Pillar of Yita

”What did you say?” Kaka looked at Qiaoli, bewildered, his mouth opening and closing.

But Qiaoli didn’t answer him anymore.

Because answering was useless—

Birds were flying out of the basin, forming a magnificent spectacle. However, Fang Hong had no time to spare a glance; he climbed desperately upwards as two mechanical behemoths charged and bulldozed through the buildings behind him.

Amidst sharp cries still ringing in his ears, Fang Hong leapt to the side with all his might just before the creatures reached him. The mechanical behemoth, roaring like a dragon, smashed past where he had just been.

Fang Hong landed on the outer wall of an elfin building, rolled several times, and scrambled up, his face and clothes covered in dirt and grime.

At this moment, the streets were not just tilted, but pitched at angles of forty to fifty degrees, turning the original lateral walls of the buildings into vertical platforms that people could step onto.

But these platforms were unstable, occasionally disintegrating under their own weight and collapsing down the slope.

Fang Hong didn’t dare to linger and continued to climb upward. He looked back only once; the monstrously large ”funnel” in the center seemed to fix its flashing red eyes on him as several ”mechanical behemoths” suddenly charged at him.

Fang Hong felt unspeakable distress as he then understood what the Silver Shadow woman meant by ”It’s not as small as you see.” But he wished he had never understood it.

The extended mechanical behemoth, like a pillar, plunged down. Fang Hong tumbled and crawled, building after building collapsing behind him. Flying debris struck his brow bone like knives, leaving a gash that immediately started pouring blood.

His vision was half-obscured by blood; he wiped it repeatedly but couldn’t clear it, gasping for breath, and felt he was almost at his limit.

At that moment, the first mechanical behemoth had already turned back in front of him, its four pairs of dark red eyes spotting him across a city block. Fang Hong felt a chill all over; the nearest building was seven or eight meters away, too far for him to jump.

The behemoth coiled its body and swept toward him with a sharp, steam-whistle roar. Fang Hong himself cried out, leaping forward with all the courage he could muster, but his hand grasped nothing but air.

He fell downward, crashing five or six meters onto the outer wall of another building, feeling as if his body had fallen apart and he could no longer get up.

Fang Hong felt that his left hand must be broken, and several ribs as well. He couldn’t feel what was below, but the good news was that his legs seemed still functional.

But the bad news was the mechanical behemoth had finally cornered him.

Five or six behemoths swayed their massive bodies, seemingly observing him as countless dark red eyes stared at him lying on the outer wall of the building.

Fang Hong felt a surge of despair, thinking he was truly finished this time. He had boasted to Miss Sicape and was about to be proven wrong. But he couldn’t blame himself for not trying hard enough; just that his life profession was somewhat inadequate for this situation.

He found an excuse, but still felt a bit feverish.

However, he calmed down inside, thinking, ”Well—” Fang Hong thought. ”If I must die, let it be. At least I’ll go alongside everyone else. It’ll give Miss Sicape another moment to laugh, and she does have a pretty smile.”

And he wasn’t even a Chosen; losing to a creature like that wasn’t something to be ashamed of.

The only thing Fang Hong regretted was that he couldn’t see that ”monster” in the center of the ruins from his angle.

It was truly a behemoth; he had never seen anything so awe-inspiring, almost like the Floating Island Whales from the Second World on television, only slightly smaller than the gigantic Kun.

It towered taller than a small hill, those dark red eye sockets probably ten meters in diameter, almost like two giant caves. He slowly recalled its form, marveling at how the ancient alchemists managed to create such a masterpiece.

A shadow engulfed him.

Two mechanical behemoths closed in, one from the front and one from the back, plunging down with a sharp, steam-whistle blast that turned the space before his eyes into thick darkness. Fang Hong turned back, unafraid to meet their gaze—just then, he heard a series of cracking sounds from below.

A miracle occurred; at that moment, the building could no longer bear its own weight and collapsed downward.

Fang Hong felt a drop beneath him, and the entire structure fell.

As a direct result, the two mechanical behemoths missed their target, smashing to the ground not far behind him. Amidst the spreading dust, stones fell like rain, rattling densely off his body.

But Fang Hong felt no pain; instead, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing, even tearing up with laughter, astonished by the dramatic turn of events.

The entire ruin zone was cracking, sinking, gradually revealing what lay beneath. Block by block, trees were uprooted and swallowed by the soil, Fang Hong saw all kinds of debris falling alongside him.

He even saw the Gunslinger from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team.

The Gunslinger was far more agile, leaping upward between several intact buildings, but to no avail. As a deep cracking sound rang out, those buildings and the whole street broke apart and fell.