Chapter 56: The Annihilating Strike

Several figures among the group suddenly collapsed, causing immediate chaos in their formation.

A chill ran through Lu Yalan’s heart. She couldn’t even tell how Qian Ye had done it; it seemed even the guards themselves were unaware, looking around aimlessly.

Lu Yalan, recalling Qian Ye’s calm and indifferent tone, gritted her teeth and burst out from her hiding spot, raising her origin-powered assault rifle to fire a three-round burst. Three of the Gui Suo guards fell with a thud, and the remaining ones, now in a panic, no longer cared about finding the enemy, fleeing back to the estate in a state of confusion.

After this running shot, Lu Yalan began to pant heavily, desperately trying to calm the fluctuations in her origin power. She didn’t dare to stop, moving as quickly as possible to a new hiding spot.

The assault rifle was her specialty, and her ability to aim at different targets with a three-round burst was her unique origin power skill. The outcome of the fight was partly due to the disruption of the Gui Suo guards, but for Lu Yalan, it was an extraordinary display of skill, taking down three targets with at least third- or fourth-level combat power in one volley.

However, that single burst was her limit. Now, Lu Yalan only had one more shot left. But with just that volley, four men lay on the ground without even seeing the enemy clearly. The Gui Suo guards in the estate no longer dared to show their faces.

At that moment, a tall, gaunt figure slowly rose into the air, its immense pressure instantly covering the entire forest.

He hovered above the forest, his voice like quicksilver, filling every corner, “I am Fang Tianlun. Who dares to visit? Why don’t you come out and meet me?”

The surrounding area was silent.

Fang Tianlun frowned, his gaze sharp, sweeping slowly from where the Gui Suo guards had fallen, finally fixing on the direction of Lu Yalan. He sneered, “That enhanced burst fire was quite impressive. Judging by the technique, you must be Lu Yalan. Good, very good. A mere whore, daring to betray. When I catch you, I’ll chop off your limbs and soak you in a wine vat, ensuring you live for a month…”

Lu Yalan, crouched in the undergrowth, was pale with fear. She held her breath, her limbs so stiff she didn’t dare to move a finger. Fang Tianlun meant what he said, and if he promised to torture her for a month, he wouldn’t let her die a day early.

But before Fang Tianlun could finish, a series of muffled explosions rang out in the forest, and over a dozen dark objects flew towards him from different directions.

“Hand grenades!” Fang Tianlun’s face changed drastically.

It wasn’t the grenades that frightened him, but the fact that he hadn’t sensed any enemies in the forest below. Looking at the positions from which the grenades were thrown, there must have been at least three or four ambushers. How was this possible?

Without time to think, a faint glow of origin power enveloped Fang Tianlun, and he immediately descended to the ground. He had crossed the threshold of a warrior several years ago, but he remained at that level, able to hover but not maneuver in the air. With the situation unclear and the likely presence of stealth experts, he naturally wouldn’t stay in the air as a target.

However, the positions of the grenades seemed to have been calculated precisely, and they were triggered mid-throw with special techniques. Before Fang Tianlun could land, the grenades exploded in a sequence, creating a ring of fire and a net of shrapnel, engulfing him.

In a continuous series of deafening explosions, smoke and flames engulfed Fang Tianlun.

Then, another round of grenades, over a dozen, flew out of the darkness, this time targeting the estate. These grenades were thrown from multiple points, some landing just dozens of meters away within the estate, while others flew hundreds of meters, exploding at the center.

The relentless explosions shattered the night’s silence.

Chaos erupted in the estate, with one wing of a building collapsing and burning, followed by screams and groans. Several hidden lookouts also emerged, frantically searching for the enemy.

Qian Ye stood at the edge of the forest, his aura completely concealed, almost blending with the old trees behind him. His origin power was far from calm, even with his enhanced speed and pure, robust origin power, the two bursts of extreme movement and throwing had drained him significantly.

As the final explosion subsided, a figure slowly emerged from the billowing smoke, and Qian Ye calmly threw an origin-powered grenade towards it.

Fang Tianlun emerged from the rain of fire, his face covered in ash, his outer robe tattered, revealing a deep brown inner armor. There were several scratches on his face, and his left shoulder and back were in a sorry state, with his clothes and armor torn open, exposing large patches of skin.

But Qian Ye was surprised. While Fang Tianlun’s exposed skin showed many scrapes, and several pieces of shrapnel were embedded in his muscles, a closer look revealed that the shrapnel had been blocked by steel-like muscles, unable to penetrate further.

Although Qian Ye didn’t expect regular grenades to harm Fang Tianlun much, his physical strength was beyond that of a typical warrior. It seemed his innate ability was in body enhancement.

