Chapter 1552: Chapter 946: 365 Miles, Yo~ (Part 2)
Thick smoke gushed out from every tentacle of the Chaos Breeding Ground, spreading like a flood in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, the entire area was engulfed by the smoke once again.
Temude felt a sudden darkness before him, returning to this chaotic situation of impaired perception.
He tried his best to recall the terrain around him; it seemed there was a relatively intact tile to the left, a half-broken one to the right, and a larger one two steps ahead. As long as he jumped according to memory, he should be able to—
He leaped lightly and landed his toes precisely on the tile he remembered.
The sensation underfoot was indeed that of solid tile.
Temude breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he heard a muffled grunt.
It was not his own grunt, but it came from straight ahead, another person’s grunt.
Accompanying this sound was a frontal collision.
"Who—" Temude had just opened his mouth when he felt an incredibly hard object hit his face. He was all too familiar with that sensation; it was the Red Lion Helmet!
Because the smoke made it impossible to see the surroundings, he collided with another warrior!
"Don’t bump into me!"
Both shouted out in surprise simultaneously, then both lost their balance. Temude leaned back instinctively trying to grab something, and ended up grabbing an arm that was also flailing in the air. The other person grabbed onto his shoulder armor, and they both fell down.
Even the tiles of the next level shattered on contact due to their combined weight.
At the critical moment, they both came to their senses and let go of each other. Temude used Gravity Spin to rush onto other intact tiles, whereas the warrior who collided with him fell into the smoke, disappearing without a trace.
Just then, overhead came again a series of collision sounds and cries of surprise.
"Who bumped into me!"
"I can’t see!"
"Don’t jump this way—"
"I didn’t mean to!"
Then followed the sound of multiple tiles shattering, along with the rising and falling screams of several people simultaneously falling.
Hearing the frantic cries of others, Temude was starting to feel numb.
Someone, while jumping, was lightly pushed by a tentacle, veering off the original landing point, watching helplessly as they brushed past a solid tile and fell into the Abyss.
Someone finally managed to land on a seemingly solid tile, only to find upon landing that the tile was covered in fine cracks from being previously stepped on, obscured by the smoke.
He didn’t even have time to curse before he dropped along with the tile.
Someone tried using Combat Skill [Summoning Star] to pull a distant tentacle as a leverage point, only to have the tentacle pull him over instead and slap him into the Abyss like a fly.
"Is this still a battle...."
Half an hour ago, he would never have imagined things would turn out like this.
What’s going on here, can’t there be a normal dungeon adventure!
He had clearly anticipated an epic Legendary battle amid world-engulfing Chaos Flame with the Izalith Witch, an exhilarating series of moves from both sides, accepting either defeat or victory.
But what was this now!
Minute by minute passed.
The tiles that could bear people were growing fewer.
The surviving warriors were also becoming fewer.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, the full view of the Chaos Breeding Ground appeared clear before them, the twisted giant tree having fully extended all its tentacles, with the Flame quietly burning at the highest point.
The opponent wasn’t even bothering to mess with them anymore.
Temude kept watching the struggling warriors, suddenly seeming to realize something, a gleam of insight flashing in his eyes.
He suddenly realized, although the tiles were fracturing rapidly, it didn’t seem that fast; the tentacles supporting the tiles could even slowly repair cracks.
It was only when warriors stepped on the tiles two or three times in quick succession that they would break. If they merely stepped once and moved on, the tiles most likely wouldn’t break.
And the reason they hadn’t noticed this earlier was the obstruction of the smoke!
So sinister, without this ash smoke, they would have discovered this sooner.
He even found that some tentacles would move tiles up and down, allowing one to return to the upper level and move more freely if they stayed on them.
If they had discovered this earlier, they could have utilized this feature to deal with the Chaos Breeding Ground, perhaps they could have extinguished that Flame by now!
"Damn it...."
Temude gritted his teeth in hatred for the smoke.
In ordinary dungeon adventures, once discovering a Boss Monster’s strategy, it often leads to a glorious counterattack.
But now, it was impossible for the warriors to stage another such counterattack because....
Temude looked around, and all the bricks had disappeared except for the small area he was standing on. All the warriors had fallen to their deaths, and the ground beneath him was on the verge of collapsing.
A counterattack is utterly impossible, isn’t it?
Even if you brought Gapar here, he wouldn’t be able to fight.
"What do we do now?" He seemed to hallucinate hearing someone ask him what they should do now.
Temude was silent for a moment.
Then he spread his hands and muttered to himself in an enlightened tone:
"Wait for death...."
As soon as he finished speaking, the last tile under his feet let out a groan of unbearable weight.
Temude closed his eyes.
In the final moments, the music from the background kept flooding into his mind.
Everyone got it wrong. This song wasn’t praising the heroes’ long journey at all.
It was purely a dirge for a bunch of unfortunate souls running for their lives.
He never wanted to hear this song again in his life.
Not long after, he opened his eyes at the bonfire.
The warm light of the bonfire shone on his face, and around him were warriors lying askew all over the ground, each with a vacant expression.
No one spoke, a deathly silence, only the crackling sound of the flame next to the bonfire could be heard.
After a long, long time, so long that the bonfire flame shrank a circle, Temude finally spoke.
"Does anyone remember how we died?"
"Fell to our deaths." A warrior answered weakly.
"How many times has it been?"
"Countless."
Another silence ensued.
A warrior, with a sudden realization, said, "I think I understand how to fight now, should I explain?"
There was no need to explain; everyone present now understood.
"So what do we do next? Go back and fight again?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the image of the Demon Relics and the Chaos Ruins of Izalis appeared in everyone’s minds, and the familiar melody echoed in their ears, making everyone shiver involuntarily.
They were scared. Everyone had developed a psychological shadow over "running".
Temude did not answer immediately. He slowly sat up from the ground, flexed his stiff neck, glanced at the equally exhausted warriors around him, and took a deep breath.
"Let’s get out first."
"Get out?"
"Yes, get out." He stood up, dusted off the ashes on his armor, "Get out, rest, replenish, and then—"
He paused, sweeping his gaze over everyone present.
"Call Lanle, bring all the Hunter Battle Groups under him, try insect control sticks, heavy crossbows, light crossbows, great swords, tachi, shield axes... Call everyone who can come, try one by one, there has to be a way to target it!"
As Temude spoke, he showed a look of irreconcilable enmity with the Chaos Breeding Ground, a righteous indignation indeed.
Yet a warrior familiar with him suddenly smirked and said:
"Actually, you want the Second Prince to also taste what it’s like here, don’t you?"
Temude paused, then grinned.
"How do you understand me so well?"
At the same time.
Another team arrived at the entrance of the Chaos Ruins of Izalis.
Luluwo peered at the entrance for a long time, always looking at the ground, until Tami couldn’t help but ask, "Captain, what are you looking for?"
"I’m looking for Summoning Symbols, Solar’s."
She furrowed her brows in confusion and said:
"It shouldn’t be; after coming here, every area has Solar’s Summoning Symbols. How come they’re missing here?"
"No matter how helpful he is, he needs rest, right? Let’s go."
Luluwo nodded, sighed, and said, "Without his assistance, it feels like something’s missing."
"No worries, maybe we’ll run into him later, who knows?"
Tami said casually.
