Chapter 54: I Will Not Abandon Even a Single Person

The roaring of the two beast groups were increasing.

The scorpion group was gradually gaining the upper hand because they had a silver level leader and more stamina. The lizards did not have a silver level leader, but under pressure from the external enemy, the lizards were closely aligned and coordinated.

Many of the iron level lizards swarmed together to confront the silver level scorpion with no thoughts of retreat. This was where their nest was and there was more than one cave in it where their eggs were stored. In addition, there were more lizards than scorpions.

The scorpion leader finally grew impatient as it waved its two large pincers like a sliding door and attacked.

It stormed the lizards in front of it.

At the same time, the strongest iron level lizards were dispatched to repulse the silver level scorpion, some spitting acid, others baring fangs and a few brandishing claws to meet the silver level scorpion head on.

The silver level scorpion was incomparably brutal and fierce as it quickly routed the iron level lizards.

The lizard lounge fell into disarray as its close formation scattered. The scorpion group’s morale was greatly boosted as they charged in after their leader.

This was the moment where both sides began fighting all-out!

Upon seeing this scene, Zhen Jin’s tense heart was finally released.

Compared to beasts, the constitution of humans fell short, however, humans had intelligence beyond the reach of most beasts.

Because of this, Zhen Jin easily exploited the scorpion group.

Of course, intelligent beasts also existed.

No need to mention the true dragons, just take the solitude beast that attacked Zi Di’s team who had rescued Zhen Jin, under the cunning blue wolf’s attacks, the entire team was nearly wiped out.

In a direct confrontation, perhaps the blue wolf was a bit weaker than the scorpion leader, however, it had the intelligence of a human, therefore it could fully utilize its abilities, it was cunning and insidious, with numerous tricks and tactics.

Zhen Jin was in no rush to lead the group to break out, rather, he patiently waited for a time.

After a while, the enormous lizard lounge became even more disorderly, many of the lizards at the sand dunes also rushed to join the frontline.

Although there were lizards still surrounding the sand dune who didn’t want their food slipping away, their scope had greatly decreased heretofore.

“Follow me closely.” Zhen Jin took a deep breath and looked at the lizards below the sand dune.

Everyone had difficulty covering up their nervousness because breaking out was very risky. Even being a little careless would land them in a lizard’s mouth or be corroded by acid, either ending in death. But if they did not break out and remained on top of this sand dune, they would certainly die.

It was time to break out!

Zhen Jin, with his spider blade and a doned ill-fitted leather armor, took the lead.

The lizards besieging the sand dune had their heads down and were dozing in the sand. After hearing movement, they all immediately raised their heads and threw themselves at Zhen Jin and the others.

The first lizard, when it was ten paces from Zhen Jin, suddenly opened its mouth and sprayed acid.

When the acidic attack arrived, everyone smelled an intensely sour and corrosive odor.

Everyone was at first following closely behind Zhen Jin, however, when faced with the acidic attack that they could not resist, they had no choice but to scatter.

Their close formation was completely broken just as they began breaking out.

Zhen Jin lunged down onto the sand and smoothly rolled down and arrived under the head of a lizard.

He shouted in a low voice and suddenly jumped up, he then tilted the spider blade backwards and slashed, appearing like a phantom in the lizard’s vision.

Zhen Jin brushed past the lizard.

The next moment, the lizard’s head fell down to the sand and green blood spurted from its neck like a fountain.

Zhen Jin did not stop as he rushed at the group of lizards.

The spider blade proved itself as a silver level magic beast material with a sharpness that none of the lizards could resist.

These lizards were only ordinary beasts, the bronze level and iron level lizards were distracted by the scorpion group.

Thus, Zhen Jin was unstoppable!

The brave and fierce Zhen Jin attracted almost all the attention and the pressure on everyone following Zhen Jin to break through was smaller than they had expected.

“Lord Zhen Jin really is brave and powerful!”

“This is a templar knight…”

“The templar knights regiment really are worthy of being humanity’s number one knight regiment.”

Everyone watched Zhen Jin’s back with hearts of admiration and respect.

However, just as everyone was about to break through the lizard encirclement, a group of magic beasts were attracted over.

At first glance, there were over a dozen bronze level lizards and three or four iron level lizards.

The lizards clearly did not want their tasty food to get away.

