CH 130

The lower body of the giant worm was worm-like, while the upper body was that of a giant. Its face was withered, with bulging eyeballs, and its skin was a dirty green color, covered in black growths.

Its arrival made everyone nervous.

Rode had already prepared to use the "Spiritual Energy Quintet," but the giant worm did not approach the Sword Pass. After wandering in the distance for a while, it suddenly inserted its hands into its abdomen.

Accompanied by a large amount of dirty green pus, the giant worm pulled out two bone-chilling giant swords and wildly slashed at the monsters around it.

The enraged monsters retaliated.

Everyone watched in astonishment as the monsters outside the Sword Pass fought in a chaotic mess.

The giant worm was like a war god, intercepting over eighty percent of the black tide. It slaughtered recklessly in the tide of monsters, as if experiencing a strange sense of pleasure.

Steel Hand exclaimed in joy, "This is the supreme flame will helping us!"

Mole said, "Quickly let the warriors recover. The damaged areas of the fortress need to be repaired. The longer we delay, the greater our hope. If something happens to the reinforcement team and Sword Pass has no information, the Dawn Fortress will eventually notice."

This statement was widely agreed upon. Steel Hand shouted loudly, "Brothers, get busy!"

Although Rode was somewhat regretful, at least safety was guaranteed.

The giant worm continued to fight outside the Sword Pass without stopping for a moment. However, there was no sign of it weakening. On the contrary, it became stronger with each battle, causing the people to breathe a sigh of relief while also feeling some worry.

But overall, they still hoped that the giant worm would continue to kill.

Even if they had to face a very strong monster in the future, they would use all their means and still have a chance.

At least it was better than slowly dying under endless attacks.

However, the next day, when Rode woke up, he found that the giant worm was gone.

The giant worm that had been blocking the black tide like a reef, one thousand and eight hundred yards away from Sword Pass, had disappeared.

The tide rushed towards Sword Pass without any obstruction.

The warriors had only repaired for one day and had to return to battle mode.

The battle became even more intense. Rode wanted to use the "Spiritual Energy Quintet" several times, but was stopped by Steel Hand.

He told Rode that using the Spiritual Energy Cannon now would only stop the black tide for an instant.

More and stronger monsters were coming from the rear, which would put even greater pressure on Sword Pass.

The best method now was to use the cumulative effect, allowing the Spiritual Energy Generator to withstand the pressure and kill the monsters with fire.

Rode was anxious, but could only follow his advice.

Black crystals were the main energy source for the Spiritual Energy Generator. Rode provided one hundred, plus the forty in stock, for a total of one hundred and forty.

Now there were only a few dozen left.

Supply had been interrupted for a long time.

But fortunately, the Spiritual Energy Generator could directly input spiritual energy, although the efficiency was much lower than that of black crystals.

During this time, Mina and the warriors took turns inputting spiritual energy into the Spiritual Energy Generator, otherwise they would not have been able to hold on until now.

Rode helped them as requested by Steel Hand. His long-lasting spiritual energy greatly relieved their pressure, causing Mina to breathe a sigh of relief.

Steel Hand used the tactic of closing the gates, giving up the city walls and only defending the interior of the fortress.

Finally, the pressure was reduced to an acceptable level.

But soon, Steel Hand received a reprimand from the Dawn Fortress, asking why he had "disabled" Sword Pass and what qualifications he had to make the decision to "disable" Sword Pass?

They demanded that he immediately restore the defense status of Sword Pass and stop all the monsters.

Steel Hand was both surprised and disbelieving. The first reply from the Dawn Fortress, which had been silent all this time, was actually a reprimand, without mentioning anything about reinforcements.

He immediately wrote a long reply, detailing the recent events and explaining his helplessness and necessity in making the decision.

But, just like before, he did not receive any reply.

The fourteenth day.

The Spiritual Energy Generator finally reached its limit, and the tree-like red crystals shattered with a bang, scattering all over the ground.

The Sword Pass Fortress collapsed, collapsing more than half of it.

But Steel Hand had foreseen this and had gathered all the personnel in the underground emergency escape passage.

Mole once again ignited the Guardian's Flame.

The erupting flames cleared all the nearby monsters, but the range of the flames decreased to one hundred yards.

It could only cover the fortress.

The fifteenth day.

Mole once again ignited the Guardian's Flame to deal with a group of powerful undead.

The range of the flames decreased to sixty yards.

