High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Chapter 393: Chapter 393: The Base

The Celestial Wolf Base was situated in the center of five mining districts, a rugged fortress built into the mountainside.

Constructed from massive stone blocks, the fortress stood roughly twenty meters tall, its walls peppered with observation holes and firing slits.

An arrow tower stood at each of the four corners, manned by Werewolf Warriors. The main entrance was a heavy metal gate, its surface engraved with the totem of the Celestial Wolf Civilization: a giant wolf howling at the sky.

At that moment, the fortress interior was in complete chaos.

News of the Second Priest’s death had thrown the High Priest into a panic, forcing him to rush back to the base and take command.

He stood upon the altar on the fortress’s top level, throwing his head back to let out a bloodcurdling howl filled with both fury and fear.

"Lord Priest, what do we do now?" a Wolfman War General captain asked, his voice trembling as he knelt below the altar.

The High Priest spun around, his scarlet eyes boring into the captain. "Seal all entrances, activate the defensive runes, and get everyone to their battle stations! Send a distress signal to headquarters. Tell them... tell them the Federation has sent at least one squad of Innate-level operatives to infiltrate!"

’I don’t know how the Federation managed to get Innate-level combatants into this Star Realm, but the results speak for themselves.’

’The Second Priest died without even managing to send a message back. It was only when the nearby werewolves noticed something was amiss that his death was confirmed.’

"Yes, sir!" The War General captain scrambled away.

The High Priest walked to the edge of the altar and gazed down at the fortress below. His heart pounded in his chest as an ominous premonition washed over him.

’The Second Priest’s power wasn’t a match for my own, but he wasn’t far behind, either.’

’To kill him that quickly, the enemy must have at least two Innate-level combatants working in perfect sync.’

"Damn it..." The High Priest gripped his bone staff, his knuckles turning white.

What he didn’t know was that in the shadows outside the fortress, five pairs of eyes were silently watching.

Behind a jumble of rocks eight hundred meters from the fortress, Xu Wuyi lowered his binoculars.

"They’ve strengthened the defenses," he said in a low voice. "The main gate is closed, they’ve doubled the guards in the arrow towers, and I can see the glow of activated runes on the walls."

Hong Nianyi took the binoculars and observed carefully for several minutes.

"A frontal assault is out of the question," she concluded. "The fortress is solid and its rune defenses are intact. It would take the five of us at least twenty minutes to breach it, which is more than enough time for them to send multiple distress signals to headquarters."

"Then we infiltrate," said Chen Yuan. "Give me fifteen minutes, and I can find a weak point in their defenses."

Lin Jue had already opened a case and begun scanning the fortress’s energy distribution. "At the base of the eastern wall, there’s a faint discontinuity in the Rune Array—probably a construction flaw. If we break through there, we won’t be detected immediately."

"But what happens once we’re inside?" You Sicheng asked, leaning against a rock with labored breaths. "The fortress’s internal layout is complex, and we don’t know the High Priest’s exact location. If we’re discovered, we’ll be surrounded."

Xu Wuyi suddenly spoke up. "Then we’ll make him come out on his own."

The other four looked at him.

Xu Wuyi pointed to the open ground before the main gate. "The High Priest must be on edge, but he also needs to assess the situation outside. If we create a small disturbance and make him think it’s just a minor raiding party, he might send out scouts—or even come out to look for himself."

"And then we ambush the scouts and disguise ourselves as werewolves to get inside?" Hong Nianyi caught on to his plan.

"Exactly." Xu Wuyi nodded. "Chen Yuan excels at disguise, and Lin Jue can crack their identification runes. Hong Nianyi and I will handle the ambush, while You Sicheng provides overwatch from the perimeter."

The plan was risky, but it was their only option.

They were out of time. Every minute they delayed, the chance of reinforcements arriving from the Celestial Wolf headquarters grew.

"Let’s do it," Hong Nianyi decided. "Chen Yuan, Lin Jue, go to the base of the eastern wall and prepare your breach. Xu Wuyi, you’re with me; we’ll create a diversion near the main gate. You Sicheng, you stay here and monitor the situation. If we fail, you are to retreat alone and get this intelligence back to the Federation."

You Sicheng was silent for two seconds before nodding. "Understood."

The five split up.

Like phantoms, Chen Yuan and Lin Jue vanished behind the jumble of rocks and crept toward the fortress’s eastern side. Their movements were impeccably professional, each step landing in shadow as they stayed completely clear of the arrow towers’ sightlines.

Meanwhile, Xu Wuyi and Hong Nianyi moved toward the main gate, stopping three hundred meters away to take cover behind a rocky outcropping.

"How should we create the diversion?" Xu Wuyi asked.

Hong Nianyi pulled two fist-sized metal spheres from her backpack. "Concussion grenades. When they detonate, they produce energy fluctuations similar to a fight between Martial Artists, but with a very small radius. We’ll throw them in front of the main gate, then immediately fall back and make it look like we’re running for our lives."

Xu Wuyi took one. It was heavy in his hand.

The two exchanged a glance and, in unison, hurled the concussion grenades toward the main gate.

The metal spheres traced an arc through the air, rolling a few times upon landing before coming to a stop about fifty meters from the gate.

「Three seconds later.」

BOOM! BOOM!

Two muffled thuds echoed as the ground trembled slightly. The energy fluctuations from the explosions spread out, sending ripples across the fortress’s rune defenses.

"Enemy attack—!"

The Werewolf Warriors in the arrow towers immediately sounded the alarm.

Several pairs of scarlet eyes appeared behind the observation slits on the main gate.

A few seconds later, a smaller door to the side of the main gate opened, and a ten-man squad of Werewolf Warriors charged out, weapons in hand, cautiously scanning their surroundings.

They spotted two fleeting silhouettes behind the distant rocky outcropping.

"Over there!" the captain shouted, pointing in the direction Xu Wuyi and Hong Nianyi were retreating.

The ten-warrior squad immediately gave chase, but they moved cautiously, wary of a trap.

「Meanwhile, on the fortress’s top floor.」

The High Priest stood at a window, staring at the commotion outside the main gate. His brow was furrowed, a nagging feeling telling him something wasn’t right.

"Only two of them? And the energy fluctuations weren’t even that strong..." he muttered to himself.

But the Second Priest’s death was a hard fact. The High Priest couldn’t afford to be careless. After a moment’s thought, he issued an order: "Send out two more squads to flank them. I want them alive."

"Yes, sir!"

Soon, another twenty Werewolf Warriors charged out of the side gates. They split into two groups and began a flanking maneuver, fanning out toward Xu Wuyi and Hong Nianyi’s likely retreat path.

A portion of the fortress’s defensive force had been successfully lured away.

At the base of the eastern wall, Chen Yuan and Lin Jue seized their chance.

The discontinuity in the runes at the wall’s base was well-hidden and only palm-sized, but it was all Lin Jue needed.

She took a silver probe from her case and gently inserted it into a crevice in the rock at the point of the discontinuity. Runes on the probe’s tip lit up as it began to analyze and mimic the surrounding energy frequency.

Thirty seconds later, Lin Jue retracted the probe and nodded to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan took out his cutting tool—a specialized high-frequency vibrating blade capable of slicing through rock without triggering any alarms.

With precise movements, he cut along the edges of the rune discontinuity, quickly carving out an opening large enough for a person to crawl through.