Chapter 61: An Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks
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“GRUOOHH!”
A giant pack of brachiosauruses roared, rushing towards New York City. These were the same packs that Nicholas had seen from his house when everything had just begun. They were the largest of all dinosaurs, reaching a hundred meters each, true behemoths comparable to the strongest S-Rank monsters that had destroyed whole countries.
However, many of the Hunters that had faced them had already realized that these dinosaurs were much stronger than the “average” S-Rank Monster, if not of an even higher Rank, and it was all due to their ridiculously high levels.
BAAAM!
Their giant heads, resembling huge hammers, smashed the barrier surrounding the city, and a few cracks were already beginning to show. It was incredible how potent and mighty these beasts were. After all, it was the only trait they possessed—to be big, physically imposing, and with great stamina.
The Primal Power flowing through them seemed to deny them the ability to conjure any sort of supernatural magic, energy, or technique, and instead, it made up for that by helping them evolve into Apex Creatures, so strong that their physical prowess could even begin to pierce Bing Xue’s barrier, albeit very slowly.
BAAAM!
The hunters inside New York had already formed the largest formation ever, pointing their weapons and shields at the incoming goliaths, the cracks of the barrier spreading further and further.
BAAAM!
Their bodies trembled, and their eyes looked to be incredibly nervous.
And who wouldn’t be nervous?
As they analyzed the beasts in front of them, they were terrified!
[Brachiosaurus Primal: Lv3002]
[Brachiosaurus Primal: Lv2953]
[Brachiosaurus Primal: Lv2983]
[Brachiosaurus Primal: Lv3011]
[…]
“L-Level 3000 monsters?!”
“W-We can’t win…”
“The barrier’s breaking!”
“Wasn’t this barrier made by her?!”
“So even Bing Xue has limits…”
“GRUOOOHHH!”
The giant brachiosaurus roared once more, their giant jaws opening, revealing big, circular teeth made to munch and crush at the toughest of vegetation. They weren’t sharp and long like carnivores, but they were nonetheless strong enough. Capable of easily crushing a skyscraper.
Above their backs, most of the Hunters noticed strange buildings, like tents, flags made of dinosaur skin and scales, and wooden huts wrapped around the giant dinosaur’s back. And standing there, lifting bone spears, bone bows, and bone arrows, there were...
“Humans?”
Most of the hunters didn’t believe their eyes when they saw that, with every eye, they weren’t facing Crazed Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, Goblins, or other humanoid races from different worlds. No, they were facing their own kind. Other humans. Primitive humans!
[High Australopithecus Primal Spearman: Lv3202]
[High Australopithecus Primal Bowman: Lv3112]
[High Australopithecus Primal Spearman: Lv3092]
[High Australopithecus Primal Bowman: Lv3109]
[…]
Their levels!
They were even higher than the Dinosaurs?!
Was that even something possible?
All the Hunters felt a chill run down their spines.
The Raid that had happened earlier was already a tremendous challenge that, without Bing Xue, wouldn’t have been possible to overcome.
And now, there was something even more insane happening.
For the first time since the Apocalypse, humanity has begun to realize how small they are compared to the vast universe of different worlds, timelines, dimensions, and powerful entities out there.
Even as they faced a reflection of their evolutionary ancestors, they couldn’t help but see them as nothing but monsters, savages, and monstrous barbarians!
And perhaps it was something within every homo sapiens’ genetic memory—an instinct to fear them—the larger, meaner, and more barbaric of their ancient cousins.
They looked like them, but they were definitely not like them!
BAAAM!
Crack, crack…
The barrier kept gaining cracks, the Hunters swallowed saliva, sweat covering their foreheads, and they gnashed their teeth in fear, preparing themselves for their deaths.
Even now, after growing so strong, was humanity once again going to lose against their invaders?
Was the system not enough to help them?
Why, despite everything, do they feel so weak and pathetic?!
The borrowed strength of the system never truly felt like theirs!
Was it all a scam?
Were they always going to be just food for otherworldly entities?
BAAAM!
Crack, crack…!
“They’re coming…”
“Mom… Please, be safe.”
“Shit, shit, shit!”
“I-I don’t want to die!”
CRASH!
The barrier broke, a small hole appeared within it, and the giant head of the brachiosaurus quickly pierced it like a hammer. Small glass-like shards flew everywhere as the hunters stared at the scene dumbfounded. Dozens of ancient cavemen crawled through the dinosaur’s neck, aiming to enter the city their king desired.
“It’s over…”
As the hunters prepared themselves to die...
FLASH!
A bright purple light surged from behind the dinosaur, hitting its hard skull. Within seconds, it was pierced, and countless small holes appeared across the dinosaur’s entire head, its brains splattering out. The creature died instantly, and its head slowly began sliding off the hole, the entire body slamming into the floor.
Everything happened so fast that the hunters were still processing what happened before their eyes widened once more as the Russian beauty that had her country devastated and that swore to protect both her recovering country and America appeared.
“There are so many of you bastards everywhere!”
She gritted her teeth, her blonde hair waving as her aura exuded the power of the Void. The Hunters smiled, hyped, as they saw one of their heroines—no, one of the heroines of the entire world!
“Y-Yanisse…!”
“It’s her!”
“She’s here!”
Yanisse only took a look at the Hunters, for nothing more than a split second. She was known for being a rather cold and silent woman. She never really gave attention to fans and seemed to always be in her own world. Her sharp eyes glowed with purple light, channeling her Element, Void, and Space.
“ROOOAARR!”
The brachiosaurus roared loudly, their voices reverberating across the skies, making everything tremble. They were so immense that even their roars were like mighty windstorms. Yanisse resisted the pressure they released as she quickly aimed at them with the tips of her fingers.
