Great Escape

The team moved through the black fog.

More and more Dragon People spawned in the mist, and eventually, every time black smoke rose from the ground, monsters with horns would burst forth. But just two or three golden-red rays of light shot into the darkness, piercing them and turning them back into dust.

Three rotating regular octahedrons appeared from the mist, followed by the girl's graceful figure. She directed the three octahedrons to fire in succession, the interwoven light net knocking down the Dragon People surging from both sides.

"Ahead, Miss Hong Ye!" Fang Heng received information from Tata and reminded her.

Hong Ye pointed in that direction, and a row of golden-red light beams plunged into the depths of the fog, accompanied by a series of sharp screams. On the viewport, notifications about kills and experience points popped up line by line.

"So strong..." Hong Ye wondered if she was marveling at the powerful firepower of the magic-guided construct group, the Fairy Master's own abilities, or both.

She gently retracted her control glove, looking at her right palm with disbelief. For a moment, she couldn't even be sure if it was her own hand that had guided the attack just now.

Seeing this, Fang Heng quickly reminded her, "Be careful controlling the core temperature." At the same time, his heart pounding, he watched the magic reserves of the Kingfisher Alpha AE Magic Furnace on the panel, noting that the magic storage crystal was already more than half empty.

After Miss Tata took over the Fairy Construct, the computational power was no longer a major issue, but now the bottleneck was magic reserves—the core crystals of the Fairy Configuration were a type of special crystal called 'Fairy Heart.' These crystals, found almost exclusively in the lower levels of the Giant Tree Hills, were scarce and possessed a peculiar characteristic: they could generate information without carrying any magic. It could be said that it was precisely because of this trait that Fairy Constructs were born. However, because of this, all their abilities relied on external magic for sustenance.

For their manipulator, this meant a direct magical burden.

Currently, within Miss Tata's network, there were a total of nine Flexible Constructs: Hong Ye's three Annihilators, Wu Di's one Fearless and one Shield Bearer, Liuli's three Walker Type IIIs, and Hudi's Clockwork Sprite. Excluding the last one, which was negligible, the other Flexible Constructs were major 'energy consumers.'

This was especially true for Fang Heng's relatively low-level Kingfisher Alpha AE Magic Furnace.

Moreover, Hong Ye's combat style was aggressive. Just managing the core temperature for her alone consumed as much magic as Liuli Yue and Wu Di combined.

Of course, as a core member of the Taboris Oak Knights' key training program for the next generation of Combat Artificers, every bit of magic Hong Ye used was worth it and not wasted at all.

Her kill rate alone almost surpassed the entire team, and the terrifying output of the magic-guided Flexible Constructs was fully displayed in her hands.

However, this did not change the reality of dwindling magic reserves—so Hong Ye nodded seriously at Fang Heng's words.

In fact, ever since he demonstrated his ability to control fairies, Fang Heng's position in the team had implicitly risen to a core role.

The reason was simple: for a team composed of Combat Artificers, what could be more important than a Fairy Master? Moreover, whether it was Wu Di or Hong Ye, although they were future stars of the Silverwood Spear and the Taboris Oak Knights, they had never had the privilege of fighting alongside a Fairy Master.

In the entire First World, how many people had such an honor?

And only after truly experiencing the support of a Fairy Master could Combat Artificers understand why there was a saying in the top Combat Artificer communities and the Second World—calling Combat Artificers without Fairy Master support 'crippled artificers.'

At this moment, Hong Ye finally began to understand why Fairy Masters were so respected.

It was just a pity that the number of such professionals was too small.

So small it was almost rare—

Everyone subconsciously looked up at the fairy humanoid, the Fairy Construct named 'Meimei,' which was hovering above everyone. Beams of light extended from her, connecting to every node on the battlefield.

Although none of them understood how Fang Heng managed to do this, perfectly controlling the Fairy Construct with a level not exceeding five, even though the Fairy Construct itself was considered a growth-type construct due to its core crystal—it could still be called a miracle. However, every artificer had their own secrets, and they couldn't ask.

