Chapter 138 Chapter 135 Retreat
The dimensional stone bullets fell like hail on the surface of the blue ice crystal, shattering into green debris.
Jima, trapped inside the “refrigerator,” fixed her gaze through the flying bullets, intensely locked onto George, who had been knocked to the ground.
Before he could rise, a Hell Abyss Abomination rushed over, grabbing George with one hand and holding him in its palm. The other hand—equipped with a dimensional stone hammer—was lifted high, ready to smash down onto George.
Jima’s heart sank, and she shouted in her mind.
Where is your “Light Charge”?!
Just as the green lightning-covered dimensional stone hammer was about to strike George…
A burst of white light erupted, severing the hand that held George at the wrist. The dimensional stone hammer missed its target, and the Hell Abyss Abomination let out a roar filled with pain and rage.
As the white light descended, George spread his wings of light and lunged toward the head of the Hell Abyss Abomination. The giant head and its six smaller heads all opened their mouths to roar at him, and George struck down fiercely.
The massive, snow-white skull of the Hell Abyss Abomination immediately collapsed on one side, green juice splattering everywhere. A powerful arm swung toward George in mid-air, but he flickered and transformed into light, landing on the creature’s humped back.
He stood atop its white fat, the smaller head next to him had not yet reacted, screaming in terror. One of the heads reached out, slapping the body below, and George raised his great sword, delivering a downward slash.
Several smaller heads were cut in half with a cry, and he thrust the sword down with force, driving most of its blade into the back of the Hell Abyss Abomination.
The creature raised its half-collapsed skull and straightened up, its wailing echoed throughout the underground, surpassing the sound of the doomsday bell by tenfold.
It turned out this guy had indeed kept the Light Charge for attack; what a reckless move, and he had succeeded.
At that moment, the crystalline blue ice before her cracked open.
Amidst the sounds of countless ice shards shattering, Jima seemed to hear the ice breaking.
A chill had frozen her chest. In her current situation, she was no safer than George had been in the creature’s grip; in fact, it was even more dangerous.
Because she was still hovering dozens of meters above ground, within the effective range of all weapon teams. In other words, Jima was now a target, a novice target at that.
She hadn’t expected that using the “refrigerator” would actually fix her in mid-air; she had thought she would turn into a large chunk of ice and fall to the ground, the only concern being the potential impact injuries.
This was precisely why she had lowered her altitude before using the “refrigerator.”
The fine cracks began to spread deeper; the time of the refrigerator was about to end, and outside there were at least a hundred weapons and a dimensional lightning cannon waiting for her.
Yes, waiting for her.
Now only sporadic bullets fell onto the refrigerator.
The cunning ratmen, realizing the refrigerator was unbreakable, patiently waited for it to shatter, intending to fire together and blast this “Wailing Siren” into bits.
At that moment, Eve Frostleaf leaped from the swarm of ratmen, drawing her silver bow, and a flurry of arrows shot at the refrigerator in succession.
The first batch of elemental arrows hit the refrigerator, exploding into splash after splash, practically trampling the law of conservation of mass underfoot.
The second batch of fire-element arrows soon followed, detonating and engulfing the entire refrigerator in flames, intertwining with the splash, causing the water to boil and evaporate, forming a large mass of thick, white steam that obscured the entire refrigerator.
For a moment, the ratmen’s weapon teams were at a loss, looking up to their ratmen officers.
“Fire! Quickly fire! Keep shooting!” shouted the ratmen officer.
Just as the words left his mouth.
Jima emerged unscathed from the thick white steam, even having the composure to salute Eve Frostleaf below.
At that moment, a swirl of emotions surged within Jima, and she couldn’t help but break into song.
Once again, the deadly song echoed over the rats.
“Fire! Fire! Don’t let her sing anymore!”
“Where’s the dimensional wind? Hurry! Let’s have another one!”
“What? We can’t use it for the time being?”
Jima distanced herself from the dimensional mages, leaning to one side as she flew, shaking off a rain of green dots behind her.
But now was not the time for aerial acrobatics.
Taking advantage of her vantage point, Jima assessed the current situation.
If they were to break out, there was still a long way to go, and worse, that long stretch was filled with many storm rats and rat trolls, acting as reserves behind the army, ready to crush the escape of George and the others.
Now, it was difficult even to save herself.
