The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 358: Earth

Chapter 358: Earth

Team War Tiger, 3:47 in the morning.

White Rabbit saw a flash, then three strange green rays shot toward her.

It was thanks to War Tiger’s timely warning that she turned the steering wheel and stepped on the brake before the deadly rays could hit. She knew freeriders well; she knew that one of the possible forms was able to shoot highly-corrosive green rays from its mouth.

Three rays cut along the center of the road vertically, but White Rabbit had already driven away, slamming into the curb.

War Tiger had kept the radio on, so Goldthread, hearing the warning as he drove too, managed to make a sharp turn and slow down to dodge the attacks.

The two units of awakeners immediately got out of the cars.

War Tiger noticed by then that there were dozens of figures standing on the buildings on the sides of the road. Some were wrath monsters, and others greed monsters, among which were mostly freeriders with a small number of overtakers.

There were at least ten freeriders who were able to shoot deadly rays from their mouths.

“Stick close to Sir Monkey!” War Tiger made the call without hesitation.

The team had gotten to know each other beforehand, so everyone knew he was referring to Mischievous Monkey of the Twelve Zodiac Signs and did as War Tiger instructed.

Dressed in a Tang suit, Mischievous Monkey looked like a celestial descending to the mortal world. He clapped his hands together before his chest and growled, quickly dropping down to put his palms to the ground.

Rumble.

Chunks of concrete, with a mix of soil, protruded from the road, turning into four walls to shield all of them before a ceiling was created as well. In an instant, they found themselves protected by a sturdy bastion of earth elements.

Roughly a dozen green deadly rays shot toward them, only to be blocked by the sturdy bastion.

While the corrosive green liquid accompanying the green rays slowly ate away the surface of the bastion, more earth elements were supplemented to repair the walls.

Mischievous Monkey’s Talent was Earth, serial number 28, Element-type.

It allowed him to manipulate earth elements in a fight. Its strength was in its universal usefulness, requiring no specific environment due to the abundance of earth elements everywhere.

It was a shame that the awakeners hadn’t yet found the Element Rune Circuit, and Mischievous Monkey’s Earth was left stagnating at level 3.

Deadly rays continued to bombard the bastion. A few overtakers, meanwhile, had sprouted violet scales to arm themselves while approaching the bastion, raising their hands to ready their extendable bone stings for an assault.

Since the bastion was tightly sealed, it was pitch black inside. Someone turned on the flashlight of their phone to illuminate the place.

“It’s not my style to take hits passively.” War Tiger drew his Green Dog Demon Blade, giving out instructions. “Songstress, get ready to sing.”

“Understood.”

“Dead Pig, stay and work with Mischievous Monkey, keeping Adept Horse, Lovely Lamb, and Songstress protected.”

“Leave it to me.” Dead Pig’s nasal voice made it sound like he was speaking through a boom box.

“Yellow Ox, take the enemies in the longest range.”

“Okay.” Officer Huang drew the two guns holstered at his waist.

“White Rabbit, Green Snake, we’ll deal with the overtakers around us.”

“Got it.” White Rabbit was holding her personal weapon—a baseball bat made of Black Gold, while Qing Ling conjured her Tang Dao.

“Hide well and cover us, Electric Mouse.”

“Of course!” Wu Dahai moved his robotic arm around, pumped for the fight. He wasn’t worried about the small fries. He would take this chance to impress Qing Ling.

“What about us?” Goldthread asked.

“You do you and prioritize survival.” War Tiger didn’t have the time to also make orders for Goldthread’s unit. He could only trust them to know what to do.

Goldthread nodded and instructed his teammates, “Plan A.”

“Copy!” the nine awakeners answered at the same time.

War Tiger commanded, “Songstress, sing!”

Hands clasped together, Songstress knelt down on the ground with her eyes closed, opening her mouth to sing like she was praying earnestly.

At the same time, small holes opened up in the walls of the earth bastion.

Songstress’ singing reached outward through the small holes, her voice gentle, ethereal, yet brimming with a strange compelling power that was meant to relax. It swept through every single monster within a hundred meter radius like a gentle breeze.

In less than ten seconds, the mentally weaker ones fell to the ground without making a sound.

The more strong-willed monsters were getting distracted as well, and attacks from the freeriders shooting deadly rays from the tall buildings slowed.

The few overtakers with greater willpower covered their ears by making the scales on their faces grow, shielding themselves from Songstress’ Requiem to the best of their abilities.

Level 5 Requiem allowed Songstress to differentiate between friends and foes. Her companions, therefore, grew serene and at ease under the influence of her singing voice, but they weren’t put to sleep outside of the infrequent lapses in attention.

War Tiger slapped himself in the face to clear his mind, and he shouted, “Wake up and let’s go!”

Broken out of their trance, many others followed suit one after another, the slapping sounds ringing clearly.

White Rabbit and Qing Ling, as expected, opted to pinch their arms instead to the same effect.

“Sir Monkey!”

Mischievous Monkey pulled his hands back from the ground, and instantly, the earth bastion started crumbling.

A phantom-like figure dashed through the still crumbling bastion and sped toward an overtaker ten meters from him.

The overtaker failed to react in time, and catching it off guard, the man whipped past it while making a fierce slash, decapitating it. The monster’s sturdy armor of scale didn’t even slow him down.

The other overtakers nearby quickly shoot sharp bone stings at War Tiger.

Bam!

Activating Jump, White Rabbit reached one of them with an incredible speed that rivaled War Tiger’s, her baseball bat slamming into the overtaker’s head.

It flew away spinning.

Swoosh.

The other overtaker didn’t manage to land a hit on War Tiger, either. A Tang Dao had already reached it and swung toward its neck.

The overtaker quickly cocked its head to the side to block the blade with its hardy scales, trapping it between its neck and shoulder. To its surprise, however, Qing Ling reached it at the next second.

With a dive, she held onto the hilt of the Tang Dao, and a faint blue blade aura burst out from her weapon.

Swoosh!

The Tang Dao sliced through the overtaker’s neck. The combination of level 3 Metal and level 5 God of Blades wasn’t something the overtaker could defend against with its scales alone.

Qing Ling’s God of Blades had reached level 5 during the fight with Black Tortoise! Her Tang Dao could now cut metal like butter, almost like Wang Zikai’s bone claws.

She didn’t stop after killing the overtaker. With a twist of her body, she charged at her next target, and the monster rushed at her too, shooting three bone stings at her.

Clang!

She parried the bone stings with her blade, entering a battle of strength with the monster.

“Watch out, Qing Ling!” Wu Dahai called out from behind her.