Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 88 Combat and Restraint

Lucifer hovered high in the sky, looking down.

Following the instructions, he knew the team possessing the Holy Grail was hidden in that vast expanse of smoke. The fact that so many participants had previously fled the smoke in terror, coupled with the fact that the Holy Grail had not yet changed hands, clearly demonstrated the strength of the Grail team.

That's just right.

Lucifer hated fighting the weak; to him, it was an utterly boring thing.

For him, the prospect of fighting against the strong was even more appealing than the Holy Grail.

But before that, we need to get rid of these troublesome guys first...

Lucifer's gaze fell on the tightly packed wolf pack, quickly locking onto the alpha wolf, who was also looking at him with a wary expression.

call--!
With a flap of black wings, Lucifer swooped down at incredible speed. Before the wolf pack members could even see clearly, several of them were killed and eliminated.

"attack!"

At the alpha wolf's command, all members of the wolf pack who possessed ranged items or skills used them.

However, Lucifer was flying too fast, and all non-targeting items and skills missed their mark. Targeting items that hit him seemed to be absorbed, causing almost no damage.

This shocked and bewildered many members of the wolf pack.

"How is this going?!"

"His wings are too fast! We can't hit him at all!"

"Damn it, his wings are amazing! Those things must consume a lot of mental energy, right? How can he keep flying like that!"

Upon hearing the pack's low growls, the alpha wolf suddenly realized that the federal intelligence agency's speculation might be true!
Since the establishment of the Tulip Federation, its intelligence agencies have been dedicated to collecting intelligence on powerful ascendants around the world through various means.

Lucifer of the Solomon Empire was undoubtedly one of the best among the Ascended Ones, and his pair of black wings became his personal trademark.

Moreover, this Lucifer has almost no sense of secrecy, and sometimes he even deliberately reveals his location just to attract powerful people to fight him.

Therefore, after studying Lucifer's combat records, the intelligence agency made a conjecture.

That is, Lucifer has the ability to replenish his mental energy by killing enemies in battle!
"Wolves, heed my command!" The alpha wolf, realizing this, immediately ordered, "Withdraw from the battlefield immediately!"

If Lucifer can truly kill enemies to replenish his depleted mental energy, then the Wolf Pack members will become his life support, continuously providing him with mental energy!

The wolf pack obeyed orders immediately and retreated as commanded by the alpha wolf.

Seeing this, Lucifer did not pursue, but looked at the only remaining alpha wolf.

“Lucifer, I know you can replenish your mental energy by killing enemies, and perhaps your wings have other special abilities. But now that I'm all alone, how will you replenish it?”

Lucifer said indifferently, "Of course, it's in exchange for your life."

The alpha wolf sneered and rolled up his left sleeve. A tattoo of a hawk was revealed on his left arm, glowing as he channeled his mental energy into it.

Wow!
The tattoo's light suddenly enveloped the alpha wolf's entire body, and the next moment the human vanished without a trace, replaced by a giant eagle with a sharp beak and claws!

"The ability to transform into a beast."

Excitement flashed in Lucifer's eyes, and the next moment he took the initiative to flap his wings and charge towards the transformed alpha wolf!
After the alpha wolf transformed into a giant eagle, its mental energy was rapidly draining away every second. It knew it had at most 10 seconds; if it couldn't kill Lucifer within those 10 seconds, it would be the one to die!
He let out a high-pitched eagle cry, flapped his enormous wings, and rammed head-on into Lucifer who was charging towards him!

The two passed each other in an instant.

A piece of flesh and blood appeared in the eagle's mouth; it had been bitten off Lucifer's face, though he had originally intended to bite his throat.

Lucifer, however, was holding a broken wing, which he had plucked from the eagle's body.

"Roar!"

A huge roar came from behind, but Lucifer didn't turn his head. He flapped his wings and his body suddenly rose up, avoiding the attack from behind.

He looked down and saw that the eagle had transformed into another beast, a black bear. But this transformation was incomplete; only its upper body remained that of a bear, while its legs were human.
Lucifer knew this was a sign of insufficient mental energy. He himself was the same; if he couldn't continuously replenish his mental energy during battle, his flight time would only last less than half a minute.

Time to end.

Lucifer threw away the eagle wing he had torn off and swooped down at full speed!
puff--!
After another collision, the black bear fell to the ground, and Lucifer held a heart in his hand.

"Lucifer... I will not let you go..."

The wolf, now back in human form, spoke with difficulty. In his beast form, his heart had been ripped out, and even after reverting to human form, he would still suffer a fatal wound that could not be healed by ordinary medicine or tools.

Lucifer ignored it. After the alpha wolf died, the wings on his back immediately absorbed the latter's life force, replenishing his depleted mental energy.

His gaze fell on the smoke, hoping that the Grail team would be stronger than Alpha Wolves and put more pressure on him.

……

The Thorn Shadow Killing Array's effects far exceeded Guan Tong's expectations.

It wasn't just the number of people killed that was significant; more importantly, its visual impact was so strong that it scared away a large number of participants.

In this way, he had a rare moment of peace and quiet.

He immediately turned to the third page of the wordless book and began to continuously convert his mental energy into reserve mental energy.

This is undoubtedly preparation for the post-match period; the more he prepares, the more confident he will be.

