CHAPTER 635: CHAPTER 29: THE ABILITY THAT LEFT FEITAN SPEECHLESS

"Nice, haha."

Feitan laughed sinisterly again and flipped away to retreat.

After the initial exchange, Su Xiao understood some of Feitan’s details. Feitan belonged to the type with extremely fast speed, but neither his attack power nor defensive power was strong.

When facing such enemies, it’s essential to maintain defense; otherwise, it’s easy to fall into a trap.

Su Xiao pressed one hand on the energy shield in front of him. This energy shield consumed 400 mana points, with a defensive power strong enough to make Feitan question his life. Without any noticeable actions, the four-meter-wide and four-meter-high energy shield split into dozens of basketball-sized hexagonal energy shields.

These dozens of small energy shields floated around his body. Because they were hexagonal, they could join to form a circular shape, enclosing Su Xiao inside. These energy shields were like carved crystals, transparent and reflecting light in the somewhat dark basement.

Swoosh~

Feitan swiftly dashed in front of Su Xiao, thrusting a knife towards him.

With a clang, the hexagonal energy shield blocked Feitan’s direct stab. What happened next surprised Feitan greatly.

Except for the shield blocking Feitan’s stab, the other energy shields spread out the moment Feitan’s attack landed, leaving one hexagonal energy shield in front of Su Xiao. The reason was to both block the enemy’s attack and not hinder Su Xiao’s counterattack.

Su Xiao slashed at Feitan with his long knife. Although his moving speed wasn’t fast, his slashing speed was quick.

Feitan tapped the ground beneath his feet and jumped back nimbly.

Feitan landed a few meters away from his retreat. A ’red line’ appeared on his abdomen, with blood slowly oozing out.

Feitan was injured by Su Xiao, narrowly missing open disembowelment. However, Feitan’s speed was too fast, and the blade just lightly grazed him. The blue steel shadow energy invaded his body, and Feitan’s eyes widened. His pupils trembled momentarily before recovering.

With Feitan’s willpower, Su Xiao didn’t expect the blue steel shadow energy to have any other effect. Inflicting true damage on Feitan was enough, with each strike dealing 130 points + 9% of mana value lost as true damage. Feitan’s physique couldn’t endure for long.

Just as Shizuku and Franklin, who were in retreat, saw this scene, Franklin gradually slowed his pace, preparing to go assist.

"Feitan is injured. Should we go help him?"

Shizuku also stopped.

Catching sight of Franklin and Shizuku stopping, Feitan immediately said, "I’m in my element now, give me half an hour."

"Alright then."

Franklin helplessly shook his head and disappeared with Shizuku into a hole leading into the distance.

Boom!

The roaring sounds were continuous as Su Xiao and Feitan engaged in a fierce battle inside the basement.

Feitan’s speed could only be described as swift like a wraith, using his speed advantage to dart around the field, attempting to suppress Su Xiao.

But Feitan couldn’t suppress Su Xiao. Though Su Xiao’s moving speed wasn’t fast, his slashing speed was not inferior to Feitan’s. Besides, the term "not fast" was relative.

After being struck by Su Xiao once, Feitan realized he couldn’t be careless, as his body still felt numb. A significant amount of nen energy was annihilated, causing a faint ache within him.

For Feitan, the annihilation of nen energy was a dreadful news. His big move ’rising sun’ could create a small sun, with the temperature increasing based on the severity of his injuries.

However, using the big move ’rising sun’ required nen energy. If the nen energy was completely annihilated, even if Feitan was cut to pieces, it would be useless. Without nen energy, he was doomed and couldn’t counterattack effectively.

Clang, clang. Clang...

After exchanging over a dozen slashes in an instant, Su Xiao and Feitan separated, with sparks flying. Both figures had already disappeared from the gang members’ sight. They could only see sparks occasionally burst forth in the basement, accompanied by explosive sounds.

Clang!

The blade aura suddenly appeared, and the rapidly running Feitan suddenly stopped, performing a limbo move as the blade aura grazed past his nose.

