Chapter 514: Eerie Platform

Zu An frowned. "Is something mind-altering invading my consciousness?" He quickly looked around, but saw nothing. "This place is truly bizarre."

Pei Mianman shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't feel dizzy or confused. The images actually resemble my own memories... It's a very strange sensation."

Zu An was about to say something when a sudden change occurred on the field. The stalemate between the Taotie and the Skeleton Warrior was finally broken, as one Taotie shrieked and lunged towards the opponent. Its mouth full of sharp, white teeth could likely shatter any bone on the Skeleton Warrior if it managed to bite him.

The Skeleton Warrior hurled its serrated shield directly. The lunging Taotie was already fast, but with the serrated shield flying towards it, there was no way it could dodge. The rapidly spinning shield acted like a cutting machine, splitting the Taotie's head in two. The rest of the Taotie's body still charged forward due to inertia but quickly collapsed to the ground, its limbs flailing and twitching uncontrollably. The spinning shield then returned like a boomerang, flying back to the Skeleton Warrior's hand.

At that moment, electric light flashed between the twin horns of another Taotie, and a blue beam struck the spinning shield. The flying shield jolted, then fell silently to the ground, ceasing its rotation, as if it had lost its connection to its master. Then, electric light flashed from the horns of the other Taotie, and blue beams shot towards the Skeleton Warrior.

Seeing this, the Skeleton Warrior wielded its long-bladed spear, forming an impenetrable barrier in front of itself, blocking all the blue beams. Next, the Skeleton Warrior pushed off the ground, leaving an afterimage as it moved directly to the nearest Taotie. With a single swing of its long-bladed spear, it severed two of the Taotie's legs, causing it to lose balance and fall. The Skeleton Warrior didn't miss the opportunity, using the spear tip to stab it to death.

Its long-bladed spear was still stuck in the Taotie's corpse when a nearby Taotie's long tail lashed out, striking the warrior's arm directly. Even with the Skeleton Warrior's incredibly tough bones, the force of the blow made it lose its grip on the long-bladed spear. However, it reacted quickly, grabbing the lashing tail with one hand. Then, like throwing a discus, it swung the Taotie's body around as a new weapon, smashing it into the two other charging Taotie.

"Ying ying ying~" several Taotie shrieked. The two Taotie that were struck stumbled away, dazed. The Skeleton Warrior flicked its foot, sending the long-bladed spear nearby flying up, then delivered a side kick, launching the spear away. The long-bladed spear became a streak of light, its accuracy far surpassing that of the national football team, and in an instant, it struck a stumbling Taotie, impaling it firmly against the wall.

Zu An swallowed hard, watching. This Skeleton Warrior must have been a formidable general in life to be so fierce. But the one whose tail was caught suffered the most. The Skeleton Warrior swung it repeatedly, slamming it against the walls and ground. After more than ten consecutive blows, its body was covered in wounds, from which various disgusting fluids oozed.

At that moment, the last remaining Taotie finally regained its senses and quickly lunged at the Skeleton Warrior, knocking it to the ground. The Skeleton Warrior had no choice but to release the tail and wrestle with this Taotie.

Zu An hesitated, wondering whether to help the Taotie. The reason he had stayed and not left was to find an opportunity to eliminate the hidden danger completely, to avoid being endlessly hunted by it. But to his surprise, the Skeleton Warrior was too ferocious, having dispatched four Taotie in an instant. Although it was currently pinned down and being beaten by the last Taotie, given its undead nature, he truly didn't believe the Taotie could win.

At this point, the battle between the two monsters on the ground intensified, the Taotie's razor-sharp claws continuously raking against the Skeleton Warrior, producing ear-splitting screeching sounds. Even the Skeleton Warrior's extremely tough bones were left with deep gouges. The sharp tail behind the Taotie relentlessly jabbed at the Skeleton Warrior's head. The Skeleton Warrior kept dodging, as the sharp tail struck the ground, sending brick fragments flying, creating a chaotic scene.

Zu An stroked his chin. Why did this scene look so familiar...? He was hesitating whether to intervene, but since the Skeleton Warrior's head could reattach even after being cut off, he truly didn't know how to launch an effective attack. He decided to let the Taotie probe further. After all, according to Mianman, these two were mortal enemies and surely knew each other's weaknesses.