Wu Di only knew that some overload plugins had the ability to temporarily enhance a person's attributes. While they didn't change potential, they could targetedly improve the skill levels and attributes of the Chosen. However, most of those plugins were very expensive.

He glanced at Fang Heng, who could be described as 'ragged,' and felt he understood somewhat.

Of course, Fang Heng had no obligation—or rather, he hadn't even realized the misunderstanding—he was still pretending to control the Fairy Construct. Although it had nothing to do with him, he couldn't exactly act like nothing was going on.

After all, a Level 3 Dragon Knight sounded too terrifying.

However, his experience was already shifting towards Level 4.

The group had already discovered that the experience points from these Dragon People were astonishingly high. Ordinary Dragon People actually provided over 1,200 combat experience bonuses, while Warrior Chiefs gave as much as 3,000, which was more than four times that of ordinary monsters of the same level. Divided among everyone in the team, it was also considerable.

The group hadn't figured out the reason behind this yet, but Hong Ye couldn't help but say, "If we forget about that dragon, I'd even prefer to stay here a bit longer."

As she spoke, she glanced at Fang Heng.

The others felt the same.

The inn was now deathly silent. The density of monsters summoned by that dragon was too great. Guests and adventurers had either died or fled, and the few remaining people were likely just them.

If this team hadn't coincidentally consisted entirely of terrifyingly powerful Combat Artificers, plus Fang Heng, a 'Fairy Master' with a Dragon Soul, their fate wouldn't have been much better.

"This seems to be a special type of monster," Fang Heng replied after thinking for a moment. "Miss Etila also mentioned before that they are dark creatures, but I'm not sure what dark creatures are exactly. Did Aethelria have such a monster category before?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Especially Wu Di and Hong Ye, who came from major guilds. If they had known about a special monster category whose experience was several times that of ordinary monsters, the First and Second Worlds would have been turned upside down long ago.

"A new monster category." Wu Di and Hong Ye exchanged glances, clearly understanding what this implied.

Luo Yu and the others looked at Etila. But the elven girl also shook her head, "I only know this much; these are all the Goddess's Oracles."

"Does the Goddess issue oracles for other monsters?" Fang Heng asked curiously.

Tian Lan couldn't help but reach out and touch his forehead, asking, "Are you feeling feverish, Brother Ed?"

Among the group, only Sylvid and her servant remained silent. Stranger still was Hudi, who had been lost in thought, following behind everyone ever since he saw Fang Heng's fully realized fairy.

Only Fang Heng cast a concerned glance at the latter.

"Are you alright?"

Hudi shook his head.

Liuli Yue seemed impatient, scratching his hair and saying, "Come on, that's assuming we can forget about that damned dragon. We haven't completely shaken it off yet, let alone the fact that our magic reserves are almost depleted."

This guy actually said something sensible for once, and everyone couldn't help but fall silent.

They had left the main hall a long time ago. Although they hadn't encountered the dragon since then, everyone had a feeling that it wasn't far from them—

"That dragon is really strange," Hong Ye couldn't help but say, "Is it possible that we're the only ones left in this inn?"

"Pr-probably," Fang Heng replied guiltily.

The other aspect of the matter that Liuli Yue mentioned was even more pressing.

After killing the remaining few Dragon People in the black mist, the magic storage crystals on Fang Heng's Magic Furnace were finally depleted. With a 'click,' he pulled out the completely transparent crystal pillar and threw it on the ground.

Then he said to the others, "Out of magic."

Wu Di immediately tossed him a magic storage crystal. Fang Heng caught it with both hands and looked at it. There was about a third left—thank goodness everyone here was an Alchemist or Combat Artificer; each person basically had spare magic storage crystals.

However, the latter added, "This is the last one."

"It's best if we can fight our way out before this runs out," Fang Heng replied as he inserted the magic storage crystal into the Magic Furnace, causing the Kingfisher Alpha AE type Magic Furnace to light up again.

But his words were merely self-consolation.

Everyone knew that the situation outside the inn was still unclear.

The Traveler's Respite wasn't an inn in some major city—

After the Dragon People were completely eliminated, only the rustling footsteps of everyone remained in the spacious hall ahead.