The pressure on Zhen Jin dramatically increased!

His spider blade was still sharp and could still handle the magic beast lizards, a single slash from him could cause grievous wounds.

But facing the acid sprayed by these lizards, Zhen Jin was also similarly helpless to resist.

The situation on both sides was actually quite similar, both had a strong offense but a weak defense.

In order to evade the acid, Zhen Jin could only roll, jump, and dodge to the best of his abilities.

The biggest burden was that he was not alone, he still needed to look after those behind him.

“Ahh!” Someone screamed miserably.

Zhen Jin turned around despite being preoccupied and saw that an exploration team member had been hit by the acid and had fallen to the ground, rolling back and forth in pain.

Almost simultaneously, the surrounding lizards seized the opportunity, some bit the exploration team member’s head, some bit his arms, and some bit his legs.

The exploration team member violently struggled and yelled despairingly, however, the lizards easily separated him from Zhen Jin and the rest of the group, then retreated to the side to eat him. The lizards surrounded him with their heads facing down, opening and closing their mouths repeatedly, tearing and swallowing his flesh to their heart’s content.

It was clearly impossible to save him.

Zhen Jin could only grind his teeth and use all of his power to open up a path forward.

Eventually, the young knight’s sight cleared up, the pressure on him abruptly lightened——he had broken through the encirclement.

“Ahh, Lord scholar!” Bai Ya’s sudden scream was heard from behind him.

Zhen Jin promptly turned around and his eyes poped out with one glance.

Cang Xu had tumbled to the sand with a lizard just five to six paces behind him!

The old scholar's constitution was lacking and despite being protected during the breakout, he still fell behind to the rear of the team.

“Run quickly!” Against Zhen Jin’s expectations, Bai Ya suddenly turned around and ran back to give Cang Xu a hand.

The lizards behind him were so close, their hissing sounded like it was straight in his ears.

Cang Xu understood his situation and furiously shouted at Bai Ya. “Go, leave me!”

But Bai Ya did not listen as he clenched his teeth and reached Cang Xu’s side, he then grabbed Cang Xu’s clothes and dragged him a few steps.

Almost concurrently, the lizard behind them pounced and opened its mouth to bite at Cang Xu, however, it only bit a mouthful of sand.

The indignant lizard turned around furiously and flicked its tail.

Bai Ya did not have time to dodge and could only raise his free left arm in haste.

With a dull thump, he was slammed by the lizard’s tail and was unsurprisingly sent flying into the air.

The lizard opened its mouth and pounced on Cang Xu again.

But this time, Zhen Jin had arrived to kill it, his blade descended to not only kill the lizard but to also force the other lizards back.

“Go!” Zhen Jin picked up Cang Xu to break through again.

Cang Xu was emaciated while Zhen Jin’s constitution exceeded normal humans, so carrying him was easy, and he could still run like he was flying.

With Zhen Jin no longer in front, the group lost their momentum and seemed to sink into a mire as more and more lizards besieged them.

During this time, one member was enervated and could not dodge in time, the acid hit his head, and he died tragically on the spot.

Zhen Jin carried Cang Xu and reunited with them, he charged forward and easily broke through the lizards encircling them, allowing the team to advance once more.

After battling a while, not many lizards remained in front of Zhen Jin as they scattered.

“We killed them!” Everyone was ecstatic.

Zhen Jin turned around, almost everyone was gathered around him, but Bai Ya was now surrounded by lizards.

It turned out that after the lizard tail had swept Bai Ya into the air, he had suffered fractured ribs and arm and his speed had greatly decreased because of the severe pain.

The lizards did not dare deal with Zhen Jin, so they looked for the weakest to attack.

Zhen Jin was about to return to save him but Cang Xu shouted in a low voice: “My lord, don’t run after him. If we don’t leave here, the lizards will surround us again.”

Everyone looked at Cang Xu.

Cang Xu was just in desperate straits, if Bai Ya did not buy time for him, it would have been too late for Zhen Jin to save him. One could say that Bai Ya was also Cang Xu’s lifesaver.

But now Cang Xu was blocking Zhen Jin and wanted to abandon Bai Ya.

This heartlessness and indifference made everyone look at Cang Xu differently.

Although they were disgusted at him, no one refuted what he said.

