Chapter 52 -52-Accelerate! Break Out of the Canyon!

Chapter 52: Chapter52-Accelerate! Break Out of the Canyon!

White_Bear’s mouth fell open.

"He wiped out several thousand of them by himself?"

Horus’s expression was equally grave.

"So this is the combat power of a Lv50 Legionbreaker-Tier Boss..."

Even John could not help praising him.

"He really is strong."

Whether it was his firing speed, attack range, or area damage, Rudy had reached an utterly terrifying level.

The only thing that made John uncomfortable was—

All that EXP had gone to an NPC.

Several thousand monsters.

Even if each one was worth only a few dozen EXP on average, the total would have been enough for John to gain several levels.

Yet he had failed to steal even a single kill.

John looked at the enormous bow in Rudy’s hands, and a faint sense of competition gradually rose within him.

He could not allow Rudy to keep clearing everything like this.

The recruits were still immersed in the shock of the previous attack when Rudy suddenly turned around.

"Stop standing there!"

"Reform the entire army!"

"Accelerate and break out of the canyon!"

He raised a hand and pointed forward.

"Recruits move first!"

"Regular troops remain on both sides and cover the rear!"

Everyone quickly came back to their senses.

The expeditionary force began moving again, several times faster than before.

As he followed the army, Horus asked,

"The enemies from before have already been eliminated. Why are we still rushing to leave?"

Rudy rode past them on his warhorse and answered in a deep voice,

"Those were only scouting beasts released by the Dark Realm."

"The fact that they accurately located the Expeditionary Army means our movements have already been exposed."

"The first attack was only meant to test the strength of our escort."

"The real army is still behind them!"

The moment he finished speaking—

Roar—!

A much heavier roar came from the distance.

The terrifying sound wave swept through the canyon.

Even the cliffs on both sides trembled faintly.

Rudy’s expression changed drastically.

"Damn it!"

"How did they get here so quickly?"

John turned toward the direction of the roar.

Then he glanced at the expeditionary force rapidly advancing ahead.

He had no intention of continuing to trail behind and helplessly watching Rudy take all the EXP.

"I have something to take care of."

John patted Horus on the shoulder.

"I’ll see you in Dawnstar City."

"Good luck."

Horus froze.

"Wait, where are you going—"

A silver-gray spatial rift unfolded beside John.

[Void Shift!]

His body disappeared instantly.

Horus and White_Bear looked at one another.

White_Bear hesitantly asked,

"Didn’t Rudy say that anyone who deserted midway would be executed on the spot?"

Horus had no time to think about it.

The roars behind them were drawing closer.

The two immediately accelerated and caught up with Luna Wolf’s formation.

John activated Void Shift several times in succession and reached the high ground along the canyon wall.

He had not left.

He was simply traveling along the ridge parallel to the Expeditionary Army.

From this position, he could clearly see the terrain ahead.

More than ten minutes later, the expeditionary force finally broke out of Sunkenlight Canyon.

A vast wasteland appeared ahead.

However, the canyon exit had already been occupied by a massive number of Dark Realm creatures.

There were nearly twenty thousand of them.

Compared with the Shadowblight Beast Hunters used to test the army earlier, these enemies were clearly much stronger.

Some creatures were covered in overlapping layers of crystalline armor.

Others walked upright, wielding weapons of dark matter in each of their four arms.

There were also large numbers of spherical lifeforms floating in midair, each with a constantly opening and closing vertical eye at the center of its body.

They stood in orderly formations.

They already possessed the beginnings of a true army.

John activated [Scan].

[Darkthorn Armored Beast]

[Level: Lv19.]

[Rank: Elite.]

[HP: 6,200/6,200.]

...

[Light-Eroding Soldier]

[Level: Lv21.]

[Rank: Elite.]

[HP: 7,800/7,800.]

...

[Darkeye Drifter]

[Level: Lv20.]

[Rank: Elite.]

[HP: 5,100/5,100.]

...

The scouting beasts from earlier had generally ranged between Lv10 and Lv15.

