Chapter 108: Chapter 107, you deserve to die!
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Gu Hang was seeing the Owl Beast for the first time in reality, and although it was merely an illusory form made up of the white storm, it did somewhat resemble the extinct ancient creature depicted in the pictorials.
It possessed an extremely majestic body, akin to that of a giant bear; its head resembled that of a mighty eagle; with antlers like those of a deer…
When still, it might seem a bit dim-witted and endearing, but at the moment, as it roared angrily at the sky, with the storm converging and dispersing at its command, it was truly terrifying.
And as this illusory embodiment of the Owl Beast wantonly unleashed its power, the violent storm became increasingly aggressive.
In just this short span of time, the ground was not merely covered with flowing water; it was already deep enough to submerge one’s feet; the strong wind, laden with raindrops, was painfully striking faces; debris from collapsing buildings was being swept everywhere by the gale, with smaller pieces even flying off into the distance; branches were being torn from trees, and even the thinner trees were being snapped by the wind…
This was no longer a mere storm; it had gone beyond nasty weather and could be called a natural disaster.
Gu Hang wasn’t having much trouble here, and neither were the space warriors and the battle nuns, but the soldiers further away were struggling.
They were not at risk of being blown away by the wind, but the flying building debris had already injured quite a few of them.
Even with the enemy Cui Kao still in front of him, and that storm-ravaged Owl Beast, Gu Hang’s thoughts inexplicably drifted to Revival City.
The distribution of food, after the setback of the transport routes being ambushed by the enemy, should have returned to normal a few hours ago with Osenia’s efforts.
However, distributing food to hundreds of thousands of people, even across sixty distribution points, would still mean queues of tens of thousands, or even more, at each point. The distribution would take far longer than a mere moment or two.
Up to this moment, today’s food distribution in that area would have only progressed by a fraction.
But now, the storm had arrived.
What was the situation over there?
Gu Hang was indeed worried.
However, he was stretched too thin at the moment. No matter how much he worried, there was nothing he could do about the situation there.
What’s more, the source of all these problems was here.
Gu Hang forced himself to focus on the present.
His mental manipulation of the Divine Envoy transformed into a golden sparkle was about to yield results.
But before that could happen, Cui Kao’s offensive reached them first.
“My greatest mission has been accomplished. Now, let me teach you imperial stooges a lesson,” he declared.
No sooner had he spoken than his outstretched hand fired a bolt of lightning, attacking the group of space warriors.
The lightning struck a battle nun. Her body convulsed violently as she fell to the ground, motionless.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that her breastplate had been pierced by the lightning.
Even without moving closer to check, Gu Hang could distinctly sense from his vantage point that the nun’s vital signs had vanished.
Gu Hang’s expression turned extremely grim.
One strike had killed a battle nun, an expert in fighting heresy. This High Priest’s power was off the charts.
Saddened by a sister’s death in battle, Georgette’s attacks became even more furious, and she increased her offensive tempo yet again. But still, she couldn’t swiftly break through the wind wall and was even sneak attacked by the golden lightning figure, sustaining some injuries.
And the enemy’s attacks were far from over.
As Cui Kao seemed to be gathering another bolt of lightning, the illusory enraged Owl Beast swung a massive paw at a space warrior.
The space warrior, along with the armor that probably weighed two tons, was sent flying by a slap. They were lifted three to five meters into the air by the white misty giant hand before being slammed harshly back to the ground.
Although it wasn’t lethal, that member of the Phoenix definitely wasn’t feeling comfortable.
Protected by the wind wall, Cui Kao could launch attacks without restraint, unhindered. And now, his Spiritual Energy was so strong that he was capable of causing real harm, even capable of killing, the nuns in powered armor and the space warriors.
And that was to say nothing of Gu Hang.
That bolt of lightning just now could instantly kill a nun blessed with Divine Grace and protected by powered armor; if it hit him, even with Spiritual Energy as a shield, he might at best save his life. Being completely drained of Spiritual Energy in an instant was unavoidable, and whether he would survive depended on luck.
The reason he had not been targeted first was probably that Cui Kao didn’t think his level of Spiritual Energy posed any threat. Killing a nun or a space warrior first would alleviate the pressure on him more effectively.
However, Gu Hang couldn’t always rest easy, nor could he pin his hopes on not being attacked by others.
Thus, although his mind interference was not fully prepared, Gu Hang decided to initiate the mind control effect immediately.
