After Earl Starshine and Earl Shin left the Bluestone Coast, he reasoned Bian would attack another small settlement while she figured he would attack the capital.
They went their separate ways after that, and from the looks of it, her conjecture was right.
Since he could kill the strongest of the Four Sentries, and the second strongest being in the shelter, then there was no reason for him to scurry about like a rat.
'The duke isn't around right now and unlike those other three... other two fools, I am not bound to him.'
Earl Starshine contemplated running for a moment. After all, Bian had just taken one of her strongest attacks, the lightning strike, and was immediately walking it off.
Unlike the others in the shelter, Earl Starshine came from outside and wasn't bonded to the duke.
If she ran now, she could probably retrieve her spirit stone from her meagre shelter and flee far away.
Then again, by that logic, there was no reason not to fight.
If she could kill Bian, then she would be rewarded, and conversely, if she failed, she would respawn and could then flee.
Failing the duke was synonymous with death, and even if she wasn't killed, she would be enslaved.
"Let's give it a try!"
The pages of the book in front of her began spinning rapidly.
"Fuse elements, flame and wind."
"Fire Tornado!"
A small whirlwind of fire originated from the book and drifted forward. The palm-sized whirlwind began expanding at exaggerated speeds as it approached Bian.
Five meters!
Twenty meters!
A HUNDRED METERS!
The enormous spinning column of fire devastated the surroundings, and even the Minotaur Cavalry had to leave unless they wanted to become cooked.
Bian looked at the approaching fire tornado with a glum face. The spears were also striking him at faster speeds now, and their attacks were starting to irritate him.
Most importantly, the pitter-patter was getting on his nerves.
When the fire tornado got large enough to obstruct everything, Bian punched into the ground, destroying the paved roads.
He unsummoned the Scornful Bane and used both hands to dig into the floor before reaching the layer of earth below.
The fire tornado was already a few steps away; the scorching heat assaulting him relentlessly.
Bian used Terraslip in the hole he created and moved under the ground.
Earl Starshine was ready to use 'Firebolt', a fusion of two of the most destructive elements.
She had obviously seen his giant wings, so it was quite obvious that he would try to escape the tornado's range by flying.
Plus, if he had any thoughts of counterattacking, he would have to swerve around the tornado, becoming a perfect target for her.
"Where are you?"
She mumbled, her voice laced with building impatience.
Roar!
A piercing scream sounded from behind her. Bian stuffed the body of the tiger he had aimed for into the bronze cauldron and dashed towards the nearest Minotaur.
"What! How did he get behind me?"
Earl Starshine was often praised for her Hyper senses; she never imagined that Bian would be able to get past her.
Bian also knew her senses were very delicate, so he took extra caution to avoid her and remove the thorn in his side first.
"Now, where were we?"
He asked, but his blade never stopped moving.
Limbs scattered about in a bloody storm as he made quick work of the cavalry unit, avoiding the lead Minotaur and Tiger each time.
"Fuse elements, fire and lightning."
"Firebolt!"
A condensed beam of orange plasma flew towards Bian at breakneck speeds.
"It's too fast!"
Bian had acted in haste while keeping an eye out for the Earl, but her attack was too fast to be avoided.
He had to block with the Scornful Bane, whose blade bent inwards upon contact with the firebolt, but thankfully didn't break.
There was a resounding thunderclap, and Bian was violently thrown away.
A two-meter-wide and hundred-meter-long trench was formed by him plowing through the ground.
All the houses and facilities in the way had been utterly devastated, and Bian had to touch his sides after he stood up.
"Are you okay?"
Bao'er asked in concern.
Bian had to use one hand to block the attack and the other to protect her to the best of his abilities.
Fortunately, she seemed unharmed by the attack.
"Yes, I'm alright," he said with a smile.
'I need to upgrade my geno cores as soon as possible.' Bian didn't believe that it would be a struggle if he also had a gold geno core.
Unfortunately, the chance had not yet arrived for him to upgrade it. Fortunately enough, he had beast souls to aid him.
It's just that the armor couldn't completely protect against the shock from the attack.
If it was a sword swing or another light but deadly attack, he would be completely safe. Striking attacks though always dealt damage even with armor on.
Bian ducked to the left, avoiding another lightning strike while the red-tipped spear struck him like a truck.
"Annoying!"
He muttered as he summoned two black spears.
[Firm Black Spear : Metal Element Silver Geno Core]
He fired up the Emperical Decree, fusing the two silver geno cores into a gold one.
[Hefty Black Spear : Metal Element Gold Geno Core]
The gold rank spear had the same look as a silver rank, but it felt even more sturdy and a lot heavier.
It was like holding an entire building in a single hand, and even Bian struggled to lift it up.
He avoided another lightning strike, ignoring the relentless assault of the red-tipped black spear.
The spear flew around him like a fly, constantly attacking the same points over and over again.
The tiger's geno core was weird given that even when they died, the marking remained.
Suddenly, the marking on his wings faded, and the rest across his body glowed even more.
The rest of the cavalry was slain except the mutant Minotaur and his mount.
Now it seemed the tiger had hijacked the others' target mark, and the spear assaulted him relentlessly, leaving afterimages as it struck his body.
Of course, Bian didn't get hurt by the strikes thanks to his sacred-blood armor, but now he had to protect his face.
All the while, he kept running between buildings, narrowly avoiding the Earl's lightning strikes.
When the distance between them reached more than a hundred meters, Bian had the time to react and narrowly avoid her attacks.
Each time, he kept his focus on the large mutant Minotaur. A translucent ring seen only by him formed around the Minotaur.
"I'll show you what real auto-lock is like!"
The ring gradually shrunk, getting smaller and smaller until it became a dot on the Minotaur's forehead.
Suddenly, Bian flapped his wings and flew to the sky.
In less than a second, the entire area beneath his feet turned to a quagmire, sinking in the houses and anything unfortunate to be on the ground.
"Die for me!"
Bian flared up the body pillar, turning to jade for a quick moment, before throwing the black spear with full force.
A burst of wind spread out, and the spear turned to a black line heading for the Earl.
She didn't counterattack but retaliated with a lightning strike, which hit Bian square in the chest, while her three golden shields lined up in front of her.
Swoosh!
"What?!"
She heard the violent sound of the spear passing overhead and turned to look back.
The spear passed through the skull of the Minotaur and struck the lower spine of its mount.
The Minotaur died instantly, while the saber-tooth white tiger was paralysed.
The Earl was incensed; she felt like she had been tricked, but there was no time to be distracted.
Bian who had been struck by lightning didn't just fly away wantonly, but swerved mid-air and was heading straight for the Earl.
The pages of her geno core began flipping rapidly and she whispered.
"Fuse elements, darkness, wind and metal."
"Shrapnel Storm!"
The shrapnel storm tore through the city— a savage whirlwind of jagged metal shrieking through the air like a thousand screaming knives.
Each fragment tore through the ground and building alike like paper mache, but that wasn't enough to intimidate Bian.
He tucked in his wings and covered his face, tearing into the storm
"I can't see anything!"
The storm didn't just reduce visibility, it completely blinded him. This plus the minimal range of the dongxuan sutra, and Bian couldn't sense what the Earl was up to.
From the outside, the storm was see through, but it would blind anyone who was unfortunate enough to find themselves in it.
Bian immediately spread his wings, aiming to leave the storm.
Then alarm bells rang in his head.
A flaming javelin moving like lightning appeared right in front of his eyes.