The enemies before him, however, were all between Lv18 and Lv22.

That was precisely the level range that would grant John the greatest EXP rewards.

"That’s more like it."

Standing high on the slope, John smiled.

Near the canyon exit, the recruits who emerged first immediately fell into chaos when they saw the Dark Realm army ahead.

The soldiers behind them continued pouring out.

Large numbers of people became trapped within the narrow exit, turning the area into a packed mass in the blink of an eye.

"Don’t stop!"

"Keep spreading out to both sides!"

"Shield soldiers, advance!"

Rudy led the city lord’s personal guards past the recruits and swiftly established a defensive line at the very front.

The regular army spread out along the canyon entrance.

Heavy shields slammed into the ground.

Spears pointed forward.

Archers and mages began searching for suitable firing positions.

Rudy once again removed the Mountainburner Greatbow from his back.

Facing nearly twenty thousand Dark Realm creatures, his expression was no longer relaxed.

John stood upon the slope and slowly raised the Void Staff.

The soldiers below were preparing to meet the enemy.

The Dark Realm army had also begun advancing toward the canyon entrance.

No one noticed—

Layers of dazzling light had already begun appearing across the black-and-gold staff on the high ground.

[Overcharge Stacks: 1.]

[Overcharge Stacks: 2.]

[Overcharge Stacks: 3.]

John gazed at the densely packed Dark Realm monsters, his smile growing increasingly brilliant.

This time—

It was his turn to steal the EXP.

Roar—!

A hoarse, drawn-out cry echoed from within the Dark Realm army.

Nearly twenty thousand monsters began charging simultaneously.

The Darkthorn Armored Beasts lowered their crystalline heads, their massive bodies causing the ground to shake continuously.

The Light-Eroding Soldiers swung all four arms, their dark-matter blades leaving vast black afterimages through the air.

Meanwhile, the floating Darkeye creatures opened their vertical pupils at the same time.

Gray-black beams shot over the front ranks and streaked toward the human soldiers at the canyon entrance.

"Kill!"

Rudy roared.

The regular army answered with an earth-shaking battle cry.

The shield wall advanced.

Spears thrust through the gaps between the shields in unison.

The Darkthorn Armored Beasts at the front crashed into the heavy shields, producing a series of deafening impacts.

The next second—

Dozens of soldiers were sent flying together with their shields.

Spears from the rear pierced through the monsters’ crystalline shells.

Arrow rain, spells, and Dark Realm beams crossed above the battlefield.

The formation that had barely managed to remain intact was shattered apart in the blink of an eye.

The players and NPC recruits were also forced into battle.

Battle cries.

Screams.

The clash of metal.

The roars of monsters.

Tens of thousands of people and creatures were completely swallowed by the melee.

Rudy stood at the very front of the defensive line, continuously firing flaming arrows from the Mountainburner Greatbow.

Every shot pierced through several Dark Realm creatures.

His attacks remained formidable.

However, the flaming arrowstorm that had covered the entire mountainside earlier never appeared again.

John watched from the high ground for a while.

"As expected, it has a cooldown."

A large-scale battle skill capable of instantly splitting into more than a hundred flaming arrows clearly could not be used continuously.

Rudy could only rely on ordinary attacks and smaller skills to clear the monsters.

Against a Dark Realm army numbering in the tens of thousands, his efficiency was nowhere near enough.

The human defensive line began retreating continuously.

The moment several shield soldiers were knocked away by Darkthorn Armored Beasts, more than a dozen Light-Eroding Soldiers immediately poured through the gap.

The recruits behind them had no time to react before a large group was cut down.

John glanced at his EXP bar.

[Level: Lv21.]

[Current EXP: 1,010/7,500.]

"It’s time to act."

A silver-gray spatial rift unfolded beneath his feet.

[Void Shift!]

John’s figure instantly vanished from the slope.

The next second—

He appeared directly behind the Dark Realm army.

Dozens of Light-Eroding Soldiers turned their heads toward him simultaneously.