He had been working on this quietly for quite a while, taking care always to be subtle and slow in order to avoid detection. He was using a relatively slower method to let his spiritual energy infiltrate the Divine Envoy’s soul, who had transformed into a being of lightning. He hoped to complete the infiltration unnoticed, ensuring a one hundred percent certainty and then effect a reversal of the situation.
But now, he had to take the risk and try.
He changed the manipulation effect to ‘interference.’
“`
To tell the truth, he wasn’t completely sure of himself, but the effect after he initiated the magic was unexpectedly good!
This pure energy mage was almost losing his rationality as a human. He was burning himself up in some way and, with the additional blessing from Cui Kao, could perform as he now did.
Against such a brainless target, direct control was a bit difficult. The impatient part of his mind was extremely hard to tame; but if it was just about causing interference, completely collapsing what little rationality he had was relatively much simpler.
Gu Hang was doing just that, and he also implanted a more impulsive and aggressive thought into the mage’s soul.
In an instant, the guy lost control.
He no longer maintained his body within the wind barrier for protection, engaging in guerrilla tactics; instead, he darted straight out from the wind barrier. The crackling sound of electricity seemed like his roar as he charged towards the Phoenix Battalion Leader.
Matins couldn’t be happier!
You’re finally willing to come out and throw your life away!
He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but two hundred years of battle instincts led him to subconsciously raise his chain saw sword and swing it down hard.
When the chain saw sword hit the mage’s arm and then moved to his head, a huge burst of electric light exploded at the point of contact. Sparks flew violently in all directions.
In that instant, as the energy state binding was destroyed by the chain saw sword, all the power inside the mage erupted and uncontrollably surged out.
Meanwhile, Matins stood unshaken. He could feel the immense force acting on his body, and through the power armor, he felt the severe pain of the electric shock. But with firm willpower, he endured it all and even pushed the chain saw sword forward harder, completely shattering the burst of light.
In reality, after Gu Hang had interfered with the light mage’s mind, successfully making him run out from the wind barrier, he no longer paid attention to the situation here.
Though the guy was fierce, once he lost the protection of the wind barrier, his abilities were no match for any of the three great experts in close-combat range.
And Gu Hang’s goal wasn’t just to kill a light being made of energy.
Having one less hindrance to their attack and breaking the wind barrier from inside was just the first step. If he could only achieve this much, it might count for something, but it certainly didn’t reach the turnaround effect Gu Hang wanted.
The moment the Gale Envoy charged out, Gu Hang seized the opportunity. He used almost all of his Spiritual Energy, employing Telekinesis to fill the void left by the Gale Envoy!
This action had to be fast!
Gu Hang believed that if he were even a bit slower, the swiftly revolving wind barrier would immediately close the gap. His chance lasted only a fleeting moment.
Thankfully, Gu Hang managed it.
He felt immense pressure. The Storm Divine Power within the wind barrier fiercely rejected the Spiritual Energy he placed there, treating it as an intruder, frantically pushing outward. He had to throw all his strength into maintaining the gap.
“Seize the chance!”
Gu Hang’s voice rang out beside every warrior and battle nun.
They indeed did not let Gu Hang down.
Priest Rizzo strode forward, his staff imbued with all his might, heavily slamming beside the large hole Gu Hang had created. The immense force made the already incomplete, vulnerable wind barrier tremble mightily.
Next up was Georgette, and her sacred golden halberd inflicted further destruction on the wind barrier.
Their attacks were effective, of course. Gu Hang could clearly feel the pressure he was enduring suddenly decrease.
Meanwhile, the wind barrier became increasingly unstable.
If they could just keep up this momentum and continue their relentless assault, breaking the wind barrier would happen very soon.
Inside the protective encirclement of the wind barrier, Cui Kao’s face had turned extremely grim. His previously somewhat arrogant, crazy smile had all but faded away.
He raised his finger towards Gu Hang:
“You deserve to die!”
The power of storm lightning was building up, coalescing.
Gu Hang’s hair stood on end; he felt the threat of death.
In that moment, he was considering whether to withdraw the effort maintaining the hole in the wind barrier. If so, he could move his body using full-powered Telekinesis with a decent chance to evade Cui Kao’s attack. Even in the worst case, if he did get hit, the extra Spiritual Energy could perhaps save his life with a protective aura.
But that would mean losing most of the ground gained so far.
Just then, a whistling noise filled the air.
The sound of large-caliber artillery shells came hurtling from not too far away!
Gu Hang could almost hear Perbov yelling:
“Fire! Fire! Blast them ferociously!”