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Chapter 837: Retreat to Stone Bridge

To him, an enemy was an enemy, regardless of appearance or status. Everyone was equal. 

Even when encountering gruesome enemies, Su Xiao couldn\'t resist the urge to deliver a few extra strikes, especially towards someone like the \'Orphan of Resentment - Xius,\' whose whole body was just a grotesque mass of flesh and bones, disgustingly ugly.

After dealing with Luli\'s team, Su Xiao was ready to continue his "old business," which involved assassinating healing or support-contracted individuals. However, upon nearing the battlefield, he realized the situation wasn\'t favourable. The Healing-contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation were too numerous, showing signs of breaking through the Second Zone.

Before the Second Zone was breached, Su Xiao needed to regroup with his own more significant force. Given the overwhelming difference in the number of healing-contracted individuals, the fact that the Paradise of Reincarnation had defended the Second Zone for so long was quite incredible. 

One of the primary reasons was that the Paradise of Reincarnation\'s contracted individuals were a group of madmen and lunatics during battle, utterly devoid of the concept of retreat or escape. It was either kill them or give up the assault.

Leveraging their numerical advantage and numerous healing-contracted individuals, after fifteen overall attacks, the Paradise of Reincarnation finally saw hope in breaching the Second Zone.

...

Deep within the Second Zone, behind a stone wall, a dog\'s head peeked out from an aperture in the stone wall. It was Bu Bu Wang. Su Xiao, wanting to regroup with his allies, knew that charging in like the previous wars between the Imperial Army and the Tribe was almost suicidal. 

Doing so would mean facing the encirclement of nearly a hundred contracted individuals of the Second Rank. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Fortunately, Bu Bu Wang could scout. If discovered, Bu Bu Wang could either play dead or infiltrate the enemy\'s ranks.

Under Bu Bu Wang\'s cover, Su Xiao evaded many of the Paradise of Reincarnation\'s contracted individuals. Half an hour later, he encountered several dozen contracted individuals fighting each other, marking the edge of the battlefield.

"Five seconds later, charge behind me," Su Xiao patted Bu Bu Wang\'s head, silently counting. As the five seconds elapsed, Su Xiao suddenly dashed out, briskly advancing toward several Paradise of Reincarnation contracted individuals who were facing away from him.

During the battle, both sides had apparent identifiers. The contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation had a red-coloured light floating above their heads, while those from the Heavenly Gate Paradise had a green-coloured light. This characteristic was very noticeable. Even if they used skills to turn invisible, this light would also vanish, but it couldn\'t be turned off until the contracted individual died.

As Su Xiao suddenly burst out, the dark shade of the red light above his head indicated that he had killed many contracted individuals from the Heavenly Gate Paradise. Seeing Su Xiao appear behind several contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation, both sides were momentarily stunned. 

The contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation, after noticing the colour of Su Xiao\'s light, immediately launched energy arrows toward him. After clashing with Lan Jue, Su Xiao was opposed to any arrow-like attacks. He instinctively tried to dodge, but the speed of this energy arrow was too fast, almost hitting him instantly.

[Prompt: You are affected by \'Embrace of the Arrow.\' Charisma attribute check... Intelligence attribute check...]

[Intelligence attribute check passed.]

[Charisma attribute check failed.]

[Prompt: You will need clarification for 1.6 seconds.]

[Prompt: Level 30 Master Swordsman\'s additional ability \'Blade of the Mind\' activated. You ignore this control effect.]

...

Upon being hit by the energy arrow, a dozen long-range attackers were ready to focus fire on Su Xiao. However, Su Xiao was not controlled at all. Instead, he rushed to the rear of a close combatant. 

Just before being struck by Su Xiao, this close combatant had only 32% of their life remaining. Su Xiao\'s strike didn\'t kill them, but they died under the terrifying actual damage from the Green-Steel Shadow and the Devil\'s Mark.

