Chapter 769: The Mysterious Pyramid

[You successfully killed a peak-grade golden sand scarab. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade golden sand scarab, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a peak-grade golden sand scarab. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade golden sand scarab, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a peak-grade golden sand scarab. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade golden sand scarab, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

The will of the world's voice continuously rang out in Fang Yi's mind.

Fang Yi continued waving around his spear until the last sand scarab was finally destroyed, at which point he dropped down onto the sand, his hands on his knees, as he panted for breath.

"Our captain's trials truly are quite something..." Fang Yi wiped at the sweat on his lower jaw, then took a long swig of water from his extra-dimensional storage.

After a short rest, Fang Yi continued onwards. Despite the fact that he had moved on as quickly as he could, a huge swarm of spirits was waiting for him.

"These troublesome pests!" Fang Yi waved his spear, charged with wind and lightning, and activated his movement technique [Floating Clouds]. He darted from spirit to spirit, a trail crackling and blowing behind him.

The spirits were annihilated instantly as Fang Yi tore a path from among them. He moved so quickly that the spirits weren't able to catch up or react.

A sandstorm appeared before Fang Yi. The air moved so quickly that the particles of sand scraped over his face like a razor. The moonlight was covered up as clouds of black sand appeared all around him, with a twister of sand approaching from the horizon. The scale of the storm was so massive that it looked as though he would be swallowed up.

"A sandstorm?!" Fang Yi turned around, but no matter where he looked, the sand seemed to head in his direction. Despite the fact that he was moving at full speed, the sand seemed to draw closer and closer.

Fang Yi had no choice but to try to dispel the storm by force, then.

"[Heaven's Judgment]! [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!" Wind and storm combined and crackled at the tip of Fang Yi's spear, and a dragon's howl echoed resoundingly in the air. The lightning shot toward the heart of the storm, while the winds served as a barrier to deflect it.

Large quantities of black sand surrounded Fang Yi and wore away at his shield of winds.

Fang Yi leveled his spear. Wind and lightning surged forth. That combination generated a frightening force that seemed to be able to penetrate space.

"[Floating Clouds]!" The wind and lightning formed a loop around Fang Yi's body. With a low shout, Fang Yi charged into the midst of the storm, trusting in his technique to defend him from the worst of the onslaught.

Lightning splintered through the skies as the black sand burned in the overwhelming heat ?generated by the lightning.

Fang Yi's wind clashed against the twister time and again. When Fang Yi infused more and more genetic energy into his winds, it won out against the desert twister. He bore an opening through the walls of sand the twister erected, then charged out through that opening while the ring of elemental energy provided by [Floating Clouds] exploded behind him. The explosion granted him a much-needed boost of momentum, increasing Fang Yi's speed and penetration ability and allowing him to break through the second barrier of sand.

For a split second, Fang Yi seemed to see a pyramid at the center of the storm, but he hardly had the resources or presence of mind to look back and examine what he had seen more closely. He ran off at full speed to avoid being sucked back into the storm.

He ran through the air for what felt like an eternity before he stopped and gasped for breath.

Zhang Lie's trial truly was difficult. Fang Yi hoped the other members of Team Zenith were doing fine.

It took a few interminable hours before he finally saw a grand pitch-black pyramid appearing over the horizon. As he had suspected, this pyramid was constructed in much the same manner as pyramids on Earth.

The difference was that it was made out of some gold-like substance rather than stone. Its exterior were smooth, and Fang Yi didn't see even a single crack or hole in it. At the top of the pitch-black pyramid was engraved a curious eye, one which seemed to be... glowing?

A purple light shot out from the eye straight toward Fang Yi, who hurriedly evaded the beam using [Floating Clouds].

Where the purple beam struck the earth beside him rose a wall of black sand. The superheated air was scorching; the black sand had vitrified.

From Zhang Lie's manipulation of the sand with lightning, he estimated that the melting point of the black sand was two or three times higher than that of normal sand. In other words, the purple beam produced so much heat that the sand had reached a temperature of over 5,000 degrees Celsius.

Fang Yi wiped at the sweat beading on his forehead. Fortunately, he had dodged the attack, or he would have received serious injuries from just a scratch by the beam. Despite having maxed out his peak gene fragments, Fang Yi would instantly turn into roast meat if he were struck head-on by the beam—hardly a fitting end for a hunter like him.

"Such laser beams have to have a recharge period and downtime to dissipate the excess heat. There's no way that it can be used in quick succession..."

This downtime was the best opportunity for him to destroy that weapon.

With an obsidian spear in his hand, with wind and lightning surrounding him, Fang Yi prepared to make his move. Just before he struck, however, the eye atop the pyramid shot out another beam of purple light.

The light shone as brightly as the sun, tinting the desert sand purple. The entire desert lit up for one splendid moment. Fortunately, Fang Yi was able to evade once more with the help of [Floating Clouds].

The beam struck a nearby sand dune, which turned into glass and burst apart. The superheated air, carried by the desert wind, struck Fang Yi and left him open-mouthed. Was this the level of technology in the third realm? There was barely any downtime at all! It lasted only a few seconds, which was far too little time for Zhang Lie to get closer to the pyramid.

The purple beam of light that Fang Yi had seen looked so much like a laser that he was certain the attack was technological in origin. Common sense had misled Fang Yi.

While he was thinking, another beam of purple light shot out of the tip of the pyramid.

He might be able to avoid these beams with [Floating Clouds] at the moment, but the closer he got, the more difficult such a process would become. Just one direct hit could end Fang Yi for good.

"This is truly annoying! [Born of Lightning, Swallowed by the Wind]!" As Fang Yi shouted, his spear traced a half-moon in the air, surrounded by an aura of time.

The spear pierced space abruptly, spawning a rift that turned its surroundings gray. All movement was locked in time. The wind, the laser beam—everything was halted in this grayscale world.

However, keeping everything in stasis would be a tremendous toll on Fang Yi, and he was still quite some ?distance away from the pyramid. Despite his speed, he certainly wouldn't be able to make it to the top of the pyramid while maintaining this stasis, but as a spearmaster, Fang Yi hardly had a need to do so. He cocked his spear, imbued it with the power of wind and lightning, and threw it like a javelin...