Calamity Messenger-Chapter 78 - 62: Giving It Everything

When the tenth wave of the monster fury began, Shang Xinlei and her group were quite confident.

They dared to accompany Jiang Shi to challenge this point because they believed Jiang Shi had a chance to win. And the situation was far better than they had imagined — only one Fourth-Turn Demon King and three Foundation Establishment Demon Fiends, without any small demon soldiers.

Moreover, the combat power they could deploy consisted of five advanced statues!

In the last plunder, Jie Yuan Shao had a stroke of luck, encountering a special character ’Card-Guessing Gambler,’ and won a card game called Hidden Turtle against him. The Card-Guessing Gambler left a double resource card as a reward, which could directly double any specified resource quantity. But even that wasn’t enough; they had also built a functional facility ’Market’ to exhaust all potential through resource conversion, finally gathering enough resources to upgrade three statues, leaving just a few pieces of timber in the Shelter’s warehouse.

One advanced statue was enough to handle one Foundation Establishment Demon Fiend, while two statues could quickly kill one Foundation Establishment Demon Fiend. Therefore, after the tenth wave of monster fury descended, they swiftly formulated a strategy: three statues to pull away the Foundation Establishment Demon Fiends, two statues to obstruct the Demon King. Whoever fell into disadvantage, they would quickly capitalize to enlarge the advantage.

This fantasy lasted until they saw the Fourth-Turn Demon King emerge from the thick fog.

Clank, creak, the chains slid across the grass, colliding and producing crisp sounds. Its appearance seemed indistinguishable from a normal person, even somewhat slender, wearing a wool coat with a belt, a wild bull-horned helmet, unidentifiable gender and origin, possibly a grassland person. But it dragged chains as thick as a thigh with both hands; the chains spanned over ten meters in length, appearing to weigh several tons, leaving heavy marks on the grass.

Following behind were three colossal demons with blade-like arms.

The demons’ heads resembled mice, their movements were mouse-like timid, obediently trailing behind the chains monster, not daring to overstep, but the air they stirred as their claws swept the grass would preemptively shred all nearby weeds, indicating these big mice shouldn’t be underestimated as Foundation Establishment Demon Fiends.

"Leader of the Swift Claw Tribe," Jiang Shi pointed at the chain-wielding figure, then at the big mice: "Swift Claw Beast."

The people paused, realizing Jiang Shi was introducing the Demon King and demon names to them.

By this time, they sensed trouble, since humanoid demons, although Qi Blood intensity was lower than beast-type demons, were often more skilled in combat. Yet, at this point, they could only proceed according to plan, dispatching the Comrades Association’s ’Blade Battle General’ and ’Dragon-breaking War General’ to intercept the tribal leader. Blade Battle General excelled at dodging, Dragon-breaking War General had high defense, making them the best choices to withstand the Demon King.

Just saw the tribal leader take a deep, long breath like a rainbow sucking water, muscles in both hands suddenly bursting out blue veins. When Blade Battle General and Dragon-breaking War General stepped within a ten-meter radius, it roared suddenly, the sound like war drums reverberating everywhere, everyone could only see two white strips slicing through the air, crisp sonic booms like the world being lashed and wailing, even from tens of steps away, Shang Xinlei and her group could feel the gust driven by the lashes, tender faces were even nicked to bleed!

Compared with Swift Claw Beast’s arm blades, its chains were the true swift claws, elusive as shadows, moving like thunder!

Just from this distance, they were affected; the Blade Battle General and Dragon-breaking War General hit squarely got severely injured, flung several steps back before halting, a ghastly wound slashed across the Blade Battle General’s chest, the Dragon-breaking War General’s armor splintered by one-fifth. Even if durability couldn’t be seen, they knew these two advanced statues wouldn’t hold long against the tribal leader.

"How do we fight this?" Qian Gongyu’s eyes widened: "It alone can press both statues!"

