Chapter 890: Escaping
Boom!
This time, it was merely the power of two energy crystals. The precise long-range built-in aim allowed the energy cannon to hit their targets instantly.
A green ‘jar cannon’ exploded, and the acc.u.mulated energy inside it also exploded on the top of the city wall. Combined with the power of the horse cannon, everything became a mess, and angry screams, as well as roars, could be heard. Among the four jar cannons that were in the midst of acc.u.mulating power, one was destroyed, while two of them were deflected by the blast. Only a lone green cannon managed to fire at them from the most remote corner, and an explosion hit the gray fog.
It was a single shot; thus, although Mu Zi found it uncomfortable, it was still tolerable for him.
The horse cannon in Napier’s hand was still flas.h.i.+ng. Unlike the previous all-out attack, if he continued to use the horse cannon at this level of power, it would not be a problem to shoot the enemy a few more times. Before the guards at the top of the city wall could react, the horse cannon roared a few times continuously, and two of the remaining three jar cannons were instantly shattered.
At the same time, the guards continued to shout and curse at them. Both sides knew very well that once the last cannon was destroyed, Mu Zi’s fog could last even longer.
The last one. Napier had adjusted the muzzle and aimed it at the last cannon. As the horse cannon entered the cooling period again, the griffins circling above them roared furiously. At the critical moment, a griffin rider unexpectedly, fearlessly flew right at the muzzle of the horse cannon, sacrificing himself. He instantly exploded in mid-air, and blood rained down. He successfully prevented this energy cannon shot from destroying the only remaining cannon on the top of the city wall.
“F*ck!” yelled Napier. If he had known this would happen, he would have set the horse cannon to a higher power level and destroyed that entire part of the city wall to directly eliminate the threat of the jar cannons. Although there was only one cannon left, if it continued to shoot at them, Mu Zi would not be able to last long.
However, it was too late for any regrets. Now that the enemy had begun to keep a lookout for his attacks, it was extremely difficult to destroy the remaining jar cannon. At this time, the taurens in front of them had reorganized themselves. Several Warlocks had combined their power to form a blue arcane s.h.i.+eld at the front. At the same time, with the use of arcane spells and defense spells, they powered-up the taurens’ weapons with a certain amount of arcane energy.
The remaining four tauren formations began to charge at them once again. As they shouted wildly, they charged into the fog.
“Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!” A tauren who was knocked down previously was extremely angry, fueling his bravery. Wielding a heavy sword, he began to slash wildly at the gray fog.
Although the weapons that were powered with arcane energy could not destroy spiritual and energy bodies with a single blow, they were very effective against them. Now, they could hurt those angry spirits and ghosts which Mu Zi had summoned.
At this time, the sounds of clanging steel and angry roars could be heard from the gray mist. As the arcane energy bombs of the Warlocks and the energy attacks of the angry ghosts ravaged, light and darkness intertwined, and battle sounds could be heard miles away. A fierce battle ensued.
…
Drip, drip, drip…
The sound of water dripping echoed in the ears of Hyde and Noraba.
This was an exit in the south gate sewer. Hyde’s ear was plastered to the manhole cover, and he was spreading out his divine sense at the same time, gathering all the information about the movements outside. He could hear bells being sounded, followed by a huge explosion at the south gate, the city walls collapsing, then a sharper and shriller bugle call, and lastly, the footsteps of the entire southern guard moving out.
Everything was going according to plan.
w.a.n.g Zhong distracting the Warlock Saint was the first step; Mu Zi and Napier distracting the defenders was the second step, and the third step in the plan was the deployment of military reinforcements away from their camp near the south gate. If Mu Zi and Napier could keep up the attacks and make the defenders unable to cope with them, they would be forced to deploy the military forces nearby, and this, of course, included the prison guards!
Neither of these two steps could afford to go wrong. w.a.n.g Zhong had to hold out against the Warlock Saint and lead him away, the further away the better. It would also not be easy for Mu Zi and Napier because they had to go up against the strength of an entire fortress. The plan would definitely be more solid if Mu Zi was a Heavenly Soul, but now they could only pray that w.a.n.g Zhong’s judgment was accurate. Although this plan was dangerous, Noraba trusted that w.a.n.g Zhong knew what he was doing. On the other hand, Hyde had zero confidence. He was not ignorant, and he felt that this was a lost cause. However, he couldn’t leave his own brothers in the lurch…
At this time, the defense of the entire area near the south gate was probably the weakest. w.a.n.g Zhong and the others had used their lives to exchange for this, so they couldn’t afford to waste a single second. The two waited anxiously until the last few footsteps hurriedly rushed past them. Immediately after that, Hyde and Noraba lifted the manhole cover and rushed out at top speed.
