Chapter 123 Ongoing Suppression with Soul Jade
In the sewers, each squad had just gone through a fierce battle and, without any concern for the dirty ground, simply sat down right where they were.
Xu Yi's gaze was scattered, which to others seemed due to exhaustion from the recent fight. In fact, he was focusing on the Furnace in the system panel.
As the entries for Marksmanship and Combat techniques melted away, the path to synthesize Gunfight Technique fell into the Furnace, and a new entry was slowly born.
[Gunfight Technique: (Common Green)
Mystical marksmanship and flexible combat skills fuse perfectly, multiplying your combat power several times over.]
Xu Yi originally thought the synthesis of two Common White entries would at best be an Epic Common entry, but he didn't expect it to be of a green tier.
This indirectly demonstrated the practical effectiveness of Gunfight Technique.
He closed his eyes slightly, as a torrent of memories flooded into his mind: how to reload bullets quickly, how to fire a gun at the most opportune moment...
A moment later, he opened his eyes slowly, and they were sharp as knives.
At this point, he had become an expert in Gunfight Technique, one who had studied it devotedly for decades.
Entos, seeing Xu Yi suddenly reveal his sharp edge, was a bit puzzled. Had the Giant Rat pack come again?
He followed Xu Yi's gaze and his pupils suddenly contracted.
There were no Giant Rat packs, only a single Giant Rat, but this one's size was hundreds of times that of a regular black rat and compared to an adult wild boar.
"Fire! Fire now!" Engels shouted, ordering his troops.
The others spotted the enormous black rat too, and without any rest, they shouldered their guns and pulled the trigger.
The deafening gunfire erupted once more, but Entos's heart was still suspended in mid-air.
The bullets hit the Giant Rat, sparking small splashes of blood, but the bullets were far from enough to penetrate it. The creature's skin was extremely tough; after the bullets pierced its skin, they were unable to advance any further.
The Giant Rat let out a piercing scream and charged toward the group.
The faces of all the soldiers changed color; the guns in their hands were virtually ineffective. It was only Hand Grenades or Incendiary Bombs that could slightly delay the adversary.
A deep chanting suddenly rose. Three exorcists dressed in identical attire stepped forward, each holding an engraving of Thorn Flower and bowing their heads in prayer.
Mysterious forces acted upon the Giant Rat, which let out an agonized howl, its body steaming with black smoke.
Entos, watching this scene, finally felt a slight relief.
As the black smoke dispersed, the Giant Rat's body strength dropped by several levels.
The bullets penetrated its body, and in a short moment, the Giant Rat was covered in wounds, its speed significantly reduced.
"Make way!"
Entos heard a familiar voice from behind him, and a surge of joy filled his heart as he quickly stepped aside.
The whizzing Hand Grenade flew past him, tracing a perfect arc in the air, and precisely hit the Giant Rat in its left eye.
The Hand Grenade exploded inside the Giant Rat's eye socket, with a large splash of blood scattering, and the Giant Rat howled miserably, no longer able to continue running, it plunged into the sewage ditch, dirty water splashing in all directions.
Entos turned his head to look at Xu Yi holding a grenade launcher, admiration filling his heart.
Hitting the eye of a Giant Rat running at high speed with a grenade launcher was unimaginably difficult.
He could feel that Xu Yi's marksmanship had advanced yet again. Every time he thought Xu Yi had reached his limit, Xu Yi always managed to surprise him.
The Giant Rat struggled in the sewage ditch, and Xu Yi watched with inward alarm.
The creature's vitality was astonishing; the previous grenade had not only shattered one of its eyes but also blasted off half of its head, and even dried out its brains, yet it still managed to move!
But he quickly became joyful because the Giant Rat in front of him also belonged to the demon category.
He reached into his pocket, where it was empty—a mere pretense, as he was actually communicating with the Treasure Box of Annabelle.
As his hand emerged from his pocket, a large clump of red wire spilled out.
This time, the red wire was not ordinary cotton thread but specially made steel wire, supple and easy to wield while capable of hoisting several hundred pounds without snapping.
Last time when facing Bashiba, he hadn't had the chance to properly prepare due to the rush.
Once back in New York, he specifically had these steel wires custom-made, soaking the threads in his own blood to create Soul Sealing threads.
The Soul Sealing threads writhed as if alive, and under Annabelle's control, they swept toward the Giant Rat, ensnaring it.
The exorcists present, after their initial astonishment, suddenly realized.
This "companion" endowed with mystical marksmanship wasn't just a soldier, but an exorcist like them, possessing supernatural abilities.
Your next chapter is on empire
With the help of many exorcists and soldiers, the Giant Rat grew increasingly weak.
The Soul Sealing threads tightened, and the Giant Rat's body, tough enough to withstand bullets, was now as fragile as foam, being sliced into pieces by the sharp threads.
