The Ultimate Evolution

While his opponents were panic stricken, Sheyan was also suffering from great pain, so much so that the muscles on his back were throbbing, almost twisting themselves into a knot. The pain was messing with all the nerves in his body. The most he could do now was to maintain his walking posture; there was no way he could fight.

Because this was the first time Sheyan was using ‘Withering Impact’, he did not know until he had performed it that the side effect was so crazy. To be honest, he would rather have his base attributes deducted than to undergo the baptism of this pain!

Fortunately, Sheyan had chosen somewhere far away for the landing spot of ‘Withering Impact’. If he had decided to maximise the damage and chosen to crash directly into the enemy group instead, the moment of collision would have felt good, but it was virtually impossible to wipe out all the remaining enemies with just that.

Actually, let alone wipe them out, the shockwave would not even hit all of them. After that, they would definitely gang up on Sheyan, who had pretty much delivered himself to their doorsteps. Luckily, Sheyan’s sudden appearance was too breathtaking, taking out the one the enemies recognised as the strongest among them in one strike! The attack had deeply shocked all of them. All the enemies could only think of two things right now: Did he have any other skills like that? How long before he could do that again?

Their hesitation gave Sheyan the time to gradually recover. His body was slowly getting used to the pain, and the pain was also lessening. But at that moment, the penetrating sound of gunshot resounded again!

The shot felt like a flash of light. Even with Sheyan’s might, the bullet pierced through him and made him lose his balance. He was thrown ten meters back, and blood gushed out of his back. After that, came a big, horrible fireball.

The gunshot and the fireball looked very ordinary, but they were perfectly timed, forming a long-range combo strike. The sniper shot had great impact and damage, and would often violently knock the target back. During that time, the fireball would arrive.

The sniper shot was a physical attack, while the great fireball was a magic attack. No matter which aspect the victim’s defence was focused on, they would take significant damage for sure.

But what the opponents did not expect was, when Sheyan had flown about 7 metres back, he forcefully flipped himself in the air and drop into a nearby metallic ditch! This way, even if the fireball exploded with perfect timing, the damage it would cause to him became very limited. At most, he would be hurt by its aftershock.

“This guy…” The sniper had long, cool-looking white hair. The stubble on his face was badly trimmed, while his nose was bizarrely crooked. His gaze looked a little unfocused, like he was constantly looking askance. Only when he was occasionally talking to others would his eyes sharpen, as if he were digging into the deepest corner of the other person’s mind with his gaze.

“What’s wrong, Pacino?” asked Old A, the person who cast the great fireball.

Pacino stared into the distance and said with uncertainty, “The minimum distance someone would be knocked back by my shot should be 13 meters, but that guy regained control of his body when he was only knocked 7 meters away! After that, he cleverly avoided most of the damage from the fireball. I’ve only met one type of person who can do this.”

Old A, who had sunken eye sockets, took out a spherical flask which contained a sky blue potion and gulped it down.

“Which type?” he asked unhurriedly.

“MTs,” replied Pacino as he closed an eye while putting the other to the aiming scope. “Remember the MT of the party we met last time? The guy called Skull?”

“Of course I remember. That wanton pig. He swallowed a piece of god-damned dark gold equipment!” roared Old A. “That equipment should never have been given to that bastard Trino in the first place. See, it only benefited the enemy in the end.”

Pacino paused for a moment, as if reliving the sweet memory.

“Skull was sent flying by my shot for 15 meters before he regained control of his body.”

Old A had struck a match to light a cigarette for himself. The matchstick abruptly snapped. “This guy is that strong?!” he exclaimed in surprise. There was finally a fluctuation to his voice.

Pacino smiled. “Yeah, I think it’s impossible too. He must have used some kind of item.”

When the people around them heard this, there was an obvious feeling of relief among them.

“Yeah, yeah, it must’ve been an item.”

But of course Sheyan did not use any item!

However, he also did not simply rely on his Physique to free himself from the huge knockback impact of Pacino’s shot, but both his Physique and Strength. The current Sheyan was definitely stronger than Skull, but not that much stronger.

The first thing Sheyan did after he fell into the metal ditch was of course to bandage himself up and take some medicine. His breath felt blazing hot at the moment, and his heart was beating as violently as boiling water, but his mind was as calm as newly dissolved ice. He was meticulously thinking ahead.

