When a flood came, the best solution wasn't to build a dam and block the water, but to channel it away through ditches.
The same principle applied to a Beast Tide. The main fighting force had to hold the front line against the demonic beasts first, buying time for the people behind them to evacuate. Once everyone had taken shelter inside buildings, they could use their abilities to guide the beasts down the main roads without letting them enter the shelters. That was how they could minimize casualties.
Now that the evacuation was complete, it was time for Elder Hong to unleash his power!
Elder Hong sat in an armchair of extraordinarily complex construction, his eyes closed as though concentrating on building up to something. The chair was covered in intricate arrays of spiritual energy, and a dish-shaped antenna-like object was attached to its back. Anyone with experience would have realized that the armchair itself was actually a low-grade Treasure Artifact!
"Given your advanced age, are you sure you should really be doing this, Elder Hong...?"
"Enough talk. Get on with it!"
Si Nan Yuan sighed softly and brought over two stands, each holding two bottles of unknown material. The bottles contained pale green liquid that was obviously high-quality Spiritual Medicine. Si Nan Yuan connected four very fine tubes to the bottles, one tube per bottle. At the other end of each tube was a hollow needle. After hesitating for a moment, she stuck all four needles into Elder Hong's arm.
"Done."
"Mm, then..."
Let's begin!
"All combat personnel, withdraw immediately! I repeat, all combat personnel, withdraw immediately!"
Rui Feng, who had been fighting with bloodshot eyes, heard the sudden announcement, and the fighting spirit in his heart was instantly doused—because he knew what the announcement meant.
"Don't get bogged down! Fall back! Elder Hong is about to unleash his power!"
His shout made everyone still fighting stop. They immediately disengaged and retreated, leaving behind only a horde of ferocious demonic beasts still charging into the city.
The beasts didn't understand why the people who had been full of fighting spirit moments ago were suddenly running away. Of course, they didn't need to know. The only thing they understood was that no one was stopping them anymore!
A pack of gray wolves charged into the city center at the head of the horde. By then, there wasn't a soul outside the buildings. Their carnivorous instincts drove them to search for prey, and the people hiding in the shops along the streets were naturally their first choice.
They ran, howled, and pounced!
Who would have thought—
With a THUD, the lead wolf slammed hard into something and split its head open. Just then, a gigantic pale yellow barrier of light descended from above, completely separating the shops from the streets like a wall. It wasn't just the shops; hotels, gymnasiums, restaurants...every building sheltering civilians was covered by a layer of pale yellow light!
The barrier looked fragile, but even after the wolves had rammed it several times, it showed no sign of damage. They couldn't get through at all! The wolves weren't stupid. After trying several times, they realized the barrier couldn't be broken, so they turned away in twos and threes and continued running along the city's main roads.
The beasts behind them did the same, repeating the process of "trying to hurt people—crashing into the barrier—trying a few more times—giving up and running on." Farther back, the beasts saw those ahead running along the roads, and their animal instinct drove them to follow the group. In the end, just like floodwater being channeled away through ditches, the Beast Tide flowed down the main roads without causing any more casualties.
At last, everyone in the city center was safe.
"Elder Hong! Elder Hong!"
After the last of the beasts had passed through the city center, the pale yellow barrier vanished as well. At the same time, on the top floor of the Winter Arrival Hotel, Elder Hong slumped limp in his armchair. The Spiritual Medicine in the IV bottles, which had been supplying high-purity spiritual energy, was long gone, and the arrays on the chair had lost their glow. Even with the Spiritual Medicine's support and the boost from a low-grade Treasure Artifact that enhanced his ability, pulling this off at Elder Hong's age had still been too much for him.
Si Nan Yuan lifted the unconscious Elder Hong into her arms. The attendants beside her hurried forward with all kinds of medical equipment to treat him. Thanks to their efforts, Elder Hong's condition gradually stabilized, and only then did Si Nan Yuan let out a sigh of relief.
Next...all that was left was to wait for news from Li Cha.
