Infinity, The Arcade Age-Chapter 380 - The Adventurers’ Hunt

On the streets, a fierce battle was underway.

Using the tactic of luring someone out first for a sneak attack, the nine-person team of adventurers successfully dealt serious damage to Sie Kensou, thus stalling the other two's movements.

Otherwise, if it had been a direct confrontation, with Athena Asamiya's abilities, if she had focused solely on escaping, they wouldn't have had any way to stop her.

It was precisely by injuring one first, then surrounding the others for reinforcement interception, that they managed to pin down Athena Asamiya, who refused to abandon her teammate, and the already-aged martial arts master, Chin Gentsai.

Nine versus three, with a surprise ambush that took one down at the start.

And the most underhanded part? They had even laced high-quality wine with poison and offered it in advance to Chin Gentsai.

One could say the nine adventurers already held all the advantages... yet, the battle was far from one-sided.

Despite all their preparations, once the fight began in earnest, the adventurers suddenly realized they had severely underestimated the strength of the Psychic Team!

The power of the three was far beyond their expectations!

Athena Asamiya flickered about with impossible agility, her movements impossible to track. Her base stats might not have been outstanding, but her abilities were utterly bizarre.

A super-psychic penetration that dealt true damage! A terrifying burst from her Phoenix Arrow! And a crystal barrier that combined offense and defense into one, delivering astonishing destructive power!

This girl, barely sixteen or seventeen years old, was actually on the level of a first-rate martial artist!

Even the heavily wounded Sie Kensou managed to recover some of his strength using his special regenerative ability—by scarfing down steamed buns to replenish nutrients—and almost blew up one of the adventurers with a single burst of immortal energy.

Sie Kensou, too, had a combat ability on par with top-tier fighters. Like Athena, he just lacked some real combat experience.

And their master, that sloppy, drunken old man Chin Gentsai, was now showing downright terrifying strength.

His short figure weaved through all sorts of attacks. Even while facing five enemies at once, Chin Gentsai didn't falter in the slightest.

His incredibly nimble body danced through punches and kicks effortlessly. At one point, facing a flurry of bullets from a submachine gun, he used lightning-fast hand movements to catch every bullet mid-air.

That utterly ridiculous scene—catching bullets with bare hands—left several adventurers around him completely stunned!

Chin Gentsai might be old, his physical functions significantly deteriorated, and long gone from his prime. After all, there's a saying: "Even fists fear the young." And it's no joke.

But even if his prime was behind him, Chin Gentsai still possessed decades of fighting experience. With S-rank martial arts, his techniques alone allowed him to stand atop the pinnacle of first-class fighters!

What he feared were overwhelming powerhouses that could break skill with brute force—not a bunch of third-rate nobodies ganging up on him!

For a time, the battle on the street raged on with no clear victor. Even three against nine, Chin Gentsai's side held their ground.

It wasn't until two of the adventurers had been taken out that the rest finally gritted their teeth and played their trump cards.

A rocket launcher from the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs world! The Book of Earth from Knights of Valour! One of them even pulled out the Treasure Gourd from The Journey to the West: Demon's Siege, forcibly sucking up the darting Athena Asamiya into it! She wasn't released until sixteen seconds later!

By the time Athena Asamiya emerged from the gourd, her outfit had been corroded and torn, and her psychic energy was severely depleted. The graceful figure from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

As the wounded trio of master and disciples huddled together in a defensive formation, their backs to each other, the remaining seven adventurers—also battered and weary—closed in with feral expressions, warily eyeing one another.

As intermediate adventurers, and skilled ones at that, these people naturally had trump cards of their own.

But since this was a temporary alliance, every one of them was secretly on guard. Even those supposedly from the same team didn't fully trust one another.

Now that victory seemed in sight, none of them rushed to finish off the Psychic Team. Instead, they all fell silent at the same time.

"How do we split this?"

"Everyone gets what they can!"

"Easy for you to say, your team didn't lose anyone! Didn't we agree beforehand that each group gets one?"

"Enough bickering! Before something else happens—kill them first!"

While the adventurers were arguing, the three cornered members of the Psychic Team also wore solemn expressions as they anxiously discussed their options.

Chin Gentsai, who had been poisoned, had a darkened complexion. Sie Kensou, still recovering from his ambush injuries, looked deathly pale.

Only Athena Asamiya remained relatively unscathed physically—but her sailor uniform had turned into a shredded battle-damaged outfit, revealing quite a bit of skin.

Supporting Sie Kensou with one hand, Athena Asamiya glanced nervously at the vicious-looking group in front of her.

After all, she was a pop idol at heart. Martial arts were just a hobby and a means to control her innate psychic powers to prevent dangerous outbursts. When had she ever fought for her life like this?

"Master! What do we do now?!"

Hearing his student's anxious question, Chin Gentsai clutched his abdomen and spoke gravely.

"Run."

"What?!"

