flstandardbreds Chapter 183 Neighborhood Arc: The Battle That Concluded
Chapter 183 Neighborhood Arc: The Battle That Concluded
Watching the nameless man's mouth move in the distance, Caiyan did not respond. Instead, he pushed up his glasses and fired another arrow.
"Oh, it's the Dominator's attendant. It seems the Dominator is in the building. Good thing we don't need to be so restrained anymore. It seems the strategy of capturing her alive doesn't need to be changed..."
With this thought in mind, the trajectory of the arrow changed into curves between the buildings, and finally swirled in a tricky manner to shoot straight at Wuming.
"The left side...?"
As if adjusting his own senses, Wuming muttered to himself. In the blink of an eye, he slightly turned his body, and the arrow shot towards the ground behind him like a meteor.
It felt like touching a crystal, and after experiencing Wuming's work, it was as if I had done it myself. My perception seemed to have returned to that level.
No one knew the answer. Wuming simply recalled the Asura who lived in a world of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a monster who could easily bite off his own flesh without dying, and who never hesitated for a moment when killing.
"Could it really be me...? Even though your face looked a lot like mine during the experience, can I really do it...?"
Just as Wuming was falling into self-doubt, more arrows rained down upon him.
He didn't have time to think and could only instinctively move between the buildings to hide.
In an instant, three more whooshing sounds came from the tall building, and three arrows, ever-changing, aimed at Wuming from multiple angles.
Following his memories, concentrating his spiritual power at a single point and focusing it on his feet to achieve high-frequency movement via catapults is not difficult for Wuming now.
Just as the two arrows were about to hit him, Wuming barely dodged them by tilting his head down.
"No matter how much the trajectory changes, it won't change the fact that the arrow will always be aimed at its own body."
"Really? Your bluntness and that guy Hijikata Masami who likes to chase me with a Japanese sword both make me uncomfortable."
As if sensing the change in Wuming's lip movements, Caiyan also murmured helplessly.
"And what about the third arrow?"
The arrow hidden at the very back arrived in an instant. Clearly, the previous two arrows were just feints, and this one was the real arrow with extremely fast penetrating power.
"Yes... there's no escaping it."
Although he couldn't hear Caiyan's whispers, Wuming still smiled remotely with perfect understanding.
At this critical moment, Wuming forcibly bit off his fingernail with his teeth and threw it forward.
The fingernail exploded instantly, smoke billowing out. The powerful impact deflected the rapidly piercing arrow, which grazed the hem of Wuming's clothes.
"That's... a fingernail?"
When the smoke cleared, Wuming was already gritting his teeth and hiding in the house where he had punched a hole and crawled in, leaning against the wall and panting heavily.
"Huff... This is no good. How did I manage to bite my fingernail and still fight normally... Ouch, that hurts..."
Black flames slowly rose on the thumb, gradually restoring the nail plate through spiritual power.
"Should we use the same tactics as before, rush up and throw our fingers at the top of that tallest building... then bite off our tongues and commit suicide, then regenerate next to that archer and knock him unconscious?"
Thinking this through, and gazing at his slowly recovering fingernails, the rational Wuming immediately dismissed his previous thought.
"No... absolutely not! At this regeneration rate, if we really do it, it's impossible to achieve such dense, large-scale regeneration. We'll definitely die!"
After determining that this conjecture was not feasible, Wuming pondered many other conjectures.
Obviously, it was impossible for him to jump up such a tall building in one go, and the moment of his jump was the perfect opportunity for the archer to shoot his arrow.
Just as his mind was about to go blank, Wu Ming suddenly looked at his fingers, which were still regenerating through burning, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Yes! How come I didn't think of that before!"
Although for some reason, I cannot summon the staff used to guide the black flames.
To use a metaphor, it's like being locked up by some invisible chain; there's a keyhole, but you don't have the key yet.
But this is the neighboring world. Even without using objects as ignition points, the spiritual energy permeating the air here is more suitable as terrain for taking action than the original world.
Looking in the direction the smoke dissipated and hearing the strange noises coming from the building, Caiyan's lips curled up slightly, and he drew his bow again and shot an arrow.
"I don't really dislike this comparison between hunter and prey."
The arrow shot towards Wuming's hiding place like lightning, followed by an explosion, with smoke billowing out of the building.
Then, a faint light suddenly flickered in the smoke, as if something was stirring within it.
Immediately afterwards, a small pebble spontaneously flew out of the smoke, traveling through the air at an astonishing speed and heading straight for the colored eye.
"It's... a pebble, no!"
In the instant that Caiyan realized what was happening, the object thrown at her suddenly burst into flames, like a burning black meteor.