About one-third of the fortress was outside the range of the flames.

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The warriors retreated from the upper levels of the fortress to the interior.

Mole and Steel Hand knew that Sword Pass could not be held. According to Thalorian's military regulations, they were allowed to evacuate.

Steel Hand quickly made all the preparations and sent letters to the Dawn Fortress, the Giant Fortress, and all the rear bases.

To ensure that the information was delivered, Steel Hand specifically dispatched two warriors to the rear bases and the migrating team to deliver the information.

Mole prepared to change the Guardian's Flame from a ground state to a floating state.

This would consume a lot of the Guardian's Flame's power.

But Rode provided him with a lot of fuel, so he didn't have to worry too much about it.

What they needed to worry about was that once the Guardian's Flame left the ground, the power consumption would accelerate, and the ability to suppress monsters would be greatly reduced.

How to safely evacuate was the problem they needed to think about.

The sixteenth day.

The Spiritual Energy Generator finally reached its limit. The tree-like red crystals shattered with a bang, scattering all over the ground.

The Sword Pass Fortress collapsed, collapsing more than half of it.

But Steel Hand had foreseen this and had gathered all the personnel in the underground emergency escape passage.

Mole once again ignited the Guardian's Flame.

The erupting flames cleared all the nearby monsters, but the range of the flames decreased to twenty yards.

It was less than sixty steps in diameter.

There were over a hundred warriors and logistics personnel crowded in such a small area.

Steel Hand tried to make the warriors stand outside the circle and let the logistics personnel and the wounded stand inside the circle, walking forward along the escape passage.

The warriors were in low spirits, and many of them sobbed, while the trainees were also very confused.

They had defended Sword Pass for so long, only to lose it like this?

Steel Hand wanted to say some comforting words to boost morale, but before he could speak, Rode loudly said:"Don't be disheartened, we haven't failed, we've won!"

"Indeed, we've lost the Sword Pass, but we're still alive. There's no saying we can't make a comeback and rebuild the Sword Pass. This is called 'losing the land but saving the people', and both are preserved."

"If the Sword Pass remains but we're dead, what's the difference from losing it? This is called 'saving the land but losing the people', and both are lost."

These words made a lot of sense, and no one had thought to consider it from this perspective.

Many people felt much better all at once.

At this moment, Rode spoke again, "We didn't run away. We've done our best, fought till the last moment. Making a strategic shift at this time is the wisest choice."

"Given time, we might become stronger, there might be new torchbearers emerging, perhaps he could be our great savior?"

"We preserve ourselves for future battles, to kill more monsters. This is called 'a single spark can start a prairie fire'."

In this instant, something fiery seemed to rise in everyone's eyes. Many people burst into tears, while many others laughed out loud.

And amidst the laughter and tears, someone suddenly shouted:

"Burn my body, sweep away the darkness."

The unified shout echoed through the escape tunnel.

A logistics staff member cried, "Mom, I want to ignite the fire of my soul, I want to be a combatant."

Mole couldn't help but sigh, "Who would have thought, the fair-skinned Rode has the demeanor of a legion commander. If only he was born thirty years earlier, I would love to be his soldier."

Small Book Pavilion

Mole was stroking his chin, contemplating what to do after returning.

The students' eyes were reignited with the fire of battle, secretly vowing to train harder after returning, to become stronger as soon as possible.

Raisin and the others rushed up and hugged Rode.

Raisin's face was flushed, "Rode, I didn't expect you to be such a wise person!"

Aegm hit his knee, "Why didn't I think of that! Why didn't I think of that!"

Calamon hugged him and cried, "Wuu wuu wuu, I don't want a girlfriend anymore, I want to train!"

"Alright, alright!"

Rode pushed Calamon away in disgust, this guy always wiped his snot on him.

"Don't celebrate too soon, we still need to find a way back. Where does this tunnel end?"

Mole laughed, "It's on the east side of the Dead Mountain Range, near the Great Marsh, it's relatively safe."

Rode was relieved, as long as it was safe.

His supplies were all used up, not a single silver bullet or thunderstone left, only seven sealing bullets remained, loaded in the spirit gun.

All his summons were used up, only two wooden puppets and a phantom whistle were left.

Rode had no combat power now, it was urgent to return to the royal city.

His strength had increased dramatically on this trip, it was time to consolidate and digest it.

If he could master more combat skills, his combat power would leap another level.

Rode pondered while following Mole out of the escape tunnel.