"What exactly is he doing?!"
A massive ball of light swallowed the figures of Renard and Ming together. The gale whipped up by the shockwave swept out, carrying crushed stones and ice shards. Even the Empire's military formation not far away was affected, and a disturbance broke out.
With no time to complain, Norris braved the not-yet-dissipated aftermath and charged fiercely toward the center of the explosion.
He knew clearly that what Ming possessed was [Physical Immunity], not [Magic Immunity]. Before he fired the cannon, he never intended to blow the two of them into this kind of situation together.
The original plan was to launch a sneak attack if possible. If the sneak attack failed, use the bombardment of the Resonance Cannon to separate Renard's and Ming's positions, and take advantage of the gap when that general was forced back by the impact to fish Ming out of the battle ring.
He didn't expect that kid Ming, as if having eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms, would actually drag the enemy and crash into the cannon fire.
One must know, this wasn't the single old-style Resonance Cannon from the beginning anymore.
With the upgrade of the [Resonance] level, what the Ji-da carried on its shoulders now was a composite resonance array composed of three strings of Puchis. The power was more than double the initial version.
Firing this shot, even he himself felt unsure in his heart.
"Please, don't die... absolutely, absolutely do not die..." Norris didn't want to bear the sin of mistakenly killing a companion at all.
Renard's trusted aides, who were originally stunned by the sudden turn of events, reacted upon seeing the Ji-da's forward-charging figure and also rushed toward this side, but the Ji-da was still a step faster.
Norris found the two.
Renard, that Palace-tier general, no longer looked human at this moment.
He had not specialized in defense. That layer of Lizardman scales might be enough on an ordinary battlefield, but in the face of a Resonance Cannon with this kind of power, it was as fragile as a layer of cardboard.
His body was thoroughly torn in two from the waist and abdomen. The shattered remains were scattered within a radius of several meters. Nearby, there were still a few wisps of dissipating blood-colored crystal clusters remaining; those were the traces of him attempting to condense a defense at the last moment.
Unfortunately, it was all in vain.
And Ming.
Norris's gaze fell on the guy who still had half a breath left, feeling a mix of joy and sorrow.
Thanks to Renard, this living shield, Ming could be considered to have kept his little life, but his condition at this moment was also terrible to the extreme.
Both arms from the elbows down had completely disappeared. Half of his head was mangled flesh and blood; Norris could even faintly see the stark white bone stumps underneath. As for his legs, they had also been stirred into pieces by the tearing of the magical turbulent flow, and his entire person had fallen into a coma.
Although his flesh and the mycelium were both regenerating, for this kind of fatal injury, even with abundant mana, it would probably take the better half of a day to recover.
And right now, they were surrounded by enemies who wanted them dead!
Norris immediately controlled the Ji-da, using a tentacle to roll Ming up, wanting to run.
But the Empire army had already reacted.
"They... they killed the General?!"
"Avenge the General! Don't let them escape!"
He raised his head and saw nearly half of the Empire soldiers, who were originally still entangled with the frontline Puchis, begin to surge desperately toward this side under the command of the general's trusted aides.
They seemed to have made up their minds to kill the two of them even if the entire army was routed.
Before Norris had time to turn around, the first wave of attacks arrived.
Arrows, javelins, and low-tier magic missiles mixed together, smashing over head and face.
Norris also considered himself to have experienced the treatment Ming had earlier.
The difference was, what Ming needed to be careful of was magic, while the Ji-da, possessing a resonant magic shield that could be propped open, took almost no damage from the magic of ordinary mages.
On the contrary, against those charging warriors and the stray arrows shot over, the magic shield's effect in blocking physical attacks was much worse, leaving the Ji-da exhausted from coping.
Clinking and clanking sounds rang out continuously, and the cracks on the Ji-da's outer shell grew more and more numerous.
"Got to think of a way..."
Clang—
An arrow shot the Ji-da holding Ming, and then was bounced off without any surprise.
Norris's eyes lit up, stepping out of the misconception that "Ming is a severely injured person who needs complete protection."
Norris, who had rich "experience in using seniors," became very handy in using juniors once he figured it out.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry! This is all so the two of us can get out alive..."
While repenting, Norris utilized [Physical Immunity] to the extreme.
The shield blocked magic, Ming blocked arrows, and when convenient, he could even swing Ming to swat away the approaching Empire soldiers.
This successfully bought the Ji-da's Resonance Cannon time to recharge again.
Boom!
The Ji-da fired its last shot at close range, exhausting all its reserve mana. Even the magic shield could no longer be maintained.
Those Puchis making up the Resonance Cannon actively detached and jumped to the surroundings. Subsequently, there were several much smaller self-destructions, successfully clearing a path of survival for Norris.
However, just as he took his first step forward, a javelin thrown by a general's trusted aide pierced through the Ji-da's ankle, pinning him in place and also stabbing the Puchi making up the foot to death.
By the time Norris separated the dead Puchi again, the previously opened gap had already closed the encirclement once more.
"Has this guy's mana finally run out?"
The enemy obviously noticed the Ji-da's magic shield had disappeared. While surprised at the Ji-da's total mana pool, the attacks in their hands were merciless.
For a time, lightning, fireballs, and magic bursts condensed again one after another, swearing to wipe out the two enemies who killed the general.
Even Norris felt they were done for. At the last moment, he made the Ji-da curl up into a ball, wrapping Ming on the innermost layer.
While he jumped out of the Ji-da, brandishing his sharp claws, preparing for a final stand.
Suddenly, Louisa's voice rang out in the mycelial network: "Plan No. 3, rescue is here."
A strange sound came from the battlefield.
Buzz—
"The... the sky!"
Shadows spread over. What obscured the daylight was countless Puchis flapping their wings!
Countless puchi sounds gathered into a buzzing hum, flying rapidly toward Norris and Ming.
"They want to save them? Kill them!"
Following the order of the general's trusted aide, the fully condensed spells were thrown out.
Then, these attacks all crashed into the falling waterfall of Puchis.
Countless flying Puchis surged down from the sky, flying in circles around Norris and Ming.
All attacks were absorbed by these flying cannon-fodder Puchis. Every single magic spell could kill several or even over ten Puchis.
However, in front of this high-speed flowing Puchi shield, it was of little use. The opened gaps disappeared in the blink of an eye. Unless they killed all these thousands of Puchis, they couldn't even see the Ji-da's figure.
And these Puchis were not just a shield. At the center, Norris and Ming were bundled up by Puchis and flew into the air, while the flowing Puchi shield moved along with them.
Even though the Empire army had outputted their utmost effort, ultimately they only managed to leave behind several hundred Puchis, watching helplessly as the flying Puchis rolled the two up and flew northward from the sky.
And after this came the price of disrupting the formation. The Puchis on the ground broke through the front line.
Explosions, poison, acid...
The right wing, plus the reserve army Renard brought, thoroughly collapsed under the impact of the Mushroom Fortress's Puchis.
(End of Chapter)
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