Chapter 62: Going All Out

When the tenth wave of the demon frenzy began, Shang Xinlei and her companions actually felt quite confident.

Shang Xinlei and the others dared to accompany Jiang Shi in challenging up to this point because they naturally believed that Jiang Shi had a path to victory. And the situation turned out far better than they had imagined—there was only a single Fourth-Transition Demon King and three Foundation Establishment demons, with not a single ordinary demon minion in sight.

As for the battle forces they could dispatch, they had a full five advanced statues!

During the final scavenging run, Jie Yuanshao experienced a massive burst of luck, encountering a special character known as the "Card-Guessing Gambler." She won a card game called "Turtle Thief" against him, and the Card-Guessing Gambler left behind a Resource Double Card as a reward, which could directly double any designated amount of resources. But even that was not enough; they had also constructed a functional facility called the "Market," squeezing every drop of potential out of it through resource conversion. Finally, they gathered enough resources to upgrade three statues, leaving only a few pieces of wood remaining in the sanctuary warehouse.

A single advanced statue was enough to cope with one Foundation Establishment demon, and two statues could quickly slay one. Therefore, after the tenth wave of the demon frenzy descended, they quickly formulated a countermeasure: three statues would go to tie down the Foundation Establishment demons, while two statues would intercept the Demon King. Whichever side fell into a disadvantage, they would immediately rush in to pile on and rapidly expand their advantage.

This illusion lasted until they saw the Fourth-Transition Demon King step out from the dense fog.

*Clack-clack, clack-clack.* Chains slid across the grass, colliding and scraping to produce a crisp sound. In appearance, it looked no different from an ordinary human, perhaps even slightly frail, wearing a white-furred trench coat with a belt and a wild ox-horn helmet. Its features and gender were indistinguishable, and it seemed like a nomad of the plains, yet its hands dragged heavy iron link-chains as thick as a grown person's thigh. The chains were well over a dozen meters long, looking as though they weighed several tons, leaving heavy gouges in the grass.

Behind it were three gigantic demons with arms like sharp blades.

Their heads resembled those of rats, and their movements were just as timid as mice. They obediently followed behind the chained freak, not daring to step out of line by even half a step. Yet whenever their claws grazed the grass, the passing air currents would slice all the nearby weeds to pieces a step in advance, revealing to observers that this pack of giant rats was also a group of Foundation Establishment demons not to be underestimated.

"Chieftain of the Swift-Claw Tribe." Jiang Shi pointed at the chained freak, then pointed at the giant rats: "Swift-Claw Beasts."

The others froze for a moment before realizing that Jiang Shi was introducing the names of the Demon King and the demons to them.

By this time, they already sensed that something was amiss. After all, humanoid demons, while inferior to beast-type demons in blood-qi strength, were invariably far more skilled in combat. But things had already reached this point, and they could only press forward with their plan, dispatching the Brotherhood's "Blade Warrior" and "Dragon-Breaking Warrior" to intercept the tribal chieftain. The Blade Warrior excelled in evasion, while the Dragon-Breaking Warrior possessed high defense, making them the best candidates to shoulder the brunt of the Demon King.

They watched as the tribal chieftain took a deep breath, like a giant whale swallowing the sea, the muscles in its arms violently bulging with green veins. As the Blade Warrior and the Dragon-Breaking Warrior stepped within ten meters of it, it let out a fierce roar, the sound echoing in all directions like a battle drum. Everyone could only see two white streaks slicing through the air, the crisp sound of the sonic boom resembling the wailing of a world being whipped. Even from a distance of dozens of steps, Shang Xinlei and the others could feel the gale whipped up by the lash, and their delicate cheeks were actually cut open with bloody gashes!

Compared to the blade-arms of the Swift-Claw Beasts, its chains were the true swift claws—as unpredictable as shadows, moving with the force of thunder!

Caught in the fallout from so far away, the Blade Warrior and the Dragon-Breaking Warrior, who took the hits head-on, suffered severe damage, flying back a dozen steps before halting their momentum. A horrific gash was torn across the Blade Warrior's chest, and one-fifth of the Dragon-Breaking Warrior's armor was shattered. Even without seeing the durability meters, they could tell that these two advanced statues would not last long in front of the tribal chieftain.

"How are we supposed to fight this?" Qian Gongyu widened her eyes. "It's suppressing two statues all by itself!"

