Chapter 63: Comrade (1)
After exhausting a large amount of source qi using the Lightning Source Blade, Su Yu was resting to recover. Meanwhile, fights were breaking out all around him. The battles weren't too intense as the cult members were more focused on running. They also didn't have that many people. Before long, one cult member after another was taken down.
The sounds of battle within the house were also slowing down. Team Leader Liu had returned to the house to help with the fight inside. With a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator like him there, regular Great Strength cultivators wouldn't be able to pose much threat.
Su Yu was satisfied with killing one middle-stage Great Strength cult member. If he ignored his expenses, he had actually earned two merit points from that kill.
This time, he had killed the enemy alone. Of course, as a tag-along, the spoils of war did not belong to him. Instead, they belonged to the Windcatcher Department. All the spoils of war would be submitted to the department before being distributed equally among the participants. Su Yu would naturally not receive anything since he wasn't an actual member of the department.
That was fair as just by joining this mission, he was taking the merit points that could be theirs. Without the department, he wouldn't have been able to kill the cult member.
Su Yu looked around. His surroundings were getting empty. The Windcatcher officers were starting to gather around the house to encircle and defeat the last remaining cult members.
Su Yu was unclear as to how many cult members there were in total, but from what he had seen so far, there were more than ten of them. With that number, this hideout could be considered a medium-sized hideout.
"Medium-sized hideout..."
Su Yu trembled as he realized something. With more than ten cult members, a hideout would be classified as a medium-sized hideout.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Team Leader Liu's voice rang out in the house, "Watch out! There's a ringleader!"
"Ahhh!"
A scream rang out but it was quickly interrupted. Then, Team Leader Liu's furious roar sounded. The walls of the house started crumbling.
Su Yu was alarmed and hurriedly looked in the direction of the house. He saw that Team Leader Liu was in an intense battle against a middle-aged man who looked like he was suffering from a lung disease.
Team Leader Liu fought with a military issue saber while his opponent used a long staff. As they fought, source qi erupted non stop around them, causing the walls around them to collapse one after another. A Windcatcher officer had collapsed onto the ground while the others were trying to form an encirclement around the cult member.
"Little Chen..."
When Su Yu heard that scream, he shivered. Little Chen...Big Brother Chen?
Was the person who had just collapsed Big Brother Chen? That was the person who was still chatting with him not long ago in the truck.
"Group two, enter your formation!" While fighting, Team leader Liu shouted, "Brothers, we found the ringleader! If we beat him, we will earn a lot of merit points!"
With his command, the group of ten behind him advanced. Each of them took out an iron chain connected to some axe-like weapon. Team Leader Liu hurriedly retreated and whistling sounds rang out as the ten iron chains were tossed forward by the group of ten.
"Hah!"
The cult member might look diseased and weak, but he was showing impressive strength. With a roar, he swept his staff forth and struck the ten chains, creating numerous sparks in the air. One of the chains instantly snapped. The other chains were sent flying everywhere.
"Group one, advance!" Team Leader Liu roared.
The first group that was already waiting to the side did not hesitate and stabbed at the cult member with the large tridents in their hands. With ten attacks coming from multiple directions, the cult member, who still wasn't a Skysoar cultivator, could only roar furiously and swung his staff. Numerous sparks appeared as his staff collided against the tridents.
The final group was spread around them. There was no need for Team Leader Liu to give them any order as they hurriedly tossed out a massive net.
"You guys are only good for these cheap tricks!" The cult member roared furiously and stomped his feet before lunging at a Windcatcher officer who was standing in his way.
The officers rotated around the cult member while keeping the encirclement tight, not leaving a single opening for him to escape.
With a net on him, multiple iron chains wrapped around him, and tridents that were constantly getting in his way, the cult member became more and more furious.
At that point, Team Leader Liu had withdrawn from the encirclement. He was looking on coldly and waited outside the circle. The moment the cult member broke free, he would work with his team members and force the cult member back inside.
