Shangguan Bing Xue's ice swords soared through the skies as she commanded, flying in the direction of the giant eagle that seemed to be struggling to hold its ground in the skies.
The giant eagle was the lord of the skies thousands of miles around and had grown accustomed to being respected. It previously belonged to another world but was tamed by Jennan and brought to the Oblon world, so unlike the asura race, this giant eagle could grow by absorbing the Soul Power of other existences as Jennan never allowed it to cause mass slaughter just to consume Soul Stones.
Then, as long as it assaulted another world together with the asura race, the giant eagle's power would increase much faster than the rest of the asuras since it was not native to the Oblon world. It would only take at most another 2 years to cross from level 99 to level 100 and at most, within a decade it would be advancing to the Third Order; and considering that the eagle was only a little more than 150 years old, it could be considered a genius.
This giant eagle already possessed the intelligence of a normal human so its pride was naturally high. Then, when it was hurt by a small human who had not even broken the Second Order, the eagle became so enraged that it abandoned all defense and decided to focus entirely on attacking to crush the human who had cut it; a cut which continued to bleed non-stop!
The giant eagle charged towards the ice swords at full speed and instead of using its skill to control the surrounding gusts of wind to form a defensive barrier, it used it to create hundreds of wind blades.
The wind blades met some of the ice swords and to the giant eagle's further surprise, both attacks were canceled.
Unlike the giant eagle who mainly relied on its body and terrifying speed to defeat its enemies, Shangguan Bing Xue was an exceptionally talented mage so even with the present level difference her Magic stat was comparable to that of the giant eagle.
The giant eagle did not dare to come back down from the sky to attack and Shangguan Bing Xue was limited to being a ground fighter. For the next 5 minutes or so, both existences launched ranged attacks at each other in an attempt to take down the other.
Shangguan Bing Xue's body was riddled with injuries and her Rank 1 armor was practically shredded leather at this point. Her formerly pure white arms had several bloody scars, her smooth white thighs had two terrifying lacerations that completely destroyed their beauty, and even on one side of her cheek, there was a small cut from which her blood was trickling down.
Of course, the wound on her chest was still the worst of all since even with her abnormally high Health stat for a First Order existence it seemed to be impossible to overcome the corrosive properties contained in the giant eagle's blood in the short run.
But the giant eagle was not in optimal condition either.
Not only did the bleeding wound inflicted at the beginning of the battle by Shangguan Bing Xue continue to bleed, but its metal wings were partially frozen to the point where the creature's flight was affected. Its movement speed dropped drastically and around its head, there were several bloody wounds that did not heal at all either.
Suddenly, the eagle seemed to notice something and its gaze moved to the ice cube.
At this moment, the ice cube was completely covered in cracks and it could be considered a miracle that it had not yet collapsed. Moreover, the battlefield was unrecognizable after so many fierce magic attacks that upon impact generated enough explosions to bring down an entire building.
Shangguan Bing Xue also seemed to notice a strange flow of Soul Power inside the cube and her eyes glittered with joy as she realized that this person was about to come back to his senses.
Screeee!
Just then, Shangguan Bing Xue's expression sank as she heard a shriek from the skies. Looking up hurriedly, she saw the eagle charging for the first time in several minutes directly aiming at the ice cube with a fierce expression.
Her blue eyes also flashed with a hint of madness and without hesitation, she lunged forward.
The speed at which the giant eagle moved was undoubtedly faster than Shangguan Bing Xue's movement speed and the only reason she had managed to barely keep up so far was thanks to the fact that she possessed two powerful skills that boosted her Agility tremendously. However, this time Shangguan Bing Xue was not aiming to stop the eagle's attack at all.
Boom!!
The heavy body of the beast driven by the terrifying speed at which it was flying, as well as the gravity of the world, hit the ice cube protecting Bai Zemin hard. Even though the ice structure contained a large part of Shangguan Bing Xue's Mana, it was impossible to withstand such a powerful attack when it was already covered by cracks, so when the beast's claws struck, the ice cube finally could not stand upright and exploded into countless ice fragments that flew everywhere.
As the giant eagle's body recoiled slightly due to the force with which the ice cube exploded, Shangguan Bing Xue expended 90% of her remaining Mana and fashioned several ice chains that soon coiled around the creature's wings.
The giant eagle was shocked and hurriedly tried to break free, but to its surprise, the ice weighing down its body suddenly seemed to come to life as it turned into countless ice spikes that dug into its flesh viciously and helped the chains become firmer as they coiled around it.
The beast didn't even think about it and hastily activated its skill. The gusts of wind gathered around it and after several seconds it finally managed to cut the ice chains. Then, just as the giant eagle prepared to attack with even more ferocity, it felt some extra weight on its back.
Just then, the beast's hair stood on end as mortal danger overwhelmed it. The creature completely surrendered to attack and hurriedly darted into the sky where the air flows were higher, reaching a height of two hundred meters in a few moments.
Shangguan Bing Xue felt as if her body was being torn apart and if it were not for her talent in combat, she would have long ago been decapitated or lost a limb to the wind blades that constantly overwhelmed her.
While she made use of several layers of ice shields after having consumed her Mana in its entirety, Shangguan Bing Xue struggled to reach the beast's neck with staggering steps. She had to help herself with her sword, thrusting it into the beast's body, or else she would have been sent flying several times.
After the last ice shield was destroyed, Shangguan Bing Xue finally reached her target and resolutely raised her sword pointed skyward before slashing fiercely downward.
Slash!
Fortunately, the skill Frost Rebuff only consumed Mana to activate and not to maintain on a sword, therefore, her attack contained the maximum of her melee ability.
The eagle shrieked to the heavens as it felt its fur, skin, flesh, and muscles being mercilessly slashed by a sharp object. Blood splattered everywhere, including its back, and rained down to the ground like a storm.
That last attack had completely drained Shangguan Bing Xue. Then, fortunately for her, she lost her balance and began to plummet, narrowly avoiding being splashed by the beast's blood.
Even as her face contracted in pain, she ignored even the constant loss of blood that was pushing her to constantly fall unconscious to cling tightly to her sword as if unwilling to let it go even in the face of death.
As she thought this was the end of her journey, she suddenly felt the pressure around her disappear as two powerful arms clung in a strangely tender way to her body.
She struggled to open her eyes to find another pair of eyes staring at her as if afraid that she would suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke. This was probably the first time Shangguan Bing Xue had seen Bai Zemin put on such a worried expression as the one he was showing right now, and moreover, he was involuntarily putting on that kind of expression for none other than her.
But it was no wonder considering everything she had done for him so far.
"Finally... You opened your eyes..." She barely managed to whisper those words in an exhausted voice.
Her voice was so weak that the howling wind blew it away as soon as it left her mouth.
Fortunately, the person next to her was powerful enough and his senses were high enough to hear her words loud and clear.
Bai Zemin looked at the wound on Shangguan Bing Xue's chest and his face turned pale.
"You..."
He did not know what to say. Such an injury... Even her heart was visible! The amount of blood lost was so much that there was nothing he could do now even with his Blood Manipulation skill!
Still, Bai Zemin was not willing to give up so he activated his skill to drive the escaping blood back into her body. At the very least, this would allow time for her Health stat to work faster and more efficiently.
"See..." She murmured as her eyes closed. "I told you... You could leave your back to me..."
Then, her head tilted slightly to the side. Fortunately, Bai Zemin could feel her breathing there which indicated that she had fallen unconscious due to the loss of blood and the abrupt expenditure of Mana, or otherwise....
His feet returned to the ground with a slight thud. He made sure that the wounded and weakened body of the woman in his arms did not suffer the slightest jolt and carefully placed her on the ground; right on the only intact area, the area where he is standing before.
"Really... What a nuisance." He muttered under his breath.
His usually calm voice, far from containing the arrogance and pride of the passive skill God of War's Will, was charged with anger and murderous intent brimming to the very brim.
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[Blood Berserker's Wrath activated at 3rd level of wrath.]
[Strength and Mana +2000.]
[Loss of rationality equivalent to 30%. The effect is reduced by the passive effect of the title Brilliant Mind.]
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Several messages flashed across Bai Zemin's retina and his records were immediately altered. However, he was in no mood to pay attention to something as small as that and his bad mood was at such a high point that he didn't even notice that the skill had been activated directly at the third level of wrath.
Bai Zemin looked at the giant eagle writhing in pain in the skies and raised his right hand in that direction.
The Binging Bracelet lit up with a powerful earth-colored glow and the next instant the giant eagle writhing in the skies was surrounded by a glow of the same color.
Screeee!
The beast screamed in surprise and terror as it felt its body being pulled straight down to earth by a horrendously high force.
Bai Zemin's Magic stat was over 900 points in total! Therefore, the creature could not even put up a fight in the face of the power this treasure could show in his hands!
Boom!
The giant creature's body slammed ferociously into the ground and a crater several meters in diameter and several meters deep formed with the giant eagle at its center. The golden eyes previously bursting with vigor were now exhausted and filled with pain, but just then, a shadow loomed over it.
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