In the distance, they could see smoke rising from the position of the south gate and dust flying everywhere. Even from their position, they could hear the sounds of battle screams, the clas.h.i.+ng of swords, and the shuffling footsteps of the soldiers. The two of them dared not waste any time and moved swiftly. At this time, they ended up in a wasteland, which had obviously been cleaned out recently. This was the street that w.a.n.g Zhong and Mu Zi destroyed that day when they were trying to escape. Under normal circ.u.mstances, if two humans suddenly appeared in such an empty spot in the daytime, they would probably be instantly discovered by the various air patrols or the defenders on the city wall, but now, no one noticed them at all.
All the troops of the southern part of the fortress had been drawn to the battle at the gate. In the skies above them, there was no sign of a single griffin.
“Let’s go!” Hyde took the lead and hurried out of the street. He had walked through this path before, and he had gone over it countless times in his head for the past few days, so he was extremely familiar with the route now. After speeding up and turning a few corners, they arrived at the prison tower in a matter of minutes. Unexpectedly, their journey here was unimpeded all the way. Almost all the taurens nearby had responded to the call for help outside the south gate, leaving this place loosely guarded.
However, this prison was an important area, and the taurens were not complete idiots. They obviously considered the possibility of humans taking the opportunity to break the prisoners out while the south gate was being attacked; thus, some of them stayed behind. Currently, there were seven to eight tauren soldiers and an Octopus Great Swordsman guarding the area.
Seeing two people suddenly rus.h.i.+ng out from the street, the guards were rather stunned. Two humans?
“Get into formation! Capture them!” The Octopus Swordsman didn’t let his guard down, and he barked his orders within the next second. At the same time, he sounded the alarm.
The taurens immediately formed a tight formation and charged towards Hyde and Noraba while the Great Swordsman didn’t move. Instead, he merely raised his sword. Instead of charging at them immediately, he observed the surroundings to see if there were any more enemies lying in ambush. It was also because he was rather confident in the taurens’ battle formation. Although the prison guards had mostly been deployed to the south gate, they were not afraid of two mere humans. Furthermore, Hyde and Noraba used to be their prisoners, and the guards could recognize them. To them, both of them were merely weaklings who had been tied up and tortured by them. What could they do?
Although there were enemies in front of them, this was already the best possible situation. Hyde and Noraba instantly activated their Soul Power without hesitation, and they exploded with Soul Power at the same time.
“Kill them all!” Noraba’s body surface instantly transformed into steel, which was the choice most Tyrant newcomers would make once they entered the Tempering Faculty. Their body would become stronger, harder, and more resistant. This was a common choice for Tyrants; even that guy named Russell, who received the newcomers at the Dimensional Blessed lands previously, chose this.
Noraba’s body had been infused with life metal, and at this time, his body was as hard as steel; it even had a kind of metallic s.h.i.+ne. Noraba charged at the tauren formation directly, treating himself like a cannonball. He wanted to fight them head-on!
On the other hand, Hyde paled in comparison to him. There were no changes to his body, and the energy aura he exuded was far less powerful than Noraba’s.
As such, the Great Swordsman had locked onto Noraba as his main target, and the same went for those tauren guards.
Boom!
The energy formed by the taurens’ formation collided with Noraba’s body, and a huge dent formed on the hard s.h.i.+eld they were holding! The violent impact shocked the entire group of taurens. A few days ago, he was still a weakling who they could casually bully in the prison, but now, he could actually wield such great power!
However, the energy impact formed by the tauren squadron was also very terrifying. Upon direct impact, Noraba was sent stumbling backward, as though he had charged into a brick wall.
Then, the Great Swordsman who had been waiting for the opportunity to strike finally got his chance to attack.
Zeng!
His sword was unsheathed, and the Great Swordsman flew toward Noraba, who was standing in the ruins of the wall that he had just smashed into. The Great Swordsman wanted to take the chance to kill him as he had yet to steady himself. However, at the moment he flew into the air, a hand had also gotten ready to grab his foot.
The speed of that hand was extremely fast, and it managed to catch the Great Swordsman’s foot directly. As a wave of terrifying power spread from his ankle, his momentum was not only disrupted, he was even pulled backward. The Great Swordsman was slightly startled. He did not expect that this human, who was obviously a sidekick, to have such strange power. He had lost his balance, but with a slight turn of his hand, his sharp sword had already changed direction. The sword control of the Octopus people was close to perfection. Even though his sword had been moving at full power, he could still instantly change the direction of the attack without a reduction in power. With that, a powerful streak of Sword Qi was headed towards that person’s arm.
Bam!
There was a loud bang. Unexpectedly, the man didn’t bother to dodge the attack, and a spiral rune instantly appeared on his seemingly ordinary arm.
