"... About... fifteen... times..."
He seemed to hear voices in his ear, but Wu Hao was no longer paying much attention.
He gasped for breath, his spear thrusting out again and again, piercing and deflecting the low-level Calamity Beast that pounced at him.
Although the battle hadn't lasted very long, he felt an unprecedented fatigue!
This exhaustion was not simply caused by resisting a large number of Calamity Beast.
And then there's the exhaustion of losing teammates!
Yes, he had already lost a teammate before that!
But the surging Calamity Beast left him no time to grieve; he could only continue fighting them.
Raise, extend, pierce, flick away...
He also had to be distracted from time to time to parry the unexpected attacks of another Fourth Tier Calamity Beast, the ' Rockclaw Lynx '.
Wu Hao felt as if his mind was filled with all sorts of emotions, yet also as if it were empty; he could only mechanically extend the spear in his hand.
Numbness, exhaustion, perseverance...
"Whoosh--"
Warm blood splattered onto Wu Hao's hands, but it only made him feel a fleeting sense of reality amidst his numbness.
"I wonder how Old Liu is doing?"
As if remembering something, Wu Hao turned his head slightly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure wildly swinging a long sword whose blade had been chipped and dulled.
His entire left arm, starting from the middle of his upper arm, was a bloody mess, with several deep lacerations exposing bone and constantly oozing blood.
That was a few minutes earlier, when another teammate had sacrificed himself. Liu Yue was slightly distracted and was caught off guard and bitten by the hyena-like Fourth Tier Calamity Beast, Rotfang, which was on his side.
If it weren't for the fact that a Fourth Tier martial artist's bones and muscles are strong enough, that arm would have been broken back then.
Compared to him and another teammate, Liu Yue's situation was undoubtedly much worse!
"Damn it, how much longer do we have to hold out?!"
Wu Hao gritted his teeth, just as he was about to refocus his attention, when his gaze suddenly paused slightly.
In his field of vision, Liu Yue once again swung his sword, forcing back three low-level Calamity Beast.
Just as he was about to sheathe his sword, the old force gone and the new force yet to arise, a fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the Rotfang that had been lurking on the periphery, and it suddenly accelerated!
Instead of lunging at Liu Yue head-on, it cunningly crouched down and crawled between the legs of a low-level Calamity Beast, biting at Liu Yue's femoral artery from his weakest point on the lower left, where he was in excruciating pain!
Liu Yue noticed, but his numb and heavy left arm and exhausted body prevented him from making a perfect dodge.
He could only roar and desperately try to turn to the side, using his left arm and half of his body to block the attack.
"Snap!"
A sickening sound of bones cracking rang out.
The Rotfang teeth were deeply embedded in Liu Yue's left shoulder blade, and the enormous bite force instantly shattered the bone, before violently shaking its head and tearing it apart!
Blood splattered out like spilled ink.
At that moment, the world seemed to fall silent in Wu Hao's ears. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
In what seemed like a world that had slowed down instantly, the figure that had been bitten raised its long sword.
With his last bit of strength, Liu Yue reversed the dull blade of his longsword and plunged it fiercely into the eye socket of the Rotfang that was temporarily unable to let go due to its biting!
"Pfft!"
The Rotfang let out a shrill scream, released its grip, and staggered backward.
At that instant, Liu Yue's figure also fell towards the ground.
At this moment, Wu Hao finally came to his senses.
He cursed angrily as he quickly moved towards that direction.
With his spear thrusting wildly, accompanied by streams of blood, Wu Hao finally reached Liu Yue's side.
"Hold on! You fucking hold on!" Wu Hao held Liu Yue's body with one arm, wildly wielding his spear to repel a wave of attacking beasts, his voice trembling with tears.
Liu Yue's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just lowered his head helplessly.
Feeling the downward force coming from his arm, Wu Hao felt a surge of cold anger and despair rush to his head.
He roared and, no longer caring about defense, thrust his spear wildly at the horde of attacking Calamity Beast with a suicidal intent!
Metal clashed, blood splattered.
This time, it wasn't just the blood of the Calamity Beast; Wu Hao also had numerous wounds on his body.
He was traveling with someone, which made his movements somewhat inconvenient.
Meanwhile, the Rockclaw Lynx, which they were already dealing with, was still alive, along with another Fourth Tier Calamity Beast, Rotfang, despite being wounded by Liu Yue...
Wu Hao's wounds multiplied, and he was about to be overwhelmed by the beast horde and follow in his companions' footsteps.
Another figure suddenly rushed over.
The spear slammed down, knocking away the Rockclaw Lynx that was about to grab Wu Hao.
"Are you looking for death? Put Liu Yue down!" Zhao Gang roared at Wu Hao.
"He's our teammate, you want to see..."
Wu Hao's eyes widened, and he turned his head to shout, but he stopped when he saw Zhao Gang's face.
Hot tears streamed down Zhao Gang's cheeks.
With tears streaming down his face, Zhao Gang said resolutely:
"Of course I know he's our teammate, but we really need to let him go!"
Wu Hao's arm trembled slightly. He knew it was the most rational choice, but...
Clang! Clang!
A metallic clanging sound rang out.
Seeing Zhao Gang struggling, Wu Hao hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he let go of his hand.
The two consciously tried to defend the area, but the battle was beyond their control, and they were eventually forced to retreat to other locations.
As the spear clashed with the claws, Wu Hao glanced away.
Liu Yue's corpse was being devoured by the Calamity Beast...
Tears streamed down Wu Hao's face as he averted his gaze and continued fighting.
However, if all three of them were already facing a losing battle, how much more so now that there are only two of them?
More and more wounds appeared on the two of them.
"Laugh!"
A faint yet incredibly sharp sound pierced the air.
Immediately afterwards, the bodies of the few low-level Calamity Beast at the forefront suddenly stiffened, and their heads rolled silently to the ground.
A deep blue figure slashed into the battlefield like a ghost. With a light flick of his longsword, the movements of both the low-level Calamity Beast and the two ferocious Fourth Tier beasts faltered and became chaotic for a moment.
Shen Heng has arrived.
He didn't say much, he simply stood between Wu Hao and the horde of beasts.
The blade flashes were not dazzling, but precise and efficient. Each swing would inevitably slice through the vital points of a Calamity Beast, or perfectly interrupt the attack rhythm of a high-level Calamity Beast.
The originally surging tide of beasts was actually contained and divided in the face of this calm figure.
Seemingly sensing the difficulty of dealing with the figure before them, the several Fourth Tier Calamity Beast simultaneously slowed their attacks.
The battle situation has temporarily stabilized.
Wu Hao took a deep breath, then looked at the figure with a trembling expression.
" Captain Shen, is this... really that significant?"