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
A series of deafening explosions followed one after another. Their power far exceeded anything from before, as if the heavens and earth were being torn apart. In an instant, the area within a radius of several hundred meters was swallowed by raging flames and rolling dust, turning into a silent, scorched wasteland.
The terrifying explosion raged for a full several dozen seconds. Once the smoke finally cleared, several figures staggered out from the core area of the blast, looking extremely battered.
“Cough, cough...”
After ensuring there was no immediate danger, Starlight suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His vision went dark, and his body collapsed weakly to the ground.
He had never expected that Sima, a noble, would choose to self-destruct over a single disagreement. Moreover, the self-destruct device carried by their squad was no small matter; its power far exceeded his expectations.
The moment he sensed something was wrong, Starlight and Moen had almost simultaneously pushed the enhancement effects on everyone to their limits. Po Kong had also been quick-witted enough to grab Little Gold and wrap him tightly in his own battle qi.
But that horrific explosion had shattered all their defenses in an instant. Whether it was mana shields or battle qi barriers, they were as fragile as thin paper.
This staggering power reminded Starlight of the self-destruction of the Saint Archmage, Ryan. At the very moment the flames were about to consume them, the necklace Little Gold had produced earlier flashed through his mind.
Since the power emitted by the necklace could be used for defense, then his own Power of Destruction should logically be able to serve the same purpose!
Thus, Starlight immediately circulated all his mana, using his still-immature Power of Destruction to manifest a barrier around everyone.
As it turned out, the move he had thought of in that critical moment of life and death actually worked. The Power of Destruction could not only inflict heavy damage on enemies but could also withstand the vast majority of elemental attacks when used for defense.
However, the price for this was that Starlight’s body and meridians, which had only just begun to recover, were once again torn apart by the Power of Destruction as he maintained the shield for those dozens of seconds.
In previous battles, even when Starlight used the Power of Destruction, he only did so for a split second during an attack. Despite the massive side effects, it was still within a controllable range.
But the current situation was completely different. To sustain the shield, he had continuously released mana, effectively soaking his entire body in the Power of Destruction.
At this moment, Starlight’s condition was dire. The remaining Power of Destruction inside him was still churning like boiling water. His skin was covered in a dense network of tiny cracks, much like Po Kong’s after overextending his War God battle qi. Blood quickly soaked his entire body, turning him into a man of blood.
“Starlight! Starlight, you have to hold on!”
Moen called out anxiously, rushing recklessly toward the fallen Starlight. Natural power poured into his body in a continuous stream, as if it cost her nothing.
But she was not Angela, who possessed the blessing of the World Tree. She discovered to her horror that while her magic could heal the wounds on his surface, the moment her mana entered Starlight’s body, it was immediately shredded by the rampaging Power of Destruction, rendering it completely useless.
Rate on N.U.
