Ch. 111 - The Ebb Tide

The situation at the camp was indeed dire.

Although Wang Liangyi was holding off two Shadow Knights on his own and Adam was taking on one as well, the remaining dark creatures were still too numerous, especially with a group of Shadow Attendants skilled in siege tactics among them.

These creatures could release a deep purple mist, which, when inhaled by dark creatures, would make them go berserk, enhancing all their attributes by a third. As a result, the Mad Dogs and Wanderers charged at the camp with a frenzy, as if injected with adrenaline.

At present, only one of the multi-barrel machine guns on the rooftop was still roaring; the others had long since run out of ammunition and become mere ornaments.

The gunners, out of options, had to pick up rifles and head down to the lower defense line to provide support.

On the camp’s walls, several Ascenders with War God class were all wounded. Whether in Night Walker uniforms or the Frost Cloud Guard’s long robes, their attire had been torn into strips by dark creatures.

If not for the protective armor guarding their vital areas, they might have already been forced to retreat from the defensive line. Even so, the star essence radiating from their bodies had dimmed significantly since the battle started.

The faint silver glows were now dull, like flickering candles in the wind, seemingly about to be extinguished at any moment.

As for the few Elemental Hearts inside the walls, their star essence had long been drained, especially the two Flamebringers of rank 3. They had collapsed to the ground like puddles of mud, with a few empty bottles of star essence replenishing fluids discarded beside them. Though the star medicine in their bodies was slowly restoring them, it was ultimately a drop in the bucket.

Yun Ze sat on the steps, his hands trembling as he looked bitterly towards the gate.

There, a few Ascenders and soldiers were still resisting desperately, but Yun Ze didn’t know how much longer they could hold on.

In the heat of battle, a soldier’s star magazine ran dry. He quickly ejected it and reached into his multi-purpose pouch, only to find that it was empty.

He froze for a moment, and in that split second of distraction, a Mad Hound bit into his leg!

The soldier let out a scream and used his rifle as a club, smashing it against the Mad Hound’s head. But instead of letting go, the beast bit down even harder.

With a twist of its head, the creature tore the soldier’s leg off completely!

The soldier let out a blood-curdling scream as he fell to the ground, unable to stand. Before he could get back up, four or five Wanderers had already grabbed his other leg and started dragging him out of the defensive line!

The soldier struggled desperately, his fingers digging into the ground until they bled, but he was still dragged out of the line. As he lifted his head, his vision filled with terrifying faces.

In the next moment, the Wanderers, Mad Dog, and other monsters lunged at him, tearing his body apart.

Blood poured from the soldier’s mouth. In a daze, he remembered that he had promised a girl during the counterworld campaign that he would take her to the beach when he got back.

But now he would never return...

"Ah!" Watching his comrade being dragged into the mass of enemies and devoured, a Yun family guard finally lost control, clutching his head and screaming, "Let me go back! Let me go back."

"I don’t want to stay here; I don’t want to die…"

Despairing words echoed across the battlefield, but they were quickly drowned out by the frenzied howls of the dark creatures.

There was no room for the slightest mistake on the battlefield, so this soldier soon met the same fate as his comrades.

The camp’s numbers were dwindling rapidly, especially among the Frost Cloud Guard soldiers. Their psychological resilience was never as strong as that of the Sun Spear Squad, and coupled with their lack of experience, their mortality rate was extremely high.

By now, only a few of Yun Ze’s ordinary soldiers remained.

On the camp wall, an Ascender was struggling to fend off two Shadow Attendants. But then, a third attendant suddenly appeared, raising a twisted weapon high and bringing it down towards the Ascender’s head.

The Ascender was too exhausted to dodge or parry, resigning himself to his fate. At that moment, a red light streaked across the battlefield, piercing the Attendant’s head.

It was the Crimson Moon Warblade!

The blade glowed with a crimson light, the superheated edge slicing through the Attendant’s helmet and head as easily as cutting through tofu, emerging from the monster’s mouth.

The Attendant wasn’t dead, though, but then a stream of silver-white energy shot through, disintegrating its chin and neck!

The creature collapsed onto the wall, its half-severed head still embedded with the warblade, rolling down from the pile of dark corpses below.

A foot stepped on the head, and the Attendant’s eyes rolled upwards, seeing a face that still bore traces of youth.

The owner of the foot bent down, grasped the warblade, and, with a flick, split the Attendant’s head—and the will cage inside it—in two.

Tianyang retrieved his warblade and leaped up the wall, using the bodies and heads of the Wanderers as stepping stones.

With a horizontal sweep of the Crimson Moon Warblade, the two Shadow Attendants pressuring the Ascender lost all four of their arms, which flew into the air. Tianyang then kicked the creatures back over the wall.

Without waiting for the Ascender to thank him, the boy performed a swift turn, sweeping his warblade along the wall. The red light flashed, and over a dozen Wanderer heads were sent flying.

Yun Ze saw this scene and couldn’t help but feel excited. Tianyang’s return—did it mean the interference had been eliminated?

