When the Swarm Descends, Everyone Goes Down

"This time, fifty meters at most."

Bai Zhu's body reacted faster than his brain. The instant he heard the first word, he pushed off the ground and threw himself backward without a shred of dignity.

The next second, the entire patch of forest behind him exploded.

Boom—!

The first muffled blast came from beneath the snow. Then came the dense explosions of the swarm crashing into the shield. Countless vicious metal constructs also burst from underground, clamping down hard on the Holy Knights' greaves and spear shafts.

The blast wave kicked up a wall of snow that slammed into Bai Zhu's back. He was hurled behind a fallen tree, and all that remained in his ears was an unending ringing.

He pressed himself tightly against the trunk, trying to control his body as it trembled from the violent shock.

"How is this support..."

Bai Zhu gritted his teeth and forced out a few words.

"This is a massacre."

In his earpiece, the only response was the increasingly frantic clatter of Milluki's keyboard.

The explosions did not stop.

The Mechanical Bee swarm blotted out the sky like a disturbed hornet's nest, madly pouring death into that tiny area. Every red light flashing on their abdomens was a brilliant, lethal firework bursting against the Black Crystal Shield.

The Holy Knights' formation finally fell apart.

The leader raised his spear and slammed it fiercely into the ground.

"Holy Mark... overload!"

The leading Holy Knight let out a roar like a cornered beast.

The Black Crystal in his chest instantly shone like daylight, and blood mist even seeped from the gaps in his black armor. The other five seemed to have all their strength drained away, their auras twisting together with his in an instant as they poured everything into the shield at the center.

A solid black ripple suddenly swept outward!

Crash—

Large numbers of Mechanical Bees in midair were instantly swept into powder, while the Metal Earthworms on the ground were shaken apart segment by segment. Yet that tottering Black Crystal Shield was forcibly stabilized.

Bai Zhu's scalp tingled as he watched.

"These tin cans can really take a beating."

Milluki snorted.

"That depends on who's beating them."

"Quit bragging and crack that shell first."

"Already cracking it."

Bai Zhu poked his head out from behind the tree.

Only

to see the leading Holy Knight gather all his strength into himself. Ignoring the teammates behind him, he endured the scattered explosions and raised his spear toward the weakest gap in the swarm, preparing to force his way out.

He was going to use his life to tear open this sea of insects!

He could not be allowed to succeed!

A fierce glint flashed through Bai Zhu's eyes. He squeezed his remaining Reiatsu to the limit and raised a hand at the spear about to thrust forward.

"Hado #4: Byakurai!"

A streak of blue-white lightning tore through the wind and snow, skimming precisely past the edge of the swarm and striking the tip of the spear!

Crack!

The spear tip shifted by less than half an inch.

But that half inch was enough. Three Mechanical Bees seized that fleeting opening, slipped through a crack in the shield, and detonated violently against the captain's breastplate!

Boom!

The Holy Knight did not even have time to scream before the immense force sent him flying. Savage cracks burst across the chest of his black armor as he crashed heavily into a distant snow pit.

Bai Zhu grinned.

"That felt good."

Yet there was not a trace of relief in Milluki's voice. Instead, it grew even graver.

"It's not over. The remaining five are compressing their formation. They're coming for you!"

The moment he finished speaking, the Holy Knights ahead actually began to tighten their formation. They abandoned defense. Since breaking out was impossible, they might as well launch a suicidal charge at the target of this operation.

Bai Zhu understood at a glance.

"They're coming for me."

Milluki saw it too.

"The leader isn't dead yet. The rest are clearing a path for him."

Just as Bai Zhu was about to retreat, his ankle suddenly tightened.

He looked down sharply. Beneath the snow, black patterns that had somehow spread over were coiling around his boots like living things.

"Damn."

Bai Zhu used Shunpo, vanishing from where he stood.

But the instant he landed, new black patterns lit up beneath his feet and trapped him again.

"Don't touch the ground!" Milluki roared through the earpiece.

Bai Zhu forcibly twisted his body in midair, but he was still half a beat too slow. The instant his sole brushed the black pattern, an immense pulling force yanked at him, nearly throwing him off balance.

"Are these guys treating me like a target dummy?"

"Not a target dummy."

Milluki lowered his voice.

"Their formation is tracking your landing points."

Bai Zhu wanted to curse the moment he heard that.

This was trouble.

He could have forced his way through with Shunpo before, but now the ground beneath him was packed with traps. Wherever he jumped, he was blocked. Wherever he landed, he was sealed off.

The [Random Bankai] panel in his vision flashed madly, as though urging him to make a final choice.

His thoughts raced.

Ella was still underground.

Illumi's operation had also reached its most critical point.

He could not fall here.

Bai Zhu's thumb hovered over the virtual panel. Just as he was about to gamble everything and call upon that unknown power—

"Get down!"

Milluki's shout exploded in his ear like thunder!

Bai Zhu had no time to think. Relying entirely on instinct, he threw himself hard into the snow ahead.

The next instant, the patch of snow where he had been standing bulged upward before violently exploding!

Not Black Crystal spikes.

Metal!

One, two, three...

Countless Mechanical Earthworms, thicker and larger than before, burst from deep beneath the snow like long-hidden deep-sea beasts baring their fangs. Their targets were the charging Holy Knights!

The formation was instantly torn apart, and the Black Crystal Formation collapsed on the spot after losing its support.