"No, we can win!" Jie Yuanshao immediately spotted the tribal chieftain's weakness. "It uses its chains like a whip. A whip deals maximum damage at the very tip, but at close range, a whip is worse than a dagger. As long as we find a way to make the statues get close to it, we have a chance!"

"But how do we get close? With a single swing, it knocks the statues flying—"

Before Qian Gongyu could finish her sentence, Jiang Shi transformed into a blur and charged toward the tribal chieftain. Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters—the moment Jiang Shi stepped into the tribal chieftain's attack range, the other three instantly held their breaths, feeling their blood run cold and their scalps tingle.

*Swish.*

The tribal chieftain showed no mercy, unleashing a fierce, double-chained cross-strike upon the puny Jiang Shi. In that split second of lightning speed, Jiang Shi leaped into the air to dodge the ferocious chain strike, but the sheer passing gale felt like countless tiny knives cutting thousands of times into her legs.

At the same time, the Blade Warrior and the Dragon-Breaking Warrior also sprinted to the left-rear and right-rear of the tribal chieftain, charging toward this demon king at maximum speed!

What would it do? Jiang Shi and the two statues had it surrounded in a triangular formation; it could deal with at most two of them, and the third would inevitably seize the opportunity to close in!

***

The tribal chieftain moved.

Not only did its hands move, but its legs moved as well.

While running out between the gaps of the Dragon-Breaking Warrior and the Blade Warrior, it swung its chains to beat back both statues! The encirclement formed by Jiang Shi was instantly dissolved with effortless ease!

"They say the more powerful a humanoid demon is, the higher its intelligence..." Shang Xinlei murmured. "It seems those words are not false."

"What do we do now, then?" Qian Gongyu panicked. "If we can't trap the tribal chieftain, the Blade Warrior and the others are going to be beaten to death!"

"Three people aren't enough to trap the tribal chieftain; we need at least four!" Jie Yuanshao took a deep breath, her blood qi surging as she brandished her blood-weapon longsword, preparing to charge forward. "Looks like we have no choice—"

"Don't go!" Shang Xinlei immediately grabbed her. "That's not a battlefield we can participate in! We should stick to the plan and kill a Swift-Claw Beast as fast as possible!"

Meanwhile, the situation on the battlefield shifted once again.

Jiang Shi suddenly abandoned the tribal chieftain, instead shooting like a sharp arrow toward the nearest Swift-Claw Beast, brushing past the Tear-Crowned Mermaid. When the Swift-Claw Beast attempted to pursue the Tear-Crowned Mermaid, Jiang Shi slid underneath it, her blood-weapon saber slashing a horrific gash across its soft belly and successfully drawing its attention.

The Tear-Crowned Mermaid smoothly transitioned her battlefield as well, pointing her spear to summon a water mirror that deflected the tribal chieftain's chain assault, inflicting damage upon the tribal chieftain for the very first time.

Shang Xinlei and the others felt their spirits lift—was Jiang Shi planning to hold down a Foundation Establishment demon all by herself, leaving the three statues to deal with the tribal chieftain?

However, as time wore on, the situation did not improve. While the tribal chieftain's attack speed was not exceptionally fast, it compensated with a massive attack range and an extremely high fault tolerance. Even against three advanced statues, it remained at ease, steadily and efficiently chipping away at their durability. After only a few exchanges, the Tear-Crowned Mermaid was battered and soaked in blood, and the three statues were still unable to breach the domain of the tribal chieftain's chains.

At this moment, Jie Yuanshao and the others were cooperating with the "Life-Slaying Warrior" and all the low-level statues to besiege another Swift-Claw Beast. As long as they killed one Swift-Claw Beast first, they could free up another advanced statue to join the siege against the tribal chieftain. But the Swift-Claw Beasts possessed thick hides and sturdy flesh; no matter how fiercely they concentrated their fire, the beast could still hold out for a while longer!

Would they make it in time?

Could they kill the Swift-Claw Beast before the tribal chieftain destroyed the statues?

Three days of arduous accumulation, only to end up gambling the outcome on this uncertain, life-or-death race against time?

In the end, was everything to be decided by sheer luck alone?

No.

"Jiang Shi, she..." Qian Gongyu stole a moment to observe the battlefield, asking with puzzlement, "Is she drawing closer?"

