Chapter 97 Tragic Plight (Part One)

Watching what happened to Tank, knocked his fellow disciples, Zen, Roger and Sun, for a loop. And
they felt a massive sense of loss in their hearts.

While the four of them hadn't deliberately sought each other out, they had become a close-knit team in
a short time. There was an understanding among them from following and working closely with the
Green Haze Group to fight the blade locusts.

But, only a few hours after they formed the team, one of the four was killed on the spot. At this moment,
naturally, the mood in their hearts was one of sorrow. They couldn't help mourning for Tank's fate. What
if all of them died here today?

As they were feeling sorry for themselves, Martin roared and shot an arrow aiming at the queen blade
locust's compound eye as he ran. As the arrow sailed through the air drawing near the queen's eye,
she extended her blade-like appendage, batting it from the sky and it clattered harmlessly to the
ground.

In an uproar at the arrow, the queen blade locust targeted Martin next, lumbering after him.

"Everyone, just run! I'll distract the queen and lead her away!" yelled Martin, in apparent acceptance of
his fate, whether life or death.

Chasing Martin, the queen blade locust was no longer blocking their way, giving others a slim chance
of escaping.

However, the situation was still grave, aside from the queen, there was a mass of blade locusts waiting,
along with hundreds of blade locust officers.

The soldiers of the Green Haze Group lit their bamboo torches, sending smoke and flame billowing into
the air. Whether ordinary blade locusts or the officers, they were repelled by the smoke, fearing it. They



scattered in all directions. Finally, a passage cleared ahead of the troops.

"Let's go! We're moving out, Zen!" called Sun. He was ready to leave, but, when he looked back, he
saw Zen standing in a daze.

"Zen, if we don't leave now, we'll die here!" urged Roger as he fidgeted, having a strange feeling in his
gut.

Zen thought a moment, turning to face Roger and Sun with a look of determination. He said, "Roger,
Sun, you are my brothers. You go ahead. I'm going to help Martin! We'll catch you up later once we
deal with the blade locust queen." Not waiting for his brothers in arms to argue, Zen started running in
the direction Martin disappeared.

"What're you doing? Do you have a death wish? Don't you understand? You will die!" questioned Sun
anxiously.

Roger winked but didn't say anything. He was pretty good at reading people. Although Roger had met
Zen only two days ago, he already understood Zen's unique character. Once he made up his mind,
there was no use trying to sway him.

No matter how fast Martin ran, the queen blade locust ran more quickly, each step bringing her a few
feet closer to Martin, and soon she would be on top of Martin.

While the queen locust chased Martin in haphazard directions, Zen easily caught up by cutting a
straight path through the woods.

Now he was only a thousand feet away from the queen blade locust!

After Zen began refining at the marrow level, he could hear and see farther away than before. He also
acquired a better grasp of distances, thanks to the marrow refining level.



The wind rushed past, whistling in Zen's ears. With his sweaty palms, he clutched the broken flying
knife in his hand.

As Zen drew closer, he felt excitement twisting faintly in his gut, but no fear!

Five hundred feet away now!

Closer now, he could make out the markings on the queen blade locust at a glance.

Only two hundred feet!

One hundred!

The distance between the queen blade locust and Martin was disappearing. As she prepared to
overtake him, she raised her large blade high in the air.

Martin knew there was little hope of survival as he faced the queen blade locust alone. As a standard
imperial soldier on the verge of death, he wouldn't just give up, but, would fight to his dying breath. As
such, his eyes were filled with determination, courage, and strength.

He let loose a battle cry at the top of his lungs. All of the muscles tensed, preparing for the action. And
he lunged at the huge queen blade locust.

"It's time!" exclaimed Zen.

Timing it to the second, Zen focused strength to his feet and leaped high, propelling himself forward in
the air.

At the same time, he drew back his arm, aiming the knife before sending it sailing through the sky and
to the queen blade locust.



The queen blade locust was huge, while the knife was only half an arm's length. Even if the knife stuck
into the queen, it might not cause enough damage. So, Zen targeted the vital part of her forelimb.

The timing of his shot was remarkably accurate!

When the queen blade locust was a few feet from Martin, the broken knife slashed through the crucial
point of her forelimb.

Although the carapace of the queen was notably hard, the broken knife effortlessly sliced into it.

"Cra-ack!"

In a split second, the blade cracked and was separated from the queen's body. It fell to the ground with
a heavy thud. Shocked Martin stood frozen with a dumbfounded expression, as his mind took a
moment to figure out what just happened.

"Zzzztttt..."

shrieked the queen blade locust in agony.

Both Zen and Martin felt a stabbing pain from her screech piercing their eardrums.

The compound eyes on her head rolled around, searching for the source of pain and soon focused on
Zen nearby. She turned her fury on Zen, raising her other blade and swiftly hacking in a downward
motion at him!

Prepared for her retaliation, Zen evaded the horrible blow, sprinting away in the other direction.

The blade came down hard, leaving a long crack in the ground. She pulled the blade back, and let
loose a monstrous scream from her mandible. All her hatred was focused on Zen as she rushed him,
forgetting Martin, her earlier target.




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