Sacrifice and breakout

It took ten seconds longer than expected for Si Ming to reach his position. He quickly raised his Spirit Gun, which had transformed into sniper mode, aimed at the Beedrill guarding the wormhole, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet struck the insect's abdomen, shattering its lower body like a watermelon being smashed by a metal rod. Fragments of its internal organs exploded backward. Even though insect-like Demon Beast are incredibly resilient, losing half their bodies would quickly lead to their demise.

Unable to fire continuously in sniper mode, another Beedrill saw its companion suddenly explode and die, and immediately began to frantically thrash about in panic. As Spirit Rank Demon Beast, it already possessed intelligence no less than that of a normal human, and immediately began to search for the location of the murderer.

Bang!

The second bullet whizzed through the air, but it missed the Beedrill's vital spot as it thrashed about wildly; it only severed the thick stinger at the end of its abdomen.

This bullet also alerted Beedrill to Si Ming's presence. It immediately flapped its wings and rushed over like a storm, emitting a rather piercing cry. The distance of less than two kilometers would only take it ten seconds to cover. Along the way, to avoid being ambushed by those unknown projectiles again, it moved in a serpentine curve, swaying left, right, up, and down.

Facing the rapidly approaching enemy, Si Ming took a deep breath. Without panicking, his breath settled, and he imagined a seed shattering in his mind. His eyes suddenly became empty and lifeless, as if he had entered a state of Mindless Shot.

He showed no anxiety whatsoever, methodically reloading his gun without even aiming, simply raising the gun casually and pulling the trigger in one direction.

Bang!

At a distance of less than twenty meters, the upper body of the Beedrill was torn into countless fragments, scattering in all directions. Its lower body, propelled by inertia, fell forward and landed right at Si Ming's feet.

Si Ming exited the state of Mindless Shot and exhaled a breath of stale air. "Mission complete."

Jiang Zhengtai suddenly said, "This is bad. The raiding team seems to be tied up. If this continues, they won't have a chance to throw out the Boundary Sealing Stone."

Chapter 140 Sacrifice and Breakthrough

Si Ming turned his head and saw that the ten members of the raiding team had been stopped less than three hundred meters from the wormhole. Countless Demon Beast roared and pounced on them, wave after wave, one after another.

"Their movements are strange; it's like they're stuck in mud."

Although the ten members of the raiding squad were intercepted by a large number of Demon Beast, they were wearing heavy Profound Armor, which was originally prepared to deal with this situation. Theoretically, they should still retain the ability to advance. However, at this moment, they were all stiff and unsteady, and some could not even aim their guns at the enemy. Bullets shot diagonally downwards into the ground.

"It's the power of Earth's magnetic field," Ye Ziqian suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Si Ming suddenly realized, "No wonder something felt off; it turns out their movements were being influenced by a downward magnetic force."

Jiang Zhengtai said with a solemn expression, "This kind of trap is clearly designed specifically to deal with Profound Armor. We have underestimated the intelligence of Demon Beast. Although most Demon Beast are as foolish as wild animals, high-level Demon Beast that have awakened intelligence are no less intelligent than humans. Their commander obviously anticipated that we might use decapitation tactics."

Ye Ziqian asked Si Ming with unwavering resolve, "Should we retreat now, or go help them?"

Si Ming's sniping mission is complete; what remains is the mission of the assault team. Even if they fail to seal the wormhole in the end, it will not be his fault.

Jiang Zhengtai waved his hands, splitting a charging Demon Beast into eighteen pieces. He frowned and said, "What can the three of us do to help? We're not wearing Profound Armor. If we charge in and cut off our escape route, the Demon Beast will swarm us from all sides. Even if we had Three Heads and Six Arms, we wouldn't escape death."

As Si Ming watched the assault team members struggling in the battle, his brain began to work at an efficiency far exceeding his usual pace, quickly connecting clues one by one.

"There are patrols and surveillance here every day. If there really were a natural magnetic field, the military commander would never have arranged this operation. Therefore, the magnetic field appeared after the demon tide, and there are no signs of human intervention at the scene. Considering the Demon Race's productivity level, this is clearly not an industrial product, but rather the result of the Demon Race's supernatural abilities. Therefore, as long as we find the Demon Beast that released the magnetic field and kill it, we can break the deadlock."

