The Blood Crystals in Liv and Mira’s hands rapidly faded in color, eventually turning into dust that slipped through their fingers.
Their auras grew stronger, and the surrounding void emitted a low hum, like the sound of a strong wind whistling through rock crevices.
A layer of bloody mist seeped out from their bodies, creating ripples and folds in the air. However, this blood energy mostly stayed within a foot of their bodies and slowly merged into Liv’s red hooded cloak and Mira’s black tailcoat vest.
Soaked by the blood energy, the red cloak and black vest actually began to gleam with a bright luster. Their edges stretched and transformed, as if coming to life, trailing long extensions behind the two women and floating up on their own.
In fact, some of the garments worn by the Fairy Tale Girls Team were not ordinary items. They were specially crafted equipment made from useful substances extracted from the remains of evil spirits after death.
These pieces of equipment possessed some of the abilities the powerful evil spirits had in life. When stimulated by the Blood Crystals, these abilities manifested once again. After absorbing the primal energy of the Blood Crystals and activating the power of the blood crystal equipment, the Fairy Tale Girls Team truly revealed their strongest form.
“Hah!” Liv lightly flicked her cloak, and her figure abruptly vanished from where she stood. When she reappeared, she had already leaped into the air above the pit. With a twist of her slender waist, her Death Scythe carved a bright arc as it slashed down towards Grant below.
“So fast!” Grant was startled inwardly, and at the same time, he felt an indescribable eeriness.
After activating “Joker’s Gift,” he could also boost his speed to supersonic levels, but his movements would inevitably create big disturbances, like sonic booms or shockwaves.
“Ah…!” Grant let out a furious roar. Several veins bulged on his forehead as he kicked Luke out of the pit. The skin exposed outside his military uniform rapidly turned purplish-black, simultaneously condensing and hardening, actually transforming into keratinous armor resembling an insect’s carapace.
“Crack!” The Death Scythe cut deeply into the keratin layer on Grant’s arm. The hardened shell on the surface showed spider-web-like cracks.
However, Grant did not pay attention to his injury. Instead, he cautiously tensed his body, like a spring compressed to its limit, because the Liv in front of him had disappeared again.
“Swish!” Grant’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Instinctively, he raised his arm to block near his ear, just barely managing to block the Death Scythe attacking his earlobe. The scythe’s sharp blade touched and withdrew as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water. A stream of blood shot out from his arm.
But strangely, the blood that sprayed out seeped into the carapace on the outside of Grant’s arm instead, quickly repairing the wound. This was the ability of the Joker’s enhanced Parasitic Virus Bloodline — Symbiotic Growth.
However, with Liv’s flickering, ultra-fast attacks, the number of wounds on Grant’s body still increased at a visible rate. Even the powerful regenerative ability of the Virus Bloodline was gradually collapsing and disintegrating.
For a time, Grant was pinned in place, unable to move an inch, like an atomic nucleus surrounded by countless electrons. From the outside, the Joker’s tall frame was completely engulfed by streaks of red light, looking like a giant red sphere of light.
This was Little Red Riding Hood Liv’s self-created martial skill, Death Waltz: Red Hole!
Liv herself was an agility-type ability user. Under the influence of the Blood Crystal, her mutated Superpower also leaned towards neural reflexes and Explosive Power, granting her super high-speed movement capabilities.
With the support of this ability, Liv used the Death Scythe as her main weapon and created a set of close-quarters combat skills combining artistic gymnastics and dance. This was the current “Death Waltz.”
During World War II, Liv’s set of combat skills was actually not yet mature. The “Death Crescent Moon Dance” she performed back then was even simulated by Grant through “Joker’s Gift,” thoroughly countered and broken.
However, the current Death Waltz was a mature set of martial skills custom-made by Liv for herself. Restricted by her physique and weapon, even if Grant activated “Joker’s Gift,” he probably couldn’t simulate it.
While Grant was locked in a difficult battle, the other Fairy Tale Maiden, Black Queen Mira, launched an offensive targeting Lieutenant Luke.
The fight between these two wasn’t very intense. Influenced by the Blood Crystal, the ability Mira channeled was very special. As she moved, she left behind brief afterimages. These afterimages were not residual images caused by high-speed movement, but natural remnants of her body’s energy, almost identical even in aura, and they even possessed a certain degree of attack power.
Their combat area was now filled with Mira’s afterimage clones, blocking Luke in the center like a wall, greatly restricting the Lieutenant’s high-speed slashing ability. However, Mira’s attack power wasn’t as strong as Liv’s. Lieutenant Luke, relying on his high speed, could barely manage to hold on.
Of course, this was partly because Mira was dividing her attention to support Liv and also observing another battlefield.
…
“Bang!” The Burial of Light and Darkness fired two flames simultaneously, but they were almost indistinguishable in timing, sounding like just one gunshot.
