At that moment, the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat was preening in its triumph, its central head having just regrown. It saw Tang San's body shoot up from below, hurtling straight toward it.
The bat had suffered greatly at Tang San's hands before, not due to a lack of power on its part, but because of carelessness. It would not make that mistake again. Its massive wings unfurled to either side of its body, allowing it to momentarily hover in mid-air. As it watched Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer fly toward it, the leftmost head suddenly emitted a layer of golden light. The light did not target its opponent, but itself.
In the next instant, enveloped by a cloud of golden mist, the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat's enormous body abruptly exploded, bursting into hundreds of tiny golden bats that scattered in all directions. Under the influence of the blue domain Tang San had just released, their flight was clumsy and erratic. However, the Clear Sky Hammer only managed to strike a handful of them.
Clones. Tang San's heart tightened. He had already landed on the ground. The dark-gold miniature bats suddenly let out an irritating, high-pitched chirring.
The blood bats from earlier immediately sprang into action. Their target was not to attack Tang San or Hu Liena, but to hurl themselves upon the narrow path ahead of them. Each blood bat that landed on the path began to gnaw voraciously with its sharp fangs.
What was terrifying was that the hard rock crumbled to dust beneath their fangs. A stretch of the narrow path, at least fifty meters long, was being rapidly destroyed under the relentless chewing of several hundred crimson bats.
"Damn it!" Hu Liena, who had just climbed back up, cursed furiously. Pushed repeatedly to the brink of life and death by these bats, the most outstanding young woman of the Golden Generation was now completely enraged.
"I'll handle this." Hu Liena moved. Her speed reached its absolute limit in an instant. Beneath her fiery-red hair and the enormous fox tail swaying behind her, she became a blur of flowing flame.
Tang San realized that the speed Hu Liena was displaying now was even a few points faster than the maximum he could currently achieve. Though she had no soul skill assisting her, her current velocity was absolutely not inferior to that of an agility-type attack soul master of the same rank. But Tang San knew clearly—she was, just like him, fundamentally a control-type soul master.
Hu Liena was truly furious. The fox tail behind her rose high, its length extending further to a full five meters. Moreover, the tail, which hadn't appeared particularly thick before, now had every long hair standing on end, resembling steel needles. From a distance, it looked like a giant five-meter-long spiked mace.
She flew to the section of the path being gnawed away. Tang San saw her body flicker like a phantom as the fox tail behind her swept horizontally. The tail generated a terrifying force that even startled Tang San. Everywhere it passed, crimson blood bats were sent flying in all directions, and any bat it struck had its body explode like a tattered ragdoll in midair.
Hu Liena did not pause. Using that terrifying tail like a broom sweeping dust from the floor, she cleared bat after bat. Though their chewing was fast, Hu Liena's sweeping was faster. In just the span of a few blinks, where that fiery red figure had passed, at least a hundred blood bats had been smashed to pieces and killed.
Soul Bone. Tang San was certain—the power was from a Soul Bone. Yet, he could not think of which of the six standard Soul Bones could produce an offensive weapon like a tail. Even if Hu Liena's Martial Spirit was the Demon Fox, the spirit itself could never possess such power. In terms of offensive capability, that enormous five-meter fox tail could only be described as horrifying.
Forget the blood bats—even the golden miniature bats formed from the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King would be sent flying dozens of meters if they were struck by it. Although their bodies were much tougher and didn't shatter, they were sent spinning dizzily, utterly unable to approach Hu Liena.
A shriek rang out. The remaining blood bats, still chewing, quickly took flight, not daring to continue their task. Yet even so, in just this short time, the number of blood bats Hu Liena had forcefully smashed to death was already double the number Tang San had killed with his Hidden Weapons.
A thick killing intent emanated from Hu Liena. Seeing that the threat of the blood bats was gone, she stood there, panting heavily. Clearly, that burst of slaughter had cost her considerable energy.
Tang San quickly closed to within ten meters behind Hu Liena, maintaining a distance that was optimal for not interfering with her tail's attack range.
With a *bang*, golden mist surged, and the tiny golden bats reassembled, reforming into the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King. No, it should properly be called the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King.
Three heads, six small, vicious eyes stared fixedly at Tang San and Hu Liena. Clearly, it was enraged as well. Seeing so many of its minions fall, strange, piercing shrieks issued simultaneously from all three of its heads.
Hu Liena's expression changed. She said in a low voice, "It's probably about to unleash some powerful skill."
The Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King was now a full fifty meters away—the very limit of Tang San's normal Hidden Weapons range and a distance at which Hu Liena could not effectively use her tail.
Tang San frowned. "This thing has regeneration. If I'm guessing correctly, the skill it's using now is some kind of self-buff. If we let it complete the buff, we'll be in real trouble. The only issue is we can't find its vital point."
Hu Liena said, "Its vital point should still be those three heads. Although it can regenerate, I don't believe it could regrow all three simultaneously if they were destroyed at once. Without heads, what would it use to devour its own minions?"