The Great Escape

The party made their way through the black mist.

More and more Dragon People formed within the fog. Eventually, whenever a plume of black smoke rose from the ground, horned monsters would leap out from it. But only a few golden-red beams shot through the darkness, piercing them and turning them back into dust.

Three rotating octahedrons emerged from the mist, followed by the graceful figure of a young woman. She guided the three octahedrons to fire in succession, their interwoven web of light knocking down the Dragon People surging in from both sides.

"Up ahead, Miss Hong Ye!" Fang Heng warned after receiving information from Tata.

Hong Ye pointed in that direction. A row of golden-red rays vanished into the depths of the mist, followed by a chorus of shrill screams. Lines of kill and experience notifications were appearing across the display.

Too powerful... Hong Ye did not know whether she was marveling at the terrifying firepower of magic-oriented Constructs, the Fairy Master's own ability, or both.

She gently withdrew her control glove and stared at her right palm in disbelief. For a moment, she could not even be sure that she had personally guided those attacks just now.

Fang Heng hurriedly reminded her, "Watch the Core Crystal temperature." At the same time, he watched the mana reserves displayed for Kingfisher Alpha's AE type Magic Furnace with pounding dread. The indicator showed that more than half of the mana storage crystal had already been drained.

After Miss Tata took over the Fairy Constructs, computing power was no longer an issue. What they lacked now was mana reserves—the Core Crystals of Fairy Constructs were a special type of crystal called Fairy Hearts. These rare crystals, found almost exclusively in the lower regions of the Giant Tree Hills, possessed a peculiar trait: they could generate information without carrying any mana. It was precisely because of this trait that Fairy Constructs had come into existence. But for the same reason, every one of their abilities depended on external mana to sustain them.

To their operators, that meant a direct mana burden.

At present, the Flexible Constructs in Miss Tata's network consisted of Hong Ye's three Annihilators, Wu Di's Dreadnought, one Shield Bearer, Liuli Yue's three Walker Type IIIs, and Hudi's Clockwork Sprite, for a total of nine Flexible Constructs. Aside from the last one, which could be ignored, all the others were major energy consumers.

Especially compared to Fang Heng's relatively low-level Kingfisher Alpha AE type Magic Furnace.

Hong Ye's combat style was particularly aggressive. The energy needed merely to manage her Core Crystal temperature was already nearly equivalent to that of Liuli Yue and Wu Di combined.

Of course, as the next-generation Combat Artificer core carefully cultivated by the Taboris Oak Knights, every bit of mana Hong Ye used was worth it. Not a drop was wasted.

Her kill rate alone nearly surpassed that of the entire party, and the terrifying output of magic-oriented Flexible Constructs was displayed to its fullest in her hands.

But that did not change the fact that their mana reserves were steadily dwindling. Therefore, Hong Ye nodded seriously at Fang Heng's words.

In fact, ever since Fang Heng had revealed that he could control fairies, his standing within the party had invisibly risen to a central position.

There was no other reason. For a party made up of Combat Artificers, was there any core more important than a Fairy Master? Moreover, whether it was Wu Di or Hong Ye, though both were rising stars of Silverwood Spear and the Taboris Oak Knights, neither had ever enjoyed the privilege of fighting alongside a Fairy Master.

How many people in the entire First World had such an honor?

Only after personally experiencing a Fairy Master's support could Combat Artificers understand why there was a joking term among top Combat Artificer circles and in the Second World—Combat Artificers without Fairy Master support were called "crippled artificers."

At that moment, Hong Ye finally understood a little why Fairy Masters were held in such high regard.

Unfortunately, there were simply too few practitioners of this profession.

So few as to be almost unheard of—

Several of them unconsciously looked up at the fairy-like humanoid. The Fairy Construct named Meimei floated above them all, streams of light extending from her body to connect every node on the battlefield.

