However, the one "Leader Xiao" was not injured by the arrows from the Divine Arm Crossbow.
It wasn't because no arrows were shot at it, but because after it witnessed the scene of one of its slave Xiao being headshot by an arrow, the Leader Xiao let out a thunderous roar and immediately grabbed the yellowish-brown stone that hung on its chest like a pendant!
The next moment, the stone emitted a translucent yellow light that quickly covered its entire body.
The crossbow bolts flying towards it struck the yellow light, creating ripples like stones hitting water.
After that, they all fell to the ground!
"This is a wondrous item?"
Xia Tian, whose Divine Arm Crossbow string was still trembling in his hand, couldn't help but narrow his eyes at this sight.
When a world shatters, to protect its people entering the Land of Eternity, the residual rules of the world will attach to certain objects to form "wondrous items." Most of these wondrous items are then acquired by leaders of powerful factions, providing assistance for their race's survival in the Land of Eternity.
"Gugagaga (The enemy is there)!"
Apart from this Leader Xiao with a wondrous item protecting its body, the other Xiao, after some of them fell due to the surprise attack of the Divine Arm Crossbow, quickly reacted.
Their eyes glowed with bloodlust, and their green-faced, fanged expressions were filled with rage. Roaring in their own language, they then leaped across the half-finished houses with agility far exceeding that of humans, rapidly closing in on the human's position.
As seventh-tier creatures, these Xiao had physiques at least four times stronger than ordinary humans and were extremely familiar with the mountain forest environment. Therefore, although some were shot down by the Divine Arm Crossbow again midway, the rest quickly charged over.
What followed was an unavoidable, brutal close-quarters battle!
These Xiao were undoubtedly strong, each possessing a physique on par with Xia Tian's current level, but fortunately, the human side was not weak either.
For example, Da Niu, a blue-tier talent, had a physique more than three times that of an ordinary person. With the advantage of weapons and equipment, he swung his wolf-tooth club and smashed a Xiao that leaped from a tree to the ground!
However, the most outstanding performance came from Shen Lian, also a blue-tier talent. Although both he and these Xiao were seventh-tier, and their physical qualities were similar, there was a world of difference in their skills.
The techniques meticulously developed by human civilization over millions of years held an overwhelming advantage compared to the instinctive, primitive fighting styles of these creatures.
Shen Lian's Embroidered Spring Blade, upgraded to silver quality, was incredibly sharp, moving like a silver serpent among the Xiao. Silver light flashed with each movement, accompanied by spurts of blood!
To atone for his mistakes, Shen Lian fought almost desperately, trading injuries.
But the effect was astonishing; in a short time, he killed three Xiao.
And Wu Song was naturally even more formidable. Standing beside Xia Tian, he wielded his "Thousand-Layered Treasure Blade" with simple and unadorned movements, yet every strike, once delivered, was guaranteed to find its mark, severing either a hand or a foot.
One Xiao was even split in half from head to toe by him.
The gap in combat power from seventh to ninth tier (transformation) was even greater than a mere numerical difference!
Roar!
But soon.
The ninth-tier Leader Xiao, enduring the Divine Arm Crossbow bolts, had already charged over, swinging its yellow-light-shrouded claws towards Wu Song's chest!
Hum!
Wu Song swung his blade, and it collided with the claws.
Both sides were ninth-tier in physique, their strength almost on the same level.
Wu Song had already begun his "transformation," while the Leader Xiao was enveloped in yellow light emitted by a "wondrous item," receiving an additional buff!
Therefore, this collision could be described as a needle point against a wheat awn, a meteorite hitting Earth!
Clang!
Wu Song's "Thousand-Layered Treasure Blade" shattered a large chunk, almost breaking in half.
This was because the simple saber had already suffered damage and developed cracks during the fierce battle with the Black and White Jiao Pheasant. Now, encountering another clash of ninth-tier power, it inevitably couldn't withstand it!
