The Puchis arrived, and another city fell.
This was already the third time Grey had fled a city, swept along by the defeated army, after fighting with all his might.
The wound on his left shoulder, torn open by a tentacle, was deep. Every step he took brought a sharp pang of pain.
He didn't stop to bandage it; there was no point. Would healing it allow him to defeat those ever-increasing demons?
Grey had practically watched that vanguard army—which originally could have been held off—grow larger and larger as it fought, developing step by step into the unstoppable force it was today.
Unless the main force came over, Grey couldn't think of any other way to stop the Puchis' advance.
And the main force wasn't here.
He lowered his head and continued walking, but he didn't know where he should go. South? East?
Finding another city to linger on for a while, only to watch it fall helplessly again—what was the point of that?
He thought of Ke.
At first, when Ke took him out of the city and revealed the mycelium on his body, Grey felt the anger of betrayal.
But now, he was no longer angry.
Against an enemy like that, perhaps surrender was the best way out?
Unfortunately, he couldn't do it.
But he was also tired of running: "At the next city, I won't run anymore..."
Just as Grey decided in his heart to give up, he saw a human.
The person, draped in a gray robe, stood motionless just a dozen steps away.
Grey immediately assumed a combat stance, but the person suddenly spoke.
The voice was very flat, as if reciting a prepared script: "If you only want to save your life, head south. Keep walking until you reach the Prince's territory, and you will be safe."
Grey froze.
"But if..." the person paused, "if you want to save the Demon-kin, then head toward Dragon Horn Fort."
The moment the words fell, the person's silhouette began to fade.
He didn't walk away or run off. Instead, like melting snow, he became transparent bit by bit starting from the edges, finally disappearing completely into thin air.
Only that gray robe remained, falling to the ground and piling up in a soft heap.
"What in the world?" Grey stepped forward and picked up the robe. It truly was just an ordinary gray robe, not some magical artifact.
Grey straightened up, looked toward the south, then looked toward Dragon Horn Fort, thinking about what the mysterious person had just said.
"Damn it, what saving? What can I do?"
He cursed under his breath, but still turned around and walked toward Dragon Horn Fort.
On a dirt mound a short distance away, Tanaka retracted his gaze and turned to the half-bald Fox-man beside him.
"If he does that, the North won't be conquered?"
Kiro shook his head: "Eugene, Dean... the fall of their territories is inevitable. At this point in time, it has no opponent."
"Then why did you make me trick that guy named Grey into going there?" Tanaka looked puzzled.
"Him going there can preserve more strength for the Empire." Saying this, Kiro leaned on his staff and stood up. "Alright, we should hurry to the Dragon Cliff Underground City now. That is where the main event is."
Behind him, Tanaka stared expressionlessly at Kiro's somewhat frail back. It took quite a while before he followed, looking confused, asking all sorts of "whys" as they walked, just like usual.
Dragon Horn Fort, Mushroom Fortress Camp.
Little Pig tilted her head up and asked, "Are you ready?"
In front of her were the massive No. 4 and No. 7.
No. 4 rubbed its large white belly with a tentacle and complained, "Hurry up and let us go. It's so uncomfortable inside."
Little Pig nodded, then issued the order to attack in the mycelial network.
Atop Dragon Horn Fort, Feng Yi couldn't help but feel a headache coming on as he watched those two Giant Puchis—each half the height of the fortress—advance along with the new wave of the offensive.
These things moved slowly but posed a massive threat. If they were allowed to get close, another section of the city wall would collapse.
And two of them came at once?
The sky, the ground, the underground—there were Puchis everywhere. But Feng Yi still chose to prioritize taking out these two biggest threats!
"All ballistae, aim at the one on the left!" His voice overpowered the clamor of the battlefield. "Mage regiment, prepare wide-area damage spells, wait for my command!"
More than twenty ballistae turned simultaneously. The thick bolts gleamed with a deep blue luster, empowered by rune light.
"Fire!"
Giant bolts, buffed with piercing traits, drove into No. 7's mushroom body. Every strike made its entire body shudder uncontrollably.
Despite the sensation, No. 7 still remembered its task.
Its huge tentacles reached into its hollow belly, pulled out an Otaku Puchi, and hurled it fiercely toward Dragon Horn Fort.
Feng Yi decisively shot it with an arrow. The Otaku Puchi was blown to pieces, and even more cannon-fodder Puchis burst out from its belly.
This time, the defenders didn't have time to clear them out.
After only shooting down a few, the rest of the Puchis exploded around the city wall.
Fortunately, no Demon-kin were severely injured by this.
But soon, a second Otaku Puchi was thrown over by No. 7.
Feng Yi gritted his teeth: "Mage regiment!"
The target wasn't the incoming Otaku Puchi, but No. 7!
Dozens of wide-area damage spells shot out together from various spots on the city wall. This strike was much heavier than the ballistae.
