Chapter 1151: The Dignity of a Tank

"I've heard similar words from someone else."

Su Xiao looked at the bald leader. Judging by this guy's attitude, he didn't seem to need to be placed on a kill-on-sight list; in other words, the two sides might not have reached the level of mortal enemies yet.

The bald leader was different from Leng Leng Yue, the leader of the Other Shore Flower adventure group. Leng Leng Yue belonged to the type who would form a blood feud with anyone who killed her main members, fighting until one side was dead.

The bald leader, however, prioritized profit. When an enemy became strong to a certain degree, he would choose to temporarily avoid them, just like when they surrounded and killed Youbi earlier; he had decisively led his people to retreat.

"Who?"

The bald leader already felt that something was wrong. In fact, he was very hesitant now—hesitant about whether to lead his people to surround and kill Su Xiao. If he gave the order now, regardless of the outcome, both sides would transform from general hostility into an irreconcilable blood feud.

"You don't need to know."

Su Xiao didn't say that the person was Stein, because he disdained using the reputation of a mortal enemy to intimidate his foes; that was a sign of backing down. At this moment, what mattered was momentum.

"You really won't hand it over?"

The bald leader's face was as gloomy as water. He didn't know what kind of situation his next choice would lead to.

"..."

Su Xiao remained silent, only controlling the Wood Spirit to cling to his leg.

"Attack!"

The bald leader's eyes glared with rage. He decided to use their numerical advantage to wipe out Su Xiao today and eliminate future trouble.

"Focus fire formation!"

As soon as the bald leader finished speaking, several support-type contractors with crowd-control abilities locked their targets onto Su Xiao, and several control skills were unleashed.

Su Xiao stomped on the ground, and an electromagnetic pulse spread out. At the same time, he leaped sideways, dodging an energy arrow. As for the other control-type abilities, Su Xiao ignored them directly; those were all mental-type control abilities.

Zzzzt~

An electromagnetic pulse with a diameter of 25 meters swept across, and the dozen or so contractors nearby instinctively retreated.

Boom!

A massive explosion spread from the center of the field, and the unique firelight of the alchemy bombs spread to the surroundings, obscuring the vision of the dozens of contractors nearby.

"Directly ahead, 12 o'clock direction, he's charging over, so fast!"

A contractor responsible for sensing roared in the team channel. Upon hearing this direction, the bald leader instantly realized who Su Xiao's target was—it was him.

"Aitai, block him!"

The bald leader didn't retreat; he prepared to use himself as bait.

Boom!

Another explosion, this time in the middle of the crowd.

"Over here!"

Puchi, puchi...

The sound of slashing came, and after a short, sharp scream, a lone contractor fell to the ground; he had nearly been cleaved through the chest.

Zing, zing, zing...

Dense blade rays spread to the surroundings within the firelight. These crisscrossing blade rays were difficult to defend against. Blood splattered, and two unlucky support-type contractors were engulfed by the blade rays, being slashed into large piles of minced meat the next moment.

"Where is he?"

The bald leader blocked his arm in front of him. The smoke and firelight from the explosion obscured his vision, and with his sensing precision, he couldn't sense Su Xiao's specific location at all.

"Leader, he's in front of you!"

This roar in the team channel made the bald leader's hair stand on end. He didn't expect the enemy to break through so quickly.

"Aitai, this is a chance, Aitai! Aitai?"

The bald leader's shout received no response. The aftermath of the various attacks from the surrounding members made him instinctively crouch down.

Su Xiao rushed out from the smoke, a dagger still stuck in his lower abdomen.

After he rushed into the crowd, the surrounding contractors didn't fall into chaos. Although smoke and firelight obscured their vision, those contractors could still find his location and focus fire on him.

Su Xiao endured three small-scale focus fire attacks in total, and his 600-strength Counter-Attack Shield was shattered directly. Fortunately, Su Xiao had survival capabilities no worse than a main tank, otherwise, he would definitely have been killed by the focus fire.

