Chapter 137: Strangulation

The Boarman chieftain stared fixedly at Lu Sheng, gripping his weapon tightly as he declared, "Go. The three of us will attack together and finish him off. We cannot afford any mishaps."

The two Boarman elders nodded in agreement. "Agreed. Let us strike together."

Having reached a consensus, the three Tier 7 Boarmen charged toward Lu Sheng.

At that moment, Lu Sheng had just dodged a rain of arrows and was preparing to survey the battlefield. Before he could take a closer look, he saw the three Boarmen charging at him. Their Tier 7 auras were fully unleashed, without the slightest attempt at concealment.

Lu Sheng gripped his spear, his fighting spirit ignited. He stopped paying attention to his subordinates and focused entirely on the impending clash. As he sensed the three Boarmen, he noticed that the Laws radiating from them felt oddly familiar. After a moment of careful discernment, he realized what they were: the Law of Strength.

*So be it,* he thought. *Let’s see whose Law of Strength is superior.*

With a sudden movement, Lu Sheng took the initiative, refusing to wait idly to be attacked.

The Boarman chieftain sneered when he saw Lu Sheng daring to strike back. "Courting death!"

The chieftain wielded a black spear. From the shaft to the tip, it was entirely pitch-black, yet the metallic luster reflecting off it made it clear that this was no ordinary charred weapon.

The two sides clashed, their spears colliding in mid-air.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion echoed through the air. Both sides were sent flying backward. The Boarman chieftain only stumbled back a few steps, but Lu Sheng was sent skidding over ten meters, only coming to a halt after slamming into a tree with a dull thud.

Neither side had held back; this was a display of their full power under normal combat conditions—meaning without the use of any skill-based enhancements. Lu Sheng had suffered the disadvantage; the Boarman’s raw strength was greater than his own.

Feeling the searing pain in his back, Lu Sheng’s fighting spirit only grew more intense. Having been invincible for so long, he found himself genuinely excited by the presence of such a formidable opponent.

Before Lu Sheng could dwell on it, the two Boarman elders descended upon him, their spears thrusting straight toward his head. Under the weight of their immense power, the shockwaves caused by their strikes were enough to send Lu Sheng’s hair flying before the weapons even made contact.

"Battle Form!"

"Strength Form!"

This was the first time Lu Sheng had utilized both forms simultaneously. Feeling the rapid depletion of his internal energy, he decided it was time to stop playing games with these Boarmen.

In a split second, silver-white armor encased his entire body. Under the influence of the Strength Form, Lu Sheng’s physique grew even more massive. His previously lean frame was transformed into that of a broad-shouldered, muscular giant, making the frogman spear in his hands look somewhat diminutive.

His strength had already increased significantly after two rank-ups, and with his Law of Strength also bolstered, his total power surged to three hundred times its base level. Previously, using the Law of Strength alone had only provided a two-hundredfold increase; this meant he had gained an extra hundredfold boost.

The sheer power shifted the atmosphere around Lu Sheng, radiating an invisible pressure. The two Boarman elders felt an inexplicable tightening in their chests, sensing that something terrible was about to happen.

Before they could react, Lu Sheng launched his attack. His spear whipped out, striking the Boarman elder on the left. When their weapons collided, it was the elder who was sent flying. Lu Sheng remained completely unaffected. With a spin, he followed up with another strike, sending the second elder hurtling away.

Though both elders were knocked back, they suffered no major injuries. Even after skidding dozens of meters and slamming into trees with enough force to snap them, they climbed back up as if nothing had happened. Lu Sheng couldn't help but marvel at their thick hides.

The Boarman chieftain narrowed his eyes, stunned beyond words. He couldn't fathom the extent of Lu Sheng's power—was this truly a Tier 6?

There was no turning back once the fight had begun. In the next instant, the Boarman chieftain initiated his own transformation. His already imposing two-meter frame expanded to over three meters, every part of his body swelling with dense muscle. He looked like a statue carved from stone. As an invisible pressure radiated from him, the two elders followed suit, both transforming into hulking masses of muscle.

Lu Sheng had no time to admire their transformation show. He used Spatial Shift to appear behind the chieftain and brought his spear down. However, the scene he had imagined—the chieftain exploding upon impact—did not occur.

Knowing Lu Sheng possessed spatial abilities, the chieftain had been prepared. The moment Lu Sheng vanished, the chieftain struck out behind him, his weapon colliding perfectly with Lu Sheng’s incoming blow. Both were pushed back several steps; their strength was evenly matched.

Lu Sheng was surprised that the chieftain could see through his movements. He quickly realized that while his Spatial Shift was bizarre and powerful, it was not invincible. If an opponent was fast enough to react, they could predict where he would reappear.

