GA: Chapter 231 – The True Slaughter Begins Now
With his longsword howling in hand, Chu Han charged single-handedly into the mutant beast horde without a moment's hesitation.
Rumble... Rumble...
Accompanied by a violent crash, the mutant beast swarm seemed thrown into panic by Chu Han's sudden movement. The entire tide couldn't help but shudder.
Endless blood splattered, and a massive, visible spray of severed limbs flew out from the swarm. Technique honed to the absolute pinnacle allowed Chu Han to discern the weakest point on any mutant beast in an instant, delivering a fatal strike every single time.
With just a single sword, Chu Han slaughtered wantonly within the beast swarm, dancing on the razor's edge of danger.
There were no roaring flames or crackling thunder.
There was no earth-shattering technological artillery.
There was only one man, one sword, and swordplay of ultimate mastery.
With every swing, a mutant beast's life was extinguished.
Beneath his blade, even the toughest scales offered no resistance at all, sliced apart as easily as paper.
To some degree, the Sword Card was a power rooted in idealism.
As long as you believed you could cut something, there was nothing in heaven or earth that could not be severed.
Screee—
The blade seemed to hum with excitement as it tasted blood. The ground was already littered with the corpses of mutant beasts. Blood saturated the earth, and the air was thick with the stench of gore.
Rumble... Rumble...
Drawn by the intense scent of blood in the air, the ground began to tremble once more. Even more mutant beasts surged in from all directions. This was the true beast tide.
The wave before had merely been an appetizer.
Endless, unceasing.
"The true slaughter begins now."
Chu Han felt no fear. Setting everything else aside, as a Beast-type Tyrannosaurus esper, his physical stamina was second to none. Furthermore, his current combat relied entirely on masterful sword technique, which consumed an incredibly minuscule amount of stamina.
If one wanted to exhaust him under these conditions, it would take at least an entire day.
Not to mention, this was the period when the world's Spiritual Qi was at its most abundant. His body was passively absorbing Spiritual Qi from the air to replenish his stamina.
However, precisely because he relied solely on swordplay to fight, wiping out the beast tide before him would take a very long time.
So...
This was destined to be a long, drawn-out slaughter—so long that this flat road would change color entirely.
A bright, crimson red!
This was a bloody feast belonging solely to him. It was a one-man carnival.
At this moment, Chu Han had no idea that his actions were already being observed by the Yun City Spiritual Qi Bureau.
And the entire Bureau was currently in a state of shock.
After initially detecting the beast tide, they had rapidly prepared everything according to their contingency plans, waiting for the swarm to arrive.
But after waiting a long time, aside from a few stray mutant beasts, nothing showed up.
This made no sense.
According to their readings, this should have been a beast tide comparable to the one during the second Spiritual Qi tide. How could there be so few mutant beasts?
They had even mentally prepared themselves for a protracted war of attrition, and this was it?
Are you kidding me?
Filled with doubt, they piloted drones into the distance to reconnoiter. What they saw left everyone stunned and in absolute disbelief.
Mountains of mutant beast corpses practically filled the entire road.
Rivers of blood flowed across the pavement, dyeing the surrounding ground red. If the road hadn't been perfectly flat, the blood might have formed a literal pool.
Even if they couldn't smell the metallic tang in the air through the screens, their brains passively supplied it.
At the far end of this road, a single man was faintly visible, weaving through the mutant beast horde with a longsword in hand. Every swing ruthlessly claimed another life.
Right now, he wasn't just holding back the massive horde—he was single-handedly pushing deeper into the beast tide, counter-attacking! The entire mutant beast swarm was actually retreating in the face of his slaughter!
They feared the man before them.
If not for their overwhelming desire to evolve, they likely would have scattered long ago.
No mutant beast could resist evolution, not even under the threat of death!
So, no matter how terrified they were, they threw themselves fearlessly at the man.
Looking at the nearly unbelievable scene on the screens, everyone in the Yun City Spiritual Qi Bureau fell silent.
Even the Director of the Bureau.
"Who is he?"
After a brief silence, the Director stared at the man on the screen, his eyes shining brightly, and asked impatiently.
He had thought Yun City didn't have any presentable geniuses. It turned out they did; they just hadn't discovered them.
Look at that supremely masterful swordplay. Look at the strength required to charge into a beast tide seven times over, entirely alone.
Who dared say he wasn't strong?