In contrast, the yellow light covering the Leader Xiao's body was like a transparent armor, and it sustained no damage whatsoever.
"No, I must lead it away immediately!"
Wu Song reacted very quickly, immediately realizing the danger of the situation.
The ninth-tier "Leader Xiao's" wondrous item seemed to possess some kind of "invincible" effect. If it chose to abandon him and charge towards the others, especially towards Xia Tian himself, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Seeing this, after the clash, Wu Song immediately feigned defeat, continuously retreating and maneuvering with his Jade Ring Steps, also attracting the Leader Xiao, still enveloped in yellow light, which roared and pursued him all the way. It wasn't until both had rushed out of the jungle that Wu Song finally stopped.
The spot where he stood was precisely next to the large stone vat of wine that the Leader Xiao hadn't had time to drink earlier.
"I don't believe it, a so-called wondrous item, is truly irresistible by human power!"
Wu Song, with just one hand, lifted the stone wine vat that the sixth-tier slave Xiao had struggled to move.
He gulped it down, like a whale swallowing or an ox drinking!
The surging amber wine flowed down the corners of his mouth in the sunlight, wetting Wu Song's chin and the front of his clothes, and the strong aroma of wine permeated the air.
This wine was extremely potent; the Leader Xiao had gotten tipsy after just one cup earlier.
"Splash, splash..."
Now Wu Song had chugged down more than half a vat, and coupled with his blood qi already being highly active from the battle, the alcohol quickly circulated throughout his body.
Then, Wu Song threw the stone wine vat in his hand, smashing it heavily onto the forehead of the enraged Leader Xiao, who had seen its wine being drunk.
Due to the protection of the "yellow light," the Leader Xiao was not injured.
But the next moment, a tightly clenched fist, like a ten-thousand-pound iron hammer, followed the stone wine vat, filling the vision of the Leader Xiao's blood-red eyes.
The yellow light surged like water, desperately trying to stop the fist's approach, but it still broke through some of the obstruction and smashed heavily onto the Leader Xiao's head.
A portion of the violent punch force penetrated, causing the Leader Xiao to stagger back several steps, its head becoming dazed and unclear!
Thump, thump, thump... And Wu Song had already staggered forward.
His iron fists, like "beating drums," continuously pounded the Leader Xiao's body, causing the protective yellow light to rapidly dim.
The Leader Xiao roared repeatedly, but its flailing arms and claws couldn't even touch the seemingly drunken Wu Song's clothes.
After more than ten punches, the yellow light, which had dimmed to its extreme, suddenly shattered.
What greeted Wu Song's fists was now the bare flesh of this alien leader.
The subsequent battle was without suspense. Even a ninth-tier blue-named creature could not last for a quarter of an hour against a silver-tier hero whose heart was burning with rage and who was giving his all.
After joining the territory, Wu Song had always fought with a simple saber, but today was the first time he had abandoned his blade, using his bare iron fists to smash the Leader Xiao until all its bones were shattered, completely unrecognizable!
Kill, kill, kill... On the other side of the jungle, with Wu Song gone, the pressure on the human camp suddenly increased.
Although the number of these Xiao was not large, totaling just over thirty, and nearly ten had already been killed by the Divine Arm Crossbow at the start of the battle!
Another ten or so were killed by Wu Song and Shen Lian's fierce attacks.
But the remaining ones still constituted a bloody battle for the humans.
Some were pressed on the chest by a Xiao's claws; because there weren't enough, they weren't wearing "silver silk soft armor," and were almost disemboweled on the spot, with wounds so deep that their hearts could be seen beating.
Others had their arms grabbed by the claws, and their arms were directly twisted off, leaving only a small amount of bloody skin connecting them!
Normally, humans suffering such injuries, even if they didn't die, would lose the strength to continue fighting due to the pain!
However, a group of territorial soldiers seemed to feel no pain at all, enduring their injuries and launching counterattacks.
