The Creatures that We Are

Don’t underestimate me!

To Six Rime’s surprise, a fierce current of warmth rose from her chest and shot into her head. It didn’t even register in her brain that she was furious.

“Agh!”

At the price of damaging the energy route in her body, Six Rime pushed herself to triple her power. An overwhelming chill surged from her, able to instantly freeze any lifeforms.

Even Six Rime got frostbite from the freezing wind. Her skin was pale almost to the point of being translucent, and the light blue veins visible on the sky looked like cracks on a frozen lake.

Caught in the freezing wind, Qing Ling was hit by an unbearable coldness that cut her skin. Although she immediately tapped into all her energy to defend against the cold, her hair, eyelashes, and the hair on her skin still froze over, and the blood in her body was quickly curdling, too.

From a distance came Ke Yo’s whistle.

Everyone on the battlefield, including Gao Yang and Azure Dragon, got distracted for two seconds and stopped their intense fight.

The same thing happened to Six Rime, who had unleashed absolute coldness at the price of shortening her lifespan.

But it seems that I can’t defeat Qing Ling. If I become a deadweight, Elder Azure Dragon will be disappointed.

No! This isn’t the time to think like this!!

Two seconds later, the whistle ended.

“Ah!!”

Six Rime screamed again, intending to spread her chill further to freeze everything around her. Then suddenly, she caught Qing Ling rushing toward her from the corner of her eye.

Why is she able to keep moving?!

The next second, Six Rime realized that the freezing wind blowing Qing Ling’s way was split. Invisible wind elements were shielding Qing Ling and redirecting most of the chill to the surroundings, creating precious space for Qing Ling to move in.

Qing Ling’s hair and eyelashes were frozen, and a thin layer of frost encased her entire body. Yet she moved. Like a pale angel, she raised her blade as she charged at Six Rime.

I haven’t lost!

Six Rime immediately stopped unleashing the freezing wind and quickly spun in place.

Ice Blooms!

In a white shirt and red dress, Six Rime danced on the snowy land like the yuki-onna[1] from folklore. Following her dance, flower-like ice cones bloomed quickly around her in dense clusters, spreading in cascading waves in an instant.

However, Qing Ling had only swung her blade as a feint. Having been prepared for an attack, she quickly jumped away and rode her Butterfly Twin Blades into the sky.

It would be Six Rime’s defeat.

She had lost her proper mental faculties after damaging the energy route in her body. While her attack seemed dramatic and fierce, it was a waste of energy against the agile Qing Ling, and it left her exposed.

From midair, Qing Ling curled her fingers.

A second later, a Black Gold dart pierced through Six Rime’s back.

“Agh…”

Although Six Rime had quickly turned her skin into ice when she sensed the danger, she didn’t have the energy to defend against level 6 Metal.

The Gold Metal dart penetrated Six Rime’s body and reached her heart.

Six Rime!!

Still fighting Gao Yang at high speed a hundred meters away, Azure Dragon immediately noticed that Six Rime was stabbed.

With a growl, Azure Dragon also unleashed a tremendous wave of energy at the price of destroying his energy route. Caught off guard, Gao Yang got thrown off his feet for more than ten meters.

Azure Dragon bought himself two seconds. He quickly clenched his fist and charged, aiming at Can, who was hovering above Six Rime.

Can, wearing her red coat, looked pale with her chest heaving violently and her eyes dim. She had exhausted herself.

She drained herself once when offsetting Zero Hatred’s elemental tornado, and then she fought the freezing chill Six Rime had conjured. Moreover, she had been using her Invisibility and riding the wind almost nonstop, exhausting the last of her energy.

When she saw Qing Ling finally defeating Six Rime, she relaxed for a moment and stayed hovering in the sky, unaware that Azure Dragon’s fist was aimed at her from a hundred meters away.

Gao Yang started. Azure Dragon was going to use A Serious Punch.

Between silencing Azure Dragon with Wave of Serenity and directly rescuing Can, Gao Yang picked the latter.