Within the tips, dozens of spheres of Void Essence appeared, more concentrated than ever before, and now encompassed with small veils of golden energy, Ki. This energy absorbed her Void, suddenly empowering it greatly and forming an unrefined and lesser version of Void Ki!
However, as unrefined and lesser as it was, it was still an incredibly powerful energy.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ten beams of dark purple energy were fired, and a dozen brachiosaurus dropped dead immediately; their bodies, as tough as they were, were incapable of resisting the all-encompassing and devouring power of the Element of the Void, further boosted with Ki.
The Hunters gasped as they saw Yanisse slay Level 3,000 foes like nothing! And Yanisse herself smiled too. Looking at her own system notifications, her levels were increasing like crazy. She was actually barely Level 2000 and was shocked to realize that she could defeat monsters a thousand levels above her with her Void fused with Ki.
It wasn’t as if Bing Xue hadn’t seen such a scene before, though. As she floated above the city’s barrier and began to reinforce, she easily recalled Joseph, the chronomancer, someone who was Level 3000 but could defeat monsters of Level 5000.
There were certain Elemental Powers in the Universe capable of breaking the boundaries of common sense due to how primordial they were to the very composition of the Universe. One of them was Time, the other was Space and Void.
And as she continued refining the Void Dao, Bing Xue touched the barrier.
“I had made this barrier on a whim, with barely any thought put into it.” She sighed. “I should have guessed something out there would have eventually shattered it. Well, that’s not happening anymore.”
As old and wise as she had become, what could happen in this chaotic world, now connected to countless others, wasn’t something she could have ever predicted. At this point, she simply had to quickly adapt to any new challenge and protect her home planet as quickly as possible.
And that was what she was doing right now.
Her eyes glowed with bright rainbow light and then dark purple. Combining the powers of her Skills and her ancient Techniques and Abilities, Bing Xue created a complex formation around the entire city of New York.
Thousands of Venerable-level Materials were used, extracted from the boundless resources of her Inner Realm, they melded into the barrier alongside a powerful concentration and combination of her Blazing Starlight Armament Alloy, and also Void itself.
FLASH!
The barrier was quickly reconstructed and reinforced. Although it seemed completely invisible to the people, whenever a dinosaur hit it, it would reveal a metallic, glowing exterior, which would constantly reinforce itself the more it was hit.
“Later, I should spread this to every other big city in the world, if possible…” Bing Xue thought she wasn’t just the guardian of New York, but the entire world. “But for now.”
She pointed her hand at the barrier, and an explosion of Void Essence erupted; it could have easily blasted the entire city like a nuke, yet…
BOOOM!
Yet!
There was no damage. She smiled. The barrier revealed its metallic exterior, the alloy composition reinforcing and growing stronger the more it was hit.
“I think I’ve evolved my abilities once more…”
Despite being so overwhelmingly strong, Bing Xue was still progressing, evolving with every single battle, even those she could easily win. Much like before, she was someone attentive who, although she couldn’t predict the danger that might come in the future, could quickly adapt to it and swiftly learn ways to counter it.
This was one of the traits that helped Bing Xue reach the pinnacle of Murim in only a few thousand years, a time record compared to the Venerables themselves, who took hundreds of thousands or millions to become Venerable themselves.
FLASH!
Within a split second, she disappeared from where she was and appeared right in front of Yanisse. The Russian girl was strong, but her reserves of mana were low. She was fighting a dozen frenzied cavemen by herself and was being overwhelmed as she couldn’t unleash her Void Magic enough to kill them all right away.
SLASH!
With a furious swing of her Yin and Yang sword, an incredibly powerful weapon capable of cutting space itself, Bing Xue sliced apart one of the cavemen that were about to hit Yanisse’s head, his innards and blood splattering into the floor below.
“GRUAAAH!”
“RAAAGH!”
“UNGAAH!”
The cavemen, with their immense physical strength comparable to Immortals from Murim, kicked the empty air and rushed towards Bing Xue. Despite lacking any supernatural ability other than their ridiculous physical prowess, they were so strong that such physical feats were completely possible for them, from kicking the air to literally flying or even walking over water by moving at incredible speeds.
Yet, it was all the same for her!
“Your tribe is incredibly strong, I admit it... But can you take this? {Yin and Yang Harmonious Blade Arts}: {Endless Cycle of Harmony}”
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Bing Xue disappeared from the scene and then reappeared, disappeared again, and then reappeared again, her movements so fast and precise that not even Yanisse could discern them. Her sword seemed to move through space; in a split second, she appeared behind the cavemen, their bodies covered with countless slashing wounds, quickly becoming shredded into pieces, and falling into the ground below, before explosions of golden and black flames spread across, burning and killing any dinosaur left behind.
“Amazing…” Yanisse gulped saliva. “Bing Xue, just how did you get so powerful?”
“I spent eleven thousand years cultivating this strength.” Bing Xue said. “It wasn’t easy… But I can go into more details later. We could even hang out later, maybe.”
“I-I would gladly do so if you insist.” Yanisse smiled, nodding. “But you’re right, we can’t slack off yet…”
“ROOOAARR!”
The portal where the dinosaurs were coming out began trembling out of nowhere as something aberrant started pouring out of it.
“What’s that?!” Yanisse gasped, seeking the origin of that mighty roar.
“Hoh…” Bing Xue smiled, looking at the atrocity that surged from the Gate of Time. “So they were saving this for later, huh?”
It was a chimeric abomination, made of a combination of different dinosaur body parts and traits mixed together.
[Primal Dinosaurus Chimera King: Lv6162]
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