Chapter 505

Consciousness struggled to surface from the bottom of the viscous darkness.

The first thing to recover was hearing.

He could hear rhythmic explosions coming from all around, as if a giant hammer were continuously striking a thick metal dome.

Every impact sent ripples across the surface of his consciousness, intensifying a dull pain originating from the depths of his soul.

Next came the perception of his body.

A cold, hard sensation came from his back; it was the unique temperature and texture of the Black Giant Priest's liquid metal arms.

His body was being steadily supported, rising and falling slightly amidst the continuous vibrations.

Finally, there was the feedback from his biological clock: time unconscious, approximately... seventeen hours and forty-three minutes.

Jie Ming snapped his eyes open.

His vision was somewhat blurry, and the dizziness caused by the severe soul trauma had not yet subsided.

The first thing he saw was a flowing pitch-black expanse—it was the tightly packed backs and shoulder armor of the Black Giant Priests.

They had formed a near-perfect spherical defensive formation, shielding him tightly in the center.

Through the tiny gaps between the priests' bodies, he could glimpse the crazily flashing lights outside: incandescent lightning, ghostly green corrosive orbs, scarlet disintegration ripples...

There were also countless boulders, ice spikes, and metal fragments wrapped in solid matter, accelerated to the extreme by sorcery, crashing down outside the defensive circle like a rainstorm.

Every impact caused the outermost priests' bodies to tremble slightly, and the layer of transparent Return-to-Void Armor field on their surfaces rippled violently, emitting the dull, explosive sounds he had heard earlier.

But the field tenaciously held on, absorbing and converting all energy attacks, while deflecting or bouncing off physical attacks.

They were like a black metal ball moving slowly through an ocean of violent energy, or rather, a "turtle shell" suffering a continuous, fierce assault.

Because the movement speed... was agonizingly slow.

Jie Ming immediately understood the situation.

Since the enemy could not pierce the Return-to-Void Armor defense, they had switched to the clumsiest yet most effective method: using continuous sorcery accompanied by massive physical impact to bombard and stall them.

Every momentum impact from a physical collision forced the defensive formation to lag slightly and adjust its center of gravity.

At the same time, the scattered energy remnants and debris were continuously interfering with the surrounding elemental environment and spatial structure, making "accelerated movement" or "short-range spatial jumps" exceptionally difficult and dangerous.

He endured the splitting headache and observed the current situation.

Outside the defensive circle, there were shadowy figures, at least fifty Level 5 Wizards dressed in the attire of the Chaos Secret Sect and the Tower of Extinction.

These wizards were like circling vultures, constantly prowling the periphery and releasing sorcery.

They coordinated tacitly, attacking in alternating waves, always maintaining high-intensity fire suppression.

What made Jie Ming's heart sink even further was that these enemies had clearly learned enough of a "lesson."

When a Black Giant Priest attempted to raise their staff, at least five or six enemy wizards would instantly stop attacking and retreat violently, simultaneously releasing large-scale spatial disturbance ripples or smoke barriers.

Enemies in other directions would then immediately intensify their attacks, forcing the priest to interrupt their casting and prioritize maintaining the defense.

Once the Black Giant Priests collectively attempted to accelerate and break through in a certain direction, trying to rely on the Return-to-Void Armor's defense to charge out, those enemies would quickly close in like maggots on bone.

They used various force field walls, mud swamp spells, and spatial stasis to stall their speed, then continued to use rainstorm-like attacks to beat back the "turtle shell's" momentum.

This was a pure delaying tactic.

They didn't need to kill Jie Ming; they only needed to pin him and this guard unit here, waiting for more powerful forces to arrive.

"Cough, cough..." Jie Ming wanted to speak, but it triggered his soul injury; a violent fit of coughing made his vision go black, and a fishy sweetness rose in his mouth.

He could clearly feel that his injuries were worsening.

The soul tearing caused by forcibly mobilizing his inner cave before losing consciousness had not only failed to improve but had spread further due to the aggravation of his injuries.

The feeling that his entire "self" was slowly disintegrating into fragments became increasingly clear.

Waking up was less a recovery and more a forced drive under desperate circumstances brought about by the "adaptive evolution" of the "Body Tempering Method"; his physical body sensed extreme danger and instinctively squeezed out the last bit of strength, briefly pulling his consciousness back from the brink of collapse.

"Must... move..." Jie Ming struggled, trying to lift his hand.

His arm felt as heavy as a thousand jun, and every tiny movement was accompanied by the excruciating pain of his soul being torn.

He looked at the loyal and silent Black Giant Priests around him.

The light of the Return-to-Void Armor on their bodies was still stable, but Jie Ming knew that the modification spells provided by the wizarding tools must be nearing their duration limit.

Jie Ming closed his eyes, forcibly ignoring the pain that threatened to drown his consciousness, and once again sank his mind into his inner cave.

This time, he couldn't even maintain a stable internal view, only vaguely perceiving the mountain of supplies piled up inside the cave.

