Chapter 25: Weakness

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Jiang Hao’s death signified the dissipation of his Companion Beast. The Explosive Scaled Snake and the bone armor Companion Beasts exploded, turning into bits of Primordial Energy that scattered across the land.

Li Xuan didn’t have the luxury of time to entertain nonsensical thoughts like Xu Miantu. After finishing Jiang Hao, he rushed straight for the Skeleton General. At the same time, he shouted, “Zhou Wen, I’ll attract his attention. Try to find an opening to deliver the lethal strike.”

“Alright.” Zhou Wen retreated. Just as the Skeleton General was about to chase after him, Li Xuan had already delivered a punch to the skeleton horse’s head.

This contained the Strength of a Black Knight, but all it did was cause the skeleton horse’s head to flinch and its feet to stagger for a moment.

“Pledge my life to defend the city…” The Skeleton General was enraged as the glow in his eyes burgeoned. He let out a furious roar as he charged at Li Xuan with his spear.

Li Xuan could barely kite the Skeleton General with the Black Knight’s powers, but he was completely suppressed. He had no means to counterattack.

Zhou Wen circled around the skeleton horse without giving the Skeleton General a chance to attack him. From time to time, he would deliver a Vigor Divine Fist at the horse’s legs or body. It affected the skeleton horse’s mobility, giving Li Xuan a breather.

The two besieged the Skeleton General, but everything remained in a tizzy.

The Skeleton General in-game doesn’t seem this powerful? Zhou Wen was quite puzzled. He was certain of his judgment.

It wasn’t only aspects like Strength or Speed, most importantly, the Skeleton General in-game was rather uniform in his attacks. It was obvious he was a NPC ¹ in a game. But in real life, the Skeleton General was clearly more intelligent and autonomous than in-game. His combat experience seemed to be honed from multiple battles, making him completely different.

Zhou Wen hadn’t seen this phenomenon on the ordinary Skeleton Soldiers. Be it in-game or in real life, the Skeleton Soldiers shared the same rigidness.

What’s the reason? Zhou Wen was momentarily unable to figure out the reason.

Bang!

Li Xuan was sent flying by the Skeleton General’s spear sweep, but he managed to stop himself after tumbling about eight meters.

He got to his feet and charged forward once again while enduring the pain. Meanwhile, he shouted, “This Skeleton General is a little odd. He appears to be getting stronger!”

If any other Mortal stage were to suffer such injuries, they would probably be dead, even if they had a Legendary Companion Beast protecting them.

However, Li Xuan’s Invincible Connate Divine Art was indeed formidable. It allowed him to continue battling with full force.

Zhou Wen had heard of how potent Epic stage Primordial Energy Arts were in the past, but it was only today that he realized how disparate things were.

The Ascetic Meditation he cultivated had similar benefits to the Invincible Connate Divine Art. They were Primordial Energy Arts that strengthened one’s Constitution, but the differences were huge when a comparison was made. If he had suffered injuries as terrible as Li Xuan’s, it would be unlikely that he could get back on his feet.

As expected, I need to cultivate in a top-grade Primordial Energy Art. But where am I to get one? These things aren’t like Primordial Energy Skills that can drop from the game. Zhou Wen was slightly vexed.

In the schools of Earth’s League, especially in university, different Primordial Energy Arts would be taught. However, they were capped out at the Legendary stage. There weren’t any Epic stage Primordial Energy Arts to be taught. Zhou Wen had no chance of cultivating in such Primordial Energy Arts even if he wanted to.

“Bro, stop daydreaming. Help me finish him quickly!” Li Xuan was running about yelling while being pursued by the Skeleton General. The black armor that encased him had nearly shattered.

Zhou Wen had no intention of helping. Instead, he said, “It’s useless. My Strength isn’t enough to injure it. I think it’s better we flee.”

“Don’t you have a weaponized Companion Beast?” Li Xuan exclaimed.

“It’s only a Mortal Companion Beast. Although the augmentation to Strength is great, it wouldn’t be very effective against such a Legendary stage dimensional creature,” Zhou Wen explained.

“Mortal Companion Beast?” Li Xuan immediately felt speechless.

The higher the grade of a dimensional creature, the easier it could condense a dimensional crystal. The chances of producing a Companion Egg was also higher. Therefore, it was the low-grade dimensional creatures that could hardly produce Companion Eggs.

Therefore, a Mortal Companion Beast could be more expensive than his Black Knight Legendary Companion Beast, but at this juncture, money meant nothing.

“That’s bad. Although my Black Knight also augments my Strength, it mainly augments my defense. It’s not great when it comes to Strength… Damn it… I should have learned a few Primordial Energy Skills with potent destructive forces… Or I should have incubated a Strength-type Legendary Companion Beast…” Li Xuan said in regret.

“If not for your black armor protecting you, you would have died a couple of times. Having a Strength-type Legendary Companion Beast is useless,” Zhou Wen said with a shake of his head.

Li Xuan no longer had the time to chat with Zhou Wen for the Skeleton General almost stabbed him in his thigh.

The Black Knight Companion Beast didn’t enhance his Speed, so Li Xuan was unable to dodge the Skeleton General’s thrusts. All he could do was rely on the black armor to resist the blows. It seemed quite tragic for it appeared as though he would be stabbed to death at any time.

The skeleton horse was too fast and, with Li Xuan not being at the Legendary stage, there was no way of escaping.

“Zhou Wen, I beg you to save Brother Xuan.” Xu Miantu struggled to get up as he pleaded with Zhou Wen.

At this moment, Xu Miantu no longer had the arrogance from before. Instead, he treated Zhou Wen as a pillar of support.

Deep down, he no longer treated Zhou Wen as a higher schooler from a small city. Just the Mortal Companion Beast was not something the typical person could possess. From his point of view, Zhou Wen definitely had an extraordinary background.

And his previous actions made Xu Miantu believe that the former could save Li Xuan if he so wished.

Zhou Wen pondered for a moment and said, “It’s not completely impossible, but I’m not sure if it will work.”

“We have to try it regardless,” Xu Miantu said.

Zhou Wen nodded slightly as he observed the Skeleton General but was thinking about the Skeleton General in-game.

He had fought the Skeleton General several times in-game. It wasn’t without any benefit because through his observations, he had noticed a weakness on the Skeleton General.

However, Zhou Wen wasn’t certain if the weakness in-game was the same in real life. After all, the Skeleton General was a lot more powerful in real life.

But at this moment, Zhou Wen could only give it a try.

Seeing Li Xuan being pursued by the Skeleton General, Zhou Wen silently circled to the back and gradually approached to await an opportunity.

Without needing Zhou Wen to say a word, Li Xuan knew that he needed to create a window of opportunity for Zhou Wen. Li Xuan gritted his teeth and used his black armor to envelope the left area of his abdomen to take on the Skeleton General’s thrust.

When the sharp tip plunged into the black armor, it ripped apart Li Xuan’s flesh. However, before the spear could be retracted, he gripped the stone spear tightly.

Without any hesitation, Zhou Wen leaped up and jumped onto the Skeleton General’s back. He rode on the skeleton horse just like the Skeleton General while reaching out his hand at his target’s neck. Lodging the head up to the sky, he used his other hand which wore the Vigor Ant’s boxing glove, slamming it heavily at the Skeleton General’s eye sockets.