"Who told you my 'earthworms'... were only a few?" Milluki's voice carried a hint of sick delight.

Bai Zhu lay at the edge of a snow trench, watching the once-arrogant Holy Knights get dragged down and shredded by steel constructs bursting from underground. He could not say a word.

"Are you selling these things?"

"Less talking. Back up!"

"Back up where?"

"Anywhere. Just get farther away."

Bai Zhu scrambled backward,

but after moving less than three meters, a string of muffled explosions erupted behind him.

Those Mechanical Earthworms had cutting charges and grappling hooks hidden inside them. The instant they wrapped around a target, they detonated, specifically targeting the joints of the armor!

The leading Holy Knight knelt on one knee at the edge of the pit, still bracing his spear with his left hand. The Black Crystal in his chest flickered as though it were about to crack apart.

He raised his head and stared at Bai Zhu, squeezing out a few words from his throat.

"Capture alive... kill... you first..."

Bai Zhu wiped snow and mud from his face.

"You're already like this, and you're still talking tough?"

The other man said nothing more. He actually pressed all his remaining Black Crystal into the core in his chest.

The Black Crystal suddenly blazed with blinding light. His entire body turned into a streak of black radiance and shot straight toward Bai Zhu!

His speed was extreme!

The black patterns beneath Bai Zhu's feet lit up again, locking down his movements.

He could not dodge!

At that moment, an even louder and denser buzzing descended from overhead.

A new patch of "dark clouds" blanketed the entire forest.

"Fall back!" Those were the only two words left in Milluki's voice over the channel.

The swarm avoided Bai Zhu and swallowed the charging Holy Knight like a black tornado of death.

The Holy Knight swept his spear in a wide arc, and the Black Crystal shockwave shattered a batch of bees. But the swarm behind them did not seem to lessen at all.

Bai Zhu seized the opening, kicked off hard, and forced himself out of the black pattern's range with Shunpo. He flipped behind a massive tree.

The moment he steadied himself, a string of muffled blasts sounded behind him.

The leading Holy Knight and the teammates who had rushed over after him were buried beneath the swarm. Without protection, they endured wave after wave of explosions, and the armor plates across their chests gradually cracked.

Bai Zhu did not hesitate in the slightest. Seizing the chance, he raised his hand and gathered the little Reiatsu left in his body at his fingertips.

"White Lightning."

The electric flash slipped through gaps in the trees and precisely entered the cracks in the black armor.

The blue-white current stabbed directly into the core and exploded in the Holy Knight's chest. The Black Crystal on his chest shattered into several pieces, and the black patterns along the spear shaft went dark.

He staggered forward two steps, his knees smashing into the snow as his spear slipped from his grasp and plunged beside him.

Only then did Bai Zhu slump against the tree as though all his strength had left him, gasping for air as he looked over the pitted snowfield, as if it had been plowed by artillery fire.

"Is it over?"

"One last hit."

Milluki's voice was not relaxed.

"The four in the back aren't dead yet."

Bai Zhu leaned half his body out from behind the tree.

Those Holy Knights were all in bad shape now.

Two were half-kneeling on the ground. One had openings in his shoulder armor and greave, while another had half his shield shattered. The biggest problem was that they were no longer charging. Instead, they surrounded the leader, as though preparing to reconnect the Black Crystal energy.

"They can keep that going?"

"They can."

"Then I'll give them another shot."

"You're out of Reiatsu."

"I still have my sword."

"That sword is a cane now."

Bai Zhu clicked his tongue and was about to raise his hand when several lines of text suddenly appeared in his vision.

[Hidden achievement completed: Survive the Apostles' pursuit.]

[Achievement Points awarded: 20.]

[Current total Achievement Points: 746.]

[Remaining available Achievement Points: 306.]

[Current total Reiatsu: 7460.]

Bai Zhu glanced at it. His expression had only just eased when a blood-red notification popped up the next second.

[Congratulations, Host, for triggering the series achievement: Ella's Suffering Holy Infant (4/6) · Save the Little White Mice!]

[Mission prompt: Rescue the pregnant women underground and cut off their supply line.]

[System rewards will be distributed based on the final number of pregnant women rescued.]

Bai Zhu stared at those words, and even his hand paused.

"Damn system, you really know how to stab where people are softest."

Milluki was still calling out positions through the earpiece.

"Bai Zhu, the one on the right is trying to run. Finish him first."

Bai Zhu closed the achievement panel and looked up at the Holy Knight still crawling away.

"Fine. Then let's wrap this up first."

He raised his hand, and his final White Lightning slipped into the cracked seam of Black Crystal.

Boom.

The Holy Knight's entire body went rigid as he was electrocuted, then fell straight backward. His Black Crystal went completely dark.

The earpiece was silent for two seconds.

Then Milluki's voice came through.

"Confirm it. Are any of them still alive?"

Bai Zhu took a breath and swept his gaze across the pitted snowfield ahead.

"Do you want the truth, or do you want something nice to hear?"

"Speak plainly."

"On my side, nobody's standing for now."

Milluki was just about to reply when a string of urgent alert tones suddenly came from the hotel.

Then Milluki's voice changed abruptly.

"Bai Zhu, forget about the corpse."

"What happened?"

"Someone has sent out a new list of pregnant women from the underground passage."

"What did you say?"

"A group of people is transporting pregnant women underground."