The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 178 - 130 Loss of Defense

Chapter 178: Chapter 130 Loss of Defense

The lower half of the giant insect’s body was worm-like, and its upper body resembled a giant with a withered face, bulging eyes, and filthy green skin, covered in black growths and tumors.

Its arrival made everyone extremely nervous.

Rod had already prepared to use the "Spiritual Power Fifth Layer Melody", but the giant insect did not approach Sword Pass. After wandering around in the distance for a while, it suddenly thrust both hands into its abdomen.

Accompanied by a large amount of filthy green pus, the giant insect pulled out two giant swords, grim with bone, and started hacking and slashing wildly at the monsters around it.

The provoked monsters retaliated.

Everyone watched in stunned silence as a brawl ensued among the creatures outside Sword Pass.

The giant insect was like a War God, intercepting more than eighty percent of the black tide, slaughtering wantonly among the waves of monsters, as if experiencing a bizarre kind of exhilaration.

Steel Hand shouted ecstatically, "This is the supreme will of the Holy Fire aiding us!"

Mo’er said, "Hurry and let the warriors recover. The damaged parts of the fortress need to be repaired. The longer we drag this out, the greater our hope becomes. If something unexpected has happened to the reinforcement troops and Sword Pass sends no information, Dawn Fortress is bound to notice sooner or later."

This statement received widespread agreement, and Steel Hand called out loudly, "Brothers, get busy!"

Although Rod felt somewhat regretful, at least their safety was now assured.

The giant insect outside Sword Pass did not stop its fight even for a moment, but showed no signs of weakening. Instead, it seemed to grow stronger as it fought, easing everyone’s worries yet raising some concerns.

Overall, however, they hoped the giant insect would keep on killing.

Even if they had to face a very strong monster in the future, it would be better than slowly dying under an endless onslaught.

However, the next day when Rod woke up, the giant insect was gone.

One thousand eight hundred yards away from Sword Pass, where the giant insect had stood like a rock against the black tide, there was now nothing.

The torrent of monsters quickly returned to its former strength.

The warriors, having only had one day to repair, found themselves back in combat.

The battle became even more intense. Rod thought of using "Spiritual Power Fifth Layer Melody" multiple times, but Steel Hand stopped him each time.

He told Rod that using the Spiritual Energy Cannon now would only stall the black tide for an instant.

Even more powerful monsters from behind would surge forth, creating even greater pressure on Sword Pass.

The best approach for now was to use a cumulative effect, letting the Spiritual Power Generator withstand the pressure and letting the fire kill the monsters.

Rod was anxious inside, but he had no choice but to follow the suggestion.

Black Crystal was the main energy source for the Spiritual Power Generator. Rod provided a hundred pieces, and with the forty from storage, there were a hundred and forty in total. Now, only a dozen or so were left.

But fortunately, the Spiritual Power Generator could be directly powered by Spiritual Energy, although much less efficiently than by Black Crystal.

During this period, it was entirely thanks to Mina and the warriors taking turns to channel Spiritual Energy into the generator that they had been able to hold out until now.

Rod complied with Steel Hand’s request to help them. His abundant Spiritual Energy greatly relieved their pressure, allowing Mina to exhale a long breath.

And Steel Hand employed a closing strategy, abandoning the walls and defending only the interior of the fortress.

This finally reduced the pressure to an acceptable level.

But soon, Steel Hand received a scolding message from Dawn Fortress, questioning why he let Sword Pass "go inactive" and what gave him the authority to make such a decision.

They demanded that he immediately restore the defensive state of Sword Pass to stop all monsters.

Steel Hand was both surprised and incredulous that the first message from Dawn Fortress, after a long silence, was an accusation, without a single word about reinforcements.

He immediately wrote a lengthy response, explaining in detail the recent events and the necessity and reluctance of his decisions.

But, just like before, he received no reply.

The fourteenth day.

The Spiritual Power Generator could not hold up any longer, and because of excessive use of Spiritual Energy, Mina fainted in the basement.

Mo’er had no choice but to reignite the Guardian Fire.

The flare of fire cleaned out all the nearby monsters, but the fire’s range then dropped to a hundred yards.

It barely covered the fortress.

The fifteenth day.

Mo’er ignited the Guardian Fire again to deal with a group of powerful Corpse Ghosts.