Xu Yi retracted the Soul Sealing threads, and unnoticed by anyone, at the center of the thread bundle lay a rough little bead.
That was a Soul Jade created by suppressing the essence of a Giant Rat's soul.
[Soul Jade+3, Current Progress: 11/100]
Xu Yi felt a bit elated. This sewer was truly a feng shui treasure for him, first with his Marksmanship Entries being maxed out, then the absorption of the Fog of Obscurity, and now he could suppress more Soul Jades.
The souls of the smaller black rats were too weak to be suppressed into Soul Jades. The enormous black rat before him was closer to some kind of Lesser Demon.
The newly created Soul Jade was directly thrown into Anna's Toy Treasure Box.
Within the space of the Treasure Box, under Anna's control, the Soul Jade flew towards the corner where bullets were already engraved with Necromantic Spells but had not yet been sealed with a soul.
Xu Yi did not value the souls of weak animals, and powerful animal souls were hard to find, so those bullets had been set aside in the space of the Treasure Box.
The Soul Jade rolled next to the bullets, and in an instant, the soul within was absorbed by the bullets.
Naturally, the Soul Jade could serve as material for "Soul Sealing," as it was already a product of suppressing a Demon's soul.
Even the Exorcism Bullets crafted from Soul Jades would be more potent.
The souls of Demons were inherently more powerful than those of animals, and the essence of suppressing the Soul Jade was a form of soul refinement and purification, which could further improve the quality of the soul.
Xu Yi suddenly became quite anticipative about how powerful the Exorcism Bullets made this way might be.
The ground shook slightly as another Giant Rat attacked, followed by a large swarm of black rats.
"Lisa! Ailan! Get closer to me!"
Xu Yi wasn't just protecting the two of them, he also needed their strength to collaboratively hunt the Giant Rats and suppress more Soul Jades.
With the appearance of the Giant Rats, the battle instantly escalated, and casualties among soldiers and exorcists soared.
Despite the three of them being preoccupied with their own survival, they still actively sought out the Giant Rats to reduce the pressure on everyone else.
It was unclear how long the melee lasted, but Xu Yi's clothes were soaked with sweat and he was breathing heavily.
They had hunted down a total of twelve Giant Rats, and by now Xu Yi was starting to feel weary.
In contrast, Lisa and Ailan beside him were faring better. Lisa had only a light sweat on her forehead, and Ailan looked as if nothing had happened.
Xu Yi had many Entries, but the only one that could strengthen his body was a Common White-level Combat Technique.
Both Lisa and Ailan, however, had Entries that specifically enhanced their bodies.
"It looks like I need to find a way to get the Hyper Accelerated Regeneration Entry sooner!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
I can't be physically weaker than the girls, right? Otherwise, I'd have no initiative in bed, which would be a disaster!
The swarm of rats was temporarily repelled, and Xu Yi's taut nerves relaxed a little, allowing him to become slightly distracted.
The system's notification came through, and a satisfied smile appeared on Xu Yi's face.
[Soul Jade+3, Current Progress: 44/100]
Unbeknownst to him, the Soul Jade Entry was nearing the halfway mark.
This Entry was filled with unknowns, and unknowns are often synonymous with miracles; he had high expectations for this Entry.
Suddenly, the ground thundered, and Xu Yi's face changed as he gripped his gun tightly.
From the depth of the sewer, more than twenty Giant Rats surged out, their pupils flashing with bloodthirsty light, fixating on the people.
"Run!" Xu Yi turned and fled, not forgetting to alert Lisa and Ailan by his side.
One Giant Rat they could easily deal with, two they could barely manage, but facing over twenty was impossible to handle.
As the battle ensued, more and more squads naturally converged, and two to three hundred people had already gathered here.
Now everyone was running for their lives together; the sewer was cramped, and Xu Yi was quickly separated from the others.
In the surging crowd, Xu Yi tried to find Lisa and Ailan again but realized it was impossible, and he could only be carried along by the flow of people.
Giant Rats broke into the crowd, causing mass slaughter. Due to the congestion, Xu Yi could hardly move.
Xu Yi knew this was no solution, so when they passed a junction, he decisively charged into it, with some others hesitating for a moment before following him.
The routes in New York's sewer were intricate and riddled with junctions; as people ran through different passages, the crowd and the black rats dispersed more and more.
Xu Yi stopped running and caught his breath. For a moment, he saw no sign of the Giant Rats following.
The first thing he did was not to look for a communicator, but to check the system's Bonds panel, where Lisa's and Maria's names were still lit up, which brought him relief.
This was the last guarantee for Lisa and Maria. If their names vanished from the Bonds panel, it meant that the other had died.
At that point, he would unhesitatingly use a Resurrection Coin.
"Who's there?"
Xu Yi turned sharply, eyeing the corner behind him with vigilance.