Perhaps he was slightly inferior to a First Sequence like the Four Emperors, but compared to other First Sequences, he definitely wasn't lacking in the slightest.
Anyone capable of facing a beast tide alone—who dared say he wasn't a First Sequence?!
Hahahaha!
Let's see how that old geezer in Ning City tries to show off in front of me now!
You think only Ning City produced a dragon?
Our Yun City just produced a golden dragon too!
"Director, if I'm not mistaken, his name should be Chu Han."
"According to his file, Chu Han awakened the Beast-type Tyrannosaurus ability, possessing Second Sequence talent. We invited him to join the Spiritual Qi Bureau, but he declined."
"He chose to become a mercenary."
"We had no idea he possessed such masterful swordplay."
A staff member quickly flipped through the files and spoke up.
Because Chu Han had Second Sequence talent—the absolute peak in Yun City—the staff member naturally remembered him clearly.
He just never expected him to possess such terrifying sword skills!
Although he was maintaining the active state of his ability, it was clearly just to augment his physique so he could continuously swing his sword for an extended period. The only thing he was actually using to slaughter the mutant beasts was sword technique!
It was unimaginable that in this modern world, someone could achieve this level of destruction relying solely on cold weapons.
"Chu Han?"
"Hahahaha! Great name! A great name!"
"Sounds exactly like someone born to use a sword!"
"As expected of a man from my Yun City!"
The Director nodded in satisfaction. Then, as if remembering something, he shouted at the staff:
"What are you standing around in a daze for?! Can't you see our Yun City warrior fighting a bloody battle? Send people to reinforce him immediately!"
"This is the future of our Yun City!"
"Ah? Yes, sir!"
The staff member snapped out of it and quickly began contacting the frontline units to prepare for reinforcement.
"And the rest of you, stop staring! Turn on the recording functions and capture all of this footage."
"Once it's over, edit it, throw some BGM on it, and upload it to our official website."
GA: Chapter 232 – The "Love-Hate Relationship" Between Ning City and Yun City; One Man, One Sword Amidst the Beast Tide
"Let them see the heroic bearing of our Yun City's genius."
"Yes, sir."
As they sprang into action, Chu Han's slaughter continued on the screens. They couldn't help but keep their eyes glued to him.
"Cut!"
With an explosive shout, a layer of bizarre energy instantly enveloped the blade. With a single swing, razor-sharp sword qi slashed out hundreds of meters. Wherever it passed, mutant beasts were cleanly bisected at the waist.
In this world awakened by Spiritual Qi, when one reached a certain stage on a particular path, extraordinary abilities would naturally manifest.
For example... Sword Qi!
What seemed like an ordinary swing, amplified by sword qi, flashed like a streak of light, slaughtering hundreds of mutant beasts in the blink of an eye.
The carnage continued. Chu Han had no mind to think of anything else; only a single desire remained in his head.
Kill!
Keep killing!
"This is terrifying... truly terrifying," a staff member in the Spiritual Qi Bureau couldn't help but sigh.
One man holding back an entire beast tide—he had only ever seen something like this in videos.
During the second Spiritual Qi tide, many cities were powerless to resist because the beast tides erupted both outside and inside the city walls. Large-scale weapons couldn't be used, and reinforcements required time. The main reason was simply that no one had anticipated the impact would be so massive as to trigger such beast tides, meaning there weren't enough stationed troops.
Later, after the Dragon Emperor, Ice Emperor, and Flame Emperor resolved the beast tides in their respective cities, they rapidly deployed to other regions to provide support. Almost all the external beast tides threatening other cities were handled by them.
Those scenes had been displays of absolute, ultimate power.
The Dragon Emperor's flames, the Ice Emperor's frost, the Flame Emperor's legion of summoned beasts.
Then there was the footage from Hai City, which similarly showcased the trio's strength. But it also made humanity realize that their enemies weren't just on land—the ocean was far more terrifying.
However, the White Emperor's appearance at the end of the Hai City footage, and his conversation with the Angel as an equal, made people understand exactly why the White Emperor was ranked first among the Four Emperors.
While Chu Han's display lacked the sheer scale of the Dragon Emperor or Ice Emperor, the sight of one man and one sword weaving through a tide of mutant beasts, reaping a life with every swing, brought to mind the martial arts legends of a swordsman who kills a man every ten steps and leaves no trace over a thousand miles.
