As Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes gleamed unnaturally with a light that obviously did not belong to a human, a strange aura was released from her body and focused mainly on her gaze.
When the Second Order giant ape's exhausted but enraged gaze met her blue eyes, its eyes momentarily lost their shine and its movements stalled in mid-motion.
Shangguan Bing Xue sighed in relief in her heart but her movements did not even falter for a thousandth of a second because when she noted that the ape's fist stopped just over half a meter away from her head, she jumped high into the sky and turned her body swiftly.
Her feet gently touched the top of the ape's fist and with explosive speed, she launched herself upward using the length of the beast's arm to reach the summit in just one second.
It was just after that second that the eyes of the giant Second Order ape regained their light and it emerged from the enchanted effect of Shangguan Bing Xue's Second Order Charming Eye skill.
However, by then it was already too late.
Shangguan Bing Xue raised her Frozen Winter Sword high and focused the full power of her Frozen Rebuff skill on the blade. Then, she slashed downward at lightning speed.
Slash!
The ape's red eyes flinched slightly and Shangguan Bing Xue's blue eyes flashed coldly as she leapt backward in a hurry, stopping just over twenty meters away from the giant ape as she looked into its eyes with an icy expression.
A thin red line appeared on the top of the giant ape's right arm, just above the shoulder. Slowly, the thin red line grew larger and larger until it finally reached the lower part of the shoulder, just below the beast's armpit, and that's when the unthinkable happened.
Splash!
A huge spurt of blood spurted everywhere and the giant ape's right arm fell heavily to the ground causing a considerably large explosion.
Roar!
The beast roared skyward with its eyes wide open as it swung its upper body to the left and to the right, trying to use its left arm to cover the fatal wound that had just been inflicted on it. Unfortunately, its left arm had long since been sent flying by Bai Zemin's earlier attack.
As hot red blood flew everywhere from inside the giant ape's body, Shangguan Bing Xue pointed forward with her sword and leaned slightly to the front, preparing for a new attack.
If it were in normal times, she would undoubtedly not have enough strength to inflict a wound of such magnitude on a high-level Second Order monster like the one before her. However, all the conditions she needed to accomplish such a thing had come together in the same place with perfection.
A strong storm, strong winds that caused the temperature to drop; this made Shangguan Bing Xue's elemental ice-like attacks at least three times stronger than normal and at the same time the Mana consumption was reduced by 70%.
The giant ape had been severely injured and weakened by the monstrous attack launched by Bai Zemin previously, which not only caused the beast's speed and power to decline terribly but also caused its attacks to be messy and easy to predict; thanks to this, Shangguan Bing Xue was able to continue fighting with her long term fighting style.
Everything had worked out perfectly as if fate itself had willed it... As if the universe had placed all the necessary conditions in front of her waiting for her to reap the benefits.
Just at that moment, a lazy voice reached Shangguan Bing Xue's eardrums.
"And here I was, thinking that you might be in trouble."
She was not surprised at all and a faint smile automatically formed on her face as she calmly replied without looking back, "As you can see, I am still quite strong... And the parts I am still lacking in, I can complement them by using my intelligence."
This person who had just arrived was naturally Bai Zemin, who only took a few seconds to reach the scene after the giant ape's arm fell to the ground and its roar spread far and wide amidst the thunder and lightning.
With his top speed now exceeding 700 kilometers per hour after absorbing a large amount of Soul Power, a few kilometers meant nothing to him. Of course, as his movement speed increased, so did his Stamina consumption which meant that the time he could run at such a speed was only about 18 minutes at most.
Seeing that Bai Zemin said nothing, Shangguan Bing Xue began to slowly approach toward the giant ape as she said calmly, "You tried to get me away from the place where this beast might be, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Bai Zemin didn't hide it. There was no point in doing so since he was aware that she had realized his intention when he asked her to explore the left of the forest while he explored the right.
