Chapter 66: Bell Toll

Boom!!!

In the blink of an eye, Ji Jue lunged forward, and the female assassin controlling the illusion followed closely. Even though there was a distance of more than ten meters between them, the next moment, when he landed on the ground, he would have been stabbed in the back by a dagger and died on the spot.

And at this moment, what suddenly exploded were the grenades hanging on the woman’s waist.

To be precise, it was two grenades, 300 grams of phlogiston explosive, and an electric net restraint launcher...

In that instant, the world-spinning illusion came to an abrupt end.

Replacing it was a terrifying flame light that shot into the sky like a torch. They didn't even have a chance to scream; under the flying shrapnel and the terrifying impact of the phlogiston explosive, and the violent high temperature comparable to a furnace, they were instantly torn to pieces.

Only half of a charred body flew out from the air wave, fell, and smashed next to the giant monster.

Whether it was a flash of light before death or something else, on that shattered, charred face, carbonized lips opened and closed silently, as if praying for something.

"Xiao Su!!!"

The sudden change left the giant monster almost unable to react. Seeing the teammate he had spent every day with instantly turn into a dying charred corpse, he couldn't help but scream.

He didn't even have time to continue his fierce attack on An Ran.

He turned and lunged toward his dying teammate, the faint light of spiritual quality appearing in his hand, grabbing time to rescue her.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Before the last words could be finished, an iron plate had already wedged into her skull from the left and pierced out from the right.

Pot-Throwing Rite—Ear!

The moment he realized his teammate was dead, the giant monster let out a soul-shaking roar, his body expanding again, hissing, layers of bone growing from his face.

Bone branches like a giant deer unfolded, covered in blood patterns!

His whole body was wreathed in blood fire that looked like substance.

Vortex Matrix·【Wendigo】!

Regardless of the excessive conversion of blood and life, he forcibly raised his ability by one rank, transforming into a monster from myths and legends.

Facing the iron plates whistling like meteors, he ran wildly!

At the same time, the voice Xiao An made was actually:

"Brother Ji Jue, dodge!"

Dodge what?

Where to dodge? How to dodge?

In an instant, all the questions that emerged in his mind went unanswered, but Ji Jue’s body, which was still lying prone on the ground, had already shot out like lightning.

He couldn't care about the stinging and burning sensation in his limbs and back, or even the dizziness and urge to vomit.

The aftereffects of the explosion seemed to be ignored.

Ji Jue directly backhanded and slapped himself.

White Deer Emblem.

Using both hands and feet, he lunged forward.

The next moment, the wall behind him shattered with a bang, as if hit head-on by an invisible hammer, and a red-hot bullet grazed Ji Jue’s thigh and penetrated the wall on the other side of the hall, disappearing.

There was a sniper!

Ji Jue was dripping with cold sweat.

Brother, are you hacking? Aim-lock plus wall-hack? Not even pretending?

The moment the bullet passed by, it was captured by his ability, and all parameters emerged from his chest—12.7mm caliber anti-material sniper rifle, Imperial goods, the machine was in good condition, well-maintained.

Straight-line distance of over eight hundred meters!

Boom!

Immediately after, the second shot flew toward Xiao An’s head.

Under Ji Jue’s command, the little ox-horse had already started galloping, dragging the giant monster like a kite, just like a non-stick pan, never clashing head-on with the opponent.

Otherwise, with the Wendigo’s terrifying power, one punch might turn the little ox-horse into ox-horse meat pie.

In the distance, the Aether Chosen was expressionless, pulling the trigger again.

Amidst the loud roar, the bullet flew out, and dust rose and fell in terror.

Unexpectedly, he was still a step too slow!

In order to avoid triggering the killing intent perception and similar blessings in the Path of the White Deer too early, he was the last to prepare, and as a result, he watched his teammate die in the explosion.

