218: Chapter 218 All Three Parties Gather, Killing Formation Empty (1)

The Black-Armored Commander was the first to leap from the water's surface. His body traced a dark black arc across the water, landing right in the center of the shallows. His black carapace did not reflect the sunlight; instead, the micro-ritual patterns on its surface absorbed the light, letting an extremely dark red seep out from the crevices of the patterns. When he landed, his claws stomped a pit about half a foot deep into the sand, sending mud and sand splashing in all directions.

Behind him, fifty elites rushed onto the shallows in three rows. The front row of sixteen thrust their bone shields into the sand to form a mobile shield wall; the middle row of sixteen held their bone spears at a sixty-degree angle, their tips pointing toward the exit of the narrow alley; the back row of fifteen swung bone hooks above their heads, the blades of the hooks slicing through the air with a faint cutting sound. Coming up last were two False Core Vice-Commanders. They stood on either side of the Black-Armored Commander, the dark green patterns on their carapaces gleaming coldly on their still-wet surfaces.

The Black-Armored Commander cast a glance toward Blue Moon Island. The spiritual energy detection on his bone plate showed a dense cluster of spiritual energy fluctuations in the direction of the Pier. In the direction of the Lords Mansion, it was completely dark, without any spiritual energy fluctuations. The direction of the Formation Affairs Room was equally dark. He pointed his bone spear toward the Pier, and the dark blue crystal fragments on the blade lit up briefly. The fifty elites turned simultaneously and advanced toward the Pier. Just as he had anticipated, the place with the highest concentration of spiritual energy on the island was the key point of the defense line. Strike the concentration point first.

At the same time—

Scarface pressed his hand against the stone wall of the narrow alley, lowering his voice. "The Haiyuan Clan has come ashore. They're heading toward the Pier—they've cleared the path ahead for us."

The exit of the narrow alley was less than fifty zhang away. Once out of the narrow alley, turn right, and they would reach the back door of the Lords Mansion.

Scarface quickened his pace. Shorty followed closely behind him, the wooden splint no longer on his right shoulder, holding a poisoned short blade in his right hand with the tip pointing downward. The rest of the Private Soldiers maintained combat spacing. They did not run, but each step they took was nearly half a foot longer than a normal stride. There was a reflection of standing water on the stone ground at the exit of the narrow alley—water droplets splashed from the breaking waves of the flanks onto the shallows, blown to the exit by the sea breeze.

The exit of the narrow alley was in sight. Scarface tightened his grip on his hilt, the dark green hue of the blade leaking out less than half a finger's width beyond the edge of his palm.

Then, he stopped.

Outside the exit of the narrow alley—across the open ground—the Black-Armored Commander stopped as well.

The bone spear held by the Black-Armored Commander had just swept over from the direction of the Pier. The dark blue crystal fragments on the spear shifted their detection angle from the Pier to the narrow alley. When it swept over the alley's exit, the crystal fragments lit up. It wasn't the spiritual light from the Pier. It was inside the narrow alley—the spiritual energy fluctuations of over a dozen Cultivators. The Spiritual Pressure density was very high—lower than that of the Pier, but more concentrated. The source of the fluctuations was moving, heading toward the exit of the narrow alley. The speed wasn't fast, but the direction was precise, pointing straight at the back door of the Lords Mansion. Their spiritual energy fluctuations had distinct characteristics—Cultivators holding Magical Artifacts. Furthermore, no signals from the Blue Moon Island defenders could be detected; there was only this single group in the direction of the narrow alley.

The Black-Armored Commander turned his bone spear back from the direction of the Pier.

At the exit of the narrow alley, the distance between the two groups was less than a hundred zhang. Between them lay a patch of compacted sandy ground, with no cover whatsoever. The sunlight beat straight down from overhead, illuminating every detail of both sides with absolute clarity.

Scarface saw the Black-Armored Commander and the fifty elites behind him. The Black-Armored Commander saw Scarface and the dark green poisonous gleam on the twelve poisoned weapons inside the narrow alley.

Silence lasted for about three breaths.

