Chapter 389: A Mental Attack

For miles around, explosion rocked the earth one after another. Dirt and rubble flew into the air along with the plant life with each explosion that shined even brighter than the stars above.

All of the soulbeasts within the area were cowered in fear with each tremor that shook the forest. The tremendous auras that were radiating off a certain part of the forest had left them all with complete and utter fear.

The Wave Treading Step was used in abundance as Bai Yunfei weaved left and right like a shadow. Each attack the bloodlion sent at him was dodged and followed up with the Fire-tipped Spear to stab with his left.

In his right, the Ardent Sun Glove shined brightly with red light to infuse his flying daggers with power to stab into the bloodlion’s waist.

A fireball jettisoned out from the bloodlion’s mouth, smashing into the two flying daggers in a brilliant explosion of red light and rebounding them away.

By the time the fireball disappeared from sight, the bloodlion was already mid-leap in an attempt to tear down Bai Yunfei. In another clash of red, the two figures intersected with one another.

Approximately ten minutes had passed since Long and the others managed to successfully flee the area. Combined with the prior five minutes before then, Bai Yunfei spent a total of fifteen minutes in his ‘coil’ form.

What Bai Yunfei was waiting for was the complete departure of Long’s aura from the forest. He didn’t want Long and the others to come back, so them leaving the forest completely gave Bai Yunfei some semblance of relief.

Landing on the opposite side of one another, the bloodlion roared, firing yet another fireball that streaked about a meter above the ground at Bai Yunfei. Even with this one meter of height, the ground beneath it had a linear burn mark, showing just how intense the fireball was in heat.

The fireball was covering a large amount of ground by the time Bai Yunfei turned his head back. Rather than thinking about dodging or using the Cataclysmic Seal to defend, Bai Yunfei shifted a half step backwards with his right hand reared behind his body. The muscles in his arm bulged slightly as he prepared to punch, and then, in a flash of red light, he punched!

“Bang!!” The fireball made contact with his fist, leading to elemental fire scattering into every direction.

“So this is the strength of a mid-stage class six soulbeast…..” Bai Yunfei commented. Ideas and plans streamed in his mind one after another as he observed the lion. With the ten minutes spent fighting, Bai Yunfei had at least some semblance of familiarity fighting one now.

Compared to the hillbeast, the three-eyed bloodlion was very different. The hillbeast placed emphasis on its defenses, which, Bai Yunfei would’ve found extremely hard to break if not for his Dual Dragon Burst whose strength could frighten even a late-stage Soul Exalt. The bloodlion emphasized offense over defense and gave even Bai Yunfei a feeling of awe for it.

Bai Yunfei’s ‘coil’ form gave him strength to fight on par with the bloodlion, however. This in itself was already a clear testament to Bai Yunfei’s strength and the support his equipment gave him. Combined, Bai Yunfei could fight as an early-stage Soul Exalt on equal footing with the mid-stage class six.

“My ‘coil’ form has another fifteen minutes left…if I keep waiting around, I’ll lose!” Urging his soulforce now, Bai Yunfei pushed off against the ground in a blaze of purple light. His figure blurred into a shadow as he streaked for the bloodlion.

On the way, one shadow turned into three to strike at the bloodlion from three separate angles!

+12 Additional effect of the Fire-tipped Spear; Doppelganger!

The bloodlion didn’t move from its spots, however. When the three Bai Yunfeis approached, the bloodlion only growled softly as it charged up its elemental fire. All three of its eyes gave Bai Yunfei the death glare with a particularly crimson shade of color began to show in them for an eery look.

Then, its soulforce began to ripple and flow in a strange fashion….

“Roarrrrr!!!”

An ear-piercing roar of angry exploded out from the bloodlion’s mouth, but there was no elemental fire. It was just an ordinary roar meant to intimidate rather than to harm.

The three shadows were already upon the bloodlion, however. The one on the very left was just about to strike when his face whitened in fear!

