Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 57: Running out of ammunition and food

Berlan reduced the area that had expanded to over a kilometer to a range of three hundred meters. Instantly, everyone who had been struggling to exert their strength due to the heavy pressure felt a sense of lightness.

Their gazes naturally followed Hunzhen.

At this point, they have two choices.

One option, of course, is to take the opportunity to escape, fleeing far away while Berlan shrinks its territory, hoping to hide until the end of the qualifiers.

Secondly... we must seize this best opportunity to launch an attack on Berlan!

Half of the participants only thought for a second before turning around and running away.

It's a very simple principle: if you choose not to run away, you'll most likely be killed by Berlan.

In extreme cases, Berlan will kill all participants. This choice means that you will lose half of your points, just like most people, with no change in your overall gains.

If you choose to run away, three scenarios will occur.

In the first scenario, Berlan quickly eliminates the others, completes his pursuit of you, and ultimately returns to the outcome of choosing not to run away, resulting in no increase or decrease in benefits.

The second scenario is that Berlan is stalled long enough, and you successfully survive until the end of the qualifiers. Since most people are killed, your ranking rises accordingly, resulting in a positive return.

The third, almost impossible scenario is that Berlan is killed. However, there's a more than 99% chance that the killer won't be you, and the rewards remain unchanged.

Given that the probability of the third possibility is too low to be considered, it is easy to draw a conclusion for these participants whose rankings are generally between several thousand and tens of thousands.

If you don't run away, you neither gain nor lose anything.

However, there is a considerable chance of gaining benefits if one escapes, and with luck, one might even pass the preliminary rounds.

Weighing the pros and cons, half of the participants chose to run away immediately.

But half of them stayed.

Perhaps it was because they felt it would be too embarrassing to slink away like this.

Perhaps it's because they felt that even if they made it to the finals through the preliminaries, they wouldn't necessarily receive an offer from a major power.

Regardless, they ultimately chose to stay and, together with the punitive expedition that had already suffered more than half its casualties, launched an attack on Berlan.

No matter how strong Bolan is, generally three or four levels stronger than the people present, he is still only a ninth-level Hengxing. Facing thousands of experts of the same level, he must devote most of his strength to suppressing and killing them.

This greatly reduced the pressure on Hunzhen.

Even if Bolan's strength was only one-tenth, it was still far above Hunzhen's. Moreover, Bolan would not be weakened to this extent by a fellow expert of this level.

"That's enough."

Hunzhen was filled with fighting spirit. The meteorite iron fragments of the Meteor Fire Divine Weapon were constantly being knocked away by Bolan and lost their spirituality. His mental power fell into the valley at an extremely fast speed.

He drew his red sword, his battle intent reaching its peak, his entire body surging with primal force, his hair turning into burning flames, his eyes shining golden, and a fiery hell surrounding him.

The final form of the World-Destroying Heaven-Burning Blade is not just about the final, fully unleashed strike.

Once you enter this "fire god descends" state, the power of the other sword techniques will also be greatly enhanced.

Berlan used most of his illusions to defend against and kill other contestants who were constantly invading and interfering with his domain, while his main body, which maintained its peak strength, remained here.

Seeing Hunzhen in a state of "like a god descending from the heavens," he immediately moved swiftly, maintaining the superb movement technique of the Nine Lines Flow.

A sword light suddenly pierced out from behind Hunzhen.

Hunzhen swung his body, continuously defending against the illusory body's attacks with a series of slashes.

Even though he had maintained several times the energy output to reach this level, Hunzhen still couldn't suppress Bolan during the burst, and in the blink of an eye, hideous wounds appeared on his body.

This greatly exacerbated Hunzhen's energy consumption. If he continued to maintain such a massive energy output, he would be completely exhausted within twenty seconds.

Suddenly, he flashed away.

He let a sword beam slice across his back, moving at high speed between his illusory forms, as if chasing something.

His eyes were remarkably bright.

"Has it been found?"

Within a mere second, Hunzhen locked onto the location of his true form, and even after changing positions, he could not break free from the lock. Bolan was somewhat surprised.

"Final move!"

With a suppressed roar, the flames on the pure red blade stretched to a thousand meters, then instantly compressed to within a hundred meters before being swung out.

Both sides' domains were shaken.

After a brief silence, two figures darted through the dust and smoke.

Using illusions doesn't make you invincible, but even if your true form is found several times, it doesn't necessarily mean you can get hurt.

But Hunzhen's all-out attack was not in vain.

To conserve energy, Berlan would dodge attacks by using illusions rather than confronting them head-on.

In order to withstand Hunzhen's all-out attack that found an opening, he clearly expended too much energy.

This resulted in the fact that although Hunzhen had consumed more than 90% of his power, while Bolan, due to his superior strength, had only consumed 50% at most, the scales of victory had tipped slightly in Hunzhen's favor.

