92: Chapter 92 Precarious Situation
He noticed.
Aunt Mi Xue was also staring in the same direction.
So this was the signal she had mentioned.
Lin Fan suddenly realized.
Qiao Yu and the others showed no reaction; clearly, with their strength as First-Order Mages, they could not perceive elemental fluctuations from such a distance.
Lin Fan remained calm, pretending he hadn't noticed anything.
"Let's go."
Aunt Mi Xue stood up the next instant.
She dashed straight toward the direction where the lightning was coming from.
Lin Fan and the others immediately got up to follow.
Lin Fan could tell that Aunt Mi Xue was not running at full speed so as not to leave them behind.
Yet even so, she instantly opened up a distance of over a hundred meters.
Lin Fan did not intend to reveal his strength, so he ran at the same pace as the others.
Along the way, they encountered a few Earth-type Gargoyles charging toward them.
But could these clumsy Gargoyles ever hope to catch up to Mages running at full speed?
In the blink of an eye.
They left the Gargoyles behind.
Like blurry shadows, they sped through the canyon.
Based on Lin Fan's judgment, at their current speed, they would reach the location where the lightning had erupted in about ten minutes.
Back at the giant pit.
Ge Ying had already returned to the rock to fight side by side with Yao Dong.
The two of them continuously cast Proficiency-level spells to suppress the Lizardman, while the others focused all their efforts on defending against the scale spikes.
The energy barriers of their defensive artifacts were already covered in cracks and could shatter at any moment.
Many were panting, drenched in sweat.
Their mana was being consumed rapidly, and exhaustion was accumulating, yet they dared not pause for even a second.
Ge Ying noticed that whenever the Lizardman saw something new, they would pause or retreat temporarily.
She began to take risks and attack, buying time for the others while they waited for rescue.
Occasionally, she would cast Lightning Rush on herself, transforming into a streak of purple lightning as she charged down to wreak havoc among the Lizardman army.
With her speed, the Lizardman couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes.
Flashing like lightning, she would kill or injure several before quickly retreating back to the rock.
Although this tactic was effective.
The Lizardman were gradually starting to adapt.
Whenever she charged down, the Lizardman would attempt to surround her, concentrating all their scale spikes to attack her alone.
While this gave the First-Order Mages a chance to catch their breath, it pushed Ge Ying into an extremely dangerous situation.
Of course, Yao Dong would provide support and cover from the rock, so the Lizardman's encirclement never succeeded.
However, Ge Ying also reduced the frequency of her raids and constantly changed her position.
Crack!
A crisp sound like glass shattering rang out.
One team member's energy barrier had already been full of cracks.
After being struck by five scale spikes simultaneously, it shattered instantly.
A scale spike pierced through the defense and drove deep into his thigh.
"Ah...!"
A shrill scream rang out.
The team member's eyes turned bloodshot, writhing in agony.
A team member nearby immediately filled the gap to hold the position while protecting the injured teammate.
Seeing this, Yao Dong and Ge Ying's expressions darkened.
With just one glance, they could see that the others were reaching their limits.
They had to use their final resort, otherwise, everyone would die here.
"Bring him back into the pit! Everyone, get into the pit immediately!"
Yao Dong roared.
Ge Ying seemed to have been waiting for these words.
She instantly dashed to the injured team member, grabbed his clothes, dragged him off the rock, and leaped into the giant pit.
Bang!
Landing heavily on her feet, she set the injured person down.
The screaming had subsided, but he was deathly pale.
The scale spike had pierced through his thigh, but it had temporarily plugged the wound, preventing him from dying of blood loss.
Ge Ying also landed.
Her expression was calm, but she was drenched in sweat, her hair sticking to her cheeks, exhausted.
The others jumped back into the pit one after another.
Everyone was exhausted and soaked in sweat.
Some looked like they might faint at any moment.
Yao Dong was the last to jump into the giant pit.
After landing, he raised his hand and clenched it; a small circular disc appeared in his palm.
That was a Tier 2 defensive magic artifact.
It had originally been prepared for encountering mutated magical beasts.
Who would have thought that today, he would be forced to use it on a group of ordinary magical beasts.
But the situation left him no room to be stingy; if he didn't use it, everyone would die.
Yao Dong did not hesitate; he injected a sliver of mana to activate the disc and tossed it upward.
Clang...!
The disc erupted with a blinding light.
Violent mana exploded along with it, and after flying into mid-air, it expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, the light gradually dimming.
Everyone looked up.
The disc had expanded to the same size as the pit opening, completely sealing the giant pit.
It was like a transparent barrier.
They could still see outside, though a portion of it was dark black, with energy patterns spreading from there across the entire disc.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They could clearly feel it.
The power of a Tier 2 magic core was contained within it.
A Tier 2 barrier.
With this disc sealing the pit opening, the people inside could finally rest easy for a moment.
They did not waste time.
They immediately sat cross-legged, closed their eyes to absorb mana, and recovered their soul seas.
Yao Dong and Ge Ying did the same.
Although the Tier 2 barrier could protect them for now, it couldn't hold forever; the Lizardman would never give up.
Sure enough, after a brief silence, rapid footsteps could be heard outside.
Everyone looked up to see countless Lizardman standing on the rocks surrounding the giant pit, their giant yellow pupils fixed on the disc at the pit opening, watching the humans below.
After observing for a moment, several Lizardman leaped down.
Thud.
Their scale-covered feet stepped onto the disc.
It made a dull sound, and ripples spread across the surface of the barrier.
The Lizardman standing on the transparent barrier poked it with their scale spikes, making dull thumping sounds.
They straightened their bodies and let out noisy screeches, seemingly conveying some information to their companions.
The next moment.
More Lizardman jumped onto the disc, frantically stabbing with their scale spikes, attempting to break the barrier and kill the humans below.
The sight was hair-raising.
There were more and more Lizardman.
Soon, the number of them surrounding the rocks around the giant pit and standing on the disc returned to the original scale.
Looking up from inside the pit.
It was like looking through a layer of glass at dense swarms of "ants" that were taller than humans.
The squad members' faces were twisted in extreme discomfort.
Under this kind of pressure, it was difficult for them to focus on recovering mana.
Yao Dong comforted everyone, saying the barrier would hold for a long time, and only then did they manage to calm down and force themselves to circulate mana to recover.
After all, there was nothing they could do right now.
Ge Ying raised her eyes wearily; no one could tell if this was due to the battle or if she was just like that.
"We are completely trapped..."
"If reinforcements don't come..."
She didn't dare to think any further, closed her eyes, and focused on replenishing her mana, ignoring the noise of the Lizardman overhead.
For everyone in the squad, time had never felt so long.
Every second felt as agonizing as an hour.
The sound of the Lizardman attacking the barrier grew louder and louder, becoming increasingly unsettling.
Outside, not far from the pit.
A team of twenty-four people appeared.
Leading them was a handsome man with curly hair.
He wore golden armor covering his upper body up to his neck... that was a Tier 3 magic defensive artifact!