Chapter 299: Ran Away?

The shell of the Artificial Saintess was pierced by the Erin Ray; at her side, a fist-sized round hole emitted wisps of green smoke, while some liquid metal that seemed to possess biological activity writhed rapidly within the gap, apparently attempting to repair the breached section.

This killing machine, manufactured by the Venerable Hidden Sect, possessed extremely powerful defensive capabilities; its external armor could naturally withstand conventional "high temperatures," but obviously, the strange ray unleashed by Erin contained far more than just "high heat"—some power that seemed to possess "decomposition" or "erosion" characteristics directly vaporized the metal near the point of impact, leaving this terrifying wound on the steel puppet.

Yet Erin herself seemed quite dissatisfied with the effect of this strike.

"Sigh, I thought I could punch straight through," the small puppet, sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder and emitting faint heat from wrist to shoulder, said, "but it only pierced the first layer."

Click-clack.

The sound of metal heels striking the ground came from not far away, interrupting Erin's complaint; the Artificial Saintess adjusted her posture and once again assumed a combat stance.

That wound, which looked quite terrifying, seemed to have caused her no effect at all; she displayed no sign of pain or any inconvenience in her movements.

This scene instantly made Yu Sheng, who had relaxed slightly after Erin's successful strike, lift his heart again, and at almost the same moment, he also felt the iron puppet's "gaze" fall upon himself.

Although that pale metal mask displayed no emotion, Yu Sheng still perceived a kind of... surprise and confusion from the subtle changes in the iron puppet's movements and the faint connection transmitted through the blood.

She was staring this way; she was puzzled as to why this familiar enemy before her was still alive—she still remembered the wounds Yu Sheng suffered during their last encounter, and those wounds would have been fatal on any human.

Even if not fatal, an ordinary person could absolutely not appear here, jumping around so quickly.

Yu Sheng weighed the Broken Tetanus Staff in his hand, adjusted into a posture ready to defend and counterattack, and made a provocative look toward that tall, slender figure: "Surprised? Or is it that—having touched my blood, you're done for this life~!"

As soon as his words fell, he felt a flash of light and shadow in his vision; the figure of the Artificial Saintess suddenly turned into a blurred shadow, which traced a graceful arc through the air before rushing toward them without hesitation!

And at almost the same moment, those "Brass Knights" nearby that could still move launched attacks in coordination, brandishing sharp swords and warhammers, attacking from all directions!

"TMD, these things are indeed a gang!"

Yu Sheng cursed angrily in his heart, then met the sharp sword of a Brass Knight swinging down; he raised his hand to block, but in the corner of his eye, Yu Guang, he saw the sharp blade of the Artificial Saintess already thrusting swiftly toward him—this steel puppet had previously severed its own arm, but now its hands and feet were intact, obviously having been repaired somewhere; and whether it was an illusion or not, Yu Sheng always felt that this opponent's attack this time was even more fierce and dangerous than the last, as if... this fellow had reviewed their last encounter, and now her attacks were completely tailored to his movement habits from that fight!

The ear-piercing sound of metal clashing assaulted his eardrums, and bright sparks burst open in the air; Yu Sheng, relying on reaction speeds far surpassing ordinary humans, dodged the Artificial Saintess's first attack, then blocked her subsequent two consecutive thrusts and one kick, then retreated continuously, flashing past the interception of two Brass Knights; afterward, a flash of light and shadow appeared in the corner of his eye, and a sky-covering tide of black silk threads once again filled his vision.

Erin's spider web once again covered all the space around Yu Sheng, and like a living creature, it quickly wove and reshaped, binding and imprisoning the nearby Brass Knights one after another into the half-air, while continuously compressing the movement range of the Artificial Saintess—the latter, relying on astonishing agility and ghost-like "dance steps," forcibly kept finding lines of attack within these layered, interwoven spider webs, rushing close to Yu Sheng time and again.

Though her body was made of steel, her dance steps were like a wind that could not be captured by any net.

"Ahhh, so annoying! Why does a Type-C buckle get to be this flexible?!" the small puppet complained irritably; then, having barely managed to restrict the iron puppet's "dance steps" once more, she didn't bother to aim carefully and directly controlled her other body to raise her hand and fire a series of bright rays.

The "Erin Ray," containing the power of Fox Fire and strange characteristics, hissed through the air, piercing a tricky path within the spider web to stab straight at the enemy; this time, the Artificial Saintess obviously already knew the danger of these light beams; the moment Erin raised her hand, she had already prepared to dodge, and once again drilled toward a dead angle between the spider threads from an angle no one could have imagined.

Yu Sheng's vision had already adapted to this iron puppet's speed; he finally discovered that every joint of this fellow seemed to be able to break and reshape at any moment; even complete arms and legs could be snapped in the middle or suddenly soften and flip over.

