Chapter 298

Chapter 299: Ran Away?

The Artificial Saintess’s shell was pierced. A fist-sized round hole smoked at her side. Some kind of living, liquid metal writhed in the gap, racing to repair what had been opened.

Irene looked unsatisfied. The little doll sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, faint heat steaming from her arm up to her shoulder, and muttered: “I thought I could punch a hole all the way through. Turns out I only got the first layer.”

Click.

Metal heels tapped the ground nearby, cutting off Irene’s grumble. The Artificial Saintess shifted her stance and raised her blades again.

That scary wound seemed to change nothing. She showed no pain and no trouble moving.

Yu Sheng, who had relaxed a bit when Irene scored a hit, snapped back to full alert. Almost at the same time, he felt the metal doll’s “gaze” fall on him.

Though the pale steel mask showed no feeling, Yu Sheng sensed, from her tiny shifts and from the faint link through his blood, a flicker of surprise and confusion.

She was staring at him, wondering why this familiar enemy was still alive. She remembered the wounds he took last time. On any human, those would be fatal.

Even if not fatal, no normal person could be back on his feet this fast.

Yu Sheng hefted his Tetanus Staff, slid into a ready stance, and taunted that tall, slim figure with his eyes: “Surprised? It’s still me. You got stained with my blood, so you’re stuck with me for life.”

The words had barely left his mouth when his vision flashed. The Artificial Saintess blurred, traced a graceful arc through the air, and lunged at him.

At the same time, the Bronze Knights that could still move attacked in step, swords and hammers rising as they rushed from every side.

[Dang it, they really are on the same side], Yu Sheng thought. He met a Bronze Knight’s chopping sword with a block, and, in the corner of his eye, he caught the Artificial Saintess’s stabbing blades already at his chest. Last time, she had sliced off her own arm, but now she had both arms again. She had been repaired somewhere. And maybe it was not just his imagination: this time she was even fiercer and deadlier, as if she had reviewed their last fight and was now striking at his habits.

Sparks burst with a harsh ring. Yu Sheng, faster than ordinary people by far, slipped past her first strike, then blocked her next two thrusts and a kick. He skated back, slid through the reach of two Bronze Knights trying to pen him in, and then his vision filled again with Black Threads.

Irene’s Spiderweb rolled out over all the space around Yu Sheng, weaving and reshaping like a living thing. It bound nearby Bronze Knights one after another in midair and kept squeezing the Artificial Saintess’s room to move. Yet the metal doll, all speed and ghostly dance, kept finding paths through the strands and dashing close again and again.

Her body was steel, but her footwork moved like a wind no net could catch.

“Ugh, this is so annoying, how can a C Buckle be this nimble,” the little doll yelled. At last she managed to pinch the metal doll’s footwork a bit. She did not bother to aim carefully and, through her other body, fired a burst of bright beams.

The Irene beams, packed with Fox Fire and a strange power, hissed through the air, threading a tricky path through the Spiderweb toward the target. But this time the Artificial Saintess already knew how dangerous they were. The instant Irene raised her hand, she had a dodge ready and dove into a dead angle between the Spider Silk.

Yu Sheng’s eyes had adjusted to the metal doll’s speed. He finally noticed that every one of her joints could break and reset at will. Even whole arms and legs could snap in the middle or suddenly soften and flip.

With a few sharp hisses, the bright beams only raked her thigh and back, leaving deep, scary wounds on the black alloy shell.

Even so, the metal doll broke free of the Spiderweb, flipped, and landed several meters away.

Before she found her footing, a white blur lunged.

It was Foxy, who had been waiting for a chance. Last time she had watched Yu Sheng get stabbed full of holes, and it still gnawed at her. This time, from the moment the metal doll appeared, she waited. With that lesson learned, she skipped the less effective Fox Fire and used Nine Tail Acceleration. She charged up and slammed a Rocket Headbutt.

Freshly down and already damaged, the metal doll could not slip away like before. She only twisted her body a little. Her wounded leg screeched, and Fox Maiden’s Fox Radish Headbutt landed square.

The boom was like a great bell. Yu Sheng even saw a ring of shockwaves thrust out from the point where Foxy’s head crashed into the Artificial Saintess’s chest. The latter bent into a strange shape and flew sideways.

Foxy shook her head, growled low, and surged again. She pinned the steel body to the ground and hammered away.

Irene stared, stunned. It was the first time she had seen Foxy fight like this, and she blurted: “Silly Fox’s skull is tougher than Youth Formship Armor?”

Yu Sheng stared too. Before he could speak, the Artificial Saintess’s arm twisted into a weird angle. She forced it up under Foxy’s crushing hold. Several sharp blades aimed at the Fox Maiden’s back.

“Foxy, watch out,” Yu Sheng shouted.

Foxy was already moving. Before he finished, she let go, dropped to all fours, and leaped forward.

The killing blades only sliced off a few silver hairs from the demon fox’s tail.

Xuan Che came striding up.

The Artificial Saintess staggered to her feet. After so many hits, the elegant, efficient killing machine finally slowed. She saw Xuan Che in front of her, but she could no longer slip away with a few graceful steps. She could only steadied her stance and raise her blades.

The pale steel mask still wore a beautiful but empty smile. No one could tell whether she felt tension, fear, or hate.

Xuan Che waved his Icy Sword once and set it behind him again. He stepped in half a pace, sank his hips, raised his fist, and threw another plain straight punch.

It looked like nothing special, but he slid past every blade and hit the Artificial Saintess’s arm.

A short hum answered.

Yu Sheng saw layer upon layer of dim, complex lines bloom on the metal doll’s arm. Dense runes and strange tracks seemed to shine through the black alloy skin. A strong force pushed back against that punch. That must be the Anti-Magic Secret Art Xuan Che had mentioned, built into the inner lining by Holy Revere Hermitage.

It was clear that Xuan Che’s cultivation was far beyond what he called a normal cultivator’s. His way of fighting was not quite what Yu Sheng had imagined, but the power of that simple, straight punch broke through after a brief struggle.

Those dense runes began to collapse. Odd pops and tearing sounds came from inside the metal doll. Her arm shattered from the fingertips, breaking into pieces with a chain of small blasts that fell away in chunks.

Before the metal shell fully failed, a wave from that punch toppled the Bronze Knights around them like wheat.

Just as Yu Sheng thought they could finally end this dangerous and stubborn Artificial Saintess, a strange ripple shimmered over her skin.

Before he and Xuan Che could react, her form flickered a few times and vanished.

Xuan Che’s fist met nothing, and the leftover force surged forward. Within a hundred meters ahead, the road and everything on it turned to dust without a sound.

He turned his head, a little dazed, and he and Yu Sheng stared at each other.