Chapter 40: Killing Enemies and Escaping (Please keep reading, please favorite, please recommend)

Chapter 40

On the other hand, the moment Lynn and his teammates received the news, they reacted almost without hesitation.

Without a second of delay, everyone turned around and rushed toward the exit of the Nightshade Bunker.

Since the commander had issued a retreat order, it was clear that the situation inside the Nightshade Bunker had spiraled out of control; staying here was nothing more than waiting for death.

No one was willing to risk staying behind under such circumstances.

The formation range of the Nightshade Bunker was vast and circular, meaning that no matter which direction they chose to break through, they would have to penetrate the bunker's sky curtain.

Fortunately, breaking through the sky curtain was not particularly difficult; they had already experienced it once when they entered.

Everyone felt somewhat confident; although the situation was critical, at least this step was not an issue.

Currently, the squad had no intention of disbanding. In the midst of chaos, unity was safer than fighting alone.

As Lynn and his teammates approached the sky curtain, a hint of relief and joy was hard to hide on their faces.

Regardless of anything else, they would break out first to save their lives and worry about the rest later.

However, just as they easily broke through the sky curtain and stepped outside the range of the Nightshade Bunker, the sight before them caused everyone's expression to change drastically.

Outside the sky curtain, there was actually another black formation barrier, pitch-black as ink and seemingly invisible, yet it tightly sealed off their retreat!

This barrier seemed to compensate for the loopholes in the sky curtain, making it impossible for them to escape easily.

Even more terrifying was that a group of wizard apprentices was staring at them from behind the barrier, wearing cold and cruel smiles.

"Fish escaping the net! Deal with them!" one of the apprentices shouted sinisterly.

It turned out that this new barrier was exactly the defensive line mentioned by the Lionheart Knight.

When he had told Estri earlier that "no apprentice could break out," he was referring to this very layer of defense.

"Kill!"

The squad leader roared, chanting a spell as he immediately accelerated his advance.

Upon hearing the command, many members of the squad flashed with murderous intent, preparing to fight to the death.

Spells rapidly coalesced, shooting toward the approaching apprentices.

The air was thick with the intense atmosphere of magical confrontation.

Lynn remained calm. He was not stirred into battle frenzy by the squad leader's roar; instead, he became even more vigilant.

After all, this squad was not a unified whole, but a collection of individuals fighting for their own interests with hidden agendas.

In this situation, so-called "unity" was nothing more than a joke.

He was already prepared to flee at any moment, and hearing the squad leader shout for a "fight to the death" only heightened his alertness.

Sure enough, in the next moment, the situation unfolded exactly as Lynn had predicted.

Among the more than twenty wizard apprentices in the squad, over ten immediately began releasing spells, standing their ground to provide suppressive fire.

In contrast, the squad leader who had just shouted "fight to the death" did not slow down for a single second; instead, he accelerated toward the distance with a clear objective.

It turned out that the leader's shout was merely a tactic to stall for time, deceiving his teammates into staying behind to cast spells to buy him time to deal with the enemy.

His cry was not meant to boost morale, but to use the others as "bait" to slow down the enemy's pursuit.

This shout had not only deceived the opponents but had also deceived his own people.

Most of the members stood their ground, releasing spells and resisting desperately.

However, a few people in the squad were extremely cautious. They were not fooled by the leader's shout and remained vigilant, preparing to break through the encirclement.

"It's like being targeted by a large black bear in the wild," Lynn thought to himself. "You don't need to run faster than the bear; you only need to run faster than your teammates."

Lynn gave a small, dry laugh, but he did not hesitate in the slightest.

As his laughter faded, his hands moved rapidly, quickly retrieving a bottle of Acceleration Potion from his spatial storage.

This potion was just one step away from being a perfect product; Lynn had checked it, and while its effects were slightly inferior, it was sufficient to handle the current emergency.

He swallowed the potion without hesitation, instantly feeling a surge of intense energy flooding his body.

*Whoosh!*

He shot forward instantly, his speed several times faster than before, like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, moving with lightning speed.

