The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 674: Empress Stomp

Vermilion Bird focused and quickly dispersed the thought she shouldn’t have.

“Please check the ware, Brother Azure Dragon.”

War Tiger grinned and threw the Life Rune Circuit to Azure Dragon. Azure Dragon checked it carefully to make sure it was the real deal before handing it back to War Tiger.

Then Goldthread stood up and handed the Poison Rune Circuit to Azure Dragon, who went through the same process before returning it to Goldthread.

It was done in such a complicated way by the request of the Zodiacs and the Union.

Although it was unlikely for the Qilin Guild to antagonize the two other organizations openly for two Rune Circuits that weren’t placed top in their value, it would still be too great a temptation to put two Rune Circuits in the same person’s hands, even though Azure Dragon was known for being a man of principles and a stick in the mud.

Goldthread checked the Poison Rune Circuit again once it was back in his hand, making sure that Azure Dragon and Six Rime hadn’t swapped it.

He looked up at War Tiger and placed the Rune Circuit on the table, making a sliding motion. “On the count to three, we slide the Rune Circuits to each other.”

War Tiger laughed. He didn’t think that would be necessary. “I’ll hand you mine first. After making sure it’s good, hand me the Poison Rune Circuit.”

“Catch.” He threw the Life Rune Circuit to Goldthread.

Bam! Suddenly, a loud bang came from above their heads, and the entire building shook.

...

Walled City of Ten Dragons, a minute ago.

Above the Black Tortoise building, a young man with a delicate face hovered. It was Heavenly Dog. He had both hands in his pockets with white headphones around his neck. All his attention was on his senses, taking in everything in all directions.

Another person stood on the rooftop of the building. It was Liao Liao from the Hundred Rivers Union.

Leaning against the metal railing, she was reading a novel on her phone with her head lowered. The story she had been following was finally updated.

While she seemed to be fooling around, though, she was doing her job.

Upon closer inspection, one would notice an unusual number of butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs all over the walls, windowsills, telephone poles, and tree branches in the Walled City of Ten Dragons.

Liao Liao was using level 4 Insects King to monitor the whole area. If any suspicious awakener approached, the insects would react, and Liao Liao would know immediately.

Meanwhile, Forest Crane of Team Azure Dragon was on the same rooftop, too. Sitting cross-legged on the water tank and covered in small white flowers, he had transformed his arms into countless small strands of vines, spreading them in all directions to cover the entire Black Tortoise building and parts of the surrounding area.

The soft leaves on the vines swayed gently. They were sensitive to the flow of energy and could thus detect suspicious targets well.

Sigh. Liao Liao lowered her phone.

“What?” Forest Crane remained sitting with his eyes closed, the small white flowers on him gently swaying.

“It’s not enough. I’ve waited for a whole month, but I finished reading the update in an hour.” Liao Liao was disappointed. “And it’s strange. Why didn’t the author go for angst this time?”

Forest Crane didn’t read novels, and he didn’t know what to say.

Heavenly Dog lowered to the rooftop then. “You aren’t reading My Buddy is the Chosen One, are you?”

“You’ve been reading it?” Liao Liao’s eyes lit up, typical of a fan meeting a fellow fan.

“I read it.” Heavenly Dog scratched his face. Sister Rabbit recommends it to me every day. How can I not?

“Have you checked the latest chapter?”

“Nah.”

“Read it now...” Liao Liao couldn’t wait to talk to someone about it, but something made her jump suddenly.

A few dragonflies in the sky had sensed an audacious energy approaching, sending the information to her.

“Above us!” Liao Liao shouted.

Heavenly Dog and Forest Crane had sensed the energy coming from above, too, and they looked up to see a small black dot.

The dot revealed to be a purple-haired girl in a blue and white sailor suit. She splayed her limbs as she plunged toward the building, her hair and skirt fluttering in the air.

“Nainai!” Forest Crane was the first to recognize his former colleague. He shouted, “Get out of the way!”

Ten minutes ago, Can had carried Nainai to a few hundred meters above the Walled City of Ten Dragons with Gale and Invisibilty, hiding quietly.

From the earpiece, she heard Gao Yang’s order. She immediately dropped Nainai like the fat man bomb.

“Hahaha, you mortals!”

“Scream! Hurt! Confess!”

“It’s the day of retribution. Receive your judgment and salvation!”

When she was less than sixty meters from the rooftop, she pushed her energy to the max and activated level 7 Scale, shouting the name she had spent a night coming up.

“The Apocalyptic Titanic Scream of...”

“Empress Stomp!!!”

Hum. An arc of energy exploded midair, and Nainai suddenly turned into a thirty-meter-tall giant, obscuring the sky. To her, the Black Tortoise building was but a small box of concrete blocks.

Three seconds before her feet hit the rooftop, Liao Liao vaulted the railing and jumped off. Heavenly Dog dove down at an angle and caught her, taking her to safety.

Forest Crane had quickly jumped off the water tank, too. Using his vine arms as ropes, he swung to another building.

Rumble. Nainai’s feet put two large holes into the rooftop of the building, and the topmost two floors crumbled. Concrete rubbles and glass shards poured down like rain.

...

Second-floor meeting room, Black Tortoise Branch.

The moment the loud bang and the shockwave hit, the security windows of the meeting room shattered. Everyone was stunned. Then they realized that they were under attack from the rooftop.

The Life Rune Circuit happened to be flying to Goldthread’s hand then, but the sudden impact knocked its trajectory awry, and it flew to the side.

White Rabbit reacted quickly.

With level 6 Jump, she made a leap with both feet and attempted to grab the Rune Circuit with an impressive speed that could almost rival Teleportation. But then a gust of wind swept through the broken windows, changing the trajectory of the Rune Circuit again to send it to the side.

Moreover, the wind was so strong that everyone outside of Azure Dragon got thrown off their feet. Making use of the force of the wind, War Tiger made a flip midair, stepping on the wall he was thrown into to propel himself toward the Life Rune Circuit.

Before he could touch the Rune Circuit, though, he frowned, detecting a barrage of translucent air blades flying in through the windows, making random attacks at everyone.

War Tiger was forced to give up on grabbing the Rune Circuit. He quickly drew his Green Dog Demon Blade and a shortsword to make quick slashes, blocking several air blades that could’ve cut him.

Clink, clink, clink.

The others either dodged or blocked the blades.

Six Rime quickly conjured a layer of frost over her body to take the attacks without suffering injury, while Azure Dragon remained standing where he was, taking the attacks with his body. The air blades were sharp enough to cut through wood, yet they left only a few cuts on his trench coat.

While everyone’s attention was on the Rune Circuits, the experienced Azure Dragon searched for the attacker with complete composure. He could tell from the strength and destructive power of Gale that he wasn’t facing Can, but the leader of the Nine Scions—Seven Shadow!

In theory, the replicated Talent should be at the same level as the original Talent. Thus, level 4 Gale would stay at level 4 once Gao Yang replicated it from Can.

However, Gao Yang’s Willpower was much higher than Can’s, and Willpower enhanced all Elemental Talents. Thus, Gao Yang’s level 4 Gale was much more powerful than what Can could ever do.

Gao Yang must have also used Invisibility. That was why Azure Dragon couldn’t find him just yet.

However, level 6 Replicate had a short use time. Azure Dragon only had to wait for Gao Yang to show up. Time wasn’t on Gao Yang’s side.

Time didn’t seem to be on Azure Dragon’s side either, though.

Rumble.

The ceiling of the meeting room came crashing down. The entire building toppled.