95: Chapter 95 Encirclement

"Scatter!" Captain Wang Xuan growled, his right arm, hardened to the limit by his Rock Sequence, smashing into the shadow tentacles surging from the side. The impact between his fist and the shadows produced a dull, explosive sound. The shadows were knocked back half a meter, but a thin layer of corrosion remained on his knuckles. This thing could corrode the hardened layer of his Rock Sequence. His defense was top-tier among Sequencers of the same rank, but the corrosive power of these shadows was clearly not something an ordinary D-rank could produce. "We need to break out! Don't get bogged down in a fight!"

Xue Xing sidestepped behind the nearest brick wall, the shadows brushing past his heels. Using the wall as cover, he rolled twice to avoid the tentacles curling in from the side, slashed off the tips of the tentacles chasing him, and jumped up, shouting at Captain Wang Xuan: "Captain Wang, they're surging from behind too! The entire warehouse area has been covered!"

Gu Lan lifted her hands, her telekinesis forming a transparent, arched barrier in front of her. The shadows writhed frantically on the surface of the barrier, emitting a dense, hissing corrosive sound. Every few seconds, the barrier grew thinner. "They're stalling for time! The concentration of shadows is getting higher, and there are more people wrapping around the perimeter!" She compressed a surge of telekinesis into a fist-sized transparent marble and shot it toward the densest area of shadows, blasting a temporary gap in the middle of the alley. Through the gap, she could see a breach in the southeast wall, but the shadows on both sides of the gap were gathering again at a visible speed.

Hu Xiner stood in the center of the three, her eyes closed. Her Lighthouse Sequence was heavily compressed under the suppression of the shadows. Just moments ago, when she attempted to probe deep into the warehouse, the Shadow-Control Sequencer had pushed back, and the aftermath of the mental shock was still buzzing in her head. She retracted her perception to a small radius of less than twenty meters, capturing the changes in the flow of the shadows, then suddenly opened her eyes: "Three human-shaped energy signatures to the due east! One is circling the left flank quickly, it must be a Speed-type. Another has elemental energy, holding the front. There's another one toward the breach, with energy characteristics very similar to the Captain, it must be a Defense-type! They're going to block the breach!"

Captain Wang Xuan grabbed a rusty I-beam nearby, his arms hardened to the limit by his Rock Sequence, and ripped the two-hundred-pound beam from the wall base, holding it horizontally in front of him as he charged toward the southeast corner. "Gu Lan, blast the gap open! Xue Xing, cover the left flank! Hu Xiner, keep an eye on the rear!" As the I-beam smashed through the shadows, it emitted a dense hissing sound, and the corrosion ate dense pits into the surface of the I-beam within seconds.

Three Sequencers from the Fangs rushed out of the alley to the east. The burly man in the lead had dark red flames burning on his hands; as he smashed his fists together, a wave of fire rolled across the ground, causing the rubble in its path to crackle and explode. The Speed-type Sequencer was lean; his toes barely made a sound as they touched the ground, and as soon as he appeared, he circled to the left flank. The Defense-type Sequencer had iron-gray skin with a metallic luster and charged directly toward the breach.

Captain Wang Xuan violently slammed the I-beam at the Fire-type Sequencer and turned to take the brunt of the fire wave with his back. His Rock hardening layer blocked most of the flames, but the impact still pushed him forward, causing him to stumble two steps. "Don't let that iron-skinned guy block the breach!"

Gu Lan concentrated all her remaining telekinesis into her right fingertips and shot it at the ground in front of the Defense-type. The telekinetic bullet exploded on the gravel, forcing the Defense-type to stop at a critical step. A second shot followed, hitting the back of his knee. The Defense-type fell to one knee, his speed delayed by two beats.

It was in this two-beat gap that the Speed-type Sequencer had already circled to the left flank, his short blade aiming straight for the back of Gu Lan's neck. Xue Xing's blade was faster than the man's eyes; his Stargazer Sequence granted him precise prediction of attack trajectories. Before the short blade could even strike, he sidestepped, raising his blade from bottom to top to parry the short blade. The Speed-type's strike missed, and he rolled away to gain distance, but he didn't retreat. Instead, he used the cover of the shadows to pounce again. The short blade was as fast as a snake's tongue. Xue Xing parried seven or eight strikes in a row, predicting the opponent's attack trajectory every time, but the Stargazer Sequence was not a traditional combat sequence after all; he lacked the speed and endurance that others possessed beyond their limits.

