Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

’Just one more vector and I could have pulled them apart from five directions,’ Su Chen sighed inwardly.

After a quick clean-up, he and Ruoruo saw that no one else was being lured over by the Rune structure, so they prepared to leave.

Just then, the Ghost operative, who had been keeping her distance in silence, suddenly flew toward them.

A crisp, bell-like female voice emanated from beneath the tactical mask. Distorted by the mask’s sound dampening, it sounded a bit hoarse, concealing its youthful quality.

”Want to try and destroy the enemy’s Teleportation Gate?”

With the communications specialist dead, she was unaware of the pair’s combat record.

But seeing how skilled they were gave Ji Xiaoyue an idea.

”Are you sure you’ve found it?” Su Chen asked, looking at the petite girl.

Appearances could be deceiving.

She was clearly a petite woman, yet she was holding a heavy anti-materiel sniper rifle longer than she was tall.

The extreme contrast was certainly a striking sight.

”I’m eighty percent sure. I received solid intel earlier about a distant area where enemies are constantly spawning. We don’t need to get too close—one glance from an aerial scout will tell us if it’s real or not,” Ji Xiaoyue stated confidently.

As soon as she finished speaking, a biting gale swirled in midair. A Wind Eagle suddenly materialized from invisibility, its body covered in indigo feathers and radiating a majestic, proud aura.

Judging by its size, it was definitely a Lv. 7 Wind Eagle.

”We can go take a look.”

Su Chen raised an eyebrow. He also thought it was a promising idea.

After all, compared to searching for a needle in a haystack, her suggestion at least gave them a direction.

Twenty minutes later, as they neared an area marked as Dragon’s Fang Valley, an ice phoenix beat its wings and emerged. Xiaolin had been released.

Its entire body was clad in Spirit Core Battle Armor, its plates looking as if they were forged from thousand-year-old ice. A series of sharp, weaponized frost blades emerged from its wings, and its tail feathers flowed like a waterfall, tipped with a Spirit Blade.

”Huh...?”

Beneath her tactical visor, Ji Xiaoyue’s eyes widened. It was her first time seeing such a High Tier ice phoenix, let alone one wearing some unknown kind of Spiritual Armor.

She had heard talk of armor for Summoned Pets before, but this was her first time seeing it for herself.

Ji Xiaoyue gave Su Chen a meaningful look. She had only accepted the Ghost Assault Team’s offer after the expedition war, and many powerful lone wolves and members of small groups had joined alongside her. She had seen her fair share of powerful people.

But this man’s power seemed truly unfathomable.

She wondered which borderland this powerhouse had come from.

Xiaolin’s Spirit Core Battle Armor granted it a Psychological Invisibility characteristic. It still existed on the physical plane, but anyone within a certain radius would subconsciously ignore its presence.

The range was limited.

One could definitely spot the ice phoenix from a distance, but up close, the brain would tend to automatically filter out its image.

This trait was especially effective when dealing with a single target.

To be safe, he still had Ruoruo cast an invisibility and camouflage spell on it.

”The chances are indeed high.”

Su Chen climbed to a vantage point and gazed into the distance. Based on the flying figures that occasionally appeared over Dragon’s Fang Valley, it seemed highly likely that a Teleportation Gate was hidden at its base.

”There isn’t a good spot for sniping.”

Ji Xiaoyue was frustrated. The Oran City enemies had a good reason for placing the Teleportation Gate in a concealed spot at the bottom of the valley, and a key one was to prevent it from being destroyed by long-range snipers.

It looked like she would have to take a risk and rely on her Lv. 7 Invisibility Skill to launch a sneak attack. If she failed, she would have to retreat.

Honestly, before witnessing Su Chen’s capabilities, she had thought she had a sixty percent chance of a successful retreat. But if monsters with strong Perception were lying in wait at the bottom of the valley, it was very likely a suicide mission.

”I’ll go take a look first,” Su Chen said.

”Alright. Be careful. If you run into danger, pull back immediately. Don’t force it.”

Ji Xiaoyue said in her muffled voice, sounding a bit like she was trying to play the part of a lecturing adult.

She couldn’t bring herself to say anything unlucky. If he charged into the dragon’s den and died, swarmed and overwhelmed by enemies, all his Runes would just become free loot, indirectly strengthening the enemy.

”Be careful above all else.”

Yan Ruoruo raised her short staff and cast another invisibility and camouflage spell on him.

Because the recovery rate for Enchanted equipment was so low, after this series of spells, the glow from the Demon Patterns on her staff had all but faded.

”Okay, I’ll be quick,” Su Chen said.

...

Less than two minutes later.

BOOM!