The White Giant, transformed from Leo, stretched out its large, fan-like hand to block its face. But the two bullets lightly collided mid-air, sparking and increasing their rotation speed. They bizarrely veered away from the front, drawing two beautiful arcs to attack the giant’s left and right temples respectively. They actually simulated the boxing move “Twin Peaks Piercing the Ears” with bullets.
This time, the White Giant had no way to dodge. Its body swayed, and a stream of blood shot out from each of its temples. But that was all. A trace of anger quickly appeared on the giant’s face. It opened its mouth wide and let out a silent roar.
“Again!” Qin Lun’s eyelids twitched. He opened his left hand wearing the Glove of Sacrifice and held it in front of him. Several crystal-clear Pentagram Crystal Mirrors surrounded him like a row of loyal guards.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!…” The crystal mirrors shattered one after another as soon as they appeared. The raging elements blew Qin Lun back violently.
“Pah!” Qin Lun steadied himself clumsily and spat out a mouthful of blood. His gaze flickered as he looked at the White Giant pouncing towards him.
“Clink! Clank!” The skin on the White Giant’s left and right temples slowly squirmed. A pair of deformed bullets were forced out by the muscles and fell onto the pockmarked ground.
Seeing this, Qin Lun felt a wave of helplessness. This was the first time he encountered an opponent that even the Burial of Light and Darkness couldn’t handle. After all, this pair of guns was a Legendary set.
The White Giant transformed from Leo had improved far too much compared to the biochemical giant from the World War II era. It seemed that over these decades, he had never let go of the hatred in his heart, and had willingly taken great risks to conduct biochemical experiments on himself.
Leo’s evolution direction was likely targeted specifically at Qin Lun’s fighting style. Back then, Qin Lun could pose a life threat to the White Giant using just an FN-500 combined with the Weakness Crosshair skill. But now, the giant’s surface defense was almost flawless; even hitting a vital spot like the temple only left a shallow crater.
Of course, defense alone couldn’t counter Qin Lun. The White Giant clearly knew this too, so its original offensive capabilities were also greatly enhanced. Its long arms hanging past its knees made the White Giant look like an enlarged white gorilla. In fact, its movement capabilities were indeed similar to a gorilla’s.
Among large-bodied animals, gorillas have excellent movement capabilities. Although their running speed isn’t as fast as large felines, their upper limbs allow for more flexible movements. Judging by the strong winds stirred up by those long arms, Qin Lun didn’t believe his own Constitution and Protection could withstand such brute force.
Most crucially, the White Giant’s previous Infrasound ability was also enhanced. During World War II, using Infrasound would harm itself, but now that drawback seemed to be gone. Although the power hadn’t increased much, this ability, which had no blind spots and integrated offense and defense, made Qin Lun feel like a mouse trying to bite a turtle — he had nowhere to start.
“Either create distance and use the Mithril Arrow and Stellar Black Hole, or summon Cerberus and Venus to gang up on it.” Qin Lun’s mind raced, considering his paths to victory.
“However, the Mithril Arrow and Stellar Black Hole probably couldn’t achieve a one-hit kill against this level of defense. No matter which method, this battle would drag on for a long time. Not only would the original plan be scrapped, but if other Apostles arrive, whether I can get the final spoils of war is uncertain.”
“Roar…!” Just as Qin Lun was pondering, a large dark shadow suddenly appeared before him, attacking with a fierce gust of wind. Looking closely, it was the White Giant, which had used its great strength to pull out a large tree with a diameter of two feet, and threw it directly at him.
“…” Qin Lun cursed inwardly. A crystal mirror silently flashed under his feet, allowing him to just barely avoid the tree trunk. However, the accompanying gust of wind still made his skin sting.
He suddenly realized that even using the Mithril Arrow and Stellar Black Hole might not work. With the White Giant’s divine strength, it could use anything as a shield. After creating distance, the attack power of its thrown objects couldn’t be underestimated either.
Thinking of this, Qin Lun couldn’t help but feel some regret. If he had known he would encounter such a freak, he shouldn’t have used the “Arid Glacier” ability of his Frostwind Chaser at the start of the battle. For a type like the White Giant, which excelled in physical offense and defense, magic skills were the most effective.
The Glove of Sacrifice still stored a few magic skills. Among them, the sixth-tier Inferno Burst should be able to hurt the White Giant. But there was only one. Given the White Giant’s recovery power and size, wounding it without killing it would only make it more furious, with little practical effect.
“Could it be that I really have to use Demon Transformation?” Qin Lun glanced in Grant’s direction, his expression growing more serious. “That guy’s situation is even worse than mine. I’m afraid I can’t count on him.”
“Wait…” As he thought, a sudden idea struck Qin Lun. He felt he had fallen into a misunderstanding. Without using Demon Transformation, he indeed couldn’t deal with the White Giant. However, with the help of the Pentagram Crystal Mirrors and Wind Sprint, it seemed Leo couldn’t do much to him either.
“If I were Leo, what would I do?” Qin Lun’s eyes glinted, and a faint smile slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth.