Lord of Prayer - Chapter 327 - 220: Striking Out_2
All of Zhou Chen’s dissatisfaction instantly vanished. He rubbed his hands in excitement.
“Let’s go! Time to stir up some trouble!”
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“Calling Shuke, calling Shuke, this is Beta, this is Beta, do you read me? Moshi moshi?”
The Batmobile sped through the snow, dodging rocks covered in a thick white blanket, as Zhou Chen called his teammates on the walkie-talkie.
In the air, the high-speed rotating propellers kicked up a gale, accompanied by a deafening roar.
“We read you. The target is two kilometers out. The life detector has scanned a total of five life sources,” Chengzi’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.
“How about we just hit them with a direct bombardment?” Zhou Chen suggested.
“You want to blow all the resources to bits? Let’s observe the situation first.”
After a long moment, Chengzi’s voice came back. “We have eyes on the target. They’re using the place as a stronghold. They’ve even built a small wooden cabin and are currently building a vehicle. Huh, there’s a Green-skinned Orc inside. Be careful, that guy might have ’My Power of Thought.’”
’A Green-skinned Orc?’
Zhou Chen paused for a moment, recalling the green-haired girl, Anna, whom he had met back in Jinzhu. She possessed a Forbidden Object called the “Book of My Thoughts.”
“Does every Green-skinned Orc have the ’My Thought’ power?” he asked.
“Not necessarily, but this one definitely does,” Ding Yuan’s voice chimed in. “This guy participated in the Sword Forging Competition last year, too. I remember him. He has the ’My Thought’ power.”
Just then, Chengzi exclaimed in surprise, “Holy crap, there’s a Dragon Lady, too? Is this team an Alien Race squad?”
After a brief pause, she shouted, “This is bad! The Dragon Lady spotted us! Zhou Chen, prepare for battle!”
The words had barely left her mouth when a rocket, trailing a plume of fire, shot out from the mountain forest. Ding Yuan scrambled to maneuver the helicopter out of the way.
A Dragon Lady with a beautiful face and wings sprouting from her back took flight from the woods, beating her wings. She charged toward the helicopter, carrying a Gatling gun and shouldering a rocket launcher.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT…
To the sputtering sound of a tractor engine, an unfinished and exceptionally dilapidated vehicle tore out of the forest. Black smoke billowed from its exhaust pipe. The rugged, winding ground made the vehicle shake violently, as if it could fall apart at any moment. One of its tires wasn’t even rubber but a cylindrical metal wheel that had been hastily cobbled together in an emergency.
Even so, the vehicle’s speed was surprisingly fast!
The moment this Alien Race squad spotted the enemy, they launched a counterattack with incredible speed!
As the junker sped on, a Green-skinned Orc climbed halfway out of the sunroof, grabbed the machine gun mounted on top, and unleashed a hail of bullets at the Batmobile, roaring:
“WAAAGH!!!”
Zhou Chen slammed on the accelerator and hit a button on the dashboard. Blue flames erupted from the rear of the Batmobile as it surged forward. But for some reason, a stream of bullets still slammed into its chassis.
’At this speed, I should have been able to dodge the bullets!’
The sound of bullets hitting the car grew more and more frequent, as if they had an auto-tracking function.
’Fuck, it’s the “My Thought” power!’
Zhou Chen realized what was happening. The Orc must have just thought, ’These bullets will hit,’ and so they did.
He whipped the car into a sharp drift, turning it around to face the junker. Stomping on the gas again, he sent the Batmobile charging straight at the other vehicle like a rampaging rhino. He then raised a hand and pressed the weapon button on the dashboard.
The roof opened, and a machine gun rose up and opened fire automatically, spitting out a searing chain of electric fire. Two Grenade Launchers emerged from the sides and began a frantic bombardment.
Explosions rang out nonstop as a dense stream of bullets poured forth, kicking up plumes of dust and smoke from the ground.
The “My Thought” power had its limits. It could make the unfinished junker run like a normal vehicle, but asking it to withstand bullets and grenades was a bit of a stretch.
The junker swerved left and right, but ultimately couldn’t withstand the relentless baptism of fire. It was blown to smithereens in a final explosion.
