Chapter 37: Rescue?
The night was as dark as ink, with torches lined up side by side on the walls of Crescent Fortress. Wolf cavalrymen were standing guard, occasionally yawning.
On the battlefield, the wolf cavalry were impeccable—brave, fearless, willing to risk their lives as long as they were fed, and loyal enough.
But in peacetime, the wolf cavalry were a bit lax. They wouldn't make major mistakes, but expecting them to stare straight into the distance was impossible.
At that moment, ten kilometers away from Moonlight Fortress, inside a temporarily excavated underground space, Zange and his group were setting something up.
"Is it ready?"
In the flickering torchlight, Zange stood beside a formation. This was a unique technique of the Duoyin Empire, mastered by the fat dwarf in the exploration team. It was a secret—if the Duoyin Empire found out, things would get very bad.
"No problem, but you only have a quarter of an hour. After that, I won't be able to pull you back. And that's only because we're using elven gems; otherwise, you'd only have a third of that time."
The fat dwarf's hands were pressed against the ground; he was the one controlling the formation.
"Then let's begin. Make sure it's accurate, so we can get inside the fortress."
Zange stepped onto the formation, followed closely by his sister, Vinnika, and the red-haired woman.
"Here we go."
The fat dwarf bit down on the gem in his mouth, and light surged across the array on the ground. When Zange and the other two came to their senses, they were between two stone houses—they had successfully infiltrated Moonlight Fortress.
Almost at the same time, inside a stone building far away, Su Xiao's eyes suddenly snapped open. He sat up from the bed. Just a moment ago, he had sensed a blood energy mark he had left behind. It wasn't far away, but it was within the fortress.
Su Xiao patted Bubu Wang awake, and the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in his hand.
With a whoosh, the night wind blew the curtains aside, the window swung wide open, and Su Xiao and Bubu Wang had already vanished from the room.
Inside the fortress, the snoring of the grey orcs rose and fell, occasionally interrupted by pained yelps—some grey orc had snored too loudly, angering a bad-tempered dire wolf, which bit them.
Three sneaky figures were moving quietly through the fortress, hugging the walls. Zange led the way. Before coming, he had already learned the location of the dire wolf leader—a piece of precious intelligence obtained at the cost of thirty-seven elven scouts.
Zange and his group moved between the buildings and soon approached a large stone house. Without any visible action from Vinnika, several wolf cavalrymen in front of the large stone house suddenly collapsed, snoring away alongside their dire wolves.
Zange and the red-haired woman were long accustomed to this. The three pushed open the stone house's door and tiptoed inside.
Inside the large stone house were two big iron cages. The one-eyed old wolf, Lycaon, and the dire wolf leader were both inside. Seeing this, Zange breathed a sigh of relief. The elf, Dimoye, hadn't lied to him—the dire wolf leader, the white wolf, was indeed imprisoned.
"White Wolf, wake up."
Zange tapped the bars of the iron cage and called out softly. Hearing this, the white wolf and the one-eyed old wolf both woke up.
"Humans?"
The one-eyed old wolf looked confused. Hearing it speak human language surprised Zange and the others, but seeing the markings on its body, they understood what was going on.
"We mean no harm. We'll get you out soon."
Zange put on a friendly smile and began picking the lock.
"?"
"?"
Both the one-eyed old wolf and the white wolf were baffled. They had been woken up and thought it was time for a midnight snack. But they had eaten too much tonight and couldn't stomach any more. Just as they were about to scold the grey orc who had disturbed their dreams, they realized it wasn't a snack delivery—it was a "rescue."
Don't think the one-eyed old wolf and the white wolf had low status. In the wolf cavalry legion, Su Xiao was at the top, the second tier was Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, the third tier was the orc hero, Wobor, and then the one-eyed old wolf and the white wolf.
"Thank you sincerely, several of you."
The one-eyed old wolf said this, but in reality, it was looking for the wolf cavalry. This old bones of his had been kicked by Su Xiao last time and still hadn't recovered. As for the white wolf, its combat power wasn't very strong—just a bit stronger than an ordinary dire wolf. The white wolf's strength lay in its bloodline and resonance.
With a creak, the white wolf's iron cage was opened. Zange gestured for the white wolf to come out first, but the white wolf stepped back and lay down on the ground.
Crack~
A crisp sound came, followed by chewing. Hearing this, Zange's body trembled, and he looked toward the source of the sound.
Through the doorway, on the wooden roof opposite, a figure draped in a black velvet cloak was sitting there, holding a soul crystal in hand, chewing slowly.
