Chapter 1096: Rout
Chapter 1096: Rout
Sheyan escaped with a calm mind and a clear conscience.
He had already tried his best to stop the team from going into unnecessary danger, but the greed and carelessness of a minority of people had undermined his effort.
The escape path Sheyan chose was none other than the way they had come from.
The Violent Beasts had used their footprints to lure the humans into an ambush. In order to avoid giving themselves away, they obviously would not prepare any traps along that path. Perhaps that was just conjecture, but it was also backed by Sheyan’s Perceptive Sense. A Violent Beast had a pathetic 25 points of Perceptive Sense, and even an elite Violent Beast should not have more than 50. If there were any Violent Beasts lying in ambush underneath or around the path they came from, Sheyan would have long noticed them!
Sheyan could even confidently deduce that a staggering number of Violent Beasts must be lying in wait around this island in the middle of the swamp, the only gap being the path they came from. And in order to make sure the humans completely fall for the trap, the gap must be relatively large. It was a crucial part of the plan which allowed for no mistakes, after all.
It meant that Sheyan only had to rush out of the encirclement before those Violent Beasts could close the gap, and he would be free!
Sheyan had no doubt that he was capable of doing this.
His greatest strength lay in his HP, which had reached a staggering amount of 4,000. If all the healing methods he had at his disposal were taken into account, his actual total HP would even exceed 10,000. He also had a strong defence which would absorb at least 50% of damages, as well as the formidable ‘Stronghold’ innate talent.
In addition, Sheyan also had ‘Hornrage’ and that powerful dark gold ring, the ‘Entanglement of Victory’! He could first activate ‘Hornrage’ to charge towards an enemy 30 meters away, then immediately use the ‘Mind Transmission’ ability on the ring. Doing so would enable him to cover a span 60 meters in but a few seconds. If he could not even escape after that, he might as well just kill himself….
Sheyan concentrated hard on his Perceptive Sense while he ran, so he could very clearly feel all the movement in his vicinity.
Pokan behind him had finally realised the danger he was in, but he did not give up. His chanting grew louder until it became a deafening roar! Behind him appeared a half-naked statue of a Greek god with glaring eyes, wearing a white robe and a crown. The statue suddenly bent down and inserted his arms deep into the ground.
At the same time, blood trickled down Pokan’s lips.
A few geysers of blood instantly gushed out from the ground. The elite Violent Beasts that were using their powers to fight against Pokan let out shrill cries of pain as their heads burst open. Their might was not enough to go against a powerful Awakener after all.
But other things were happening underground. The Violent Beasts had dug a whole network of tunnels under the island, so as soon as the contestants fell into the trap, the beasts had immediately swarmed them like the tide. It was a melee of chaos and confusion down there!
Under such circumstances, the abilities of long-range contestants and mage-type contestants were greatly limited. Paul, for example, had no way of summoning his battle robot, because summoning a powerful creature took time. The more powerful a creature was, the more time required to summon it. Some even required spellcasting medium or spellcasting materials. If the summoner was attacked in the process, the process would naturally be interrupted. As for how awkward it was for long-range contestants in melee fights, that required no further explanation.
The devastating part about the Violent Beasts was that, although their attacks were not too strong, they had some pretty insane biological powers. As soon as they started attacking, they would overwhelm their enemies with waves of petrification abilities, debuffs, diseases, neurotoxins, paralytic toxins….
While Pokan was trying to lift the terrain, about seven or eight Violent Beasts pounced on him. William the sniper hesitated a little, but in the end, he chose to stay to guard Pokan. Sheyan had initially displayed a slight hesitation when he saw that. If he and Aldaris gave their all and rushed back to help, they should be able to help Pokan finish his spell. But after that? After that, they would have to face hundreds of Violent Beasts head on!
In addition to that, there was something else worrying Sheyan. No one seemed to know why these Violent Beasts would want to capture human beings alive. Why would they lay down such an elaborate trap to catch even more humans?
There were probably more enemies than the Violent Beasts in front of them!
If Sheyan’s deduction was correct, then staying here was hopeless! And even if he did manage to save them, so what? This was not his team! Why would he risk his life to save a few more people?
