Chapter 160: I’m the One Suffering the Brunt of the Impact!
Translator: Pika
With a look of absolute horror, Shi Kun bellowed at Zu An ferociously.
But of course, there was no way Zu An was going to listen to Shi Kun. With Chu Chuyan in his arms, he ran right toward where Shi Kun was.
Looking at the zombie spearmen trailing behind him, Shi Kun felt like something was exploding in his mind. Not once had he ever hated a single person in his life so much as he did at this moment.
The situation didn’t allow him any respite to wallow in his emotions though. He hurriedly utilized all of his means possible to fend against the zombie spearmen and escape, otherwise he would be swamped very soon.
“Young master, be careful!”
Qiao Xueying directed some of her vines toward Shi Kun to block some of the zombie spearmen charging toward him. The wood element’s ability seemed to be advantageous toward the undead, possibly because of its life attribute.
As powerful as Shi Kun’s Tempestuous Blades were, there was no flesh or blood for him to shed off from the bodies of the zombie spearmen, not to mention that they were wielding shields. As a result, he found himself in a helpless position.
If I’m struggling against them too, given how weak Zu An is, he should be dead by now, right?
At this point, he couldn’t care less whether Zu An was dead or not; his focus was on Chu Chuyan. He quickly scanned his surroundings, only to widen his eyes in the next moment. He saw Zu An weaving around the zombie spearmen in a blur, waiting for opportunities to land a strike. Amazingly, every strike he dealt would end with the death of a zombie spearmen.
“That doesn’t make sense! His strength and speed are only at most a match for me!” Shi Kun was bewildered. He had tasted the defensive prowess of the zombie spearmen personally, and they were definitely not the kind of mobs where one could kill in a single spear thrust.
Wait a moment, spear?
Shi Kun suddenly noticed that Zu An was wielding a spear identical to those of the zombie spearmen. It seemed like he had just picked it up from the floor. A thought surfaced in his mind, and he immediately hollered to his other two companions, “Use the zombie’s weapons! They can curb them!”
Right after saying those words, he immediately picked up one of the spears fallen on the ground and started brandishing it. Despite his lacking proficiency with the spear, he found that the zombies’ movement speed would be slowed by at least half if he landed a blow, thus relieving the pressure on him.
Who could have thought that their spear would actually wield such great prowess!
Shi Kun considered bringing a batch of these spears out. It might just be some sort of incredibly powerful weapon!
Qiao Xueying and the other fourth rank cultivators quickly followed suit. They grabbed a spear each and began fighting back. It looked like they would be able to hold on for the time being.
While Zu An had lured most of the zombie spearmen over to Shi Kun’s side, there were still five who were still insisting on chasing him.
“Let me down,” said Chu Chuyan feebly.
Zu An shook his head, refusing to let her go.
Chu Chuyan sighed helplessly and explained, “It won’t be easy for you to deal with so many zombie spearmen while holding onto me. You can put me down by the corner first and fight them off. Once you’re done, you can just... just pick me up and leave.”
“Ah, I misunderstood your words.” Zu An chuckled softly. He gently placed her down by the corner of the cavern while standing guard in front of her. Then, he turned around and charged toward the five zombie spearmen.
He exerted Sunflower Phantasm to its very limits, stabbing the spear in his hand toward them. However, due to his lacking proficiency in spear, he found it hard to circumvent the zombie spearmen’s shields to strike their bodies.
“Time your attacks carefully to the moment they strike,” reminded Chu Chuyan.
She had already resigned herself to fate, but she didn’t want to see Zu An dying for her here. As the number prodigy of Brightmoon City, her combat sense and experience far surpassed that of the current Zu An.
Zu An nodded. He flitted amidst the zombie spearmen, baiting their attacks. He waited until the moment one of them lowered their shields slightly to thrust their spear forward to swiftly push his own spear through, striking it squarely in the chest.
Using the same trick, he struck another one of the zombie spearmen squarely in the chest, killing it on the spot. However, while his spear was still lodged inside its body, one of its allies suddenly charged forward to grab the other end of his spear, attempting to pull it off his hand.
“Let go!” bellowed Zu An as he attempted to retract the spear forcefully.
The zombie spearman lurched forward from the sudden tug, but it still insisted on holding the weapon. Just like that, the two of them started a ludicrous tug-o-war match in the midst of the sinister battlefield.
It was then that the other two zombie spearmen also flanked him from the sides and attempted to take him down while his hands were busy.
Just as it looked like Zu An was going to fall under their coordination, he suddenly raised his arm and shot an arrow right into the head of the zombie spearman tugging on his spear.
“...” Zombie spearman.
What happened to sportsmanship?! It’s supposed to be a proper battle, so how can you resort to hidden weapons?
You have successfully trolled Zombie Spearman for +6 +6 +6...
Zu An was amused to see that. He didn’t think that these zombie soldiers would possess sentience. It was just a pity that they didn’t seem too smart, or else the amount of Rage points he could earn would have been greater.
But again, if they were really smart, he would probably face much greater difficulty dealing with them.
While his mind was wandering a little, his body hadn’t stopped moving at all. After shooting down the zombie spearman before him, he swiftly retracted his spear and stabbed it into the bodies of the remaining two zombie spearmen by his sides in quick succession.
