Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 390: A Sweep of the Halberd

As the giant beast Ba Xia raised its upper body high and slammed down fiercely, waves of earth suddenly surged where its thick front feet met the ground. Amid a violent roar, Ba Xia turned into countless ochre-colored air currents that poured into the ground.

Then the island shook and the ground cracked, as if a high-intensity earthquake had erupted here. The deep and criss-crossing cracks spread to a hundred meters away in an instant. With Ba Xia's landing point as the center, the land plates within dozens of meters around almost collapsed. Anyone who failed to escape from this area in time was swallowed up by the land that turned into the abyss in the blink of an eye.

And this was only the prologue before the disaster began. As the vast amount of mountain energy that had been accumulated for a long time erupted again deep underground, an even more violent tremor came from under the feet. A deep ochre-colored luster emerged from every crack on the surface of the earth, and then exploded with a loud bang.

In an instant, the earth dragon turned over, and deafening roars continued. Countless large pieces of rock exploded from the ground, and then, under the effect of the passive skill "Piercing Mountains and Breaking Peaks", these rocks flying in the air started a second explosion again.

It was like tens of thousands of stone grenades exploding at the same time. The resulting surging air waves suddenly turned into mighty ripples that spread outward in the air. The spreading air waves seemed slow but were actually fast. After a few breaths, they swept across the entire island battlefield. Wherever they passed, many beings whose basic attributes were not strong enough were directly blown away. For a moment, people were flying everywhere, and the impact was widespread.

The noise this time was not comparable to the previous rising fireball. After the air wave swept across the entire battlefield, the chaotic fighting on the entire battlefield came to a brief halt. Whether it was the shaking ground under their feet or the continuous roar in their ears, they unconsciously focused all their attention on the rear of the battlefield, which was the starting point of the explosion.

Looking ahead, I saw that the Worthington Laboratory in the rear had been completely covered by a large amount of spreading smoke and dust, and a giant gray mushroom cloud several meters high suddenly appeared.

Inside the smoke and dust are countless tiny pieces of stone that are still flying around in the void. Amid the sound of breaking through the air, which is as dense as the chirping of thousands of birds, there are occasional quick and shrill screams.

Outside the mushroom cloud, ugly surface cracks were growing and spreading radially outward, but compared to the density of cracks inside the smoke and dust, the distribution of cracks on the periphery appeared to be much sparser.

On the land between these cracks, gloomy-looking contractors were scattered around. Although they were in different positions, they all had their backs to the crowd and were staring at the chaotic area in front of them that was shrouded in thick smoke and dust.

These were the group of contractors who had participated in the siege of Xu Yue before. When the giant beast Ba Xia smashed the ground, they were either located in the back or had extraordinary means of escape. In short, they all managed to avoid the massive attack of Ba Xia at the critical moment.

However, although the physical damage was avoided, the shock in the heart was not reduced at all. With one blow, the ground cracked and the mountains collapsed, and the erosion was hundreds of meters, directly trapping most of their members. This level of attack is absolutely rare in the entire second level, at least no one in the field can do it.

Even though they all knew that this method would most likely not be used frequently in a short period of time, they could still see from a few examples that even if the skill of summoning a behemoth could not be used, the target's other abilities must be strong. If they continued to encircle and kill the target, the risk of death might be far greater than the possible gains.

With this in mind, the contractors began to retreat quietly. After a while, the number of encirclements, which were already sparsely distributed, gradually dropped to less than ten.

As for the remaining contractors, some of them were too greedy and therefore did not intend to be scared off so easily, while others had various special reasons why they could not just give up.

Among them, the puppeteer and others of the Drama Adventure Group undoubtedly belonged to the latter. Before they got the exact information about the mutant Jimmy from Xu Yue, they had no right to retreat, otherwise the leader would be the first to not let them go.

Watching the smoke and dust area in front of her that was gradually calming down, Yueqin, who was behind the puppet master to the right, frowned and spoke loudly to encourage the many hesitant contractors around her:

"Everyone, don't be too afraid. The attack just now was just louder and had a wider impact. The killing power is not as terrible as imagined. Whether it is the crack in the ground or the shattered rocks, it is far from being able to kill us instantly."