Therefore, he hesitated no longer and dashed away as fast as he could. Aldaris ran away even faster than Sheyan did, flashing his way forward in front of Sheyan. Sheyan clearly remembered that if it was not for this guy’s exclamation of “Pi ore?!” in the first place, the others might not have rushed forward and fall into the trap.
***
The wind whistled past Sheyan’s ears.
Sheyan ran forward with large strides. Each step, besides propelling himself forward, would also tell him the number of Violent Beasts that were trying to surround and intercept him through the faint tremor of the ground. A few beasts had already reached the gap in front. It was a good thing that Ramtas had already rushed out of the encirclement together with Aldaris, or his lack of mobility would have caused him to be blocked in this place.
The ground underneath Sheyan’s feet suddenly softened; he had almost reached the edge of the island. He could see the Violent Beasts swarming over from every direction like the tide. The path ahead had been blocked and he would be completely surrounded in a few seconds. Sheyan’s eyes narrowed, his heart burning with the desire to test his might. He held his fists tightly and charged forward with great momentum!
Due to Sheyan’s terrifying strength, the soil under his feet surged several meters high when he charged with all his might, leaving behind him a long trail of flying soil like an earth dragon. Despite that, the Violent Beasts showed no signs of fear. The tentacles and compound eyes behind them stood up in anticipation. As soon as Sheyan got close, they drowned him in their bizarre disintegration rays!
[ You have been attacked by a mental-type disintegration ray…. The actual damage you received is 17 points. The attack carries a petrification effect. Check in progress. The petrification effect failed to pass the toughness check. ]
[ You have been attacked by a mental-type disintegration ray…. The actual damage you received is 11 points. The attack carries a weakening effect. Check in progress. The petrification effect failed to pass the toughness check. ]
[ You have been attacked by a mental-type disintegration ray…. The actual damage you received is 19 points. The attack carries a neurotoxin. Check in progress. Due to the existence of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ in you, you are immune to the neurotoxin. ]
[ You have been attacked by a mental-type disintegration ray…. The actual damage you received is 17 points. The attack carries a disease. Check in progress. The disease was absorbed by the A-virus, healing your HP by 31 points. ]
[ … ]
As soon as Sheyan burst into the group of Violent Beasts in front of him, he found that the result was pretty much exactly as he had imagined. Thanks to the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ and his astonishing Physique, these annoying abnormal conditions had a hard time sticking on him. It would probably take some high-ranking Violent Beasts to petrify or weaken him.
However, one thing did exceed his expectation. He thought that the attacks of the Violent Beasts would either fail to break through his defence, or if they did, they would only cause single digit damage, but it turned out that each attack had caused 10 to 20 points of actual damage to him!
This meant that it would become absolutely impossible for him to enter and exit the encirclement of the Violent Beasts as he pleased. The range of a Violent Beast’s attack was five meters. If he was surrounded, he would be attacked by more than ten Violent Beasts at the same time. Each round of attacks would reduce his HP by around 200…. That was to say, Sheyan could not last two minutes in a Violent Beast herd if he did not heal himself!
Sheyan did not attack the beasts at all. He simply rushed forward madly with his hands up to protect his head. There was no way the Violent Beasts blocking in front of him could withstand his abnormal strength, and they were easily knocked away. The gap had not fully closed yet. Sheyan managed to force his way out of the encirclement in less than 20 seconds.
Looking back after that, he saw that the path behind him was already filled with a swarm of creatures, completely sealing the gap. If someone wished to rush out, besides having to go through a large amount of Violent Beasts, the Violent Beasts in the surrounding areas could also come over to help anytime…. That was to say, it was already impossible for the others to escape along this path.
The zaps of electricity buzzed non-stop. Sheyan also turned around with ‘+7 West’ in his hand and, together with Aldaris and Ramtas, killed the dozen odd beasts that had pursued after them with much difficulty.
These monsters were far more resilient than Sheyan had expected, mainly because their biological power of ‘Light Distortion’ was really impressive. When his saber cut past the place where a Violent Beast’s head was, it would just pass through and cut into the mud instead.
After the battle ended, Aldarius looked towards the distance and sighed deeply, contrary to his usual cynical manner.
“If I hadn’t reacted quickly enough, I would’ve been trapped inside too. Look at all these Violent Beasts; there must be hundreds of them. It must be really hard to escape now.”
But just as Aldaris was lamenting, a series of dazzling lights shone from a distant spot on the island!