"No, it can be fought!" Jie Yuan Shao immediately spotted the tribal leader’s weakness: "It uses chains like a whip, the damage is greatest at the ends, but up close, it’s less than a dagger. As long as a statue gets close, there’s a chance of victory!"

"But how to approach? It flicks and the statue’s sent flying—"

Qian Gongyu hadn’t finished her sentence when Jiang Shi transformed into a spectral shadow charging towards the tribal leader. Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters, as Jiang Shi stepped into the tribal leader’s attack range, the other three people held their breath, feeling their blood stop, scalp tingling.

Swoosh.

The tribal leader showed no mercy, delivering fierce double chain cross attacks to the weak Jiang Shi. In this split-second flash, Jiang Shi leapt to evade the chains’ fierce blows, but the mere gust of wind from the chains was like countless small knives flaying her legs.

Simultaneously, the Blade Battle General and the Dragon-breaking War General also rushed to the tribal leader’s left and right rear, sprinting towards the Demon King at the fastest speed!

How will it act? Jiang Shi and two statues surrounded it as a triangle, it could at most handle two, another would inevitably close in!

The tribal leader moved.

It didn’t just move its hands; its legs moved too.

It ran between Blade Battle General and Dragon-breaking War General while swinging chains to repel those two statues! The encircling stance formed by Jiang Shi was effortlessly dissolved!

"They say the stronger the humanoid demon, the higher the intelligence..." Shang Xinlei murmured: "Seems this is true."

"But what now?" Qian Gongyu was anxious: "Fail to trap the tribal leader, Blade Battle General and others will be destroyed!"

"Three people are insufficient to trap the tribal leader, at least four are needed!" Jie Yuan Shao took a deep breath, blood surging, holding her Blood Weapon Longsword ready to charge: "Looks like only—"

"Don’t go!" Shang Xinlei immediately held her back: "That’s not a battlefield we should engage in! We should follow the plan to quickly kill a Swift Claw Beast!"

Meanwhile, the battlefield situation changed again.

Jiang Shi suddenly abandoned the tribal leader, darting like an arrow toward the nearest Swift Claw Beast, brushing past Tear Crown Mermaid. When Swift Claw Beast tried to catch up to Tear Crown Mermaid, Jiang Shi slid below it, Blood Weapon Long Saber cutting its soft belly with a grim wound, successfully attracting its attention.

Tear Crown Mermaid also seized the opportunity, directing a long spear to summon Water Mirror, repelling the tribal leader’s chain assault, marking the first time causing damage to the tribal leader.

Shang Xinlei and the others felt a jolt of spirit—Jiang Shi intended to handle a Foundation Establishment Demon Fiend by herself so that the three statues could confront the tribe leader?

However, as time went on, the situation did not improve. Although the tribe leader’s attack speed was not fast, it had a large attack range and a high tolerance for errors. Even when dealing with three high-level statues, it was effortless, efficiently reducing their durability. After just a few clashes, the Tear Crown Mermaid was already bleeding profusely, and the three statues still couldn’t break into the tribe leader’s lock chain domain.

At this point, Jie Yuan Shao and others were working with the ’Life-taking War General’ and all the low-level statues to besiege another Swift Claw Beast. As long as they could kill one Swift Claw Beast first, they could free up another high-level statue to attack the tribe leader. However, the Swift Claw Beast’s skin was thick and tough, and no matter how they focused their attacks, the Swift Claw Beast could still hold on for a while!

Will it be in time?

Can they manage to kill the Swift Claw Beast before the tribe leader destroys the statues?

After three days of hard work, would they have to gamble their victory or defeat on this life-and-death race with no certainty?

In the end, would luck be the only determinant of everything?

No.

"Jiang Shi, she..." Qian Gongyu glanced at the battlefield and asked puzzled, "Is she approaching?"

