70: Chapter 70 Growth Achievements

Sure enough, less than five hundred meters from the town, the first wave of attacks arrived.

Three "Rot-Tooth Hyenas" lunged out from the withered grass, foul-smelling drool dripping from their mouths, their eyes bloodshot with rage.

They were not high-level, only Black Iron Mid-grade, but their numbers made up for the lack of quality—they surrounded him in a triangular formation, sealing off Qin Ce's room to dodge.

"Qingluan, climb!" Qin Ce shouted sharply, wind-element energy erupting beneath his feet as he charged forward instead of retreating!

He rushed toward the hyena in front, side-stepping at the moment of impact. A Wind Blade extended from his palm into a half-meter-long thin blade, precisely slicing through the hyena's carotid artery.

Splat!

Hot blood sprayed. The hyena wailed and collapsed.

The other two hyenas missed their pounce. Just as they were about to turn, Qin Ce had already appeared behind one of them like a ghost, stabbing his Wind Blade into the back of its head and twisting!

The second one died.

The last hyena finally felt fear and whimpered as it retreated. Qin Ce didn't give it a chance; he raised his hand, and a Wind Blade shot out, piercing its chest.

Three corpses lay on the ground.

The entire process took no more than five seconds.

"Brother, that was amazing!" Qin Jian, on the back of the Qingluan, widened her eyes and shouted excitedly.

Su Wan gripped the Qingluan's feathers tightly, watching her son's figure darting like lightning through the pack of ferocious beasts. Her eyes were filled with pride, but even more so with heartache.

She knew that this "amazing" strength was bought with countless life-or-death battles.

They continued forward.

An Iron-Armored Boar charged down from a side slope, its heavy body like a war chariot, its two scimitar-like tusks aimed at the Qingluan's abdomen!

Qin Ce's pupils constricted. He spread his hands in front of his chest—Skill: Spider-Web Wind Blade!

Dozens of thin Wind Blades wove into a net, enveloping the boar. The Wind Blades cut against the boar's thick iron armor, sparking blindingly. Although they didn't break through the defense, they successfully slowed its momentum.

Now!

Qin Ce leaped up, condensing a nearly one-meter-long Wind Blade in his hand. Utilizing the force of his descent, he stabbed fiercely into the soft flesh behind the boar's neck where there was no armor!

Splat!

The Wind Blade pierced through, coming out the other side!

The boar wailed as it rolled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Qin Ce landed, panting as he wiped the blood from his face.

The Black Iron High-grade Iron-Armored Boar had defense comparable to bronze low-grade.

But for him, having gone through three months of high-intensity combat, this was no challenge!

However, he couldn't stop to rest.

He looked up at the sky—the Qingluan had already flown some distance, and his mother and little sister were anxiously looking back at him.

"Go!" He waved his hand and sprinted to catch up again.

For the rest of the journey, the attacks were constant.

Ferocious beasts, disturbed by the aura of the beast tide, emerged from everywhere: water pythons lurking in the streams, poisonous spiders hiding in the tree crowns, and burrowing rats emerging from holes...

Along the way, Qin Ce killed at least seven or eight ferocious beasts that had been disturbed by the beast tide and fallen into a frenzy.

They weren't high-level; after all, they were near the town, and the powerful ferocious beasts had already been cleared out.

So, at most they were Black Iron High-grade, but the problem was that due to the disturbance of the beast tide, the numbers were simply too high, especially since he was in a hurry.

This consumed a lot of his stamina and energy.

What was more troublesome was that he could feel it—the pressure of the beast tide from the west was approaching at an alarming speed!

"Faster! A little faster!"

He looked up at the Qingluan's figure in the sky, then glanced back at the black tide closing in behind him; his heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

The three-kilometer distance, usually a journey of only ten minutes or so, felt as long as a lifetime at this moment.

Su Wan and Qin Jian, on the back of the Qingluan, had gone from initial gasps of worry to silent watching, and finally... to the mother's heartache and the little sister Qin Jian's admiration.

"Mom," she whispered, "Brother is even more amazing than the Town Defender. Last time the Town Defender killed that Upper Bronze Rank mad bull, it took him a long time, and he even got injured."

"Brother just killed that big scorpion in just a few moves."

Su Wan didn't answer. She just held her daughter tightly, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the figure fighting a bloody battle below.

That was her son. The son she had raised all by herself.

The quiet child who, when he was small, didn't even dare to kill a chicken and spoke in a soft whisper.

When... had he grown into a warrior capable of standing on his own, carving a bloody path through a pack of ferocious beasts?

Her eyes grew hot, but she forced herself not to let the tears fall. She couldn't let him get distracted.

Finally, a valley surrounded by barbed wire and high walls appeared ahead. The military base had arrived!

Qin Ce's spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace by another thirty percent.

...But just as they approached the base entrance, a piercing alarm sounded!

Hum—the energy shield rippled, and on the sentry tower at the entrance, four heavy machine guns swiveled their barrels to aim at them.

A squad of fully armed soldiers rushed out of the bunkers, raised their guns, and shouted sharply: "Stop! During wartime, the military base forbids all unauthorized personnel from approaching!"

"Leave immediately! Otherwise, we will consider it a hostile act!"

Qin Ce stopped, and the Qingluan hovered in the air.

He raised his hand to signal he had no hostile intent, and shouted loudly: "I am Qin Ce, a student of the Elite Class at Fengling Battle Academy! I have an emergency order and request to enter the base's safe house!"

He held up his squad badge and the dark gold credentials given by Jiang Ruowei.

The officer on the sentry tower looked through binoculars, spoke a few words into a communicator, and then replied coldly: "squad badge confirmed. However, the safe house is only open to authorized combat personnel; civilians are not allowed to enter. Please take your family and head to Fengling City, a hundred kilometers away!"

?

How could this be?

Qin Ce's heart sank.

"Officer!" He raised his voice, "The beast tide is approaching! They cannot make it to Fengling City! I have the highest-level safe house authorization credentials, and according to regulations—"

"The regulation is that the safe house prioritizes the protection of combat personnel and their direct family members," the officer interrupted him, "Your order only authorizes you personally to act as a 'Roaming Defense Officer' in the vicinity, and does not authorize you to bring civilians into the military base."

He paused, his tone cold: "Please leave immediately. Otherwise, we will take forceful measures."

As soon as he finished speaking, the heavy machine guns on the sentry tower emitted the "click" of bullets being chambered.

Qin Ce clenched his fists. He looked at the dark muzzles on the sentry tower, then glanced back behind him—on the western horizon, that black beast tide was now clearly visible, like a wriggling giant carpet, covering the horizon.

There was not much time left.

Wait, could it be that these are ordinary soldiers who don't recognize the special credentials Jiang Ruowei gave me? If that's the case.

"Mike!" Qin Ce practically roared the name.

"The base commander, Mike, is a friend of my teacher, Wei Ming. I have important intelligence!"

The gun barrels were still aimed at them; the officer on the sentry tower frowned, and only then did he speak a few more words into the communicator.