"Was that attack just now sword qi?"
"There was a Spiritual Qi fluctuation, but it wasn't intense. Normally, it's impossible to have that kind of lethal force. Is it really sword qi?"
"To think something out of a novel would actually become real."
"No, think about it—the Spiritual Qi revival is already reality. The appearance of sword qi is only natural."
"But even though Chu Han's strength is incredible, is he really going to be okay? Holding back an entire beast tide alone... he's not a First Sequence, after all. At this rate, he won't be able to hold out, right?"
"Reinforcements are already on the way. But I believe Chu Han can do it."
"Even though he's only a Second Sequence, combined with that masterful swordplay and sword qi, he might not be inferior to a First Sequence."
"Even if he can't match the Dragon Emperor's group, he should be comparable to a standard First Sequence."
"At the very least, he won't be worse than Ning Guang from Ning City."
As they watched, they began comparing Chu Han to Ning Guang.
Yun City and Ning City were close in proximity and relatively equal in standing. Before the Spiritual Qi revival, the two cities had a friendly rivalry, with Yun City's statistics generally edging out Ning City's. But after the revival, Ning City produced a First Sequence: Ning Guang.
This led to Yun City being completely overshadowed.
During "friendly exchanges" on the internet, Yun City suddenly found themselves with zero leverage solely because of this point.
It was admittedly a bizarre phenomenon—that even in times like these, people still had the mood for "friendly exchanges" online. But acceptance of reality was a powerful thing; once accepted, life naturally settled down.
You live, you die. No one lives forever.
No matter how terrified you were, when your time was up, it was up.
By repeating sentiments like this to themselves every day, people gradually accepted their new reality.
No matter how much the world changed, they still had to live.
Meanwhile, the roar of engines filled the air outside Yun City as convoy after convoy of heavily armed vehicles deployed from the city, speeding toward Chu Han's location.
Inside the vehicles, discussions about Chu Han dominated the conversation.
"Command says a guy from our Yun City named Chu Han is holding back the entire beast tide single-handedly. They say the reason we've only seen a few stragglers here is entirely because of him."
"If this wasn't official intel from command, I'd have thought it was fake."
"You and me both. With that kind of strength, even if he isn't a First Sequence, he's far above a Second Sequence, right? How have we never heard of a guy like this before?"
"Maybe he just keeps a low profile. Or maybe command is exaggerating. We'll know for sure when we get there."
"Exaggerating would be difficult. One man holding back a beast tide is absolutely not something a Second Sequence can do."
"..."
Within the convoys, opinions were split on whether Chu Han was truly holding back the entire beast tide alone. Such a feat was definitively beyond a Second Sequence. But if Yun City had someone like that, it was impossible they hadn't heard of him.
The Spiritual Qi Bureau kept records of all espers, whether they became mercenaries or joined the Bureau, unless the person deliberately hid their abilities from the start.
If he truly had been hiding his power all this time, they couldn't understand why he would do so.
But if he possessed a First Sequence talent, there was no way they wouldn't know. The entire city of Yun City would have celebrated him.
Regardless of the exact situation, if he really was holding back the entire beast tide by himself, his strength was undoubtedly far beyond a Second Sequence.
Even among First Sequences, it depended on who he was compared to.
If it was the Four Emperors, there was truly no comparison. But if it was Ning Guang...
Well, no one actually knew exactly how strong Ning Guang was.
Because Ning Guang's ability was Mist, whenever he used it, it was impossible to film anything.
So even now, no one knew exactly what went on inside that mist.
But as members of Yun City, not having a First Sequence before was one thing. Now that Chu Han had appeared, they would absolutely never admit that he was inferior to Ning Guang.
Absolutely not!
Chu Han had no idea he had already been detected by the Spiritual Qi Bureau, let alone that Yun City had dispatched reinforcements out of concern for his safety.
Right now, his eyes were bloodshot, entirely consumed by the slaughter.
ROAR!
A mutant boar the size of a truck bellowed and charged at him, violently knocking aside several other mutant beasts in its path.
"Die!"
Gripping his longsword, Chu Han leaped into the air, bringing the blade down hard on the charging boar.
Shhhk...
The razor-sharp edge cleaved the mutant boar cleanly in two. Its tough scales were virtually nonexistent before the blade, parted as easily as slicing tofu.
CRASH.
The massive halves of the body slammed into the ground, sending a tremor through the earth.
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