After checking their positions, she quickly discovered that the second young miss and Liu Ye were both on the south side of the city. She had already sent Li Cha, who had a flying ability, to pick them up. At his speed, he should have no trouble bringing them back before the beasts reached the south side.
Bzz—bzz—
Speak of the devil, Si Nan Yuan thought.
"Hello? You got them, right?"
"Sorry for the trouble, big sis!" A racket came from the other end of the phone (compass?), along with the strange cries of bird-shaped demonic beasts. "I'm tied up by a flock of featherless beasts! Damn it! I'm afraid I won't make it in time!"
"What did you say?!"
Scarlet blood congealed into countless sharp blades, spinning around me like a top. The storm of Blood Blades was unstoppable, cutting through the horde of Drilling Worms like a hot knife through bamboo and reducing them to minced meat. Chunks of worm and slime covered the ground like a thick carpet. I'd already killed more than a hundred worms, but I had no time to rest at all, because—
"Damn it! Why are there more and more of them?!"
The worms came at me one wave after another. As soon as I killed one group, a new one burrowed up from the ground, vividly acting out the old verse, "Wildfire never quite consumes them; in the spring wind they rise once more." What's more, the worms that appeared later felt stronger than the ones before. At first, I could kill them with a single strike; now it took two or three cuts to finish them off. I was starting to feel that I couldn't absorb spiritual energy fast enough.
Last time I fought the Desolate Beast, I'd brought plenty of cores and spirit stones with me, so I'd been able to hold my own. This time, I hadn't brought any supplies at all. Even the Charging Blade that had made such a huge contribution was several kilometers away, back at the Winter Arrival Hotel. Worst of all, probably because their level was too low, these worms didn't leave behind cores when they died! I couldn't replenish my supplies while fighting! For the first time, I truly understood just how important a healer was to a team!
And that wasn't even the only problem.
If I were alone, I'd be eighty percent sure I could break out of the warehouse. The problem was Si Nan Ying...
Behind me, Si Nan Ying frantically dodged the slime spat out by the worms. Little bubbles kept appearing in her hands, blasting the worms back one by one—note, "blasting them back," not "blasting them dead"! The awkward drawback of Si Nan Ying's ability had once again become obvious: she could only produce low-powered or extremely high-powered bubbles, so she couldn't efficiently kill the worms. The low-powered bubbles could only crack their shells, while the extremely powerful ones would send both her and me to our graves. So I had to slaughter the worms closing in on me while keeping an eye on her, leaving me in a frantic scramble. I'd nearly lost control several times!
I couldn't keep this up...breaking out was urgent. I had to think of something...
...Got it!
"Little Ying, I have a simple plan!"
"W-what is it?" Si Nan Ying asked as she dodged, her breathing terribly ragged.
"Can you blow a hole in the roof?"
"I think so!"
"Then do it! Hurry!"
Si Nan Ying understood at once. She immediately formed a dark-colored bubble, which gave off a dangerous aura completely different from the ones before. I gathered my blood into more than a dozen thick whips and swept them in every direction, clearing a small patch of ground. Si Nan Ying seized the chance to send the bubble flying—straight up.
The bubble floated upward, wavering as it went, yet it moved surprisingly fast. It wasn't eye-catching, but it had an intense presence that made it impossible to look away. Before us and the worms scattered around us, it lightly bumped against the ceiling.
A powerful blast of air pressed down on us, followed close behind by huge chunks of stone and rubble. I immediately formed a thick shield of blood to protect Si Nan Ying and myself. The red shield blocked our view, and I couldn't see what was happening outside. All I could hear was heavy debris crashing against the shield again and again, each thunderous impact making my eardrums ache. The noise was faintly mixed with the worms' screams. It seemed they'd taken a heavy beating too.
After a while, the sound of falling rocks finally stopped. Only then did I lower the shield. The moment I breathed in the air outside, dust made me cough again and again. A quick look showed that most of the worms from before had been crushed beneath the rubble, and no new ones had burrowed out yet.
If we didn't escape now, when would we?