Infinite Strength Realm!
Su Yu finally realized that this enemy was an Infinite Strength cultivator. Otherwise, with Team Leader Liu's strength as a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator, he would not need to work with so many people to deal with one opponent.
There were also several seventh-stage Great Strength cultivators helping him. If even so many people were taking this long to deal with this cult member, it was clear how strong this cult member was.
Boom!
Surrounded by a bunch of cultivators weaker than him, the cult member furiously swung his staff, breaking a trident into pieces. The officer wielding the trident was standing several meters away. Even so far away, the force of the impact was enough to rupture his arms and cause streams of blood to flow out of his arms.
At the same time, an iron chain was tossed toward the cult member. The axe at the end of the chain struck the cult member, leaving a deep wound on his thigh.
"Great Strength killing Infinite Strength!"
At that moment, Su Yu suddenly understood why his father had said that on the battlefield, Great Strength cultivators could kill Infinite Strength cultivators. Right before his eyes, thirty Great Strength cultivators from the Windcatcher Department of a small city were doing precisely that, encircling an Infinite Strength cultivator and slowly tiring the enemy out.
The Windcatcher Department was considered an elite department in Nanyuan, but in the Allheaven Battlefield, they weren't even qualified to be a part of the main army. And yet these very people were showing to Su Yu that cultivation level wasn't everything.
A single pair of hands would still have a hard time contending against multiple pairs of hands. When encountering a well-structured team of combatants, even someone strong might end up defeated.
"Trying to tire me out? Dream on!" ?The cult member roared, "If I go all out, some of you will die as well! Liu Pingshan, let me go and I'll leave Nanyuan. This will be good for both of us!
"I still have other hideouts in Nanyuan with three hundred gold coins hidden in them. You can have that as your spoils of war!
"Liu Pingshan, Nanyuan is a small city. Do you really want to throw away an entire team of Windcatcher officers?"
Nanyuan wasn't a powerful city, so it did not have that many Windcatcher teams. If an Infinite Strength cultivator decided to go all out, even if the team could avoid being wiped out, they would still suffer disastrous losses.
Team Leader Liu ignored the offer. The moment one became a Windcatcher officer, one had accepted the fact that death might come at any time.
He had not expected to meet an Infinite Strength enemy today. This was a middle-stage Infinite Strength cultivator...no, that did not seem to be the case. This was only a hideout with about a dozen members. A hideout like this should not have anyone stronger than the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm. It was quite surprising that an Infinite Strength cultivator was here.
"Maybe this is a fresh Infinite Strength cultivator that has yet to be transferred to a different hideout."
There were various positions within the Myriad Race Cult. Someone at the Infinite Strength Realm should not be leading a weak group like this. Thus, it was reasonable to assume that this enemy had just broken through recently. That much was obvious from the fact that the cult member had not been able to immediately suppress him during their fight earlier.
"Die!"
Team Leader Liu ignored the cult member and continued working together with his team to tire the opponent out. This person wouldn't be able to escape.
"Liu Pingshan! Do you really want this? Both of us will suffer if you keep pushing!"
The cult member swung his staff again, causing a trident wielder to fly away while spitting blood. The arms of that person were broken by the impact, so he could no longer participate in the battle. Someone else instantly stepped in to plug the opening left by the incapacitated officer.
By that point, a hole had been torn by the cult member on the net they had dropped on him. However, he was already suffering from numerous wounds.
...
Further away from the fight, Su Yu was watching nervously. After a while, he started hesitating. This enemy was too strong.
Even a seventh-stage Great Strength officer had his arms broken with one hit by the enemy. If this continued, that cult member's words would come true. He might perish, but the Windcatcher Department would suffer disastrous losses as well.
Clenching his teeth, Su Yu stopped hesitating and rushed toward the fight. Shortly after, he arrived.
Team Leader Liu saw Su Yu’s approach, but he did not say anything. This was Su Yu's choice. If he ended up dying here, nobody could do anything. After all, even the team leader himself could not guarantee that he would survive. The enemy was most certainly going to perish. But this northern team...would probably suffer gravely as well.
