Book 12: The Strength of the Preparatory Team
Chapter 86.2: The Origin of Destruction, He Caitou (Preview)
This was a genuine fort; it was impossible to leave the original location once it was set up. The place that He Caitou had chosen was also rather peculiar. He had chosen a place in the middle of the arena, slightly towards the Thousand Spirit Academy's side. Once the pedestal was finished, several metal pipes—both thick and thin—emerged from his body.
When Situ Yu, the captain of the Cloud Luo Academy, had released more than thirty metal pipes to form his soul tool fortress, he'd already exceeded the average number of pipes for a soul tool fortress. Generally speaking, as long as one had 24 attack-type soul tools along with a stable pedestal, and an enormous core formation that could conserve soul power, they'd have successfully formed a soul tool fortress.
However, if one were to examine He Caitou's body closely, they would see that there weren't 24 soul tools, but rather too many to count. The number of pipes had probably surpassed 50.
Huo Yuhao broke into a cold sweat when he saw his valiant senior brother. At the same time, he thought to himself: Is this the reason that all soul engineers have such strong bodies? So that they can control a larger number of soul tools? It seemed that he'd have to grow stronger too! If he didn't, he definitely wouldn't be able to bear the burden of all those metal weapons!
He Caitou had a total of 64 weapons on his body. Among them, the strongest was the gun-barrel on his right shoulder. This dark-colored gun-barrel was two meters long and as thick as an average person's thigh. Currently, it was emanating a metallic light and giving off a terrifying aura. However, this gun barrel was banned from the tournament, as it was a strengthening-type stationary soul tool.
Once his fortress had been finished, the muscles on He Caitou's face twitched slightly. It was difficult to describe how he was feeling right now. He smiled towards the enemy team while holding the cigar in his mouth, but his smile was full of killing intent. Afterwards, instantly turned into a ball of blazing light that was nearly as bright as the sun.
Currently, Bei Bei was fiercely attacking the remnants of the Shield Wall in an attempt to destroy them. But at that moment, he felt a wave of heat coming from behind him, followed by a thunderous explosion that landed not too far away from his head. This explosion was really quite scary. The powerful shockwaves caused him to squat down, and he had to use all the soul power in his body to protect himself. He even had to use the defensive soul tool that he'd obtained yesterday.
Afterwards, he saw various fragments falling from the sky. He then realized that the shields that'd been blocking his way were now gone.
"Holy shit." The always-elegant Bei Bei—at least, that's how he looked from the outside—unconsciously cursed as he stood back up.
All of the fragments that were falling from the sky belonged to the Spirit Rhinoceros Shield! He saw that the protective barrier outside of the arena was full of ripples, and that a large number of halos were rapidly fluctuating. He then noticed that there was a person amidst those halos, and that this person was the captain of the Thousand Spirit Advanced Soul Academy, Shen Ce.
At this moment, his body was glittering with many colors, and his five soul rings lit up one after another. However, no matter what he did, he was still being suppressed by a terrifying power, and was unable to move a single finger.
Bei Bei wasn't the only one who was surprised. The other members of the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Academy were also surprised by this, as all four of their defense-type soul masters had been injured from that explosion!
When the Thousand-strike Spear had injured them, Yang Ming and Song Hu had thought that they'd been unlucky. But when they saw Bai Chen and Ye Mao's current condition, they were a little happy that their Shield Wall had already been destroyed.
Of the 64 attack-type soul tools installed on He Caitou's body, 63 had simultaneously begun to glitter, which had been why his body had seemingly changed into a blazing sun. All of them had then simultaneously released their strength in the same direction. Not only had they immediately destroyed the Shield Wall, but they had also fiercely bombarded Shen Ce, who had yet to recover from Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Shock. Even though Shen Ce's skill were meant for defense, when faced with that terrifying power, he'd been directly pressed against the barrier outside the ring.
Just what kind of power was that?! Even if the Shield Wall had been previously damaged by an internal strike from the Thousand-strike Spear, it was still a defense that had been erected by two defense-type Soul Ancestors with all their might. Yet, in front of He Caitou's soul tool fortress, it had collapsed instantly!
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, who weren't too far away from each other, both looked at each other and saw saw the shock in each other's eyes. The two of them weren't the only ones hiding their strength; He Caitou had been as well! Furthermore, the strength that He Caitou had been hiding was extremely large! Even Xu Sanshi wasn't entirely sure if he could block that full-power attack from before.
