After hearing all this, Zeng Mu could not help frowning. Although he had not used his full strength just now, he had used sixty or seventy percent of it. Yet he had not even scratched the surface of the Living Python Root. Its hardness was clearly beyond anything he could break through at present.
"Then what do we do? If the Viking Squad really catches up, won't we be trapped like fish in a barrel?" As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Linya raised a finger and pointed into the distance.
Zeng Mu looked over at once. A white line was rapidly expanding along the gray horizon, like a tide reflecting crystalline light beneath the moon. In barely a dozen seconds, it grew large enough for them to make out its dense, rough texture.
A rustling like falling bark converged on them, finally stopping a hundred meters away and forming a semicircle. It was the other half of the Living Python Root.
"What else can we do? Just wait. Living Python Roots are like earthworms. Sometimes they get a strange notion into their heads and burrow out of the ground to bask in the sun. They might stay out for half an hour or half a month. If we're lucky today, we should be able to leave before those fellows catch up." As Cobert spoke, he struggled to lift his hips from the saddle. His calves trembled slightly as he slipped his feet from the stirrups and landed steadily, then looked up at the radiant object hanging high overhead.
Wispy cirrus clouds joined into cottony strands, drifting slowly across a sky like blue ice crystal. A mass of light brighter than a lighthouse swelled like a fireball, keeping the eye-searing particles in the air streaming ceaselessly past. Every particle carried away another trace of moisture from their bodies.
With no shelter whatsoever beneath such scorching, merciless sunlight, an ordinary person would soon grow dizzy. After half an hour, their chest would feel tight and their mouth and tongue would dry out, accompanied by steadily worsening nausea and other symptoms.
Fortunately, apart from the pampered Cobert, who felt a little dazed, the other three had no trouble.
The only thing all four had in common was that their backsides were burning hot.
After they had sat on the warm ground for another half hour, a faint cracking sound, like splitting bark, reached Cobert's ears as he dozed with his eyes shut.
"It's time!" His eyes flew open, and he sprang upright from the ground.
The other three opened their eyes. The milky-white roots on the ground had begun writhing, like countless intertwined silver snakes dancing wildly. They seemed to coax the dull, warm earth into sharing their frenzy and swaying along.
Whoosh!
Amid gusts of wind, the milky-white Living Python Roots, tinged with a faint red glow, withdrew underground like tall grass growing in reverse. To the onlookers, the scene was as magnificent and extraordinary as countless silver snakes tumbling like flowing water.
The whole process lasted less than ten seconds. Every python root around them vanished, as though none had ever existed.
"God bless us! We're lucky today!" Cobert waved his arms in delight and hurried onto his horse, beckoning the others to mount and leave.
Kanni said nothing as he held the reins, but muttered inwardly, We'd be lucky if you kept your mouth shut.
The four prepared to set off. Two of them gently stroked their horses' heads a few times, as if to say, Thanks for the hard work, little horse. We're counting on you now. Just as they were about to shout and spur their mounts into a gallop, something came whistling through the air behind them.
Whoosh! That familiar sound came again, aimed at precisely the same place: Ma Linya's back.
Zeng Mu frowned, and the arrow abruptly dropped from the air, embedding itself at an angle in the ground half a meter from the horse's hooves. Startled, the horse swished its long tail from side to side.
Hooves rang out, strong and forceful. In the distance, more than a dozen galloping riders drew steadily closer.
"You damned bastards! We finally caught you. Let's see where you run now!" O'Connor rode at their head, his face dark. His right hand moved again, nocking an arrow. The taut bowstring snapped forward with another whistle.
The arrow flew faster than the pounding hooves, its target once again the conspicuous Ma Linya.
As Zeng Mu watched the speeding arrow, there seemed to be something in his eyes that had not been there before. With a slight motion of his hand, the arrow slowed sharply in midair. A moment later, he caught it firmly in his palm.
"Lingya, Uncle Bert, go on ahead. The two of us have some trouble to deal with."
"We should stay together. The sooner we deal with these fellows, the better."
Just as Ma Linya was about to leap down from her horse, Zeng Mu caught her hand and passed her both the reins and the Emerald Bead. "The two of us are enough. Get back to Sand City as quickly as you can. We can't afford any more delays." His voice seemed to have grown much deeper.
Sensing his mood, she said nothing more. Cobert, meanwhile, turned his head with the reins in hand and offered the two men now on the ground a warning. "Caution keeps you safe." It was chiefly a reminder to Nameless not to underestimate the enemy.
With that, he pressed his feet against his horse's sides and sped away, dwindling into the distance.
Ma Linya looked at Zeng Mu without speaking, though her gaze seemed different from before. With a loud shout, she followed Cobert and disappeared into the dust.
The two men turned to face their approaching enemies. A hint of anticipation spilled across Kanni's face despite himself.