"Athena, with your ability, if you want to run, they can't stop you. Run."

"But what about you and Sie Kensou—?"

"Indecision leads to disaster. Go back and call reinforcements. Whether we live or die... that's up to fate."

Chin Gentsai was a veteran. He knew perfectly well that breaking through under these conditions was a pipe dream. So he decisively chose to let Athena Asamiya escape alone.

Seeing her still hesitating, Chin Gentsai growled in a low voice...

"Every second you hesitate, our chances of survival shrink! Athena! Listen to your master! Run!"

Upon hearing this, Athena's gaze became resolute again. After nodding solemnly to Chin Gentsai, she immediately activated her skill and vanished from her position in an instant.

When she reappeared, she was already a hundred meters away.

Athena Asamiya's psychic teleportation technique could only teleport herself, and at best, she could bring along some small items. She couldn't teleport other living beings with her.

Not being foolish, and knowing that calling for reinforcements was indeed the best option at this moment, she immediately followed the command.

As she vanished in an instant, the adventurers facing her were taken aback.

Realizing that things were taking a turn for the worse, they exchanged a glance and, in the next second, didn't pursue her. Instead, they charged toward Chin Gentsai and Sie Kensou.

Killing Athena Asamiya? They had never expected to kill her from the start!

After all, her teleportation ability was far too overpowered!

Their real targets from the beginning had always been Chin Gentsai and Sie Kensou! More specifically, they aimed for Chin Gentsai's S-rank martial arts and Sie Kensou's S-rank Dragon's Power!

These two abilities were their true objectives!

Amidst the cries for blood, the battle resumed.

One adventurer, charging forward, raised a golden gourd high in the air.

With a flash of light from the gourd, it immediately sucked Sie Kensou in.

And this gourd! It was none other than the Treasure Gourd from Journey to the West: Demon's Siege, a magical artifact of the Golden Horn King!

It wasn't a consumable item—it was a legitimate magical tool! A golden-tier treasure!

[Name: Golden Horn King's Treasure Gourd]

[Category: Special Item (Brilliant Golden Plot)]

[Usage Requirement: None]

[Effect 1: Once a target is locked, the gourd forcibly sucks the target inside, dealing 50 points of corrosion damage per second, lasting for one-fifth of the user's psychic power, and can only be used once per day on the same target.]

[Effect 2: If the user calls the target's name during activation, the duration of the effect doubles.]

[Description: I call your name! Do you dare answer?!]

With Sie Kensou forcibly sucked into the gourd, the adventurer who had hung it at his waist did not join the fight. Instead, he stood at a distance, silently observing.

In fact, he had never participated in the battle at all—he had only used the gourd to strike a blow at each of the three from Chin Gentsai's team.

But even this one action had already severely injured the three, whose base attributes were not particularly high.

Now, faced with a six-person assault, Chin Gentsai, already in a poor state, was starting to struggle.

He gritted his teeth and tried to block the attacks coming from all directions, desperately holding on.

Meanwhile, the adventurers, eager to finish off the expert and claim the loot, grew more and more ruthless in their attacks. They started using their ultimate moves one after another.

After enduring several dozen attacks, a loud crash rang out as two adventurers seized an opportunity and landed a punch directly to Chin Gentsai's chest, sending him flying through the air. He rolled and crashed to the ground.

In a one-on-six scenario, with his injuries and after nearly three minutes of enduring constant blows, he finally fell.

"Chin Gentsai! Come here and die!"

One adventurer shouted as he saw Chin Gentsai struggle to rise from the ground.

Before he could get close, however, a sharp gust of wind suddenly echoed.

The next second, a shadow descended from the sky and slammed heavily onto the ground. The resulting shockwave sent the adventurer flying backward.

Chin Gentsai, still lying on the ground, was also blown into another roll by the force.

This sudden turn of events startled the adventurers, who immediately raised their weapons, eyes filled with suspicion as they looked toward the new arrival.

One of the leading adventurers shouted in anger.

"Who goes there?! This is the work of the Killer God team! Get out of the way!"

Hearing the shout, from the smoke ahead, a figure slowly stood up. Before fully emerging from the fog, two brilliant red lights had already flickered to life.

"Don't rush to shoo me away; this place is so lively, how about you count me in?"

As the figure spoke, it stepped out from the smoke—none other than Qin Ming, who had run down from the rooftop!

He scanned the surroundings with a stern expression. Due to the speed of his descent, his legs were numb from the impact, and he stood frozen for a few seconds before finally regaining his balance.

However, while his legs were numb, the others had no way of knowing that.

Looking at Qin Ming emerging from the smoke, several adventurers instinctively took a step back, their faces growing dark.

"It's you!"

"It's me!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"I came to pick up the scraps!"

"We don't want to be your enemy! Can't we just pretend nothing happened?"

"You want to go against me... don't act like we're old friends, alright? I don't even know you!"

(End of Chapter)