Chapter 391: Angles on a Barbarian
They had started with eight Earth Souls. A mighty force, including all the strongest cultivators in the Manticore Quill faction. And now...
The Quill patriarch had thought their decision was absurd, ridiculous overkill against a foreigner who was clearly foolish and naive. Yes, all reports indicated that he had shrouded his true power, which was close to a Sky Soul, but rough mixtures of barbarian power tended to fail against polished formations. Just bringing enough for a formation should have been secure enough, since the target was most likely to believe their story and fall victim to their poison.
Then in just a brief time, their invincible force had been reduced to just two untouched cultivators: the others were all burned, poisoned, or even dead. They tried to maintain the formation, but the qi shattered as the target began to move.
Truthfully, the binding formation failed in part because the Quill patriarch lost his will, not just due to the losses. Because, as he saw the others crumple with poison, he realized that they had actually failed much earlier. The barbarian had known they wouldn't give a real offer from the first and had planned accordingly. If they had actually approached him, could they have made an alliance?
Too late. Instead the Quill patriarch watched as their coalition was torn apart.
For a moment he thought they had a chance: there were attacks striking the barbarian from all sides and the head of the poison faction stabbed her poison needles into his back, over and over. Yet as the barbarian stomped away, the Quill patriarch realized that he was intentionally taking the attacks. The poison didn't seem to slow him down, and when she darted in for a heavier dose, his hand closed around her head.
One of the wild tribe champions, a powerful man the Quill patriarch had barely dueled to a draw, was literally ripped in half. The barbarian wasn't using a weapon, but his body seemed to transform into one, mutating into something monstrous with every step.
When the hellish smoke emerged again, the patriarch barely managed to evade in time and saw one of his closest companions consumed. In a second they were nothing but a figure in the dark cloud, thrashing wildly as the sparks of fire and lightning consumed them until they crumbled to ash, leaving only the roiling darkness.
As the field thinned, the Quill patriarch unleashed an enormous qi attack, a swarm of spirit manticores that should have trampled everything. One of the injured Earth Souls was clipped by one and sent to the ground in a bloody spiral. And yet the barbarian charged through it, the spectral beasts exploding before they could touch him.