Chapter 20: Dual Abilities

A flash of cold light suddenly struck at Xia Xingli, reaching her neck in the blink of an eye.

Perhaps it was due to Xia Xingli’s height that the attacks were all aimed at her neck, whether it was One-Eyed Owl’s close-range assassination before, or the crossbow bolt this time.

Of course, the result was also the same: failure.

Completely ignoring the crossbow bolt, Xia Xingli raised her hand and flicked a small ball of Violet Spirit Ice Flame in the direction it came from.
The speed of the Violet Spirit Ice Flame was surprisingly faster than the crossbow bolt, and in an instant, it shot towards the roof of a nearby building, hitting the person holding the crossbow.

Without any time to react, that person, just like One-Eyed Owl, was obliterated by the Violet Spirit Ice Flame.
And the crossbow bolt he had shot didn’t even touch Xia Xingli’s skin.

“It seems the defensive properties of ‘Violet Spirit Ice Flame’ are also far stronger than ‘Ethereal Flame’.”

In front of Xia Xingli’s neck, a small silver crossbow bolt stopped in mid-air.
What blocked it was not some thick shield, but a palm-sized flower of flame.

“One should be a movement speed or concealment type ability, and the other is eyesight…”
The crossbow bolt was turned to dust by the purple ice flame.
Against inanimate objects, “Violet Spirit Ice Flame” could also completely destroy them.
“There’s also one related to sound, so… there should be one combatant left.”

As if to verify Xia Xingli’s words, a ghostly wail suddenly sounded in her ears.
This mournful, ghost-like cry made Xia Xingli immediately cover her ears tightly, but the sound did not diminish much, seeming to echo directly in her mind.

“Tsk, what an annoying ability…”

Forcibly suppressing the irritation in her heart, Xia Xingli spread the “Violet Spirit Ice Flame” around her body, forming a thin shield.
Unexpectedly, after the shield was formed, the sound piercing her mind actually weakened a lot.
Although it didn’t disappear completely, it was much better than before.

“This is an unexpected gain. I just don’t know how the other one will attack.”
Xia Xingli breathed a sigh of relief and carefully sensed the enemy’s movements.
Perhaps it was because of the “Violet Spirit Ice Flame” that when she focused her attention, she could roughly sense the life force fluctuations around her, especially those with hostility towards her.
The stronger the killing intent, the clearer the sensation.
The one with the crossbow before had been clearly sensed by Xia Xingli the moment he attacked, which was why she could counterattack so quickly.

However, right now, Xia Xingli could only sense that there were two enemies left, but she couldn’t pinpoint their exact location, so she could only passively defend, waiting for the moment the enemy revealed their killing intent.

‘A swift assassination? Or a long-range attack?’
Both of these methods had already failed, and the ones who had failed were likely the ones among these four who were best at these two attack methods.
So the remaining person probably wouldn’t use the same method again.
Abilities were diverse, and many times, the attacks of abilities were something people couldn’t anticipate in advance.
But Xia Xingli was not afraid at all, because she was confident that no matter what kind of attack it was, it couldn’t break through the shield she had put up.

However, the anticipated attack did not come.
The fully focused Xia Xingli was not attacked at all.
There was only a moment of slight discomfort in her head, a feeling of slight dizziness as if she had shaken her head too violently.
Shaking her head to get rid of this discomfort, Xia Xingli first heard a cry of pain from the enemy.

The cry of pain was very abrupt and extremely short, as if it had been cut off as soon as it sounded.
At the same time, the “ghostly wail” that had been disturbing Xia Xingli also disappeared, as if it had never appeared.

For a moment, Xia Xingli was a little confused.
In her perception, the life force of those two enemies suddenly disappeared at an extremely fast rate, which meant that those two people were already dead.
But she hadn’t done anything, so how did they die?
Could it be that there were other “Guardians” nearby?

But she hadn’t sensed any other life force…

“In any case, I should take a look first.”

Based on the general location she had sensed before, Xia Xingli cautiously approached, intending to see what had happened.
Although it was nice that the enemies were already dead and she didn’t have to do anything, she still had to figure out how they died.

After taking some time, Xia Xingli found the bodies of the two in two hidden corners respectively.
These two members of “The Purge” were both dressed in black robes and were lying on the ground.
There were no wounds on their bodies, but they had both stopped breathing.
The one who should have had the sound-type ability had a ferocious expression, as if he had suffered immense pain in the moment before his death.
That short cry of pain should have also been his.

“Strange, no wounds, and it doesn’t look like there are any internal injuries. They couldn’t have died of a sudden heart attack, right?”
Xia Xingli lifted the hood of the black robe and looked at the other deceased person.
The face of the deceased here was relatively normal, but his expression was one of terror, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying and unbelievable.
His loose black robe didn’t seem convenient for movement, which meant that this person probably wasn’t an offensive-type ability user.
In that case, the attack methods of these two were worth pondering.