In the reflection on the water basin, the battle scene in the ruins appeared, a wandering aiming frame had locked onto Ji Jue again, and he pulled the trigger!

Another loud noise.

This time, Ji Jue was almost hit and had half his body blown off.

Run, kid, run all you want, there’s only a dead end!

The sniper sneered, pulled the bolt, and ejected the hot shell, but when he aimed again, he saw that Ji Jue was already standing in place.

Half-kneeling on the ground, holding something up toward him from afar...

It was actually a rifle?!

But the style and model made the sniper freeze in place—the Federation’s Thunder-type lever-action rifle, total length 1134mm, .40 caliber, effective shooting distance 800 meters...

In the history of firearms in the present world, this gun was glorious, having created who knows how many deaths and results, making the enemies of that time shiver.

The only problem was...

This was an old piece of junk from a hundred and twenty years ago!

It had long been phased out!

Heaven knows which antique shop that kid found this thing in. The sniper almost laughed out loud—no, he had already laughed out loud.

His smile was ferocious.

Not caring at all about the opponent’s sniper aiming action, he also aimed at Ji Jue.

Come on, kid, I’ll send you on your way!

Bang!

In an instant, two loud noises erupted from two places without distinction of order, and muzzle flames and gunpowder smoke rose.

But in that instant, which was hard for the naked eye to distinguish, what sprayed out from Ji Jue’s gun barrel was a wisp of silver light that stung everyone’s eyes... that was the bullet just thrown over from Xiao An’s hand.

He didn't inherit the An family’s matrix; Xiao An’s matrix was something he found himself on the Wild Market later, called 【Sword Ringing】.

Its assembly effect is very simple: it is to qualitatively change one’s own spiritual quality and attach it to matter, forming an effect like sword energy in a short period of time.

At this moment, what sprayed out from the gun chamber was sword energy flowing light!

Whistling and galloping, it instantly crossed the long distance and collided head-on with the armor-piercing sniper bullet, sparking a dazzling cold light.

From the center, it slashed and split!

And then, the silver light rushed forward, crossed eight hundred meters, penetrated the sniper rifle’s scope, and finally, shot out from the back of the sniper’s head.

Crimson and pale intertwined, gushing and flowing out.

The sniper, no longer made a sound.

In the final moment, he only had time to whisper: "So fast."

【Report, Officer, target eliminated】

As early as the moment the bullet left the chamber, the Thunder in Ji Jue’s hand transmitted a sound like a hallucination, like a veteran of many years, silent and sparing with words.

In the bloody battles of the Central Plains, it had experienced the inheritance of four successive users and long-term spiritual quality infiltration, and finally returned to the Federation with the user, never to be heard of again.

That was after hearing Ji Jue’s request, Sister Laila ran all over the market and finally found it from the relic of a predecessor in the home of a veteran from the Retired Soldiers Mutual Aid Association.

After Ji Jue’s dismantling, processing, and maintenance, this old antique that had been gathering dust on a display shelf for over twenty years finally radiated the sharp spirit belonging to a weapon again!

Next, there was only the last one left.

Ji Jue turned his head and looked at the crazed giant monster.

After losing the response of his teammates in the communication channel, the leading Wendigo finally realized something was wrong. Amidst his roars, he no longer cared, and furiously lunged toward Xiao An, but in mid-air, a pair of huge wings suddenly grew from his back, the wind whistled, and he rose from the ground, ascending into the sky.

Fleeing away!

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

After the rain of Pot-Throwing techniques and deer-hunting shells whistled past, the giant monster fell in a sorry state again, completely surrounded by Xiao An and Ji Jue, one in front and one behind.

There was no way to escape.

"Wait a minute, I—"

The Wendigo raised his hand, opened his mouth to speak, and just like that, left half of his final last words.

A wisp of dark light flew out from Xiao An’s sleeve, pierced through his eye socket, and after drilling in like a bird, it drilled out from the back of his skull, leaving a large hole.