A cat-eared girl had jumped from the vehicle just in time to escape the blast. She rolled across the snow, and just as she was about to get up…
WHOOSH!!!
The Batmobile roared past, taking her out of the competition in an instant.
“I was going too fast to see clearly. Did I just run over a cat girl?” Zhou Chen muttered to himself in confusion.
Countless bullet comments flashed across the livestream.
“He actually killed a cute cat girl! I declare him my mortal enemy!”
“Kitties are so cute, why would you kill a kitty?”
“Damn you, Zhou Chen!”
“I’m going to hack you, slice you, and mince you into pieces! Killing you a thousand times won’t be enough!”
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“He’s full of energy.”
「In the magnificent Pantheon.」
Li Xiye was watching the livestream on her phone. Seeing the utterly bewildered look on Zhou Chen’s face as he wondered if he’d just run over a cat girl, she couldn’t help but smile.
She paid no mind to the stares from those around her.
Confusion, indifference, hostility… Countless people were sizing up this uninvited guest.
Because of this woman’s appearance, the Pantheon had broken its long-standing rules.
The Heroic Trials were originally supposed to have thirty participants. This was an ironclad rule that had never changed over the years, regardless of a contestant’s personal circumstances. If someone couldn’t participate for any reason, they would miss the precious opportunity and have to wait for the next decade. The vacant spot would be filled by a substitute. If no suitable candidate was found, the spot would be left empty, following the principle of quality over quantity.
Throughout history, the Heroic Trials had only ever had fewer participants, never more. Yet now, the Pantheon had broken its ironclad rule and squeezed in one extra person.
No one would believe for a second that this woman wasn’t powerful.
The domineering aura she exuded, forged through countless trials, made many in the room feel a subtle, looming sense of crisis.
At this critical moment, right before the trials were about to begin, she was calmly watching a livestream of the Sword Forging Competition.
’This will be a dangerous opponent!’
The thought flashed through countless minds.
Just as everyone was composing themselves, an old Priest with white hair and a white beard entered the hall. To everyone’s astonishment, he walked straight up to Li Xiye and stopped, studying her carefully for a long moment as if to confirm something. Finally, a smile broke out on his face.
“You’ve finally come.”
Li Xiye looked up, a little puzzled. “And you are…?”
“Austin.”
“My name is Austin,” said the current High Priest of the Pantheon. “Over fifty years ago, I was the messenger who delivered your invitation to the Heroic Trials.”
“Oh, so it was you,” Li Xiye said, the realization dawning on her. She studied the old man before her, his face overlapping with the young one she had met so many years ago. “You’ve gotten a lot older.”
“Fifty-odd years. More than half a century. The Erosion of time is an irresistible force for mortals.”
Austin then asked, “The person you wanted to see… did you see them?”
Then, he chuckled. “I suppose you must have. Otherwise, you definitely wouldn’t be here.
In that case…”
Austin looked at her with great anticipation. “After all these years, might I be allowed to witness the might of the Tyrant once more?”
“You sound so cringey when you talk like that,” Li Xiye couldn’t help but laugh, but a stern light glinted in her cyan eyes, a result of Essence Materialization.
“—But I would be more than happy to oblige.”
The old Priest laughed heartily. “I look forward to your performance. Don’t you dare disappoint your elderly fan.”
“Fan?” Li Xiye was taken aback.
“Me,” Austin said, pointing to himself with a smile. “Back in the day, I was your most fervent fan.”
“…” Li Xiye was momentarily speechless.
The others looked as if they had seen a ghost. The idol of the Pantheon’s High Priest in his youth… just how old was this woman?
“You make it sound like I’m ancient.”
“In a way, isn’t that true?” Austin chuckled.
Li Xiye thought for a moment. ’Alright, fine. I can’t really argue with that.’
「A little over ten minutes later.」
In the Pantheon, a magnificent golden door slowly swung open, and a sacred, incandescent white light shone out from within.
The most outstanding Tier Three experts from all over the World stepped solemnly through the doorway, ready to face the trial of twelve great deeds.
Before stepping through the door, Li Xiye took one last look at her phone. Her eyes filled with a gentle smile as she gazed at the face on the screen.
“We both have to do our best.”
Then, her gentle expression vanished. Her eyes turned grim and cold as she strode onto her own battlefield.
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