NOVEL SIMPLE Your Opponent is Me!
Zhao Yunxiao took a quick glance at the rest of the members.
All of them seemed to be fully focused on the monkey demon in front of them, doing their best to inflict damage on it little by little.
Had none of them realised?
“Senior Martial Brother Chu!” Zhao Yunxiao yelled.
Since Mo Mian was engaging in close quarters combat right now, Zhao Yunxiao wanted to distract him as much as possible. So, he decided to address Chu Han instead.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Han asked with a frown.
He had a bad feeling about what was to come.
To suddenly call out to him in the middle of a battle, it was very likely that Zhao Yunxiao had something urgent to say.
“Something is coming!” Zhao Yunxiao did not beat around the bush.
His words instantly drew the attention of everyone in the party, including Mo Mian whom he had not wanted to distract.
Thankfully, the monkey demon was still under the suppression of the Terra Seal Formation, so this single moment of distraction did not result in any terrible consequences.
“What do you mean?” Chu Han asked. “What is coming?”
“I don’t know...” Zhao Yunxiao answered frankly. “But it is not normal.”
The speed of approach was far too quick for it to be an ordinary person or animal.
“How much time do we have, then?” Chu Han asked in a solemn manner.
“Thirty seconds.”
Zhao Yunxiao’s answer caused everyone to freeze for a moment.
“That’s not long at all,” Gui Longcan remarked. “There’s no way that we will be able to take down this bastard within thirty seconds.”
The monkey demon might be riddled with wounds now, but its vital signs were still going strong.
Even if they were to increase the pace of their assault, it would still take more than thirty seconds to slay the monkey demon for sure!
“I will go check it out for now,” Zhao Yunxiao suggested. “If possible, I will try to buy us some time.”
“You will...?” Pu Feixiang questioned. “You aren’t thinking of leaving the formation, are you?”
Should Zhao Yunxiao leave, the Terra Seal Formation would inevitably be disrupted.
Even though they could form it again with the four of them, the effects would be weakened with one person missing.
On top of that, who knew what the monkey demon would do during the short interval when the formation was down?
“Some things still need to be done,” Chu Han’s opinion differed from Pu Feixiang’s. “Rather than remaining here like sitting ducks, it is better to find out exactly what is coming. It is good if it is benign. But if it bears any malicious intent, we need to be ready for it as well.”
“Go, Junior Martial Brother Zhao,” Mo Mian gave the instruction after hearing them out.
“Don’t worry, I will be staying here,” Zhao Yunxiao’s response confused everyone.
But in the next moment, everyone immediately understood what he meant.
Behind Zhao Yunxiao, the earth rose up to form a humanoid figure.
Its features rapidly became more and more distinct, while its body changed in both colour and texture to resemble clothes.
Before long, a second Zhao Yunxiao could be seen standing right behind the original. They looked identical, making it almost impossible to differentiate the two.
“I see. A clone technique,” Mo Mian smiled. “This works too.”
Zhao Yunxiao did not wait for any further instructions.
Zhao Yunxiao Two quickly headed off.
His goal – to find out just who or what this newcomer actually was!
***
This newcomer was not approaching from any new location that was previously unknown to the party.
In fact, it was actually coming over from the direction of the monkeys’ nest, moving along the path of traps to get to them.
Now that most of the traps along this path had already been activated, there was nothing much left to even attempt to hinder its advance.
With the two individuals moving straight towards each other, it did not take long before Zhao Yunxiao Two encountered this newcomer.
But one advantage that Zhao Yunxiao had over the newcomer was information.
With the help of the alerts, Zhao Yunxiao was able to track the exact location of the newcomer.
This allowed him to hide his clone just before encountering the newcomer, so that he could watch the newcomer from within the shadows.
And while hiding in the trees, Zhao Yunxiao Two easily spotted this newcomer approaching from a distance.
Red hair all over the body.
Black hair on the arms.
It was like a replica of the monkey demon that they were dealing with right now, only that it was bigger.
Much bigger.
The monkey demon that they were fighting stood at around half a man’s height.
In comparison, this one was almost as tall as a man – twice the size of the monkey demon.
Its muscles were bulging from its body, making it appear like a heavily armoured grand chariot that was mowing down the forest path, crushing anything and everything that dared to stand in its way.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but frown.
He had read up on monkey demons before coming on this mission.
From what he understood, monkey demons seldom abandoned their offspring, often opting to live together instead.
Therefore, unlike the rest of the Mystic Cavalry, he dared not disregard the possibility that the monkey demon could have companions, despite not having spotted a single trace of its family prior to this.
This particular concern was also what led him to set up all these alerts in the first place.
In a way, it could be said that Zhao Yunxiao had been mentally prepared for this to happen.
Yet despite that, a chill still ran down his spine now that he had actually seen this creature before him.
No matter how he looked at it, this new monkey demon looked physically superior to the other one by far!
In fact, rather than calling this newcomer a monkey demon, it might be more intuitive to call it an ape demon instead!
