Chapter 2524
Xu Huo ventured into the city center alone. As the surrounding buildings and decorations turned into metal, the siege intensified several times over. He couldn’t worry about exposing his position and used all available defense props, combined with the "Time Ring" and the Water Cube Barrier, to force a path forward.
It was obvious that the one controlling metal would not allow outsiders into the city center. Thus, the surrounding buildings twisted and deformed one after another. The exterior walls of some buildings peeled off directly and were torn into countless fragments in mid-air, blocking the path almost completely in tandem with the rain of arrows!
But for Xu Huo, as long as he wasn’t simultaneously entangled by large amounts of metal, no other metal attacks could break through the Water Cube, the final barrier.
After several attempts to advance and encountering blockades, the opponent seemed to change tactics. During another arrow rain attack, he clearly felt several special forces mixed within. His instinct told him to avoid these arrows and metal fragments carrying strange powers, but failing to dodge completely, two of them still grazed his lower back and neck.
Seeing the metal fragments collide with the Water Cube Barrier causing the Spatial Barrier to deform, Xu Huo’s pupils shrank sharply. Yet, in the next instant, an arrow struck his chest at lightning speed!
"Bang!" His body was directly hurled out from the storm of metal fragments, crashing through several buildings to nearly a thousand meters away, but it wasn’t too late. Before the powerful impact on his body was completely dissipated, a dark shadow occupied the high sky again.
No time to catch his breath, Xu Huo rolled and fled. Countless metal fragments rained down from the sky, methodically shredding every inch of where he had passed. Similarly, some metal buildings were riddled with holes, while others were buried under piles of metal shards — the part of the city close to the eastern side of the city center was visibly being destroyed, with dust rising, creating a dark zone in the heart of the entire city.
The opponent was forcing Xu Huo away from the city center.
The city center was filled with metal, even under the rock-covered street surfaces, it was all metal. Logically, the closer to the center, the greater the opponent’s absolute control over the area, making killing easier here than anywhere in the city... A middle-aged man determined to reach the city center, even while gravely injured and near death...
Xu Huo gritted his teeth and made three more attempts but was repelled each time.
Reluctantly, he had to choose to retreat.
The rain of metal shards did not pursue beyond the heart of the city. After moving away, Xu Huo first went to find the Girl in the painting.
The middle-aged man had already been captured. Many props with peculiar effects on humans were useless against the Girl in the painting, while ordinary attack props couldn’t truly injure her; capturing him was only a matter of time.
The three of them hid inside the same cabinet.
Seeing the blood on Xu Huo’s chest, the middle-aged man had an unsurprised and slight disdain in his eyes,
(to be edited later)
*
"I’ll act with you. I have auxiliary props with me; I definitely won’t slow you down!"
He was worried Xu Huo would not return once he left.
"Meeting this often in the game is quite a fate." Xu Huo reminded, "But next time, if you’re surrounded by metal again, I might not be able to help in time."
Bubble Bean smiled, "Now that we’ve understood the pattern of metal control, we should have no problem hiding."
Xu Huo gave him a meaningful look, then shifted positions through the Mental Portal.
When he returned to the previous landing spot, the middle-aged man was no longer in the cabinet.
The opponent had moved out of Xu Huo’s sensing range, but they were lucky; a collapse was heard in the distance. Just as they were about to proceed, a burst of air sliced through, instantly splitting the building they were hiding in, along with the adjacent side of the street and other structures, in half!
Fortunately, Xu Huo and his group narrowly avoided it, but before they could find a new hiding spot, the surrounding metals began to stir again. Following closely was a rain of arrows, the constant "ding-ding-ding" sound echoing around them, accompanied by a low humming vibration.
The arrow rain could determine whether a space contained people through vibrations. Xu Huo had tested before; it likely worked by gauging the shapes of surrounding objects through vibrations, meaning they’d be discovered even if they stayed silent and still. Hiding in a cabinet was the only way.
But now, there were hardly any wood containers left that could house adults—metal lockers and cabinets were too dangerous for them to hide in, so their only choice was to run for their lives.
Every time they moved locations, the nearby metal entities immediately closed in to kill. The rapid pace left Xu Huo and his group no room to think, forcing them to continually relocate. But as time went on, shattered metal fragments proliferated, filling the air inside and outside!
The dispersal and expansion of the metal entities meant the one controlling metal could more precisely manage the city’s situation. Xu Huo twice moved out of this range, yet was twice tracked and caught—the opponent seemed to have honed in on him!
Xu Huo’s general direction was heading towards the city center. After taking a detour, he found the middle-aged man again; the man was more severely injured, hiding in a wooden cabinet, surrounded by healing potions.
"Come out." Xu Huo swept open the cabinet door. The first thing that flew out was a series of thin blade-like pieces, fast enough to catch one off guard, cutting across one’s neck by the time they reacted.
Both Xu Huo and Bubble Bean had defense props as a safety net, so the first round of attacks only broke their Defense Barrier. The Girl in the painting took a few cuts defenselessly. She reflexively covered her neck, then furiously cast out the paper hidden in her clothes. Simultaneously, all paper items in the building floated up, shooting towards the middle-aged man’s location like a barrage of arrows!
In fact, the middle-aged man had fled right after launching a surprise attack when the cabinet opened. However, due to the constraints of the floating metal, he couldn’t escape outside and had to move down within the building. But no matter where he ran indoors, the Flying Paper could locate him, and the noise from the Flying Paper attacks would provoke the surrounding metals. So, after the middle-aged man ran out of the room, he faced cross-attacks from Flying Paper and metal. Though the Flying Paper didn’t have the same attack power as metal, sheer numbers could still inconvenience him, especially since there were special sheets mixed in that could penetrate his Defense Barrier.
"Strange, the metal floaters were hounding us without letup," Bubble Bean glanced outside, "but now they’re not attacking him."
"Maybe these metals recognize people," Xu Huo squinted his eyes, noticing the fine metal particles floating in the air like dust motes. He realized that the opponent’s metal control was no longer limited by size constraints and that "Life Core" could, perhaps, counteract.
As another attack wave came over, Xu Huo didn’t inform Bubble Bean or the Girl in the painting, who was pursuing the middle-aged man. He moved quickly towards the city center through the Mental Portal alone.