Chapter 383

Chapter 383: Chapter 380: "Amber is indeed not as good as Su Rin....

Upon seeing Noel leading the Soul Hunt into action, Su Ming’an turned around.

He looked towards the barrier swarming with dense clusters of sea monsters and lifted the sword in his hand.

"Rin——"

Just then, he suddenly heard a very familiar call.

He turned his head and saw, on the sandy ground covered with white sand, a figure rushing towards him like a blazing fire.

Going against the flow of the fleeing crowd, her slender body stumbled through the masses.

While everyone else was desperately rushing into the island, she was running towards the most dangerous area, closest to the barrier.

Her legs trembling, she pushed through the crowd, disregarding the looks from others, like a small wave swimming upstream, flowing towards him.

In her hand, she carried the Wandering Night Walk glowing with a faint purple light.

"Rin! Your gun!"

Seeing Su Ming’an standing at the very top of the giant wheel, her eyes brightened.

She embraced the gun with both hands and then, like throwing a sandbag, spun half a circle.

The Wandering Night Walk, like a purple meteor, cut through the obstructive snow and was thrown upwards; Su Ming’an stepped forward and stretched out his hand, catching it very precisely just before it could fall into the ocean.

After looking at Nailuo who had specifically come to deliver the gun, he immediately turned, swiftly climbed down the outside ladder of the giant wheel.

Due to the interference of the sea monsters, he dared not activate Bright State. Finding a floating airship on the surface of the sea, he quickly rowed the small boat towards the perilous barrier.

Behind him, the Soul Hunt was engaged in an extremely dangerous confrontation with the oncoming sea monsters.

Bullets fired, energy surged, and swift winds roared through the snow.

Dense multicolored energy waves bloomed like fireworks above the Heavenly Sea, and the Soul Hunters stood on the temporary bridges set up by the arrays in the most dangerous parts of the sky, facing the pale blue sea monsters coming head-on.

Lightning.

Whirlwind.

Flowing fire danced all over the sky.

The attacking sea monsters, their fangs not yet reaching the hunters’ necks, faced an extremely dense onslaught.

Lightning blanketed in white light pierced through their bodies, tearing them into pale blue foam.

Bullets charged with flame energy set their heads on fire, creating a continuous chain of sky fire streaking across the heavens.

Ye Changtian, the Player wielding the silver sword, danced his blade in a dense net.

He glanced rather contentedly at his rapidly ascending experience bar then abruptly noticed an oddly conspicuous small boat on the sea.

"Damn! Who is that, not afraid of dying?" he exclaimed, filled with bafflement.

Above the vast expanse of blue, that lone little boat sailed through the waves, seemingly at any moment likely to be engulfed by the storm-like sea monsters and surging waves.

It looked utterly helpless and extremely tiny.

Alna, who was busy freezing the sea monsters with ice, glanced down at that boat.

"It might be Su Ming’an," she said.

"How can you tell?" Ye Changtian was very puzzled.

"At a time like this, probably only he would run towards the most dangerous place." To the left, Wang Chaoze, brandishing a large knife, laughed and added, "...It has to be him."

"Is it Su Ming’an? What does he want to do?"

"Looking in that direction, he must be intending to kill the King of Sea Monsters," Wang Chaoze said. "Only by killing the King of Sea Monsters or by setting up a new barrier can the Sea Monsters’ siege come to an end. Obviously, we don’t have any other way to set up a barrier outside. If he doesn’t kill the King of Sea Monsters, then no one else will be able to, and the siege will continue indefinitely. Even if we have a barrier, it will eventually shatter, and all of us might perish here—this task, only he can undertake it, for anyone else it would mean certain death."

"Has he gone mad? How can he possibly kill it?" Ye Changtian glared, and after glimpsing the densely packed whirlpool of Sea Monsters in the distance, which resembled an ant nest, he almost fainted from his fear of clusters:

"Even with high combat power, one can’t just storm in there, right? Besides, we can’t even find a trace of the King of Sea Monsters, let alone kill her amid so many Sea Monsters! Is he truly aiming to snatch the enemy leader amongst tens of thousands? But we can’t even locate the enemy—"

He looked at the lone boat on the water.

The wooden boat, floating on the blue sea, seemed like it could be capsized by the storm at any moment.

A horde of Sea Monsters surged across the horizon and skimmed over the sea surface; upon spotting the solitary little boat, a burst of desire exploded from their blood-red eyes, and their menacing gaze completely locked onto that small boat.