“The sound interference could only distract me, and neither of them had crossbows or other long-range attack weapons.”
Xia Xingli stood up and rubbed her head with a bit of a headache.
“So what were these two trying to do? Unless…”

Suddenly thinking of another possibility, Xia Xingli’s expression turned serious, and she quickly left the alley where the bodies were, of course not forgetting to destroy the bodies with “Violet Spirit Ice Flame” on her way out.
After all, she probably wouldn’t have time to notify other security personnel to clean up the bodies.

If these two didn’t have any powerful attack methods, then their actions could only have one barely plausible explanation—to delay time.
If these people had accomplices, or superiors, and if they had a way to contact each other, then facing Xia Xingli, who had killed two of them in succession, the actions of these two should have been to hold her back and then contact others for reinforcements.

Although it was only barely plausible, from the current situation, this seemed to be the only explanation.
If they were indeed waiting for reinforcements, then Xia Xingli might have to face even more powerful enemies next.

Standing on the empty street, Xia Xingli had no intention of hiding.
If it were the former Xia Lixing, with his far superior physical constitution, he might have been able to hide in the shadows and wait for an opportunity to ambush.
But Xia Xingli, whose physique was even weaker than an ordinary person’s, couldn’t do that.
Moreover, her powerful ability made it unnecessary for her to ambush.

As an A-rank ability user, she just had to crush her enemies head-on!

Coincidentally, the enemy this time seemed to think so too.

Standing on the street, Xia Xingli saw the figure walking towards her from a distance.
It was a woman, tall and slender, her leather suit outlining her almost perfect curves.
The woman had fiery red short hair, and her exaggerated side-swept bangs almost covered her left eye.
She walked over with the “click-clack” of her high heels, like a big sister boss out for a stroll.

Seeing Xia Xingli standing in front of her, the woman let out a soft “eh,” seeming a little surprised by her youth.
But then the woman showed a very charming smile and stopped ten meters away from Xia Xingli.

“I didn’t expect such a young little sister, and so cute too. How can big sister bear to lay a hand on you?”

Her voice was very alluring.
If it were a man, he would probably be a little flustered by now.
Thinking this in her heart, Xia Xingli did not let down her guard because of the woman’s appearance.
She could feel a very dangerous aura from the woman, an aura even more dangerous than that of an Aberrant Beast.
Although Xia Xingli had only recently become an A-rank ability user, the only one who could give her this feeling was probably another A-rank ability user.

‘Looks like… I’ve hit a tough nail.’

“But I’m very curious. Since you could easily defeat One-Eyed Owl and your mental power could completely defeat a C-rank ability user, why not hide and ambush? Is it because you disdain using such tactics, or is it because, as a dual ability user, you think you have no chance of losing?”

The woman drew a short blade and played with her bangs, looking nonchalant.
Xia Xingli, on the other hand, couldn’t help but frown at her words.

“…Dual ability user?”

The abilities of ability users were divided into material type and mental power application.
The so-called “dual ability users” were ability users who possessed both material and mental power application “dual abilities.”
Such ability users were rare, and they were not much stronger than ordinary ability users.
They could often only major in one of the two abilities, with the other ability only serving as a support.
Even so, the growth potential of “dual ability users” was far inferior to that of ordinary ability users.
The most powerful “dual ability user” in the “Guardians” was only an A-rank ability user, and he was the only A-rank “dual ability user.”

Simply put, “dual ability” was actually a very useless talent, which was probably why the name “dual ability user” was so casual.
And Xia Xingli was of course not a “dual ability user.”
She did not have a mental power application ability.

“Hehehe~ but you have to be careful, little sister. Big sister here is not afraid of ‘dual ability users’ at all.”

Before she could finish her sentence, the woman’s figure had already appeared in front of Xia Xingli, and the short blade she was playing with in her hand had already struck the shield of “Violet Spirit Ice Flame.”

‘So fast! But… I can keep up!’

Although surprised by the woman’s speed, Xia Xingli was not afraid.
The woman’s speed was fast, but it was far from exceeding the upper limit she could handle.
Xia Xingli’s only concern was the short blade in the woman’s hand.
That seemingly ordinary short blade was actually able to remain unscathed after colliding with the “Violet Spirit Ice Flame,” which made Xia Xingli secretly vigilant.

“Oh my, this flame is really an interesting ability.”
Seemingly not expecting Xia Xingli to be able to block her short blade, the woman was stunned for a moment, then licked her lips and showed a very enchanting smile.
“I originally thought this would be enough, but I didn’t expect little sister to be so amazing.”

“Blabbering on and on to yourself, so annoying!”

Not intending to be locked in a stalemate with the woman, Xia Xingli directly controlled the “Violet Spirit Ice Flame” to try and envelop her.
But before that, she met the woman’s gaze.

“Little sister, do you know why I said I’m not afraid of ‘dual ability users’?”
The woman’s voice suddenly became joyful, as if victory was already in her grasp.
And in her eyes, her originally normal pupils were now emitting a blood-red light.

“Because big sister here is also a ‘dual ability user’~”