He focused his True Qi into his eyes to enhance his vision, desperately searching for suspicious individuals among the demon horde.

Although Jiang Zhengtai didn't want to put pressure on anyone at this time, for safety's sake, he still reminded him, "The Demon Beast are gradually swarming up. If we stay any longer, we won't be able to break through. How much longer do you need?"

"As the one controlling the situation, it can't be too far away or too close. It must be somewhere nearby, either standing still or moving sideways. Compared to the other charging Demon Beast, it will stand out conspicuously and should be easy to spot. Give me another half minute; I must find the target within thirty seconds!"

Looking at the waves of surging Demon Beast, Jiang Zhengtai felt that thirty seconds was still too long, but he knew that now was not the time to bargain. Rather than wasting time arguing, he should do his best to defend the line.

Ten seconds passed, and it was still not found.

Under the onslaught of the demon horde, Jiang Zhengtai and Ye Ziqian were forced to shrink their defensive perimeter to reduce the pressure on their defenses.

Twenty seconds passed, and still no suspicious target was found.

A porcupine-like Demon Beast charged towards Ye Ziqian. Although Ye Ziqian managed to swat it in the eye in time, he was still pierced through the arm by the long quills on its back.

Twenty-five seconds later, when Jiang Zhengtai killed a serpentine Demon Beast, his arm was splattered with its venom. In the blink of an eye, his skin turned pitch black. He quickly used a thin thread to cut off the piece of flesh to stop the poison from spreading.

"Why can't I find it? Did my reasoning go wrong? Is it that the Demon Beast used some simple natural material to set up a magnetic field, or can the spellcaster maintain their demonic Divine Ability from a distance?" Si Ming clenched his fists, becoming increasingly anxious.

"No, let's go. We've done everything we could. Staying any longer will only mean we're going to die with them!" Jiang Zhengtai turned to Si Ming and shouted, "If you don't want to leave, I'll forcibly take you away!"

"Wait, I've got it! Ha, I'm so stupid, it took me so long to think about such a simple answer!"

Si Ming circulated his Internal Cultivation and shouted to the members of the raiding team, "The Demon Beast that released the magnetic field is hiding underground!"

After saying that, he didn't care what methods those people would use or whether they would believe him. He immediately separated Spirit Sparrow and White Eagle, turned around, and charged out first, firing his dual pistols at high frequency to create an escape route.

He had done his best. As for whether the raiding team could escape, it depended on their own efforts. Even if they were all wiped out in the end, Si Ming could still say with a clear conscience that he had done his best.

Even when doing good deeds, one should act within one's means. Even Murong Qing, who had just returned from her training, understood this principle, so Si Ming certainly wouldn't get stuck on it.

Admittedly, if the person in the predicament were a close friend of Si Ming, he might not have been able to make the same decisive move. However, before he understood the Dao, he recognized his true nature and realized that he could not achieve the "universal love" advocated by the Mohist School. Therefore, there was no need for him to distort his own beliefs.

Just as Si Ming and his two companions turned to break through, the raiding squad reacted. One of them, wielding a giant hammer, immediately activated all the spiritual energy circuits on his Profound Armor and swung it heavily into the ground.

Boom!

The burst of energy spread out like a storm, sweeping back a group of charging Demon Beast. The earth caved in, creating a crater with spiderweb-like cracks extending for tens of meters. The violent shockwave surged into the ground, shaking the earth and killing all living things.

Everyone immediately felt the pressure on them ease, regain their freedom, and the magnetic field dissipated.

"Success! Now I will deliver the Boundary Sealing Stone, and you will open the passage for me!"

After the Captain gave the order, before the team members could react, he immediately charged forward wielding a machete as big as a door panel, cutting down everything in his path and carving a bloody trail.

The team members were unable to stop him. They watched anxiously as their Captain disappeared into the horde of demons, but all they could do was unleash ranged firepower to sweep away the Demon Beast and try to reduce the pressure on their Captain.

Without the restraint of the magnetic field, the 300-meter distance was covered in a flash. The Captain unleashed his full power and arrived at the wormhole in less than ten seconds. He quickly opened his chest armor and threw in a palm-sized rock.