"Is it a fifth-level spirit, like that Sherry Mujika? At that speed, it's almost impossible to take them down at the same time, so we can only dodge."
Two arrows were fired from the longbow, blocking two stones that had turned into fireballs. Only two remained. Rainbow Eyes quickly sidestepped and narrowly avoided the burning stone.
But the flames spread through the air, actually triggering a secondary explosion by drawing upon the spiritual energy in the air. With a bang, smoke from the explosion rose from the high-rise building, obstructing Caiyan's view.
"Ahem, bad sight! But you seem to think archers rely solely on sight?"
In the battles of the tenth domain, Caiyan not only relies on her vision to fight, but her hearing and sense of smell have also been developed to a terrifying degree.
Wuming used the tall buildings in front of him to leap rapidly into the air, but what came towards him was an arrow that was rushing straight towards him.
"Although I originally only intended to take Miss Unit Ruler with me, I'm sorry to say..."
"Yes! Is that what you're going to say next? It seems I'm sorry! You're going to die here!"
"You're going to die here! Uh! Could it be...?"
"Although I have long forgotten my past, unfortunately, standing before you is a true—fire beast!"
At this moment, Wuming did not lower his voice or deliberately make it sound like a girl; instead, he answered with a very tough-guy roar.
The arrow pierced his chest, but there was no sound of the soul crystal shattering; instead, it simply pierced a large hole in his chest.
"Pain... The burning offering has been made; now witness this blazing black sun!"
With Wuming's roar, raging black flames surged from the wounds on his body, flowing into his palm and transforming into an enormous fireball that crashed down heavily.
"not good..."
Although the smoke obscured her vision, judging from the intense heat and direction above, it seemed that her opponent had used their abilities to create a massive fireball.
The heatwave drew ever closer, accompanied by the long-lost, passionate heartbeat of the young woman.
"This is simply a monster..."
She muttered to herself, even though she had long lost the will to live here, her instincts told her to run.
"Even though I've long forgotten my past, why do I still choose to fight in this hellish world..."
Takeshita Ayame doesn't know anything about her past. However, based on some fragmented memories and conversations with others, she can roughly understand what kind of person she is.
I used to live in Japan, another world, probably as an ordinary high school student. I don't know how I ended up here; maybe I was invited by someone.
That doesn't matter. Now that things have come to this, I no longer dwell on the past; I just want to live life to the fullest.
There was no reason... no, perhaps there was, but the girl named Takeshita Ayame was always hoping and yearning, even though the excitement of shooting an arrow was extraordinary.
I could even live for this... That's a lie, just a way to fill an emptiness.
This is not the truth. Compared to the thrill of archery, she probably felt an indescribable sense of fulfillment after painstakingly finding the books of another world and reading them. That is the reason for living.
I especially love reading books about love, no matter how poorly written they are, they still have a strong appeal to me, who is not blessed by the gods.
What kind of feeling is it to love someone and to be loved?
He knew he would want to experience that feeling someday. And so he fought and struggled, striving for higher positions… that's how he had always lived.
The image of the enemy has long been blurred to him, or perhaps he can no longer remember it.
The past came rushing back like a revolving lantern. She hated being stuck in battle, but the enormous blazing sun was something she could not overcome.
"What is she fighting for? Is she also enjoying the battle...? No, her eyes aren't as pure as Masami's; compared to that, they're filled with chaos and longing..."
Thinking about these things is none of her business, but she still wants to think about them a little more.
What does it feel like for a girl in love?
To dispel my doubts, the only result of taking such actions in the past was—participating in this competition!
How much power would one possess if they became the ruler? How much power would it take to hope for the world?
That's why she wanted to take Hui Lili and Rinmeng, the former ruler, away to ask this question... but she ended up getting herself into trouble.
"No! Even knowing this, I'm still prepared to fly into the fire like a moth to a flame. At least I can't give up yet..."
With that thought in mind, she aimed her bow and arrow at the floor beneath her feet and drew the bowstring, as if gambling on some possibility.
Just as Caiyan drew the bowstring, the arrow struck the floor with a 'bang', causing an explosion. Due to the force of the impact, she was sent flying backwards from the rooftop to the ground floor.
Just as the colorful eye was sent flying backward, the huge fireball crashed heavily onto the roof, instantly triggering an even more violent explosion, with heat waves and shockwaves raging outwards.
Two fingernails, propelled by the impact of the flying object, also plummeted rapidly towards the spot where the colorful eye had been thrown backward.
