Chapter 80

(PS: There are two more chapters coming.)

Flames roared through the building, and the clamor of battle never ceased.

Fang Shi held the Earth Dragon Sword and bore the Burknar demonic longbow, walking through it as if strolling in his own courtyard.

It felt as if he were not in a battlefield, but in his own backyard.

The screams echoing around him could not affect Fang Shi at all.

His steps remained steady, neither fast nor slow, maintaining his own rhythm.

This was not Fang Shi being heartless; sometimes, heartlessness was the greatest compassion.

In this perilous battlefield, only by preserving his strength could he achieve the greatest results.

If he wasted his energy on a momentary impulse,

his gains would diminish, and fewer people could be saved.

He might even fall into danger himself.

Far away, some Firefeathers could not tolerate Fang Shi’s calmness.

They grabbed their curved blades and charged forward with roars.

Their speed was extreme: one hundred meters in seven seconds.

Puff!

With one thrust of the Earth Dragon Sword, a gaping wound opened in the Firefeather’s skull.

Its hard bones crumbled like tofu, blood and brain matter spilling out.

Just like all the previous Firefeathers.

In this building, Fang Shi was an invincible presence.

No Firefeather could stand against him for a single blow.

As long as he had strength left, he was a god of war.

Fang Shi wandered through the floors like Death itself; every Firefeather he encountered was slain, none escaped.

After Lu Xiusi died, Fang Shi descended the building.

Amid the admiring gazes of those around him, his wounds were healed by priests.

Then he hurried toward the next building.

On the way, he slaughtered a group of Firefeathers as an offering.

Yes, Fang Shi intended to use the Burknar longbow.

Until the weapon was traded away, Fang Shi would be its user.

Though the side effects were severe, the +6 Dexterity bonus was simply too tempting.

Not using it would be pure foolishness.

Moreover, for magical items with attribute bonuses, simply possessing them grants the bonus.

There was no need to wield the longbow in combat; Fang Shi only needed to carry it on his back.

The only drawback was that the longbow’s size was somewhat bulky, occasionally hindering Fang Shi’s dodges.

But this was negligible; with a +6 Dexterity bonus, such flaws could be easily compensated.

Of course, magical item bonuses do not stack—they take only the highest value.

Fang Shi currently owned a pair of gloves that boosted Dexterity.

But when the Burknar longbow’s Swift effect activated,

the +1 bonus from the gloves became nullified, replaced entirely by the longbow’s +6.

This meant that even if Fang Shi possessed a dozen Dexterity-boosting gear,

only the highest magical bonus would apply.

This rule also applied to spells; the Lightness spell, which increased Dexterity, would no longer affect him.

The reason was simple: magical items enhance the wearer’s attributes through spell energy.

The only difference between them and the Lightness spell was that the enchantment on magical items was permanent, with no time limit.

Since the essence of the enhancement was identical, they could not stack.

After Fang Shi slaughtered roughly fifty Firefeathers and sacrificed 41 points of life,

the Burknar longbow’s user status successfully transferred to him.

He also understood the conditions required to activate Swift.

“Effect Two: Swift — the wielder gains +6 to Dexterity (sealed).”

“You must sacrifice at least one hundred first-tier souls to unseal the Swift effect.”

“And you must sacrifice ten first-tier souls daily to maintain the Swift effect.”

Seeing this, Fang Shi understood why Lu Xiusi had never activated the longbow.

The soul realm belonged to the gods; you could take a living being’s life,

but you must not desecrate its soul—unless the target was a heretic.

In this other world, such heretics existed only among wild beasts in the wilds.

And even then, not all beasts were heretics.

Some beasts with rudimentary intelligence would attempt to worship the Beast God for protection.

Though dangerous, the Firefeathers in this world mostly survived through collective strength.

Coupled with such harsh activation conditions and a Dexterity bonus only two points higher than Lightness,

Lu Xiusi had no reason to activate it.

Simply relying on the weapon’s damage bonus was already powerful enough.

And on Blue Star, activation was impossible.

While heretics were everywhere in Ancheng, the souls of Blue Star’s people were beyond Lu Xiusi’s reach.

Even deities dared not do such a thing—what right did a mere Lu Xiusi have?

Thus, Effect Two was naturally useless.

But these harsh conditions meant nothing to Fang Shi.

Wasn’t he already constantly harvesting souls?

Other races dared not steal souls from the gods, but Blue Star’s people did.

Though sacrificing souls meant Fang Shi could no longer gain experience points,

it didn’t matter—Firefeathers were everywhere.

The key factor was that Fang Shi’s experience bar was already full.

He had reached Level 8.

He simply lacked a safe environment to ascend to Level 8.

And he could not gain experience from these Level 6 Firefeathers.

Firefeathers above Level 6 were too few; killing more would be wasteful.

Better to sacrifice these souls to the longbow.

Once Swift was activated, Fang Shi’s reaction speed would double again.

His power would not merely increase by one or two times—it would surge far beyond.

Roar!

Around the corner of the stairwell, a massive bird head emerged.

Far larger than ordinary Firewing Birds.

Its beak moved like lightning, accompanied by surging flames.

Its gaze toward Fang Shi was filled with hatred.

Clang!

The Earth Dragon Sword struck, its blade shimmering with a deep blue light.

This was water-element spiritual power.

The strike cleaved through the flames and slashed toward the Firewing Bird’s skull.

Boom!