Just then, the Skeleton Warrior delivered a direct kick to the Taotie's stomach, sending it flying backward to crash into a nearby wall, scattering stone fragments. The Skeleton Warrior got up and charged towards its opponent. At that moment, the Taotie suddenly shot out an incredibly hard tongue, aiming for its head. However, the Skeleton Warrior was prepared. It simply tilted its head to dodge, then reached out, grabbed the Taotie's tongue, and with a forceful tug, ripped the entire tongue out.

The Taotie shrieked, spitting an unknown liquid mixed with blood from its mouth. Its body swayed in circles before collapsing to the ground. Clearly, having such a large tongue violently torn out was a fatal injury, even for a creature as strong as it.

Zu An looked stunned. He knew it wasn't a match for the great skeleton, but was it really so useless? When it attacked him, it hit with full force, yet against the great skeleton, it was instantly defeated in various ways? No wonder this creature was chosen to guard the gate; it truly was formidable.

However, Zu An wasn't overly panicked. He glanced at Pei Mianman. "I think I've figured out its weakness."

Pei Mianman wasn't foolish either; her recent observations led her to her own conclusion: "Its head!" The previous Taotie had all tried to attack its head; there was definitely a reason for that. Zu An had only cut off its head earlier, but he hadn't completely destroyed it, which was why he mistakenly believed it was truly immortal.

At that moment, the Taotie whose tail had been caught and slammed around was surprisingly still alive. It shakily got up from the ground and instinctively tried to flee, clearly having lost its will to fight. The Skeleton Warrior gestured with its hand, and the serrated shield that had fallen to the ground came back to life, spinning past the Taotie and returning to its hand. The Taotie ran a few more steps, then its head simply fell off...

The Skeleton Warrior walked over to the Taotie impaled on the wall, pulled out its long-bladed spear, then turned around, its red eyes coldly staring at Zu An and Pei Mianman. Zu An swallowed. Although he now knew its weakness, the terrifying combat power it had just displayed made it clear that in a normal confrontation, the two of them were absolutely no match for it.

As he was pondering their attack strategy, a sudden change occurred. A sharp tail piece emerged from the Skeleton Warrior's forehead. The Skeleton Warrior struggled to turn its head to see who had killed it, but with its head impaled, it couldn't even manage that simple movement. Zu An and Pei Mianman saw clearly: another Taotie had been hiding in the rafters. They didn't know how long it had been ambushing there, but it struck the moment the Skeleton Warrior, having killed its five companions, let down its guard, hitting a vital spot.

The Skeleton Warrior tried to raise its long-bladed spear to attack behind itself, but just as it lifted its hand, a horrific tongue shot out and shattered its hand bones. Immediately after, the tail in its head lifted it into mid-air. The red glow in the Skeleton Warrior's eyes finally faded completely, its other hand fell limply, and the shield it held clanged to the ground.

Zu An had initially intended to retrieve the shield, but when that Taotie descended from the rafters, he completely abandoned the idea. This Taotie was much larger than any they had seen before, several times the size of a regular one.

Pei Mianman's voice rang out. "I think it would be best if we left here as quickly as possible."

"I was just thinking the same thing." As soon as he spoke, the two of them, with a tacit understanding, turned and ran. Although the previous Taotie's various attacks had left some marks on the Skeleton Warrior's bones, they hadn't been able to truly injure it. Now, this creature had shattered its thick forearm bone with a single tongue strike; its strength was beyond anything they could handle.

The giant Taotie let out a roar, then took heavy steps, pursuing the two. Its speed was astonishingly fast, completely disproportionate to its size. "Why isn't this thing eating its companions' corpses!" Zu An cursed inwardly, but there was nothing else they could do. They could only run forward as fast as they could. He had originally intended to choose some narrow passages to slow down the large creature behind them, but this palace was incredibly grand, and along the way, he couldn't find any narrow spaces at all.

After a while, they reached a flight of stairs. Above the stairs was a high platform. Their expressions changed slightly because, as far as they could see, reaching the platform led to a dead end. Just as the two were preparing for a desperate last stand, the giant Taotie behind them suddenly stopped. It paced back and forth several feet away, staring at the high platform, as if it feared something.