Chapter 1188: Two Against One

This set of sleeve darts was crafted from superior materials and was the fifth revised version by Songyang Prefecture. It boasted armor-piercing, explosive, and secondary propulsion capabilities, yet it failed to penetrate the Rakshasa Armor.

After the arrowhead shattered, a hidden steel needle propelled forward for a secondary attack. This steel needle could pierce even the Bronze Armor of the Demonic Ape, yet it still couldn't puncture the Rakshasa Armor!

However, the force of the sleeve dart pushed the dark figure back two steps, and He Lingchuan seized the opportunity to leap forward.

At that moment, the Demonic Ape unleashed all four fists, shattering the ice crystals on its body, then thrust its staff directly at the target.

The dark figure tilted its head. Four or five more ice cones were thrown, but this time they were light blue.

The Demonic Ape moved its staff, still intending to block, but He Lingchuan roared, "Jump far!"

The Demonic Ape's instinct was faster than its thought; it immediately leaped fifteen meters away upon hearing the command.

The blue ice cones struck where it had just stood. With a few sharp sounds, the ice cones exploded upon impact with the ground, transforming into layered, radiating clusters of ice crystals.

These constructs were not only beautiful with their luminous blue glow but also menacing, as each crystal cluster was over four feet long with sword-like tips! Most terrifyingly, they spread out upon landing, as dense as sea urchins on a coral reef, leaving no space for anyone to step. Had the Demonic Ape remained in place, its legs would surely have been impaled.

Just two breaths later, all the ice clusters on the ground exploded simultaneously! The ice clusters shattered, scattering indiscriminately in all directions, more vicious than a storm of pear-blossom needles. Two nearby small trees were instantly riddled with holes.

He Lingchuan pushed his large shield forward, and the ice arrows struck the shield. The Demonic Ape, caught in mid-air, couldn't dodge in time and took a dozen arrows to its back and thighs. Fortunately, it wore bronze armor, and the ice arrows failed to penetrate. Only two lodged in its leg joints, making it roar in pain.

He Lingchuan was able to give advance warning because the Eyeball Spider had observed the Black-Armored Leader's battle with the Yao army from beginning to end. The Black-Armored Leader had used these techniques before. In particular, the supernatural ability to disappear on the spot allowed the Black-Armored Leader to appear and disappear like a phantom among the enemy troops. Otherwise, how could it have maneuvered so effectively on the narrow mountain path? He Lingchuan had observed for a long time and deduced that it was related to the pervasive snow dust, so he instructed the Demonic Ape to quickly move out of the snowfall's range.

That ice cluster explosion technique had previously been deployed among the crowded Yao army, practically guaranteeing hits. Even with their elemental energy protection, many Yao soldiers were wounded or crippled. It was fortunate that they had, with their lives and flesh, tested these moves for He Lingchuan; otherwise, he might have suffered significant losses in this battle.

Due to this explosion, the small grove was filled with an icy mist, reducing visibility to nearly zero.

Just as the Demonic Ape landed and before it could straighten up, the Black-Armored Leader swiftly leaped onto its knee, using the momentum to spring off. Its movements were as agile as a flea's, and its battle armor seemed weightless. Annoyed by the large ape, it decided to eliminate it first, so it could focus on dealing with He Lingchuan.

The Demonic Ape slapped downwards, but it was far less agile than the Black-Armored Leader. Before its palm even reached its knee, the enemy had already sprung to its neck!

Fast, too fast!

As it launched, the Black-Armored Leader crossed its hands in front of its face, only to suddenly splay them outwards once close to the Demonic Ape's neck. From the outside of both arms, a pair of folding blades suddenly sprang out, their edges bristling with serrated teeth like barbs. This splitting attack was like a tailor's shears; though the Demonic Ape's neck was thick, if it were truly caught, its large head would likely be clipped off on the spot!