Several clever members also chose to scatter and flee, each seeking their own way out.

Lynn was one of them. As he sprinted, he could hear the insults being hurled by the wizard apprentices behind him.

The apprentices were clearly enraged at being abandoned, but Lynn didn't care; he only focused on sprinting desperately toward the distance.

Suddenly, a boom echoed from behind. A burst of magical light exploded, and the intense blast tore a large hole in the ground where Lynn had just been standing.

But Lynn was too fast; the magical light only chased at his heels, failing to cause him even the slightest injury.

He no longer looked back, quickly widening the distance between himself and the enemy.

The apprentices left behind naturally could not pursue him anymore; they could only turn to face the unfortunate members who had stayed.

The night was dim, and the second layer of the black sky curtain seemed boundless, as if it had no end.

Lynn had been sprinting for a long time using the Acceleration Potion, but the scenery before him showed no change.

No matter what, he still felt the sky curtain was impossibly far away, pressing down on him until he felt breathless.

"Two bottles left..." Lynn muttered to himself, quickly checking the potions in his spatial storage. He felt a slight sense of relief; he still had two more chances to accelerate.

He took a deep breath, quickened his pace again, and charged toward the distance.

After a period of rapid movement, Lynn finally saw the edge of the sky curtain, which seemed to be gradually approaching.

Just then, two figures suddenly approached from the distance.

Two people, one in front of the other: one was a Furnace apprentice fleeing for his life, and the other was clearly an enemy in pursuit.

Lynn snapped his head up and locked eyes with the fleeing apprentice ahead.

Both of their eyes were filled with shock.

Lynn recognized the fleeing apprentice—it was the very one who had been acting tough in front of him alongside Riley earlier.

However, in a short amount of time, the situation had taken a drastic turn; the once arrogant apprentice was now fleeing for his life in a pathetic state.

"Ice Arrow!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Lynn whispered the incantation while continuing to sprint at full speed toward the end of the second sky curtain.

Immediately, a long arrow of ice took shape, its tip shimmering with a cold light.

However, the arrow was not aimed at the pursuer behind the apprentice, but was precisely aimed at the direction the fleeing apprentice was running.

The ice arrow shot out violently, striking the target like a bolt of lightning.

Although the apprentice realized the danger and tried to dodge quickly, it was too late—the arrow had already predicted his movement and struck directly into his path.

"You! Damn you!"

The apprentice cursed angrily, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

If there hadn't been pursuers behind him, he would have certainly turned around to fight Lynn to the death, but now he could only swallow his anger.

The hit from the Ice Arrow caused his footsteps to falter and his heart to panic, providing the pursuer behind him an opportunity to launch a magical attack.

"Dammit!"

The apprentice's expression changed instantly, but it was too late to react; he could only face the fierce attack.

At the same time, Lynn swallowed another bottle of Acceleration Potion. The energy in his body surged instantly, and his speed increased once more.

He no longer hesitated, charging straight toward the end of the sky curtain.

Ahead was a pitch-black, boundless sky curtain with no obstructions. Lynn successfully broke through this obstacle, and almost no one appeared.

Finally, he reached the end of the sky curtain and stopped, looking up at that black wall.

This layer of the sky curtain was different from the previous one; it felt like a heavy barrier, no longer easy to penetrate like a waterfall.

Lynn tried to bump into it experimentally, only to find it completely impassable.

"Such dense negative energy factors..."

Lynn's heart tightened. Before he could observe more closely, he suddenly felt the aura of a magical collision rapidly approaching.

Looking closely, he was surprised to find that the apprentice he had hit earlier was actually still alive.

Though his movements were somewhat staggered, he had clearly not died; he was being cornered by the pursuer, and the two were engaged in an intense magical clash.

*Boom!*

The clash between the two sides of magic produced a deafening roar.

Lynn saw the apprentice pull a large, shield-like object from his robes to block the aftershocks of the magic. Using the momentum, he reflected a powerful surge of energy, which shot straight toward Lynn.

