Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 708 - 701: The Last Stroke Fails

Chapter 708: Chapter 701: The Last Stroke Fails

Following that, countless thick tentacles surged from the purple barrier of the Door of Annihilation, ceaselessly wafting in mid-air, presenting a horrifying scene.

These tentacles were like the ones they had come across hours ago, with fleshy suckers attached to the bottom, and having a dark purple skin on top. The skin had dark patches clustered all over.

These tentacles, several tens of meters long, danced wildly in midair, like bedlam unleashed. After a short pause, the tentacles immediately swept towards the ground, sticking to everything with their meaty suckers, then wrapping and dragging them into the Door of Annihilation.

Upon seeing this, the knights started to waver, as these tentacles were launching indiscriminate attacks. Everything on the ground, be it the corpses of monsters or the monsters still in action, were all wrapped by the tentacles and pulled into the Door of Annihilation.

Unlucky ones soon appeared. Some knights, caught unguarded, were lifted mid-air by a coiling tentacle. After they issued their dying screams, they were then dragged inside the Door of Annihilation.

Apparently, Naptios was smart as well as cunning. Instead of directly crossing the Door of Annihilation and initiating an attack on the people of the Otherworld, it stayed in the world of Annihilation, employing its tentacles to ensnare its prey.

The only visible thing now was the huge hand stretching out of it, tightly gripping the top of the pillar where the advance team was located.

The hand was an oddity with just three stout fingers, two in front, and one thumb behind. Each finger had a thick triangular nail at its end which almost entirely covered the finger tips, making the fingers appear conical.

Judging from the exposed palm, its skin appeared very roughhewn with an overall greyish-black hue. Upon close inspection, one could see dark patches identical to those on the tentacles scattered across the back of its hand.

Naptios held the door frame tightly, launching attacks with its tentacles upon the enemies on this side, in a bid to prevent them from closing the Door of Annihilation.

According to the young mage’s description, Naptios’ tentacles were primarily concentrated on its head and could also be described as hair on its head. Considering this, Luo’er could roughly infer Naptios’ current posture beyond the door.

As per the mage’s description, grown-up Naptios was more than forty meters tall, whereas, the Door of Annihilation was barely more than ten meters high – a quarter of its height. This was probably the reason for its hesitance. If drawn through the Door, it would have to crawl on the ground gradually, making it an easy target for collective fire.

Although its tentacles were around, they were not much of a fighter. Feng’s strikes, though not too powerful, could easily sever them, implying that the strength of these tentacles could not be guaranteed.

For Luo’er, this was both bad and good news. The bad news was that Naptios could crawl through the Door of Annihilation into this world. Good news, on the other hand, was that it currently showed no intent of entering the Door of Annihilation.

"Be careful, Luo’er!" While Luo’er was analyzing Naptios’ behavior, all of a sudden, he heard Fulajie’er’s anxious and loud yell.

Immediately after, a tentacle appeared swooshing towards him only to be stopped by an invisible barrier less than five meters in front. The tentacle struck the barrier hard, made a dull, thumping sound, and coiled up into a ball.

"Everyone, come to me! I will protect you all!" At that moment, Shariya raised his magic wand and loudly called out to everyone.

After gathering everyone by his side, Shariya began chanting his spells. Shortly after, a huge arc-shaped barrier appeared and covered everyone. Two tentacles sensing an attack struck hard against the barrier, making another dull thump.

The attack by the tentacles could not be taken lightly. After being stricken twice, everyone present buzzed in their ears. Feng, with wide-open eyes, impatiently monitored the tentacles wafting in the air. At Luo’er’s nod, she’d probably strike the next instant.

"Are we okay, Dean Shariya?" Luo’er turned his head to ask Shariya.

Shariya was chanting his spells and did not have the time to answer his question. Facing Luo’er’s questioning gaze, Shariya shook his head.

"The knights are defeated!" Hu Daoke pointed outside and exclaimed loudly.

Following his gaze, it could be seen that the knights, who were fighting more fiercely with each passing second, were finally unable to withstand the terror brought by the tentacles’ attacks. Soldiers began to desert, eventually leading to a massive scale retreat.

Some knights attempted to rescue their whisked-away comrades, but a tentacle swept past, heaving even their heavily-armored bodies into the air before brutally crashing them onto the ground.

As mentioned before, rune armor is excellent when it comes to fending off sharp weapons, but ineffective against blunt force trauma. Bullets may not pierce their armor effectively, but the shockwave from a shell explosion can be instantly fatal, regardless of whether the shell fragments penetrate their armor or not.

Thus, after brutally smashing to the ground, these knights lost their lives from within their seemingly indestructible armors.

"They did their best..." Upon seeing the knights beginning to scatter, Cheng Ziang didn’t feel anger, but instead sighed deeply with a shake of his head.

"As it stands, we’ve now become the primary targets." Murong spoke, looking worried.

"Should we retreat as well?" Shangguan Jiu suggested, somewhat scared.

"No, we need to defend the runes and prevent them from being disrupted again." Luo’er argued with a grit of his teeth.

"Luo’er, at the moment Dean Shariya is activating a magic shield and has absorbed too much magic. Therefore, the door of annihilation may close later than we had planned." Tangmo told him.

Hearing her words, Luo’er felt his head spinning. He sighed deeply, lowered his head for a moment in deep thought, then lifted his head again and issued a serious order, "We need to find a way to stall it. We can’t use magic here, but it would be best if we could lure it to the other side of the gate."

"Should we call for support?" Cheng Ziang suggested.

"Yes," Luo’er nodded, then ordered loudly, "Fula, tell the transport plane to move left and fire at the tentacle to draw it to the other side of the door!"

"Understood!" Fulajie’er quickly responded before flying off into the sky. Upon hearing her voice, Shariya, who was originally chanting magic, widened her eyes in disbelief.

After receiving Luo’er’s command, the transport plane began to move towards the other side of the door. Simultaneously, the machine guns mounted on its rear started firing at the tentacles.

"Dada, dada, dada..."

The large-caliber bullets concentrated fire on the spinning tentacles in mid-air, blasting them into sprays of blood. The inky blue liquid was splashed all over the place. Several shots hit one tentacle and severed it completely. Still writhing, the severed tentacle crashed heavily onto the ground.

More bullets penetrated the barrier of the Door of Annihilation, striking the body of Naptios in the Otherworld. Naptios seemed exceptionally furious and began wildly swinging its tentacles in a desperate search for the source of the attacks.

The huge hand that was propped against the doorframe clenched in anger, its attached vines were squashed into debris and fell from the doorframe.

Suddenly, Naptios loosened its grip on the doorframe, and began exerting force into its left hand. Before everyone’s eyes, its palm formed a fist and hammered heavily onto its previous grip on the doorframe.

The debilitating impact created shock-waves that made everyone nearby shudder. The doorframe visibly shook, and the vines and lichens attached to it shook off, crumbling to the ground due to the vibrations.

Then, that humongous hand was raised high, all the way to the top of the door. As everyone watched in horror, the hand slammed down heavily towards them.

"Move!" Seeing the giant palm swoop down, Luo’er didn’t hesitate. While shouting at the top of his lungs, he flung his arms wide open, and herded the group around him to the right to circumvent it.

"Boom!"

The gigantic palm heavily smashed into where Luo’er had just been standing, powerfully imprinting a palm shape several dozen centimeters deep into the ground. The surrounding soil was squished and cracked, lifting those standing on it and tossing them to the sides.