Chapter 434: Targeted
Translator: AnubisTL
Amidst the battlefield woven with artillery fire and energy beams, the command platform area where Jieming stood had fallen into a bizarre “silence.”
This silence did not mean a complete absence of sound.
On the contrary, the area was filled with the muffled thuds of energy shields being struck, the low roars of Black Giants, and the clattering of the Scythe-Skull Race’s chitinous carapaces.
All these sounds blended together, forming the background noise of death.
In Jieming’s perception, this area felt as if it had been precisely cut out from the rest of the battlefield. No matter how fiercely the fighting raged elsewhere, here, it remained a fifteen-on-one encirclement.
“Damn it!” Jieming gritted his teeth and once again activated the rune-imbued magical artifact on his back.
The “Great Light Phase,” composed of over ten thousand talismanic seals, unfolded behind him. The circular array spun rapidly, and the three metal disks at its core blazed with intense light.
The next second, tens of thousands of energy bullets poured out like a torrential rain, each one powerful enough to level a small mountain.
However, the Scythe-Skull Race had been prepared.
Among the fifteen figures, three simultaneously raised their front limbs.
No, those weren’t limbs—they were some kind of sophisticated metallic devices.
Runes flashed on the devices’ surfaces, projecting a translucent force field.
The moment the energy bullet struck the force field, it was like a drop of water falling into a sponge—the energy was rapidly dispersed, absorbed, and neutralized.
An Anti-Energy Absorption Jammer.
And a model specifically designed to counter light bullet attacks fired from rune-imbued magical artifacts.
They know what I have. The thought hit Jieming like a bucket of ice water.
Sure enough, almost the exact moment his first wave of attacks ceased, four of the fifteen Scythe-Skull creatures moved.
The patterns on their carapaces lit up, and four invisible ripples instantly enveloped the area.
Space Blockade.
They had already unleashed a wave of spatial interference as they approached Jieming. Now, it was clear they were expanding their previous battlefield advantage.
This was “solidified space” in the truest sense. Jieming could even feel the “viscosity” of the surrounding space, as if he had fallen into a gel.
He only had time to throw out a single Space Distortion in the split second before the blockade was completed.
The invisible distortion bloomed in the air, its violent spatial power tearing at everything nearby.
Against an ordinary fifth-tier creature, this strike would have been enough to shred it to pieces.
But the Scythe-Skull that took the hit head-on only suffered a slight deformation of its black armor, which emitted a piercing, metallic screech.
And then… it was over.
Anti-Spatial Stabilization Armor.
Specialized equipment designed specifically to counter space-type wizardry.
Even this was accounted for? A deeper chill settled in Jieming’s heart.
The Black Giant’s situation was even worse.
The Black Giant, originally positioned at the front of the battle line, tried to come to his aid, but was cut off and surrounded by the remaining Scythe-Skull Race in a display of exquisite coordination.
They used Time-Dilation Field Generators to interfere with the Black Giant’s time acceleration and Energy Extraction Fields to weaken the absorption capabilities of its black metal layer.
Magmus, the sixth-tier Black Giant Commander, roared as he tried to break through, only to be pinned down by two Scythe-Skull warriors.
The equipment of these two was markedly different.
One wielded a High-Frequency Vibration Blade, each strike leaving deep gashes on the Black Giant’s hardened exterior. The other continuously released eerie energy ripples, disrupting Magmus’s innate time-manipulation talent.
Just two of them are holding off a sixth-tier… Jieming forced himself to calm down.
He handed control of a portion of his rune-imbued magical artifacts to the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror. His hands blurred, weaving a series of gestures as small-scale wizardry models were constructed and unleashed in an instant: fireballs, ice spikes, chain lightning, acid sprays… all basic spells, yet combined with devastating precision.
Even under such a relentless barrage, the Scythe-Skull Race responded with pinpoint precision. They didn’t even attempt to tank the hits, instead evading the attack trajectories with the smallest possible movements, all while maintaining their perfect encirclement.
It felt like… playing chess against oneself, where the opponent knew every possible move.
What did I do in the last reincarnation to make them target me so specifically? Jieming’s mind raced as he fought. Was it using the Sunfire Extinction Ray to clear the field? Or did the Black Giant’s self-destruction tactic make me too conspicuous? Or… did I expose the uniqueness of my internal grotto-heaven?
He needed a breakthrough.
In that instant, Jieming made his decision.
He clenched his left hand, and the portal to his internal grotto-heaven opened in his palm.
A dark-gold staff was drawn forth.
Sunfire Extinction Ray Staff. Charge Level: 63%.
Though the charge was incomplete, the moment the staff appeared, the fifteen Scythe-Skull creatures all froze in unison.
The three on the outermost ring simultaneously raised new devices.
This time, the devices activated without any obvious light effects, but Jieming keenly sensed the high-energy particles in the surrounding space suddenly grow “sluggish.”
It was as if water had turned to glue.
“A Particle Stasis Field…” Jieming’s pupils constricted.
This was a defense specifically designed to counter high-energy beam attacks.
Though it would only last for a fraction of a second, in theory, if he were to unleash the Sunfire Extinction Ray at this exact moment, the attack—which should have traveled at the speed of light—would indeed be slowed down.
So they even know about this, Jieming thought, his resolve actually strengthening.
