1920 Red Cross Ape -Part 2
A do or die barrier was the colloquial name for it when Hong reported to his supervisor. The actual name for it was the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation and Jin was using the upgraded version of it since he was capable of producing it in an instant due to his current cultivation 'grade'.
Hong and the other soldiers thought that it would take some time for the formation to work but when it instantly popped up, it might only mean two things. He did some preparation beforehand or the Demon Exorcist was strong enough to create the formation instantly. Considering that they saw him hanging around a tree branch for the entire evacuation process, there was no way he did the latter. Thus, the only explanation was that he was that powerful to create the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation with just his chi, which reinforced to Hong that the Demon Exorcist that so happened to come in time was more than just a mere coincidence. It was a blessing in disguise.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThis gave Hong the confidence that the monsters would still be trapped in the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation even if the Demon Exorcist was killed by the monsters. In theory, such a formation should be able to last for a week even if the Demon Exorcist who conjured it was dead. It was used against 'dangerous' monsters such as this scenario to ensure that they could not escape and allow reinforcements to come in time.
However, Jin created this not because the monsters were dangerous but instead, it was used to give the impression and trust that the monsters were unable to escape should he have killed one of them instantly. Why bother chasing them when he could just settle for killing them within the barrier? "Well, I could kill all of them in one shot, but that would just bring up too much suspicion, wouldn't it?" Jin said as he was in a staring competition with the Red Cross Ape.
"The System does recommend that you attract attention by seeing what they were capable of." "So, like some exercise dodging around?" "Yes, and let them be tired and kill them without too much chi release. It should provide sufficient entertainment for the evacuees and the soldiers who are looking at you." "What you mean is to play with my prey until there are enough eyes staring at me and then I slaughter them?"
"That is exactly what the System had said, why did the User paraphrase it?" The System asked as Jin was already following its command and started to evade them. With his Inverse Eyes and enhanced chi sense, he was able to have some sort of foresight and dodge the attacks that were coming for it. However, the more he dodged their moves, the more the Red Cross Ape got frustrated. It was the first time it felt that it was not able to grab a human with its bare arms. Even as he tried to increase his speed and resorted to pounding, he was still not able to get a hold of the Demon Exorcist in front of him. And to make things worse, Jin was playing the gong casually whenever the Red Cross Ape missed him as if to spite him. It was extremely irritating for the Red Cross Ape that it even took one of the mutant dogs and swung it around like a weapon, thinking that it might be due to its reach that he was not able to hit Jin. But even with the mutant dog as a weapon, he missed even more and despite the death of the mutant dog from all the smashing and pounding, there was still not a scratch on Jin.
Eventually, he shouted for the other Red Apes to join in and even within the confined space, Jin was exacerbating their emotions for every single miss they made with the gong he was holding. Subsequently, it did not take long for the mutant Dogs to join in as well despite having the fear that they might be smashed by the Red Apes and their big boss. Yet to the Red Apes, they had no care or love for the mutant dogs despite the fact that they were following them as part of their group for a considerable amount of time. They did not feel any pity for the mutant dogs as they accidentally smashed them. In fact, such an action rendered made them feel relieved. This was because they had been hitting nothing but the ground or the air with the way Jin had been moving. Even if it was a mistake, it did provide relief that their punches do work, just not against Jin. When the soldiers and the people in Liu Ah Liu Hotel saw the commotion, they were all amazed by the footwork that Jin was showing.
In their minds, they might have thought that the rumoured Demon Exorcist might have thought it was impossible to win against these apes alone and thus decided to spend as much time as energy possible to survive. Only when the reinforcement comes in, the Demon Exorcist might be able to break the formation and work together to win against these monsters. Meanwhile, he was doing whatever he could to tire them out so that they would have lesser stamina against the military. novelenglish.net . Firᴇ.net
But Jin was not thinking like this. At first, he was merely following the commands of the System, knowing that showing his capability was part of the steps to show that he was a competent person when he arrived at their doorstep to make commands and change their lives by turning them upside down for the new Dungeon Supplier Store and the Manufacturing Hub Dimensional Instance. Yet the more he dodged the Red Cross Ape, the more he thought of how the barrier could be disrupted by a mere Grade 12 monster. Surely, the barrier should be able to hold more than that after the horde incident that killed many. The government had promised an immediate review of the borders and passed an emergency budget bill to strengthen the barriers as soon as possible. Thus, there was no way that a Grade 12 monster could pierce through the barriers. Hence, Jin believed that it might be due to a possible innate talent that the Red Cross Ape had possessed. That was when he thought that having the barrier up was actually the right move. If he could break the barrier that was surrounding and protecting the cities and districts, then this trap formation was also a test to see if he could break out of it. If there was some innate talent that could allow him to penetrate through such barriers made by Jin especially since it was several grades tougher than the monster's current cultivation, it might actually be a worthy monster to keep for himself. The rest of them could be released by the System as he had sufficient minion monsters under him already, not to mention he could create quite a few at will so long he paid the required resources through the System.
But the more the Red Cross Ape got angry, all Jin saw was just an increase in attack power. While it was nothing to scoff at, it was still a considerable amount given that the clearing it was trapped in was severely battered. Dust and residue rocks flew due to the impact of its hit but it was not strong enough to break through the barrier. "An inside job then?" Jin thought about it and the System concurred since it could not find anything unique about the monster too despite repeated analysis of it. "That's the only viable conclusion. Otherwise, it's the implementation of the barrier that might have been incomplete."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Imagine the horror of the Royal Zodiacs when they found out that their barriers were not strengthened and their money had been siphoned away." Jin barely evaded the last attack as their punches coincidentally became a consecutive attack. It was then Jin found that it almost experienced it again and this time, he believed the Monster Apes were smart enough to adapt and change their tactics accordingly.
At that time, the reinforced soldiers finally came by the truckloads and all of them took positions to make sure that should the barrier had failed, they would be able to continue the fight by covering all their grounds. "Sir Demon Exorcist! We are ready, you can break the Binding Matrix Entrapping Formation right now!" Hong shouted and followed by the official request from his superior.
"That was where Jin decided that it was enough playing and seeing that the stamina of those Monster Apes does not seem to end, the Astral Panda Cultivator might as well subdue them at that very moment.
The two accompanying monster apes were the first to go as Jin used the stick to smack the ape's head and it felt unconscious just from the attack while the gong turned into a sword, splitting the body and its head away from each other. The Red Cross Ape saw the sudden change of tactics from the Demon Exorcist and suddenly felt fear running through its veins. Its companions who were able to crush humans easily had fallen so easily by this human after they went full rampage. That was where the Red Cross Ape had enough underestimating the Demon Exorcists and jumped back, causing it to hit the formation. At that point, he changed his fists position as if he was taking a stance despite being a monster.
"Wait…Isn't that Bu Dong's cultivation? The Angry Ape Style? Jin recognised it enough especially when Bu Dong had been using it so frequently that he could not mistake it. "Is that how it managed to break through the barrier?"