The instant his feet hit the ground, Huo Tian saw the three monsters charging straight at him.
One look at their speed and veins bulged on his face. He roared, "Three Level-Fours—looking down on me?!"
Bang! His speed spiked again as he shot toward the trio.
Wei Gaocheng braked hard, a storm of feathers bursting from his back to seal off Huo Tian's path.
"An attack like this—who're you underestimating?!" Huo Tian slapped out with his left palm; formless power surged.
Crack! Crack! The feathers shattered mid-air, dissolving into dust.
That invisible force kept racing toward Wei Gaocheng.
'So this is Huo Tian's disintegration power.' Wei Gaocheng stayed calm—he'd long since studied the file.
"Detonate!" The feathers still in flight exploded, flames and shock-waves billowing outward.
The oncoming disintegration slowed noticeably in the fire and blast.
Suddenly a figure burst through the flames into Wei Gaocheng's face. Huo Tian sneered, "The gap between Level Five and Four isn't filled by numbers."
Bang! His right palm landed on Wei Gaocheng's head; with a Level Five physique the blow obliterated the skull.
"Gaocheng!" Han Qi and Li Yong cried, faces stunned.
Even after reinforcement, Wei Gaocheng shouldn't have been one-shot—he might lose, but not like this.
"He's way beyond the intel. Li Yong, watch yourself!" Han Qi's body spewed white bone; he roared and charged.
Behind him, Li Yong flicked two beads of white light—one embedding in Han Qi's shoulder.
After taking the soul crystal, his ability had mutated: bone he could summon and his defense had sky-rocketed.
Thud-thud-thud!
White matter coated Han Qi, hardening into a five-metre titan of bone-spiked armor; every footstep cratered the ground.
'Bone State: Ultra-Giant!'
Han Qi's massive fist hammered at the onrushing Huo Tian.
Huo Tian's eyes narrowed in contempt. "A few Level Fours thinking they're a main course?"
He lifted his left hand to meet the bone fist; ten centimetres short of contact—
Bang! Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The colossal fist detonated, spraying bone spikes point-blank at Huo Tian's face.
Huo Tian gave a disdainful smile. "Nice idea—shame the gap's too wide."
His right hand snapped up, pressing the air.
Bzzt! Formless disintegration fired instantly; the air warped, the spikes dissolving to white powder before they reached him.
He tilted his head, dodging a white spark.
Whoosh! The spark skimmed past his skull; Li Yong appeared behind Huo Tian.
White energy lines in his hands scythed at Huo Tian's head.
"Hmm? Spatial type?" Sensing the strike, Huo Tian let it land.
"Did it work?!" Han Qi followed up with another punch.
Whoosh! The lines swept through Huo Tian's head—only to disintegrate before contact.
Huo Tian spun, kicking at Li Yong while his right hand released a tide of disintegration over the five-metre bone titan.
'No effect?' Li Yong's body twisted early, dodging the foot laced with disintegration.
"Aaargh!" Up ahead, Han Qi took the brunt; the bone giant screamed as layers of bone cracked and weathered.
Crack! Crack!
Thick bone peeled away; in moments the five-metre form shrank to three. Without the armor, the blow would have killed him outright.
Whoosh! Li Yong re-appeared, white threads slashing at Huo Tian.
"Annoying!" Huo Tian casually waved a hand, erasing the threads.
He was already scanning for the next target; Level Five versus Four was supposed to be a stomp—staying busy this long was impressive.
'We can't win—our intel's garbage.' Li Yong's eyes flickered. Supposedly Huo Tian's disintegration needed half a second between uses.
Instead the man spammed it without cooldown.
"Don't look down on me!" Li Yong yelled, hands blazing white as a hundred light-beads blasted out.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh! The beads didn't aim at Huo Tian—they pelted the ground in front of him.
Boom-boom-boom!
Dust and dirt erupted, blanketing the area in zero visibility.
"Quit stalling and come die—I've still got other monsters to erase." Huo Tian sneered toward where Li Yong had stood.
Before him, Han Qi was now only two metres tall, limbs being whittled away; white matter gushed out non-stop to slow the disintegration.
Whoosh! Li Yong popped onto Han Qi's shoulder and kicked him hard.
Bang! The blow hurled the truncated titan a hundred metres clear of the disintegration zone.
Whoosh! Li Yong flickered again, circling Huo Tian, firing occasional white sparks.
"Tiresome," Huo Tian frowned. The kid was like a ghost—every time he prepared to attack, Li Yong vanished.
He'd barely raise his hand before dropping it again.
"Hah!" Li Yong blinked in and out, launching sparks while hunting for an opening.
The rapid blinks were draining his stamina.
Whoosh! He re-appeared five metres to Huo Tian's left—
Crack! A soft crunch underfoot; the ground caved, revealing a huge pit.
"Crap!" Off balance, Li Yong had only foreseen Huo Tian's moves, not the terrain.
Bzzt! A vision flashed: Huo Tian never moved, yet a silent ripple swept through him, reducing him to powder too fast to react.
The instant the premonition hit, Li Yong blinked ten metres right.
Bzzt! Another warning—another ripple crossed the distance in a heartbeat.
'Area attack!' Li Yong hurled light-beads in every direction.
Bzzt! A third warning—no escape this time.
"How big is this radius?!" Li Yong's pupils shrank; he sensed an invisible wave bloom from Huo Tian.
Every spark he'd shot winked out the moment it appeared.
Huo Tian gave a cold smile. "Think I'm stupid? Erase your sparks and you've got nowhere to run."
"Damn it!" Li Yong watched every bead vanish; he thrust out a hand, a tiny spark just forming—
The unseen ripple washed over him.
It passed—and Li Yong was gone.
Bang! An instant later his upper half slammed to the ground where he'd stood.