Everyone turned their heads to look and saw Jiang Shi and the Swift-Claw Beast fighting as they moved, drawing closer and closer to them. It was hard to imagine that she was merely a courier who had changed classes not long ago. Even with the stat bonuses from the statues' bonds, she was actually managing to tie down a Foundation Establishment demon and still had the spare capacity to converge with them—

Converge?

Shang Xinlei's pupils shrank violently as she turned her gaze toward the nearby "Life-Slaying Warrior."

Wielding a giant sword, the Life-Slaying Warrior was locked in a contest of brute strength with a Swift-Claw Beast. Sending the beast flying with a blow, it used the recoil to leap backward, retreating further and further away until it finally turned around and joined the battlefield besieging the tribal chieftain!

***

"She's insane!" Jie Yuanshao immediately realized. "She's trying to hold back two Foundation Establishment demons all by herself!"

Losing the restraint of the Life-Slaying Warrior, a Swift-Claw Beast batted the Burial Mermaid and the Eagle-Shooting Archer flying with a single slap; these low-level statues were simply no match for a Foundation Establishment demon. Turning its head, it spotted Jiang Shi closing in. Its rat-like eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty red light, and with a hiss, it pounced to the kill!

At the same time, the Swift-Claw Beast trailing behind Jiang Shi seemed equally enraged by this tiny pest. Pushing off with all four limbs, its twin claws slashed toward Jiang Shi like a pair of sharp blades!

With both Swift-Claw Beasts roaring simultaneously, the pounce and the scissor-claws sealed off every possible evasion space for Jiang Shi—it was practically a blood-boiling, combination kill-move!

Jie Yuanshao stood frozen nearby, witnessing this scene and deeply engraving every detail into her mind. Even years later, upon reaching the Fourth Transition of Foundation Establishment, she still could not figure out how Jiang Shi, with the strength she possessed back then, could possibly have dodged that onslaught. The flawless pincer attack of the Swift-Claw Beasts should have exceeded Jiang Shi's calculations; Jiang Shi had been playing too dangerously, running all the way along a razor's edge until she accidentally stepped half a foot into the gates of the underworld.

Come to think of it, Jiang Shi was simply a very pure, greedy person. She wanted everything, refused to accept any restraints, and when she said she would clear the tenth stage, she would do so at any cost—even if that cost was herself... Yet at the same time, she was a person innocent to the extreme. She preferred to take everything upon herself and bear all the risks alone, without making a single request of them.

What a truly selfish person you are. By doing this, aren't you leaving us with no choice but to willingly risk our lives to help you?

Just a split second before the two Swift-Claw Beasts closed in, a blur crashed like a cannonball into the rat-head of the front Swift-Claw Beast, sending it flying hard.

With one demon's pincer attack removed, Jiang Shi effortlessly avoided the scissor-claws of the trailing Swift-Claw Beast. Her body spun like a lotus leaf in the wind, and her twin iron sabers savagely slashed across the face of the Swift-Claw Beast.

"Jiang Shi, do you really want to clear the tenth stage that badly?"

Jiang Shi stole a glance backward, seeing Qian Gongyu standing before the knocked-away Swift-Claw Beast. At this moment, her aura had undergone a massive transformation: a tail as thick as a whip protruded from beneath her skirt, her hands had turned furry, and rounded beast ears had sprouted atop her head alongside her human ones.

She did not turn her head as she spoke, but her voice had grown extremely deep, resembling the roar of a beast.

"Yes."

"Then I'll help you."

Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuanshao hurried to Qian Gongyu's side, startled upon seeing the latter's appearance. But with the Swift-Claw Beast already picking itself back up, they only had time to ask one question: "How long can you hold out?"

"The span of a cup of tea."

Qian Gongyu dropped to all fours, visible signs of beastification already covering her face as the black and yellow fur on her forehead formed the pattern of the Chinese character for "King." She took a deep breath: "If this drags out too long and I lose my humanity and become like a wild beast, you must—"

"A cup of tea is enough!"

Shang Xinlei grinned, flashing a smile that was entirely unladylike. "Even someone like you from a blue-ribbon distinguished clan is risking her life, how can I fall behind?"

"A purple-ribbon noble should naturally lead by example and protect her subjects. How could I stay safe and sound while my subjects risk their lives?" Jie Yuanshao tightly gripped her blood-weapon longsword. "Qian Gongyu, I acknowledge you... Even without Jiang Shi, I would be more than happy to accept your allegiance—and, of course, your friendship!"