He couldn’t wait to shout towards the wall, “Tianyang, is the mission complete?”

Tianyang nodded and then rushed towards the other dark creatures.

Yun Ze, with his legs trembling slightly, managed to stand up and quickly got into a vehicle.

His fingers tapped on the screen of the control panel, activating an icon to start communicating with the base.

This time, there was indeed no interference signal.

After a while, the communicator beside the screen buzzed, "This is Yun Xiang Base, Mr. Yun Ze? What’s the matter?"

Yun Ze almost collapsed onto the screen, using all his strength to shout, "Reinforcements! We need reinforcements! We’re surrounded; please send help immediately!"

On the camp walls, Tianyang had just split open the head of a Mad Dog. He glanced at the two Shadow Attendants whose arms he had severed, seeing them struggling to get back up, and his expression grew solemn.

Even with his arrival on the battlefield, the situation remained unchanged. Looking around, the area surrounding the camp was swarming with dark masses; the monsters seemed endless.

Surveying the battlefield.

Adam was still battling the Shadow Knight, but it was clear that he was at a disadvantage.

The Shadow Knight was enveloped in a purplish-red mist, wielding its heavy weapon with both single and double-handed strikes.

The Shadow Knight moved with large strides and agility. Its attacks were simple—horizontal cuts, vertical slashes, pushing, pulling, and swinging—yet these basic moves were executed with terrifying power.

Adam didn’t dare engage with the creature head-on, often only being able to counterattack after evading its deadly strikes.

Under the Shadow Knight’s sweeping, tidal wave-like attacks, the fact that the Western man could barely hold it off was already quite remarkable.

As for Wang Liangyi, he had drawn the other two Shadow Knights to the edge of the battlefield. There, the black mist was thick, and despite the scattered firelight, Tianyang could only occasionally catch glimpses of Wang Liangyi leaping around, with bursts of eerie purple light from the Shadow Knights flaring up now and then.

Time quietly passed, and on the wall, the young man had fought to the point of numbness, his arms barely able to lift anymore.

The star essence that once glowed brightly on his body had long since dimmed, and the injuries he sustained from the Shadow Knight’s heavy shield strike were gradually worsening. This made Tianyang’s breathing labored, often forcing him to gasp for air through his mouth to keep going.

Just as Tianyang was unsure how much longer he could hold on, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura erupt in the distance. It was like a storm, overwhelming in its intensity, and it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Straining to look in that direction, Tianyang saw something fall from the sky through the black mist shrouding the battlefield.

When it rolled to a fire pit, Tianyang's pupils dilated slightly—it was a head.

The head of the Shadow Knight!

His spirits lifted.

The Shadow Knight pressing Adam back suddenly froze in its tracks, and then, after a few quick attacks forced Adam to retreat, it turned its head towards the distance.

It seemed to be listening for something, but apart from the frenzied howls of the dark creatures, there was no other sound on the battlefield.

Yet, the Shadow Knight turned and silently left the battlefield, heading in the opposite direction of the camp. In no time, it disappeared into the streets lined with buildings, vanishing into the endless black mist.

Tianyang was stunned—the Shadow Knight’s reaction was as if it had received some kind of order.

Could it be that in its ecosystem, there was a higher-level commander above it?

Whatever the case, once the Shadow Knight left the battlefield, its attendants began retreating as well. These helmeted figures, dragging strange weapons and clad in fabric or light armor, started to withdraw.

The black tide began to recede; the Mad Dogs and Phantom Archers followed, and eventually, even the Wanderers started to retreat.

However, some Wanderers, not being the brightest creatures, remained on the battlefield, but they seemed not to have received any order to attack. They no longer assaulted the camp, instead, they wandered aimlessly around.

Only those close to the camp, still drawn by the scent of humans, occasionally howled and moved closer.

But they posed no real threat anymore.

Tianyang slumped down on the wall, placing the Crimson Moon Warblade beside him, though he no longer had the strength to lift it.

After a brief rest, numb thoughts began to resurface in his mind.

We made it through!

We actually made it through!

Someone shouted in celebration, and soon the camp was filled with laughter while others sobbed in relief.

This battle had been incredibly difficult.

A few minutes later, Wang Liangyi returned to the camp. He was carrying a bundle, and when he tossed it to the ground, it unwrapped, spilling out several materials.

Materials from the Shadow Knights.

There were several crystallized organs, an eyeball that still rotated, three bones that glowed with dark purple starlight, and a few sharp fangs the size of thumbs…

In total, there were over a dozen materials, causing many Ascenders’ eyes to widen in astonishment.

Wang Liangyi was also wounded. After greeting Yun Ze, he immediately climbed into the vehicle’s medical chamber. No one opposed his actions.

After all, he was the strongest person in the camp and had contributed the most. If he hadn’t held off two Shadow Knights, the consequences would have been unimaginable, so he had every right to receive treatment first.

At this time, Adam, dragging his tired body, approached the wall and patted Tianyang’s knee. "How are you holding up? You alright?"

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