Among them were a large number of spare "Return-to-Void Armor Excitation Units" and "Li Fire Extinction Divine Light Charging Substrates" packaged in standard energy boxes.

Mobilizing them also required opening spatial channels and consuming his nearly exhausted computing power.

"Ughhh!!!" A silent roar echoed in the depths of his soul.

Veins bulged on Jie Ming's temples, and cold sweat instantly soaked his inner lining.

He felt as if his brain had been thrown into a meat grinder, every thought-string forcibly tightened, as if it would snap at any moment.

On the surface, fifty highly unstable spatial vortices flickered and appeared around the Black Giant Priests, closing with violent tremors after lasting less than two seconds.

But within those brief two seconds, one hundred standard energy boxes were successfully "spat out," landing precisely by each priest's hand.

"Replenish... wizarding tools..." Jie Ming's intent, like a candle in the wind, was transmitted to the two nearest priest leaders.

The priests understood immediately.

Their movements were swift and orderly; while maintaining the defensive formation and movement, they quickly grabbed the energy boxes and pressed them into the interfaces on their own wrists or chest armor.

The dark golden light of the Return-to-Void Armor became more solid at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the dark red gems at the tips of their staffs were also refilled with dangerous red light.

But this action also exposed the fact that Jie Ming had woken up and was still attempting to resist.

The offensive of the enemies on the periphery suddenly became more violent and devious.

At the same time, some malicious mental transmissions began to deliberately penetrate the gaps in the defensive circle, drilling into Jie Ming's ears, attempting to interfere with his mindset:

"Still struggling? What a tenacious bug!"

"It's useless! You can't escape!"

"Lord Griffin is already on the way! Facing his power, let's see how much longer your turtle shell can hold!"

"Hahaha, wait for death, you trash from the Norn Workshop!"

Griffin?

Judging by what these people said, the opponent should be a Level 6 Wizard.

Jie Ming's heart sank to the bottom.

The situation he feared most was happening.

Once an enemy Level 6 Wizard arrived, even if it were just the most ordinary Level 6, the attack intensity would be far beyond what a Level 5 could compare to.

Having just fought a Level 6 Wizard, Jie Ming was quite aware of the Return-to-Void Armor's performance against one.

What's more, the opponent would likely bring more Level 5 Wizards, completely sealing off all retreat routes.

Time was sliding into the abyss with every second.

The Black Giant Priests attempted to forcibly accelerate and break through several times, even going so far as to endure attacks and use their bodies to ram through those stasis force fields.

But there were too many enemy wizards, and their coordination was skillful; they could always quickly fill the gaps and force them back with more, denser attacks.

After several attempts, their movement speed still hadn't improved at all.

The excruciating pain in his soul and the desperate situation were like two files, repeatedly torturing Jie Ming's nerves.

He leaned against the priest's cold arm, his vision beginning to blur again, and his consciousness flowing away rapidly like a leaking balloon.

He had clearly already won before... could it be... that he was really going to die here?

Just a moment before his consciousness was about to sink into darkness again...

On his wrist, the rune that had long since sent out a distress signal suddenly transmitted a clear, rhythmic pulsation.

That was... the specific response frequency of the Norn Workshop's internal communication secret key!

It meant that their reinforcements had received the signal and were approaching!

Almost simultaneously, the continuous attacks on the periphery experienced a momentary disorder.

Those malicious clamors stopped abruptly, replaced by a kind of suspicious commotion and short, warning shouts:

"Watch the east side! High-energy reaction!"

"It's the Norn Workshop people! How did they get here so fast?!"

"No... that's... Level 6! Two Level 6s!"

"Retreat! Quickly close in on Lord Griffin!"

The suffocating attack pressure covering his head suddenly lightened.

Jie Ming used his last bit of strength to barely turn his stiff neck, looking through the gaps in the priests' bodies toward the direction from which the energy fluctuations were coming.

The gray-black dust in the distant sky was rudely torn apart, and two figures radiating majestic Level 6 pressure were the first to burst into his field of vision.

Behind them followed a small team of elite Level 5 Wizards, moving swiftly with a well-ordered formation.

Jie Ming was incredibly familiar with one of the figures.

Silver-gray long hair flew in the energy turbulence, and the exquisite, doll-like face now lacked any of the usual elegance or playfulness, showing only ice-cold frigidity and murderous intent.

She held no staff in her hand, merely grasping at the void, and the surrounding space faintly rippled with distortions stained by "pain."

Wei Aola.

His senior sister, that Level 6 Wizard who took pleasure in the pain of others, yet had never disappointed him at critical moments.

The moment he saw that figure, the last string he had been holding onto finally snapped completely.

His tense will relaxed, and the boundless darkness surged up like warm tide water, once again drowning out all perception.

Before completely losing consciousness, only one vague thought flashed through Jie Ming's mind:

"Senior sister, well done..."

His head tilted powerlessly to one side, and he fell into an even deeper coma.

And on the periphery, the moment Wei Aola and the others appeared, the enemy wizards, like a startled school of fish, began to retreat in a panic.

(End of chapter)