He truly was looking forward to it. What would it be like to watch an Elementalist fight from such close range? Alongside his admiration and awe for that power, perhaps a trace of regret would stir in his heart. Some people struggled their whole lives toward a goal yet never managed to scale their own mountain. Others were born upon its slopes and needed only a few steps to reach the summit.
He would turn twenty-two this year. After dealing with so many tedious worldly affairs, he was no longer the person he had been. He no longer held the fiery ideals of an impassioned young man. Perhaps some people were simply born at the foot of the mountain, destined for an ordinary life, occasionally raising their heads to admire the peak's majestic splendor.
But that was enough. After all, countless people in this world might struggle their entire lives without ever glimpsing even the mountain's shadow. They might spend a lifetime confined to one tiny patch of earth. Most frightening of all was to have no aspirations whatsoever, to let a whole life pass in a wave of the hand, in the blink of an eye. He now understood clearly that he would rather live with regret than numbness.
Who could live a life without regrets?
"Nameless, just do what you can. If you need me, I can lead the charge." Kanni put away the anticipation on his face and became as calm as before.
Zeng Mu kept his eyes fixed on the shifting figures drawing ever closer and said softly, "It's fine. Just sit back and watch, then get ready to loot."
"All right! That's what I was waiting to hear. Remember to leave us a good horse, or we'll have to walk for two days and nights to get back to Sand City." Kanni shrugged, then glanced at a white rock nearby. He took two steps toward it and sat down, immediately feeling half as hot. Leisurely, he watched the approaching cloud of dust as though it were a lifeless bank of evening clouds.
The thunderous hoofbeats abruptly faded as the riders spread out to surround them. O'Connor looked up toward the horses that had already vanished into the distance, then turned his gaze back to the two calm-faced men. Looks like we've run into a pair of idiots.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot. How laughable. You lot, take those two down. The rest of you, come with me and keep chasing." He tossed out the order casually, as though assigning a trivial task that would be effortless to complete.
He flicked his hand, tugging the reins. His horse had barely taken a dozen steps when a series of thuds sounded behind him. At the same time, a voice made their pupils contract. "Don't be stupid. Stay here and keep each other company."
They all whipped around. Five of their comrades lay lifeless across their saddles. There were no visible sword wounds on their faces or bodies. Only after staring closely for several seconds did they notice thin red streams running from their hearts, down their sides and their horses' bellies, pattering onto the ground with faint wisps of vapor.
O'Connor's eyes widened. Amid gasps of shock, he pointed at Zeng Mu, who was watching him, and shouted, "You! Who the hell are you?!"
Whoosh! Golden light blossomed, silently answering every question.
Watching him like a fierce tiger, Zeng Mu said offhandedly, "You attacked three times. Let's take three fingers in payment first."
"Get him!" O'Connor roared, his face stricken and his voice trembling slightly. Of course he knew what that golden light meant.
Even someone as powerful as an Elementalist could not make bloodthirsty, battle-hungry Viking Warriors lay down their weapons and surrender.
More than ten men drew iron axes and squeezed their horses' flanks. The warhorses, each weighing over half a ton, whinnied shrilly and charged, their manes streaming.
Zeng Mu walked forward with slow, short steps. The first man to engage him was none other than the veteran from earlier.
His eyes were now full of fury. Years of war had forged him into a stalwart man. Such men had firm wills and a measure of pride. Faced with a cunning enemy, he wanted nothing more than to skin him and tear him apart.
Boom! Veins bulged on his arm as his enormous black iron axe swept forward, carrying both his brute strength and his horse's momentum straight toward Zeng Mu's head.
The massive axe bore down with such overwhelming force that the compressed air boomed around it. It could smash a boulder to pieces. A head? That would burst like a watermelon, of course. This was the savage performance he-Galsworthy Moore-excelled at most and found most exhilarating in all his life.
Just as that devastating axe was about to strike Zeng Mu's head, he merely lifted his hand slightly. A disk of wind spun backward, and hot blood splashed across his neck.
Before the bisected body could topple to the ground, more rushing winds swept toward him.
With the same slight lift of his hand, more hot blood shot skyward, staining the lighthouse red and soaking the earth.
The normally hardy warhorses now whinnied, tossing their heads and twisting their bodies. Their strides contorted as they staggered away in all directions, soon becoming indistinct black specks in the distance.
Kanni rose from the rock and slowly approached from the side, the two men closing in like hungry wolves converging on a lamb.
"You... you..." O'Connor's voice shook violently. He had never imagined that the people he had pursued for so long, dismissing them as worthless, would truly turn out to be wolves in sheep's clothing.
Stopping, Kanni did his best to suppress his excitement. He looked at O'Connor and said with a contemptuous smile, "Hey, did you enjoy watching that mantis stop a chariot? Get your ass down here!"
Before you continue