After eliminating the five zombie spearmen, Zu An delightfully turned his head around to report his success to Chu Chuyan, only to be nearly scared out of his wits.
Three zombie axemen had already arrived by her side, and they were already in the midst of hacking their axes down on her. Despite so, Chu Chuyan simply looked on with a peaceful expression on her face, not making the slightest noise at all.
Zu An immediately threw the spear in his hand forward with a javelin and killed one of the zombie axemen. Then, he raised his hidden crossbow and shot the other one down.
As for the last one, he drove Sunflower Phantasm to its very limits, and just in the nick of time, he managed to block off the ax at the very last moment. He then quickly picked up one of the spears lying around and ended the zombie axeman’s life.
After it was all done, he quickly checked Chu Chuyan’s condition carefully as he exclaimed, “Are you injured? Why didn’t you ask for help?!”
“You were in a dangerous position earlier too. I didn’t want to distract you. Besides, I’m already a goner. It makes no difference whether I die right now or a little later.” Chu Chuyan’s face slowly reddened as she quickly added, “Also, can you stop touching me?”
Zu An scratched his head sheepishly as he quickly retracted his hand. “I’m checking if you’re injured. I’m not trying to taking advantage of you.”
Chu Chuyan replied with a nod before falling silent.
Meanwhile, the other zombie spearmen had seen the tragic plight of its comrades over at Zu An’s side and quickly charged toward him. With a rough estimation, there should be at least thirty to forty of them.
A deep furrow immediately formed on Chu Chuyan’s face. “Hurry up and let me down!”
“That won’t do. I’m unable to keep so many of them at bay simultaneously. If I leave you here, you’ll die without a doubt!” Zu An shook his head. After how Chu Chuyan refused to speak up despite being in imminent danger, he knew that he couldn’t leave her alone anymore.
He quickly picked up her body before charging right into the midst of the zombie spearmen. He had to take the preemptive move here, or else things would get troublesome once they finished creating an encirclement around him.
His movements were unpredictable, and he was swiftly getting more and more adept at using the spear together with his Sunflower Phantasm. Quite a few zombie spearmen were struck squarely by him and fell dead even before they could even react.
“You can only use one hand holding onto me, and it’ll affect your speed and form too. You can’t use a spear properly with just one hand. On top of that, you’re also hastening the rate of depletion of your ki too. At this rate, you’ll really die!” said Chu Chuyan anxiously.
“Don’t worry, didn’t you say that vermins live for centuries? I won’t die that easily!” said Zu An. “I’m glad that my wife isn’t a pig, or else it won’t be as easy for me to fight with you in my arm.”
Chu Chuyan grumbled coyly, “You’re the one who is a pig.”
Seeing that Zu An had already made up his mind, she chose not to say anything lest she distracted him. Nevertheless, there was still a worried furrow persisting on her forehead. It wouldn’t be easy for him to deal with so many zombie spearmen simultaneously even in his peak state, let alone now that he was handicapped with her.
A while later, however, Chu Chuyan realized that she had still been underestimating Zu An’s strength. Even while holding onto her, he was still able to move elusively, and every strike of his spear was able to effectively claim the life of a zombie spearman.
In fact, in terms of strength and speed, he was already on par with her in her peak condition. Factoring in his powerful movement skill too, if she didn’t resort to her elemental powers, it was likely that she wouldn’t be a match for him.
After consecutively killing 23 zombie spearmen, Zu An’s speed began to slow down. His exertion was starting to take a toll on him, evidenced by his heavy breathing. Holding a person in one hand and brandishing a spear in the other was definitely a tiring act, such that Zu An’s right arm was aching terribly, almost to the point of numbness.
To make things worse, the more he killed the zombie spearmen, the more attention he attracted from the others. More and more of them were forsaking Shi Kun’s side to charge at him.
Damn it! Are zombies attracted to my charm too?
“Brother Shit, you always talk as if you’re the greatest in the world, so why aren’t you pulling your weight right now? All of your zombies are coming my way now!” cursed Zu An.
Shi Kun immediately cursed back without bothering to put on his usual pretense, “Bloody hell! We were the ones who were controlling the bulk of the zombies earlier, giving you an easy time. Stop grumbling and do your part!”
He was clearly the one who was receiving the brunt of the blow here, and yet, the one who was holding onto his beloved goddess still dared to claim the greatest credit here and complain about it. This made Shi Kun feel incredibly stifled.
You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!
On the other hand, Zu An had no spare attention to check the inflow of Rage points anymore. He tightened his left hand, pulling Chu Chuyan closer to him, and he continued brandishing his spear at those zombie spearmen.
Unfortunately, both his speed and strength had clearly fallen greatly. Barely after he killed a zombie spearman and was going to retract his spear, one of its allies immediately thrust its spear toward Chu Chuyan. Clearly, they had realized that Chu Chuyan was his greatest weakness right now.
Zu An gritted his teeth as he twisted his body and took the blow for Chu Chuyan.
Puchi!
The spear plunged into Zu An’s flesh, leaving his consciousness flickering for an instant. He was already in a weakened state at the start, and this attack nearly took him down for good.
“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan cried out anxiously.
Zu An squeezed out a smile and replied, “It’s almost like I’m putting my life on the line to court you. Have you considered betrothing yourself to me in reciprocation?”