With a 'swish', the folding blades snapped shut. Considering their size and sharpness, the sound of this clipping attack was almost imperceptible. However, the blades met only empty air; the Black-Armored Leader did not feel the satisfying sensation of severing an enemy's head—

In that split second, the Demonic Ape, over three meters tall, shrank back into a small monkey, only a foot tall.

Before the Black-Armored Leader could retract its folding blades, the small monkey transformed back into the Demonic Ape, raising its hands high and bringing its staff down with a direct overhead strike. This move, learned from Qiu Hu, was delivered with such speed and force that the staff left an afterimage in the air.

The Black-Armored Leader, caught in mid-air with no escape, raised its hands, hastily conjured an ice shield, and forcibly took the heavy blow.

With a mighty 'bang', the ground shuddered violently. The Black-Armored Leader crashed heavily onto the ground, raising dust. The sandy earth was dented inward by half a meter. The ice shield, a foot thick, shattered into pieces.

The strike would have landed squarely on the Black-Armored Leader's forehead but was blocked by its forearms. Even He Lingchuan would not want to directly face the Demonic Ape's full-force strike. This was a clear case of brute force overcoming skill.

Even with the ice shield as a cushion, the Black-Armored Leader's left arm was broken and twisted at an odd angle. Yet, it rolled over and stood up, grabbing its left arm with its right hand and snapping it back into place with a 'crack'. In less than two breaths, its left arm was fully healed, and a flick of its wrist confirmed it was as good as new.

This kind of recovery ability even stunned the Demonic Ape. If its arm bone were fractured, even after drinking Dong Rui's special red potion, it would still need to rest for a quarter of an hour to fully heal. That was already impressive, but the Rakshasa Armor was unbelievably unreasonable.

Having landed a successful blow, the Demonic Ape was about to press its advantage with a few more swings, intending to embed its opponent into the ground, when two swift, barely discernible projectiles shot out from the jungle directly behind it, heading straight for its nape. These two projectiles were about the size of fruit bats, extremely tiny compared to the Demonic Ape. They resembled Frankenstein's monsters, with spider bodies and scorpion tails, yet completely hairless. Their grayish-white bodies were inconspicuous against the backdrop of the swirling snow mist.

Their eight legs allowed them to run and jump with absurd speed. The two foremost legs, sharp as scalpels, were typically held aloft while moving but were now aimed directly at the Demonic Ape's nape. Fortunately, the Demonic Ape seemed to have eyes on the back of its head and had no intention of letting these small creatures perform cranial surgery on it. Thus, it opened its two rear fists, one left and one right, intending to seize them. It was quick-eyed and quick-handed, indeed seizing one, but immediately let out a roar of pain.

As these creatures' bladed legs flexed, they pierced through the gaps in its gauntlets, directly into the Demonic Ape's palm. Despite its thick hide, which ordinary blades couldn't even scratch, the piercing pain from the small creatures was excruciating, almost making it release its grip. However, being under Dong Rui's control and knowing that releasing them would lead to endless trouble, it endured the pain in its hands and squeezed harder, crushing them instantly!

'Squish', the small creature exploded, but instead of blood and gore, it dissolved into a piece of light gray scale armor. These were merely auxiliary constructs formed by the Rakshasa Armor, similar to the shoulder-mounted beasts on General Hong's battle armor. It had instantly perceived the Demonic Ape's immense strength but limited agility due to its size, thus forming small, swift, and highly targeted creatures instead of large ones.

The other small monster, seeing the Demonic Ape reaching out to grab it, suddenly opened the membrane under its belly, like a deployed parachute, and was sharply pulled backward by a strong gust of wind. The Demonic Ape's grab missed, forcing it to lean back and spew a burst of blue fire at the creature. The creature turned from grayish-white to scorched black, then 'snapped' back into a scale.

