Chapter 86: The Beginning of the Storm

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: The Beginning of the Storm

To help himself save physical strength, Jeremy channeled magic power into the void, condensing a glowing silk ribbon. Relying on the sounds of footsteps and breathing, he accurately placed the end of the ribbon into the hands of his four teammates: "Hold onto this, just follow me."

"Sure thing." Lucius the corners of his lips slightly, his languid voice carrying a hint of a smile.

The remaining three didn’t reply, only tightly gripping the silk ribbon, silently following closely on his heels.

This time, no one was sure how much time had passed. Finally, after experiencing countless stumbles and draining their mental energy, the group successfully escaped the suppression range of the tower at the bottom of the sea.

The water outside was quite calm at this moment. Along their escape route, they only encountered a few stray magical beasts. Fighting in a state of blindness was truly a physical-draining challenge, but relying on the murderous intent and the streams of magical energy radiating from the magical beasts, the five of them still decisively swung their weapons to hack and slash. Although the process was somewhat grueling and their foreheads were drenched in sweat, at least no one ended up torn apart by the sharp teeth of the ferocious beasts.

This place still belonged to the F-rank area; compared to the hidden murderous intent inside the tower, this spot could temporarily be considered a safe haven.

Just as Jeremy frowned, his fingers lightly tapping on the hilt of his blade while contemplating whether to set up a resting camp at the bottom of the sea or continue moving to search for land, the surrounding water abruptly churned violently!

A tornado roared through the water layer. The originally calm seabed suddenly boiled like a giant pot of water placed over a fire, the temperature spiking and scalding their flesh.

A scene that seemed like a hallucination instantly crashed in. The boundless, shoreless sea completely evaporated within a few short minutes, leaving behind an arid, cracked desert.

The moment the scorching, sharp grains of sand whipped straight into their faces, Jeremy and his four teammates shockingly realized that the peace just now was merely a deadly silence before a massive storm.

The sky was gray; the air was thick with suffocation.

In the hidden sand pits currently invisible to their naked eyes, gentle marine creatures were undergoing a frantic mutation. Smooth scales peeled off in large patches, flesh and blood rolling into deformed tumors. Their swollen, bloodshot, congested eyeballs bulged outward, rolling incessantly. From the gaps of their sharp fangs, streams of yellow, putrid pus continuously leaked out.

Swarms of deformed wasteland magical beasts crawled up from beneath the yellow sand. The rustling sound of scales rubbing and claws scratching against the ground was magnified infinitely.

In mid-air, the ear-piercing shrieks of demon birds tore at the eardrums. Bizarre sounds from all directions crashed in relentlessly, weaving into an endless requiem for the dead.

A group of magical beasts had caught the scent of the fresh flesh and blood of the five outsiders. They opened their putrid maws, stepping by step narrowing their encirclement.

Without needing sight, the five relied entirely on their sharp sense of touch and the changing environmental temperature to assess the situation. The biggest difficulty right now was that their eyes had been disabled, forcing them to push all their other senses to the absolute maximum. Every person’s muscles were tense, ready to explode.

Sounds of varying frequencies scattered everywhere. From the pitch-black sky to the trembling ground, magical beasts had tightly surrounded them. They formed an inescapable net, ruthlessly cutting off any route of retreat.

At this moment, all five youths tightened their grips on their weapons. They understood perfectly well that today, no one might be able to retreat intact.

A Sacred Weapon condensed in Jeremy’s palm. Even though he couldn’t see the shapes of the enemies, through the echoing growls and the suffocating concentration of demonic aura assaulting his nose, he could more than imagine how close the boundary between life and death was.

His breathing deepened. Originally, he had planned for the entire team to raise their realm by one tier before officially starting the hunting mission entrusted by Griffin. But the situation was pressing; all plans had to be pushed forward.

The magic power silk ribbon connecting the five shattered into specks of light. Feeling the putrid wind closing in on his face, Jeremy instantly manifested his Sacred Weapon into a pair of glowing twin blades. His body spun decisively, swinging the blades in a ruthless horizontal slash.

The tragic shriek of a magical beast rang out. Without pausing, Jeremy relied on his sharp intuition, his sinewy wrists tightening, borrowing the momentum of his spin to swing his blades a second time.

