Chapter 12: Time Battlefield
"What?"
Chen Chong's momentum stuttered in his shock. Feeling the air across the entire zone warping and scorching, he immediately pushed his speed higher and said in disbelief:
"The Fear Demons are all dead, what's the point of intercepting them!"
Cheng Shi roared the explanation:
"The Land of Hope probably doesn't know the Fear Demon army is dead! I knew the enemy engagement in this trial was too fast. Now is the real Song of Blood and Fire!
Survive twenty-four hours caught between the Fear Demon army's march and the Meteor Fire Rain!
We encountered the Fear Demons early, which led us to a wrong understanding of the trial!"
Cao Sansui's face was pure shock. He said in disbelief:
"How is that…"
Then something clicked, and his shock deepened:
"You're saying the Bone Army learned of the Land of Hope's interception plan, so they deployed early to evade the bombardment?"
"Exactly!" Cheng Shi said, teeth gritted in frustration. "And we just happened to bump into them! The fall of the Land of Hope might not have been a military defeat. They had a problem on the inside!"
"Fuck, enough talk, heal me! My mental reserves are running low!"
Cheng Shi snapped his mouth shut and slapped a furious healing spell onto Chen Chong's stomach.
As for why the stomach, don't ask. If you ask, the answer is that it was right at hand. It was absolutely, positively not some perverse habit.
In a life-or-death moment, all perverse impulses took a back seat.
This time, luck wasn't on their side. One shot, direct hit. Chen Chong's belly swelled slightly, but fortunately, his speed surged another notch.
"No time, the meteor bombardment radius is too large! Chen Chong, how many hits can the Holy Light Wall take?"
Chen Chong blurted: "Three! I'm missing a Grade-A defensive talent, so the fourth will break it for sure!"
Cheng Shi frowned, running the numbers. Cao Sansui beside him immediately shouted:
"That's enough! Based on the meteor descent rate, the initial phase isn't too fast. It'll hold long enough for me to open the [Time Battlefield]!"
Time Battlefield!?
Right! They'd forgotten about that!
An expression of exaggerated enlightenment bloomed on Cheng Shi's face.
It looked like they'd need to find a real path to survival inside a time loop.
"Everyone! Get to me!"
Chen Chong roared, dropped the two men he was carrying, whipped out his great shield, veins bulging across both arms as he drove the shield tip viciously into the dirt.
Gazing up at the rain of fiery meteors plummeting from the heavens, he bellowed:
"Order Endures!"
The radiance of [Order] erupted once more, transforming into a wall of light that sealed all six of them beneath its canopy.
Beyond the golden light screen, the air temperature climbed higher and higher. Space itself warped from the searing heat, and the earth cracked open beneath the roasting.
Everyone tilted their heads back. The phantom sun blazed overhead, meteors screamed downward, their charred trails carving through the sky like blades through paper, a sight of apocalyptic grandeur that shook the soul.
If they hadn't been directly beneath the bombardment but watching from outside the strike zone, it might have been an unforgettable tableau of terrible beauty.
"Chen Chong, hold steady! One minute twelve seconds left!"
Chen Chong gripped the shield with everything he had, grinding his teeth as he shouted:
"Watch out, here it comes!"
The words had barely left his mouth!
"Boom…"
Everyone's vision went black as a colossal meteor fireball detonated against the light screen.
Then searing light flooded their eyes. The exploding fire spread like a magma eruption in all directions, instantly engulfing the Holy Light Wall.
Even the light screen that had weathered countless Fear Demon assaults swayed violently under the sheer kinetic force of the impact.
Chen Chong's entire body shuddered. His skin began to turn red.
It was burning hot!
"Priest, heal!"
Nangong didn't waste a breath, unleashing a stream of minor healing spells and cooling charms.
Cao Sansui gripped his pocket watch, face contorted with anxiety.
"Hold! Forty-eight seconds!"
"Two more coming! Keep dispelling the heat!"
"Boom…"
"Boom…"
This time, two arrived in quick succession. Fortunately, one didn't strike the Holy Light Wall directly but landed beside the light screen, yet the splashback of fire still left the barrier teetering.
"Can't hold, it's about to break, there's another one above us! Cheng Shi, do something!"
Cheng Shi's face darkened. He was about to act when Song Yawen beside him swiftly produced a sheet of pure black cloth from his personal space.
"This is…?" Nangong's eyes widened with suspicion.
A flash of agonizing loss crossed Song Yawen's face, but he said with determination: "This time, I've got it!"
Cheng Shi's eyebrow rose. He recognized this item.
An Assassin's Grade-A class item: Gate of Shadows of All Realms.
This wasn't some common merchandise. It could only appear in Ladder rewards at the 1600 tier and above, and the drop rate was abysmal.
