120: Chapter 120 I was actually fooled by such a petty trick.

"Luo An, run!" Aila's voice rang out again, urgent.

Almost simultaneously, nearly ten more streaks of spell light crashed down toward Gu Changming from different directions.

And this time, they finally saw clearly how the opponent had "survived" that seemingly inevitable torrent of spells from before.

In their eyes, the spells arrived almost at the same time.

In the opponent's eyes, however, they seemed to be moves full of openings.

With just a few extremely short, almost imperceptible steps forward, side-steps, and leans back, his gray mist-like figure smoothly flickered out several afterimages.

Those whistling spells and holy lights grazed the edges of its silhouette, missing one by one.

Only some scattered light touched his body, but it didn't cause any damage.

"How is this possible..." Luo An still didn't want to believe it.

The perception range of these Nether Soul Clan members was clearly only twenty meters.

And since all their people were casting spells from over twenty meters away, the opponent shouldn't have been able to "see" the trajectory of the attacks at all and should have been hit completely.

How could he dodge them all as if he had precognition?!

In the instant his mind was shaken, Gu Changming, having evaded all the spells, dashed forward again like a phantom.

Gray-white claws were raised, striking straight at his head.

Indeed.

Limited by the unique trait of the Nether Soul Clan, Gu Changming had no way of knowing where those attacks would come from.

But...

Once those spell attacks entered his twenty-meter Mental Power range, their trajectories, speeds, and landing points...

...were as clear as illuminated threads in the dark night, completely visible to his eyes.

It was only twenty or so attacks, not hundreds of them providing all-around saturation coverage.

It was enough for him to make judgments and reactions, handling them with ease.

...

Watching Gu Changming attack again, golden light erupted from Luo An's eyes once more.

In his vision, a blurry phantom emerged from Gu Changming's body, moving one step ahead of the actual body.

Relying on this prediction, he lunged forward and rolled in a most pathetic manner.

"Swish!"

The claws grazed his back, tearing his clothes and leaving several bloody gashes.

That was close.

However, at this moment, his four eyes were already filled with streaming bloody tears, his vision a blurry crimson.

Gu Changming's strike missed, but he didn't grow impatient. His figure paused slightly, his misty silhouette spun, and he struck down once more.

He's the protagonist of an otherworldly story, after all; he wouldn't be that easy to kill.

However, just then, Aila, who was standing in the distance, saw her self-luminescent golden hair suddenly grow long, instantly wrapping around the fallen Luo An's waist and jerking him back!

With a "whoosh," Luo An's body was forcibly dragged several meters away, widening the distance from Gu Changming again.

"We can't win, let's run!" Aila shouted from behind.

Run?

As Luo An was being dragged, through his blood-blurred vision, that phantom shadow showed no sign of stopping and was rapidly sweeping toward him.

I've been completely targeted now; can I even escape?

C-rank—both in strength and speed, the opponent completely crushed him.

Other Eclipse Clan members outside the twenty-meter range might be able to escape in the chaos, but he, who had just made provocative moves, would definitely be locked onto and hunted down until dead.

"Block him!" Aila shouted toward the high ground, watching the approaching phantom get closer and closer.

Awakened by her shout, the Eclipse Clan members on the high buildings finally reacted and channeled their mana again.

Another dozen or so streaks of spell light lit up, flying toward Gu Changming.

Still, he dodged nimbly.

Then, on his way forward, Gu Changming's gray-white claws suddenly dug down, his five fingers embedding deeply into the hard stone tiles of the plaza.

"Boom!"

Several sharp-edged stones, forcibly pried loose, were gripped in his hand.

Immediately after, he twisted his body and swung his arm!

"Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!"

These stones shot back along the trajectories of the incoming spells with startling speed and precision!

The Eclipse Clan members in "absolutely safe" positions outside the twenty-meter range were hit accurately.

"Argh!"

Several short cries of pain came from above almost simultaneously. These were followed by the thuds of heavy objects falling, and the spell lights abruptly ceased.

Once could be a fluke, but twice...

...is enough for me to cross-reference and confirm where your positions are.

The threats from above were mostly cleared in an instant, and Gu Changming once again pursued Luo An, who was being dragged backward.

...

Seeing this, the last bit of light in the eyes of Luo An and the surviving Eclipse Clan members was completely swallowed by despair.

How could he be... so strong?

Luo An even jerked his head around to look at Aila, a hint of questioning in his tone:

"How can it be this strong?! Didn't you say... you saw other teams successfully hunt down these Nether Soul Clan Examiners with your own eyes?!"

Aila's lips trembled, but she couldn't make a sound.

She really had seen it.

She saw that Nether Soul Clan member being besieged, struggling in pain amidst holy light and Healing Spells, finally shattering into crystals.

But the one before them...

...simply didn't seem like the same species as the one she saw before.

Luo An was dragged to Aila's side by her hair and stumbled to his feet.

Looking at the approaching Gu Changming, his gaze was replaced by a desperate ruthlessness.

"I still have one trump card..." he said rapidly.

Aila's spirits lifted, and she immediately looked at him. "What is it?"

"It can briefly trap his movements, making him unable to move. But... it takes time to cast." Luo An's tone was somewhat uneasy. "Can you block him for a moment?!"

Aila pursed her lips. Her strength was on par with Luo An's; if she faced that monster, she likely wouldn't last long.

"We're not fighting anymore." Luo An seemed to see through her concerns. "If we trap him, those of us who were lucky enough to survive... can escape."

Aila's eyes flickered intensely for a moment, then she nodded vigorously.

"Alright... but it won't be for more than two seconds at most."

She was well aware of the strength gap between herself and that monster.

Luo An stopped talking and immediately raised his right hand, pressing his index finger firmly against his forehead.

An unusually strange energy fluctuation gathered at his brow.

Aila took a deep breath and stepped forward half a pace, shielding him.

Then, parting her lips, she stuffed a crystal tube filled with shimmering silver-blue liquid into her mouth and snapped her teeth shut!

"Crunch!"

The crystal tube shattered, and the liquid flowed into her mouth.

In the next instant, the Mental Power around her body erupted like ignited explosives! Her golden hair danced wildly without wind, standing on end and emitting an unprecedentedly dazzling light.

And just as her aura reached its peak and she was ready for a life-and-death struggle...

...the opponent suddenly stopped less than five or six meters away from her.

That imminent killing intent vanished.

Aila was stunned, her mind unable to process it for a moment.

Though she couldn't figure it out, she didn't relax. Just as she was about to hurl the prepared spell at the opponent's feet...

...she saw the opponent slowly raise that gray-white claw.

It wasn't an attack, but a gesture.

Pointing behind her.

Aila felt a chill in her heart and instinctively wanted to turn around.

But halfway through the turn, she stopped herself abruptly.

Damn it, to think I would be fooled by such a small trick.

I'm going to die, aren't I?

However, despite the brief pause, her head didn't fall.

On the contrary, in the gap of her neck's hesitation, within her field of vision...

...there was no one behind her.

In the distance, a figure fleeing pathetically came into view, over a hundred meters away on top of a building.

It was Luo An.

He had run away.

At that moment, Aila froze inch by inch, as if falling into an ice cellar.

Turning back again, her gaze swept across the entire plaza.

Now, in the entire empty plaza, aside from the dead Eclipse Clan members, she was the only one left.

Standing there all alone before that dark, translucent silhouette.