71: Chapter 71 Direct Restraint

Lin Mo's heart was pounding violently.

The battlefield of that Rank 5 Lord was no longer a fight.

It was a slaughter.

Yuan Shoucheng stood on the ruins, his voice already hoarse.

His left arm hung at his side, bone protruding from the elbow, stained with blood. A gash from rubble tore across his forehead, and blood flowed into his eyes, dyeing his entire face red.

"Battalion Commander, the life I owed you, I'm paying it back today."

Wu Yong, standing nearby, suddenly spoke up.

Yuan Shoucheng was stunned.

"Old Wu, what do you want to do?"

Wu Yong looked at them and smiled.

His face was covered in blood and ash, and his smile looked like a ghost's.

After saying this, he turned and charged toward the giant beast.

The Rock Beast was lowering its head to gnaw on a corpse. Hearing footsteps, it raised its head, its eyes like two burning coals, staring at the ant charging toward it.

Wu Yong did not stop.

He knew he couldn't defeat this beast.

A Rank 5 Lord versus a Rank 4 peak—there was a huge gap in power.

But he hadn't intended to return alive anyway.

Twenty meters.

The Rock Beast opened its mouth, and a dark red light began to gather deep in its throat.

Ten meters.

Wu Yong gripped his blade tightly. The power of his trait surged wildly into the blade. His old partner began to glow—a blinding white light—and the notches on the edge cracked further under the impact of the spiritual energy.

Five meters.

The beam of light erupted.

In that instant, Wu Yong dodged to the side.

The dark red beam grazed his left shoulder. The scorching energy burned his combat uniform to ashes, charring the flesh on his left shoulder instantly and exposing the bone underneath.

He heard his own scream, but he didn't stop.

Three meters.

One meter.

He leaped high into the air.

Gripping the blade with both hands, he poured all his strength into this strike. The white light on the blade flared violently, bright as a falling meteor.

The Rock Beast's pupils contracted sharply.

It wanted to dodge, but it was too late.

The blade hacked into its abdomen.

A one-meter-long wound, half a foot deep.

Black blood gushed out, drenching Wu Yong.

The Rock Beast let out a heaven-shaking roar; for the first time, there was pain in that sound.

Wu Yong landed on the ground, his legs went weak, and he knelt down.

He had succeeded.

He had wounded this beast.

Before he could even smile, the Rock Beast's claw descended.

That claw carried the full power of a Rank 5 Lord, moving so fast that he couldn't react in time.

"Bang."

It sounded like a watermelon being smashed.

Wu Yong's body flew five meters away, slammed into the ground, bounced once, and then fell again.

His upper body and lower body were separated by three meters.

In between was a pool of crushed flesh and blood.

His hand was still gripping that blade.

On the blade, three notches had cracked even deeper, the white light on the edge still flickering, then fading out little by little.

When Yuan Shoucheng saw this scene, it was as if someone had grabbed his throat; he couldn't shout a single word.

He just stood there, watching Wu Yong's corpse, his eye sockets dry and aching.

No tears.

Blood flowed down from his forehead and into his eyes; he closed his eyes, then opened them again.

Wu Yong's face was unrecognizable.

But he recognized that blade. Having fought side by side with Wu Yong over a hundred times, he knew better than anyone how many fierce beasts that blade had hacked, and how many comrades it had saved.

The Rock Beast began to move again.

It walked toward the remaining people.

With every step it took, the ground trembled.

Yuan Shoucheng watched this scene with his own eyes, his eye sockets blood-red, but he could not cry.

He still had to command.

Still had to fight.

Still had to lead these people to survive.

"Squad Four! Flank it! Attack its hind legs!"

"Squad Three! Left flank! Don't let it break our formation!"

"Squad Two! Frontal suppression, draw its attention!"

His voice was already hoarse, his throat full of the taste of blood.

Squad Leader Two, Zheng Ying, led five men and charged toward the giant beast.

The Rock Beast's attention was indeed drawn.

It stopped, lowered its head, and looked at these six ants.

There was no emotion in those eyes.

It raised its front claw.

It casually raised and dropped it, like shooing away a swarm of flies.

"Boom—!!!"

The ground exploded!

Gravel flew everywhere, dust and smoke shot into the sky!

Of the six, three were smashed directly into the ground, and their formation was instantly shattered.

But soon, another person charged up.

Old Zhou.

Operational Staff Officer, Rank 4 Stage 2, with a length of service second only to Yuan Shoucheng and Old Wu.

He brandished his blade and charged toward the Rock Beast.

"Battalion Commander! Remember to record a first-class merit for me!"

He slashed at the Rock Beast's abdomen, where the wound Wu Yong had left before he died—one meter long and half a foot deep—was still oozing blood.

The blade edge cut into the wound and pushed three inches deeper.

The Rock Beast let out a heaven-shaking roar, its entire body trembling violently.

It lowered its head and saw that ant standing beneath its belly, clutching its blade and stabbing desperately inward.

Its tail swept over.

Old Zhou couldn't dodge.

He could only watch helplessly as that tail, like a mace, whistling with the sound of wind, grew larger and closer.

"Bang!"

The moment he was struck, he flew twenty meters away like a kite with a broken string, slamming into a pile of rubble.

The rubble collapsed, burying him halfway.

He lay there, his mouth full of blood, a large chunk of his chest collapsed, and who knew how many ribs had broken.

With every breath, bloody foam welled up from his mouth.

But he wasn't dead yet.

He kept his eyes open, looking in the direction of the Rock Beast, his lips moving.

"Battalion Commander..."

He struggled to get up, but his mouth was full of blood, his chest collapsed, and he could no longer make a sound.

Yuan Shoucheng's eyes finally welled up. He stared fixedly at the giant beast, gritted his teeth, and ordered:

"Brothers, hurry and save him!"

Just then, a golden flash of lightning struck from afar.

Lin Mo, his body wreathed in golden lightning, streaked across the battlefield at a speed the naked eye could barely track!

No one reacted in time.

The lightning bolt struck straight between the Rock Beast and the pile of rubble, then made a sharp turn and lunged toward where Old Zhou was.

The Rock Beast's claw descended.

The power of a Rank 5 Lord was enough to smash a hilltop.

However, the golden lightning veered at the very last moment.

The claw grazed the edge of the lightning, swatting Lin Mo's figure into a cloud of smoke.

By the time everyone reacted, Lin Mo was already standing on the ruins thirty meters away, holding Old Zhou.

Old Zhou was covered in blood, his chest still rising and falling, but it was already very weak.

Everyone was stunned.

Yuan Shoucheng opened his mouth and roared:

"Lin Mo?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Lin Mo didn't answer; he just watched the giant beast, his breathing somewhat heavy.

A veteran nearby muttered, "What was that speed just now? I couldn't even see it..."

"He dodged that beast's claw; it seems like an ability to turn his body into smoke or something!"

"A Rank 2 Awakener dodged an attack from a Rank 5 Lord?"

Yuan Shoucheng's eyes were still wet, but he stared fixedly at Lin Mo, something spinning wildly in his mind.

Lin Mo's speed was very fast, completely not inferior to the Rank 4 elites under his command.

Moreover, he seemed to possess the ability to turn his body into smoke for a short time.

This was the perfect candidate for frontal suppression!

If Lin Mo could help suppress this Rank 5 Lord, it could create attack opportunities for the others!

"Lin Mo! Can you perform frontal suppression on it?!" Yuan Shoucheng roared.

Lin Mo turned his head and looked at him.

"I'll try."