A massive explosion roared from within Dragon’s Fang Valley. Flames shot toward the sky, and shattered rock rained down like water.

The Teleportation Gate had exploded.

From Su Chen’s perspective, calling it a dragon’s den was an overstatement.

It was a formulaic operation, as always.

But in anyone else’s eyes, every step he took was a heart-stopping gamble.

Every move trod the razor’s edge between life and death.

As he used Aurora Flash to approach the airspace above the valley, Su Chen’s figure was instantly exposed to a few of the more powerful experts. He had flown right into an invisible web of Perception—an aerial warning field laid by a Four-Star Magnetic Element Warlock.

The stray electrostatic particles in the air allowed his opponent to launch a swift counterattack.

A Strong Magnetic Field instantly filled the air, twisting into a net that sealed off an area of the sky.

Electrostatic Field Lv. 7.

This Thunder Element Technique was an area-of-effect control skill that had appeared with the release of the second batch of Rune synthesis formulas.

Anyone caught inside would be hit with a powerful paralyzing effect, making it difficult for them to use their Runes.

However...

Nothing happened.

Su Chen’s form disintegrated into a blinding arc of electricity, tearing through a gap in the magnetic net. He slithered out like a serpent of lightning before reforming.

By the time the others realized what was happening and rushed in for the kill, he used Aurora Flash and jumped directly to a patch of empty ground.

This was a grand deception.

To the naked eye, the seemingly empty, flat area was just a patch of jumbled rubble. But within Su Chen’s fully deployed Telekinetic Perception, the outline of a Teleportation Gate structure was clearly rendered.

As for the other, brightly lit ”Teleportation Gate” nearby, it was nothing more than some kind of Illusion Technique.

Anyone whose Perception was even a little weaker would have been deceived by the lifelike Illusion Technique.

Just like that, without breaking his stride, he used spatial blinks and high-speed afterimages to evade the incoming attacks. He got close to the Teleportation Gate and, from twenty meters out, remotely hit it with a high-powered Strong Thought Burst.

BOOM!

The Teleportation Gate collapsed with a deafening crash, and a terrifying storm of spatial turbulence immediately erupted from its ruins.

’This is the perfect chance to escape.’

Taking advantage of the familiar chaotic situation, Su Chen silently slipped into a state of phase superposition, his figure dissipating like mist.

One thing to be wary of was that if he were hit by a spatial blade, his superposition state of Light and Dark Particles—which was separated from reality by only a thin film—and other reality-defying techniques would be useless.

Getting grazed by one meant either death or permanent injury.

He had felt the threat they posed before, so by being extremely careful, he managed to make a clean escape.

Of course, he hadn’t gone completely undetected.

The Three-Star Forest Sages had a tracking trait that could guide them to a target after successfully locking onto their aura.

Unfortunately for them, the factions clustered around the Teleportation Gate were not on the same side. The eleven-person squad with the Forest Sage was overconfident in its strength and decided to act alone, only to be ambushed by Yan Ruoruo and Ji Xiaoyu, who were providing backup.

Even Xiaolin and the other Wind Eagle contributed from the shadows.

After a brief, fierce fight, the enemy team was left with five dead and three severely wounded.

The commotion from the battle instantly attracted numerous other enemies. Su Chen was no brainless berserker, so he immediately retreated with the two women.

To conserve his Rune Energy, he decided against using his last bottle of Empowerment Potion and retreated toward the Dongfu City area first.

Ji Xiaoyu also happened to be heading back to the city, so she tagged along.

Over half an hour later, the group returned to South Gate 3. From there, they used a Teleportation Gate that was still standing in this border area to reach South Gate 1, officially arriving at the critical area of Rune structures.

The air was filled with the smell of smoldering embers from the battle.

In the distance, the city wall had crumbled into a field of rubble.

Fortunately, the Rune structures in this area were not noticeably damaged and remained standing tall.

’Let’s check the rankings.’

Su Chen didn’t pay much attention to this Rune Core region. As soon as he was within a few dozen meters of the mission hall, he immediately connected to it with his consciousness.

[World Quest: City Defense Battle (In Progress)]

[Your Contribution: 357 Points]

[Current Rank: 5th]

’Fifth place?’

Su Chen grew thoughtful. He had to keep in mind that he hadn’t joined this world quest from the very start; he’d missed at least two hours.

He could accept this result, but he wasn’t satisfied with it.

What surprised him even more was...

”A truce is coming. The powers in charge of Oran City have already sent an envoy to formally submit a truce agreement to the Security Committee.”

???

Su Chen was naturally unhappy about this. ’Have the powers-that-be on the other side secured their advantage and are now calling a ceasefire to lock in the rankings?’ he wondered.