Chapter 433: Chapter 371: The Mushroom Cloud Reappears!
"No more nonsense, speed up!"
Li Zheng calculated in his mind and found that the distance between him and Asano was a bit too far, out of his ability’s range. He quickly made a decision.
"Zhan Zhouzhou, charge with me. Phoenix Mountain, you guard the two of them, and watch out for root attacks from the ground on Yan Guang!"
"Got it!"
"Acknowledged!"
Upon receiving their responses, Li Zheng spread his Thunderbolt Wings, braving the torrent of tree needles, and dashed forward.
As a result, the energy of the Shield Belt depleted even faster, nearly reaching the warning red line in an instant.
"Zhou, shield!" Li Zheng calmly reminded, knowing charging the Shield Belt required it to be shut down temporarily. With the Earth Dragon Armor, he could withstand the assault.
Zhan Zhouzhou understood the intent, took out a spare Platinum Level shield for himself, and bypassed the decelerating Li Zheng to shield the front.
Tap tap tap...
A series of rapid sounds ensued, and Zhan Zhouzhou’s forward momentum was nearly halted by the Flying Leaf Needles, almost toppling him over.
The shield fared even worse, becoming a pincushion in a blink of an eye.
"Hurry! It won’t hold for long!" Zhan Zhouzhou hastily glanced at the shield’s durability, urging Li Zheng.
Their coordination was slightly off; Li Zheng’s original plan was for Zhan Zhouzhou to look after himself while Li Zheng used the Earth Dragon Armor to take the hits.
However, Zhan Zhouzhou ended up running ahead with the shield, bearing most of the attacks.
"Move to my side, that guy will definitely use roots to intercept us!" Li Zheng, charging the belt with the Active Core in one hand, reminded Zhan Zhouzhou.
As he finished speaking, the ground suddenly trembled, and several black, shiny spikes rose up in front of them, forming a high wall to protect them.
"Well done, Sakura!" Li Zheng was overjoyed. Although Sakura’s action blocked their path, it gave them maximum time to catch a breath and adjust.
"Roar!"
Sakura flew high in the sky, and upon receiving praise, let out a clear dragon’s roar, thrilled.
As always, Pink Poli served as the protector, flattening its body to shield Sakura, transforming into a solid pink transparent shield wall.
A few Flying Leaf Needles were stuck in Pink Poli, with one nearly piercing through, likely almost getting past when it began to transform.
"Watch out!"
The ground trembled again. Li Zheng, with sharp eyes and quick hands, grabbed Zhan Zhouzhou, who was pulling needles from the shield, and retreated a few steps, evading a sneaky root attack.
"It’s endless." Li Zheng’s expression darkened slightly, as a Black Blade with bloody patterns appeared in his free hand.
"Leave it to me," Zhan Zhouzhou said, dodging aside, while condensing the Purple Thunder Sword in his hand, and slashing toward the roots.
Li Zheng paused in his forward lunge, hesitated slightly, and withdrew his bloodthirst.
"Yan Guang, don’t shoot yet, wait for five seconds!" He loudly reminded the rear, afraid of any cooperation issues between the two sides.
"I thought those words should come from me, but I’m way more competent, lasting at least more than five seconds." Yan Guang held up his left arm, waiting with a resigned expression.
"Yan Jie, shouldn’t we think of something?" Lin Fengjiao tugged Yan Guang’s sleeve, nodding toward Phoenix Mountain, "Brother Phoenix is about to become a pincushion, and you’re still in the mood to joke."
With Li Zheng and Zhan Zhouzhou charging to the front, Phoenix Mountain took up the role of protector for the two women.
The formidable Phoenix indeed showed responsibility, activating Abyss Mode, wielding giant shields in each hand, keeping the pair well-protected.
These shields were inferior to the one Zhan Zhouzhou wielded, being only Gold Level, unable to fully block the Flying Leaf Needle attacks. Some had pierced through entirely, leaving Phoenix Mountain’s hands bloodied.