The windows ahead exploded, and walls collapsed under magical force.

Dozens of Firefeather archers rode atop Firewing Birds, hovering in midair, drawing their bows toward Fang Shi.

Priests and shamans surrounded them.

Countless spells flared to life, a torrent of magic surging toward Fang Shi.

This was an ambush!

After Lu Xiusi died, the Firefeathers had not lost their will to fight.

Instead, they gathered forces to surround Fang Shi.

Including this massive Firewing Bird, clearly Level 8.

It was bait to lure Fang Shi.

Unfortunately, these tactics were useless against Fang Shi.

First, Fang Shi had already sensed the ambush.

He did not fear the Firefeathers coming—he feared them not coming at all.

He gladly accepted this Level 8 Firewing Bird as bait.

Secondly, Fang Shi possesses primal resistance, granting him extreme resistance to spells.

Occasionally, one or two spells take effect, or elemental damage strikes Fang Shi.

The result is always negligible.

They cannot inflict any fatal debuff on Fang Shi.

Moreover, Fang Shi can dodge—many spells with too small an area simply cannot hit him.

Free as clouds and cranes!

After slaying the Firewing Bird, Fang Shi stirred the wind spiritual power in his hand.

It drew in the surrounding flames, forming a fire tornado that shattered the arrows around him.

He then guided it in a spiral, launching it back at the Firefeathers.

The Firefeathers were lined up too densely.

With little room to dodge, several Firewing Birds were killed in an instant.

Along with the Firefeathers on their backs, they tumbled down from the sky in a cascade.

From such a height, a Firefeather hitting the ground would be dead or crippled.

Yet the priests among the Firefeathers showed no panic.

They never expected these attacks to do much damage.

All these maneuvers were merely masking one action.

That action: self-explosion—the Firefeathers’ most repulsive tactic.

Not free, rather die.

This was the culture passed down by the Firefeathers’ ancestors after rebelling against the Giants’ rule.

They also passed down the ability to self-explode.

Later generations of Firefeathers pushed this ability to its extreme.

At some point, the Firefeathers upstairs and downstairs had converged.

They blocked every exit.

Then, one by one, they charged at Fang Shi like a suicide squad.

Fang Shi felt helpless—this was the Firefeathers’ strength.

When they couldn’t win, they exploded. It was cheating.

But there was no help for it—it was their innate talent.

And after exploding, they left behind a large egg.

Inside the egg, a Firewing Bird would hatch.

Though the newly born Firewing Bird wasn’t even first-rank, it was still a source of troops.

That’s why the Firefeather clan had so many Firewing Birds.

They were born in the cemetery—the Firefeathers believed death was not an end.

But a different kind of rebirth, so they feared no death.

In fact, deceased Firefeathers could be resurrected from the large eggs.

The method was simple: sacrifice one large egg to awaken another.

The only side effect was a reborn personality, drastically reduced power, and uncertainty over whether it was still the same person.

Generally, Firefeathers never did this—it was a taboo in their clan.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Earth-shattering explosions began.

Fang Shi had no interest in resisting head-on—that would be utterly foolish.

His choice was to flee immediately.

Though the explosions were powerful, their force diminished with distance.

Fang Shi swung his Earth Dragon Sword, enduring the archers’ attacks.

He leapt from the building’s edge.

Clang!

The Earth Dragon Sword plunged into the building’s outer wall, and he slid down with gravity.

The Firefeathers would never let Fang Shi escape so easily.

This was part of their plan.

Fang Shi, suspended in midair, was a perfect target.

Perfectly suited for the Firefeathers’ archers to shoot.

Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!

Wind spiritual power surged again, slightly slowing the arrows’ speed.

Relying on the protection of the True Dragon Armor, Fang Shi endured the arrows.

Even though his back was drenched in blood, it was merely superficial flesh wounds.

Then, Fang Shi smashed through a window in the building and burst inside.

He sprinted straight for the stairs, heading up to kill the Firefeathers above.

Fang Shi was not afraid of Firefeather self-explosions—as long as he had an escape route.

With his reaction speed, he could flee before they detonated.

In such fierce combat, it was fortunate that the building still retained a trace of the power of cosmic law.

It prevented the main structure from collapsing or being destroyed by fire.

Otherwise, the building would have collapsed long ago under the duel’s fury.

White Crane Spreads Its Wings!

His longsword flashed like lightning, slicing through Firefeathers at the waist.

Any Firefeather daring to block his path was slain in a single strike.

As Fang Shi slaughtered, strands of souls drifted into the longbow on his back.

A chill wind began to swirl.

“Sacrifice count reached 100/100. Effect two of Berkner’s Demonic Longbow activated.”

Whoosh!

In a daze, Fang Shi felt the entire world grow lighter.

His 42-point agility began to show its power.

Fang Shi watched the arrows flying toward him, slowly drew Berkner’s longbow from his back.

With a deft flick, he caught the arrow and drew his bow, shooting it back.

Whizz!

A Firefeather priest tumbled from his Firewing Bird’s back.

Archery is merely the combination of strength, agility, and perception.

As long as your attribute points are high enough, even clumsy technique can crush those with lower stats.

Fang Shi’s arrow was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Firefeather priests could no longer bear the pressure—they ordered the airborne Firewing Birds to retreat.

The second assault had just begun; the Firefeathers arriving were not their full force.

With such a formidable enemy, it was better to withdraw now.

Preserve their strength for the arrival of the main Firefeather army.