No. 7's body was blasted full of craters. The massive figure swayed, and accompanied by No. 7's satisfied hum, it tipped forward and fell.
Meanwhile, that Otaku Puchi also successfully flew high over the wall and landed not far from Feng Yi.
A massive explosion, mixed with the toxic mist from within the Puchi, swept outward. Feng Yi was blasted back, rolling away.
After getting up, he didn't check on his own injuries or those of the surrounding Demon-kin; instead, he rushed to the edge of the wall immediately.
Sure enough, taking advantage of the opening, the other Giant Puchi, No. 4, had already reached the edge of the city wall. Several tentacles climbed all the way up the wall, clearly aiming for him.
"Hurry! Make it brittle!"
The counterattack magic array on the city wall activated. The moisture within No. 4's body was continuously drawn away. Devoid of moisture, the plump mycelial tentacles became dry and brittle.
Feng Yi fired several arrows, snapping them one by one.
But he found it somewhat strange. These two Giant Puchis didn't possess the super-strong regenerative abilities of the first one they encountered.
Was it because that type of Giant Puchi was also very rare? Or did this attack have a different purpose?
As he thought this, Feng Yi suddenly noticed something crawling out from the belly of the Giant Puchi.
It was a metallic machine resembling a centipede. Inside its multi-jointed body, the brilliance of magic crystals shone.
"A siege construct?" Feng Yi thought it looked somewhat similar, but wasn't certain. He had never seen this type of construct before.
It quickly pulled its entire body out and clung to the city wall of Dragon Horn Fort.
Starting from the tail, the magic crystals on its body erupted one by one with violent magical oscillations.
From tail to head, after one cycle, the runes on Dragon Horn Fort's city wall actually began to crack on a massive scale.
Feng Yi's eyes almost burst from their sockets: "Stop it!"
However, having just destroyed two Giant Puchis back-to-back, the mages were still digesting the mana potions they had just drunk. Not many could unleash powerful attacks immediately.
The sporadic attacks clearly couldn't stop this centipede construct, which was also quite large.
There were also brave Demon-kin who jumped directly onto the centipede to hack at it, but they still couldn't stop the second round of oscillations in time.
Accompanied by another series of cracking sounds, nearly half of the magical runes on Dragon Horn Fort were damaged, either rendered ineffective or heavily reduced in function.
"It's over..."
Feng Yi felt a bit of despair. Without sturdy defenses, it would be even more impossible for them to fight those Puchis.
He couldn't help but look toward the east, seemingly hoping to catch sight of a certain someone.
"Are you looking for Dean?"
A distorted voice came from near his feet. It was a Puchi that looked like a torn sack. At some unknown time, mixed among the Puchis falling from the sky, it had dropped onto the city wall.
And right now, this terrifying voice was full of schadenfreude.
"Stop looking. Since we knew he was coming, how could there not be an ambush waiting halfway?"
"Surrender. If you surrender now, we can still guarantee the safety of all Demon-kin. You don't want all the Demon-kin to return to the cradle, do you?"
"Evil demon, go to hell!" Feng Yi shot an arrow right through the Voice Puchi, ending this round of persuasion to surrender.
Below, Little Pig watched this scene through the mycelial network and couldn't help but say: "Boss, there was no need to tell him about the ambush, right?"
The Marshal Puchi poked Little Pig's pale cheek: "What do you know? We righteous folks value being open and aboveboard. Explaining one's plans and arrangements to the opponent is an essential and important part!"
Little Pig wisely chose not to comment on the "open and aboveboard" part.
Meanwhile, Lin Jun continued: "Besides, this in itself was an attempt to apply maximum pressure. It's a pity it didn't work. We'll have to put in a bit more effort."
In the distance, that centipede construct twisted its body once more.
The sound of metal plates rubbing against each other could be heard even from this far away, like the dying gasp of some giant beast.
It could unleash one final round of oscillations. After that round, more than half of Dragon Horn Fort's defensive runes would likely be shattered.
Right at this moment, a light flared on the horizon.
It wasn't the trajectory of a magical missile, nor a Resonance Cannon.
It was a ball of burning flames, condensed into the shape of a massive dragon's head. Trailing a long tail of fire, it dove down from the horizon and crashed straight into the centipede construct.
BOOM—!!!
The shockwave from the explosion swept across the entire section of the city wall. Metal fragments shot out in all directions like a torrential rain.
Before the smoke and dust had dispersed, a figure leaped out from the debris.
Dean.
With one hand, he scooped up two Demon-kin who had lost their footing and fallen when the centipede construct was destroyed. He had another tucked under his arm. He landed steadily on the battlements of the city wall.
Feng Yi rushed over from the other end of the city wall, his eyes rimmed red.
"Lord Patriarch!"
Dean put the people in his hands down, raised his eyes to sweep over the current state of Dragon Horn Fort, and sighed lightly: "I'm still a little late after all..."
(End of Chapter)
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