Beneath the Soul Sage rank, a soul engineer held a definite advantage over a soul master of equal rank. Moreover, how could He Caitou be compared to a normal Class 4 soul engineer? If it wasn't for Huo Yuhao, he would be the number one student of Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department, and also the only candidate for the Ultimate Soldier Plan. However, the current Huo Yuhao couldn't hope to match his attainments in regards to soul tools. Furthermore, He Caitou had used the soul tool fortress, the strongest formation at the disposal of a soul engineer. Therefore, his full-power attack had immediately shown its terrifying effects.
The tactic used by the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Academy wasn't bad, but it had a fatal flaw: It was too passive. It wasn't able to pressure on their opponents.
He Caitou had already begun preparing the moment he'd stepped forward. In that brief period of time, he'd completed the setup of his soul tool fortress with using his muscles. Only three seconds had passed between when he began to forming his fortress and when he launched his attack. This speed shocked the members of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy so much that all of them stood up. Even among them, none of them could erect a soul tool fortress in such a short period of time, let alone such a complicated and powerful Class 4 soul tool fortress.
By relying on his great number of soul tools, He Caitou was able to release the strength of a Class 5 soul tool fortress while using a Class 4 one. However, he hadn't used this formidable strength of his when he'd compared notes with his fellow students.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, who were thinking of going all-out, regained their senses after a short moment of surprise, and realized that the blinding light from He Caitou's soul tools were also fading.
When the light faded, Shen Ce used the protective barrier behind him as a support to jump towards the ring with great difficulty. The sturdy clothes he'd been wearing had already been turned into rags and had revealed a layer of armor beneath them.
"Clang—" The armor broke, and the instant it fell on the ground, Shen Ce's body looked thin and meager. He immediately opened his mouth to gasp for breath, and used his Thousand-strike Spear to support himself.
He Caitou spat out what remained of his thin cigar and curled his lips. "Not bad. You had a Class 5 defense-type soul tool. No wonder you managed to block my attack. You're the first Soul King that was able to take the full brunt of my soul tool fortress head-on without going down. Come, bring it on."
Afterwards, his round pedestal rotated. His 64 attack-type soul tools also moved rhythmically. This fortress of his could unexpectedly rotate 360°! Furthermore, he only needed to make some small adjustments to his aim in order to target Fei Yuyan, who was still standing on the platform. Or rather, to be more precise, he was aiming at the Blaze Tiger martial soul she'd released.
"Brothers, what are you waiting for?" He Caitou shouted. When everyone thought that he would need a little bit of rest after that all-out attack from before, the gun barrels began to light up again.
Fei Yuyan immediately became scared and directly jumped onto her Blaze Tiger in order to run away. She definitely didn't have a Class 5 defense-type soul tool to protect herself!
"Keep your cool! He can't possibly use that sort of powerful attack two times in a row!" At that moment, Shen Ce showed his worth as a team captain. Not only was his cultivation high, both his knowledge and battle experience were also quite good.
What he said was correct. In the end, He Caitou was only a Soul Ancestor. Even if he were stronger and could actually kill a Soul King with an all-out attack, there was no way that he'd be able to release such an attack twice in a row.
But it was only natural for human beings to feel fear. Even with Shen Ce's timely reminder, the deterrent brought about by those gun barrels on He Caitou's body was just too strong. The Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Academy's team members had already been thrown into confusion.
At that moment, a tall and slender figure quietly arrived behind Yang Ming.
Yang Ming suddenly felt his body sink, as though its weight had increased by several times. As soon as he tried move, his body suddenly froze. Afterwards, he felt a burst of power transmitted into him from his back. Two slender hands then seized his throat, and a hard object pressed against his back.
In the next instant, everyone saw Yang Ming's body suddenly fly towards the outside of the ring.
Jiang Nannan had made her move, and utilized her second skill, Gravity Control, alongside her first skill, Waist Bow.
Even if he'd been in his normal state, it wasn't certain if Yang Ming would be able to dodge this attack, let alone now that he was injured.
"I'm coming!" A tender voice echoed. A person suddenly stepped forwards from the team members of the Thousand Spirit Academy that were currently in disarray. Earlier, she had also been shocked, but considering her capacity as the vice-captain of their team, she needed to show her strength now. This person was An Lengye, the owner of the Frost Bear.
The Frost Bear immediately took large strides forward under her orders, then made a grabbing motion towards the air and caught Yang Ming, who'd been about to fall off the stage from Jiang Nannan's attack. However, that wasn't all. An Lengye's fourth soul ring then lit up, and the Frost Bear howled angrily. A burst of cold air spread through the surrounding area, and An Lengye's long blue hair immediately turned white. Even her two eyes turned an icy white color, and began to emit a chilly aura. The cold wind in the air then morphed into a tornado that swept through the arena. After holding Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan in place, it swept towards He Caitou's position.