Even so, Phoenix Mountain didn’t retreat a step, gritting his teeth and holding firm.
"Not my problem, Li Zheng left him to protect us, not at our request." Yan Guang responded icily without even sparing him a glance, "You’d better take care of yourself. That mutant can’t deal with Li Zheng and them at the moment, so it’s definitely going to come after us soon."
As if to complement Yan Guang, Asano Yuji, finding himself unable to attack Li Zheng and Zhan Zhouzhou, indeed turned his attention to the three at the rear.
The ground began to tremor slightly, a sign of root attacks.
Moments later, over a dozen roots appeared between the three, lashing at them.
Phoenix Mountain, holding up the shields and unable to care for the roots, sprinted forward with his shield up, evading the root attack range.
Behind him, Lin Fengjiao shot lasers from her eyes at a few roots, with little effect.
"Sakura!"
Li Zheng called out loudly.
"Roar!"
The little guy instantly grasped its owner’s intention and, turning with Pink Poli, charged to the rear, crashing down between the three like a missile.
Bang!
Rumble!
Earth-Shaking Platform activated, the ground seeming under its control, writhing fiercely under the impact, severing the roots and leaving them twitching on the ground.
"Damn man, not as reliable as Sakura," Yan Guang snorted disdainfully.
Phoenix Mountain remained silent, seizing the opportunity to replace the two shields and standing in front of the group again.
Five seconds had passed. The belt finished recharging. Li Zheng reopened the shield, leading Zhan Zhouzhou around the edge of the spikes.
This time, the two separated, advancing in a crisscross pattern. Zhan Zhouzhou adjusted only when crossing paths, to switch shields or similar actions.
More roots emerged from the ground to attack them as they went. Zhan Zhouzhou showcased his Swordsmanship, carving a bloody path, only leaving the occasional missed attack for Li Zheng to handle.
"The distance is about right, Yan Guang, make your move!" Li Zheng constantly calculated the distance, alerting Yan Guang once reaching his ability’s range.
"My missiles have been ready to fire, just waiting for this moment!" Yan Guang raised his left arm high, revealing dense loading bays enough to unsettle anyone with trypophobia.
Fully-loaded Black Iron Level incendiary bombs burst from the loading bays, trailing flames like diligent bees, splitting off towards the distance.
Learning from the last experience, Yan Guang didn’t let the bombs follow the stream of Flying Leaf Needles head-on but instead circumnavigated the center, reaching the extreme flight distance before coming from the sides and top towards Asano.
At this moment, the space suddenly fell silent. The Flying Leaf Needles ceased firing, and no roots emerged from the ground.
Two glowing green spheres appeared beside Asano, connected by light bands, seemingly transmitting something.
"What’s that?" Li Zheng strained his eyes, hoping Old Pu would detect it.
[Spiritual Spring Avatar, Asano Yuji’s ’organ’ for storing Life Energy, only summoned when he encounters life-threatening danger, using massive Life Energy to protect and negate damage.]
"Spiritual Spring Avatar? Life Energy..." Li Zheng squinted, focusing intently.
Nearly a hundred Black Iron Level incendiary bombs struck Asano Yuji, exploding in massive fireballs, with the fuel aiding further flame spread.
Almost instantly, the blaze devoured Asano Yuji’s enormous tree form, the treetop also bathing in the firelight.
For a brief instant, Li Zheng saw the green light from the Spiritual Spring Avatar condense into a thin shield around Asano Yuji, excluding all flames, almost causing no harm.
"He fears fire! And it disregards tier levels!" Li Zheng realized, Asano Yuji’s weakness was utterly fatal, perhaps allowing even a simple torch to spell his doom!
Provided one could get past his attacks and deliver the flames to him.
"Since that’s the case, I want to see how firm your life energy-formed shield is."
"Snap!"
Li Zheng snapped his fingers crisply towards Asano Yuji’s direction.
"Explosion!"
The next moment, a mushroom cloud reappeared, once again forming over the head of the Mud Furnace-person.