Berlan... is retreating.

He wanted to distance himself from the crowd, redirect more of his power, and kill Hunzhen with overwhelming force.

Hunzhen naturally wouldn't let Bolan have his way.

Or rather, this was, in a theoretical sense, his first and last chance to hurt Berlan.

An opportunity gained through the collective efforts of many!

In countless meditations, even if he never knew how to use the final move, he would still do his best, make use of allies, analyze Berlan's habits, find this opening, and use the most powerful second move, Fire Meteor Breaking Mountains and Rivers, to consume Berlan's energy.

This time, however, by using the ultimate move of the World-Destroying Heaven-Burning Blade, he expended far more energy on Bolan than ever before.

"Is there a chance? Is there a chance!?"

Witnessing this, the audience outside the stadium erupted in cheers.

"No way, no way, the Flame Demon can't possibly turn the tables and defeat the Grim Reaper, can it!?"

Some even murmured in disbelief.

However... the stronger individuals standing at higher levels shook their heads.

"Still a long way off."

"This kid with the Law of Fire can't even injure Beran."

……

So close, so close, so close!

At one moment, a roar of anger, just like that of the simulated human, erupted from Hunzhen's heart.

However, Bolan remained indifferent in the face of Hunzhen's relentless pursuit and approach.

He retreated not because he was no match for Hunzhen, but simply because... it was the most efficient way.

Berlan consumed a lot of energy, but Hunzhen consumed even more.

The latest novel is first published here!

"Now is the time!"

With a furious roar from the bottom of his heart, four figures materialized in the blink of an eye.

Within a hundred-meter radius, four purplish-red lines of fire suddenly attacked Berlan's face.

Bolan looked calmly at Hunzhen, then suddenly... took a step back.

The line of fire did not extend beyond a hundred meters before it dissipated.

"well?"

Hunzhen's eyes widened.

At that moment, he snapped out of his excitement and realized that he was completely exhausted.

They acknowledged their failure.

Bolan lightly raised the Blood Sword, and nine illusory bodies simultaneously unleashed their swords at Hunzhen.

Its psychic power had long since been exhausted, and the Meteor Fire Divine Weapon had become nothing more than a useless piece of scrap metal.

The remaining Force was not even enough to unleash the first move of the World-Destroying Heaven-Burning Blade, which consumed the least amount of energy.

Hunzhen could only sit and wait for his death.

No, that's not right!

A glint of light flashed in Hunzhen's dim eyes: "It's not over yet!"

One last trick!

The fierce winds that had been stored up only for insurance purposes suddenly erupted.

Limited by his personality and predetermined fate, he had no choice but to abandon his plan to conquer Kongjing Star. He had already buried that pent-up emotion deep in his heart.

He had been meditating on Berlan for so long, yet he hadn't even managed to touch a hair on his opponent's head. How could he possibly be content with that?

Hunzhen had no time to determine which figure was Bolan's true form, and relied on his senses to thrust forward with his sword.

Regardless of whether the target is chosen correctly, the most important thing is only one thing...

You have to hit the target!

"hurry up!"

"Hurry up!!"

"Faster!"

Hunzhen's eyes widened in anger.

Even though it was his fastest strike, it was still far too slow compared to Bolan's casual sword strike!

Doesn't this mean that from the very beginning, his planned strike was completely meaningless?

Swords and knives clashed and passed each other.

The sword will eventually pierce through Hunzhen's head first.

"Just a little faster!"

But... how can I make the knife in my hand faster?

How can I make the knife in my hand faster than Berlan's sword?

Countless thoughts flooded my mind.

The insights and experiences gained from thousands of simulations are replayed at this moment, like a film reel rolling at a thousand or ten thousand times the speed.

Hunzhen's thoughts had never been clear before, and he was only realized belatedly that so many thoughts had flashed through his mind during that one strike.

Then, something unbelievable happened.

The sword slowed down.

But the knife became even faster!

laugh--

The real blade pierced the phantom's cheek, while he himself was beheaded by Bolan's sword.

Ultimately, luck was not on his side.

While most viewers with limited perspectives simply saw the attack miss its mark, secretly lamenting that Hunzhen had made a mistake and sighing that the underdog's victory over the strong was ultimately futile, only a very small number of people showed surprise.

Among them was the person involved, Berlan.

He gently touched his cheek, and in a daze, it was as if he had become the pierced phantom.

"His understanding of time surpasses mine!?"

Berlan, who was trying to discern time through the wind, knew perfectly well that at the moment the swords clashed, his sword slowed down, while Hunzhen's sword, in turn, increased in speed.

Time deceleration and time acceleration!

In that brief instant, Hunzhen simultaneously employed two laws of time!

This is the last chapter I preset for automatic updates ten days ago, and it just so happens to match the title. If there's no update tomorrow, it means I haven't fully recovered yet...

(End of this chapter)