“The enemies work well with each other. The combination of the sniper and the fire mage is very powerful. Other than MTs, ordinary Awakeners would probably die if they’re hit by that combo. Oh, that guy from earlier dropped something.”

Sheyan realised that Yanigan’s death gave him 5 achievement points, obviously boosted by his status as the vice leader of a party in addition to being an Awakener. He had also dropped that weird shield of his.

[ Graffiti of Moses (Replica) ]

[ Origin: Any world with the Catholic faith ]

[ Rarity: Dark Gold ]

[ Materials: Walnut wood + whale bone + dye + power of prayers ]

[ Add-On: Flawless diamond (all attributes + 2) / blue marble (equipping requirements reduced by 20%) ]

[ Equipping Position: One-handed / two-handed (when the wielder’s Strength exceeds 25 points, the shield can be held with one hand) ]

[ Type: Light shield ]

[ Weight: 7kg ]

[ Equipping Requirements: All attributes must be higher than 50 (with the blue marble, all attributes must be higher than 40) ]

[ Durability 66 / 66 ]

[ Effect: Reduces the chance of sustaining explosive hit by 3% ]

[ Effect: Defence + 5 (advanced shield mastery can increase this effect) ]

[ Effect: Chances of successful block + 35% ]

[ Effect: Physique + 2 ]

[ Special Effect: Moses’ Devotion (passive) – Wielder’s physical attack power and physical defence are increased by 15%, while magic attack power and magic defence are increased by 20%. ]

[ Special Effect: Moses’ Kindness (passive) – Absorb 15% of the damage when wielder is attacked and turn it into a healing effect which is applied to all nearby allies. ]

[ Special Effect: Moses’ Punishment (active) – Throw this shield at a target within 30 meters to cause 300 holy damage. The attacked target will be marked. Every time the target is attacked after that, they will be stunned for 1 second (this effect will only appear once every 2 seconds, lasting no more than 10 seconds). ]

[ Special Effect: Moses’ Forgiveness (passive) – Whenever the wielder is inflicted with a negative status, the power of Moses will automatically try to remove it. If the removal is successful, this effect will enter a cooldown of 30 seconds. Regardless of whether the removal attempt is successful, one achievement point will be consumed (wielder can choose whether to activate this effect). ]

[ Description: This equipment is said to be a sacred object made by the prophet Moses himself, but this was eventually proven to be a rumour. However, before that, this seemingly ordinary shield have already been consecrated in Malmö’s St. Peter’s Church for more than 2600 years. ]

[ Therefore, the holy power contained in it is definitely no inferior to a real sacred object. However, due to the characteristics of Moses the prophet, the shield’s attributes tend to be rather balanced. It has no outstanding abilities, but no weak ones either. Everyone can find the aspect they wish to strengthen on it. Whether the strengthening is what the wielder desires is another matter. ]

***

While Sheyan was checking the properties of the shield, he was also swiftly moving forward while bending down. He quickly reached a junction and turned a corner. However, a little over fifty meters after that, he felt someone or something pushing on his back! He lost his balance and involuntary tumbled forward. There was nothing he could do to stop himself. Even if there was a fire and or a heap of dung in front of him, he would still tumble straight into it whether he wanted to or not.

Fortunately, there was no fire or dung in front of Sheyan, only an empty passage.

However, don’t forget that Sheyan had phenomenal Strength – it would not be amiss to describe him as being as strong as a bull. Yet, he was unable to resist the force coming from behind at all… How powerful must the force be?

It was a shockwave!! An immense shockwave after an explosion!!

Ronnie could be heard shouting in the party communication channel, “Be careful, Boss!! There’s an abnormally powerful summoner among them. That guy has suddenly gone crazy and summoned a Bishop self-propelled artillery to attack you! ”

(TL 1: Self-propelled artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move towards its target. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-propelled_artillery )

(TL 2: The Bishop is an old British self-propelled artillery vehicle armed with a QF 25 pounder gun-howitzer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_(artillery) )

“FUU*%#^&!” Sheyan’s eardrums were buzzing. If he were an ordinary person, his inner organs would have been injured so badly from the shock that he would have died right there and then. Even though he had survived, he still felt numb all over.