"The reason why those contractors who are trapped in the smoke and dust have not been able to escape is because the target is taking advantage of the chaotic environment to kill them one by one. We are definitely not our opponents in an open area."

"Moreover, the target was not unscathed in the previous joint bombing. In addition, the mana must have been consumed greatly now, so we are in an advantageous position now!"

"Everyone, get ready. The strangulation inside is almost over. Let's work together to kill him!"

.........

After Yueqin's loud encouragement, the originally sluggish atmosphere at the scene finally regained some solemnity. As soon as the words fell, a violent hurricane was summoned by a magic-side contractor with a wave of his hand.

The wind howled, and in an instant it blew away most of the thick smoke and dust in front of the crowd, and the tragic scene inside came into view of everyone.

As far as the eye can see, the earth is devastated with cracks and fallen rocks. Different land plates are uneven, like an old and broken chessboard, on which there is almost no flat and wide place to stand.

The only chess pieces embellishing this chessboard were the bloody corpses in various forms of death. They were scattered everywhere, some had their bodies smashed directly by large pieces of falling rocks, some had their bodies pierced with sharp stone fragments, but more of them had their bodies cut in two by sharp weapons, some had their heads and upper bodies shattered by heavy weapons, etc. It was obvious at a glance that they were man-made.

With just a quick glance, there were at least dozens of corpses exposed on the surface of the field, which was chilling enough to make people shudder. And this did not include those that were directly swallowed up by the suddenly opened cracks in the ground.

Suddenly, just as everyone was looking at the battlefield, a black shadow suddenly flew out from the smoke and dust that had not yet been dispersed. This stimulated their nerves, which were already extremely tense due to the large number of corpses in their sight, and they were completely aroused.

So before they could confirm the black shadow's identity, the intensive long-range attacks that had been ready for a long time were directly launched by everyone, and rushed towards the black shadow that had not yet landed. "Wait! He is not..."

Behind the crowd, Yueqin, who was in charge of reconnaissance and auxiliary skills, was the first to notice the abnormality of the black shadow. Although the other party was still breathing, he was extremely weak and was obviously not the target they wanted to deal with.

It was obvious that she was a step too late to speak out to stop it. Before she could finish her words, the boiling and exploding flames had completely enveloped the figure in the air. Before it even hit the ground, the figure turned into a pile of charred and broken pieces of scattered flesh.

His gaze paused for a moment on the fallen corpse, and Master Ou's expression changed, and he suddenly felt an extremely uneasy feeling in his heart.

"No, we're making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, so the target must be the weakest point, which is... the back of the queue!"

Thoughts surged in his mind. After realizing the position where the enemy was most likely to launch an attack, his pupils suddenly shrank and he quickly turned his head to look behind him where many fragile contractors such as auxiliary and long-range types were gathered.

But just as he turned his vision, he saw the shadow behind him suddenly squirming strangely, and then a tall knight riding a ferocious beast quietly jumped out from the shadow, and a sticky black murderous aura expanded outward. The knight swung a two-meter-long painted halberd in his hand, and blood waves rolled wherever it passed, and then the dazzling red color covered the entire field of vision of the puppet master.

Behind the team, there was a blood-red wave surging, with fine minced meat and pale bones flying out simultaneously. The strong smell of blood instantly filled the entire place. Under the wave, one mutilated corpse after another, which had disappeared from the waist up, fell down.

In the middle of the fallen corpses, Xu Yue, who was riding the ferocious beast Taotie, had a cold look in his eyes. The long spear in his hand was filled with murderous aura, and the Red Prison Armor on his body was scarlet. As he opened his mouth and nose slightly and took a long breath, the blood-colored wave in the air that had not yet landed seemed to be inspired by something, and immediately turned into dozens of flying blood-colored ribbons, which began to automatically merge into the armor one after another.