Crucially, accumulating more Holy Grail buffs here can significantly save him time. For example, successfully writing and materializing "Full-Functional Shelter" saved him at least several months. If he were to accumulate even more mental energy and Silver Hunter ammo, these short 30 minutes could save him a full year!
In other words, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he developed a year faster than other Ascended through this challenge.

This is undoubtedly very important to Guan Tong, because he has no organization or power to rely on and can only rely on himself.

Therefore, such opportunities must be firmly grasped. Only in this way can he continue to act independently and have the confidence to fight against those malicious organizations and groups on his own.

[18 minutes remaining until the Holy Grail's ownership is determined]

Guan Tong enjoyed a little over three minutes of peace, silently converting 800 points of her reserved mental energy.

At that moment, the low growl of the undead came from the edge of the smoke.

Guan Tong opened her eyes.

Someone is coming again?
He thought there would be more quiet time after the area was cleared out, but he didn't expect a group to appear so quickly... Hmm? Just one person?

Based on the vision provided by the shadow, he saw that only one person had entered the area of ​​the smoke.

The man was very tall, nearly two meters, and after entering the smoke, he kept leading towards the center.

Guan Tong raised the Silver Hunter and fired a No. 3 bullet in that direction.

"boom!"

At the moment of the explosion, the figure suddenly took flight. Guan Tong was astonished to discover that a pair of black wings had unfurled from the person's back.

"...First it was mechs, now there are people with wings. Participating in this challenge has really broadened my horizons."

Guan Tong thought about it and wasn't too nervous.

He knew that no matter how fancy the abilities were, they were all driven by mental energy. The more powerful the ability or tool, the more mental energy it consumed; this was almost a fundamental principle.

The person in the present moment has wings and can fly. In a state of flight, mental energy must be consumed extremely quickly, and it would be difficult to sustain for long.

call out--

The next moment, the figure flying high in the sky flapped its wings and swooped down at high speed toward the center of the smoke.

"Shadow, grab this birdman down here."

With a thought, Guan Tong conjured numerous shadows into several large black hands, which reached out to grab the person who was swooping down.

Brush brush brush brush!

The shadowy hand that reached for Lucifer was severed by his wings in the next moment. Although it quickly recovered, it allowed him to break open a path to Guan Tong.

He also used high-frequency flapping of his wings to disperse the surrounding smoke with the resulting airflow, allowing him to see his surroundings more clearly.

Those wings not only can fly, but they're also so sharp? And they even dispersed the smoke.

Guan Tong now realized that the newcomer was no ordinary person; he was probably a top-tier Ascension Realm cultivator.

He immediately summoned a large number of shadows, which erected walls in front of him to prevent Lucifer from getting closer.

Without hesitation, Lucifer used his wings to cut through the wall and rushed in, but he immediately realized that it was a trap.

Within the walls were more walls, layer upon layer, seemingly endless. Similar black walls appeared above his head, behind him, and to his left and right, instantly blocking out all light the moment they sealed off.

Lucifer was suddenly plunged into complete darkness and could no longer see anything.

This was the move Guan Tong used to deal with the team that entered the church first.

No matter how skilled you are, once your vision is taken away, you will immediately be in dire straits and suffocated by your shadow.

Lucifer was indeed powerful, managing to penetrate more than a dozen black walls in succession, but no matter how fast he destroyed things, he couldn't match Guan Tong's speed.

The time it took him to destroy one black wall was enough for Guan Tong to regenerate ten more.

When Lucifer broke through the twentieth black wall, his mental energy finally ran out and he became exhausted without being replenished.

The "Wings of the Fallen Angel" on his back retracted automatically without any mental energy supply. Lucifer looked up and said, "You must have the special effect of the Holy Grail to have so much mental energy."

“If it were a fair fight, I don’t think I would lose to you. Although your abilities are powerful, they are countered by my Fallen Angel Wings.”

"But a win is a win, and a loss is a loss. If I have another chance, I will definitely win it back. Remember my name, I am Lucifer."

Lucifer?
Guan Tong heard the voice coming from inside the shadow wall, and his expression turned somewhat strange. He remembered the second rule of the [Extreme Marathon], and the nickname of the second-ranked person was Lucifer. Could it be the same person?
It must be him... He has wings that allow him to fly at high speeds, so it's not surprising that he achieves good results in the running rules.

Moreover, Guan Tong believed that Lucifer wasn't entirely wrong. Without the Holy Grail buff, Lucifer's extremely fast and sharp wings did indeed have some effect on his shadow.

But clearly, there is no fairness in this post-apocalyptic world. You can use your wings to suppress my shadow, and I can use my ability to see hidden rules to gain the upper hand.

Guan Tong would love to talk to Lucifer if he could, but his time was very precious. He only had a dozen minutes left of the Holy Grail buff, so he really didn't have time to chat.

"See you in the next challenge, if there is a next time." After Guan Tong finished speaking, he activated the Thorn Shadow Killing Array again. Lucifer, who was trapped inside the shadow wall, was immediately killed by several sharp shadows.

Having dealt with this troublesome enemy, Guan Tong glanced at his vision; 16 minutes remained.

"Time is running out, I need to hurry."

(End of this chapter)