The intelligence was confirmed: in the previous reincarnation, he must have used this staff and achieved a significant victory. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn’t have prepared such a highly specialized piece of equipment.
But this also meant that their knowledge of him was still stuck at the level of the “previous round.”
Then let’s see what’s different about me in this round.
Jieming did not activate the staff. Instead, he slammed it back into its slot behind him.
This unexpected move created a momentary gap of confusion in the Scythe-Skull Race’s formation.
And Jieming seized that gap.
He stopped retreating and instead took a step forward.
The instant he stepped out, he activated his body tempering method to its full extent, concentrating all his power into his legs.
The ground shattered.
Jieming became a blur of motion, his speed so immense that he left sonic booms in his wake.
He ignored the other Scythe-Skull warriors, hurtling straight toward the weakest point in their encirclement.
The Scythe-Skull warrior in his path reacted with blinding speed, instantly raising its energy blade.
But to Jieming, its movements were… too slow.
With his Divine Transformation Realm Primordial Spirit, Jieming’s cognitive speed was several times that of a wizard of the same level. He could see the runes on the energy blade ignite in sequence, the trajectory of the enemy’s muscle contractions, and the minute weaknesses between its carapace plates.
One punch.
A single strike delivered by a body forged through the Body Tempering Method, thrown at over ten times the speed of sound.
BOOM!
A dull thud echoed as the Scythe-Skull warrior’s chest carapace caved in completely. Green ichor sprayed from its mandibles and the cracks in its armor.
Its body was sent flying, smashing through three separate ruins before finally coming to a halt.
The encirclement was broken.
The other Scythe-Skull warriors immediately adjusted their formation, but Jieming was faster.
He moved through their formation like a phantom, each strike landing with surgical precision on the seams of their carapaces, the interfaces of their energy devices, and the weak points of their joints.
The Body Tempering Method had granted him more than just defensive power; it gave him perfect control over every fiber of his muscles.
The tide of battle immediately turned.
But just as Jieming’s focus was completely locked on the enemies ahead, a sudden change occurred.
A figure materialized from the shadows of the ruins to his flank—it seemed to have been there all along, perfectly blended into the background.
Only now did it seize the moment when Jieming’s old strength was spent and his new strength had yet to rise, launching a lethal strike.
It was a Scythe-Skull of a different kind.
Its body was smaller, its carapace nearly pure black, and most striking of all was one of its forelimbs.
It was a spike covered in heavy black metal, its surface completely non-reflective, as if it could devour all light.
The moment the spike thrust forward, the three layers of energy shields surrounding Jieming were pierced like paper.
There was no resistance, no delay.
The spike carried some kind of “Anti-Magic” attribute, specifically designed to dismantle energy defenses.
A glimmer of anticipation flashed in the compound eyes of all the Scythe-Skull Race.
Then—
Clang!
Metal met flesh, yet the sound was that of steel striking stone.
The black spike stopped dead at Jieming’s chest, having pierced his outer robe but unable to advance a single millimeter further.
Under the Scythe-Skull’s stunned gaze, cracks began to spiderweb across the spike’s surface. Then—crack—it snapped in two.
Jieming slowly turned his head, his expression impassive as he looked at his assailant.
The Scythe-Skull tried to retreat, but it was too late.
With a casual wave of his hand, Jieming sent the creature flying as if struck by an invisible giant hammer. Its body instantly erupted into a mist of blood, mingled with metal shards and carapace fragments.
“An Anti-Magic Weapon?” Jieming looked down at his chest. His robe was torn, revealing the metallic sheen of his skin beneath, completely unmarked. “Effective against pure energy-based wizardry, perhaps. But against my tempered body… it’s nowhere near enough.”
But as he spoke, Jieming felt no relief.
This meant that in the next cycle, the enemy would undoubtedly prepare countermeasures specifically designed to bypass physical defenses.
The battle raged on, but the scales had already tipped completely.
Though the Scythe-Skull Race held the intelligence advantage, the wizards’ raw power was still superior.
As Jieming broke through, the other wizards around him also finished off their opponents and began to reinforce his position.
Under Magmus’s leadership, the Black Giants finally broke free from their containment, their dark forms surging forward like a tide.
Ten minutes later, the last Scythe-Skull warrior fell under the combined assault of four wizards.
Jieming stood his ground, breathing heavily.
He surveyed the battlefield, which was now largely under control.
The cannon fodder units had suffered heavy losses, the ground littered with the remains of biomechanical behemoths and alchemical constructs. Fortunately, casualties among the wizards themselves were minimal.
In the distance, Frost was commanding the cleanup of the remaining resistance.
The seventh-tier wizard had been targeted even more relentlessly than Jieming, yet he had single-handedly crushed all the enemy’s high-end forces.
“Captain Jieming.” A voice called from beside him.
It was his adjutant, who was using healing wizardry to mend a deep, bone-exposing wound on his arm. “The tally is complete. Our squad lost forty-two percent of its cannon fodder units. Seven wizards sustained light injuries; there are no fatalities.”
“Understood,” Jieming nodded, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
The main force of the Scythe-Skull Race was retreating.
They withdrew in an orderly fashion, showing no signs of the chaos that usually accompanies a rout.
The landing operation was a victory.
But it was only the beginning.
(End of the Chapter)