A thousand meters up in the sky, Jiang Ao was drenched in blood; no matter how the whirlwinds around him raged, they couldn't break through the force field that shrouded him.
Facing him, Fang Wenyu floated in the air, propped up by that very force field enveloping Jiang Ao.
He stretched out his left hand and made a casual clutching motion; dozens of meters away, Jiang Ao's body responded with countless gashes carved by the wind.
Shhk! Shhk!
Several fingers on Jiang Ao's left hand were suddenly sheared off by the reversed wind, blood spraying as the digits tumbled through the air.
Jiang Ao could only roar at Fang Wenyu, "Fang Wenyu, you only dare strike me from afar?"
Fang Wenyu answered with an icy stare. "Dead men should talk less. I'll let you watch, wide awake, as you're sliced into mincemeat."
The force field intensified; every resisting gust around Jiang Ao was flung back to carve his body.
Crack! Shhk!
Starting from his toes, Jiang Ao was shredded—shoe leather mixing with flesh that flew everywhere—as the cutting advanced inch by inch up his legs.
Jiang Ao bit back the agony, refusing to scream; after becoming a Monster, Fang Wenyu's force field had grown terrifyingly strong. If Jiang Ao gave up resisting, the field would seize him outright and kill him even faster.
Shhk! Shhk!
Watching the wounds climb, Jiang Ao's face filled with unwillingness. "Fang Wenyu—you win!"
He pulled a Black-Crystal Pendant from his chest—the life-saving token Wu Yuan had given him.
Using it would teleport him randomly within ten kilometers. With his powers, losing both legs was nothing; he could regenerate once back among the Awakened Ones' healers.
Just as Jiang Ao was about to activate the pendant, a red figure shot down from the sky.
Shhk! Shhk! Ignoring the whirlwinds, the figure erupted in sprays of blood.
It broke through to above Jiang Ao in an instant; to his stunned eyes, Wei Gaocheng flashed a savage grin—"Explode!"
The feathers on Wei Gaocheng's back blazed crimson and detonated all at once; a violent blast swallowed both him and Jiang Ao.
Boom—rumble!
The explosion was trapped by the surrounding force field, recycling within a tight space.
Wei Gaocheng, the first to bear the brunt, was blown to pieces.
"Aagh!" The shockwave tore Jiang Ao's arms apart; the Black-Crystal Pendant shattered, releasing a potent burst of Mental-type power that vanished into thin air.
Two seconds later the blast faded. Jiang Ao hung in tatters—one eye gone, both arms ending at the elbows, barely clinging to life.
He was down to his last breath.
Seeing this, Fang Wenyu compressed the force field. With no wind left to resist, Jiang Ao's body was crushed into a pulp.
Pop! A ball of gore burst in mid-air, and the surrounding winds died.
With Jiang Ao finished, Fang Wenyu's own body began to lose lift and plummet.
At the spot Jiang Ao had just occupied, a flash of gold appeared; a five-meter-tall, black-and-white metallic Birdman materialized.
"You shouldn't have interfered. I was going to torture him to death." The falling Fang Wenyu glared up at the Birdman in annoyance.
Wei Gaocheng's avian face looked exasperated. "Who knows what that necklace thing does? Better to finish him quick than let him pull some trump card."
Fang Wenyu offered no retort; the Black-Crystal Pendant Jiang Ao had produced was unmistakably Wu Yuan's handiwork.
He was confident he could weather whatever Level Six trick might have followed, but Wei Gaocheng—unaware of his limits—hadn't really overstepped.
Down below, the others were already clashing with the Stone Soldiers.
Ming Wang wielded a Silver Sword, holding off a whole squad of guandao-wielding Stone Soldiers, his blade slicing their stone armor like paper.
He alone kept every guandao soldier occupied.
Bang-bang-bang! Not far away, Harvey was trading blows with the Stone Statue General, dodging its great saber and punching back—each fist leaving only a small dent.
But his fists could do no more than nick the stone.
Nearby, Salo ducked a stone arrow and sprinted toward Harvey. "Chief, I'm here to help!"
Harvey, still fighting, frowned and barked, "A Mental-type like you? Stay out of this—get back!"
Salo skidded to a stop, spreading his hands in resignation. "All right, be careful then, Chief."
He turned as if to leave; Harvey refocused on the Stone Statue General.
His fists were pounding until white bone showed, yet apart from a few cracks the statue looked unfazed.
'This won't do—I need to decapitate that Monster controlling them.' Harvey had long since spotted Azakaya, shielded by a ring of sword-and-shield Stone Soldiers rising from the ground.
Whenever they smashed a soldier, the mage-robed Monster merely waved a hand and another rose to take its place.
No end to them—absolutely no end.
Behind him, Salo—who had seemed to leave—suddenly spun and raised a hand toward Harvey. "Chief… sorry about this."
Bzz! A vast, invisible surge of Mental-type power shot at Harvey.
Just as Harvey prepared to charge Azakaya, the psychic blast struck from behind, stabbing into his mind.
"Aargh!" Caught off guard, Harvey screamed as his brain seared and his vision doubled.
He knew that psionic signature all too well—it was Salo's.
Shhk! In the instant Harvey reeled, a stone saber split him clean in half from crown to crotch.
Blood and entrails splattered the ground; the others nearby froze at the sight.
Carmen gaped at the bisected Harvey, then at Salo who had struck him.
Nancy whirled on Salo in fury. "What do you think you're doing? Attacking your own at a time like this—have you lost your mind?"
Xiang Jing and the rest stared at him, equally bewildered.
"He was never one of you." A deep voice sounded from behind them.
There stood a five-meter-tall Monster sheathed in Bone Armor, beside him a horned man whose forearms were coated in white fur.
Thud-thud-thud! Behind the pair, ten sword-and-shield Stone Soldiers and ten ten-meter-tall spear-wielding Stone Soldiers emerged.
Whoosh! At that moment two figures dropped from the sky, landing to left and right—surrounding them.