Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 703 - 696: Associated Speculation

Chapter 703: Chapter 696: Associated Speculation

Throughout the entire battle, whether it was the advance team or the modern army in the back, none fired a shot—they quietly watched the knights fight. Part of the reason was their concern about accidentally injuring their allies, and partly because they were the second line of defense. Only if the monsters breached the knights’ defensive line would it be their chance to shine.

"Finally, it’s over. That was seriously nerve-wracking," Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at the brutal scene before his eyes.

"It seems like these knights are really strong too, not as weak as we imagined," Murong shook his head and said.

Luo’er gave him a glance and explained, "These knights have always been strong. We don’t worry about them because we have magic-breaking bullets. If you were to replace us with another Earth’s army, they would definitely be helpless against these knights."

"Home-field advantage, huh?" Murong commented.

With the end of the battle, the knights began to support each other, leaving the battlefield in pairs. They were exhausted. If another wave of monsters were to come, they’d have no strength to resist; it would then be up to the modern army in the back, waiting for their chance.

Because of the breathing masks, it was difficult for them to breathe, and their faces turned red. Their sweat filled the inside of the masks. Even so, they didn’t dare to casually remove the masks. They had already seen the consequences of infection without a serum from Earth, this interference was practically incurable.

"Ah, the rune has stopped!" Tangmo gently helped up Feng who had finished charging magic, glanced back, and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Following her gaze, everyone noticed the body of an exotic beast on the rune stone slab. The impact had caused the assembled rune slabs to scatter all over the ground, so naturally, the rune stopped as well.

"Luo’er, can we go check it out?" Tangmo turned her head and asked Luo’er with pleading eyes.

"Go on, but be careful," Luo’er nodded, pointing at Feng beside her and adding, "Remember to bring Feng along!"

"Okay, I got it!" With Luo’er’s approval, Tangmo delightedly nodded her head. She grabbed Feng with one hand, Baiyue with another, and the three of them ran towards the pillars. Those young magicians also helped up Shariya and a few other older magicians, following closely behind.

"Something seems off." Cheng Ziang walked to Luo’er’s side, speaking his concern in a low voice.

"What’s off?" Luo’er turned around and asked.

"The reverse rune has been closed, the monsters’ attack has stopped. Don’t you think it’s too coincidental?" Cheng Ziang looked at him and said with a solemn expression.

"You mean!" At his words, Luo’er immediately widened her eyes.

"I’ve been pondering from the start why these monsters launched such an aggressive attack without any concern for their own lives," Cheng Ziang pondered, "After the activation of the rune, they started attacking. When the rune stopped, they stopped attacking. To be honest, I don’t think it’s a coincidence; it’s apparent that those monsters can perceive the Door of Annihilation about to close."

Listening to Cheng Ziang’s words, Luo’er also realized something was not right. He turned his head and looked at Tangmo and the magicians not far away, gritted his teeth and ordered loudly, "Everyone, follow and keep alert. If anything seems off, immediately bring them back and retreat!"

"Got it!" Hu Daoke, who was whispering with Wu Tairan, responded absentmindedly and walked forward with his machine gun.

"Be serious," Cheng Ziang stepped in front of him, speaking solemnly, "Stay alert, those monsters might be coming again."

"How do you know that?" Hu Daoke asked with a surprised look.

"Trust me, don’t dawdle, something will happen!" Cheng Ziang didn’t explain but spoke earnestly.

"Got it!" Faced with Cheng Ziang’s serious expression, Hu Daoke, surprisingly, did not argue, instead, he became alert and raised his machine gun.

Tangmo and Baiyue arrived beneath the pillar and looked at the body of the exotic beast. It had been stabbed three times in the chest by the knight, and slippery blood was constantly flowing out, leaving a trail of blood on the ground. It staggered towards the rune stone slab and collapsed there with a thud.