The soldier whose chest had been torn open, in turn, plunged the blood-stained simple saber in his hand into the Xiao's belly, while the soldier whose arm had been torn off raised a single-handed Divine Arm Crossbow, which was already strung, aimed it at the Xiao's forehead, and fiercely pulled the trigger.
Come on!
At most, a life for a life, and we can still kill all these "evil spirits" who eat children.
Who's afraid of whom!
In this battle, the self-proclaimed civilized humans fought in a manner that seemed even more insane than these "Xiao" who had only recently emerged from being beasts.
This was because, above the battlefield, a dozen golden bees were fluttering their wings, their stingers glinting coldly, and everyone below had "needle marks" on their bodies!
"Grrr (What's going on)?"
In a half-finished house in the Xiao gathering place.
The dying wails of its kin woke up a Xiao that had lost an arm and was sleeping to recover from excessive blood loss!
When it looked outside, it was horrified to find that its tribe was almost completely wiped out.
And the enemies were a dozen humans!
Roar!
Blood overflowed from its eyes, and it let out an angry roar. This one-armed Xiao knew that, severely wounded, it had no ability to fight these humans who had gone berserk.
Therefore, instead of a suicidal attack, it stealthily moved to the side of the stone prison, hidden from the humans' firing angles. It stretched out its single arm and grabbed the vines from which a group of children hung. Looking at the crying children inside the cage, a ferocious, fanged expression appeared on its demonic face!
Pfft!
Suddenly, a silver blade flashed.
Its remaining arm's claw was still gripping the vine, but the root had already detached from its shoulder.
"Hoo hoo... I finally... caught you!"
His clothes were completely soaked with blood, making it impossible to tell if it was the Xiao's blood or his own. Shen Lian appeared before it, gripping his Embroidered Spring Blade, his expression equally "ferocious."
The mistake he had made earlier could finally be rectified!
"Well done. These child-eating monsters, killing them with one strike is too easy."
Having finished the battle, Da Niu walked in, also speaking indignantly. He picked up his wolf-tooth club and smashed the Xiao's legs into pulp as well, causing it to wail and bleed to death!
"You two, be careful to avoid the children in the small prison!"
"Later, gather these Xiao corpses together; I have a use for them."
Xia Tian, his clothes also stained with blood, walked in, his gaze as cold as if looking at livestock.
The growth of the Black and White Jiao Pheasant required a large amount of "blood food." He had originally been troubled about how to prepare it, but now these Xiao had helped solve the problem. It could be considered cosmic justice, a fitting retribution, for man-eating monsters to be eaten by the exotic creatures raised by humans.
"My lord, he's still alive!"
At this moment, a soldier from the Vanguard Camp walked to the side of the child who had been thrown to the ground by the slave Xiao earlier. After touching him, he said with surprise.
Although there was only a very faint breath, as long as there was still a breath, there was a possibility of saving him!
"Quick, save him!"
A group of people immediately gathered around, pulling out medicines from their chests: golden bee honey, royal jelly, blood-replenishing pills... All usable medicines were given to him!
And not just the little boy, the other children were also quickly rescued from the stone prison, and golden honey was applied to the wounds caused by the thorny vines.
"Be gentle with your hands."
"Wipe the blood from his face, don't scare the child!"
The iron-blooded tough guys from the battlefield just moments ago now transformed into gruff-voiced "male mothers."
This is what humans are like.
As soldiers, they could be cold-blooded and fight brutally against their own kind on the battlefield, but when faced with younglings, they were willing to be exceptionally protective.
【You completed a battle and rescued a group of young human children. Your territory's luck +180, and you obtained a rare silver treasure chest * 1.】
Amidst a chorus of "waah waah" sounds, Xia Tian saw a silver treasure chest appear on the open ground.
Cough cough, there's one more chapter below. The specific attributes of the Stone of Protection are below.