Pillar of Yita

Elisa gently waved her hand near her nose, a low cough came through the swirling dust—Gita’s voice.

Luo Yu was pulling a corpse out from under the ruins, with the sound of stones rolling and crashing. He tore off the headscarf of the other, revealing a lifeless, grayish face with dark skin, scraggly beard, a trail of blood streaming down the forehead, vacant eyes staring at the ceiling.

And a wisp of black light was rising from beneath the opponent’s skin, like smoke, quickly merging into the mist. With this scene, no further evidence was needed.

These people were at least Dragon Worshippers if not Blind Followers — unless Colin Ishurian had a third type of dark faith.

Luo Yu released the corpse and looked at Fang Hong, who said to him, ”Stop looking, let’s go.”

The Silence Spell blocked the sound but could not stop solid vibrations—once outside the spell’s range, the rocks could transmit low sound waves far and wide. By now, the entire fortress should be aware of the disturbance below. The Silence Spell was merely to mislead the enemy about what happened below, and in which exact location.

Would the opponent choose to send someone down to investigate first, or immediately flee this place? Fang Hong guessed the former; above lay an endless desert, and in Tansnier Port, the Grand Princess’s Guard Corps had already deployed. Where could they escape to above? In the desert, they were just ’targets’ for the Falcons and Scouting Mech.

Fang Hong moved through the ruins, issuing orders to the others:

”Elisa, Parker, you go ahead.”

”Little Fatty, get a few ranged professions up front as well.”

The door in that direction had long since disappeared, leaving only a large hole. Behind the hole, smoke and dust filled the air, revealing a corridor.

The group moved forward through the hole. Contrary to Fang Hong’s expectations, no Clockwork Fairy or anything else flew out, making the Shield of Lufu’s rangers somewhat useless. After walking a while, they unexpectedly encountered a team of guards within the corridor.

The ambush came suddenly, and the opponents were stronger than Wu Xiaopang described, with levels indeed above twenty—Miss Nightingale only noticed the approaching guards at a very close distance. Meeting at a corridor corner left no room to escape—

The combat was initiated by Elisa’s instinctive reaction—she flung a dagger, like a streak of black light, but the lead guard swung his curved blade, deflecting the light aside, leaving a long trail of sparks on the wall.

The Shield of Lufu’s rangers behind Elisa opted to open fire, using Magic Guided Short Bows in the narrow environment. However, with levels barely over ten, their feeble arrows failed to penetrate the opponent’s nearly impenetrable defenses.

Seeing the desert swordsman wielding the curved blade reach behind, Fang Hong could not help but warn, ”Be careful!”

The opponent pulled out a Flying Axe from behind, and hurled it forward. Miss Nightingale dodged to the side, the spinning axe grazing her nose before hitting a Shield of Lufu ranger in the shoulder, who exclaimed and fell backward.

”Rescue!”

Fang Hong shouted as he lowered his voice.

Luo Hao swiftly dragged that person back, planting a Great Shield upright, upon which two flying axes thudded with dull thumps.

Meanwhile, Parker set up a crossbow and began retaliating. The first bolt clashed against the swordsman’s curved blade, producing a spark of Mars—not enough to harm him, but enough to make him pause and step back. Later, Elisa leapt and rolled to a corner, summoning her dagger back with a gesture.

In the darkness, a streak of Lightning flew back to her, followed by a muffled groan from the guards, this stealthy maneuver indeed wounded the adversary.

After a round of probing exchanges, both sides gained and lost.

But clearly, the opponent saw that this side was weaker. After shouting something enigmatic in the local dialect, six or seven men raised their curved blades and charged.

”Get out of the way!” Fang Hong shouted at Luo Hao.

The brand-new member of the Seven Seas Travel Group was no ordinary person, turning aside without looking back, swiftly retracting the Great Shield.

The guards were puzzled when suddenly a flash fired ahead—a muffled bang followed by the shriek filling the air. The leading guard instinctively raised his curved blade to block, an ear-splitting sound reverberated, a tremendous force reflected back from the blade’s edge—indeed, with a strength level over two hundred, a Level 20 strength-type warrior’s explosive strength was awe-inspiring, far beyond Earthlings—described as superhuman on Earth, some would believe.

Hence, he actually blocked the cannonball—although it numbed his arms, he managed to slant the cannonball, rupturing the Alchemical fuse within.

However, the split cannonball flew to the sides, instantly knocking a person aside without a reaction.

Though blocking this strike, the lead guard himself retreated eight steps, losing balance, and his ability to think. In his dark brown pupils, more flashes of light reflected—the next cannonball struck amongst them, a flash of Light, a deafening roar followed. Standing ten meters away, Fang Hong felt sand and stone rushing towards him.