Chapter 255 - 255: Elin and Thotmudo Escape Captivity, You Tell Me We’re in a Weakened State? (2)
Ji Chen shook his head and turned to Thotmudo, who had been silent all this while. He saw the dwarf hero with a pained expression, suddenly speaking in a hushed tone.
“Human… are you… alright?”
!!!
Ugh-
Ji Chen furrowed his brow deeply, feeling a bit nauseated.
You might not imagine how unusual it was for Thotmudo to speak in such a hushed manner.
It was like a burly and brawny figure, usually fierce and tough, was now speaking in a delicate and soft manner.
The contrast was astonishing.
Even though Ji Chen had a strong natural resistance, he was struggling to contain his urge to vomit.
He could only suppress the desire to retch and managed to force a smile, saying, “I’m… fine…”
Ji Chen could endure, but Elin had already burst into laughter without any restraint.
“Hahaha, Thotmudo, what’s gotten into you? You actually spoke with such a disgustingly sweet tone. It truly broadens my horizons.”
“If other dwarves saw you like that just now, they might start questioning life!”
“Hu-man-, are you- alright-,” Elin mimicked Thotmudo’s posture and speech, bursting into laughter once again, reaching a level of eerie sarcasm.
Thotmudo’s face was now entirely dark, reverting to his previous irritable appearance. His messy hair became even messier, and he seemed on the verge of a physical confrontation with Elin.
However, Ji Chen intervened just in time to prevent a clash between them. Now was not the time for them to quarrel in a cell. Two top-tier epic heroes fighting could lead to catastrophic consequences.
“Let’s get out of here quickly. You both must want to leave this place as well, right?”
At these words, Thotmudo finally calmed down, a hint of excitement gleaming in his eyes as he nodded.
As for Elin, she had been laughing so hard earlier that she nearly collapsed, clutching her stomach and leaning against Ji Chen to prevent herself from falling to the ground.
At this moment, she also snapped back to reality and likewise nodded in agreement with the statement.
Seeing this, Ji Chen didn’t hesitate. Leading the army, he walked towards the massive doors.
The enormous stone doors gradually opened, and a streak of red light slanted in along with the sound of the wind.
Emerging through the stone doors to the outside, they were met with an endless expanse of red desert. The sky remained blood-red, an eerie and desolate sight.
Yet, even faced with this, Elin and Thotmudo were filled with unparalleled excitement and exhilaration.
They spread their arms wide, gazing up and laughing heartily, allowing the wind and sand to brush against their bodies.
“For thousands of years, we’ve finally escaped this prison!”
“The taste of freedom!!”
Ji Chen and the others stood aside, silently watching them release their pent-up emotions.
It was hard for them to fathom the feeling of being imprisoned for thousands of years and finally gaining their freedom. After all, they had only spent less than a day inside.
After a while.
The two had exhausted their emotional outburst, and they concealed the remaining excitement and exhilaration within their hearts.
They turned and walked over to Ji Chen’s side.
With a smile, Elin said, “Sorry for the spectacle. It’s my first time outside in so long, so I’m a bit excited.”
Ji Chen nodded without saying anything.
At this moment, the palace behind them slowly sank into the ground, buried under endless rubble, leaving no trace of its existence.
Seeing this, a thought crossed Ji Chen’s mind, and he said, “Now that we’re out, 1 should leave this realm quickly. After all… we don’t know when that Lich might return.”
Naturally, Lord Krieg had already met his demise, but Elin and Thotmudo were unaware of this fact. Ji Chen decided not to inform them, considering the situation.
With Krieg’s death, this laboratory had naturally become ownerless.
In that case, why shouldn’t he seize the opportunity and claim it for himself?
After all, the “experimental materials” confined within this laboratory constituted a treasure trove of immeasurable value.
As long as he possessed the Sword of Warlords, he could come here at any time and acquire wealth from this repository.
Upon hearing Ji Chen’s words, Elin and Thotmudo, who had been enjoying the outside world, nodded gravely.