But that didn't mean he couldn't win. He had more than just Spatial Shift.

*If you can react to Spatial Shift,* Lu Sheng thought with a sinister smile, *then what about... Spatial Lock?*

His figure vanished again. When he reappeared, he was already behind the chieftain, his spear driven deep into the Boarman's head.

As the chieftain’s life ended, a wave of weakness washed over Lu Sheng. Restricting a Tier 7 for even a single second had completely drained his internal energy. He picked up the Law of Strength stone and a card dropped by the chieftain, then turned his gaze toward the remaining two elders.

The two elders were paralyzed with fear. Their chieftain, a fellow Tier 7, had been killed in a single strike. How could they not panic? While they didn't know how Lu Sheng had done it, they knew they had to run. They turned and fled toward their tribe, hoping to salvage some precious materials before the settlement inevitably fell to this man.

Lu Sheng didn't intend to let them go, but he didn't plan on attacking personally either. His energy was too depleted; even if he forced an attack, he wouldn't be able to take down two Tier 7s.

It was time to use numbers.

If these two elders had stayed with their troops to fight to the death, Lu Sheng might have found it troublesome. There were nearly two thousand Boarmen here, and their collective defense and attack power were not to be underestimated. Even his Tier 6 monster army would have struggled to end the battle quickly, resulting in a stalemate. But by foolishly abandoning their main force, these two elders had handed him the perfect opportunity.

Lu Sheng recalled his monsters and mounted his White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird, giving chase. He wasn't worried about the Boarmen left behind; he would deal with them once the two biggest threats were eliminated.

In no time, Lu Sheng caught up. The White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird was also at the peak of Tier 6, and since the Boarmen were not particularly fast, they couldn't hope to outrun it. The elders looked up at the bird in terror, the shadow of death looming over them. Driven by the fear of death, they surged ahead, and upon seeing the bird falling behind, they let out sighs of relief.

They didn't realize this was exactly what Lu Sheng wanted. He needed them to run far enough away so that he wouldn't risk losing his own troops in the chaos of a larger battle.

After two minutes of sprinting, just as the elders began to feel a sense of relief at the lack of pursuit, they found themselves enveloped in a shadow. They looked up, and their souls nearly left their bodies. They scrambled to run, but Lu Sheng wouldn't let this chance slip away.

He released all eighty of his Tier 6 monsters. Forty against one Tier 7—he didn't believe the gap in numbers couldn't overcome the difference in rank. Even a Tier 7 Boarman would die if struck enough times.

The elders looked around in despair, knowing they had to fight. They charged at the nearest monsters. At the forefront was a giant crocodile over seventy meters long, its size having increased along with its strength. As the elders approached, the crocodile whipped its tail, catching one of them. The elder dodged, but the forest suffered as the surrounding trees were leveled by the impact.

The Desert Giant also moved to the front, slamming a fist toward the other elder, who was caught mid-air after dodging the crocodile. The Boarman took the blow squarely.

"Boom!"

The elder was driven into the ground, creating a massive crater. He wasn't dead, though; he flew out of the pit, blood leaking from his mouth, proving he hadn't escaped unscathed. The other elder tried to advance, but was stopped by a wall of earth that erupted from the ground, causing him to crash into it and shatter the structure.

Immediately, a swarm of mantises and White-Furred Beasts surrounded them. Though individually weaker, their numbers were overwhelming. In a short time, they inflicted numerous gashes on the Boarmen, crimson blood flowing from every wound.

The elders roared, sweeping their weapons to knock back the monsters, but the attacks caused no lasting damage to the Tier 6 creatures.

High above, Lu Sheng tossed down the body of the Boarman chieftain. During the chaos, he had performed a manifestation swap, bringing the chieftain's card-transformed form to the battlefield. He unleashed the chieftain, who immediately charged at one of the elders.

The elder, having just forced back a Sword-Legged Spider, froze upon seeing the chieftain. *How? Wasn't he just killed?*

Before he could process the thought, the chieftain’s attack landed, cracking the earth beneath them. The elder recoiled in horror, shouting, "Chieftain! What are you doing?!"

The chieftain ignored him, continuing his relentless, lethal assault. The elder felt a chill run through him; he knew that if the chieftain's attacks landed, he would die. He looked up at Lu Sheng with uncontrollable terror. *If I am killed, will I also be controlled by this man?*

Lu Sheng watched from above, curious to see if the monsters transformed into his cards would defy his orders. He was satisfied with the result: the chieftain showed no mercy, even to his own kin.

Lu Sheng wondered if the soul inside the chieftain was the same as before, or if it was a newly birthed one. He planned to ask the chieftain once the battle was over. If it was the original soul, perhaps he could learn some secrets about the other world.