Another burst of white light exploded below, like a small sun rising. As a demon, Jima felt a faint heat in the area illuminated by the light.
She squinted at the light source; at the center of the “small sun” was Jenna. At that moment, she looked like the embodiment of the sun, with the surrounding storm rats burning in the glow, billowing smoke. Even the slightly weaker ratmen warriors were forced to retreat.
The previously dense encirclement suddenly had a gap, and the three on the ground were still trying to break through.
Even their ultimate move had been forced out; they had no choice but to withdraw.
Jima immediately drew a pair of light sticks, which emitted white light while trailing white smoke behind her.
This signaled an immediate retreat.
From afar, thick bolts of lightning came again.
Jima sharply turned, hearing the “crackling!” sound coming from far and near, and then fade into the distance.
She looked at George and the others, who had already turned and were heading towards the Dragon City. The distance was only one kilometer; as long as they crossed the city wall, even if the rat army was numerous and powerful, they wouldn’t be able to follow.
The ratmen understood this reasoning as well; the red-armored ratman warlord led the group of ratmen warriors, charging towards their blockade, disregarding Jenna’s surrounding light.
This was incredibly heroic for the ratmen.
As they broke through under the assault of numerous ratmen warriors, only four hundred meters from the city wall, Jenna’s light extinguished, and the three of them charged forward, unleashing all their firepower to carve a bloody path.
Even though the ratmen army had selectively dispatched elite troops to lure the four into a trap, they had not yet organized a proper formation for fear of scaring off their prey.
But even so, for the three of them to carve out a bloody path was akin to dancing on the edge of a knife.
Jima felt much more relaxed. She no longer needed to guide the team’s escape direction to avoid the high-quality ratmen army. So, she didn’t have to hover over George and the others and could fly far, evading the attacks of the ratmen groups.
She occasionally dove and flew low, soaring over the heads of the ratmen, using her song and curses to hinder the ratmen forces, creating favorable conditions for George and the others to break through, and even made time to slaughter ratmen, collecting their pain and blood.
The ratmen once again attempted to block the bloody fighting trio of George, trying to surround them.
Jima unleashed a rain of blood, diving and employing nearly all her pain energy, singing the “Siren’s Wail.”
For a moment, the scene resembled hell; amid the torrential blood rain, the siren’s wails echoed through hands, scraping against eardrums, and no matter where one ran, the wails came from all directions.
The lighter ones felt dizzy and nauseous, while the heavier ones rolled their eyes; even the battle-hardened red-armored ratman warlord couldn’t help but dry heave.
The trio of George helped each other up the crumbling city wall, finally escaping the encirclement.
Only, they had set out standing.
Now, Eve Frostleaf had already fallen, and George was carrying her in his arms, leaping down from the ruined city wall, bounding back to the second city wall.
But where was Jima?
As George jumped on the rooftop, he noticed one person was missing.
In the distance.
At a slanted upward cave entrance.
The cannon of the dimensional lightning cannon, emanating heat, with ratmen gunners below drenched in sweat, their fur soaked.
They were in a heated argument.
“It’s all your fault! You didn’t aim, the Wailing Siren missed, not even shooting those three things on the ground properly.”
“Right! Right! You managed to kill quite a few of our own; you side-shoot one squad, and the whole unit was evaporated!”
The ratman gunners fumed, “Clearly it’s an uneven terrain, and those meat mountain things are blocking the line of fire! And you, your movements were too big, disturbing the cannon.”
The entire artillery crew was in uproar, arguing amongst themselves, when suddenly…
A black-haired ratman with golden eyes, sporting shiny black horns, silently worked at the control panel, diligently pushing all the controllable levers to their limits, and pressing every button he could—especially the red ones.
The Tesla coils of the dimensional lightning cannon flickered with unstable green lightning.
The ratmen gunners noticed, and one raised their head to ask, “Hey, who are you?”
“Just a cannon operator.”
“You’re just pressing random buttons, aren’t you?! Hurry, pull that red lever down! If this continues, it’ll blow up.” The ratman gunner threatened, “This is an experimental new weapon; if it blows, selling your organs wouldn’t cover the damages!”
“Oh, really? Thanks for the heads-up.” The ratman pushed the red lever all the way down.
The dimensional lightning cannon buzzed ominously.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Jima pulled out her “branch axe gun” and said, “Didn’t you just enjoy blasting me?”
