章 221: Sea Serpent II - First Assault.
The roars of beasts and humans like echoed throughout the sandy battlefield, there was a hint of chaos unlike the orderly conflict that was the beast wave before, the presence of higher ranked spirit beasts among the congregation of shelled and limbed creatures drove the neat formations apart as blood was spilled from both sides.
It was lucky that the cultivators fighting now were prepared with healing pills, though they weren't infinite; The ground was already littered with corpses of myriad creatures, yet no one spent the time to clear them away or claim their spoils, that's how hectic it was.
On the other hand, the battle in the centre was only just starting as the group of elites began approaching the giant serpent as it eyed the group cautiously, eventually its gargantuan body began slithering towards them as it bared its fleshy fangs, oozing an unpleasant smell across the field.
"So, you're moving! I'd like to see which is stronger, you or me!" The bald-headed Ri Kong yelled as he charged ahead of the pack, his Qi flowed through his body as his muscles bulged.
"I'll let you take the first strike, Brother Ri" Yi Yijun said as he took some distance from Ri Kong.
"How generous of you! Make sure not to fall behind!" Ri Kong yelled back before letting out a roar that pierced the ears of all who listened, including the giant serpent who roared back as its body twisted oddly before it launched it's mouth straight towards the man, the maw was more than twice his size.
"It'll swallow us whole!" One of the men that went with Ri Kong yelled, yet the bald-headed man mere laughed as he held out his hands, his fingers hardening like an iron vice grip to prepare for impact.
'He's going to take it? He's a mad man!' even Shu He was surprised as he watched Ri Kong who was seconds away from being swallowed, but then his brow twitched as he noticed the serpent's movements were odd.
'It's not heading straight?' Its head was angled, and its body was carefully twisting, he then noticed the lower half of its body picking up speed.
"IT'S A FEINT!" He yelled, hoping the man would understand what he meant, but it was too late, Ri Kong stood expecting to meet the snake head on, yet before he could even react it went right past him as the scales of its shiny black body coiled in front of his vision as he heard Shu He's warning-
He panicked, confused as to what the beast was doing, then as his sight turned to the left, everything went black-
*BANG*
A blood mist filled the air as gasps could be heard, the sound of multiple objects dragging in the sand was heard as lines of scarlet colour stained the pure white ground.
"RI Kong!" Disciples that were fighting the smaller creatures screamed out as they witnessed the scene before them.
Shu He felt a cold sweat as he re-evaluated the snake in front of him, a hint of fear grew in him as he watched the scene unfold.
'This serpent is used to fighting on the ground!' was his conclusion, the one thing the cultivators had as an advantage over the sea creatures usually was that they were on their home ground, they had the advantage.
But that simple feint had showed Shu He that it was different for this serpent, it had used a frontal strike as a feint and used its tail as a whip to strike from a blind spot, a brutal move.
He didn't even spare a second to check on the three that were hit, if they lived it would be a miracle, if not, what did it matter right now?
The one positive was that he wasn't the one hit – he wouldn't have survived.
The serpent never stopped moving once it started, it was like an infinite momentum machine as it swayed into a spiral before shooting itself off towards Yi Yikong's group.
"Don't think I'll fall for it too, beast!" He ordered his group to split up and surround the approaching beast from all sides, the snake shot towards him as he moved out the way at the last second while performing a sword art.
A purple thorn was seemingly shot from his sword, yet the moment it touched the black scales it shattered like glass.
'Tough scales, as I thought, my bow probably won't pierce them…' Shu He sheathed his sword as his Qi began to flow towards it.
[Aim for its mouth] was the message he sent to Shu Xue as the feathers lining her arms beneath her sleeves began glowing. The two of them began steadily approaching the serpent awaiting an opening.
The serpent, having missed its target began curling around, its long body acted as a wall, attempting to enclose around Yi Yijun and a few others, yet in the next moment a figure was stood on its head.
'You may be a lucid beast, but you're still just beast!' The man was Shi Le, the lanky man, in his hands were two green blade like formations that wrapped around his hands as he skulked towards the eye.
"Your eye is a weakness like anything else!" He couldn't help but yell as his blade darted right towards the amber pupil, surely, it would pierce through and cause great pain!
At least, that's what he thought.
The blade struck something, not the eye, it was a transparent layer that felt like jelly, the tip of his green sword slid to the side as his eyes widened, they met the view of the amber eye that glowed eerily.
As Shu He was approaching, he noticed that something was wrong, Shi Le had stopped moving entirely like someone had paused him!
'His Qi flow is disrupted! Something's wrong, but I can't tell what!' he yelled out "Someone grab him, he'll die!" it was something easier said than done, the snake moved to flip up its head, sending the frozen body of Shi Le flying upwards as it opened its maw.