The golden light of a rune s.h.i.+ned brightly and acted like a s.h.i.+eld. The Sword Qi of this Great Swordsman had the attack power of more than ten thousand Gra.s.sos, and his Sword Intent was definitely capable of piercing through countless kinds of defensive abilities. However, his attack failed to break through the spiral rune, and he suffered the backlash of that attack. At the same time, the Great Swordsman was pulled close to the human, who raised his giant fist high up in the air.
Boom!
Radiating with golden light and boosted by a rune, his terrifying fist landed on the Great Swordsman. The poor swordsman had expected that the other party would be forced to let go of his feet due to his Sword Qi, and he was ready for the next attack. Who knew that he had miscalculated? Thus, he was caught off guard. Before he could defend himself, a hard punch had already landed on his head. The power of this punch was extremely strong, and his head was directly shattered in a second!
At this time, Hyde’s entire body was s.h.i.+ning with golden light and looming runes could be spotted on his exposed skin. The dimensional people had actually formed their own ‘mini civilization’ in the Holy Land, and he had mastered a few secret techniques that had been pa.s.sed down in his family for generations. As such, as the successor of the leading family among the dimensional people, Hyde naturally had the chance to master the best techniques. During his captivity, he had been stopping himself from activating his abilities and had been forcibly enduring the physical pain, and it was all for this moment.
Nine-Spins Heavenly Domination Rune!
Engraving the runes directly into the body and turning the body into a vessel was one of the top body fusion techniques of the Tyrants. Due to the effect of this rune, even without the Soul Power Circuit, Hyde’s use and control of Soul Power was already much better than others’. In fact, both methods could achieve the same results. It was just that w.a.n.g Zhong’s method was easier to master and more powerful. With the addition of the Speed Circuit, Hyde’s combat power had definitely doubled.
Screech!
After killing the Great Swordsman with a single move, he grabbed the long sword. With the element of surprise, Hyde exploded with power, and countless runes suddenly appeared on his body, sparkling with golden light. At this time, he was s.h.i.+ning so brightly that he resembled a mini sun, stinging the eyes of those taurens. While they raised their hands to cover their eyes, Hyde raised the sword in his hand.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
These taurens were merely at the level of the Initial Phase Heroic Soul Stage. Most of them relied on their natural divine power, combined with their battle formation, in order to fight valiantly on the battlefield. On their own, their combat power was considered rather weak. At this time, wielding a sharp sword, Hyde killed all of them with a single strike! In the blink of an eye, a Great Swordsman and six tauren soldiers were all dead!
After he successfully killed them all, Hyde immediately retracted his golden light. He could not afford to attract a large number of enemies. Although the Swordsman had sounded the alarm previously, there were alarms ringing everywhere near the south gate, and everyone’s attention was on the two powerful humans outside the city. Who would care about this insignificant alarm amidst the countless alarms all around them?
Rumble…
Noraba also emerged from the debris. The taurens’ charging formation was unparalleled in this world. Although they were only a few Initial Phase Heroic Souls, upon impact of their combined force, Noraba felt as though his body was falling apart. However, under such circ.u.mstances, he had to ignore the pain he was feeling. On the other hand, Hyde didn’t even bother to search for keys; he directly kicked the tower door open with his leg.
Upon entering the tower, there was a pa.s.sageway leading to the dungeon, so they walked down that path. Along the way, they encountered several tauren guards; the pa.s.sageway was even b.o.o.by-trapped. After stepping on one, powerful arrows were fired from both sides, and Hyde immediately activated his Heavenly Domination Rune. His runes were mysterious and powerful; whenever an attack came near him, spiral runes would appear automatically, condensing into mini s.h.i.+elds. These b.o.o.by traps were actually just a precaution to prevent ‘weak humans’ from sneaking in; thus, their attack power was not that strong. As for those few tauren guards, they were easily disposed of as Hyde barged in at full power.
When they reached the deepest level of the dungeon and killed the last two tauren guards, excited cheers could be heard coming from the dungeon.
After which, Hyde kicked open the cell door. Seeing that their own people had come to their rescue, everyone couldn’t contain their excitement.
After being imprisoned for so many days, everyone was forcibly used as test subjects during live experiments. When the guards took Hyde and Noraba out and tied them to the ‘iron pillars’, they remembered that there were still 70-80 brothers in the dungeon. But now, there were only around 40 of them left. The ones who managed to survive were all elites. Only with superb healing power could they survive the endless torture they had to undergo.
Most of the survivors were dimensional people, and almost all of them were Tyrants. As such, their bodies were extremely powerful, and they had a higher chance of surviving the horrifying experiments. When they saw Hyde, most of the dimensional people began to crowd around him. They were overwhelmed with excitement, and the entire cell seemed a little chaotic.
