Chapter 0364: Golden Aquiline Wasp Zone

Shadowy figures zipped up the mountainside in the gloom of the evening, fast enough to blow tunnels of leaves up in their wake.

From afar, they looked like little rivulets of light flowing up the great beast's head in reverse.

Li Luo and his squad grimly poured on the speed in silence, focusing all their energy into moving forward. Although they were one of the weakest squads here in terms of resonant power, they all had advantageous resonance grades. Qin Zhulu with an upper eighth-grade, Lu Qing'er with a lower eighth-grade, and Li Luo with dual resonances. That put them at average or above average in terms of fighting ability. And if you included their three new gilded white-eye treasured artifacts, they were a force to be reckoned with.

"Another ten minutes or so and we'll be in the golden aquiline wasp infestation zone!" Lu Qing'er shouted to them over the howling wind.

Both responded with a terse nod, looking up at the golden belt of clouds ahead, swaying and shimmering gently. They knew that once they got closer, they would be able to make out the wasps that made up those clouds.

Li Luo raised a hand as a preparatory signal for them to penetrate through.

Ten minutes passed in a blur.

Up close, they could hear the deafening hum that made their eardrums vibrate. Li Luo could make out the golden aquiline wasps as well. They had golden-yellow bodies and long, needle-like proboscis that made one shiver just looking at it.

"Prepare to charge!" Li Luo yelled, largely in the direction of Qin Zhulu. The latter let loose with a low roar that activated his Snarling Golden Demon Tiger resonance. His body began to bulge with new muscles, and finally the golden tiger stripes covered his skin in a final wrapping of power.

Li Luo and Lu Qing'er took up defensive positions behind him and then they charged into the golden aquiline wasp infestation.

The wasps hummed angrily in response, their stingers aimed at Qin Zhulu.

He swept them aside with his black spear, its sizable girth working like a bludgeon against their slight bodies. He crushed them to pulp with each swipe, and both Li Luo and Lu Qing'er helped out, guarding against any wasps that came too close to his flank.

The golden aquiline wasps came on and on. As the meat shield, Qin Zhulu was feeling the worst of it, and there were so many wasps that the stings broke through his defenses frequently enough. Qin Zhulu was getting stung badly.

After landing their stings, the golden aquiline wasps would thrash and die in agony, but they left behind wicked-looking stingers sticking out of Qin Zhulu.

Soon enough, he looked like a tiger who had been playing with a porcupine.

His face was locked in a tight grimace. Although these stings were not particularly life-threatening, they hurt like mad.

With another low growl, he released a short pulse of resonant power that blew the stingers out from his skin, each one popping up with a small spurt of blood.

"Qing'er, stop the bleeding!" Li Luo ordered.

She immediately put a palm on Qin Zhulu's body, sending out frost energy that covered the wounds.

Li Luo used his own healing resonant power to speed Qin Zhulu's recovery.

Feeling his wounds ease up made him sigh in relief. These two were quite reliable supports. It was always easier to tank if you knew the others had your back.

Twirling his spear, he charged into the fray again, knocking golden aquiline wasps left and right as he headed straight for the peak.

Li Luo was watching their surroundings closely even as he followed his teammate ahead. The other squads were all too busy to care about anyone else, howling as they made their painful way through the infestation.

He was watching their front intently.

A crimson streak of light blazing through the wasps. Lin Suo must have cultivated some sort of illusion resonance art that allowed him to avoid most of the wasps' attacks. He was far ahead of them now.

Li Luo even sensed that Lin Suo was gradually increasing his speed, intent on breaking free of the pack. He probably aimed to activate the barrier at the peak as quickly as possible, leaving as many outside as he could.

Then the Golden Dragon Mountain Writ would be his for sure.

Things were not looking good for Li Luo. Lin Suo was navigating this impediment much faster than he had expected.

A Third Changing of the Evolving Resonance Tier—it was at times like these where the difference showed.