A sharp whoosh suddenly came from beside Zange—it was the red-haired woman charging out. She pulled two strangely shaped wide-bladed short knives from her lower back and rushed toward Su Xiao with extremely agile steps.
"Don't go!"
Zange shouted, reaching forward with one hand and clenching it. The air in his hand crackled.
Boom.
A transparent wall fell in front of the red-haired woman, blocking her while also protecting her.
Zange lunged into the iron cage where the white wolf was, trying to grab it. His goal was to take the white wolf away.
Clang!
A blue-green blade light flashed past, and the iron cage holding the white wolf was cut in two. Since the white wolf had shrunk into the farthest corner, it wasn't hurt.
An arm thudded to the ground in front of the white wolf—it was Zange's right arm. Just one slash, and if his reaction hadn't been fast enough, he would have been cut in half.
Zange stepped back quickly, blood scattering along the ground where he passed. He crushed a gem in his hand, and fragments flew in all directions.
"Woof~"
A pained yelp reached Zange's ears. Not far from him, Bubu Wang jumped up in pain.
Bubu was a bit unlucky. One of the flying gem fragments had just stuck into its butt, causing it to momentarily break free from blending into the environment.
With a rumble, a surge of blood energy rushed over. The large stone house where Zange was shattered, and rubble flew to the other side.
At that moment, Zange's body was gradually becoming transparent. The same was happening to Vinnika and the red-haired woman, who was over ten meters away. This was a pre-planned retreat strategy—Zange wasn't stupid; he knew to plan ahead.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
Thump~
A shockwave spread out. Zange immediately felt everything around him slow down, the air as thick as amber. He instinctively lowered his head, and a slash passed just above him, nearly taking off the top of his skull.
At that moment, Zange felt as if all the blood in his body was about to freeze. Pressure—overwhelming pressure—surged from beside him, making his entire body feel like it was being pricked by needles.
In that instant, Zange felt the power within him burst forth completely.
Pfft!
A few drops of blood splattered. Zange turned his head, eyes wide, and the scene before him froze him in place. Over ten meters away, the red-haired woman was kneeling on the ground, her throat pierced by Dragon-Slaying Flash, blood gushing from her mouth as she gripped the blade with both hands.
"Go... quickly."
Before she could finish, Su Xiao had already pulled out the longsword and vanished in an instant. Around him, the faint sound of clashing chains could be heard.
"No!"
Zange roared, raising his hand as if to grab the red-haired woman from a distance. But with a thud, she fell to the ground, losing all signs of life.
The wind pressure howled as a bloodstained longsword thrust straight toward Zange's head. A transparent wall appeared in front of him, but in an instant, it was pierced through. The tip of the blade was just a few centimeters from his brow.
Zange vanished from the spot, and Vinnika did the same. All around were broken building debris.
Su Xiao's gaze swept the surroundings. With a flick of his longsword, the transparent wall in front of him shattered.
Crack, crack~
Invisible chains broke all over Su Xiao's body. This was an enemy ability, somewhat troublesome. It seemed connected to the surrounding space—no, it should be connected to the surrounding world. Otherwise, he could have left all three infiltrators behind.
[Tip: You have killed Duoyin Empire Princess·Seraifuya.]
[You have gained 6.52% World Source.]
[You have gained Holy Spirit Chest (29%).]
Seeing this kill notification, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow. The Duoyin princess had actually joined the protagonist's team. That was interesting.
"These people came to rescue the white wolf."
The one-eyed old wolf let out a dry laugh. It also found this baffling. If they had come to kill the white wolf, that would be normal. But rescuing it? That was truly incomprehensible.
"Find yourselves new cages."
Leaving these words, Su Xiao walked toward the stone building where he was staying to go back to sleep. He believed that the World Child would come to him willingly—it was only a matter of time.
Returning to the third floor of the stone building, Su Xiao helped Bubu Wang remove the gem fragment from its wound, bandaged it, and then lay down to sleep. He was used to such skirmishes.
Bubu Wang also fell asleep. In its dreams, it occasionally whimpered, as if having a nightmare, its hind legs twitching now and then.
He slept until 6 a.m. Su Xiao woke up, stared blankly for a moment, then looked at the rising sun outside the window. It was time to attack the Aier Great Forest. Once he captured that place, he could determine whether the Void Tree Fruit was in the hands of the Elf Queen.
The War Lord had just been promoted to seven stars not long ago. Su Xiao wanted to know how long it would take for the 500,000 wolf cavalry, boosted by the War Lord's effects, to conquer the Aier Great Forest.