Inside The Black Mist

"Stop them!" Adam shouted, leading the charge towards one side of the wall. Two Shadow Attendants were battering the wall there. These attendants, with their purplish-red skin, wielded various crude metal weapons.

Though their weapons had no special function, they were extremely heavy, making their swings devastating.

As the attendants destroyed the wall, mindless Wanderers kept pressing forward, only to be occasionally sent flying by the attendants' weapons. Yet, this friendly fire was negligible compared to the overwhelming number of dark creatures.

Adam leapt over the wall, his eyes glowing with a red battle light, and Star Essence surged from his longsword, transforming into a bright but non-dazzling silver radiance.

This Westerner slashed downward, and the silver light surged like a flood, sweeping not only the two attendants but also many dark creatures behind them.

All the dark creatures caught in the silver flood were torn apart.

The two attendants were hit first, and after the flood passed, their bodies stiffened and quickly disintegrated into piles of dust.

With one strike, Adam cleared a vacuum area among the dark creatures, boosting the morale of the human warriors in the camp.

However, that single strike also consumed a significant amount of Adam's Star Essence. He quickly drank a vial of replenishment fluid before charging at another Shadow Attendant.

Tianyang withdrew his envious gaze. The ability Adam had just used was called ”Shatter,” a power that only Level 4 Shuras could harness. The Shatter field would break the molecular structure of objects, causing them to "fall apart."

Most importantly, it had a wide coverage area, making it highly effective for rapidly clearing large numbers of enemies.

This demonstrated why Level 4 was a significant milestone for any rank. For instance, before reaching this level, a Battle God couldn't execute such extensive battlefield-clearing moves.

Other Ascenders joined the effort to intercept the Shadow Attendants, but their ranks were lower than Adam's. Moreover, the remaining attendants began emitting a strange, deep purple mist.

The purple mist spread slowly, undispersed by the wind, forming several purple clouds around the camp.

Within the mist, the Wanderers and Mad Dogs' will cages glowed intensely, their aggression escalating to the extreme. The Mad Dogs charged even faster, and the Wanderers no longer lumbered but ran towards the defensive lines, crashing into them fiercely.

"Be careful!" Gu Gang shouted. "This mist suppresses our Star Essence and makes the dark creatures more ferocious!"

Sure enough, an Ascender organizing an attack was enveloped by the mist, and their visible Star Essence dimmed instantly.

This phenomenon was akin to how the Star Marrow Pillar suppressed the dark creatures, only reversed.

The result was unpleasant, the Ascender's attack strength and reaction speed both decreased significantly, causing them to be quickly overwhelmed by the attendant.

Gu Gang downed a replenishment vial, discarded the bottle, and pressed a hand to his chest.

His Star Essence turned earth-yellow, forming an illusory armor around him. The ethereal armor enveloped the big, bald man, giving his presence a solid feel.

After donning the ”Undying Armor,” a unique ability of his Bastion rank that seemed to resist the purple mist, Gu Gang roared and leapt over the wall.

He grabbed the struggling Ascender and tossed them out of the mist, then braced himself, lowered his center of gravity, and bent his legs slightly.

Using his shield, he blocked a strike from the Shadow Attendant. Then, like a lion, he roared, his fists swirling with vortex patterns, unleashing the Bastion's ”Vortex Field.”

Tianyang, operating the machine gun to fire at the dark creatures outside the camp, glanced over at Gu Gang. The Vortex Field was much smaller in scale and power than Han Shu's, but Gu Gang's vortex-enveloped fists delivered precise, relentless blows.

Each punch landed on an attendant, making it stagger. The vortex force tore, shredded, and pulverized the attendant's cloth and flesh.

After a dozen punches, Gu Gang landed a heavy blow that sent the attendant flying, crashing into the rear defenses.

Tianyang wasted no time, adjusting the machine gun's aim to fire powerful bullets at the attendant's head.

Even with a helmet, the attendant's head couldn't withstand the machine gun's barrage. After a dozen rounds, the creature's head, along with its will cage, turned into a pulp of purple goo.

Gu Gang glanced up at the rooftop, nodded, reinforced a nearby Ascender's Star Essence barrier, and then charged at another attendant.

The battle gradually came under control. When the last attendant was slain by Adam, the dark creatures' assault slowed.

Moments later, they began to retreat, with even the Wanderers withdrawing into the complex alleys, seemingly responding to some call.