The range of the fire had dropped to 60 yards.

About a third of the fortress now lay outside the reach of the fire’s glow.

The warriors retreated from the upper levels of the fortress to the interior.

Mo’er and Steel Hand knew that Sword Pass probably wouldn’t hold, and according to Trolian military regulations, they were allowed to retreat.

Steel Hand quickly made all the preparations, and once again sent out letters to Dawn Fortress, Giant Fortress, and all the other positions in the rear.

To ensure the delivery of the information, Steel Hand also specially dispatched two warriors to relay the message to the positions in the rear and the teams that were in the process of moving.

Mo’er then switched the Guardian Fire from its landed state back to a hovering state.

This would deplete a lot of the Guardian Fire’s strength.

But Rod had provided him with plenty of Fuel Element, so there was no need to worry too much about this point.

What was worrying was that once the Guardian Fire left the ground, its power depletion would accelerate, and its ability to suppress monsters would be greatly reduced.

How to retreat safely was the problem they needed to consider.

The sixteenth day.

The Spiritual Power Generator finally reached its limit, and the tree-like red crystal shattered abruptly, scattering across the ground.

Sword Pass Fortress collapsed in response, with a large portion crumbling down.

But Steel Hand had the foresight to gather all the personnel into the underground emergency escape tunnel.

Mo’er re-encased the Guardian Fire in the bronze lamp, but its light was far from the hundred-yard radiance it originally had when leaving the Royal City.

It was less than twenty yards, or about sixty steps in distance.

More than a hundred people, including warriors and logistics personnel, had no choice but to squeeze into such a small space.

Steel Hand tried to have the warriors stand on the outside of the circle, allowing logistics personnel and the injured to be inside, moving along the escape passage.

The warriors were in low spirits, many sobbing out loud, and the trainees were also very confused.

Had they defended Sword Pass for so long only to be breached like this?

Steel Hand wanted to say some comforting words to boost morale, but before he could speak, Rod’s voice rose loudly,

"Don’t be sad, everyone, we have not failed!"

"Sword Pass may indeed have been lost, but we are still alive, and who’s to say we can’t make a comeback later? This is keeping the people while losing the land, both people and land survive."

"If Sword Pass stands but we are dead, what difference does it make from losing it? This is keeping the land while losing the people, both people and land are lost."

These words made a lot of sense, and no one had thought to look at it from this angle before.

Many felt much better all of a sudden.

Then, they heard Rod say, "We’re not running away, we have made our greatest efforts, we have fought to the very last moment, and now, a strategic move is the wisest choice."

"Given time, who’s to say we can’t become stronger, who’s to say a new Fire Holder won’t appear, maybe he will be the great savior?"

"By preserving ourselves now, we can kill even more monsters in the future; this is the fire from the stars that can start a prairie fire."

In that moment, Steel Hand felt as if he saw something blazing hot rising up.

Many cried out loud, while others laughed heartily.

Steel Hand couldn’t help but exclaim, "Who would have thought, young as he is, Rod has the makings of a Commander. If only he had been born thirty years earlier."

Mo’er stroked his chin, pondering the matters they would face upon their return.

A logistics personnel cried, "Mom, I want to ignite my Soul Fire, I want to be a combatant."

Karamon hugged him and cried as well, "Wah, wah, I don’t want a girlfriend anymore, I want to train!"

"Alright, alright!"

Rod pushed Karamon away with disdain; the guy was always smearing snot on him.

"Don’t celebrate too soon, we still need to figure out how to get back. Where does this passage end?"

Steel Hand said with a smile, "On the eastern side of the Dead Mountain Range, near the Big Swamp, it’s relatively safe."

Rod was reassured. As long as it was safe, that was all that mattered.

His supplies were all used up, with not a single True Silver Bullet or Thunder Stone left, only seven Sealing Spirit Bullets remained, and they were loaded in the Spirit Gun.

All of his summons were depleted too, leaving only two Wood Puppets.

Now Rod had virtually no fighting power; hurriedly returning to the Royal City was the priority.

This expedition had seen a tremendous surge in his strength; it was time to properly consolidate and digest it.

If he could master more combat skills, his battle power would leap to another level.

Thinking this, Rod followed Steel Hand out of the escape route.

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