The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 796: Hidden Ace

Chapter 796: Hidden Ace

Can and Zero Hatred hadn’t been battling for long, but it bought Qing Ling enough time. She stepped on the one-tonne black coffin lid. She had moved it right above Zero Hatred at some point—there was a Black Gold relief on the lid, which protected the coffin lid from getting destroyed in the explosion and allowed Qing Ling to manipulate it with Metal.

“Metal Power!”

The black coffin lid slammed down on Zero Hatred.

“Bastard!”

Zero Hatred had to raise a hand and pull back the wind elements to help him resist the weight of the coffin lid.

Then Ke Yo made another Strange Whistle.

How many people have I killed?

Zero Hatred’s thought made a random leap, and his control over the elements weakened.

A second later, the whistle ended. Qing Ling recovered first and clenched her right fist. Two Black Gold blades, two Black Gold darts, and the Butterfly Twin Blades stabbed at Zero Hatred from different directions.

While they were manipulated by level 6 Metal’s great power, they couldn’t pierce through the walls of the tornado around Zero Hatred. They entered a battle of strength.

A few seconds later, Zero Hatred’s tornado gained the upper hand. The six Black Gold weapons started trembling at high frequency, about to get swept along by the tornado’s great inertia.

Then sharp purple light flashed through Qing Ling’s eyes. She shouted, “Lightning!”

Pzzt—

The energy she had injected into the six Black Gold weapons shot through the tornado and linked into three lightning currents, striking Zero Hatred in a crisscrossing pattern.

“Agh!!”

A sharp pain shot through Zero Hatred’s chest. His entire body went numb for a brief moment as lightning destroyed the energy route in his body, and the elemental tornado around him crumbled in an instant.

Bam! Qing Ling and the heavy coffin lid under her feet slammed down on his head, pinning him to the ground. He fell right into the welcome embrace of the black sarcophagus embedded with Black Gold, the resting place of the mummified life monster.

Thud! The coffin lid shut closed, trapping Zero Hatred without leaving any gap. At the same time, Qing Ling held her Tang Dao with both hands and stabbed the long, slim blade through the lid.

Blood had splattered onto her beautiful yet ruthless face. Her eyes were purple like colored glass.

The hem of her dress and her long hair lifted into the air as purple currents crackled around her. They swam up like countless planktons drawn by a divine power.

The charging was done in three seconds

Level 6 Lightning.

Ten thousand volts!

Countless indigo lightning struck down from above in the next three seconds like they were racing each other, entering the Black Gold Tang Dao in Qing Ling’s hands with precision.

The immense electric currents threatened to melt the blades, and blinding white light burst out, turning the Talent user into a phoenix reaching nirvana amid the lightning.

At that moment, Can and Ke Yo felt like colors were drained from the world. Amid the crackling currents and thunderous rumbles, it seemed like heaven was enforcing its most ruthless judgment on the coffin.

Three seconds later, Can and Ke Yo lowered their arms and struggled to open their eyes.

Qing Ling had jumped off the black coffin with her back to it. Stray currents remained and crackled around her flying black hair. Her face was pale like snow as her chest heaved and her left arm bled.

She slowly looked down and lifted her right hand.

Swoosh. The Tang Dao pulled out of the coffin lid and returned to her hand.

The sarcophagus shattered into black broken stones and parts of melted and distorted Black Gold. Among the pieces, one could barely make out the shape of a charred skeleton. It fit right with the black shards around it and looked like an art installment on death.

Elegant, so elegant!

Can and Ke Yo were stunned. They had forgotten to be curious about why Qing Ling had Lightning. It was as if she had always had the Talent.

Actually, Qing Ling acquired Lightning the night she returned from North Harvest.

It had become her hidden ace. She hadn’t even told Gao Yang about it.

Before going on this mission, she realized that Gao Yang had left her behind and assigned her to Team Nine Frost because she wasn’t strong enough, which enraged her for some reason. Thus, she revealed the secret to Gao Yang prematurely.

That night, when she took Gao Yang’s hands, Gao Yang had detected her new Talent with Replicate without missing a beat—and it was Lightning, already at level 6!

Since Qing Ling had mastered Metal, another Element-type Talent, Lightning could share the same energy route inside her body and reach level 6 in a week, and the two Talents had perfect synergy.

Gao Yang wasn’t sure how to feel.

On one hand, he was happy for Qing Ling that she had gotten stronger. On the other hand, he knew that Qing Ling would come to Ni Nation with him one way or another.

While both missions were dangerous, Gao Yang’s hunch told him that the trip to Ni Nation would be more so.

But Qing Ling was determined, and Gao Yang relented. As she had said, her life was her own. It wasn’t anyone’s responsibility but hers.

Qing Ling was exhausted after killing Zero Hatred, but she didn’t relax. She shook her long blade and turned to Can and Ke Yo.

“Get moving. This isn’t over yet.”