With this realization, Qian Ye didn’t hesitate and threw his last two origin-powered grenades.

Just as Fang Tianlun emerged from the explosion, he saw an origin-powered grenade rolling towards him, already glowing with origin power.

“Damn it!” he cursed, immediately crouching and protecting his head and chest with his arms.

Such a powerful barrage of grenades was enough to match the standards of a battlefield offensive, not something one or two people could manage. Yet, Fang Tianlun still couldn’t pinpoint the enemy’s location, a truly bizarre situation. As he endured the origin explosions, he internally hurled a string of curses.

A blinding light lit up the night sky, and a terrifying shockwave spread out, the heat and force far more destructive than ordinary flames. After the first grenade, two more exploded in nearly the same spot, with Fang Tianlun at the epicenter, battered by wave after wave of origin storms.

As the grenades began to explode, Lu Yalan crawled away to a large tree. She had barely calmed herself, thinking she had escaped Fang Tianlun’s sight, when she was stunned by the horrifying origin storm.

Though the center of the storm was some distance away, the ground beneath her shook, and the tree, thick enough to be embraced by several people, trembled, on the verge of breaking.

Qian Ye watched the center of the origin storm, his face grave. The results of his two tests were clear. Fang Tianlun was neither fast nor agile, but his body was exceptionally strong. Such an opponent was not highly dangerous but difficult to kill.

Thinking this, Qian Ye cut his finger, and a drop of peculiar blood flew out, hitting a tree several meters away.

The drop of blood became increasingly solid, turning an eerie dark blue, hanging like a crystal on the cracked bark. After ejecting the blood, Qian Ye’s face turned slightly pale. He lowered his body, silently merging into the mottled shadows of the trees.

The origin storm finally ended, and Fang Tianlun slowly rose, his face filled with fury. It had been a long time since he had felt so humiliated. Azure-white origin light emanated from his arms, making the surrounding trees shake violently, their leaves falling in disarray.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a chill and turned sharply, staring fixedly at the eastern edge of the forest. From that direction, a faint but chilling aura was rising.

It was the aura of a Spider Duke!

Fang Tianlun sucked in a breath. The dark races were naturally stronger than humans, and in most cases, superior in combat. The attack on the estate tonight was already strange, and the sudden appearance of a Spider Duke was alarming.

Fang Tianlun immediately turned towards the source of the aura, driving his origin power to its peak, alert and ready.

Qian Ye materialized silently from the shadows, ethereal like mist rising from the leaves at night. Holding the Twin Blossoms as one, a crimson glow of origin power flowed in the deepening twilight, with specks of golden stars floating, and then a pair of burning golden wings unfurled.

The surging waves of origin power made Fang Tianlun turn in shock, his vision filled with the blazing wings.

Qian Ye’s hand was steady, activating his heavy projectile, precise shooting, and night vision abilities. The Twin Blossoms blossomed, turned, and then wilted in an embrace.

In the pitch-black night, an even darker point flew toward Fang Tianlun. Like the deepest darkness, it absorbed all light, indiscernible except for the subtle changes in its surroundings.

As a warrior, the instincts honed from countless battles screamed danger.

In a flash, Fang Tianlun remembered a terrifying name: Black Titanium Annihilation Bullet! Just as Demon-Breaking Mithril bullets were to the Blood Race, the Black Titanium Annihilation Bullet was a nightmare for many human warriors.

It was too late to dodge. The range of the Black Titanium Annihilation Bullet’s radiation wasn’t easily escapable with a simple displacement. With a roar, Fang Tianlun crossed his arms, and the azure-white origin light erupted to a blinding white, layering down protective barriers.

The Black Titanium Annihilation Bullet flew quietly, surrounded by a faint black aura.

When the black aura touched Fang Tianlun’s Dawn Origin, it spread like ink in water. A black spot appeared on the bright white origin barrier, quickly spreading like ink on paper.

The Dawn Origin contaminated by the black aura rapidly disintegrated, and the bullet penetrated the layers of barriers, touching Fang Tianlun’s skin.

Fang Tianlun’s origin defense, along with his steel-like muscles, was shattered instantly. The bullet pierced through two arm bones, continuing into his chest, stopping at his ribs.

The once unstoppable bullet head suddenly melted, and the black liquid metal spread in all directions, turning everything it touched into nothingness.

At the brink of death, Fang Tianlun drew a short blade, screaming, and brutally cut a piece of flesh from his chest, biting the blade with his teeth. He then swung his arms, cutting off the parts of his forearms that had been pierced.