Li Luo and his squad fought forward as hard as they could, and Qin Zhulu bore the rain of stings with stoic determination.

Around them, the yelping and howling had become much more infrequent since people were dropping out.

Li Luo paid no more attention to them. He was most worried about Lin Suo pulling ahead with frightful speed. If this kept up, they would be left behind. They might not even make it to the peak before Lin Suo's barrier fully formed.

A few tense moments later, Li Luo made a decision. "Qin Zhulu, don it!"

They could not hide it any longer.

Qin Zhulu perked up, pulling out the Blacklight Panoply from his pocket sphere. He clapped it onto his meaty frame, and the armor seemed to come to life on its own, obediently wrapping around him and tying itself up at the joints and seams.

A dark light gleamed across the armor from head to toe, and Qin Zhulu suddenly became a shiny, black tank.

Ting, ting, ting!

The golden aquiline wasps' stings were completely repelled by the Blacklight Panoply. They made ineffective pinging noises that drained some energy from Qin Zhulu but did not harm him.

Renewed, Qin Zhulu charged forward with fresh vigor.

The three remained on the tail of the crimson figure up ahead.

Their sudden increase in speed was so surprising that even Lin Suo noticed. He turned and frowned. "Haunting me like a ghost."

He was not expecting them to really chase him.

"So they found a battle armor treasured artifact in the Reservoir. Looks like quite a good one too," Lin Suo muttered to himself as he watched Qin Zhulu from the corner of his eye. This armor was helping them resist the golden aquiline wasps with relative ease.

"No matter. Let me show you the gap in our strength." Lin Suo smirked arrogantly. His crimson power roared and he shot forth like a rocket, leaving a rust-red trail in his wake. After a few short minutes, he had passed through the golden aquiline wasp infestation belt.

When he broke through, there was a great disturbance in the energies around him. A curtain of energy gradually began to descend.

Right outside the wasp zone was the boundary line for the barrier.

Li Luo's trio felt a little pang of trepidation, and they moved forward with a new burst of nervous speed.

They were not far from breaking out of the belt now.

Lin Suo watched them approach, a little startled by how well they were doing. He raised his hand, gathering some crimson power on his fingertip.

"Finger of Blood and Bone!"

Psst!

Again, his fingernail tore backwards of its own accord with a sickening ripping sound, and his finger bone flew forward like a bullet rifling through the air.

He was aiming at Qin Zhulu's foot.

He could see that the three were only making good progress thanks to Qin Zhulu tanking everything for them. Take down the tank, and Li Luo and Lu Qing'er would drown in the sea of golden aquiline wasps.

Qin Zhulu saw the blast of crimson light come for him, but he was being held down by the wasps. He could not face Lin Suo's attack.

And given how strong Lin Suo was, he just might not be able to tank this one.

"Ignore it! Charge on!" Li Luo said tersely.

Qin Zhulu's eyes flashed. Setting his jaw, he charged.

The crimson light came on.

It was just about to hit them when a bowstring suddenly sang with the cry of a lambent hawk.

A curiously bright, white arrow of light flashed past Qin Zhulu, smashing into the white finger bone.

BOOM!

The two bursts of resonant power canceled each other out, evaporating the golden aquiline wasps near the collision.

The white finger bone still had some leftover energy, breaking past the first light arrow.

Another spirit arrow followed, then another, each one slowing the finger bone attack by a good margin until finally it cracked.

"Get ready to break out!"

Qin Zhulu rumbled. Summoning a new torrent of resonant power, he barreled through the last layer of golden aquiline wasps, carrying them out to blessedly-free air again.

Li Luo and Lu Qing'er were right behind him, and they broke out as well, panting from the adrenaline rush.

Behind them, the dense, shimmering cloud of golden aquiline wasps buzzed on, but they did not pursue.

The barrier of energy slowly descended between the wasps and them, closing down with finality.

And in front of them was a smiling Lin Suo.