Chapter 13: Casualties

Upon learning that he and the others also needed to engage in combat, Yingzhou first summoned 5 Krieg soldiers to surround himself. With the help of the Krieg soldiers, the pressure on the Crimson Thorn was also greatly reduced.

Looking at those 5 soldiers wearing gas masks, whose weapons were better than those of his own group, Ye Fan suddenly asked, "Are you that student who awakened the Random Summoning Behind-Spirit?"

"Yes, what is it?" Yingzhou looked at Ye Fan with some confusion.

"Nothing, it's just that looking at you, I feel like you'd be strong even without a Behind-Spirit. I didn't expect the soldiers you randomly summoned to be so capable as well." Ye Fan continued to lead the squad forward and replied.

Just then, the squad member named Ye Chi spoke up, "Captain, we have lost contact with the outside. We've been out of touch for about 2 minutes. I've tried various methods, but none have worked."

Ye Fan's brows furrowed slightly; he immediately realized the gravity of the situation. Losing contact meant their communications had been cut off, which was undoubtedly adding insult to injury for a special operations squad deep in enemy territory.

"It seems the enemy has already begun their move," Ye Fan said in a deep voice. "We must increase our pace while maintaining high vigilance. Ye Chi, you are responsible for attempting to re-establish communication; everyone else, maintain a combat state and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time."

"Yes!" Ye Chi replied.

Helao Da, one of the trainees, said with chattering teeth at this moment: "C-can't we just go out and request reinforcements first?" His voice trembled, carrying obvious fear and unease.

Su Miao, who was walking with him, glanced at him speechlessly, seemingly feeling helpless at his cowardice, but she chose not to engage with him. She knew that in the face of such a situation, they needed to think calmly about countermeasures, not just panic blindly.

Ye Fan spoke up at this time: "If we retreat, the situation here will become unpredictable. Furthermore, we don't know if the way back is safe; if we act blindly, we might fall into even greater danger. Therefore, we must figure out the situation here before we can consider retreating."

After hearing Ye Fan's words, Helao Da's complexion worsened; his originally pale cheeks were now completely devoid of color. His legs also began to tremble slightly, as if he had lost the strength to support his body.

However, Ye Fan was not swayed in his decision by Helao Da's fear. He knew that now was not the time to shrink back, but to get to the bottom of the problems within the cult.

The squad continued to push forward. After turning a street corner, a group of people dressed in red robes stood on the street, motionless.

Facing this eerie scene, Ye Fan immediately raised his hand to signal everyone to stop. His gaze was sharp, scanning the motionless red-robed figures ahead. He felt an unusual aura permeating the air, which made him even more alert.

"Stay vigilant, don't act rashly," Ye Fan ordered in a low voice. "These red-robed people might be trouble; we must be careful."

Just then, the stomachs of those people in red robes gradually expanded. Immediately after, the expanded stomach of one man was sliced open from the inside. A bug 30 centimeters high crawled out from the man's stomach, its mouth still chewing on some flesh.

The Krieg soldiers made a prompt decision and shot the bug that had just crawled out of the stomach to pieces.

More bugs broke out of stomachs, and red-robed Believers also jumped down from the surrounding buildings, their bodies exploding as they did so.

"Fire! Watch the surrounding buildings!" Ye Fan summoned his Behind-Spirit again, and a wall of fire appeared on the street.

However, these bugs that had broken out of stomachs crawled over the wall of fire from the walls of the buildings on both sides. Just as everyone's attention was drawn by these bugs, a red-robed figure appeared from behind the squad.

Ye Chi, who was trying to restore contact with the outside, froze. His gaze gradually looked downward, discovering that a hand had pierced through his heart; that hand was still clutching the heart that was ceasing to beat.

He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but though his lips parted, he could not make a sound. Helao Da looked back at this moment and saw this scene, screaming out loud.

"Behind! There's an enemy behind!"

Seeing the scene of Ye Chi's death, his legs instantly lost their strength, and he sat down on the ground with a thud.

Hearing Helao Da's scream, Ye Fan turned around immediately, only to see Ye Chi's body falling limply, blood staining the ground red.

The red-robed man did not stop, rapidly approaching and turning his muzzle toward the squad members of the Crimson Thorn.

"Damn it! You killed Ye Chi, you bastard! Pay with your life!" The two Crimson Thorn squad members who had been closed in on summoned their own Behind-Spirits, wanting to fight back.

The squad member who summoned a Knight Sword pierced the red-robed man's body with one strike, but the red-robed man acted as if he hadn't been injured at all and chopped off the squad member's head.

At the same time, the bugs in front also charged up; the situation was already dire.

Yingzhou gritted his teeth and summoned another 50 Krieg soldiers. As soon as these Krieg soldiers appeared, they held off the charge of the bug swarm in front at Yingzhou's signal.

Seeing that the frontal battlefield had been completely taken over by Yingzhou, Ye Fan turned and picked up Ye Chi's dagger. After he held the dagger in his hand, the flames around him attached themselves to the blade.

The red-robed man seemed to sense danger and turned to attack Ye Fan.

On Yingzhou's side, he directed the Krieg soldiers to blow all these bugs to pieces. These Krieg soldiers displayed their astonishing combat power. Their marksmanship was precise, and their coordination was tacit, like a precision machine, ruthlessly Harvest-ing the lives of the bugs. Their presence bought the squad precious time and space.

Ye Fan held the flame-imbued dagger, his gaze firm and cold. He met the red-robed man, and the battle between the two was on the verge of breaking out. The flame dagger traced scorching trajectories in the air, every swing carrying energy full of destructive power. Although the red-robed man's movements were swift, under Ye Fan's fierce attacks, he appeared stretched thin.

Su Miao's Scarlet Flame Hawk already had several wounds on its body, and its condition was not very good. Fortunately, the combat power displayed by the Krieg soldiers on Yingzhou's side had already cleared out most of those bugs, so she withdrew the Scarlet Flame Hawk first.

"Phew... sure enough, fighting with the Scarlet Flame Hawk for a long time really consumes a serious amount of Spiritual Power." Su Miao wiped the sweat from her forehead, steadying her breathing.

She looked at these 50-plus Krieg soldiers who were defeating the remaining bugs, then looked at Yingzhou, whose Spiritual Power had not bottomed out in the slightest, and sighed inwardly: what a monster.