Apocalypse Gachapon

Chapter 2296: Battle (5)

Not every top-tier lifeform created a vacuum around themselves when fighting—it depended on whether they needed to.

For example, Little Tiger and Deacon Tong had not done so earlier; the former because he had to control his unit, the latter mostly engaging from range.

But Xia Bai and the Demon Whale's battle was different. From the very first clash of their abilities, the lifeforms around them kept retreating. By their second exchange, apart from the Red Female Guard, there was no one within several kilometers.

Even the energy they leaked was enough to instantly kill any lifeform below level seven.

The black lotus and the beast head formed from seawater collided. The lotus shattered, scattering many intact or broken petals as if real.

The beast head simply broke apart, turning into raindrops that fell to the ground.

If you looked closely, you would see that each raindrop contained an extremely fine black thread.

As the raindrops fell, any lifeform they touched was pierced through—whether sea beast or human, they writhed on the ground in agony, then either rotted or exploded and died within moments.

This forced the surrounding lifeforms to retreat further outward, leaving nothing but the Red Female Guard and corpses within a seven-to-eight-kilometer radius.

The Demon Whale retreated slightly. Its eyes, embedded in the junction between its head and body, glanced at the Red Female Guard below, sheltered within a black energy shield, then at Xia Bai, who was connected to them by faint energy threads. Seeming to understand something, it opened its massive mouth wide and let out a whale cry toward the ground!

This was one of the Demon Whale's known signature moves.

The enormous sound echoed across the entire battlefield. The shockwaves spread in all directions, blowing away countless soldiers from both sides who were locked in combat.

At sea, it raised towering waves, tossing many sea beasts that had not yet entered the battle into disarray, rolling them who knew how far.

Almost the moment the Demon Whale roared, a sound arose from the human side. But compared to the Demon Whale's earth-shaking cry, this sound—though still piercing—seemed somewhat gentle.

The Talking Lady's long hair flew as she unleashed a mental shockwave to counter the Demon Whale's whale cry.

The invisible soundwaves collided at a certain point, producing an audible explosion. The bodies of nearby lifeforms thrown into the air testified to their power.

The Talking Lady's mental shockwave was not fully unleashed; it was forced to stop near the end. She retreated more than ten meters, steadying herself with help from those behind.

She and the black cat in her arms were exhausted after steadying themselves, her face—already so close to human—pale as death.

Clearly, she had come out worse in that mental clash. But she had protected the human line.

The Demon Whale rotated its massive body in the sky, yet did not shift from its position.

During this, the shattered black lotus petals from Xia Bai's earlier attack suddenly came to life, shooting toward the Demon Whale.

The Demon Whale shook its body, and when it faced Xia Bai again, there was clear anger in its eyes.

It had been wounded—small holes dotted its body, slowly oozing blood. Those shattered petals had been extraordinarily sharp.

Moreover, the Demon Whale could clearly feel that these wounds, which should have healed instantly, were not closing as they once did. Instead, they throbbed with pain, reminding it that it had been hurt.

The sea king glanced once more at the Red Female Guard, finding them apparently unharmed by the whale cry.

The Demon Whale's body suddenly contracted, then expanded, growing several times larger than its already enormous size.

This was clearly not solid, rather resembling a pufferfish's defensive posture.

Many black spines protruded from its swollen body—not very long, about the length of a human finger—each covered with a layer of water droplets, their purpose unknown.

The feathers floating around Xia Bai spun at high speed, while her black scythe continually slashed around her, each strike leaving a black ribbon mark in front of her.

Then, her wings swept forward and wrapped together, assuming a defensive posture.

A mocking gleam appeared in the Demon Whale's eyes. The next moment, its swollen body deflated with a pop, expelling the air it had just filled. This became a massive propulsive force, launching those black spines outward.

Seventy percent shot toward Xia Bai, while the other thirty percent targeted the Red Makeup Guard on the ground.

The Demon Whale's body was immense, and after swelling, it had blotted out the sky. No one knew how many black spines there were. Xia Bai and the Red Female Guard were almost instantly engulfed, vanishing from sight.

And during flight, the droplets at the tips of these spines had turned into ice shards—razor-sharp and tinged with a sickly green.

This ability blanketing the sky made the lifeforms below tremble instinctively with fear.

"Fire!"

Xia Lei's voice came through the war medal to the Loki Cross launch platform. The first fully charged new weapon flashed twice before firing.

A brilliant energy cross spun out, instantly crossing an immense distance and imprinting itself on the Demon Whale, which had just used an ability.

The energy cross bored into the sea king's body, spinning at high speed.

The Demon Whale let out a deafening cry—a cry of pain.

If the injuries from Xia Bai's strange energy attacks had been minor, then the damage from the Loki Cross was severe.

A large hole was blasted in one side of its body, the force tilting the Demon Whale, with thick fluids and tissue raining down.

Many humans cheered.

Truly, this was Cloud Peak's Technology Department's latest achievement—devastatingly powerful. Even an existence like Xia Bai, with the Red Female Guard's help, had seemed unable to do much to the Demon Whale, but this machine had done it.

Then came the second energy cross.

The Demon Whale's body shook violently again, followed by the third.

The attacks came so fast—as if there were no interval at all—three energy crosses hitting the Demon Whale within the same second.

Only their impact points differed slightly.

The Demon Whale's cry of pain was cut short mid-outcry.

Not only that, but just as the Demon Whale was gravely wounded, a giant scythe came hurtling toward it.

The one wielding the scythe was Xia Bai, drenched in blood, her armor in tatters, her wings pierced in countless places!

Everything she had done before had looked like defense, but it was not—she had only used her wings to push through those black spines.

In Xia Bai's philosophy, defense? It did not exist.