Yet, as they swooped in, there always appeared an invisible fluctuation that suddenly twisted their bodies and shattered them into a heap of frothy bubbles.

As Ye Changtian watched anxiously, he heard a discussion coming from nearby from the Soul Hunters.

From the content of the discussion, these appeared to be a group of NPCs.

The speaker was a young man with long hair who looked very young, with childlike features that made him appear even younger than his age.

"...See that below? That is Su Rin," he said, his eyes fixated on the lone boat, his expression filled with immense excitement as if he had seen his long-admired idol.

"Really... Is that the one from sixty years ago?"

"I heard that in admiration of his virtues, Princess Tulip voluntarily abdicated and handed over the rule of Pulaya to him. Yet, it’s unthinkable that he completely shuns power and still heads towards the most dangerous place at such a time..."

"He’s truly great. He could have just hidden inside the Royal City; the Royal City still has the Royal City Barrier, which is incredibly safe..."

"Perhaps that’s what a world-saving hero is. I heard from my great-grandma that sixty years ago, it was he who... boarded that airship and saved all of Pulaya... Although great-grandma always prevented me from speaking about it, I think now is the time to mention it..."

"—Quiet down, focus on the enemy!"

A stern female voice interrupted the Soul Hunters’ discussion, and the discussion ceased immediately.

Deputy Leader Duoya, who was at the forefront using threads to set up an array, looked complexly at the boat heading straight for the barrier and sighed slightly.

"He really is a brave man, isn’t he?" she said to the S-rank Soul Hunter Ed next to her.

"He is the only one who came back from Yun Shang City; the Deity must favor him," Ed said. "Believe in him, he is a man capable of creating miracles... By the way, in such a grave crisis, where has our leader gone?"

Duoya rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Who knows? The Soul Hunt Communicator mentioned that Amber had gone to seek reinforcements at the Royal City... Reinforcements? What reinforcements can there be? This guy, his actions are completely off the charts, seriously no match for Lord Su Rin."

As she spoke, she suddenly felt a pain in her right hand.

A Sea Monster that had unexpectedly breached the sword and blade defenses sprang beside her and bit onto her finger that was still setting up the array.

"Die!"

Her eyes instantly filled with hatred, and a fierce flame hissed to life around her wrist, fiercely engulfing the body of the Sea Monster. As the flames burned intensely, the Sea Monster, with fresh blood on its snout, was instantly incinerated into floating foam.

At that moment, Duoya raised her head and suddenly saw, outside the barrier, the Sea Monsters momentarily halted their charging movements.

They stretched their necks, straightened their bodies, and opened their mouths wide, apparently accumulating something.

"—It’s the Sea Monsters’ song, cover your ears!!!"

A piercing scream erupted.

Many Players who were still busy harvesting experience points immediately covered their ears and quickly retreated, running faster than anyone else.

However, the local Soul Hunters held their ground and did not retreat an inch.

Their swords still tirelessly stabbed towards the Sea Monsters before them, leaving no free hand to cover their ears.

Accompanied by a resonance that seemed to strike straight into people’s chests, a series of extremely sharp, high-pitched shrieks surged across the vast sea and fiercely crashed towards them.

"Hum—"

"Hum—"

"Ling—"

The sound was like a surging wave, one after the other.

The Soul Hunters, caught in fierce combat, showed expressions of uncontrollable agony as this sound violently poured into their brains, blurring their vision.

At that moment,

it seemed there was a unified leader, commanding this war known as "siege," as all the still Sea Monsters suddenly moved.

They rushed like a surge of waves, like wild beasts bereft of rationality, desperately trying to get through the hole in the barrier.

The stunned Soul Hunters were instantly bitten on the neck by the attacking Sea Monsters. Their boiling blood splattered on the faces and bodies of their brethren nearby, while swords covered in Sea Monster foam fell from the sky.

Like scissors cutting through fabric, the Sea Monsters fiercely tore through the front line of the Soul Hunters, rushing towards the players further back.

"Damn it!"

"Shit!"

"Oh God!"

"Wrnm!"

At that moment, various uniquely flavored curses floated in the sky.

Players with low agility points couldn’t dodge in time, and even retreating was futile as behind them stood other players just like them.

Once they stepped onto this sky-high bridge for battle, there was no way back.

Those players who initially thought of charging to the front to harvest the most experience points didn’t expect the situation to reverse in an instant. Soon, pitiful screams floated in the sky as many players were bitten through the neck by the Sea Monsters, dying horribly.

It was then, tossing aside the excitement and thrill of harvesting experience points, that they began looking for someone to blame subconsciously.

