Pillar of Yita

The small creature raised its tail and even blinked.

But Fang Hong’s hair stood on end.

This creature is certainly not a small animal; there’s nothing like it in the desert. It is a familiar—or rather, a magic pet. This thing is somewhat akin to a magic messenger, but more advanced, with many abilities, including but not limited to delivering messages, detecting magic, and providing alertness to its owner.

Just like now—

The ’skunk’ suddenly squeaked and turned to run.

Fang Hong didn’t even have time to let the Energy Angel take action, because the thing transformed into smoke, went straight into the wall, reappeared inside the building, looked back at him, and then bounced away. Seeing this scene, Fang Hong understood he was in big trouble; magic pets cannot act too far from their owner, which means the Arcanist controlling it is nearby.

Even this could be tolerated, since he had been discovered by Knights before—hiding in a place might prevent the opponent from finding him for a while. But the owner of the magic pet is an Arcanist, and Fang Hong knows very well what the latter specializes in. In fact, just as the thought flashed through his mind, a faint glow appeared in the courtyard not far away, and a purple eye appeared there.

Then it stared directly at him.

The Arcanist’s spell was greatly disrupted in this dust storm, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cast spells, just that the casting range and accuracy are greatly suppressed. The opponent reacted so quickly, clearly indicating the Arcanist might be close to him.

But the idea of finding and eliminating the opponent hadn’t even crossed Fang Hong’s mind.

Because when he looked back, the Knights who had left earlier now appeared at the other end of the corridor. They clearly discovered him instantly, drawing their curved blades and shouting as they charged in his direction.

Without thinking, Fang Hong threw several beams of golden light behind him, a burst of explosive light immediately blocking the Knights’ path. He put away the Fire Giant and fled forward, but this time, unlike before, the purple eye in mid-air was constantly trailing behind him.

Before long, he heard chaotic footsteps approaching from all directions—not just the Knights, but the guards from Bain Fortress received the news and surrounded him from this direction. Fang Hong gritted his teeth, almost feeling like capturing that Arcanist and eliminating them first, considering the distance of the eye—that opponent clearly stayed close behind him.

Unfortunately, he had no Clockwork Fairy now, and couldn’t figure out a way to locate the opponent.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated—seems like the Commercial Goddess doesn’t believe in ”credit”—but it’s too unlucky to have such a mishap when he’s almost out of the outer area.

Suddenly, shadows flickered ahead, another group of Knights appeared in that direction. By their appearance, they were not the same group as the pursuers behind, which means more enemies had arrived. Fang Hong’s heart sank, having no intention of engaging them, he immediately turned and ran in another direction.

But after only taking two steps, another group of guards appeared at the other end of the corridor, blocking the way ahead.

Fang Hong gritted his teeth and threw some Fire Giants ahead to first block their vision—he was stuck with nowhere to escape, and had to throw a fourth Fire Giant to blast open the wall of a building on one side and squeeze through. Luckily there was a path inside, and amidst the swirling dust, he saw the room’s door conveniently opened in the opposite direction, prompting joy in his heart as he rushed to push the door open.

But as soon as the door was pushed, he saw a crowd of Hall Guard Knights standing there—it was the team he had previously drawn away. They were slightly startled when they saw him break through the door.

Fang Hong cursed his bad luck, wanting to turn back, but the guards had already appeared at the entrance of the hole in that direction.

And at this moment, the Hall Guard Knights finally reacted, drawing their weapons and rushing toward him.

Fang Hong held the last Fire Giant in his sweaty palm—the Fire Giant at this level can’t cause much damage, only through dense usage to destroy the environment, thereby creating some obstacles for the opponent. But one Fire Giant is by no means enough.

Yet at this moment, with it being insufficient, he had no choice but to fight. An Energy Angel remained, along with the Orphen Twins Stars and the Sea Monster configuration, all of which were useless in resolving the current predicament.

Fang Hong steeled his heart, casting the Fire Giant out from his hand, and amidst the exploding firelight, threw out several Stalker Ts-1 types—these were unrecoverable, equivalent to sending them away for nothing, although the situation was extremely urgent, this scene still made Fang Hong’s heart unconsciously bleed. Even if thrown out, there’s no guarantee he could successfully escape.

In the firelight and smoke, the actions of the Hall Guard Knights weren’t greatly hindered, since the place is so small, the opponent could navigate blindly knowing where he is. However, a few Knights stepped into the Ts-1 gravity trap, their movements paused slightly, finally giving him a slim chance to sneak through the gaps created by their inconsistent actions.

But before he could feel relieved, a curved blade suddenly swung through the smoke, almost catching Fang Hong off guard. At the critical moment, he managed to step back, barely avoiding the slash, yet nearly losing his balance and falling to the ground.

The owner of the curved blade emerged from the smoke—turned out to be a Hall Guard Knight.

Fang Hong watched the scene as his heart sank—not because he wasn’t a match for the Hall Guard Knight, but even if releasing the Orphen Twins Stars might make for a battle; the problem was, with pursuers ahead and a blockade behind, any delay here would land him in encirclement.

Thinking of this, he decided to pause.

Then calmly retrieved the thrown Stalkers one by one—after all, since he planned on getting hammered here, he might as well consider where to resurrect and the situation he might face thereafter. Before that, he had to minimize losses—he refrained from summoning the Orphen Twins Stars again, lest they couldn’t be recovered, a sure loss.

He even retrieved the Reinforced Gloves to avoid drop upon death.

Considering the previous unreliability of the Commercial Goddess, he decided not to resurrect in Lady Roman’s Holy Sanctuary.

Just when Fang Hong was about to close his eyes, prepared for execution, a strange noise suddenly came from afar.

The sound came quickly, approaching in the blink of an eye. Then he saw the Hall Guard Knight in front of him stagger as a vibrating Feather Arrow pierced through the gap beneath his armor, hitting his chest. Such immense power also sent the Knight flying sideways, disappearing into the smoke.

Fang Hong looked at the scene, bewildered.

Then he heard two more twangs as two Feather Arrows shot forth, sending two slightly farther Hall Guard Knights flying backward one after another.

This time, Fang Hong could finally determine the direction the Feather Arrows came from, turning toward it instinctively—only fierce wind howled in the courtyard, concealing everything in dust; he couldn’t tell who the divine presence was—who could shoot arrows to this distance under such weather. In fact, he barely could see anything in that direction; how did the other party see the situation from this side?

Fang Hong’s mind was full of fog, yet his reaction wasn’t slow. As soon as the Knights fell, he immediately realized this was the perfect chance to escape.

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