Since the battlefield of the three Second Order beasts had been the right side, Bai Zemin naturally estimated that the giant ape should still be around that area. Therefore, to prevent Shangguan Bing Xue from suffering unforeseen injuries, he sent her to the left.
Being as smart as she was, Shangguan Bing Xue naturally realized it back then. However, she said nothing and did not reject his goodwill. Although she was not comfortable with being treated like a weak lady, she also could not deny that she silently appreciated the care with which he treated her.
Unfortunately or not, not everything goes as one would expect in most cases, and this case was no exception.
Not only was the giant ape not on the right side in the depths of the forest, but it had also managed to silently move away and sneak in through the left side, taking Shangguan Bing Xue by surprise.
"I will kill it myself. I need to do it to evolve my skill." She declared before dashing forward in a whirlwind of icy wind.
Shangguan Bing Xue was moving very fast, but in the eyes of Bai Zemin whose Agility had already surpassed 700 points was no big deal. Therefore, he could see her movements and those of the exhausted giant ape clearly.
The giant ape roared once again. Only this time its roar was not only of anger but also of pain and a tinge of fear. It was just that the thought of fleeing never crossed the beast's mind as it instead raised its foot high and then kicked towards Shangguan Bing Xue fiercely.
Shangguan Bing Xue snorted and gently kicked a huge puddle of water under her feet.
Swoosh!
The water froze and then a huge ice block over twenty meters high lifted her high into the sky in a heartbeat.
Bang!
The ice block was crushed like nothing when the Second Order ape's kick connected. Shangguan Bing Xue began to plummet from the sky, but she did not panic at all; on the contrary, she took the power of the Earth's gravity to her advantage and slashed downward.
Just then, however, the giant ape opened its mouth wide and Shangguan Bing Xue had a bad feeling. She rescinded her attack and hurriedly shouted in a delicate voice:
"Ice Shield!"
The endless raindrops began to freeze at speeds that even Bai Zemin couldn't follow with his eyes and in just a blink of an eye, they merged together to form a thick round shield whose diameter easily exceeded ten meters!
The giant ape roared and a three-meter fireball flew out from its mouth like a cannonball.
Boom!
The distance between the two was so close that the ice shield and the fireball collided in less than a blink of an eye and a thunderous explosion echoed everywhere.
As the fiery flares spread all around under the raging storm, Shangguan Bing Xue took advantage of the shockwave to move away from the beast and rejoiced that the storm greatly weakened the giant ape's power, or else it would have been difficult to come out of the previous attack unscathed.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Bai Zemin frowned from a distance. He was standing about a hundred meters away with his Blazing Scale Greatsword stabbed into the ground as he clung to the hilt with a reverse grip.
"No need. I said I'll kill it myself." Shangguan Bing Xue indifferently declined and then directly spent 80% of her Mana, deciding that it was time to end it all.
So far, Shangguan Bing Xue's Mana consumption had mainly come from activating her skills. However, over the course of the fight, that Mana had been slowly recovering. Therefore, her Mana was almost completely full; all this was only possible thanks to her being able to make ice from the countless raindrops around her.
Therefore, 80% of her Mana was an amount that even Bai Zemin should praise.
"Ice Arrows!" She delicately yelled and waved her sword in a spiral, releasing auras of frost back and forth from her body.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Over 2000 ice arrows filled the sky.
Bang!
Lightning flashed for several seconds, illuminating the icy glow of the frozen tips of the 2000+ ice arrows.
"What a powerful skill." Bai Zemin muttered in surprise as he looked at the frost aura contained within the tip of each arrow.
Each frost arrow exuded the aura belonging to Shangguan Bing Xue's Frozen Rebuff skill.
High above the clouds, Lilith watched the ongoing battle with indifference. Seeing Shangguan Bing Xue's attack, she couldn't help but nod, "It's over."
Then, she faded away amidst the thunder and lightning.
"Die!"