His breathing grew heavier, and his footsteps began to show slight sluggishness. A short blade grazed his ribs, leaving a bloody streak on his side. Immediately after, a second blade struck toward his wrist holding the sword. Xue Xing barely managed to parry, his entire right arm numbed by the shock.

The Shadow-Control Sequencer appeared on top of the warehouse. He was lean, with shadows rolling around him like boiling ink. He spread his right hand's five fingers and clenched them violently toward the breach. The shadows around the breach, which had been scattered by the telekinetic bullet, all gathered again, weaving layer upon layer into an impenetrable shadow wall, completely sealing off the only way out in the southeast corner. Captain Wang Xuan punched the shadow wall; his Rock hardening layer collided with the shadows, exploding into a mass of gray-black energy debris, but the shadow wall remained motionless.

"They want to trap us here to die." Captain Wang Xuan withdrew his fist, the corrosion marks on his knuckles deepening by another layer. The four members of the Caravan were pressed into a triangular open space less than a few dozen meters wide in the southeast corner of the warehouse area. Behind them was the sealed shadow wall, in front of them was the steadily encroaching Fire-type Sequencer, on the left flank was the Speed-type waiting for a chance to ambush, and on the right flank were the collapsed warehouse ruins. The space they could maneuver in was being compressed step by step.

"Hu Xiner, find the weak spot with everything you've got! Leave the rest to me!" Captain Wang Xuan stood horizontally in front of the three, crossing his arms to forcefully withstand the combined strike of a shadow cone and half a wave of fire. His Rock hardening layer began to show fine cracks under the continuous attacks, and the scorch marks on his back were still emitting white smoke. Gu Lan's telekinetic barrier was already as thin as a piece of glass on the verge of shattering. The wound on her left palm, torn by the shadow backlash, was still bleeding, but she didn't withdraw her hand, using her remaining telekinesis to continuously fire small telekinetic bullets to buy time for Xue Xing to catch his breath.

Xue Xing knelt on one knee at the edge of the clearing, leaning on his blade, his chest heaving violently. The knife wound on his left shoulder, sustained while shielding Hu Xiner, was still oozing blood, which had already soaked half of his sleeve. The Speed-type Sequencer lunged out of the shadows again, his short blade stabbing straight at Hu Xiner. Xue Xing's prediction flashed the arc in his mind, but his body's reaction speed could no longer keep up. He used his last bit of strength to sidestep and crash into him, taking that blade with his left shoulder again. The short blade stabbed in next to the original wound. Xue Xing let out a muffled groan and backhanded his blade to force the opponent back. He knelt on the ground on one knee, his blade tip firmly supporting him, panting heavily, every breath carrying the scent of blood.

Hu Xiner opened her eyes and supported Xue Xing, her hands covered in blood. Her perception surged outward under extreme pressure; her Lighthouse Sequence was like a lamp that had been pressed to its dimmest point before suddenly bursting into light. She felt a stabbing pain in her temples like needles, but her perception briefly touched the perimeter. The Shadow-Control Sequencer was reinforcing the blockade in other directions, drawing some shadow energy away from the breach. The shadow wall at the breach thinned by a few inches in that instant.

"The breach is still passable! Some of the shadows have been drawn away!" Her voice was trembling, but every word was clear.

Captain Wang Xuan grabbed Xue Xing and hoisted him onto his shoulder. Gu Lan compressed all her remaining residual telekinesis into a single telekinetic bullet and blasted open the thinned shadow wall. The four of them stumbled and sprinted toward the breach; the moment they jumped over it, the shadow wall closed up again behind them.

The silhouette of the cooling tower ruins emerged in the gray mist ahead. Captain Wang Xuan set Xue Xing down and leaned him against the cooling tower, tearing off the hem of his combat suit to bandage the wound on his left shoulder. Xue Xing's lips were pale, and he barely managed a grin: "Damn it, that guy was too fast. Next time, let me handle him one-on-one."

"One-on-one, my ass. Just focus on making it back alive." Captain Wang Xuan wiped the dust off his face, the shadow corrosion wound on his shoulder still throbbing with pain. The shadows didn't continue to spread; the Shadow-Control Sequencer's ability clearly had a range limit and couldn't leave the warehouse area too far.

He stood up, and his peripheral vision suddenly caught a very subtle movement. In the direction of the viaduct. The gray mist was too thick to see what was on the bridge pier, but he could see two tiny points of light.