Chapter 657: The Ancestor's Gift (46)

The incident occurred at the very moment Luo Qi was least on guard; he wearily shifted his gaze away from the blue-eyed Barbarian, not wanting to see this strange intermediate state between human and Mage any longer, yet the corner of his eye caught a sudden emptiness there.

Several things happened at roughly the same moment, Luo Qi could not say clearly; he was truly not a person of agile reflexes, and his mind was still cluttered with many thoughts. A thick, pungent scent of blood suddenly closed in; Wen Lin, who had been standing in front of him, turned her head, her face full of astonishment; a scream from Guan Xinyue erupted in his ears; someone slammed heavily into him, an arm digging into his ribs and making him gasp in pain, and a greater force subsequently shoved him violently. He was still subconsciously wondering what could have startled Wen Lin, vaguely trying to distinguish what Guan Xinyue was shouting, when he had already lost his balance and fallen to the ground, hitting it so hard he saw stars.

He lay on the ground with the back of his head hitting the floor, in so much pain that he couldn't even think to get up for a moment. The person who had just collided with him was now pressing down on him, and when they fell, they had nearly crushed the last breath out of his lungs. Dizzied, he struggled to focus his eyes and identified that this person was Guan Xinyue. He vaguely wondered if Guan Xinyue had been standing beside him just a moment ago? From what angle had she rushed out to collide with him? But that was not important for now; the whole place had descended into chaos. The others had also begun to move, though only he and Guan Xinyue had fallen. But the surrounding scent of blood became even more intense; he saw Yan Hao, saw Wen Lin, and others he could not recognize for the moment; they all seemed to have thrown themselves into the battle.

A human body fell heavily to the ground at this moment, viscous blood splattering everywhere, mixed with fragmented, sticky human tissue, and a pair of blue eyes stared dead and silent at Luo Qi. Luo Qi subconsciously covered Guan Xinyue's eyes. Guan Xinyue went still for an instant, lying motionless on top of Luo Qi. A moment later, she cursed, struggling to climb up.

Luo Qi also managed to pull his nearly shattered skeleton back together, struggling to prop himself up to distinguish who the Mages were fighting. Besides the one blue-eyed creature already torn to pieces on the ground, there were now three... perhaps more. Luo Qi soon realized he could not be sure of their numbers, because they were constantly using Shixian.

They wove between the Mages, launching random attacks incessantly. Originally, their strength and speed were no worse than the Mages, perhaps even stronger, and now they had added the ability of Teleportation. The Mages killed one, but they also paid a price; at the very least, one Mage was severely injured, and Majiang was currently treating them. Just as Luo Qi was observing the battlefield, another Mage let out a scream.

However, Luo Qi could see that the Mages still held the upper hand; the blue-eyed ones only had the advantage because they had launched a surprise attack. No one had expected to be suddenly attacked by them; when these suspected Neanderthals first appeared, Luo Qi could be certain they did not have the ability to Teleport.

A few minutes later, Luo Qi realized that the elusive attack ability might not be the biggest trouble. The appearance and disappearance of these semi-humans were becoming more and more regular; they began to divide labor and cooperate, their level of group organization gradually increasing. It was as if... the God of Wisdom had suddenly chosen these few lucky ones, and they too began to have tactics and the ability to assess the situation.

Luo Qi's face darkened; when the blue-eyed ones once again used Shixian to surround an unlucky Mage, Luo Qi's Yajian pointed straight at the blue-eyed ones like a blade. Their not-so-large cranial capacity was breached, and Luo Qi was not surprised to capture a highly rational consciousness. However, in the flash of a second, before he could even break it down, the consciousness cautiously retreated, dissolving into the neurons of several brains.

"Damn it," Luo Qi cursed.

The three blue-eyed ones stranded in the space were instantly plunged into a passive position; after all, the enemy was many and they were few, and a few minutes later, they were finished off by the Battle Mages who had surrounded them.