Seeing this, Tangmo and Baiyue exchanged a glance and then, disregarding the disgusting sight, used their effort to push away the corpse of the exotic beast. Feng did not join them and continued to stand guard with her back to them. Even if she had joined, it would have been of no help—her strength was not great, she mainly relied on magic and swordsmanship for combat.

Shariya called a few young magicians over to help. Despite being magicians, they all wore gas masks and rubber gloves, which to a certain extent could immunize them against virus attacks.

With the efforts of a few people, the corpses of the exotic beasts were pushed aside. Immediately afterwards, Tangmo began to level the land and reassemble the rune stone slabs.

"Moumou, wait a minute!" At that moment, Luo’er rushed to her and held out his hand to stop her.

"What’s wrong?" Tangmo lifted her head, looking at him puzzledly.

"As soon as the rune is activated, all of you retreat immediately!" Luo’er said anxiously.

"But..." Tangmo wanted to speak but stopped.

"Trust me," Luo’er said, then turned his head and whispered to Fulajie’er, "Fula, monitor the situation of the Door of Annihilation at all times and notify us immediately if anything happens."

"Okay, I get it!" In front of others, Fulajie’er was very obedient, her voice very low, although she didn’t rely on sound waves to transmit her voice.

"Luo’er, what exactly is going on?" Baiyue came up to him and couldn’t help asking after hesitating for a while.

Luo’er glanced at her, then at Tangmo, and said seriously, "The monster’s attack may be related to the activation of the rune, I suspect they can sense that the Door of Annihilation is about to close, so they launch the attack. So, I worry that as soon as we reactivate the rune, they will likely launch a vigorous assault again, but this time we don’t have any knights to resist them, so once the rune is activated, we all must retreat to the second-line position."

"So..." Upon hearing Luo’er’s explanation, Tangmo’s eyes widened in surprise, "Those monsters just now, were they actually attracted by us?"

"It’s not that simple, but it indeed has something to do with the activation of the rune, so as soon as the rune is activated, we all need to retreat." Luo’er said.

"But then, they will just destroy the rune again." Tangmo expressed her worry.

"Hmm..." Hearing her words, Luo’er fell into a brief thought, then looked towards Shariya in the distance and asked, "Dean Shariya, how long at a minimum does it take to close the Door of Annihilation with this rune?"

"Theoretically, it can complete the closure in just over an hour, but that’s just the theoretical speed, the actual situation depends on the concentration of magic power, after all, the main source of magic power for this rune is the magic power in the air." Shariya pondered.

"Can you be more specific?" Luo’er frowned and asked.

"Hmm," Shariya thought for a moment, then said, "If the magic power in the air fluctuates, it may take at least two hours to complete the final ritual."

"Two hours, but the battle has lasted for four hours." Hearing Shariya’s words, Luo’er couldn’t help but question Cheng Ziang’s theory.

Noticing Luo’er’s expression, Ziang stepped forward and asked, "Dean Shariya, if this rune is destroyed, will the closure process come to a complete stop immediately?"

"It won’t," Shariya pointed to the glowing runes on the door pillar and explained, "Look at the runes on the pillars, the counteractive effect produced by our runes must pass through all the patterns to take effect. But if this rune is destroyed, this reverse effect will not disappear immediately, but it will decay slowly, just like when it was input, until it is completely eliminated. If the rune is reconnected at this time, it can continue to grow slowly."

Hearing his words, Ziang nodded understandingly, his inner doubts also being answered. He turned his head towards Luo’er and said, "In principle, it’ll only take effect after two hours. When the two hours were up, the rune was destroyed, so the progress began to decrease. But the decrease process is still considered a closing state, so it continued for another two hours, until the decrease was completely over, which is four hours!"

"I see!" Luo’er nodded in understanding, now comprehending the point Cheng Ziang was trying to make.

The rune was destroyed two hours into the battle, so the progress began to diminish. But this diminishing process was still regarded by the monsters of the Annihilating World as a process of closure, so they continued to attack until the progress completely came to a halt two hours later, and their attacks also ceased.

This process took exactly four hours.