Chapter 494

Chapter 494: The Opposite Direction…

Outside the city wall, in a realm that had almost completely stagnated, the extraordinary beast was drawing nearer and nearer to Shi Jin.

Its attack was even swifter, and it seemed poised to tear the human apart right before her eyes.

Shi Jin felt as if she had detached from the world; she could see the panicked expressions on some soldiers and the anomalies appearing in Luke’s body on the city wall.

But at this moment, within her subjective realm, no one could lend her a helping hand.

The long tail of the armadillo beast whipped towards her like an iron whip. Though its body did not move swiftly, the tail, thick as a human’s waist due to the whip effect, generated a sound that sliced through the air.

Shi Jin felt her eyes were now enhanced; she could clearly see the tail’s movement trajectory, even though escape seemed impossible.

Shi Jin did not know if this perception came from her true vision or was simply a dying fantasy, but she wanted to give it one last shot.

For most superpowered individuals, using their abilities usually resulted in a consumption of energy or mental strength.

At this moment, although Shi Jin had expanded her range of ability to the maximum, she still had plenty of energy left.

As the tail, whistling through the air, was about to strike her, Shi Jin released all of her remaining mental strength.

She did not know what consequences this would bring, but she did not want to die, at least not without having done everything in her power.

After doing so, Shi Jin maintained her state of frozen time, her eyes wide open as she gazed at the extraordinary beast and its long tail, awaiting the arrival of death.

In the next moment, within her subjective consciousness, she saw the tail gradually retracing its path while the armadillo beast’s face mirrored human astonishment.

Following a similarly brief moment of surprise, Shi Jin seemed to gain insight.

In her system of abilities, time surged like flowing water, while most people and events floated on the surface like drifting weeds.

Shi Jin’s ability essentially allowed her to use her mental strength to influence that formless "current."

So, she awakened her abilities by first accelerating herself, then applying her influence to the surrounding environment to achieve Slow Time within a certain range, and finally reaching the state of stagnation like a firm pillar in the middle of a rushing river.

Now, Shi Jin had advanced further and achieved the remarkable feat of swimming against the current, allowing past events to reappear before her in reverse order.

Her influence over time still remained limited to the material level, so the extraordinary beast merely watched as its body uncontrollably retreated, unable to truly resist this reality.

The reversed flow of time did not last long—around five seconds in Shi Jin’s perception—but that was enough.

When Shi Jin’s mental strength depleted, she collapsed to the ground, while the extraordinary beast had retreated ten meters away, giving her space to struggle once more.

In the next moment, Shi Jin felt someone appear behind her, grabbing the back of her battle suit.

“Uh…”

She wanted to say something, but felt a force tighten around her neck.

It shouldn’t be pulling the battle suit that tight…

Shi Jin thought, and with that force, she fell backward, then appeared on the city wall.

El walked towards her from behind:

“I have good news and bad news…”

“Boss, save the small talk for later.”

A stream of light quickly took shape, and Luke also appeared beside them.

“The good news is that the battle over there has ended. The bad news is that because I brought that enemy here, we now have two extraordinary beasts to fight.”

As the words fell, Yan Ming, who had been busy stirring the stomach of the extraordinary beast, returned to the top of the city wall. The three people followed El’s gaze and saw a… half Horned Demon man appear in the sky.

The left half of its body had nearly vanished, with the wound resembling a mass of black mass, looking especially grotesque and menacing.

"The characteristics of a Horned Demon’s body are strong power and agility. That full-power ship’s cannon only vaporized half of its body without mist as a cover," El explained honestly.

"I figured it would be alert if I fired another shot, so I wanted to bring it here for you to see because…

“Good things should be shared."

"Let’s get serious."

Yan Ming suddenly interrupted the conversation among the three, pointing towards the two extraordinary beasts that were also communicating with their eyes:

"I know you three are tired, and chatting for a moment can restore some energy, but if we don’t act soon, those two will reach an agreement."

"That’s true…"

El raised his hands:

"So, seeing how exhausted you all look, you must have just completed a ‘breakthrough’, right? Let’s discuss what each of us is capable of."

"I suggest we talk while we fight."

A blood-red shield suddenly unfolded before the three, deflecting dozens of long black spikes.

Yan Ming didn’t care how the three discussed it. Leaving a remark, "I’ll buy time, you find a way," he dove back into the battlefield.

The armadillo beast and the Horned Demon had already clashed with Yan Ming. While he wasn’t at his peak strength, he could still manage to hold them off.

Beneath the countless compound eyes, a blood-red mist erupted in the air outside Hope City, and an extraordinary beast with a streamlined body joined the battlefield at a speed almost impossible to perceive with the naked eye.

Its blood-red body flashed between the two extraordinary beasts; since he didn’t intend to kill either, Yan Ming felt considerably lighter in spirit, and his movements became more fluid.

The two extraordinary beasts, perhaps due to some genetic craving for red, responded eagerly to Yan Ming’s taunt, and the three began to weave in and out of each other in the sky and on the ground.

After about thirty seconds of such high-intensity combat and chase, Yan Ming heard Luke’s retreat order through the blood-soaked communicator.

Without any hesitation, he transformed into a flash of red light, disappearing from the battlefield.

The two extraordinary beasts were furiously enraged and turned their attention towards the direction of the fleeing enemy, which was the area above the city wall.

Three figures appeared in their view; though they were strikingly different, their biological fields were all at an unprecedented peak of activity.

The two extraordinary beasts entered a state of high alert instantly. They did not lose their reason due to Yan Ming’s taunt; instead, they were ignited with a fierce desire to kill the human warriors.

In the next moment, the armadillo beast saw the spikes it had fired at the city wall soaring back into the air, following a strange trajectory towards this direction, much like the confusing way it had "rewound" a few minutes earlier.

At that moment, a furious roar echoed within its consciousness—

Humans dared to use their own weapons against me!