With a gesture from Shangguan Bing Xue, the thousands of arrows flew all at once towards the giant ape that had now knelt on its left leg.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Although the beast could feel the fatal attack about to hit it, its body was drained and its mind was exhausted after the constant loss of blood. Due to Shangguan Bing Xue's Frozen Rebuff skill, the wound where its right arm had been cut clean off was still bleeding non-stop!
The giant ape made a last-ditch effort and at the same time as its red eyes flashed viciously, it opened its mouth wide, shooting out a huge fireball in a straight line. A second later, its body was relentlessly struck by hundreds of ice arrows at the same time.
The first nine hundred ice arrows barely managed to pierce the skin of the beast. The next nine hundred ice arrows managed to cut through all the weakened skin and tear the giant ape's flesh. The remaining more than two hundred pierced the holes that plagued the beast's body, impaling it completely before it froze into a huge ice statue.
However, judging by the fact that Bai Zemin had yet to receive any notification from the Soul Record, the Second Order giant ape was still alive.
But that was not all!
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes shivered slightly as her pupils reflected the huge fireball approaching. This was something she had not expected! She definitely did not believe that the giant ape would be able to launch an ultimate attack considering the condition it was in!
Even then, her eyes flashed coldly and she snorted. Her soft waist swayed like a female snake and the lightning on her body flickered as several ice platforms formed under her feet.
Seeing this, Bai Zemin stopped his movements and relaxed his grip on the hilt of his weapon.
Boooom!
The fireball over four meters in diameter exploded powerfully, forming a giant crater and causing several flares to fly everywhere uncontrollably.
Swoosh!
Like a ghost, Shangguan Bing Xue appeared in front of the frozen statue of the giant ape still kneeling on one of its legs. Blue lightning flashed on her armor and illuminated her cold face just as she stabbed her sword towards the beast's throat in a swift and fluid motion.
A slight groan came from within the ice statue, and a moment later, thin strands of blood began to trickle down the surface of the pristine ice.
Two orbs filled with Soul Power with a somewhat similar size came out from the statue. One entered Shangguan Bing Xue's body and the other entered Bai Zemin's body.
[You have received the Soul Power of Second Order Explosive Flame Ape level 71. You have gained Strength +60, Agility +43, Stamina +56, Health +60, Mana +20, Magic +25.]
Both received the same message, only with slight differences, with Shangguan Bing Xue getting slightly more stats than Bai Zemin.
In addition, she also received the following messages in her retina as the records were engraved into her soul:
[You have leveled up and reached level 41. You get 2 status points to distribute freely.]
[You have leveled up and reached level 42.]
[You have leveled up and reached level 43.]
[You have leveled up...]
[You have leveled up...]
[You have leveled up and reached level 46. You get 2 status points to distribute freely.]
Slowly, Shangguan Bing Xue withdrew her sword and waved it into the wind. Blood clinging to the blade splattered on the ground and pure raindrops cleaned the edge. Only then did she elegantly sheathe her weapon before turning around to face Bai Zemin.
Then, she did something he did not expect. With a happy and proud smile, she held up two fingers forming a V and said cheerfully, "You see? I can do it too if I put my mind on it!"
Bai Zemin didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at the usually cold woman's childish attitude. In the end, he simply said what he thought was right: "Congratulations... Now we can say that in our faction there are two beings with the power of a Second Order existence. Let's work together to avoid annihilation of our race."
Although Shangguan Bing Xue had only won because the stars had basically aligned in perfection for her and her safety, it was actually not a lie to say that the current her could take on a Second Order beast. After all, she had just absorbed quite a bit of Soul Power from a high-level beast and added to the Soul Power of the Archaic Bear, her overall strength had increased tremendously.
Furthermore, the current Shangguan Bing Xue will probably also be able to evolve her main skill to Second Order. This will make her strength increase explosively without a doubt.
* * * * * * *
Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3