On the other hand, Noraba shouted Vladimir’s name into the crowd. “Vladimir? He’s inside. He’s not doing well,” said one of the dimensional people.
Noraba quickly pushed his way through the excited crowd and rushed inwards. Sure enough, he saw Vladimir at the corner of the cell, and he was clearly on the verge of death. The once-handsome ice prince only had one hand left, and he was covered with blood. Some of the blood had already dried up and solidified on his clothes. His originally graceful hair was also messy and disheveled, appearing like a beggar.
He was still alive!
Noraba forcibly suppressed his excitement and rushed forward to help Vladimir up. He could feel that Vladimir’s breathing was still stable, but he had pa.s.sed out due to excessive hunger, severe injuries, over-consumption of energy, etc. He was still alive! How could his big brother die before him?
To get a higher chance of surviving torture and live experimentation, other than having a strong physique, they had to learn to feign death. They would only die faster if they tried to hold out all the way. Vladimir was the one who taught everyone this method.
Noraba took out a syringe, the KP5 medicine, from his s.p.a.ce crystal and injected Vladimir with it immediately. This was to stimulate the human body’s potential energy. After Vladimir’s body began to recover a little, Noraba poured a tube of gourmet medicine in his mouth. At the same time, he used his Soul Power to nourish his almost dried-up Soul Sea. With a slight tremble, Vladimir finally regained consciousness. Seeing Noraba, he thought that the guards finally ‘released’ Noraba back to their cell. Previously, Hyde and Noraba caused trouble for the guards. He heard that the guards were going to kill them by tying them to pillars under the hot sun.
At this time, Vladimir heaved a sigh of relief and reached for Noraba’s shoulder. “You’re still alive?! That’s good! We will have a chance to escape as long as we’re still alive!”
“The opportunity has come!” Noraba gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s escape now!”
Finally, Hyde managed to calm everyone down and got the originally messy situation under control. Although they were in a dungeon, it was not too deep into the ground, and the south gate was not that far away from here. They all felt the power of the terrifying shock wave that made the city wall collapse. At this time, Hyde had finished distributing energy boosters to everyone. Although they didn’t have much time to spare, grinding a chopper would not hold up the work of cutting firewood. Many of these people were like Vladimir, and they couldn’t even walk. As such, it was imperative to give them some time to recover after getting the medicine. It would be faster to escape if everyone could get on their feet instead of having to carry the weaker people.
As everyone recuperated from their injuries, some who were in better condition were pumped with excitement, and they began asking questions.
“Did the base send troops to rescue us?!”
“Hyde, did the base send reinforcements? Which exploration teams came? Which Great Teacher did they deploy?”
“Or did the base directly dispatch the army? How many people are outside? Is this fortress under siege?”
The reason was very simple. Almost everyone here knew the situation of Shadow Moon Fortress. The Warlock Saint was an unavoidable hurdle, so a Great Teacher had to come and deal with him. At the same time, there were thousands of defenders in the city who had extremely powerful combat strength. As such, it was impossible for a single team to take them down even if it was a powerful team like the Phantom Squadron. They would probably need at least two to three exploration teams to carry out this operation.
Thus, it was either the base directly dispatched the army, or they deployed a Great Teacher to come together with multiple exploration teams, which had to be at full strength. Only then would it be possible to siege the city and rescue everyone. As everyone thought about finally escaping this h.e.l.lhole and the fact that their dark days were finally coming to an end, everyone was filled with grat.i.tude towards the Holy Land. They were currently running low on manpower on the frontlines, yet they were willing to dispatch such a huge army to rescue everyone.
However, Hyde’s reply stunned everyone.
“The base didn’t send reinforcements. w.a.n.g Zhong has led the Warlock Saint away, and two brothers of the Wanderl.u.s.t Team have currently attracted almost all the Mizobudapi defense troops to themselves. Let’s not talk about the specifics. We must leave as soon as possible so that they can retreat!”
Hyde tried to be concise. Everyone was dumbfounded as this sounded too ridiculous to them. But Hyde and Noraba were already inside, proving that whatever he said was true. A lot of them here actually had never heard of w.a.n.g Zhong before. He led the Warlock Saint away…
Everyone couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of the Warlock Saint. He was the devil.
At this time, everyone heard a hearty laugh. It came from Vladimir. The ice prince had a smile on his face, w.a.n.g Zhong…
Probably only Noraba understood why he reacted like that. When people from the Federation were discussing w.a.n.g Zhong’s downfall, Vladimir said that these people would realize their ignorance one day.
“Noraba, Brothers, let’s go! The sooner we leave, the easier it will get for them!” said Vladimir. Noraba had already piggybacked him.