A large amount of fresh blood was devoured by the Red Prison, making the armor itself become more and more scarlet. At the same time, a stream of heat also flowed through Xu Yue's body, causing his health and mana that had been damaged by the previous series of battles to recover at an extremely fast rate.

At this moment, the contractors who were still on the periphery suddenly discovered that the target they had been wary of had already quietly moved from the smoke and dust in front of them to the back of their weakest team.

And within the first moment after appearing, he swung his halberd and directly slaughtered nearly 80% of their auxiliary control-type contractors, including Yueqin who was the first to notice something was wrong.

The ability of shadow jumping is comparable to the magical skill of the space system in the dark. It allows Xu Yue to have absolute mobility that is almost unrestricted. With the combination of the two, he will become the most terrifying assassin in the dark, and his deterrent power has increased several times.

All he needed was one close encounter, and those fragile contractors would not be able to hold out for more than a few breaths under the blow of the Fang Tian Hua Ji in his hand, which had a coverage area of ​​up to six meters. They would be completely crushed at the touch of a finger and disappear in an instant.

A pair of astonished eyes turned around and saw that in the focus of their vision, the Scarlet Knight with an indifferent face was surrounded by more than a dozen flying and swirling blood-red silks. Perhaps he noticed the gazes of the crowd, as bloodshot eyes surged, and then he brazenly swung away a Fang Tian Hua Ji that was filled with murderous aura.

During the swing, the long halberd that was swinging in the air began to grow with the wind, from the initial three meters, and quickly grew to five meters, seven meters, nine meters...

Finally, in the astonished eyes of the crowd, the Fang Tian Hua Ji suddenly turned into a giant dragon-shaped pillar that was ten meters long and a meter thick, and it came smashing down from the sky with a whistling wind and seemingly unstoppable terrifying power.

The increase in the size of the giant halberd was far more than just its volume. Its power was also multiplied exponentially. Wherever the giant dragon pillar passed, even the void seemed to groan and tremble. The squeezed airflow hissed and roared at the tip of the halberd, and the strong wind it stirred up was even more terrifying and violent than the tornado led by Storm before.

Just watching from a distance gives people an extreme feeling of oppression that makes it hard to breathe, and the many contractors who are facing the pressure of the giant pillar are in an even worse state.

"If you can't take it, you'll either die or be crippled, so... run!"

The pupils in the eye sockets, which had shrunk to the size of a needle tip, were still trembling. The giant pillar had not yet arrived, but the howling wind that had arrived first had already torn the faces of the contractors into pieces, and at the same time, the courage and confidence of everyone to confront it head-on was torn to pieces. The idea of ​​retreat suddenly grew wildly in everyone's mind.

However, facing Xu Yue's exaggerated attack with a strength attribute of nearly 60 points and a coverage area of ​​about 20 meters, very few people were able to escape safely.

The next moment, figures were seen flying in all directions in the howling wind, and blood rained down. With just one strike, except for a few people, almost all the contractors who participated in the siege were killed or injured. Most of those with stronger physiques were seriously injured and dying, with their bones and flesh turned into mud, while those with weaker physiques basically suffered the same fate as those fragile assistants, and were directly turned into blood rain and minced meat floating in the sky, with no remains left.

On the spot, after swinging for a week, the Fang Tian Hua Ji returned to its normal size and was taken back by Xu Yue. The power of the halberd in the giant state was terrifying, but because of this, he could only swing it according to the momentum, and could not use it under normal circumstances unless he grew giant together with it.

But now these opponents who have suffered heavy casualties are obviously not worth him using this huge and energy-consuming move. As his eyes moved, all the surviving contractors around him were taken into his mind.

Then, dots of purple fluorescence automatically flew out of the body's surface. Xu Yue stretched out his hand and waved it. More than ten fragments of the magic sword flew out like hidden weapons. At the same time, his drooping legs lightly clamped the belly of the mount.

The Taotie under him immediately understood, and its black fur rippled. It carried Xu Yue and leaped out lightly, and the two of them merged into the shadows and disappeared without a trace.

(End of this chapter)