The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 249: Overpowered

His brown hair was combed back. Under his rimless glasses, his eyes glowed with a dark, cold green. A faint smile tugged at his thin lips, arrogant and derisive.

Gao Yang recognized at first glance that he was Yan Feng’s manager.

So he was the actual Black Tortoise!

Now it all made sense.

He had always been near Yan Feng, and even when they parted, they were never far away. That allowed him to control Yan Feng precisely to play the role of Black Tortoise.

It was a method of control different from the one used on the wanderers working for awakeners at the Black Tortoise branch, which involved a mix of control and brainwashing and was easily spotted.

“So you are the real Black Tortoise,” Gao Yang said.

“I’ve underestimated you, Seven Shadow.” Black Tortoise looked at Gao Yang and Ghost Horse. “You and Ghost Horse destroyed my best puppet. Now I wouldn’t be able to keep playing a spy in the Qilin Guild.”

Black Tortoise took a step forward with his hands in his pockets.

Everyone took an involuntary step back. A strong presence filled the air.

“Azure Dragon will be here soon. I have to kill you before that.” Black Tortoise raised his right hand and checked his wrist watch. “Three minutes. That should be enough.”

Gao Yang’s heart sank.

That was some confidence.

Swish, swish.

Without a word, Lithe Snake threw two throwing knives at Black Tortoise.

Black Tortoise’s eyes twitched, and the knives halted right before him, stopped by a translucent rippling wall before falling down.

What?!

Shocked, Gao Yang shouted immediately, “Watch your feet!”

As he issued the warning, a thick layer of ice appeared on the ground at some point and quickly swept toward everyone.

They each jumped in a different direction to dodge it.

Growl!

Gray Bear transformed into a giant bear again and charged at Black Tortoise fiercely, leaping up and lunging at him.

Black Tortoise easily dodged out of the way.

Missing his target, Gray Bear landed yet didn’t keep moving; at that split second, he had gotten grappled by Phantom. Countless shadowy tentacles wrapped around Gray Bear’s body, slow yet irresistible.

“Get off me!”

Gray Bear struggled to break free, but the shadow moved along with him. When Gray Bear extended his body, the shadowy tentacles loosened, and when he curled in, the tentacles contracted.

Responding to raw power with flexibility, it prevented Gray Bear from making a move.

“He can use the Talents of all his puppets!” Gao Yang caught on quickly. “And he can use them simultaneously!”

The soft sound of a current hit his eardrum.

Swish.

Before the air blade could cut Gao Yang’s throat, Ghost Horse teleported him to a pipe.

As soon as they landed, they jumped in opposite directions, and three sharp air blades glanced off the pipe, making a bright clink.

While using multiple Talents, Black Tortoise hadn’t been standing idle. He rushed toward a clearing with his eyes closed.

With Dark Li’s Mind’s Eye, he caught the movement of Can and Ronnie.

Ronnie’s Disorientation was troublesome and should be taken care of swiftly.

“Yiyayiyayiya—”

As he anticipated, Ronnie activated his Talent.

That cluttered Black Tortoise’s mind and stopped him from using multiple Talents at once. However, with a greater Willpower than everyone else, Black Tortoise was able to recover some of his mental faculties in only a second. While he still couldn’t use the Talents at his disposal, he could move as he wished.

He continued to charge at Ronnie.

Caught off guard, Ronnie stopped singing, thinking Black Tortoise was immune to his Disorientation.

Black Tortoise smiled. It was all according to his plan.

It was a mistake for Ronnie to use Disorientation because it didn’t stop Black Tortoise from moving, while it stopped his companions from coming to his rescue.

And it was yet another mistake for Ronnie to stop using Disorientation immediately, which allowed Black Tortoise to use his Talents.

Black Tortoise could sense Ghost Horse teleporting toward him, but the man wouldn’t make it in time.

Activating Gale, Black Tortoise surrounded himself with a strong current to make him swift as a sparrow, his movement accelerated dramatically.

Between one blink and the next, Ronnie and Can saw Black Tortoise suddenly appear before them.

Knowing that danger was coming, Ronnie instinctively pushed Can away.

Black Tortoise grabbed Ronnie by the neck and bam! He lifted Ronnie with one hand and slammed him into the reactor.

The sturdy reactor caved in slightly. The heavy impact broke many of Ronnie’s bones and gave him a concussion, making him black out.

Black Tortoise didn’t stop. He was going to break Ronnie’s neck to take out the troublemaker once and for all. However, he wasn’t given the time.

An arrow shot at Black Tortoise.

Black Tortoise dodged it by tilting his head. The half second delay allowed Ghost Horse to teleport twice to him.

Black Tortoise had to let go of Ronnie’s neck. While dodging sideways, he conjured a translucent gale shield and blocked Ghost Horse’s sharp karambit.

With his other hand, he summoned Phantom and went after Gao Yang, who was coming after him from the side.

Black Tortoise made a push with his left hand, sending a gust out to sweep Ghost Horse away.

Meanwhile, Phantom shot toward Gao Yang along the ground like a black snake.

Gao Yang jumped away, shooting two torrents of flames at Black Tortoise from midair. With a scoff, Black Tortoise splayed his right hand, conjuring three long, sharp ice cones, piercing the flames and shooting at Gao Yang.

Surprised, Gao Yang had no choice but to deactivate Fire and twisted around to dodge the ice cones with difficulty. Still, one managed to cut his left arm.

Gao Yang landed. His left arm was bleeding and drenching his shirt.

Lithe Snake and Nine Frost had come to help as well. Holding a shortsword, Lithe Snake jumped off from a higher place and stabbed at Black Tortoise’s back, while Nine Frost came up to him from the left, raising a fist.

From Black Tortoise’s right, Gray Bear had recovered and lunged at him as well.

Behind Black Tortoise was a wall consisting of pipes. There was no room for him to retreat. Nevertheless, he seemed unfazed and showed no sign of panic.

He lowered his head with his arms crossed before his chest, his hands balled into fists.

And he arched his back suddenly, like he was accumulating power in his body.

“Hah!”

A growl burst out from his chest.

He opened his arms wide, conjuring a whirlwind of countless sharp ice shards around him, and each shard was connected by thin, dense webs of black shadow, acting like neurons or some sort of nodes to combine the wind and ice elements.

A behemoth dragon of black, white, and blue whirled around Black Tortoise. It was impossible to get close.

Gao Yang was stunned speechless.

The man had combined Phantom, Gale, and Frost perfectly to effectively create a new skill.

Growl!

The three-colored dragon howled while rushing up, charging at Lithe Snake as he climbed the tower.

The dragon was so quick and its area of effect so large that Lithe Snake couldn’t avoid it in time, never mind the powerful suction it created. In an instant, Lithe Snake was devoured by the giant dragon.

Then it dove toward the ground at Nine Frost. He didn’t have the time to move out of the way either, and he was about to get swallowed by the dragon like Lithe Snake.

It was then Gray Bear rushed up to cover Nine Frost with his large body.

Compared to the giant dragon, however, Gray Bear might as well be a small mouse. In an instant, the dragon swallowed him and Nine Frost alike.

Less than twenty seconds later, the dragon disappeared, leaving behind a mess.

Lithe Snake hung on a pipe, covered in injuries. There was no telling if he was alive. The same was true of Nine Frost and Gray Bear. They lay prone amid a ruin of toppled walls, surrounded by ice shards and covered in blood.

Black Tortoise panted slightly. The move had taken him quite a lot of energy and mental power, but he managed to take out three opponents at once.

Gaze shifting to Ghost Horse and Gao Yang, he stalked toward them with a faint smile. “Two minutes to go.”