Chapter 126 - 105: "All Armies, Heed the Command: Return to One!
Chapter 126: Chapter 105: "All Armies, Heed the Command: Return to One!
This was a Level 6 Cannon Tower.
It was a Level 6 Cannon Tower he had upgraded over the past few days using a Green Level Mourning Lantern. Its power was immense, but the Ghost King was so fast that it was difficult to land a hit.
"Sir."
At his side, Zhou Mo gritted his teeth and asked, his voice laced with panic, "Are we running already?"
"Not yet."
Chen Fan shook his head. "We still have a few aces up our sleeve. It won’t be too late to run if we still can’t win after we’ve played them all."
They had already followed the Meat Grinder Passage to the first cave at the canyon’s entrance. Ropes they had prepared long ago were waiting there. Sliding down would take them to the entrance of the Nameless Mountain canyon.
Hidden in the jungle were the nine Skeleton Horses they had readied.
Their current location was a full thousand meters from the Ghost King in the Celestial Pit.
If they really couldn’t hold their ground.
They would retreat from here. With the Ghost King bearing down, they figured no other Ghost Objects in the surrounding darkness would dare get close. As long as they could survive the night, there was hope for survival.
It was just a camp, even though they had spent a long time building it up.
But if it was gone, it was gone.
Where there’s life, there’s hope.
...
Finally—
The Ghost King continuously weaved past several beams from the Level 6 Cannon Tower. Just as he was about to close in on the City Wall, the Level 2 Wind Tower inside the cave suddenly activated, and a fierce gale erupted from the opening.
Caught off guard, the Ghost King was thrown back several meters by the intense gale.
But that brief moment of being staggered was all the Level 6 Cannon Tower needed to lock on. Another beam from it scored a direct hit, once again blasting the Ghost King into the rock wall.
As the Ghost King struggled to pull himself out of the rock wall, he felt a sharp pain radiate through his body. Wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, the fury in his eyes grew darker. "Bring out all your little tricks!"
He charged straight for the City Wall once more!
The Wind Tower activated again.
This time, however, it wasn’t blowing a fierce wind. Instead, it had activated its Active Skill, Gale Inhalation.
The Wind-Resistant Pearl atop the tower lit up instantly, and the countless holes dotting its surface began to emit a low whine.
A massive, twisting, funnel-shaped vortex of air abruptly formed!
It began pulling the Ghost King’s body toward the City Wall!
’Perfect timing.’
Sensing the strange pull, the Ghost King didn’t resist. On the contrary, he allowed the current to sweep him in, using it to close in on the City Wall even faster. The moment he reached it, just as he was about to dive through the blasted-open hole and slaughter everyone in the camp...
He suddenly spotted a bizarrely shaped cannon tower embedded within the City Wall.
It was a vertical pupil.
Before he could focus and get a good look, the Vertical Pupil Cannon Tower slowly opened its eye. Its pupil was a rapidly spinning dark vortex, the white of the eye was covered in blood-red veins, and its exterior was wrapped in a layer of skin.
It was... Qiu Kui’s skin.
"Damn you! Damn you to hell!!!"
Instantly consumed by rage, a scarlet light formed a Long Spear in the Ghost King’s hand as he charged straight for the Vertical Pupil Cannon Tower!
However.
Just as he closed to within a meter, a brownish-black beam of light flooded his vision. He smelled an extremely dangerous aura from it and only had time to swing his Long Spear out in a desperate, reflexive block.
...
"Cough... cough."
Blasted into the rock wall of the Celestial Pit by the brownish-black beam of light, the Ghost King staggered as he pulled himself free. He fell several meters to the pit floor and, after struggling to his feet, spat out a mouthful of thick blood.
He had never been so grievously wounded.
Normally, he would have retreated long ago in a situation like this. It wouldn’t be too late to return after he recovered.
But tonight.
Rage had clouded his mind. He was unwilling to retreat.
Scarlet light once again formed a Long Spear in his hand, only this time, it was much fainter.
"Is there more?"
"Any other tricks left?"
The Ghost King staggered forward, his Long Spear angled toward the ground. He advanced slowly, his voice eerily calm, yet utterly bone-chilling.
"If not, then I’m coming in. Are you ready to face me?"
That Vertical Pupil Cannon Tower.
Its power was immense.
It had grievously wounded him, but before being blasted away, his spear strike had utterly shattered it, along with the other Level 6 Cannon Tower.