Su Xiao quickly advanced, reversing the grip on his long knife and stabbing towards Feitan’s abdomen.

Feitan disappeared in an instant, and Su Xiao’s stab hit only air. The long knife deeply embedded into the ground as Su Xiao tightened the Boundary Line, but unfortunately, Feitan swiftly avoided it as well.

Feitan wouldn’t passively take hits and immediately counterattacked, slashing at Su Xiao multiple times.

A crisp sound echoed as Feitan’s several slashes hit the hexagonal energy shields surrounding Su Xiao. These energy shields hovered around him, sometimes forming a circle and sometimes separating, proficiently blocking wherever defense was needed.

With several slashes deflected, Feitan’s movements inevitably stiffened momentarily. Su Xiao, of course, wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.

With a feigned strike, just as Feitan made a defensive move, Su Xiao quickly changed his attack trajectory. However, Feitan wasn’t a pushover and seemed to have anticipated this, making a corresponding adjustment.

After Su Xiao executed six feigned attacks in quick succession, Feitan finally revealed a slight opening. The long knife came down, and with droplets of blood scattered in the air, Feitan disappeared, receiving only a light injury due to the excessive feigned attacks, giving him time to catch his breath.

The battle was not just about brute strength; wisdom and experience were equally vital, a fact both Su Xiao and Feitan understood well.

The contractors from the Vic Ten’s camp nearby were all dumbfounded. These dozen individuals had no intention of approaching, as that basement was incredibly dangerous.

"Is this guy really a contractor? Can a Second-Tier contractor really be this strong?"

A contractor girl hid afar, secretly turning on her recording function. She had already decided on the video title: "A certain ruthless guy soloing Feitan!"

"I recognize this guy. He’s the one who soloed a leader-level creature."

The combat strategies of Su Xiao and Feitan differed from those of these contractors, who usually compared whose strength was higher, agility better, or skills more.

Su Xiao and Feitan competed in strength, speed, combat skills, terrain judgment, timing, battle intelligence, and predicting the enemy’s tactics.

"Annoying abilities."

Feitan wiped the blood from his neck. His collar had a slash, revealing a smile through the gap.

Feitan’s mention of ’annoying abilities’ referred to the hexagonal energy shields around Su Xiao.

Initially, when Su Xiao defended against Feitan’s attack, he constructed an energy shield with 400 points of strength, the strongest energy shield he could make.

The maximum size allowed for the energy shield was four meters wide and four meters high, marking the largest energy shield he could construct. The elevation of the blue steel shadow level could increase the size of the energy shield.

The reason he used 400 mana points to construct such a level of energy shield was that he recently discovered a new way to utilize the energy shield.

Su Xiao found out that an energy shield wasn’t unchangeable after it’s constructed. By injecting a small amount of mana, he could alter the shape of the energy shield or split one shield into dozens, even hundreds, of pieces.

Therefore, the strength of these dozens of hexagonal energy shields around him was all 400 points, and seeing Feitan pierce through them would be a miracle.

Additionally, these dozens of energy shields split from one shield were linked by energy, forming a complete entity. It’s virtually impossible to pierce through a single piece separately unless the attack power was strong enough to penetrate all the shields together, making the defense even more terrifying.

Besides, when the enemies’ attacks were blocked by the energy shield, all other shields, except the one blocking the attack, would spread out to avoid hindering Su Xiao’s attack.

This was an obnoxious ability — the enemy couldn’t hurt Su Xiao, yet he could exploit the vulnerabilities created during the enemy’s attack to retaliate.

Feitan had been struck by Su Xiao twice in total, both facilitated by these dozens of hexagonal energy shields, although this ability wasn’t flawless as no ability in the world was perfect.

The drawbacks: high consumption (400 mana points, and thus the energy linkage after division under 400 point strength was unstable), and short duration (10 minutes).

Taking into account the characteristics of these hexagonal energy shields, Su Xiao named this ability ’Counter Shield,’ allowing retaliation at the moment the enemy attacks.