Luo Qi looked at his own people; quite a few were injured. Wen Lin had a cut on her arm, Yan Hao had been pressing his shoulder, and one Battle Mage was severely injured, though the situation had been stabilized by Majiang. On Zhao Jiaozhu's side, one person was so severely injured they looked like they wouldn't make it, and Majiang, putting aside past grudges, walked over to provide aid.

"Have they all been dealt with?" Luo Qi turned his gaze back and asked Yan Hao.

"One ran away; there were five in total," Yan Hao replied.

"Ziyi, are you alright?" Luo Qi asked Liu Ziyu, who was huddled in a corner.

She shook her head; the moment the chaos broke out, she had shrunk into a corner, and only now did she slowly stand up and walk over, her face indifferent, her gaze falling back onto the data that had become active again.

"A moment ago, these... things could only run on their legs; how did they suddenly gain the ability to Teleport? It caught us off guard," Yan Hao asked, puzzled.

Luo Qi looked thoughtfully at the crystals that had previously scattered on the ground; before they were condensed into crystals by the rapidly freezing Magic, they were able to travel through space. The Progenitor Mage might have originally used them to achieve space travel, so it was possible that someone was now using these things to operate puppets to travel.

It was just that it was hard for him to get a definitive answer right now.

He looked around at the few people and asked, puzzled, "Who pushed me down just now?"

Yan Hao raised his hand low, "Sorry, it was an emergency."

Luo Qi rubbed the back of his head and said thanks. But he still felt it was strange; even Liu Ziyu could take the initiative to dodge, were his own reflexes not as good as a girl who was always slow?

Wen Lin looked at Guan Xinyue with a half-smile and said, "Little Guan's reaction was really fast; I'm ashamed to compare. Luo Qi, did you not even realize that the first Seal-bearer to use Shixian appeared right next to you, intending to attack you first? Little Guan acted almost at the same time, rushing over to knock you away. Yan Hao only got the warning after seeing this, and pushed you both down in time. Otherwise, just a thin girl like Little Guan wouldn't necessarily have been able to push you away by colliding with you, and she would have been in danger herself."

Luo Qi turned his head sharply to look at Guan Xinyue in surprise. Guan Xinyue did not respond to his gaze at all; she kept her head half-lowered, slowly rubbing the elbow she had hit on the ground, her pale complexion flushed with an unnatural red.

"Should I say thank you?" A sense of bewilderment washed over Luo Qi; many words churned on his lips only to be swallowed back, subconsciously replaced by a trivial remark.

"Forget it," Guan Xinyue said in a low voice, stepping back two paces and leaning weakly against the wall, also avoiding Wen Lin's sharp gaze.

Liu Ziyu, standing not far away, suddenly looked up at them for a while until Luo Qi looked at her. She withdrew her gaze and sent several pieces of data that Luo Qi couldn't actually understand before his eyes. "Judging from the parameters, the environmental energy consumed by the last jump was the same as the first. I mean, the first jump that occurred within a one-kilometer radius around us was those invisible things; they came from Senior Brother's direction. Next was a series of multiple jumps and Shixian by humanoid creatures within the same range; the energy consumption frequency was similar, but the last jump was the same as the first."

After she finished speaking, she watched Luo Qi calmly, waiting for him to complete the process of understanding.

"The blue-eyed one that ran away went to Du Zhengyi's side," Luo Qi understood what she meant.

"Very likely. From observations, the humanoid creatures' ability to travel comes from these 'Wild Crystals'. It is possible they are limited by the crystals; they either travel within the range where the crystals are distributed, or they can only travel back to the previous target point along the trajectory the crystals themselves have traveled. This is somewhat similar to..." Liu Ziyu paused.

"A wild Pendragon Orbital System," Luo Qi finished her sentence.

Liu Ziyu nodded.

"Will Du Zhengyi be in danger?" Luo Qi asked.

"If it's just one, Senior Brother should be able to handle it," Liu Ziyu said, her gaze passing over Guan Xinyue; even if she had something she wanted to say like Luo Qi, she didn't say it in the end.