Chapter 1487: Me Against Myself
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A blanket of light-blue smoke shrouded the light-path platform, the ancillary temple, and several buildings of unknown uses. The seemingly beautiful smoke had a horrifying side: it was a combination of dust from degraded psionic crystallites and secondary radiative fog produced by those crystallites. It likely contained second or even third and fourth-stage degraded psionic energy. It was extremely harmful to living tissues. One only needed to inhale a small amount or simply be exposed to it for it to be fatal.
Hao Ren had specially selected the most radioactive dust for the “big package” he prepared.
The small tactical nuclear bombs that he detonated farther away were pale in comparison. The nuclear explosions only caused damage to the mountains and a few buildings. The molten craters created by the blast may have looked scary, but 80% of the attentive, seriously-trained demon hunters had not been so unfortunate. They had escaped the center of the explosion via teleportation. But once they entered the area shrouded in radiative blue smog, they would be dead.
Hao Ren’s purpose for delivering a dozen nuclear warheads there was to drive the guards into the radiative smog.
Crossing the light path was swift. Hao Ren guessed that it probably used some kind of molecular reconstruction and transmission technology. He felt a short moment of disconnection from his sensory perception, but his consciousness still functioned as usual. About a couple of minutes later, the anomaly disappeared, and he was already on the blue, smog-covered platform.
“Sir, we’ve landed!” Lily held her alloy sword and shouted in excitement.
The dog got excited quickly when it came to anything novel.
Hessiana frowned when she saw the blue smog on the platform. It’s such dangerous stuff , she thought. But she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that there was a life-support collar on her neck. “We have this gear, but those demon hunters aren’t so fortunate.”
Bodies of demon hunters were everywhere on the platform. Except for a few who were killed in the explosion, the rest died from the fallout, which was an unusual kind of radiation. Light-blue scales covered the corpses, and some bodies were even crystalized. The crystallization was not as thorough as when being hit directly by a psionic ray, but the effect it produced was more chilling.
“Psionic energy is such a sick plaything.” Lily stuck her tongue out. “When I think about how Nolan’s belly is full of this energy, I don’t feel like taking your spaceship anymore.”
Hao Ren smiled and said, “There are many kinds of psionic energy. Strictly speaking, it’s divided into different spectrums. Different energy spectrums have vastly different properties. Some are stable and some are violent. Some are good for nothing except for the radiation they produce. The crystal dust I obtained this time is the one with the strongest radioactivity, but it’s rather inept as a source of energy. So, fret not. The power source in Nolan’s belly is a stable and controllable type.”
“Only if she doesn’t simply overclock the power reactor again.” Lily sighed.
Hao Ren was stupefied.
Little Hessiana, the last person to come out from the light path, recovered from her dizziness. Hasse nodded at her before he cast his eyes around. “Now, the commander here must have already known about the attack on the light-path platform. The radiative smog will not hold them off for very long. We need to move quickly. I remember a spot through which we can enter to get to the temple of Poseidon fairly easily.”
“Commander? Isn’t that you? Hessiana asked.
Hao Ren waved to little Hessiana, who was curious and nervous. “Come here. You will have to transform into a bat from now on.”
The platform and the area beyond were places where demon hunter numbers were concentrated. In the event of an encounter, the situation could become more dangerous than battling the brainless undead in Tartarus, and the safety of little Hessiana was a concern. Thus, it was better for her to transform into a bat and hide.
The little girl was clever. She nodded and in the blink of an eye, she shapeshifted into a small bat and entered the pocket of Hao Ren’s jacket.
Earlier, they had discussed where to hide little Hessiana. Hiding in Lily or Hessiana’s hair may have seemed discreet enough, but it would not be safe during a fight.
It would be safer for little Hessiana to hide in Hao Ren’s pocket under the Steel Membrane Shield. Even Hessiana did not object to the idea.
Little Bat just buried her face in her hand. “I’ll be embarrassed whenever I recall having to hide in this guy’s pocket during my childhood,” she muttered.
Hao Ren pretended not to hear her. After little Hessiana had snuck into his pocket, he strode forward and caught up with Hasse in front.
The group left the light-path platform where the radioactive smog was at its thickest. Once they passed through the palace, which the small tactical nuclear bombs had damaged, they headed to the large temple in the distance.
The fighting situation near the temple of Poseidon was already visible from that distance. Hao Ren saw the demon hunters fire light bombs from higher ground. Silvery-white shells rained down like rain on the translucent energy shield over the temple.