"—It’s all Su Ming’an’s fault, had he not insisted on controlling the whole Pulaya, would the Sea Monsters even attack?" someone complained.

"’The principle of equality’ is now so universal that everyone discusses it in channel chats, even dogs are aware of the rule, he clearly knew that controlling Pulaya would bring disaster. Why couldn’t he think about us, consider what we should do?"

"Number One Player is just Number One Player, of course, he’d only consider his Power Value..."

"Here we are suffering, and he, without a care, I don’t know where he’s gone off to find clues, completely uncaring about us. He has the strength to hide in the Royal City and survive, but for those of us who can’t enter the Royal City, once this island’s barrier breaks, in a few days, we just wait to die."

In the channel chat, complaints and insults unendingly flowed.

Earlier, when they saw there were so many Sea Monsters that were easy to kill and offered high experience points, they had rushed excitedly to the front.

However, when the situation suddenly reversed, and the NPCs they saw as mere cannon fodder started to falter in front of the danger, they began to get angry.

Now, as the front-line Soul Hunters fell, players found themselves almost surrounded by the Sea Monster Group.

The number of Sea Monsters had become immensely numerous like locusts, making them feel like crops being harvested, about to be consumed by the encroaching Sea Monsters at any moment.

Through the Sea Monsters’ transparent bodies, players could see the Soul Hunters around them, already covered in blood.

"—It’s no use! We can’t hold them off! Everyone, fall back immediately! Prepare to close the barrier!"

At the forefront, Minister Aiske noticed the sudden increase in the number of Sea Monsters.

By his side, several teammates were heavily injured, bleeding unstoppably.

He immediately ordered all Soul Hunters to start retreating.

Formed by the Soul Hunters, a very orderly black torrent began retreating rapidly from outside inward, the makeshift sky bridges under their feet slowly melting away, disappearing.

As one Soul Hunter after another retreated from the bridge back to the city walls, their defensive line was pressed closer.

At the front, dozens of Soul Hunters fell, and the Sea Monsters visibly began to break through the defense.

"—Close the barrier!"

Aiske glanced at the residents still running below and painfully issued the command.

"But..." Cliff’s face showed some hesitation.

"Didn’t you hear what I said?" Aiske suddenly turned around.

His usual carefree demeanor was gone, and his eyes were bloodshot red.

Despite addressing an older gentleman, his attitude was almost arrogantly despicable at that moment.

"Close the barrier!" he roared, his eyes red like a wild beast.

The one issuing the command was in extreme pain as well.

"Snap!"

Cliff shattered the crystal stone in his hand.

Instantly, a pristine white barrier descended from the sky.

As the barrier slowly pressed down from above, like a slowly falling blade, those blocked outside would lose any chance of survival.

The scene was extraordinarily cruel.

Ye Changtian, who had just retreated from the bridge, watched this scene in shock.

By his side, the severely injured Soul Hunters were wailing unceasingly. While the players retreated immediately, they still held their ground on the front line.

Even with arms broken or half of their faces bitten off, they still clung to their weapons, not giving an inch.

If one arm was broken, they used the other; if their face was bitten, they wrapped it with cloth and continued to fight.

There was even someone with half of their neck bitten off, gripping a handgun firmly even in the moment before death.

At that moment, the spirit of sacrifice unique to the Soul Hunters was immensely vivid.

Blood and fire had forged their souls.

...Even if it had been deliberately manipulated and deceived.

Blood poured down from the sky, spraying onto the faces of the residents seeking refuge.

At that moment, even the unarmed residents displayed a fierce look in their eyes.

Ye Changtian looked at the scene before him.

To hold out until the barrier was fully deployed, the scene turned extremely bloody.

He had just retreated to the city wall when blood spattered from a nearby Soul Hunter’s neck onto his face.

He wiped his face in confusion, watching the light gradually fade from the eyes of that Soul Hunter.

...That was the very same young Soul Hunter who had been joking and chatting with his comrades, younger than him.

The admiration and emotion for the world-saving hero in the eyes of the young hunter disappeared along with his fading gaze.

His face was still incredibly young, appearing to have just reached adulthood, with a leaf-woven bracelet around his wrist, perhaps a gift from a girl.

His body lay on the ground.

He was dead.

A man in his fifties rushed over, unable to stop crying.

His cries were restrained and desperate, like a wounded beast moaning.

At that moment, Ye Changtian, who always considered these Soul Hunters as cannon fodder and treated it all as a huge joke, looked somewhat bewildered.

"...NPC," he said softly.