Even now, none of them understood how Fang Heng had accomplished this—perfectly controlling Fairy Constructs at a level no higher than five. Even if Fairy Constructs were growth-type Constructs due to their Core Crystals, it was still nothing short of a miracle. But every artificer had secrets, and they could not bring themselves to ask.

Wu Di only knew that certain overload modules could temporarily raise a person's attributes. Though they did not alter one's potential, they could selectively increase an Aeon's skill levels and attributes. Those modules, however, were mostly extremely expensive.

He glanced at Fang Heng, who could be described as raggedly dressed, and came to some degree of understanding.

Of course, Fang Heng had no obligation to explain—or rather, he had not realized there was any misunderstanding at all. He was still putting on a show of controlling the Fairy Constructs. Though none of it actually had anything to do with him, he could hardly act as if he had nothing to do.

After all, a level-three Dragon Knight sounded far too horrifying.

Still, his experience was already creeping toward level four.

Everyone had noticed earlier that these Dragon People gave terrifyingly high experience. Ordinary Dragon People granted over 1,200 combat experience, while Warrior Chiefs gave as much as 3,000—more than four times that of ordinary monsters at the same level. Even split among the party, it was still a substantial amount.

They had not yet figured out the reason behind it, but Hong Ye could not help saying, "If I could forget about that dragon, I'd even rather stay here a little longer."

As she spoke, she glanced at Fang Heng.

The others felt much the same.

The inn had now fallen into dead silence. The density of monsters summoned by that dragon was simply too great. Guests and adventurers had either died or fled. The only people left were probably just the few of them.

If this party had not happened to consist entirely of Combat Artificers with frightening combat power, along with Fang Heng, a "Fairy Master" carrying a Dragon Soul, their fate probably would not have been much better.

"They seem to be a special kind of monster," Fang Heng replied after thinking for a moment. "Miss Etila mentioned before that they were dark creatures, but no one knows exactly what dark creatures are. Has Aethelria ever had such a monster category before?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Wu Di, Hong Ye, and the others in particular all came from Major Guilds. If they had known earlier that there was a special monster category worth several times the experience 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 a glance, clearly understanding what that implied.

Luo Yu and the others looked toward Etila. But the elven girl shook her head as well. "That is all I know. These are the Goddess's Oracle."

"Would the goddess issue oracles to other monsters?" Fang Heng asked curiously.

Tianlan could not help reaching out to touch his forehead. "You don't have a fever, do you, Brother Ed?"

Among the group, only Sylvid and her mistress remained silent. Hudi was also acting strangely. Ever since seeing Fang Heng's Complete Fairy, he had been following at the very back alone, deep in thought.

Only Fang Heng gave him a concerned glance.

"Are you all right?"

Hudi shook his head.

Liuli Yue looked somewhat impatient. Scratching his head, he said, "Enough already. That assumes we can forget that damned dragon, but we still haven't completely shaken it off. Not to mention our mana reserves are nearly empty."

Rarely, he had said something sensible. The others could not help falling silent after hearing it.

They had left the hall quite some time ago. Though they had not encountered that dragon again since then, everyone felt that it was not too far away—

"That dragon really is strange," Hong Ye could not help saying. "Could it be that we're the only ones left in this inn?"

"P-probably." Fang Heng answered guiltily.

The other problem Liuli Yue had mentioned was even more immediate.

After killing the remaining Dragon People in the black mist, the mana storage crystal on Fang Heng's Magic Furnace finally ran dry. With a click, he pulled out the completely transparent crystal cylinder and tossed it onto the ground.

Then he told the others, "No mana left."

Wu Di immediately tossed him a mana storage crystal. Fang Heng caught it with both hands and checked it. About a third remained—fortunately, everyone here was an alchemist or Combat Artificer, and each of them basically carried spare mana storage crystals.

But Wu Di added, "Last one."

"We'd better kill our way out before we use it up," Fang Heng replied as he inserted the mana storage crystal into the Magic Furnace, making Kingfisher Alpha's AE type Magic Furnace light up again.