Finally, it returned to Xiao An’s five fingers and disappeared.

From beginning to end, Ji Jue didn't see what it was.

"Not leaving a live one to question?" Ji Jue stepped forward, holding his gun vigilantly, confirming the Wendigo’s life or death, only to find that the Wendigo was already silent, killed in one blow!

"Oh, right."

Xiao An seemed to react, realizing it late, but soon waved his hand indifferently: "Anyway, it’s either for revenge or for the bounty. Every time I ask, there’s no new ideas, just get used to it."

"...Can you actually get used to this kind of ghostly thing?" Ji Jue’s eye twitched.

"Well, after a long time, after many times, you get used to it. Brother Ji Jue, you might be soon too."

Xiao An said bluntly: "Among the few people just now, at least half of the hostility was aimed at you. It seems your bounty isn't low either."

"..."

Ji Jue felt his expression couldn't hold up.

"Don't worry, don't worry, these guys can mostly only cause trouble in the Rift Realm. After all, outside, who would dare to touch you? Sister Wen wouldn't let them go.

If the person who comes can even beat Sister Wen, they probably wouldn't be aiming at you anyway."

"..."

Ji Jue’s expression became even harder to hold up.

Damn, so my price is considered mediocre? Those who can beat me don't dare to, and those who dare to don't have the interest to, highlighting a sense of "tasteless to eat."

No, I’m at least a newly hired apprentice at the Tide Sound Workshop.

.￠o

There’s a big thigh behind me!

Although even if Professor Ye knew, she probably wouldn't bother with such trouble, it doesn't stop me from using her name to bully others!

With two such thick thighs to hug, what is there to be afraid of!

In the brief interval, the two rested for a while. At this moment, the closer they got to the bell tower, the clearer the loud noises in the distance became, sometimes present, sometimes absent, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right.

It seems that the wretches fighting to the death in the ruins are not just these few who delivered themselves to the door.

One 【Vortex】, one 【Mirror】, and one 【Aether】.

"This wave is a real harvest."

Ji Jue took out the Ghostwork Sphere and rubbed his hands as he walked toward the corpses, taking advantage of the fact that the Chosen had just breathed their last and their souls had not yet completely collapsed, so some of the blessings bound by the matrix could still be extracted with tools.

Blessings extracted from the souls of Chosen in this way, although somewhat damaged and incomplete, and once fused with the soul, cannot be used by others, but it does not hinder their value as materials.

The Ember lineage, although incapable of fighting, when it comes to being unscrupulous, they are truly in the top three of the twelve Supreme Virtues. Even the Heart Pivot group, who are used to hypnosis and brainwashing, sometimes sigh in inferiority.

After everyone has been rolling in the quality-world chicken-dinner competition for so many years, they already have a complete set of methods and processes for destroying corpses and utilizing waste, with extremely high reproducibility, and even the theories and schools born on this basis are countless.

There are even those who, after spanning the Ember and Vortex paths, directly refine the corpses of Chosen into puppets and tools. Compared to this, Ji Jue’s level can only be considered "letting them rest in peace" and "benevolent."

He didn't even directly extract the opponent’s soul and throw it into the furnace to cultivate fire-seed transformation. He really is, I’m crying to death.

【Wait, something’s wrong.】

The Ghostwork Sphere suddenly transmitted a sound: 【There’s a problem, don't move!】

Ji Jue’s movements stiffened in place.

He carefully took a step back, then another.

Then he saw that on the two corpses in front of him, cracks suddenly appeared, and then a second, a third, a fourth... torn to pieces, rapidly dehydrating, and turning into ashes.

And the viscous blood and spiritual quality turned into wisps of streams.

Under an invisible gravitational pull, they slowly moved forward.

Straight toward...

The direction of the bell tower!

Dong!!!!

In that instant, the soul-shaking bell toll rang out from afar!

In that instant, a bell toll that shook the soul rang out from afar!