He wasn’t far from Can after getting thrown off his feet by Azure Dragon, and A Serious Punch would require two seconds to charge up. Gao Yang could make it if he ran at full speed, jumped, and teleported!

Wave of Serenity could only be used once. It was his trump card, and he shouldn’t use it unless necessary.

Gao Yang ran and teleported toward Can, quickly reaching her in the sky. Holding her protectively, he conjured a golden shield by lifting his other hand—he couldn’t use Teleportation again until half a second later. It would be too late then.

However, the Serious Punch didn’t come his way as he had thought.

Boom!

Gao Yang felt the currents under his feet shook. Then a golden light lit up the dark pit. A wall crumbled. The attack had created a ditch that ran over ten meters.

Gao Yang’s heart sank. I fell for it!

Azure Dragon had made a Serious Punch, but he adjusted the angle of his attack the moment he made a swing. While the adjustment halved the power of the punch, it was still enough for his purpose.

The one he was killing was Ke Yo!

Azure Dragon had made a rational choice.

Can could put up little fight now, while Ke Yo’s whistles remained a great threat. It would take Azure Dragon another minute to become completely immune to the whistles, which was more than enough to determine a victor between expert combatants.

Moreover, Can was agile with the ability to fly with her wind. Even if Gao Yang hadn’t come to her rescue, Azure Dragon’s Serious Punch might not hit her a hundred percent.

Losing the protection of Invisibility, on the other hand, Ke Yo might as well be a sitting duck. While she had hidden herself behind some debris, Azure Dragon had figured out her general location based on the earlier two whistles.

The shockwave unleashed by A Serious Punch was tremendous. There was no need for him to know her exact location; she would die as long as he picked the right direction.

Two seconds later, Gao Yang landed with Can in his arms, face ashen.

Ke Yo died!

We still lose someone…

“Captain!” Can jumped out of Gao Yang’s arms. “Save Ke Yo!”

Gao Yang started and looked at Can in disbelief.

Can gave Gao Yang a small smile, face pale and fringe drenched by sweat. She turned to run to Qing Ling, shouting, “We’ll keep him busy!”

Gao Yang came to a realization. Can had sneakily put the Black Gold hairpin on Ke Yo when Can decided to fight Six Rime with Qing Ling.

Gao Yang activated the replicated Gamer while rushing toward where Ke Yo had vanished from.

Indeed, he sensed the lingering energy of Ke Yo. She was now in range to be brought back.

“Time Reset!” Gao Yang shouted. Countless white tentacles immediately came out of the fingers of his two hands. Two seconds later, a hairpin flickering a white light rushed out of the charred wasteland. The tentacles warped around the hairpin. Like a 3D printer, it quickly drew the shape of a cocoon of light, which morphed and transformed slowly into the shape of a girl.

Hurry!

Faster!

Gao Yang exhausted half of what little energy he had. But what he was running out of more was time!

Thirty seconds was too long.

Could Qing Ling and Can really keep Azure Dragon busy for thirty seconds?

Gao Yang even coldbloodedly wondered if it was a mistake to save Ke Yo now. Perhaps it would lead to all their death.

Fortunately, Gao Yang’s concern was unwarranted.

Azure Dragon had stopped fighting, too. Fone one, he couldn’t just leave Six Rime to die. And for another, he had forcefully damaged the energy route in his body. If he kept fighting without stopping, the energy route would get further damaged, which would put him at a disadvantage.

Azure Dragon rushed to Six Rime and broke the ice cones around her. Picking her up, he jumped three times to keep a safe distance from the enemies.

Qing Ling and Can exchanged a glance. They stopped at the same time and didn’t give chase.

This was ideal for them, too. Given their conditions, they wouldn’t even survive ten seconds facing Azure Dragon.

“Get up!”

Azure Dragon took out the Medicine C he had with him and roughly jabbed it in Six Rime’s chest. Six Rime threw up a mouthful of blood. She slowly reached out to stop Azure Dragon.

Her eyes were dim, and blood was leaking out of her nostrils and the corners of her mouth.

“Don’t…it’s a waste. Doesn’t work…”

1. A yokai from Japanese folklore, literally translated into snow woman. ☜

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