Chapter Forty-Six: On the Road

From the Jinsong Valley outpost, the area stretching about two hundred kilometers to the south lay entirely shrouded in dust storms. At the flying speed of the Boar-headed Winged Beast, it would take around three hours to escape this zone. If the players were to travel on foot, it would take nearly two days to make it through, provided they did not encounter any dangerous enemies or extreme weather along the way.

Now, with two Knight VII Model IVs at their disposal, the journey had become much easier. Although these machines moved slower than the Boar-headed Winged Beast—covering about thirty kilometers per hour—their advantage lay in the fact that only one person needed to steer while the others could spend their time within the machine practicing or studying as they pleased.

Liu Zong and Liu Chun, both summoners of the Knight VII Model IVs, were not supposed to operate the machines themselves; otherwise, the other players might suspect they had gained complete control over these constructs. Thus, the task of navigation fell to Zhu Yan, Xu Linlin, and two other players: Chen Jialiang, Zhu Yan's junior apprentice, and Andabia, a youthful, blond player adept in both wind magic and martial arts, and the only one among them capable of flight.

According to Liu Chun, Andabia had already taken the first step on his path, and now all he needed was that final breakthrough.

The four players took turns controlling the two Knight VII Model IVs, and after roughly seven hours, they finally emerged from the dust storm's reach.

Once they were clear, Zhu Yan, standing atop the Knight VII Model IV—Zhu Zhi—pulled out the map, glanced at the sky, and oriented their position. Only then did the machines turn northward. The players who had been resting inside were summoned out onto the backs of the machines. From this point onward, they could no longer relax within the safety of the interior; instead, they had to remain vigilant and ready for combat at a moment’s notice.

This precaution proved necessary. Barely half an hour after leaving the sandstorm, they faced their first attack.

Their assailants were a group of ragged, short-statured humans, similar in appearance to the residents of the Jinsong Valley outpost, with the same ashen-grey skin. Their weapons were mostly metal spears and curved blades. Liu Zong noted that the style of their blades resembled the ones he had found before, though these were plainly forged from metal, not crafted from wild boar tusks.

There were about forty of them in total. They had lain in wait underground, springing up only as the Knight VII Model IVs passed, aiming to climb aboard the machines. It was clear these were natives of the Storm Isles as well, fully aware of both the strengths and weaknesses of the Knight VII Model IVs. Upon attacking, they immediately rushed for the machines' underbellies—a blind spot in their defenses—where they could strike at the limbs without being targeted by the main weapons.

The players, unaware of this vulnerability, realized the danger only after the attackers had been at it for some time. They were forced to halt the machines and leap down to engage in close combat.

In the heat of battle, the players quickly discovered these foes were anything but weak. Each of them was around Lv0 (8-star) in strength, comparable to Liu Zong himself. Their numbers and effective coordination gave the players a hard time, leaving them momentarily disorganized.

Liu Zong, however, was not the one struggling most. Having chosen the Reaper class, which emphasized melee combat over spells, he had maintained his combat reflexes through years of rigorous training. Even after switching paths, his skills had not atrophied. Moreover, he had recently honed his spear technique, so even when facing two or three enemies at once, though he might not win swiftly, he would not be defeated.

In fact, when Liu Zong first jumped down, he managed to land a direct thrust on an enemy, taking him down instantly, leaving no hope for survival.

Amidst the chaos below the Knight VII Model IV, Zhu Yan frowned at the scene and shouted, "Hold them off, everyone! I’m about to unleash my ultimate move!"

Spurred on, Liu Zong spun his spear with greater speed, holding off at least four nearby foes.

Had anyone looked up at that moment, they would have seen Zhu Yan, standing atop the head of Zhu Zhi, slowly rising into the air. Zhu Zhi’s eyes blazed with a white-hot light, bathing Zhu Yan in a crimson glow.

As her body changed, Zhu Yan floated higher and higher, until she hovered some twenty meters above the ground. She raised her right hand high, palm slightly open, then slowly clenched it into a fist and declared, "Blazing Meteor!"

As soon as the words left her lips, her fist shone with incandescent light, and a massive projection of her fist fell like a meteor to the earth below, unleashing a shockwave centered on Zhu Zhi.

Amidst the fighting, Liu Zong heard a deafening crash. The ground quaked, and he sensed something beneath the surface erupting. The tremor ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Looking up, Liu Zong saw his enemies sprawled on the ground, in even worse shape than himself. Their skin was flushed red, and blood streamed from their eyes—they had clearly suffered grievous injuries.

Recognizing the opportunity, Liu Zong wasted no time. If these foes regained their senses, it would be disastrous. Without hesitation, he drove his spear into the four fallen enemies before him, killing them one by one.

The other players likewise seized the chance. By the time Zhu Yan descended atop Zhu Zhi again, all of their enemies on the ground were dead.

After leaping down from Zhu Zhi, Zhu Yan meticulously examined each corpse. At last, she announced gravely, "I didn’t expect they’d reached this far. We need to move faster."

She then turned to Liu Chun. "Check these bodies for anything useful. If you can use them, process them. We can't afford to fight every battle ourselves—we have to conserve our strength."

Liu Chun nodded and beckoned Liu Zong over. The two of them examined the corpses and quickly concluded that from the forty-odd bodies, they could assemble about ten ordinary undead.