Now, the other Level 5 Cannon Towers in the Celestial Pit fired on him continuously, but their blasts were all nullified by the scarlet barrier protecting his body, unable to cause him any harm.
Even though he was heavily injured.
The other Level 5 Cannon Towers were no match for him, unlike the two Level 6 towers.
At this point, no one could stop him.
...
"We’re leaving."
Chen Fan was hidden high up on the rock wall at the side of the canyon entrance, at the mouth of the Meat Grinder Passage. Through the Shadow Array, he had seen clearly that all of his countermeasures had failed. This Ghost King was even more powerful than he had imagined.
’If only there were more cannon towers,’ he thought.
He sighed softly.
There still weren’t enough towers. If they could have slaughtered all the Ghost Objects right from the start, preventing the Ghost King from absorbing the power of a single one of them, then they would have been the final victors of this battle.
Unfortunately...
But he had done his best.
He only had so many resources to work with, and it was only enough to fortify the canyon to this extent.
The Ghost Eye Cannon Tower and the Level 6 Cannon Tower had both been completely destroyed, reduced to scraps that even the altar couldn’t repair.
"Young Master."
Lame Monkey glanced back down the passage toward the camp and said hoarsely, "We only managed to take some of the Ghost Stones. Most of the other resources are still in the camp’s Warehouse."
"Let’s go. Staying alive is what matters."
Chen Fan shook his head, not wanting to say more. He was the first to move to the cave entrance, getting ready to rappel down the hanging ropes and escape Nameless Mountain. They would find a corner to hide in the darkness and discuss the future once the sun came up.
Just at this moment—
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed rapidly from the darkness beyond the canyon, as if some colossal creature were charging down from the mountaintop. The familiar sound made Chen Fan pause.
The next moment!
Then he saw a giant crocodile, its eyes filled with a mixture of profound fear and fury, burst out of the darkness. It carried an air of unstoppable momentum as it charged headfirst into the canyon, which was lit by twenty Ghost Fires.
At an incredible speed, it rampaged through the canyon, heading straight for the Celestial Pit!
"Hey Hey!"
Chen Fan couldn’t help but cry out instinctively, "Come back, we’re retreating!"
However.
Hey Hey, who was normally so obedient, merely glanced back at him before turning its gaze forward again. It continued its charge toward the Celestial Pit. In the blink of an eye, it crossed the thousand-meter canyon and arrived at the pit, where it fixed its gaze on the Ghost King preparing to enter the cavern and let out a furious roar from its cavernous mouth.
The roar was so powerful that it shook loose stone fragments from the surrounding rock walls, echoing endlessly through the canyon.
"...Hmph."
The Ghost King, just about to step through the breach in the City Wall, heard the sound from behind. He let out a soft sigh and staggered as he turned to look at the giant crocodile on the ground. Blood continued to flow from the wounds all over his body. He spoke in a low voice.
"And where did this Exotic Beast spring from?"
"Are you the Exotic Beast that foolish fellow mentioned, the one guarding Nameless Mountain?"
"So be it."
"Let’s see what you’re capable of."
Lying prone on the ground, Hey Hey looked through the breach in the City Wall and saw the shattered porcelain jar inside the cavern. For the first time, its pupils radiated an intense, murderous rage. Although its body trembled uncontrollably, it still advanced slowly, hissing.
"You..."
The Ghost King tilted his head to look at the giant crocodile before him and suddenly broke into a laugh. "You seem terrified, and you have no combat experience? In that case..."
The next moment—
The Ghost King’s body vanished like a phantom. He reappeared instantly, scarlet Long Spear in hand, directly above the giant crocodile’s head. Airborne, he gripped the spear with both hands, aimed for the crocodile’s skull, and plunged it downward.
"Then... die!"
Like a red-hot iron rod, the scarlet Long Spear melted through the Scale Armor on the giant crocodile’s head, piercing a full meter deep.
But before he could pull it out.
The enraged giant crocodile ignored the pain and snapped its massive jaws shut, biting down hard on the Ghost King’s torso. Its thick, coarse teeth locked around his body, making it impossible for him to escape.
And then!
The crocodile’s massive, mountain-like body erupted with devastating power. Using its jaws, which were clamped tight around the Ghost King, as an axis, its entire body began to spin violently!
It was the Death Roll.
The most primitive and absolute method of attack, etched into the bloodline of giant crocodiles since the dawn of time.