But this reassurance and connection only lasted for a brief half-second before suddenly lagging.
It wasn't completely severed. Instead, it was more like a sudden power outage—a video being streamed over Wi-Fi suddenly pausing. The image didn't disappear, but it was stuck in a seemingly endless buffer.
Bai Ci had a guess as to why.
The mastermind behind the scenes must have made their move, blocking Ming Yi from returning in time to defend them, precisely trapping them at their weakest, most helpless moment.
“Fifty percent,” Wu Suowei reported in a muffled, raspy voice, his lips tightly pressed together as he clenched a yellowed talisman between his teeth.
Faint sparks of electricity were already flickering between his fingers.
With Ming Yi held back by an external force and unable to return in time, the only path of survival for the group was to hold their ground and buy time.
They either had to hold out until Wu Suowei finished channeling his ultimate move, or survive until Ming Yi broke free and returned.
Mi Ke's body was tense, her concentration pushed to its absolute limit.
Knowing that she couldn't afford to make a single mistake right now, she grit her teeth and threw out her third Tarot card.
“Temperance.”
The moment the card was played, it dissolved into a shimmering light that instantly spread out, forming an invisible, translucent barrier over Wu Suowei, who was unable to move or dodge while channeling.
Even as she protected her teammate, Mi Ke did not relax for a second. With a flick of her wrist, she drew her fourth Tarot card.
With her current strength, this was the absolute last card she could manage.
“Four of Swords.”
The card glowed with a brilliant white light, instantly infusing Mi Ke with the power of speed.
Her agility was temporarily boosted. Though she couldn't launch any counterattacks and her evasive maneuvers were somewhat clumsy and frantic, she at least managed to avoid taking any direct hits.
On the other side, Wu Daoqing relied on the Strength Tarot card buff Mi Ke had given him. He swung his peach wood sword in wide arcs, combining it with his Daoist talismans to repeatedly force back the human-faced ape monsters closing in on them.
The righteous energy of orthodox Heavenly Master spells possessed a natural counter against sinister and evil entities.
However, the sheer number of monsters was overwhelming. The small ape monsters clung to him relentlessly, and with the tiger-like beasts poised to strike from behind, he was struggling to hold his own.
Moreover, as a greenhorn who had only just started out, fine beads of cold sweat were already drenching his forehead. He could only struggle to support himself, barely managing to stay safe.
Amidst the chaotic battlefield, a massive, flesh-mutilated tiger monster locked its pupil-less, pitch-black eyes onto Bai Ci, who appeared to be the most harmless target.
The tiger beast's limbs tensed, its exposed white bones creaking as a foul, cold wind swept forward. It was fully poised to pounce and tear her apart.
Wu Daoqing was deeply entangled in combat and couldn't break away, Mi Ke was struggling to dodge and had no time to help, and Wu Suowei was entirely focused on channeling, unable to move.
Everyone else was held back by the monsters; no one had the spare capacity to protect Bai Ci.
This wasn't a pure spiritual entity, but a physical monster. Although the Withered Flower and Ring grew slightly warm, it couldn't fully block the physical attack of the tiger monster.
Bai Ci realized that this attack fell outside the protection of her untargetable state.
Fortunately, she wasn't completely without other means of self-defense.
Even in a moment like this, Bai Ci didn't forget to put on a logically consistent performance for her next actions.
First, she feigned a daze, then sudden realization, before letting her gaze wander around until she purposefully grabbed a dried, curled old vine from a nearby concrete pillar.
Using the motion of pulling the vine to shield her hand within her wide sleeves, Bai Ci pulled off a sleight of hand, retrieving Gluttony.
Nominally, she had merely taken a withered branch and used it as a medium to trigger some temporarily awakened divine ability.
Bai Ci locked onto her target.
In the next second, the vine concealed in her palm began to grow wildly.
The vine doll dissolved into several vines, which rapidly lengthened, thickened, and branched out at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Countless tangled vine branches wove together, stacking layer upon layer to quickly outline a massive skeletal structure. Its volume expanded rapidly, swelling in the blink of an eye to a hulking figure that rivaled the size of the tiger monster.
Then, with a series of sharp cracking sounds, the outer layers of vines peeled away entirely, revealing a beast-shaped puppet.
It was a massive, pure white wolf. Layers of thick, fluffy snow-white fur covered its body, pristine and spotless, with a faint violet aura shimmering softly at the tip of every hair.
The snow wolf possessed a pair of clear, pure eyes of translucent purple—cold, lifeless, and filled with nothing but absolute slaughter and obedience.
Before the tiger monster could even leap forward, the snowy white figure bolted, moving so fast it left only a blur.
Its purple eyes locked onto the target, and its sharp fangs tore viciously toward the mismatched, stitched-together flesh of the tiger's neck.
The tiger monster roared, its flesh writhing as it raised a mottled claw and slashed violently at the snow wolf's head, the wind of its strike carrying a terrifying force capable of crushing bone.
The two collided with a deafening crash, sending gravel and dust flying into the air.
Though the snow wolf's fur looked fluffy and soft, it was actually incredibly tough. Shimmering with violet light, it took the tiger's lethal blow head-on; its coat was only slightly ruffled, completely unharmed.
In the next instant, the snow wolf rolled with the momentum, its sharp claws slashing through the tiger's rotting fur and flesh, tearing away a massive chunk of meat.
At the same time, the ground around the snow wolf trembled slightly as several flexible, emerald-green vines burst from the earth to coordinate the attack, wrapping precisely around the tiger's limbs and torso to pin its movements.
The wolf and the tiger locked in a fierce, brutal struggle amidst the ruins, their attacks rapid and lethal.
Bai Ci carefully dodged out of the way, keeping a close eye on the battle from behind.
During the struggle, two human-faced ape monsters took advantage of the snow wolf's focus on the tiger. They quietly circled around, their hunched bodies tensed as they launched themselves backward on their inverted feet, charging at Bai Ci from the side.
The mere hint of a threat to Bai Ci caused the snow wolf to abruptly halt its onslaught on the tiger, taking a heavy blow from the beast.
Without a moment's hesitation, it abandoned the opponent it was about to defeat. Its purple eyes snapped toward the sneaking, hunched monsters, and the violet light around its body flared.
Swoosh—
The white blur shot forward once more, even faster and more ferocious than before.
Several vines shot out like arrows, piercing straight through the hunched bodies of the two ape monsters and pinning them firmly to the crumbling wall behind them.
Before the ape monsters could even struggle, the snow wolf pounced. With a clean snap of its fangs, it instantly ended their lives.
Having eliminated the threat to Bai Ci, the snow wolf did not pause for a second. It whirled around and leapt back into the main battlefield, resuming its suppression of the heavily wounded tiger beast with unrelenting, razor-sharp attacks.
With the snow wolf tying down the main threat, the battlefield opened up, and the suffocating pressure on the group instantly eased.
As the minutes ticked by, the thunderous pressure above the clouds grew heavier, with the faint rumble of lightning echoing from above.
Finally, Wu Suowei's closed eyes snapped open, a golden light flashing within them in sync with a sudden clap of thunder.
Rate on N.U.
