Chapter 137: Breakout (Part One)

"We need your help. www. NIUBB. net"

Li Bucai was standing there, and a concise, clear voice came from behind, which was a Dark Night Elf commander.

The army below was about to be completely annihilated; for the Dark Night Elf, the issue was no longer destroying the Ancient Elf Tree inside, but whether they could preserve their bloodline. In this situation, which concerned the survival of the race, the traditionally proud Dark Night Elf had to lower its head, abandon its original clan rules, and make a pact with other races in order to save its lineage.

She said only one sentence, said nothing more, stood there, met Li Bucai's gaze, and waited for his answer.

"Do you intend to break out, or only to hold this gate?" Li Bucai needed a clear reply in order to decide whether to help.

"Break out."

"Do you intend to take only these people out, or also bring the people inside Wangyueku out as well?"

"If possible, the more people we take out, the better."

Li Bucai replied abruptly: "Very well, inform the people inside Wangyueku at once; I will send someone to cover their retreat."

The person glanced at the gate tower, which was being fiercely assaulted by Goblins and was about to be overrun: "Unless the people inside Wangyueku come out, this gate will probably be breached." She wanted Li Bucai to help hold the camp gate, but they had never asked outsiders for aid; uttering a request had already taken great courage, making it hard to plead directly.

Li Bucai said: "If you can make your subordinates obey my command, perhaps when you return you'll see a different outcome."

The person hesitated for a moment, took a jet‑black Token from her waist, handed it to Li Bucai, and said: "When they see the Token, they will obey your command." The situation was critical, and she could not worry about the many.

Li Bucai took the Token and said: "I give you only five minutes; if after five minutes they still cannot get out, the people will be trapped inside forever."

Both the mountain top and foot were attacking hastily; time was tight and they could not delay any longer. The person nodded, then leapt into Wangyueku.

Li Bucai did not linger; he tossed the Torch to Rui Tong and ordered that after five minutes, whether anyone emerged or not, they must light a fire, because the Dark Night Elves below could not hold out for an hour, and the cavalry from the narrow valley would take an hour at best to arrive—every second counted.

Upon reaching the gate tower and first beating down the Goblins that had climbed up, Li Bucai displayed the Token; everyone was startled, but immediately crossed their arms over their chests, a courtesy of the Dark Night Elf.

At that moment, there were just about 100 people left on the tower. While the Goblins were reorganizing, Li Bucai split the troops into two groups: a front line that handed all arrows to the rear line and focused on shooting; a rear line that only loaded arrows onto the bows.

Li Bucai realized that the Goblins could charge the tower by exploiting the Dark Night Elf's loading gap; it takes about two seconds to fully load an arrow, then additional time to aim and fire, wasting three to four seconds in total.

The rain of arrows from fifty men could not fully suppress the Goblins; the Goblins attacked again, and Li Bucai performed the Snap Finger Technique toward Wu Zhuoyue. Wu Zhuoyue nodded, placed a flute to his lips, and sent forth a graceful melody; the Goblins in the front row immediately slowed their movements by almost half.

Each of the fifty shooters, after releasing an arrow, immediately turned; the men behind had already loaded the next arrow, passing the Crossbow with the left hand and receiving the arrow with the right, turning to find a target and fire. After each shot, the rear men reloaded, creating a continuous rain of arrows that kept the Goblins from advancing. After lingering before the tower for a while, the Goblins were forced to retreat.

Li Bucai seized the moment they retreated, shouted: "The enemy has withdrawn, cease fire, follow me and break out!" He drew his staff as a makeshift spear, leapt down from the tower first, pursued the Goblins from behind, and wherever his staff rose, Goblins were knocked off the cliff.

Someone behind gave chase; the Goblins' retreat speed increased, five to six hundred Goblins fell back together, surging to the front of the second squad. The second squad of Goblins didn't know what had happened; seeing comrades pouring down like a tide, they couldn't block them, and they rushed into the ranks, causing chaos. Many Goblins on the outer edge were pushed, lost footing, and fell off the cliff. Unable to stop, they retreated with the flow, but at the rear a Young Marshal and five others blocked their retreat.

Originally three hundred Goblins had surrounded the five, yet could still calmly face the five experts, losing a few to be replaced, fighting a war of attrition. When the main army above withdrew, it struck this small group of Goblins; many, caught completely off guard, were shoved forward, pushed before the Young Marshal and the others, and were cut down before they could react.

The Goblins' retreating steps were like a mountain flood, hard to stop, while the Young Marshal and five others stretched their arms far above the juvenile Goblins, standing like protruding rocks in a rapid stream. Goblins that charged at them unprepared were shoved forward, falling before the five, and of the remainder, only those forced aside survived; the rest were shoved off the cliff, smashed into meat pies, more than half of them.

At this moment, the Dark Night Elves inside Wangyueku, informed by that commander, realized the situation had drastically changed and dared not fight to the death any longer; they fought while retreating. When they finally withdrew upward, only about two hundred remained. Their leader Ai Na stayed at the rear to cover the army's retreat; the other two leaders had already fallen, and Tree Elves clung tightly to their backs, pursuing relentlessly.

The five minutes had run out; 180 people managed to break out of Wangyueku. Ai Na and twenty guards fought hard to push back the pursuers. As she was about to leap out, a Tree Elf shot an arrow into her calf; the pain weakened her legs, and she fell back just a foot short of the edge. The twenty guards, to protect her, also jumped back into the cave.

At this point, a mass of Tree Elves surged forward; some emerged from the sleeping chambers behind her, ignoring Ai Na and pursuing the people who had escaped.

"Ignore me, block them!" Ai Na already knew she couldn't escape; they must not be allowed to rush out and set fire to the woodpile. She shouted outward: "Light it! Light it!"

"Princess!"

"Princess!"

Many of those who broke out saw their leader trapped and wanted to charge back in to rescue her. The commander Bu Lanni, who went to inform them, saw that those inside could not hold back the Tree Elf onslaught; the defense formed by the twenty guards was about to be breached. Continuing to rescue would only doom everyone there, so she grabbed Wei Ke Na, who was about to leap in, ordered everyone to fall back, and nodded at Rui Tong.

Rui Tong gritted his teeth, threw the Torch at the woodpile. Around the entrance of Wangyueku, the pit was now piled with dry wood mixed with a lot of animal fat; when the Torch landed, an annular wall of flame rose at the gorge mouth, several zhang high, and no matter how skilled one's lightness skill, it was impossible to jump out.

As the fire rose, those inside, seeing their comrades break out of Wangyueku, clenched their teeth and charged into the Tree Elf arrow rain; after a while, several screams echoed in succession…

Outside the cave, the crowd could not help but kneel before the fire, crying and shouting their leader's name.

Bu Lanni shouted sternly: "The lord is dead; crying now is useless. Preserving the bloodline is paramount. Everyone, rally, and break out with me!"

The crowd only then stopped crying, gathered together, and re‑formed their formation. Earlier they had worried that Li Bucai could not hold the gate tower; now they saw the tower already empty, and on the mountain road the Goblins that had battered them were being beaten back, retreating down the slope in disarray, earning a quiet praise.