At this moment, the Black-Armored Leader was busy regenerating its broken arm and couldn't launch an attack. The Demonic Ape still had two front hands, and the battle became a back-and-forth affair. Its next two staff strikes were fast and fierce, yet the Black-Armored Leader dodged and weaved while clutching its arm without missing a beat, showing no sign of internal injuries, as if it wasn't the one who had just been slammed into the ground by the ape.

Snow dust permeated the forest.

No sooner had the Black-Armored Leader retreated two steps than a shadow emerged behind it, its blade, trailing falling snow dust, swept towards its neck. He Lingchuan had prepared for a long time; this assassination attempt was silent. However, the moment the snow dust stirred, the Black-Armored Leader instantly sensed it and vanished from the spot. Within its snow-dust domain, it was nearly impossible for anyone to assassinate it. Thus, the blade swept through empty air.

Instead, the Black-Armored Leader materialized behind the assailant, its arm blade folding back, arcing in mid-air, and its sharp tip piercing He Lingchuan's chest! The blade had barbs, and blood splattered when it was pulled out. He Lingchuan thrust backward with a counterattack, but it was parried by the Black-Armored Leader's other arm blade. Immediately after, He Lingchuan turned his head to the west, and a red glow flashed in his eyes.

Beyond the snow dust, a figure flashed past, covering six meters in an instant, charging directly to the Black-Armored Leader's side. Shadow Walk!

However, the Black-Armored Leader had already shoved the "He Lingchuan" in front of it towards the charging Demonic Ape. Its arm blade suddenly extended to five feet long and perfectly slashed at the newly arrived figure. This person was the real He Lingchuan. He had previously stood outside the snow dust's range, releasing a clone to attract the Black-Armored Leader's attention, then used Shadow Walk for a close-range surprise attack. To his surprise, the Black-Armored Leader detected his true location in an instant and prepared its defense.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror in his embrace cried out, "It can sense your position, so accurately!"

He Lingchuan cursed under his breath. Since he had combined the Shadow Clone technique and Shadow Walk martial arts, this was the first time his efforts had been futile.

Furthermore, a whip-like object shot out from the ground, assailing him alongside the folding blade. It was a chain, extending from beneath the Black-Armored Leader's shoulder armor, capable of flexible attacks, like a third hand growing from its back.

Under the combined assault of the Demonic Ape and He Lingchuan, the Black-Armored Leader not only possessed the power to retaliate but did so with exceptional ferocity. He Lingchuan finally engaged it in direct combat. To put it mildly, this entity's strength was no less than his own, and using its unique set of weapons, it grew increasingly fierce with each exchange. It truly lived up to its reputation as someone who had repeatedly cut through the Yao army.

With several 'clangs', they exchanged over a dozen blows within a mere three breaths. Dark energy emanated from the Black-Armored Leader, and its strength surprisingly elevated another level! He Lingchuan's tiger's mouth throbbed faintly from several parries, a sensation akin to fighting Meng Shan in the arena previously. This thing had just fought a battle with the Yao army, returned to these ruins, and not only wasn't exhausted but immediately grew stronger? The Rakshasa Armor truly lived up to its formidable reputation.

He Lingchuan swept his spiritual sense around; the surroundings were still filled with snow mist, visibility was less than a few feet, and Fu Liushan had not yet arrived.

The Black-Armored Leader delivered another sweeping 'folding-extension blade' strike. This peculiar weapon was actually composed of a folding blade and an extension blade. If the folding blade were parried, the extension blade could spring out in a second stage, making its trajectory unpredictable for the opponent, easily doubling its attack range, and even allowing it to bypass frontal defenses to strike from behind.

However, just as the extension blade sprang out, He Lingchuan's Fleeting Life Blade suddenly caught on its serrations, and he twisted it with force. His strength surged, causing the Black-Armored Leader's entire body to be thrown off balance.

"Elemental energy?" The Black-Armored Leader's voice, uncharacteristically, conveyed surprise. From its perspective, its opponent was now radiating a dark red glow!