Chapter 81: Martyrdom Explosion

Zhang Butou used the Binding Demon Rope to wrap around a Rocket, and just as he prepared to throw the Rocket out like an Iron Ball, a loud boom suddenly erupted from the Rocket; its cone-shaped warhead exploded violently, turning into hundreds of iron fragments that scattered in all directions.

Zhang Butou was shaken by this sudden explosion, causing his True Qi to reverse, and he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

The fine mesh that had originally bound the Rocket was also loosened by the blast, and several dozen iron fragments flew out, sweeping across the surrounding artillerymen.

One artilleryman had his right arm severed at the root by an iron fragment, two others had their chests pierced by fragments, their internal organs destroyed, and they lay on the ground, gasping their last breaths, likely beyond saving; another artilleryman suffered an even worse fate, his entire head sliced off by a fragment.

Most of the explosive power of this Rocket had been contained by the fine mesh of the Binding Demon Rope, but two more Rockets were still flying in at supersonic speeds.

Zhang Butou could not spare a thought for his own injuries and waved the Binding Demon Rope again, trying to intercept the other two Rockets as well.

"The Rockets are poisoned!" As Zhang Butou was channeling True Qi into the Binding Demon Rope, he suddenly felt a stagnation in his True Qi circulation and realized that a colorless, odorless poison had silently entered his body and was spreading to other parts at an astonishing speed.

"Despicable and shameless!" Zhang Butou cursed angrily; these Rockets could fly in a straight line, explode, and now they even carried poison—how could such a despicable weapon exist in this world?

Not daring to let the toxins spread, Zhang Butou could only divert a portion of his True Qi to suppress the poison; as a result, his speed in maneuvering the Binding Demon Rope inevitably slowed down, and he managed to barely wrap it around one more Rocket, shaking his arm to try and throw it away.

However, the tail of the Rocket was still spewing flames and possessed powerful thrust, pushing forward against the fine mesh of the Binding Demon Rope, which meant Zhang Butou had to expend even more strength to throw it.

This led to Zhang Butou being completely unable to intercept the final Rocket.

"Oh no! Scatter, quickly!" Zhang Butou shouted urgently, and the artillerymen, also realizing that things had taken a turn for the worse, scrambled to run in all directions, but it was already too late.

The final Rocket had long since reached a speed of 400 meters per second under the continuous propulsion of its tail flames; these artillerymen were mostly only First Grade Martial Artists, so how could they possibly outrun a Rocket?

Zhang Butou watched helplessly as the last Rocket flew directly toward the barrel of gunpowder in the center, with no way to stop it.

"It's over!" Zhang Butou could no longer worry about the others; he used all his remaining strength to finally throw the Rocket caught in the Binding Demon Rope elsewhere, then curled his body into a ball and hid behind a steel Shield.

"Boom!" The Rocket's tail flame ignited the entire barrel of gunpowder, and the violent explosion blasted a three-meter-deep crater into the ground; a circular shockwave spread in all directions, and the surrounding artillerymen, constables, and yamen runners were blown into mangled corpses by the powerful shockwave.

Hiding behind the steel Shield, Zhang Butou felt an irresistible, immense force acting upon the Shield; he and the Shield were pushed flying back over thirty meters by the impact, then slammed heavily into a Blue Stone wall.

"Crash!" The sturdy wall was knocked down by Zhang Butou, but thanks to the obstruction of the wall, Zhang Butou finally came to a stop.

"Pfft!" Zhang Butou spat out a mouthful of blood; the shockwave from the explosion had shifted his internal organs, leaving him with severe internal injuries, and combined with the toxins in his body, he could now exert at most forty to fifty percent of his original strength.

The first barrel of gunpowder exploded, sending sparks flying, and unfortunately ignited the other three nearby barrels of gunpowder.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Three more earth-shattering roars followed, and the entire artillery position was within the blast radius; all twelve artillerymen were killed, leaving no remains, and even the four Shenwu Great General Cannons were blown away, with one flying over fifty meters and landing one meter away from Lv Dazhi.

Lv Dazhi was holding the rear, but suddenly, flames soared into the sky from the artillery position, followed by four consecutive, massive roars, and a ten-meter-long, one-ton Great General Cannon fell from the sky, nearly crushing him; this left Lv Dazhi terrified, and he nearly wet his pants.

"Hiss... neigh..." The steed Lv Dazhi was sitting on was startled by the suddenly falling Great General Cannon and reared up violently, throwing Lv Dazhi to the ground; had his personal guards not rescued him in time, he might have been trampled in the stomach by the panicked horse.

This series of massive explosions caused the ground to shake violently enough to be felt throughout Luolong County; everyone in Luolong County stared in shock toward the north of the city, wondering what had happened there to cause such an earth-shaking commotion.

By this point in the battle, Meng Yifan's Game Panel had accumulated another 480 points of Experience Value; without hesitation, he converted them all into speed attribute points, bringing his speed attribute to 200 points, exactly the physical limit for a Second Grade Martial Artist.

With a physical speed of 200 points, theoretically, even without True Qi, Meng Yifan's speed could reach 200 meters per second using only his body; if he exerted his Lingbo Microsteps Lightness Skill at full power, his speed could soar to 400 meters per second, meaning Meng Yifan's limit speed was now supersonic.

Zhang Butou was a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist who practiced a Yellow Grade Middle Tier technique; his physical speed was only 168 meters per second, and he practiced a Yellow Grade High-Rank Lightness Skill, which could reach 260 meters per second at full capacity.

Looking at speed alone, Meng Yifan already possessed a crushing speed advantage over Zhang Butou.

"Strike while he's down." Zhang Butou had already been severely injured in the previous explosion, so Meng Yifan did not hesitate; carrying one loaded Elm Cannon and two more on his back, he moved as fast as flying despite the three hundred kilograms of weight.

Without channeling True Qi, Meng Yifan exerted his Lingbo Microsteps at full power, reaching 150 meters per second on physical speed alone, and soon crossed the smoke-filled explosion site, appearing one hundred meters away from Zhang Butou.

Meng Yifan held the Elm Cannon to fire, guaranteeing a hit within one hundred meters; he did not get too close because Zhang Butou still held the Artifact Demon-binding Rope in his hand, and although he was severely injured, he still had the strength to fight, and Meng Yifan did not want to be counter-killed by Zhang Butou for getting too close.