As she spoke, she struck forcefully into the control panel; alarms blared instantly, and the only sound was the screams of the ratman artillery crew.
They tried to escape, but as they lifted their feet, they found their legs had turned to jelly, running felt like walking.
Jima leaped into the air, soaring.
At that moment, a ratman shouted from below, “It’s the Wailing Siren! She’s the Wailing Siren!”
How did they not realize she wasn’t a ratman?
This regret didn’t last long.
“Boom!”
The cannon exploded, green light illuminating Jima’s back, and after several seconds, a heatwave hit her, lifting her black hair.
Throughout it all, Jima had managed to resist the impulse to look back at the explosion.
Jima turned invisible, flying over the battlefield, over the ruined city, purposely glancing at the cloud of desire. As expected, it was dwindling.
Once safe, she canceled her invisibility, flew to the second city wall, ignoring the discontented dwarves, inquired for directions, and found George and the other three in a separate stone house.
George was filthy, covered in blood, flesh, and dust, all mixed together and then roasted with lightning and fire. He was injured, holding his sword, looking at Jima.
In comparison, Jima had only a bullet lodged inside, needing surgery to remove it; she considered it a minor injury.
Jima smiled and said, “I’m back, where are they?”
George gestured toward the door beside him. “They are administering emergency medical treatment.”
Jima looked over to see Eve Frostleaf lying down, her face pale, with bloody scales on the ground, and she held onto her bloodied dress tightly, not allowing Jenna to take it off.
Jima understood perfectly why she wouldn’t let her.
Because on her upper thigh, under the skirt, were the “uncivilized words” written by her own hand.
Jenna was still going on, “Quick, take off your stockings; otherwise, I can’t stitch up your wound.”
“Ahahaha,” Jima quickly interjected, “Eve and I are close; let me handle this.”
“Ah?” Jenna looked at Jima with suspicion.
“Really, just step out for a bit.” The thought of the oily pen Jima had used made her head throb. “Just for a moment.”
At that moment, Eve Frostleaf loosened her grip, and Jenna instinctively lifted her skirt, pulling down the bloodied stockings.
The black “uncivilized words” were so conspicuous against her pale skin.
Jenna suddenly understood, turning her head to shout, “Jima! Didn’t we agree that she could wipe it off?”
“Ah? I didn’t know anything.”
George’s voice came from behind, “Is there something going on? I just heard someone lying.”
Jima’s tail bristled in fear as she turned rigidly to look back, only to see George standing like a statue, his face hardened, eyes fixed on that pile of “uncivilized words.”
George said sternly, “Jima!”
“This is about romance; it’s romantic,” Jima tried to explain, but her trembling tail gave her away.
Eve Frostleaf said nothing, lowering her head, half-closing her eyes, her leg’s markings seemingly implicating her in an invisible but fatal charge.
George looked at Jima, who attempted to sneak away.
“Jima!”
“I’m innocent,” Jima said, “She agreed to it; it’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
Considering that if she spoke up, it would probably not end well.
Jima gritted her teeth and said, “It’s all Eve Frostleaf’s scheme.”
George sighed, grabbed Jima by the horns, and threw out, “Get her treated; I’ll teach Jima a lesson.”
As he said this, he pulled Jima away.
“Really, it’s romantic; I only slightly forced Frostleaf.”
“This is all Frostleaf’s scheme; she did it on purpose…”
George said, “Regardless, those words were written by you, right? Last night you agreed that it was just for fun, and you would wipe them off afterward.”
“I’m just more persistent! Hey! Stop, I’m not a child anymore; don’t spank me.”
“Smack!”
With that sound, the force of the hand passed through the fabric, and her backside felt hot.
A long-lost humiliation welled up in her heart. Jima’s eyes brimmed with tears as she supported herself on the wall, raising her behind, thinking: you better pray I have your child.
“Smack!”
She threw her head back again, biting her teeth.
Otherwise, when the time comes, you’ll really be in for it.
“Smack!”
“It hurts so much; I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. Be gentle, gentle, ah!”
After a moment, Jima held her backside with both hands, quietly vowing that this music box could never be given to that scheming woman, Eve Frostleaf! How dare she do this?
After all, to evade the dwarven search, Eve Frostleaf had personally placed the music box in her Dream Palace.