Zhao Yunxiao had two options now.
One option was to inform the rest to temporarily give up on their assault on the monkey demon, making the necessary preparations to greet this ape demon instead.
The other option was to buy time – attempting to distract this ape demon long enough for them to take down the monkey demon. The possibility was low, but in the case of success, they would only have to deal with the demons one at a time.
Zhao Yunxiao had about five seconds to make his decision.
If he did not do anything within the next five seconds, this ape demon would simply pass his clone right by to reach the rest of the party.
The answer was obvious.
[Unyielding Stone Bind]
Chains made of rocks and earth shot up from the earth, forming a cross in front of the charging ape demon to block its path.
Rahhhh-!
The ape demon was obviously not pleased.
It punched out without hesitation, instantly shattering the two chains with a single smash.
Reduced to harmless rubble, the chains fell back down to the earth before they could attempt to bind the ape demon.
But even before the chains could hit the ground, two daggers were already flying towards the ape demon from behind, aimed directly at the back of its head.
Zhao Yunxiao had never expected the Unyielding Stone Bind to work on the ape demon, especially considering his current mastery of the technique.
Right from the very start, it had been nothing but a distraction meant to draw the ape demon’s attention away from the real sneak attack.
Sensing something approaching, the ape demon spun around just in time to see the two daggers heading straight towards its face.
Its huge and bulky looking muscles did not seem to hinder its speed as the ape demon swiped at two daggers.
Clank-!
The monkey demon’s claws had been strong enough to contend with Mo Mian’s Jadewind Sword, and the ape demon’s were no different.
With a single swipe, the ape demon easily blocked both flying daggers with its claws.
But that was not the end of it.
Boom-!
At the point of impact, a small array on the two daggers activated, causing them to explode into a cloud of green smoke.
This green smoke instantly shrouded the ape demon, completely catching the demon by surprise.
Just like how the Unyielding Stone Bind had been a distraction, the flying daggers themselves were never meant to be the actual attack either!
Rahhhh-!
The ape demon roared in rage as it felt a sharp pain start to spread throughout its body.
This green smoke did not only serve to hinder its vision. Apart from that, it was also one of the deadliest poisons that Zhao Yunxiao had at his disposal!
It might not be designed to kill fast, but the pain that any victim would feel after being infected was simply excruciating, to say the least.
Had it been Zhao Yunxiao himself who was affected by the poison, he would surely have had to immediately settle down and start treating himself.
Continuing to fight in battle was not an option.
He would be in far too much pain to even move, not to mention fight.
So, simply judging from the fact that the ape demon could still remain standing right now, it either had an extremely high poison resistance or an extremely tough physique!
It was only at this point that Zhao Yunxiao Two was finally willing to step out of the shadows.
Standing a good fifty metres or so away from the ape demon, Zhao Yunxiao Two readied two daggers in his hands as he stared at the ape demon.
“Your opponent is me!” Zhao Yunxiao Two declared while trying to sound as confident as possible.
At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao’s brain went into overdrive as he desperately tried to think of what to do next.
He had wanted to say that line since earlier, having found it cool when Mo Mian said it to the monkey demon while keeping it busy.
But deep down, Zhao Yunxiao had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to delay this ape demon all on his own.
In fact, the only reason he was willing to do this now was because it was through a clone.
Had Zhao Yunxiao been here in person, he would never have stepped out from the shadows, not to mention attempting to do something as dangerous as facing this demon all by himself.
The success of the mission might be important, but his life was even more so!
Rahhhh-!
The ape demon roared in rage as it finally discovered the culprit responsible for the agony that it was going through right now.
It showed absolute zero signs of hesitation as it charged straight at Zhao Yunxiao Two!
On the other hand, Zhao Yunxiao Two was not nearly foolish enough to attempt to face the ape demon in a frontal confrontation.
He immediately turned around and escaped into the forest, heading in the opposite direction from where the party was currently fighting the monkey demon.
***
The ape demon’s roars reverberated across the forest, reaching even the members of the Mystic Cavalry who were currently slightly further away.
“What was that?” Pu Feixiang asked in shock.
“Is that what you mentioned earlier, Junior Martial Brother Zhao?” Gui Longcan added.
“It’s an ape demon,” Zhao Yunxiao explained, having sensed everything through his clone. “And it is strong as well.”
“Stronger than this guy?” Pu Feixiang asked, referring to the monkey demon.
“Likely,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded, causing everyone to freeze momentarily.
“How is the situation? Are you able to delay it somehow?” Chu Han got to the point.
“I’m trying to lure it away from here, but I am not sure how long that will last,” Zhao Yunxiao answered.
“Sounds like a race against time then,” Mo Mian let out a wry smile. “This is the last sprint, everyone. Let’s permanently relieve this poor monkey demon of its unpleasant memories from the past!”
“Got it!”
Everyone answered in unison as they drove their dantians to the limit.
They had been taking their time to slowly whittle the monkey demon down in a safe and systematic manner, but that was not possible anymore.
After all, time was no longer on their side.