Then, the Black-Armored Commander held his bone spear horizontally toward the narrow alley, and the three dark blue crystal fragments on the blade lit up simultaneously. Behind him, the front row of the Haiyuan Clan pulled their bone shields out of the sand, the bony patterns on the shield surfaces creaking softly under the external force.

Scarface blurted out half a curse before Shorty covered his mouth from behind. It was too late. The Haiyuan Clan assault team had already spotted them.

On the open ground at the exit of the narrow alley, the sunlight illuminated every detail with extreme clarity.

On the blade of Scarface's poisoned short knife, the dark green poisonous gleam shimmered in the sunlight. On the blade of the Black-Armored Commander's bone spear, the three dark blue crystal fragments brightened nearly twofold after absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy in the sunlight. The sandy open ground separating the two groups was less than a hundred zhang—a distance of a hundred zhang was practically nothing to Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators and Late Foundation Establishment Stage elites of the Haiyuan Clan.

The Black-Armored Commander moved first.

He did not verify the other party's identity, nor did he wait for them to show their banners. The Haiyuan Clan's rules of engagement had no clause for 'confirming whether the other party is an ally'—underwater, any object without the Haiyuan Clan's spiritual energy signature was either prey or enemy. Once on land, the rules remained the same. He raised his bone spear from a horizontal position upward by about thirty degrees, pointing the tip at the exit of the narrow alley. The crystal fragments on the blade locked the spiritual energy fluctuations of the twelve people, including Scarface, within their detection range—twelve targets with high Spiritual Pressure density, each holding a Magical Artifact. They were not the Blue Moon Island defenders; the defenders' spiritual energy fluctuations should be on the front line of defense. These twelve people were inside the blind spot of the flank, heading straight toward the back door of the Lords Mansion.

The Black-Armored Commander lowered his bone spear by half an inch. The front row of the Haiyuan Clan behind him pulled their bone shields straight out of the sandy ground, the bone spikes at the bottom of the shields bringing up a flurry of sand. The middle row lowered their bone spear tips from a sixty-degree angle to horizontal, pointing them at the exit of the narrow alley. The back row swung their bone hooks outward, the soft slicing sounds of the hook blades in the air blending together into a low hum.

Scarface did three things at this very moment.

First, he changed his grip on his poisoned short knife from holding it at chest level with the tip pointing forward to holding it horizontally at his waist. Holding the blade horizontally at the waist was the starting stance for close-quarters combat—the flat of the blade pressed against the forearm, with the edge facing outward. This grip was suitable for slashing diagonally upward in narrow spaces; the width of the narrow alley was less than one zhang, so the Haiyuan Clan could only charge in two per row. A horizontal grip could slash into the joints of the front-row Haiyuan Clan's carapaces—the joints were the weak points of their bone armor.

Second, he patted his left hand toward the Storage Pouch at Shorty's waist. Two pats—the first was to confirm that Shorty was still within half a zhang behind him. The second was a signal to raise the shields. The five Private Soldiers in the front row holding shields simultaneously turned their shield faces toward the narrow alley by about thirty degrees, narrowing the gaps between the shield faces from two arm-spans to one. The five shields blocked nearly half of the exit of the narrow alley.

Third, he looked back toward the other end of the narrow alley. The other end—the flank passage—was completely empty. The sentry posts of the Sin Battalion were all vacant. The formation paths of the Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array were not lit. The defenders of Blue Moon Island had all withdrawn. His assessment was that the twelve of them had been discovered and could not retreat. The Haiyuan Clan would not let them retreat back into the flank passage. The only way out was to fight—while the Haiyuan Clan had not yet fully deployed their echelons.

"Form array," Scarface's voice echoed off the stone walls of the narrow alley, extremely brief.

The five shields in the front row pressed into the ground simultaneously. The metal edges at the bottom of the shields screeched five times against the stone ground before sinking into the earth. The five shields formed an arc, leaving a gap of about two body-widths in the middle. Behind the gap, seven long weapons from the back row extended over the top edges of the shields. The long spears were rested in the grooves on the top edges of the shields, the spear tips positioned exactly at the height of an ordinary Haiyuan Clan elite's throat.