Regardless, the camp was temporarily secure.

| Outside the Small Building |

The ground outside was slick with the black sludge left behind by the dead, dark creatures, turning the area into a rolling layer of pitch-black muck. The air reeked with a nauseating stench, forcing people to build a barricade of stones at the main iron gate to prevent the putrid sludge from flowing inside.

When Tianyang got up from the rooftop, empty shell casings fell from his body, piled around him. The machine gun had ejected so many casings that they formed a small mountain!

He shook his head, realizing that the recent battle had likely consumed most of the convoy's ammunition. Moreover, the camp's walls were no longer as sturdy as before, with several gaps battered open by the Shadow Attendants.

Adam was ordering his team to seal the breaches and assign personnel to guard the perimeter outside the camp.

Yun Ze finally emerged from the vehicle, his head bandaged but looking well. He busied himself comforting the wounded and checking their supplies.

In the recent fight, no Ascenders had fallen, but even with the combined forces of the Sun's Spear and Frostcloud Guard, they had lost five soldiers.

To prevent their bodies from being corrupted by the dark mist, the fallen were immediately cremated, and their ashes were buried in the small building's backyard.

After the battle, the morale of the Sun's Spear members remained intact, but the Frostcloud Guard's morale was significantly low. Particularly among the regular soldiers, some kept their heads down, occasionally glancing around with fear in their eyes.

Another few encounters like this, and the Yun family's guard force might see a drastic drop in combat effectiveness.

Realizing this, Yun Ze nodded to Tianyang on the rooftop before approaching Adam.

"Captain Adam, things are looking grim. My men have never faced such a battle. They are exhausted both physically and mentally. If we stay here and the dark creatures attack again, we might not be able to hold them off and could face a total collapse."

Adam was cleaning his longsword. "So, Mr. Yun Ze, what do you suggest?"

Yun Ze's voice was somber and serious. "I suggest we leave immediately. Moreover, Teacher Kong's condition isn't good. I'm worried about his health. As for Wang Liangyi, I will notify him separately. Given his strength, he should have no problem leaving Gemstone Town."

"No!"

A cold voice interrupted.

Unnoticed, Wang Liangyi had returned. He crouched on the wall before jumping down. "We can't leave now."

Yun Ze, puzzled, asked, "Why, Mr. Wang? Our situation..."

Wang Liangyi gestured for him to stop. "I understand. The situation is dire, but I still advise against leaving Gemstone Town. There are still three Shadow Knights."

Yun Ze was shocked. "What? There are three more of those monsters?"

Wang Liangyi nodded gravely. "After I killed one, I discovered the whereabouts of the others. I tried to hunt them, but they were too mobile."

"I chased them around Gemstone Town but couldn't catch them. They are cunning and are gathering forces, likely planning the next wave of attacks or even multiple assaults."

Yun Ze, almost losing control, shouted, "Then we should leave all the more!"

Adam smiled wryly. "If Mr. Wang Liangyi is correct and there are three more Shadow Knights, we'll surely be attacked on the way back. Those high-level dark creatures are highly mobile; our Falcon vehicles won't shake them off."

Wang Liangyi agreed. "Exactly. If they catch up and damage our vehicles, we'll be exposed in the wild with no defenses, leading to our slaughter."

Adam stood up and sheathed his sword. "We must stay here and use the buildings for defense. With Mr. Wang Liangyi holding off the knights, we should manage for a while."

"Meanwhile, we should call for help from the base. Only with reinforcements can we hope to survive."

Wang Liangyi nodded firmly. "Precisely."

Both looked at Yun Ze.

He stepped back, sighed, and said, "Since you both say so, I have no objections. You are more knowledgeable in this matter."

Adam immediately summoned a team member to contact Yunxiang Base. He then discussed with Yun Ze to deploy Frostcloud Guard members to set up barricades and dig traps outside the camp in preparation for the defense.

After all this, Adam turned his attention to Gu Gang. "It's your turn. You need to tell us where you encountered these monsters!"

Tianyang, Wang Liangyi, and the remaining active personnel all looked at Gu Gang.

Gu Gang rubbed his bald head and sighed. "In Hongni Town, we found something there."

Tianyang's curiosity was piqued, and the others stared intently at Gu Gang.

He continued, "You all know Hongni Town was only recently opened to us prospectors. A few days ago, we discovered an underground space in that town."

Adam narrowed his eyes slightly. "An underground space? Why didn't we receive a report on this?"

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