Charging to this stage had already cost the lives of two exploration team members. Everyone was in terrible shape. Thinking about it, they had experienced the sandstorm, killed their way out of the lizard cave, and had been besieged on top of the sand dune. Now that they had broken out, everyone was suffering from extreme hunger and thirst, being extremely fatigued and weak. Most of them had reached the limits of their stamina with only the fear of death and the thirst for life supporting them.

Cang Xu’s words were not wrong, once Zhen Jin went back, they would be surrounded by lizards again.

How long could they persevere? Could they hold on until Zhen Jin returned with Bai Ya?

No one had this confidence.

For an instant, Zhen Jin also hesitated.

Unlike Cang Xu, Bai Ya was an ordinary person, he was born in a hunting family and had relatively good archery skills, but nothing else.

His value was much lower than Cang Xu’s and he was not irreplaceable.

“If I go save him, these people will be attacked by lizards, what should I do?”

“The others are like him too, the most crucial individuals are Zi Di and Cang Xu…”

For a moment, the young knight looked around.

The others also looked at him.

Seeing their complex gazes, Zhen Jin’s hesitation immediately scattered and he made his decision.

“I have said that I will not abandon anyone.” Zhen Jin said without hesitation. “Bai Ya is no exception!”

Everyone’s hearts trembled.

Zhen Jin was just about to leave when Zi Di grabbed Zhen Jin’s arm and pointed northwest: “My Lord, look there, please be careful!”

Zhen Jin saw that the leader of the scorpion group, the silver level golden spear war scorpion had arrived nearby.

The lizard group did not have a silver level leader, the many iron level and bronze level lizards could not stop it.

The silver level scorpion rampaged, its door-like pincers were impenetrable and could resist all of the acid shot at it. At the same time, everytime the scorpion’s tail attacked, it would take away the life of a lizard.

“It’s coming towards me!” Lighting seemed to flash through Zhen Jin’s heart.

In order to provoke the scorpion group, he had fiercely struck the scorpion leader with his blade without success. Instead, the scorpion’s tail had pierced his arm and he had no choice but to flee wretchedly.

The silver level scorpion leader held a grudge and had forced the scorpion group to travel a long distance to pursue Zhen Jin, after killing the lizards, it was here to trouble Zhen Jin.

“You must take care! I’ll come back as quickly as I can.” Zhen Jin nodded to Zi Di with a warm heart.

The spider blade in Zhen Jin‘s hand was incomparably sharp.

When the blade descended, a lizard would fall to the ground and would not get up.

Zhen Jin quickly arrived at Bai Ya’s side.

“My Lord!!” In Bai Ya’s most desperate hour, seeing Zhen Jin come to him had moved him greatly. He gratefully looked at Zhen Jin with admiration, respect, and affection.

Carrying Bai Ya, Zhen Jin once again killed his way back and succeeded in converging with the others.

Zhen Jin’s previous worries did not come to pass as Zi Di, Cang Xu, and the others were fine.

“Follow me closely out of here.” Zhen Jin flatly said as he charged ahead once again.

“Yes my Lord!” Everyone responded together.

The fact that Zhen Jin carried Bai Ya back made the exploration team’s morale rise dramatically!

At this moment, the youngster in front of them seemed to be radiating with brilliance to everyone’s eyes.

Zhen Jin had once said that he would not abandon anyone.

Zhen Jin had saved Cang Xu, and under the threat of the scorpion leader, he had saved Bai Ya.

He had fulfilled his promise.

And he had also let them understand his determination!

There was nothing more convincing than real action.

At this moment, everyone was completely convinced by Zhen Jin.

After finally breaking through, Zhen Jin turned around and saw that the lizard group was in chaos and no longer pursued them.

When he had saved Bai Ya, he was still worried about the scorpion leader.

He didn’t expect for the lizards and the silver level scorpion leader to fight each other so fiercely, both groups were too busy to care about Zhen Jin and the others which finally let Zhen Jin and the others escape to live another day.

As he let out a foul breath, Zhen Jin’s heart still had some concerns.

He did not know why, he just felt that it was too easy to break away from the golden spear scorpion group. 

Notes

Man escort missions suck, at least here the people Zhen Jin is saving aren’t glitching into walls or getting themselves killed in dumb ways. It does seem like Zhen Jin just traded one problem for another that will probably compound with the still existing ones, mainly those of food and water cause no one has time to loot the corpses.

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