Everyone turned their heads to see Jiang Shi and the Swift Claw Beast fighting as they moved closer. It was unimaginable that she, just a newly transitioned messenger, even with the bonus of statue-based bindings, could actually hold off a Foundation Establishment Demon Fiend and still have the mind to join with them—

Join?

Shang Xinlei’s pupils constricted as she turned to look at the ’Life-taking War General’ beside her.

The Life-taking War General, wielding a giant sword, was grappling with the Swift Claw Beast, using the recoil to retreat further and further, finally turning to join the battle against the tribe leader!

"She’s crazy!" Jie Yuan Shao immediately realized, "She wants to hold off two Foundation Establishment Demon Fiends by herself!"

Without the restraint of the Life-taking War General, the Swift Claw Beast easily swatted away the Funeral Mermaid and Eagle Shooter, as these low-level statues were no match for a Foundation Establishment Demon Fiend. It turned and saw Jiang Shi approaching, its rodent eyes gleaming with bloodthirsty red light, and roared as it charged!

At the same time, the Swift Claw Beast following Jiang Shi seemed also angered by the tiny bug in front of it. Its four limbs pounced mightily, and its claws slashed towards Jiang Shi like two blades!

These two Swift Claw Beasts roared simultaneously, their assault and bladed attacks blocking every escape route for Jiang Shi, creating a passionate and fervent combo kill move!

Jie Yuan Shao stood dumbfounded, witnessing this moment, engraving all the details of the scene deep in her mind. Even if years later at Foundation Establishment Fourth Transition, she couldn’t imagine how Jiang Shi, with her then strength, could evade this strike. The Swift Claw Beasts’ seamless pincer attack surely exceeded Jiang Shi’s expectations. Jiang Shi was risking way too much, racing along the edge of a blade, inadvertently stepping half a foot into the Yellow Springs’ entrance.

In retrospect, Jiang Shi was just a very simple-minded, greedy person; she wanted everything, unwilling to accept any constraints, determined to pass the tenth level at all costs, even if the cost was herself... Yet she was also unbelievably naïve, willing to take all risks herself, never asking them for anything.

What a selfish person you are, doing this leaves us with no choice but to be willing to fight for you!

Just before the two Swift Claw Beasts closed in, a shadow shot like a cannonball hitting the rodent head of the leading Swift Claw Beast, sending it flying out.

With one demon fiend less in the pincer attack, Jiang Shi easily dodged the rear Swift Claw Beast’s blade, spinning her body like a lotus leaf, viciously slicing the Swift Claw Beast’s face with her Iron Blood Long Sabers.

"Jiang Shi, do you really want to pass the tenth level?"

Jiang Shi took a moment to glance back, seeing Qian Gongyu stand before the Swift Claw Beast that had been hit. Her aura had undergone a dramatic change, with a tail thick as a whip extending from beneath her skirt, her hands turning fluffy, and round ears surprisingly growing atop her head.

Her voice turned extremely deep, like the roar of a beast, as she spoke without turning back.

"Yes."

"Then I’ll help you."

Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuan Shao reached Qian Gongyu’s side. Seeing her appearance shocked them, but the Swift Claw Beast had already climbed back up, allowing them only to ask, "How long can you hold out?"

"The time of one cup of tea."

Qian Gongyu was on all fours, beast-like features appearing on her face, black and yellow beast hairs forming the word ’king’ on her forehead. She took a deep breath, "If it drags on too long, and I lose humanity, turning into a beast, you all must—"

"One cup of tea is enough!"

Shang Xinlei grinned, revealing an unladylike smile, "Even a Blue Ribbon Noble Clan like you is going all out, how can I fall behind others?"

"Purple Ribbon Nobility ought to set an example, protecting the people, how can we stand aside when they fight to the death?" Jie Yuan Shao tightly gripped the Blood Weapon Longsword, "Qian Gongyu, I acknowledge you... even without Jiang Shi, I’d gladly accept your allegiance, and of course, your friendship!"