Accompanied by a few hissing sounds, Erin's densely clustered beams only swept across the Artificial Saintess's thighs and back, leaving a series of terrifying wounds on that layer of black alloy shell.

And enduring such damage, the iron puppet successfully broke free from the black spider web, executed a light backflip, and landed several meters away.

But before she could even stand steady, another white shadow rushed fiercely toward her.

That was Hu Li, who had been looking for an opportunity to strike—watching Yu Sheng get stabbed to death with two swords making eight holes during their last encounter had left a deep impression on her; this time, from the moment the iron puppet appeared, she had been waiting for a chance; and with the experience from before, she did not use the limited-effect Fox Fire this time, but directly accelerated with her Nine Tails, rushed up, and delivered a rocket headbutt. The iron puppet, which had just landed and suffered multiple injuries, could no longer make elegant dodges as easily as before; she only managed to twist her body slightly, and her beam-injured leg emitted a harsh noise, then she was struck solidly by the fox-girl's "Fox Radish Headbutt."

That was a booming crash like a great bell; Yu Sheng even saw a visible shockwave erupt from the impact point between Hu Li's head and the Artificial Saintess's chest; the latter, like being hit directly by a cannonball, had her body instantly twisted into a grotesque angle and flew sideways.

Hu Li stood in place, shook her head, then let out a low roar, rushed up again, pinned the steel puppet that was still struggling to stand on the ground, and proceeded to beat it mercilessly.

Even Erin, watching from the side, was stunned; this was the first time she had seen Hu Li fight this way, leaving her dumbfounded on the spot: "... Is the idiot fox's skull harder than starship armor?!"

Yu Sheng was also stunned, but before he could open his mouth, he saw one of the Artificial Saintess's arms suddenly twist into a grotesque angle, forcibly lifting itself up while enduring Hu Li's powerful grip, with several sharp blades pointing at the fox-girl's back.

"Hu Li, be careful!"

Hu Li had already reacted by then; before Yu Sheng could speak the warning, she suddenly let go of her opponent and leaped forward on all fours.

Several blades full of killing intent only severed a few tufts of silver-white fur on the fox's tail.

Xuan Che also strode forward at this moment.

The Artificial Saintess staggered to her feet; this elegant and efficient killing machine, after repeated blows, finally saw its reaction and movement speed slow down; she noticed Xuan Che who had arrived before her, but could no longer rely on a few light dance steps to create distance as before; she could only barely adjust her posture and meet her enemy with the sharp blades in her hand.

Bang!

That pale steel mask still bore a beautiful yet empty smile; it was impossible to judge whether she was actually nervous at this moment, or whether she felt fear and hatred.

Xuan Che merely swung the ice-cold sharp sword in his hand, then placed it behind him again; then he stepped forward half a pace, sank his waist, raised his hand, and delivered another simple and unadorned... ah, just a straight punch.

Seemingly without any technique, he dodged all the blades and landed a punch directly on the Artificial Saintess's arm.

A short, sharp hum.

Yu Sheng saw layers of obscure patterns suddenly appear on the iron puppet's arm; dense runes and strange lines seemed to seep out from the surface of that black alloy shell like strong light piercing through skin, and a powerful force resisted this punch—that seemed to be the "Spell-Breaking Secret Art" that the Venerable Hidden Sect had set within the lining of the Artificial Saintess's armor, which Xuan Che had mentioned before.

Obviously, Xuan Che's cultivation far surpassed the "ordinary cultivators" he spoke of—although his fighting style differed slightly from what Yu Sheng imagined, the power contained in this punch of the Great Dao simplified to its essence broke through the protection within the steel puppet's body after a brief stalemate.

Those layered runes began to collapse on a large scale; a series of strange explosions and tearing sounds came from within the Artificial Saintess; one of her arms shattered inch by inch starting from the fingertips, accompanied by continuous small-scale explosions, breaking into pieces and falling down.

And before the shell of this iron puppet completely collapsed, those Brass Knights gathered around had already fallen in a batch due to the aftereffects of this punch.

But just as Yu Sheng thought that this terrible and difficult Artificial Saintess could finally be completely dealt with this time, he suddenly saw the surface of the iron puppet ripple with a layer of strange, shimmering waves.

Immediately, before he and Xuan Che could react, the figure of the iron puppet "flickered" several times rapidly in the air and simply vanished into thin air.

Xuan Che's punch force, having lost its resistance, exploded forward with the accumulated residual power—all roads and objects within a hundred meters ahead turned into dust silently and without a sound.

He turned his head and looked at Yu Sheng in blank confusion.

(End of Chapter)