It was night when they ran into him outside a mining zone in southwest India.
He was standing right by the edge of an old shaft, wearing a dark brown robe. He looked totally chill, eyes steady. He plunged his right hand into the ground; the magnetic field went nuts, and the landscape started twisting.
"You're the crew Herrons is after," he said. "I'm not here to flat-out kill you." "I'm just here to put you through a drill."
Silence. Zhao Yang was up front, his Blood Mist on standby. Chen Mo balled his fist, Lu Ye synced his magnetic field, and the Particle Man took the rear.
The ground started swelling up, forming giant dirt walls that sliced the team apart. Lin Lan fired up the Weather Membrane, but the earth structure just soaked up the wind pressure. Hu Hao tried to mess with his head, but the guy's consciousness was rock-solid, no flickering at all.
Chen Mo went first, hitting the earth wall with the fifth segment of his Shatter-Time Punch. The shockwave vanished into the dirt, and the wall instantly patched itself up.
"You guys don't get Earth abilities," the enemy murmured. "And you definitely don't get vampires."
"Huh, he's a vampire?" Zhao Yang muttered.
He raised his hand, the ground ripped open, and an earth blade shot out from below, heading straight for Chen Mo.
Chen Mo backed off, dodging the first strike. But the next instant, his vision blurred—the enemy was suddenly right behind him.
He was too slow; a gash tore across his chest, bleeding buckets. He looked down, but the wound was gone.
An Illusion.
"You thought you were hurt," the enemy scoffed. "But you weren't." "Same goes for your attacks, right? You think you landed a hit?"
Zhao Yang tried to use his Blood Mist to scramble the effect, but an earthen shield snapped up and suppressed the mist. Cloud Ark's Wind Blade sliced in, but the ground ate it, and his Wind State collapsed.
Lu Ye hit the guy's left shoulder with a Thunder Domain Slash. But a second later, the guy's body dissolved into a dirt shadow and reformed somewhere else.
"Your offense is worthless," he said. "You don't understand illusions."
Chen Mo roared, slamming the sixth segment of the Shatter-Time Punch into the enemy's gut. The punch connected, but the guy didn't even flinch.
"You connected," the enemy said. "But you didn't hit."
The next second, the ground split open, and a vertical earth blade shot straight up, aiming for Chen Mo's head.
Zhao Yang: "Bail out!"
"Hold up," Lu Ye cut in. "What about Qin Hao, He Xuan, Lin Lan, Cloud Ark, Hu Hao, and Zhong Li? This Sphere only takes three."
"He won't ever try to kill them," Zhao Yang said, thinking fast. "He'll think their attacks are too weak. The dude is an arrogant jerk—he's only going to focus on killing us."
"Alright." Lu Ye fired up the Spatial Sphere.
The magnetic field bucked, the sphere snapped out, and the three of them were instantly shielded. Zhao Yang, Chen Mo, and Lu Ye were inside; outside attacks were cut off, the illusion failed, and the earth structure couldn't push through.
The rest of the squad was still exposed on the field.
Lin Lan was tweaking the Wind Membrane on the outside, Hu Hao was trying to jam the guy's mind, He Xuan was synching the Time Residual from a high spot, and the Particle Man was guarding the flank.
The enemy glanced at them and snickered: "You guys… heh, pathetic." "I don't need to waste time killing you." "You'll probably just drop dead on your own."
He didn't attack them. He just kept focusing his pressure on the Sphere. "Heh, called it," Chen Mo said, smiling grimly.
Lin Lan tried a wind-pressure jab, but the ground absorbed it. Hu Hao's psychic frequency bounced back, rattling his brain. The Particle Man tried a heavy smash, but the dirt wall auto-countered, and the magnetic field went haywire.
The enemy didn't even look at them. "If you weaklings try to attack again, you're dead." He just stood with his back to them. "You scrubs aren't worth interrupting the fight for."
Inside the Sphere, Lu Ye closed his eyes and ran the analysis.
"He's early Tier 6," Lu Ye stated. "Herrons-boosted. Earth-type main, Illusion secondary." "Earth shield absorbs all kinetic energy. Illusion messes with perception, making damage verification impossible." "He can't dodge a headshot, but he can shield body damage."
Chen Mo: "I can hit his head." Lu Ye: "You need a setup."
The Spatial Sphere dropped, and the three were back in the fight.
Chen Mo rushed in, triggering the seventh segment of the Shatter-Time Punch—three quick hits aimed at the enemy's stomach. The enemy smirked; the Earth defense automatically flared up, absorbing every single impact.
"Haha, moron, that's futile," he mocked.
But he didn't notice—Chen Mo's eyes had gone ice-cold.
He Xuan, standing in the back, pressed two fingers together, activating the Time Residual. The enemy instantly decelerated; his consciousness lagged, and the Earth defense failed to fully cover his head in time.
Chen Mo's final punch slammed right into the enemy's skull. Bone shattered, his consciousness broke, and his body crumbled to dust, a high-grade Crystal Core popping out of his brain before he hit the ground.
He was done. No mercy.
The air returned to normal, the magnetic field stabilized, the earth walls crumbled, and the ground settled.
Lin Lan powered down the Wind Membrane, Hu Hao sat down, catching his breath, Cloud Ark reformed his Wind Blades, and the Particle Man stood down. He Xuan remained still, the Time Residual slowly fading, his expression totally calm.
"Is that a high-tier core?" Chen Mo asked.
Lu Ye gave him the straight answer: "Yeah, it is."