Chapter 263 - 245: Rookie Tournament (24), Part 2
Chapter 263: Chapter 245: Rookie Tournament (24), Part 2
"Understood!"
The bodies of the Female Elves glowed with a dark green light.
The light took the form of countless leaves, covering their entire bodies.
Then, the tall Female Elves all became part of the trees.
Some became trunks, some branches, and others a mass of leaves.
They looked exactly like trees, without a single trace of an Elf.
On the ground, only the fallen Tang Ruan remained.
And her endlessly flowing blood.
Tang Ruan was completely still.
Her Iron Armor had been shattered by four Arrows, and her soft body was pierced by five.
Tang Ruan’s body possessed the Soft Body Genes, which gave her 20% Damage Reduction against hammers, clubs, falls, and crushing blows.
But it offered no Defense against Piercing Damage from Arrows.
Sharp Arrows had pierced her soft body, pinning her to the ground.
One of them had gone through her heart. Blood gushed from the wound, pooling on the ground and showing no signs of stopping.
One long leg was twisted at a bizarre angle, folded up against her stomach.
Her body was bent backward unnaturally, the back of her head touching the hollow of her knees.
A woman’s back can be flexible, but not to this degree.
There was only one possibility.
Tang Ruan was dead.
Xia Zhi and the Female Elves stopped watching Tang Ruan’s corpse and instead stared straight ahead.
Soon, they heard footsteps.
They were light and quick.
The Female Soldiers appeared.
Xia Zhi stood motionless in her tree, coldly observing the Female Soldiers.
Twenty-two of them had come.
Sixteen Female Gunners and six Female Archers.
Their Shields had been shattered during their charge; now, they relied solely on their low-Durability Iron Armor for Defense.
But that Iron Armor could only take two more Arrows at most.
’The third Arrow will be their last!’
Most of the Female Soldiers were melee fighters. It would take them a few seconds to charge the trees.
’More than enough Time!’
Xia Zhi didn’t rush to give the order.
She waited, letting the Female Soldiers draw closer, deeper into the encirclement.
"Tang Ruan! Are you okay?"
"What happened to Tang Ruan?"
"It can’t be! Even Tang Ruan went down?"
"Where is the enemy?"
The Female Soldiers rushed over and saw Tang Ruan on the ground in a bizarrely twisted position, several Arrows sticking out of her body, lying in a pool of her own blood.
They were astonished.
While Tang Ruan was their superior, this was only due to their differing Positions.
In private, they were very close. After all, Tang Ruan shared the same origins as them, so there was a natural sense of camaraderie.
But they knew how strong Tang Ruan was; these Female Soldiers had "beaten her up" many times in the past.
Not for real, of course. It was so Tang Ruan could practice fighting multiple opponents and learn how to handle being surrounded.
’So there’s no way she could have been killed by just a few Arrows, right?’
’Even if each of these Arrows had the Power of four Ordinary ones, she couldn’t have been killed this way.’
’Her joints are so twisted... that must be the result of being hit by a Stalling Arrow.’
If Tang Ruan let her body go limp, her Soft Body Genes allowed her to contort herself into many extreme positions.
Like bending her joints backward like this.
’So...’
’Tang Ruan is playing dead!’
In an instant, several of the Female Soldiers came to this realization.
They immediately searched for the enemy but found nothing.
There were only trees all around.
No trace of an enemy anywhere.
Just then, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out.
It was Xia Zhi.
The Female Soldiers were now gathered around Tang Ruan, deep inside the kill zone. It was the perfect moment to Attack.
"Now! Everyone, fire!"
As Xia Zhi shouted, she nocked an Arrow and drew her Bow, her figure instantly appearing.
In that same moment, the figures of Female Elves materialized in a dozen surrounding trees.
They all raised their Longbows.
Each one aimed at the nearest Female Soldier.
But just then, a burst of purple light exploded outward.
It drilled into the bodies of the Elves.
The Female Elves’ long ears instantly perked up as a heavy wave of fury washed over them.
"Fuck!"
"Dammit, what’s going on?"
"Motherfucker, who was that?"