"Team Leader Liu..."
"Scram!"
Liu Pingshan shouted as he glared at Su Yu. If Su Yu ended up getting in their way during an active mission, nobody would object even if he killed Su Yu himself. The moment a battle started, this place was already a battlefield. The Windcatcher Department might be staying behind the front line, but they had their own battlefields as well.
Su Yu trembled when he saw Team Leader Liu's murderous eyes. This was not a regular government official. He was a true experienced killer.
"Team Leader, I can provide interruptions!"
Su Yu spoke softly. As the sounds of weapons clashing echoed around him, he hurriedly continued, "I'm a reserve cultural researcher. I can create illusions to distract him for a split second. Will that be enough for you to kill him?"
"Huh?" Team Leader Liu was on the verge of kicking Su Yu away when he stopped. He asked, "Illusion? How long will it last?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe...one second?"
Su Yu was unsure. He had never tried it against an enemy of this level before.
Team Leader Liu gazed at the enemy and paused for about three seconds. Then, he solemnly said, "I'll leave an opening for him to escape. You will distract him. Su Yu, military orders are absolute. I hereby order you to keep him distracted for at least one second. If you fail, I'll die. If you succeed, he will die and no more of us will die."
Team Leader Liu was able to rapidly draw up a plan. He was going to allow that man to break free before letting Su Yu distract that man with illusions. He would then attack and kill. If he failed, he would be killed after getting within the enemy's range. Even so, he would still be able to deal the enemy a serious injury before dying.
This was a gamble. A gamble he did not hesitate to take.
Even if the gamble ended up killing him, he would still be able to leave the enemy with a serious injury. His team members would be able to quickly finish the enemy off and none of them would need to die anymore.
He did not have the time to hesitate. A lot of the people in the Windcatcher Department were veterans from the battlefield. Team Leader Liu was one such person. Thus, he would not hesitate to stake his life when needed.
Su Yu trembled. Military order...
He did not know if he could complete the task assigned to him. He thought he could as his illusion had worked even on people like Liu Wenyan. This enemy was only an Infinite Strength cultivator. It should work. But if he failed here...Team Leader Liu would die. Was that a responsibility he could bear?
Team Leader Liu did not give him the chance to hesitate. The team leader yelled, "Group two, pull back three meters."
"Group one, use your tridents!"
The officers did not hesitate to carry out the orders. The cult member roared again, swinging his staff repeatedly. The officers were forced to retreat again and again. Many of the officers were already bleeding badly from their arms, but their will to fight was still as strong as ever.
Team Leader Liu started moving into the gap between the two groups. He did not look at Su Yu, but he softly spoke, "The moment he breaks through group one, create your illusion. I'll kill him."
As for whether Su Yu could carry out the order in time, he did not waste his time thinking about it. With or without Su Yu, he would still do the same thing. There were only two options. Either he risked death or more of his team members would risk death.
Su Yu was feeling extremely nervous. He wanted to swallow the blood essence and join the fight, but even with the blood essence, he would only have the offensive strength of a Great Strength cultivator. That was useless against an Infinite Strength cultivator.
Su Yu clenched his teeth, "I can only rely on my illusion! But what illusion can I use here?"
If he wanted to fool this opponent, regular illusions wouldn't work. He sank into thought.
"Using the chief? No, the chief is only at the Infinite Strength Realm...
"The mayor? No. The mayor will sink the enemy deeper into despair and force him to struggle even harder.
"I need to give him hope, not desperation..."
Against a cornered Infinite Strength cultivator, he had to change his line of thinking.
"Yes, I need to create the illusion of his companion, a companion here to save him..."
Su Yu reached a decision. He was aware that his decision would decide whether a respectable man would live or die. He wasn't really close to Team Leader Liu, but he did not wish to see the team leader die here. Neither did he want to see anyone else die here.