The three objects crashed to the ground simultaneously, triggering a third explosion that filled the air with smoke and dust. Taking advantage of the chaos, Wuming quickly descended from the sky and ran towards the direction where Caiyan had fallen.
He knew this was a golden opportunity; he had to subdue her while her eyes were still injured and recovering.
Two wounded figures stood facing each other in the smoke.
"It's no use. Using a longbow in this show, it's impossible for them to hit me accurately."
"Yes, that's true, but how will we know if we don't try?"
"Oh, come on then."
"Wait a minute, I want to ask you something before the battle."
"Speak quickly. If it's about buying time for your companions to arrive, then my patience will be limited."
“I know. So I want to know the reason why one would fight without hesitation, even if it means being pierced through.”
"What I crave? I've long forgotten... but there's only one reason to fight: to repay a debt of gratitude."
"Repaying a debt of gratitude...what a novel way of thinking."
"Because I was picked up by that idiot Rinemu, and when I knew only one of them could survive and leave, I actually had a fleeting thought of killing her... How ridiculous, to treat my benefactor like that..."
"Just because of that?"
"Perhaps, is this common where you live?"
"Yes."
"This place really is hell."
As soon as he uttered those words, the arrow that Caiyan had been holding back shot out like lightning. However, Wuming simply swayed his body calmly and easily dodged the attack.
"Did you dodge it? Is your body trembling because you fell from such a height... It was such a good opportunity."
Wuming didn't answer, but clenched his fists and then rushed towards her.
It was Caiyan who guessed that his body would most likely be pierced by the Fire Fist, but he died with regret. What a terrifying way to die.
"I don't want to give up..."
The longbow was no longer of any use; the bowstring could no longer be drawn at this distance. The only way out was to pick up the longbow and fight back against the opponent's clenched fist.
Wuming quickly closed in and threw a punch at Caiyan. Caiyan, taking advantage of being a whole head smaller, crouched down to dodge the attack.
"Although the god of love isn't on my side, at least he's lucky enough to be on my side..."
Clenching her teeth, she raised one end of the longbow and slammed it heavily into Wuming's temple.
It clearly hit the target, yet it felt completely unreal. Upon closer inspection, it was merely a fleeting flame that had transformed into the shape of Wuming.
Did you miss?
"It's a pity, the checkmate is here."
Wuming's voice came from behind her. Caiyan tried to turn her head, but only felt a sharp pain in her neck as if she had been hit by a heavy hammer before she fainted.
—The battle has come to an end, while at this time, in several other battlefields...
—Kuang San
"Wow, that was really exciting. Judging from the explosions just now, one of the battlefields must have already been decided."
A huge golden dial appeared behind Kurumi as the girl strolled through the scattered venom.
"Enough talk! I'm your opponent!"
Feeling slighted, Nogi Ai roared in anger.
"Ugh~ So troublesome~ So troublesome? You're so troublesome I'm 'wanting to die'!"
Under the astonished gaze of the onlookers, Kurumi pressed a pistol against her temple and then pulled the trigger without hesitation.
'boom! '
—The remaining battlefield~
"Burn! Burn! Burn! Fire! Burn!"
Despite the sound, which was leisurely and carefree, it was surrounded by raging flames for four days.
The girl named Sherry Mujika wielded the [Eye of the Flame Demon], which gathered sunlight, shattering everything in its path and igniting a massive fire.
"Wow, judging from the fluctuations just now, it seems one team has already decided the winner. That's really impressive! In that case—let's finish this quickly too!"
Sherry looked at Ibusuki Panie, who was running amok in the sea of fire, and teased her as if she were a child.
All that was received in return was the girl's agonizing screams from the sea of fire.
"Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! I've had enough!"
—On the other side, it's...
"...Truly exquisite..."
Standing beside the girl's corpse, Cang spoke calmly, then swallowed the soul crystal in his hand and raised his head in satisfaction several times.
He lay down on the ground with a satisfied look on his face, ready to fall asleep. His innocent and naive appearance didn't seem like someone who had just finished a fierce competition.
But the corpse of Zuo He Cao Wei, who had just disappeared, didn't think so.
"The explosion was really loud. Oh well... Master said that the best things should be saved for last. I'll go to sleep first."
Cang muttered to himself as he closed his eyes.
—Finally, we arrived at the place where Hijikata Masami was traveling around all by himself.
"Aaaaaah! Rainbow Eyes, where are you?! Are you there?! Are you there?! Come out and fight—!"
Having finally made it to the epicenter of the explosion, and sensing the lingering spiritual energy from the recent battle, Hijikata Masami shouted urgently.
It's like a child finding out that their snacks have been eaten by other classmates.