Chapter 617: The Enraged Sun Mengmeng

The enraged garuda rushed forward, bearing all of Sun Mengmeng's anger and strength.

Zhang Lie had to face this attack seriously— it was far stronger than any that Sun Mengmeng had launched at him in the past.

It would be straightforward for Zhang Lie to avoid the attack or destroy the attack, but behind him were the members of Team Zenith. Sun Mengmeng herself had collapsed weakly to the ground after using that attack, her genetic energy spent.

If Zhang Lie were to destroy the garuda just like that, the black flames that made it up would explode, striking the members of Team Zenith and Sun Mengmeng. The members of Team Zenith were strong enough to defend themselves, and far enough away that they would be severely injured at most, but Sun Mengmeng would be unable to bear even the aftermath of the attack in her weakened state.

Zhang Lie had to absorb that attack in its entirety.

"Come at me!" Water-attuned genetic energy emanated from his body in an abyssal torrent, causing the earth to shake and the skies to tremble. Black cracks appeared above the heavens.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

With his finger as a blade, Zhang Lie activated [The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]. A beam of sword energy bisected the garuda horizontally, displacing its upper and lower halves before it exploded from the inside out, torn apart by thousands of beams of sword energy.

The members of Team Zenith stared open-mouthed at the sight.

Zhang Lie had only slashed forward with his sword once, but the garuda had been torn apart by what seemed to be thousands of such slashes.

Yang Ze's face was filled with doubt.

Sun Xiaowu was recalling the scene carefully but fruitlessly.

Fang Yi frowned. Suddenly, as though he had just understood something, his eyes opened wide.

Li Feng sighed and shook his head.

Zhang Hanxiang and Hong Xi just looked on in shock as the garuda disappeared within the spectacular explosion in a burst of genetic energy. It hadn't even managed to attack Zhang Lie once.

As the black flames slowly burned out, Zhang Lie glanced all around him. The ground was filled with molten streaks of lava; the superheated air was hot and dry. He didn't want to have to move to a different location, so he would have to repair the battlefield. Pressing his palm into the ground, the temperature of the air quickly began to cool down, and ripples of water-attuned genetic energy emanated from Zhang Lie's feet.

The remnants of the black flame were instantly quenched. The lava solidified into granite. Zhang Lie stepped on it to test its texture, and he nodded in satisfaction. The battlefield was even more sturdy than before—with spatial manipulation, Zhang Lie had flattened and compacted the granite.

"Haha, I'm useless." Sun Mengmeng lay weakly on the ground, so devoid of energy she couldn't even move a single finger. Tears welled up in her eyes—she wasn't able to do anything against Zhang Lie even with her strongest attack.

Zhang Lie hadn't countered or blocked it; he had nullified it in its entirety.

Sun Mengmeng knew that she couldn't hurt Zhang Lie even at full strength, but she had expected to at least be able to hinder him. How naive she was to think she could see Zhang Lie taken down a notch or two!

"I thought you had fainted," Zhang Lie remarked in surprise.

"Are you disappointed in me, Captain? I allowed myself to be controlled by my emotions and rage, and even then, I couldn't do anything against you. I'm a long way away from reaching your level of strength. Aren't I useless? I fell prey to my anger, and losing my self-control is taboo for a hunter and fighter—and even then, despite giving in to my anger, I was still unable to overcome you."

All her hard work seemed to be meaningless in front of Zhang Lie's strength.

Zhang Lie sighed. "Who said you were useless?"

He spread his arms wide. "Look at where I'm standing."

Sun Mengmeng blinked, not understanding what he meant.

Zhang Lie explained, "When I fought the other four members of Team Zenith before you, I didn't move a single step—but look at where I am now, and where I started."

Zhang Lie had deliberately stood as still as a pillar in the previous fights.

Sun Mengmeng grumbled, "But I'm a long-range attacker!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "As if the others don't have long-ranged attacks! They didn't have the strength to force me to step aside, but you did. You forced me to counter-attack you."

Sun Mengmeng blinked.

"Don't you think I would be able to deal with your bow and arrows by standing still? At the very least, I could exhaust all your stamina."

"And if you were to unsheathe your blade?"

Zhang Lie glanced up at the sky. "That's a different story."

"As expected..." Sun Mengmeng also turned to the sky and sighed.

"You might not believe me, but you'd believe the rest of Team Zenith, wouldn't you? Ask them how strong they think you are."

By then, the members of Team Zenith had walked over to Zhang Lie and Sun Mengmeng. Zhou Ying exclaimed, "Of course! Mengmeng, you were extremely impressive. Even from far away, we could feel the heat from your flames."

Sun Xiaowu added, "Sis, your last arrow was way too frightening. I don't think the six of us together would be able to defend against it."

Yang Ze nodded firmly. "We were barely able to deal with the aftermath of your flames, let alone your arrows."

Zhang Hanxiang stepped forward and clasped her hands around Sun Mengmeng's arm. "Mengmeng, please ignore my brother. He's like a piece of deadwood, tough and hard, and you'd be better off without him."

Li Feng whispered, "It's all because you encountered a manic like our captain. Anyone else would have been burnt to a crisp already."

Zhang Lie turned to Li Feng. "You seem to have recovered quite well. Would you like to go for a second round? I think there's still a lot of potential in you that we might be able to squeeze out together."

Suddenly, Li Feng clutched his hand in pain. "Argh, my hand, my hand! My old wounds are reopening—I'm done for!"

Fang Yi nudged him. "What? Didn't you just drink a Yeluo restorative?"

"Scram!" Li Feng glared at him. He fell to the ground and began to roll around. "Argh, my wound, my wound!"

Zhang Lie turned back to Sun Mengmeng. "Even if you don't trust my words, wouldn't you trust the others?"

Sun Mengmeng raised her eyes and met his gaze. "Is that really true?"