461 The Fifth Tier? (1/2)
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The Sand Howl Tiger was surprisingly brawny. Even when its limbs sank into the Flowing Mud from Zhang Xiaohou's Soul Seed, it still managed to leap into the air and landed on top of the Rock Barrier...
The Rock Barrier was ten meters tall and jagged in an irregular pattern. The Sand Howl Tiger was standing atop it, its eyes fixed on Zhang Xiaohou. who was the closest to it.
It leapt from the high ground, its figure still covered in a thick blood shadow. Mo Fan was rather familiar with the power from that layer of crimson shadow, as the might from his Blood Tabi was fairly similar to it.
The shadow granted the Sand Howl Tiger formidable strength. Normally, demon beasts like it could utilize its strength better on the sturdier ground of the Gobi Desert. The creature was most likely starving if it came all the way to these sandy hills searching for food.
The jagged Rock Barrier served as a perfect springboard for the Sand Howl Tiger. It lunged forward swiftly and fiercely: Zhang Xiaohou had once again underestimated the creature's speed!
He was already in the midst of casting the Spells, yet neither the Wind Track or the Earth Wave was quick enough to escape from the Sand Howl Tiger 's pounce.
The Sand Howl Tiger was inches away. Zhang Xiaohou could see the fangs in its giant mouth, and a foul stench swept in his direction, with an overwhelming sense of fear.
”Light Protection: Sacred Shield!”
Zhang Xiaohou, who was standing not far away, reacted quickly. His Light Element Spell immediately formed extremely sturdy-looking shields surrounding Zhang Xiaohou.
The Sand Howl Tiger slammed into the Sacred Shield, and it felt like it had crashed into a metal ball. It knocked Zhang Xiaohou a distance back, while shaking its head on the spot, like it had a concussion.
Zhang Xiaohou was perfectly unharmed. He cast a grateful look at Zhao Manyan, who responded by patting his chest, signaling him: Go ahead and do whatever you want, I'll look after your safety.
Zhang Xiaohou nodded, and was convinced that everyone that Mo Fan had assembled was an elite among Magicians. They knew how to work together without unnecessary signaling, which relieved him greatly.
The truth was, Zhang Xiaohou did not have any offensive capacity. His main role in the army was the vanguard in charge of disrupting the enemy's tempo.
In simpler words, he was in charge of 'aggroing the mobs'!
As the demon beasts put their attention on him, it would allow the other Magicians to cast their spells without being interrupted.
With Zhang Xiaohou as the vanguard, Mo Fan and Chen Yi immediately cast their Intermediate Spells. The Sand Howl Tiger, still dizzy from the previous collision, immediately faced two powerful attacks, which it dodged in a panic.
The Sand Howl Tiger's evasion was fairly outstanding. Out of the two Intermediate Magicians, only Mo Fan's relatively swift Thunderbolt was effective, knocking the Sand Howl Tiger back into the quicksand that Zhang Xiaohou had set up. Half of the Sand Howl Tiger's body sank into the sand before it could recover and crawl out from the pit.
The sand had a high viscosity, mainly because of the Earth Element Soul Seed they had obtained from the Xizhao Valley.
The Sand Howl Tiger was unable to move freely, as half of its body had sunk into the sand. It was like a beast captured in the trap set up by Hunters. No matter how fierce it was struggling, it made no difference, as the more it struggled, the faster it was sinking into the sand.
”Giant Shadow Spike!”