Breathing in the air of freedom, they were determined not to be locked up again in the small cage they had endured.
“Alright, we’ve just broken free from the seal. We’re still in a weakened state for now, so we can’t open a Void Passage temporarily. We can only exit through the portal you entered.”
Just as Ji Chen was about to respond, he suddenly heard a warning from one of his subordinates.
“Skull horde detected from the north!”
Looking into the distance, they saw a large group of skeleton creatures appearing on the northern sand dunes, seemingly out of nowhere.
This posed a problem.
Ji Chen gazed at the sea of skeletons rushing towards them, feeling somewhat troubled.
The size of this force seemed to be at least a hundred thousand skeletons. In the past, he wouldn’t have worried much, but after the battle with Solin and the significant losses suffered by the Royal Griffon Knight Order, they were now reduced to a size of fewer than a thousand troops, making it extremely difficult to hold them off.
“Lady Elin, Lord Thotmudo, the number of this approaching skeleton sea is quite substantial. It might be prudent for us to temporarily avoid their onslaught.”
“Why should we hide? We don’t need to evade such a number of low-level skeletons.”
Elin waved her hand dismissively, looking at Ji Chen. “Do you have a staff? Without a staff, things might feel a bit awkward.”
Ji Chen was taken aback and rummaged through his backpack. He then handed over the only staff he had—the Amplification Staff.
Elin accepted it casually, weighed it in her hand, and nodded. “It’s not great, but it’ll do.”
After saying that, she held the staff and walked forward about a dozen meters, calmly facing the incoming skeleton horde.
Her composure wasn’t a facade; she genuinely appeared unperturbed.
Neither joy nor sorrow, devoid of any emotion.
Elin’s steps came to a halt as she gripped the staff.
Suddenly, an immense and substantial surge of energy erupted from Elin’s body, sweeping in all directions. Countless pieces of debris were lifted up, forming rings of sand waves.
The crystal at the top of the Amplification Staff emitted a glowing radiance as the energy surged into it, shining like a beacon in the dark night.
In an instant, this area was filled with a vast expanse of energy akin to the sea.
Ji Chen, standing behind, suddenly felt his breathing become constricted, as if the air were continuously compressing him.
It wasn’t just him; even heroes like Alice were struggling, gritting their teeth to persevere. Only Thotmudo seemed unfazed, standing nonchalantly with his hands behind his back. He commented with a hint of disdain, “It seems that after thousands of years, those pointy-eared folks haven’t made much progress in their strength.”
Perhaps sensing their predicament, Elin moved her staff slightly, and Ji Chen and the others immediately felt a release of pressure from their shoulders, as if the burden had lifted.
Crack!
A cracking sound emanated from the crystal at the top of the Amplification Staff, and a fissure appeared.
It couldn’t withstand the overwhelming power and had cracked on its own!
Elin let out a soft sigh, a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes. Shaking her head, she raised the staff, allowing a surge of energy to flow into the air.
In an instant, a massive blue magic circle, over fifty meters in diameter, appeared in the blood-red sky. It was adorned with intricate arcane symbols and patterns.
Just as they thought it was the end of it, another similarly sized red magic circle appeared beside the blue one, aligned side by side.
Elin gently tapped the staff towards the skeleton horde. Instantly, countless white dots flashed within the blue and red circles. Ice spikes and fireballs emerged densely, trailing paths as they crashed into the sea of skeletons.
Swish-
Boom—
Above the desert, a symphony of ice and fire unfolded.
Though the fireballs were only the size of fists, they detonated like high-yield explosives, their intense heat instantly melting the skeletons within a ten-meter radius.
The ice spikes, though only as thick as three fingers, moved so quickly that they left behind faint traces. Silently, they pierced through the skeletons, and many of them continued running for over ten meters before collapsing and disintegrating.
Within the magic circles, ice spikes and fireballs continued to shoot out endlessly, bombarding the skeleton horde with ferocity.
Watching this spectacle, Ji Chen was utterly dumbfounded.
You’re telling me they’re in a weakened state!?