*Boom! Boom!*

Two different colored lights rushed toward Lynn like lightning, moving so fast they almost trapped him.

"Flash!"

Lynn's eyes sharpened. He quickly consumed his last bottle of Acceleration Potion, and his speed exploded. His body shifted sideways like a gale, easily dodging the two lethal attacks.

However, at the very moment he turned to avoid the attack, he suddenly noticed that at the point of the magical collision, a hole about the size of a watermelon had actually appeared, clearly blasted out by the powerful force.

In contrast, another spell had no effect, seemingly unable to penetrate the sky curtain at all.

"Negative energy magic is what actually affected this sky curtain!"

A light flashed in Lynn's eyes as an idea struck him.

He immediately understood everything and quickly formulated a viable plan.

"My Heart of Flower Language still has over twenty degrees of defense... it's feasible!"

Lynn let out a cold laugh, a chilling light flashing in his eyes. His pupils condensed with killing intent as he did not retreat, but instead walked straight toward the place where the two were fighting.

"Hmm?!"

Seeing this, the apprentice related to White looked on with confusion, clearly not understanding why Lynn was suddenly approaching.

However, the pursuer saw Lynn's movement and laughed loudly: "None of you are getting away!"

Following his laughter, he looked back into the distance; more and more pursuers were rapidly approaching, and the battle seemed to be turning increasingly unfavorable.

Lynn was not intimidated by this situation. Instead, bolstered by the Acceleration Potion, he rapidly approached the apprentice related to White, only stopping abruptly when he felt the distance was sufficient.

Then, with a surge of mental strength, he activated the "Heart of Flower Language"!

*Boom!*

Vines and flowers instantly emerged from the ground—not beneath Lynn's feet, but rapidly appearing beneath the feet of the Level 3 wizard apprentice related to White.

"What is this!"

The apprentice's face changed drastically. He quickly pulled a demonized tool from his spatial storage, intending to tear through the sudden vines and flowers.

However, just as he was about to act, his pupils dilated. The sight before him left him with absolutely no time to react.

The power of the Heart of Flower Language was fully unleashed. In an instant, the vines and flowers entwined rapidly, condensing into a massive cocoon that tightly wrapped the apprentice inside.

The distant pursuer thought that the two Furnace apprentices had joined forces, believing Lynn had used magic to protect the other.

The pursuer sneered and directly used his own demonized tool, layering it with his own magic, intending to tear through this single defensive spell.

From the corner of his eye, Lynn saw this and instead directly triggered the Heart of Flower Language.

The complete large cocoon suddenly cracked open, creating an opening exactly in the direction from which the pursuer was releasing his magic!

The person inside the cocoon was still desperately attacking the interior, completely unaware of what was happening behind him.

*Boom!*

A powerful beam of magical light struck his chest directly, instantly piercing through his body. The apprentice's pupils bulged, and he died with his eyes wide open.

The vines of the Heart of Flower Language then used their remaining energy to contract rapidly. A single vine tightly wrapped around the spatial storage tool on the apprentice's body and reached out toward Lynn.

Lynn grabbed the spatial tool and sneered, "I won't be polite then."

Watching the apprentice—who had brought this upon himself by insisting on meddling in the grudge between Lynn and Riley—die before his eyes, Lynn felt no lingering attachment. He turned and sprinted toward the sky curtain.

At the same time, he muttered an incantation, casting his only known negative energy spell—

"Wraith's Breath!"

In an instant, a disheveled, hideous female ghost lunged from in front of Lynn, aiming directly at the infinitely thick dark sky curtain.

The ghost's ethereal form spiraled in the air, letting out a bone-chilling shriek. It instantly tore a corner of the sky curtain, rapidly expanding the hole that had originally been only the size of a watermelon.

Using the final effect of the Acceleration Potion, Lynn leaped into the opening without hesitation. His figure swept through like the wind, breaking through the sky curtain and racing into the distance.

PS: Happy New Year to everyone!

(End of Chapter)