Creating a breakthrough, Su Xiao charged into his forces, with Bu Bu Wang following closely behind. Everyone\'s focus was on Su Xiao; no one paid attention to Bu Bu Wang. Su Xiao made his way out of the Second Zone and reached the vicinity of a stone bridge, temporarily safe.

Several contracted individuals guarded the stone bridge, and upon seeing the dark red light above Su Xiao\'s head, they were not only amazed but also curious.

"Bro, how many have you killed?"

"Forgot." Indeed, Su Xiao had forgotten. All he knew was that he had killed many healing and support-contracted individuals and had also exterminated Luli\'s team. Su Xiao proceeded towards the Twilight Palace to take a short break.

...

There was a person who must harbour deep hatred towards Su Xiao Xi. Setting aside the fact that Su Xiao had killed many healing and support-contracted individuals, just killing her sister made Su Xiao her mortal enemy.

However, Xi didn\'t have time to resent Su Xiao. She was faced with a Flame Spear Knight who wielded a flame-long spear, which was quite challenging for her; his abilities had a certain restraint against hers.

Although the crystal had a high melting point, the flame spear in the hands of the Flame Spear Knight exceeded that temperature. Though Flame Spear had the upper hand against Xi, his current condition could have been better. His chest had several crystallized spots, and most of his left arm had crystallized; it would shatter with the slightest touch.

Although he had the advantage, after half an hour of fighting, Flame Spear found out, to his astonishment, that this woman could actually resurrect! Right on the spot! At that moment, Flame Spear\'s feeling could only be expressed as \'damn!\'

"She\'s already died once, and upon resurrection, she\'ll manifest a phantom of a cat and restore her status to over 80%. Not easy to deal with," Flame Spear understood. Continuing like this wouldn\'t work; by enchanting his flame spear with fire attributes, he would continuously consume mana, and his mana reserves were already low.

"Forget it; fall back to the stone bridge." Flame Spear issued an order through the war channel and began retreating. Strangely enough, instead of chasing after them, Xi revealed a smile. "Perhaps this meeting will be our farewell."

Xi\'s words left Flame Spear puzzled, but now was an excellent opportunity to retreat to the stone bridge. He temporarily ignored the stinging sensation from the crystallized positions.

Soon, the contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation fell back to three stone bridges. 

Now, all they needed to do was hold these bridges and be cautious of any contracted individuals with flying abilities. The pressure suddenly decreased. The contracted individuals from the Heavenly Gate Paradise took position inside the Second Zone\'s maze, seemingly intending to make this their headquarters.

After a round of chaotic battles, there were 658 surviving contracted individuals from the Paradise of Reincarnation, with 137 casualties, while the Heavenly Gate Paradise had 783 surviving individuals, with 202 casualties.

This casualty count was very unfavourable for the Heavenly Gate Paradise, considering they had a numerical advantage and their healing-contracted individuals were several times more than those of the Paradise of Reincarnation. Xi held a report received from a perception-contracted individual. "There are too many casualties."

Xi sighed, not because she was mourning the dead but because she was concerned about a potential scenario where a large number of contracted individuals might abandon the mission due to heavy casualties. Glancing around, Xi saw some contracted individuals sitting around the maze. Some had a vacant look in their eyes, while others lit up cigarettes, quietly puffing away, unaware that they had even lit them.

"Xi, with the current situation, we\'re not without hope. On the contrary, we have a good chance here because this terrain is perfect for that thing..." A female gunner stepped forward. "I know." Xi replied casually, turning away and walking deeper into the maze. When there was no one around her, she leaned against a stone pillar.

Drip, drip... Crystal-clear droplets fell. Luli, her sister, had died, died in battle. When Xi smiled, others smiled along, but when she shed tears, she could only cry alone. That was the heavy burden a leader had to bear.

"Luli, rest in peace. Perhaps one day, I will join you. But before that, I have to win this war. You can\'t die in vain. When dealing with lunatics, one must employ crazier methods." Xi turned away, her eyes glistening. She seemed to have forgotten that there was a faint black hue appearing within the crystal floating by her side.