"It was the corpse!"
"The corpse? You’re full of shit!"
"Fuck you, who are you cursing at? It *is* the corpse, can’t you feel it? Useless!"
The exquisitely beautiful Female Elves were suddenly spewing profanities, a stark contrast to their delicate Appearance.
But when consumed by rage, even the gentlest woman will curse.
Xia Zhi didn’t join them.
She just found it all incredible.
’A corpse can’t use the Taunt Skill. The only possibility is that the Female Hero isn’t dead.’
’But how the fuck is that possible?’
’Her heart was pierced and she bled everywhere. How could she not be dead?’
’Is this some kind of fucking joke?’
While the Taunt Skill induced rage, there was a momentary window to act.
Xia Zhi didn’t understand what was happening, but as a Hero, she possessed sharp battlefield judgment.
Suppressing her own anger, she instantly dispelled the Taunt affecting the Female Elves.
The Female Elves’ rage rapidly subsided.
But, as if predicting Xia Zhi would remove the effect, the "corpse" immediately unleashed another wave of purple light.
It enveloped the Female Elves once again.
Their delicate faces, calm for only a second, twisted again in fury.
"Fuck! What the hell? Are they asking for it?"
"Taunting us again and again?"
"I saw it clearly! It came from the corpse!"
"Dammit, let’s shoot that corpse to shreds!"
"Yeah! Shred her!"
The enraged Female Elves turned and aimed at Tang Ruan’s body.
Xia Zhi aimed at Tang Ruan as well.
’This is still unbelievable,’ she thought.
The next second, Tang Ruan’s body moved.
Her bizarrely twisted limbs snapped back into place, and her body, which had been folded in half backward, returned to normal.
Tang Ruan opened her eyes.
"Heh heh, that actually hurt a bit."
As she spoke, she casually pulled the Arrow from her heart. Blood sprayed from the gaping hole in her chest.
At that instant, the Female Elves loosed their fully drawn Longbows.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Whistling Arrows flew at Tang Ruan from all directions.
Though fragments of Tang Ruan’s Iron Armor remained on her body, it had zero Durability. It was no better than paper.
Fortunately, her Helmet, Leg Armor, Hand Armor, and boots still had some Durability left.
They could still block some of the Damage.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The volley of Arrows struck home. Tang Ruan was hit by nine of them.
Three Arrows hit her Armor.
Her Helmet and Leg Armor were shattered on impact.
The Power behind these Arrows was still immense.
The remaining six Arrows pierced her body.
"Aaargh!"
Tang Ruan screamed in pain, yet her voice carried a bizarre note of satisfaction.
It was deeply unsettling.
Blood spurted from her small frame.
But the hole in her chest was already shrinking, pink flesh growing in from the edges. It would be completely healed in moments.
At the same time, the other Female Soldiers sprang into action.
The moment the Elves appeared, they understood the situation.
As Tang Ruan drew the enemy’s fire, the Female Soldiers immediately charged the nearest Elves.
The six Female Archers managed to hit three Elves. The shots weren’t fatal, but they were injured.
Xia Zhi’s expression changed dramatically.
Her Elf Archers, with their superior firing speed, had a certain degree of skill even in melee.
But it was only a *certain* degree.
Against professional Female Gunners, Xia Zhi had no real confidence.
She already knew these were no Ordinary Human Race Gunners.
If they closed the distance, it would be disastrous.
The ambush tactic was a complete failure.
’In that case, we have to make a decisive retreat.’
There were other allied troops in ambush farther back; falling back was definitely the right call.
"Pull back! Retreat immediately!"
Xia Zhi roared and dispelled the Taunt.
The Female Elves immediately fell back without hesitation.
With graceful Lightness, they leaped down from the trees and dashed deep into the woods.
The Elves could move quickly through the branches, but it was still slower than running on the ground, not to mention the risk of falling.
They ran with all their might, but the sound of footsteps behind them made their hair stand on end.
They glanced back in panic.
The Female Gunners were rapidly closing in, Long Spears held at the ready.
They were equally agile and light on their feet—in fact, they were even faster than the Female Elves.