Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

21: Chapter 21: Crises Follow One Another 21: Chapter 21: Crises Follow One Another The Giant Stone whooshed toward them, and the frail magician attempted to conjure an ice wall before it arrived.

However, before the wall could fully form, it was shattered by the rolling behemoth, shards of ice flying everywhere.

Facing a Giant Stone many times his own size, Andro did not retreat.

His outstretched hands did not tremble in the slightest.

With everyone’s lives hanging by a thread, when the boulder met Andro’s arms, everyone’s heart jumped to their throats.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!” Andro bellowed as he miraculously caught the rolling boulder, halting its spin, though it did not stop entirely.

The powerful impact kept pushing the adventurer-formed triangle backward along the sloping ground.

The slightest lapse and the spherical behemoth would roll once more, grinding everyone to dust.

Yang Yu and Bai Jin stood in the last row.

With one hand, Yang Yu pushed forward without a shield; with the other, he released an Interception behind him, using the Illusion Shield from the [Interception] to ease the barrier, all the while directing Bai Jin, who was fully incapable of exercising his strength, to use magic to clear as many of the obstacles behind them as possible.

Through layer upon layer of unity and concerted effort, the Giant Stone finally came to a stop.

No one breathed a sigh of relief, least of all Andro.

Staring at the boulder before him with blurry vision, he spoke with the last of his consciousness:

“I’ll hold it here first, you guys retreat to the side, then I’ll let go.”

No one objected, and one by one, they released their grips, standing amidst the trees far from the boulder.

Seeing no one left behind, Andro collapsed powerlessly to the ground, lying in front of the behemoth.

Before leaving, a few magicians marked Andro with traces of their magic power.

As soon as Andro fell, they frantically used their magic to move him out of the danger zone.

Several priests rushed over, calling upon the Holy Light to heal him.

No one could have imagined such a twist in the rescue that had barely begun.

No one spoke, but they all knew the chances for this rescue were likely grim.

Many faces turned pale, and thoughts of retreat began to creep into their minds.

“That’s enough, we’re in danger from the very start, who knows what other perils await us!”

The first dissenting voice gave rise to others, each emboldened to air their grievances.

“There must be something in this forest beyond our control.”

“Yes, the best course now is to retreat and regroup, bringing in top-level forces.”

A somber mood spread through the team, with those voicing complaints and readiness to withdraw, but there were also those who disagreed.

“I object!

Without our rescue, the captured adventurers will surely meet with disaster.”

“I also object.

Their use of such a Giant Stone suggests their weakness; they aim to annihilate us with such tricks.

We should seize the moment their plan has failed, charge ahead with full force, and wipe them out to rescue the captured adventurers.”

“Who knows they don’t have more up their sleeve?

Goblins couldn’t possibly come up with such Giant Stones.

If we go on mere conjecture, we’ll only lead the team to a pointless death.

Besides, if they’re that powerful, the adventurers they took might already be…”

“Are you suggesting we leave them to die?”

“I’m not saying that at all, I’m saying we need to measure our capabilities!”

A conflict erupted within the adventure group, while Yang Yu, rubbing his shoulders, decided not to get involved and calmly shared his unreserved speculation.

“I suggest you guys stop arguing; it looks like even if we really wanted to retreat, we wouldn’t be able to now.”

“What did you say?”

The two squabbling factions turned towards Yang Yu in unison.

Yang Yu casually asked an idle priest to heal him before saying:

“Rather than saying that the other side was already prepared for our rescue, it’s more like they captured those people specifically to lure us into a rescue attempt.”

“Why are you so sure!”

Yang Yu didn’t answer their question but instead looked towards the treetops, “Perhaps, up until now, every move we’ve made has been under their watchful eye.

As the old saying goes, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you wait for the killing blow.’ Perhaps there are groups of goblins already lying in ambush on our way back, and more groups of goblins are closing in to encircle us.

Fleeing in disorder will only fall into their trap.

The best approach now is to confront the enemy right here and wait for reinforcements.”

Reinforcements?

Do those even exist?

Many people showed puzzled expressions.

“Didn’t you listen carefully to Andro’s speech this morning?

The reason we came here is that the proposal for the high-level adventurer operation has been delayed in getting approved.”

“But…

how long exactly do we have to wait?”

“It…

should…

not be much longer.” Andro’s voice was extremely weak, not far off.

The brief healing had brought back his consciousness, “I had Teacher Tela constantly monitoring our actions.

With this situation, the union will definitely expedite the approval and recall high-level adventurers.”

“With such a major event, even if the monitoring is blocked, those high-level adventurers will still come over to check the situation around this Giant Stone.” Yang Yu continued for Andro, “Maybe they’ve decided to make this place a second trap, targeting those high-level adventurers…”

Yang Yu hadn’t finished speaking when several scouts who had just jumped back onto the trees interrupted him.

“A lot of movement in the canopy layer, it seems something is surrounding us.”

A horn sounded, leaving the crowd uncertain and a hint of unease creeping into their hearts.

The scouts continued to observe, and a few with sharp eyes keenly noticed green skin almost blending in with the canopy layer.

“It’s goblins!

A massive number of goblins are swarming us!

There must be at least five hundred, and they’re coming from all directions.”

Hearing this news, people were thrown into a panic.

This was five times the number of our whole adventure group, and currently, our strongest fighters as well as several adventurers at the forefront were in a state of extreme fatigue, receiving healing from the priests.

They were completely unable to resist so many goblins.

“Was I right?” Yang Yu said with a resigned smile, “This is just a team to drive us off, their strength is probably not strong.

Now they believe we are too exhausted to dare to fight and will surely turn and run.

But what I want to say is if we run, we will certainly die.

If we fight together, and wait for Andro to recover, then perhaps we will have a sliver of a chance.

Well, everyone, will you fight or flee?”

With that being said, how could we possibly run?

The two previously clashing factions immediately shook hands and made peace, each grabbing their weapons.

“That’s a good look in your eyes!”

Scanning over everyone’s attributes, Yang Yu stood at the forefront of the group.

Other warriors, swordsmen, and boxers followed his lead to form a tenacious front line, surrounding the weary wounded.

Mages and priests concentrated at the rear, adjusting their positions according to the formation to facilitate Healing and focus fire, while thieves in the trees were ready to strike at any moment.

Those who had only met less than a day ago were now firmly united in the face of a threat to their lives, coming together as one whole.