The Paparal held a torch, presumably found from somewhere. The leaping flames illuminated the surrounding darkness, revealing scattered utensils, overturned candlesticks, and torn tapestries.

After turning a corner, the kitchen behind the dining room came into view.

In the corner stood rows of ovens, still emitting an orange-red glow in the darkness. The chimneys extended upwards, to bunches of smoked meat and sausages hanging from hooks on the ceiling. Beside them were piled barrels, boxes, and sacks of flour.

Some barrels had been opened and overturned on the ground, their contents of Northern potatoes scattered everywhere.

Everyone carefully stepped around these potatoes. These scenes at least indicated that the famous kitchen thief, Mr. Paparal, had once again displayed his racial talent exceptionally well.

Liuli Yue couldn't help but tut-tut upon seeing this scene, "I didn't expect you to have such skills, shorty."

But this praise clearly didn't satisfy the latter. He grumbled loudly, "I'm not a shorty. I'm considered tall among the Paparal. The mountain lords of Sangshak are only as tall as us—or maybe a little taller."

He also raised his short, chubby hands and gestured—see, about this tall.

Liuli Yue lowered his own hand to the same height as the Paparal, then moved it back and gestured at his own thigh, then looked at the latter.

The meaning in his eyes was that the other person was only that short.

This action almost drove Parker mad. He instinctively reached for his short sword, only to grasp at empty air, remembering that his short sword was also missing. Angrily, he threw down the torch, put his hands on his hips, and declared, "I'm not going anymore. Let the Paparal die here! The Paparal have been greatly slandered; only blood can cleanse it!"

Jita couldn't help but touch her forehead upon hearing this, her glasses almost falling to the ground. Startled, she quickly used her small hands to hold them in place again.

It was at this moment that Etila's pointed ears twitched, and she suddenly said to everyone, "Stop for a moment. Did you hear something?"

Everyone stopped.

The sound of the wind seemed to come from the top of the hall.

Sylvid and the maid named Shesta were the first to look up, followed by Fang Heng, Wu Di, and Hong Ye. The little chubby person left at the back of the group blinked his beady eyes, looking at everyone, his face pale. He stammered:

"E-Etila, you're pulling this trick again. This time, I, I, I won't believe you no matter what. Don't think you can make me go over there!"

He said loudly, as if to bolster his courage, while quickly bending down to pick up the torch.

The elven girl glanced at him and replied, "I didn't ask you to come over, Parker."

Before she could finish speaking.

A roof tile fell from the dome, landing not far from Parker and shattering. The little dwarf screamed in fright and scrambled away from there.

But by then, no one was paying attention to it anymore.

"What place is outside?" Fang Heng asked, looking back.

Wu Di thought for a moment before replying, "It's the roof of the 'Traveler's Respite'."

"I also remember that in the direction of the kitchen, there's no upper structure," Hong Ye confirmed this as well.

And it was at this moment that a muffled, heavy thud came from the roof, like something landing on it. The entire hall shook. Countless tiles and gravel fell from above.

At this point, no analysis or deduction was needed; everyone understood what was on the roof.

"It's that dragon!" Tian Lan screamed in fright, "Heavens, why is it chasing us again!"

Before her words had even finished, everyone heard a loud cracking sound. The entire roof in that direction collapsed. Sand, rubble, and broken wood rolled down. Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, before everyone could even see what was falling from above, they saw a pair of huge wings.

Familiar, gray-scaled, jagged dragon wings unfurled from the dust.

Without thinking, Fang Heng shouted, "Run!"

Everyone turned and fled—at this point, no one would foolishly think they could be a match for this terrifying monster. In fact, its summoned servants alone had almost pushed everyone to the brink.

As Fang Heng turned, he saw Sylvid and her maid had already run to the other side of the hall. He was slightly stunned, having not noticed when they had gotten to that spot.

But the noble girl threw the box she was carrying forward, as if she had known there was a door there. The box swung and smashed the door open with a 'bang.'

Then she turned back and shouted to all of them:

"This way!"

Today's update is complete. I have some things to do tomorrow, but I will try to be as early as possible. The day after tomorrow, I should be able to return to the previous update schedule. Please vote, please vote~