Su Xiao's goal was very clear: prioritize killing the control-types. After hard-tanking three focus fire attacks in the smoke, he finally rushed into the crowd of support contractors, and then it was like a tiger among sheep.

One could imagine what would happen with Su Xiao's swordsmanship when he rushed into those support contractors who weren't skilled in close combat.

After a total of 21 seconds, 7 support-type contractors suspected of having control abilities lay in a pool of blood.

In the smoke, a milky white light flickered on Su Xiao's body; it was that cute healer girl remotely helping him recover from his injuries.

A sturdy man about 1.5 meters tall blocked Su Xiao's path, holding a 2-meter-tall tower shield. His name was Aitai, the main tank of the Starfire adventure group.

Blood dripped along the tip of Checking Zhan Long Shan. Su Xiao pulled out the dagger from his lower abdomen and threw it at the main tank.

Aitai immediately blocked with his tower shield. He had heard the bald leader shouting for him earlier, but he didn't even have time to reply now.

With a clink, the dagger was deflected by the tower shield.

"Leader, I..."

Before Aitai could finish his sentence, Su Xiao had already rushed in front of him, the 2-meter-tall tower shield separating the two.

In the past, whenever Aitai raised the tower shield in his hand, he would feel a sense of security, even when hard-tanking Youbi earlier.

But now, Aitai had no such feeling at all. He had an urge to turn around and flee, but the professionalism of a main tank made him block Su Xiao's path.

Su Xiao rushed to the front of the tower shield in a few steps. He didn't swing his blade to slash, but instead assumed a side-kick posture, the Wood Spirit quickly clinging to his foot, attack mode activated.

After a terrifying whimper, Su Xiao delivered a side kick to the middle of the tower shield.

Thud!

The ground within a hundred meters shook.

Aitai, behind the tower shield, glared with rage, his face turning blood red. A giant force he couldn't resist came from the tower shield.

Crack, crack...

Ai Tai's arm suffered a severe fracture, but that wasn't the most terrifying part; what was most terrifying was that Ai Tai discovered cracks beginning to appear on the tower shield in his hand.

"Mountain... of Immovability!"

An earthy yellow light radiated from Ai Tai's body; even though he was enduring an extremely terrifying impact force, he did not fly backward.

With a 'Crack!', the tower shield snapped into two pieces from the middle section. The edges were jagged and uneven, and large fragments of the shield flew toward Ai Tai like shrapnel from an exploding missile.

Puchi, puchi...

Several shield fragments embedded themselves into Ai Tai's torso, blood spraying out, yet he remained standing in place, not retreating a single step. Having one's shield broken by a kick is a gap in strength, but not retreating a single step is the dignity of a main tank.

"Wah!"

Ai Tai spat out a large mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments. He glanced at his health points and gave a bitter smile; his health was at a mere 17%. This was the power of the Legendary-grade equipment, Spirit of Wood; Legendary-grade isn't just about having a high rating.

"You, not bad."

Su Xiao stood before Ai Tai. After enduring a side kick reinforced by the Spirit of Wood, this main tank had actually not retreated even a single bit.

"Cough."

Ai Tai could no longer speak; he could only glare at Su Xiao, the meaning in his eyes clearly one of defiance.

With a 'Swish', Checking Zhan Long Shan slashed across Ai Tai's throat. Nearly four-fifths of Ai Tai's neck was severed. His body stiffened, yet he still hadn't retreated a single step.

"Hm?"

Su Xiao was just about to deliver another strike when he discovered that Ai Tai had already ceased to breathe. This main tank had actually not retreated even a single step until his death.

"You, very good."

Su Xiao stepped forward. He had only taken two steps when a barrage of attacks came his way. The smoke and dust hadn't yet dissipated, which meant another support-type Some Qiyuezhe had locked onto him.