When activated, it could cast any object into the shadow plane, regardless of size, location, or time, completely uncontrollably.
It was also a single-use consumable, worth a small fortune.
This was the ultimate tool for an Assassin performing Shadow Transit. The fact that Song Yawen was willing to bring it out meant he'd been pushed to the brink.
"Not bad, Comrade Song. It ain't easy rolling this thing at 1636."
Song Yawen smiled with undisguised pride, thinking finally it was his turn to show off.
"Stole it."
With that, he leaped high, hands and feet clinging to the inner wall of the light screen like a spider hanging inverted. Mentally counting the seconds, just before the fourth meteor struck, he agilely tossed the Gate of Shadows of All Realms outward.
The execution was extraordinarily precise. Because the Holy Light Wall blocked everything, he had to risk his life by Shadow Transiting through the concealment of thick smoke to get outside the light screen, unfurl the black cloth, open the Gate of Shadows, then instantly transit back.
If any single step was off by a millisecond, he'd be vaporized out there.
Fortunately, Song Yawen was a competent Assassin.
In the blink of an eye, he completed everything, sending the meteor that was about to shatter the light screen into the shadow plane.
The Gate of Shadows of All Realms dissolved along with it.
But competent was merely competent, still barely halfway to a perfect score.
"Quick! Healer, save me, my ass is on fire!!!"
Song Yawen howled, lying flat on his stomach. His entire back, buttocks, and thighs had a layer of flesh melted off. He thrust his two scalded-red cheeks toward the nearest healer, desperate for treatment.
But even in this battered state, the healer he faced was Nangong, not Cheng Shi.
Nangong raised her hand, dumbfounded, and slapped a healing spell on his backside.
Cheng Shi's smile vanished. He felt thoroughly slighted.
What, my healing doesn't taste good enough for you?
"Watch out! There are more above! Mage, how much longer!"
The Holy Light Wall had been up for barely a minute, and the entire plain had become a sea of fire. Explosions and tremors were incessant, and the surrounding temperature kept climbing.
Watching the terrifying meteors fall one after another, Chen Chong knew he truly couldn't hold this time.
"Ten seconds! Everyone, prepare! One o'clock direction has fewer meteor impacts. When the time hits, we break out!"
"Don't spread too far apart, or we won't be able to confirm casualties to end the Time Battlefield! I'll say it again, don't spread too far apart!"
"I hope, every single one of us makes it out alive!"
Cao Sansui gripped his pocket watch with one sweating hand, the other raised high, ready to initiate the Time Battlefield at any moment.
This would be their only path to escape. The precondition was that they couldn't loop too many times.
"3!"
"2! Everyone, prepare!"
"1! Run!"
Chen Chong dropped the Holy Light Wall without an instant's delay, stowed the shield-sword in his space in a flash, and roared as he seized Nangong and Cao Sansui like a madman and charged toward the one o'clock direction.
Xia Wan followed close behind, carrying the scrawny Cheng Shi on her back.
Song Yawen needed no instruction. Smoke billowed everywhere, and while fire filled the sky, there were shadows to transit through on all sides. He'd vanished early, already running ahead of the group.
Yet good fortune was fickle.
Though the one o'clock direction had appeared to have fewer meteors from inside the light screen, once they'd sprinted a fair distance, they realized the sky overhead was packed so dense with falling stone that dodging was impossible.
A massive fireball slammed down directly in front of Chen Chong. He braked hard, whipped out his shield-sword, transformed it into great sword mode, channeled divine power, and slashed outward.
The meteor exploded on impact, but before he could advance another step, another one came crashing down right above their heads.
"Fuck!"
Cao Sansui's face went pale with horror. He counted the seconds and screamed:
"Time, Rewind!"
The entire world froze, then rewound at dizzying speed like a film played in reverse.
Fire contracted, meteors rose, silhouettes retreated, the light screen reformed.
Everything, everything, returned to the exact moment the Time Battlefield had opened.
"1! Run!"
The light screen shattered instantly. Everyone summoned every ounce of strength and bolted, aimed at the one o'clock direction.
Only Cao Sansui, gasping in Chen Chong's grip, screamed frantically:
"Chen Chong! Xia Wan! Switch, three o'clock direction! Fast!"
Followers of [Time] were immune to the Time Battlefield's rewind effect and retained their memories. The Cao Sansui of right now was their eyes.
The two reacted without a sliver of hesitation, immediately pivoting course.
Cheng Shi clutched Xia Wan's neck tight, healing spells pounding into her body without interruption, his brow furrowed in thought:
"Second time."
With that thought, he reached out and flipped the die in his hand to another face.
2 face up.
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