But his words were merely self-comfort.

Everyone knew they still had no idea what awaited them outside the inn.

Traveler's Respite was not an inn located in some major city—

After the Dragon People were wiped out, only the soft rustle of the group's footsteps remained in the empty hall ahead.

The Paparal held up a torch he had somehow acquired. Its flickering firelight illuminated the darkness around them, revealing scattered utensils, overturned candle stands, and curtains torn down by someone.

After they rounded a corner, the kitchen behind the dining hall came into view.

In one corner stood rows of ovens, still casting an orange-red glow in the darkness. Their flues extended upward toward bundles of smoked meat and sausages hanging from hooks on the ceiling. Nearby were piled wooden barrels, crates, and sacks of flour.

Some barrels had already been opened and overturned, spilling the northern potatoes inside all over the floor.

Everyone carefully stepped around the potatoes. These scenes at least proved that the famous kitchen thief, Mr. Paparal, had once again made excellent use of his racial talents.

Liuli Yue clicked his tongue at the sight. "Didn't expect you to have some skills, little runt."

But the praise clearly did not satisfy Parker. He muttered loudly, "I'm not some little runt. I'm considered tall among Paparals. Even the Mountain Lord of Sangshak is only as tall as us—or maybe just a little taller."

He even raised his short, chubby hand and gestured. "There, about this tall."

Liuli Yue lowered his hand to Parker's height, moved it back toward himself, then measured it against his thigh and looked at him.

The meaning in his eyes was clear: you were only this tall.

That gesture nearly drove Parker mad. He instinctively reached for his short sword but grabbed nothing, only then remembering that his short sword was gone too. Furious, he threw down his torch, planted his hands on his hips, and said, "I'm not going any farther! Let the Paparal die here! The Paparal has suffered a grave insult, and only blood can wash it clean!"

Jita could not help facepalming at that, and her glasses nearly slipped off her face. She hurriedly held them in place with her small hand.

Just then, Etila's pointed ears twitched, and she suddenly said to everyone, "Stop. Do you hear something?"

Everyone stopped.

A whooshing wind seemed to be coming from above 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 fat man at the back of the party blinked his black bean-like eyes at everyone, his face turning pale as he stammered:

"E-Etila, you're pulling that 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 raised his voice as though trying to bolster his courage, then quickly bent down to pick up the torch.

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

She had not even finished speaking.

A roof tile fell from the dome, landing not far from Parker and shattering into pieces. The little runt let out a scream and scrambled back from that side on all fours.

But by then, no one was paying attention to him.

"What is outside?" Fang Heng turned and asked.

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

"I remember there are no upper structures on the kitchen side either," Hong Ye confirmed.

Just then, a muffled boom came from the roof, as if something had landed on it. The entire hall shook, and countless tiles and grains of sand rained down from above.

There was no longer any need for analysis or deduction. Everyone understood what was on the roof.

"It's that dragon!" Tianlan screamed. "Oh no, how did it catch up again?!"

Before her voice faded, the group heard a thunderous cracking sound. The entire section of roof in that direction suddenly collapsed. Sand, rubble, and broken timber came crashing down. Before they could see what had fallen from above through the billowing dust, they saw a pair of enormous wings.

Familiar, jagged dragon wings covered in gray scales unfurled amid the flying dust.

Without thinking, Fang Heng shouted, "Run!"

Everyone turned and ran—at this point, no one foolishly imagined they could stand against that terrifying monster. In truth, its summoned servants alone had nearly driven them all into a dead end earlier.

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

But the noble girl swung her suitcase forward and hurled it, as though she had known there was a door there all along. The suitcase smashed into it with a bang, knocking it open.

Only then did she turn back and shout to all of them:

"This way!"

Today's update is here. I still have something to do tomorrow, but I'll try to post earlier. The day after tomorrow, I should more or less be able to return to the previous update schedule. Please vote, please vote~