Feet locking up, Bai Yunfei stopped moving and fell forward--it looked almost as if he had tripped and lost his balance!

All four limbs of the bloodlion moved to dodge the strikes of the other two doppelgangers before opening its jaw wide open to bite down on the first Bai Yunfei!

“Crack!!”

There was a crunch as the teeth of the bloodlion closed in on one another, but no flesh was caught in between.

Somehow, Bai Yunfei managed to plant his spear into the ground and twist his body around enough to dodge the jaws of death onto his head. Still with the spear planted in the ground, he used that to help kick off the ground to slide a few meters to the side.

Now that he was safe, Bai Yunfei could feel his face slick with sweat and his heart racing furiously.

In that one moment before the bite came, Bai Yunfei felt as if countless of icy-cold spikes were stabbing into his brain, and even into his soul! In that moment, his soulforce refused to obey him. Even his body refused to obey his commands!

“This is….a mental attack!!” His eyes contracted in realization.

Second later, his eyes shifted over to the ring he wore on his right hand. He felt some of his soulforce enter the ring during the attack when he lost all control over himself, but it was because of this drain of soulforce that he was later able to regain control over himself in time to save his life.

He wasn’t a stranger to this type of sensation. That was the sign of an additional effect being triggered!

The ring he wore now was one of the +12 rings he upgraded when he was trying to save Tang Xinyun back in Curopia City!

Elemental Affinity: None

Upgrade Level: +12

Additional Attribute: +130 Spirit

Soul Compatibility: 25%

+10 Additional Effect: Decrease soulforce consumption of a soul skill by 5%.

+12 Additional Effect: Decrease effects of mental attacks by 15%.

Upgrade Requirement: 62 Soulpoints

“Damnit! It’s just a class six, how can it use mental attacks already?!” He wailed.

Then an idea hit him.

“Oh! A three-eyed bloodlion are special soulbeasts capable of learning how to attack the mind. But…..it’s an extremely rare chance to see one know how! How ‘lucky’ of me, I came across a bloodlion that conveniently knew how?!”

Mental attacks were methods of attack that only Soul Kings or class seven soulbeasts knew how to use. Aside from that, there were a few soul skills that could replicate said effects, and some of the more rarer breeds of soulbeasts were capable of using mind-based attacks as well.

As said above, this bloodlion Bai Yunfei was fighting was exactly one of those rare breeds.

The bloodlion originally didn’t think it’d need to use it against a human of all things, but after battling for so long, it had finally recognized Bai Yunfei as a predator, not prey.

The longer they fought, the more this ‘feeling’ grew, so it finally decided to end things here and now with its ultimate move.

“A mental attack….things have gotten thorny now!” Narrowing his eyes, Bai Yunfei began to think of what to do next.

There was no way that the bloodlion would give him enough time to think though. It pounced straight for him, forcing Bai Yunfei to leap out of the way before the bloodlion turned around and had its third eye flash crimson again.

And in that moment, Bai Yunfei felt his own mind and soulforce slammed with a foreign force, producing a dizzying effect!

“Damnit…” Snarling, Bai Yunfei bit his tongue, but that didn’t help him snap out from his bind.

“Boom! Booom!!”

Two separate explosions were heard as Bai Yunfei retreated backwards. Before the explosion could hit him, an earthen barrier was erected in front of him to protect him from the worst, but by the time he regained control of himself, the barrier had already been brought down!

A wave of fire flew for Bai Yunfei, but he was able to swiftly move out of the way by using the Wave Treading Steps.

Since its attack failed to land, the bloodlion roared in anger and flashed its third eye again at him!

“Again?!” He cried out.

Pushing his soulforce into the Cataclysmic Seal, Bai Yunfei was relieved to see another orange barrier pop up in place in front of him.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!!”

For the second time now, the attacks of the bloodlion landed against the barrier, with each blast progressively stronger than the first. And when each blast landed, Bai Yunfei’s barrier rippled like if it was made with water, and seemingly ready to break at any moment.

He was….in danger now!