It seemed that the explosion on the light path had not affected the demon hunters’ assault campaign on the temple. Hao Ren initially thought that he had already created enough noise. But to the sacred army, an attack on a station did not affect the overall situation of a battle.
The power of a single individual was insignificant on the battlefield.
However, Hao Ren believed that the commander of the demon hunters, Hasse, would soon find out that the raid was unusual. Some demon hunters who had escaped the nuclear explosion and radioactive smog may have alerted him. Hasse did not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the attack on the platform did not come from the Olympian gods. He would realize that a third force, which came out of nowhere, had joined the party. This third force would be hard to ignore.
Hao Ren hoped that the Hasse of this era would go and check the situation out.
While Hao Ren was deep in thought, a strange gust of wind suddenly swept through the building complex covered with radioactive smog.
It was strange because the wind carried potent magic energy. The way the wind blew defied the laws of Physics; it moved around buildings and took away the radioactive dust as well as the smog. Hasse quickly said, “They are here but they haven’t found us.”
The area of “no man’s land” that the radioactive smog had created was shrinking rapidly.
Hao Ren and his team needed to quickly hide and conceal their scents. At the same time, they had to go to the temple of Poseidon under the cover of the buildings.
Coming face to face with the enemy was inevitable.
After moving on for a distance, Hao Ren sensed several fast-moving hostile targets ahead. It seemed that a clash was unavoidable.
He waved to motion everyone to take cover behind a collapsed palace wall while he quietly peeped from behind the ruins.
A moment later, several heavily-armed high-order demon hunters appeared.
When Hao Ren saw the leading commander, he cursed, “Sh*t. I’m a f*cking jinx.”
The one leading the small squad of demon hunters was Hasse. The commander of the sacred army had personally come to investigate?
Hessiana turned to look at Hasse, who was crouching behind a wall. “What are you doing here?”
Before Hessiana’s voice trailed off, Hasse was also heard saying, “What am I doing here?”
Both Hessiana and Hasse were stupefied.
Just then, the Hasse who was leading a team of demon hunters suddenly stopped.
The old demon hunter possessed terrific intuition. Even though Hao Ren and his team had concealed their scents, the demon hunter’s single eye was locked on their hiding place.
“Who is it?” The other demon hunters had come to their senses and drawn their weapons.
Lily flinched. The hair on her ears and tail stood on end.
Hao Ren exchanged looks with Hasse and said, “I’ll go first.”
Hasse nodded in acknowledgment and mouthed back, “You take the other demon hunters, leave ‘me’ to me.”
The next second, Hao Ren lunged out with his pair of swords.
On his back, a few artilleries appeared.
The demon hunters led by Hasse were no amateurs. When Hao Ren emerged from behind the wall, the experienced fighters were already expecting him. Hao Ren’s sudden and weird attack method did not gain him any advantage. Two demon hunters up front immediately summoned their runic shields, and they had long swords in their hands. Meanwhile, the fighters at the back raised their crossbows, aimed at the enemy in the air, and pulled the triggers.
Hao Ren swung both the Godslayer as well as the Worldbreaker, tearing and distorting the surrounding air. The gravitational field of the resulting spatial rift caused their bolts to stray off course. After he evaded the first wave of attacks, Hao Ren hit the runic shields with his swords.
Hao Ren then fired his artillery. Dust and smoke rose from the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Lily and Hessiana lunged out to join in on the battle.
As the demon hunters fought to hold off the counterattack, Hasse, the leading commander, frowned. He found that the enemies were no amateurs too, and his elite warriors may not be able to score an easy win.
Hasse, the leading commander, drew his silver sword and sprang forward.
Just as he did, he heard a voice amid the smoke. Hasse froze as he heard the voice say, “Do you know me?”
Hasse looked. He did a double take when he saw a demon hunter, who appeared identical to him, charging at him.
They did not just have the same faces, but they also had the same equipment, body movement and build.
Hasse of 44 BC was stunned.
On one side was Hasse, who was from the future. He had the advantages of hindsight and 2,000 years more of combat experience. On the other side was the Hasse of the current era, who was stunned and clueless about what was going on. It was not hard to guess who would get the upper hand.
Unlike Lily, who was still in her young body and had relatively low combat strength, Hasse did not have such a limitation.
Hao Ren shattered the weapons of his enemies with his badass cosmic-fragment swords and took control of the situation. He then glanced over to see how the two Hasses were fighting, and he broke out in cold sweat. “He’s not showing any mercy even when he’s beating himself up!”