The blades shrieked as they tore through the wind; black blood splattered wildly from the magical beast’s body. Due to his restricted vision, he couldn’t dodge in time, and a portion of the foul-smelling blood splashed straight onto the back of his hand. A sizzling sound rang out; a burning sensation spread like fire burning his bones and muscles.

The blood of wasteland magical beasts possessed extremely strong corrosive toxicity. The higher the tier, the more horrifying the destructive power. The intense pain of flesh being burned alive transmitted to his brain, but Jeremy only slightly clenched his jaw, not letting a single groan escape.

A wave of monsters frantically lunged forward. Jeremy ignored the bubbling wound on his hand; his twin blades danced in deadly arcs. At the same time, his chest heaved, silently chanting an incantation. An overwhelming undead aura crashed down; the ice elemental magic - ’Thawing Frost’ slammed heavily onto the battlefield.

Bone-chilling cold spread, freezing the layer of pus and blood on the ground. Jeremy didn’t care how many enemies he had taken down; he stomped his foot, directly activating his skill - Abyss of Death.

The undead rose; gloomy wails gradually drowned out the roars of the monster pack.

Not far away, Phoenix sensed this incredibly familiar magical fluctuation. Phoenix immediately chanted an incantation; the undead magic staff in Phoenix’s hand flashed with the silent nether light of death. Magic power condensed solidly, forming a buffing barrier, exploding the full undead power Jeremy had just unleashed.

Feeling the enemy’s pressure lessen by half, Jeremy tilted his head slightly, the corners of his lips curling into a sharp smile: "Nice coordination."

"...Just so-so." Phoenix habitually raised a hand to pull Phoenix’s hood down, hiding Phoenix’s murky gloom, burying as well the helpless sigh rising from the bottom of Phoenix’s heart.

"..." Today was probably the day Phoenix had spoken the most in the past few years. It was truly too exhausting ᗜ - ᗜ...

At the same time, on the right flank of the battlefield.

The two madmen fighting crazily without regard for life, Leon and Lucius, despite losing their sight, did not have a single trace of panic lingering on their faces. They completely abandoned defense, pouring all their magic power and muscles into killer attacks.

Leon’s Crescent Blades were originally twin chakrams, but he rarely used both, usually keeping one as a protective talisman. However, at this moment of being driven to a dead end, there was no reason to hide his true strength.

The moment the monsters swarmed in, the twin Crescent Blades from Leon’s hands let out a space-tearing shriek, flying out like azure crescent moons, lopping off rows of deformed heads with terrifying precision.

Before the next pack of monsters could lunge over, Leon raised his hand; invisible magic power pulled the chakrams spinning back. His slender fingertips grazed the blade edges still stained with black blood. The next second, his wrist snapped forcefully; the Crescent Blades spun like a tornado, carrying the power to tear all things apart as they charged straight into the pack of magical beasts.

The blades tightened; the cracking sound of shattering skulls mingled with the roars of magical beasts exploding in mid-air. Wherever the gray-blue arcs swept past, the bodies of the monsters were sliced flat; slimy flesh and blood poured down right in front of Leon’s shoes.

A drop of foul blood splattered onto his cheek; Leon frowned in disgust, the offensive in his hands becoming even more brutal and furious. If it weren’t for the fact that his pupils were currently empty and unfocused, perhaps no one would believe the monster slaughtering in the middle of the battlefield was a blind man.

Beside Leon, Lucius didn’t use a sword, but summoned the second form of Lucius’s Sacred Weapon - Fang of Abyss.

The twenty-six-segment long chain carried an attack range encompassing the entire area. Furthermore, Lucius’s Fang of Abyss possessed a target-locking effect, entirely capable of squeezing the life force out of enemies from all dead angles.

The chain body flickered with a cold, ruthless blue light. Lucius only slightly flicked his wrist; the tip of the chain instantly darted out like a venomous snake, tightly constricting the bloated body of a magical beast. The three-edged spike plunged into the mutated flesh; the icy blue flame of Soul Eater erupted, carrying horrifying corrosive power.

The burnt flesh sizzled; the magical beast tilted its neck back and let out gut-wrenching roars.

Right at that moment, behind Lucius’s back, a massive dark shadow silently opened its serrated maw wide, preparing to bite Lucius’s head off. Lucius seemed completely unaware.

In Lucius’s lightless eyes lay a faint layer of fog, silent as the Dead Sea, radiating an empty, bone-chillingly cold murderous intent that had never appeared before.