"No, you don't!" A figure shot up from the sand as a boom echoed and a shockwave shifted the sand underneath the serpent, its long neck formed a > shape as a large paw struck its skin, cracking some of the scales.
It was Na Xue, her ping hair was unbundled and flowed like a wildfire as her eyes glowed with a wild pale yellow, her body had been transformed into a strange mix of creatures made to emphasize speed and power, it was hard to recognise her at first.
Yet it wasn't time to dawdle and gawk, as the snake was being knocked back a stretch of seaweed came from the side and grabbed Shi Le, pulling him to safety.
*CRASH*
The snake crashed upside down before a screech echoed and it began to move, twist and turn, it appeared to have been angered as it turned straight towards Na Xue and moved at a speed twice as fast as before kicking up sand.
"You think you can challenge me?!" A smile grew on Na Xue's face, her excitement was clear.
"Senior Sister, you just saw what happened!" Shu He shouted as he took position.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" She replied, digging her feet into the sand.
"For heavens sake, fine!" He glanced at the other cultivators and said, "Get ready to attack!". The first few moves had shaken the others, not expecting such power or trickery, so they followed Shu He's order.
"…" Yi Yijun stood stoic with his blade drawn as he frowned, yet he began to perform hand seals all the same.
Barely a second away from impact, Na Xue felt her body freeze as she met the serpent's eyes, yet her mind didn't panic, instead she remained calm as she directed her Qi flow with utmost confidence.
"Such a little trick, won't work on me!"
*DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The two, Na Xue and the serpent met, Na Xue's beast like arms and body grew in size comparable to that of a true Lunaflame Ursa as her claws dug into the snout of the serpent, despite that the size of the serpent's body was massive, so she was dragged across the sand for nearly fifty meters before they came to a halt!
'What power!' this was the first time Shu He had seen Na Xue's true potential, so he couldn't help but be impressed, yet he still moved to a specific spot on the serpent and-
*Click*
<<Overedge – Vicious Fang!>>
The Endless Edge left its sheathe as his Qi burst forth launching a wave of metal the struck the scales letting out a screech… yet the result wasn't great. It had definitely broken the scales that were hit, yet the skin beneath had just whitened- barely a few layers had been torn.
'Of course, it's not going to be this easy!' Shu He clicked his tongue as he backed off, he could hear and see the techniques of the others striking the snake including the six purple spikes, yet not a single one seemed capable of fully drawing blood from the beast!
Meanwhile at the front of the serpent, Na Xue was struggling to hold its maw open as it began struggling get free while being assaulted on all sides.
"Go ahead! I can't hold it much longer!".
Multiple cultivators had the same idea, they launched their techniques, projectiles that struck the flesh, flames to scorch the insides, into the mouth further decreasing its discomfort and struggle.
But the last strike was different-
Tens of red feathers flew out of Shu Xue's sleeves as they circled around her, glowing with a bright orange aura, they slowly sorted themselves into an arrow formation as she pointed at the mouth.
"Go" with one word, the arrow of flames shot into the mouth followed by flames that seemed to light up the entire snake from head to tail for a single moment before a torrent of flames exited from its orifices stunning all those who watched.
Na Xue who was holding the mouth open, dodged out of the way at the last second as she picked up Shu Xue who seemed slightly faint, a hint of amazement was stuck on her face before a bright smile replaced it.
Shu He watched on, yet he didn't smile, rather his expression was grim.
'It seems I've really underestimated a Lucid level beast…'
He could tell that Shu Xue's attack had injured it, but it was nowhere near dead, in fact it probably wouldn't take more than a few days to recover. The problem now was, what was their next move?
Shu Xue had strained herself using her Innate Technique on that level, he had hoped to finish it off then and there, but life wasn't fair in the end. She wouldn't be able to use it again like that for at least half a day.
His eyes were fixated on a single point, about a third of the way down the snake's body from its head; That's where the spirit heart was located, he could see a few minor cracks in it after Shu Xue's attack.
'I would like to have kept it in tact, but…' he sighed "I seems we can't get everything we want" he murmured as he sheathed the Endless Edge.
It was in that moment the snake began shifting again, however it wasn't to go somewhere, rather it began shaking controllably causing the entire beach to quake and dust clouds of sand to rise up into the air, obscuring the view of those watching.
"What's it doing?".
"Is it dying?".
The more astute among them watched with Qi sight, though the heavy amounts of Qi spread from the techniques obscured their view, they knew something bad was happening.
Shu He could see clearly, and what he saw made his expression turn grim.
"Everyone spread out, it's burrowing!".
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