Chapter 140: I Thought This Was Supposed to be 'Absolutely Safe Oherma'?
"Stelle! March! Wake up! Something's happened!" Dan Heng's urgent, low voice cut through the air, instantly shattering their peaceful slumber.
Stelle and March 7th practically sprang upright. Their eyes were still bleary with sleep, but the sight that greeted them shocked them wide awake in a heartbeat.
The Holy City of Oherma, which should have been peacefully enveloped in a protective halo of light, was now plunged into a maelstrom of fire and chaos.
Across the sky, countless burning boulders rained down like a meteor shower, trailing long, fiery tails as they descended with destructive roars, relentlessly bombarding the city below. Explosions bloomed one after another, sending architectural debris flying through the air. The terrified screams of citizens, the deafening rumble of collapsing buildings, and the familiar roars of monsters intertwined to paint a scene straight out of an apocalypse.
"Didn't they say this was the 'absolutely safe Holy City of Oherma'?" Stelle instantly summoned her baseball bat, the raw power of Destruction thrumming around her. She charged toward the nearest gap in a wall, a fresh crater blasted open by a fireball, complaining loudly as she ran, "How is this safe at all?! Tribbie, you lied to us!"
"I knew it!" March 7th swiftly materialized her ice bow, a biting chill clinging to her fingertips. Her face was etched with a helpless, "I-told-you-so" expression. "When has our trailblazing journey ever gone smoothly? All that peaceful traveling before was just setting us up for this disaster!"
Before she had even finished her sentence, a crystalline ice arrow was already loosed from the string. It precisely struck a Sky-Scourge Gladiator that had just burst from the smoke, freezing the monster into a solid sculpture of ice just as it was about to swing its massive fists at a group of panicked civilians.
Dan Heng's eyes quickly scanned the chaotic battlefield, his voice remaining steady and swift. "It's the same enemies who attacked us in the Deep Abyss! This assault is undoubtedly the work of the Conflict Titan Nikadori's minions!"
Seeing the large number of Oherma's citizens still trapped on the surrounding streets, paralyzed by panic, he immediately issued a command. "focus on protecting the civilians! We end this battle quickly!"
"Understood!" Stelle and March 7th replied in unison.
The battle erupted in an instant. Stelle charged into the enemy ranks like a whirlwind, her baseball bat, imbued with the power of Destruction, swinging with heavy, devastating force.
Bang! A Sky-Scourge Gladiator's stone fist was shattered on impact. Seizing the opening, Stelle closed the distance, driving her bat hard into the monster's core. With a final wail, it crumbled into a pile of rubble.
Thump! She swung her bat in a powerful backhand sweep, knocking another charging gladiator back several steps. Her combat style was broad and impactful, effectively drawing the fire of most of the melee-focused monsters.
Meanwhile, March 7th weaved through the rear, providing crucial support. Her bow and arrow seemed to be an extension of her will, an art form in motion.
Whoosh! An ice arrow shot through the thick smoke, accurately pinning the arm of a Sky-Scourge Hunter that was hiding behind a ruin. It had been drawing its longbow to fire into the crowd, but the arrow froze its limb solid, interrupting the attack.
Whoosh! Another arrow flew, freezing a different Sky-Scourge Gladiator in place just as it attempted to bypass Stelle and pounce on several children who had fallen to the ground. Her arrows were swift and precise, like cold rays of salvation on the chaotic battlefield.
Dan Heng stood firm as a bulwark, guarding the area where the citizens were most densely clustered. He clapped his hands together, a green light flaring between his palms. "Jadeite Shield, protect all!"
The shield instantly expanded, enveloping more than a dozen cowering civilians in a protective, translucent green barrier. Almost simultaneously, a Sky-Scourge Hunter's arrow whistled through the air, striking the shield with a fierce impact. The barrier rippled violently but held firm, refusing to break.
"March!" Dan Heng growled.
"On it!" March 7th understood perfectly. An arrow supercharged with frigid energy shot out, precisely hitting the hunter whose sneak attack had just failed, encasing it in a block of ice.
The three of them cooperated with flawless cooperation. Stelle drew aggro and cleared out close-range enemies at the front; March 7th precisely targeted and eliminated long-range threats while freezing any stragglers; and Dan Heng held the rear, providing the most solid protection for the civilians and creating timely sniping opportunities for March.
Their combat efficiency was incredibly high. Before long, the enemies in their immediate area were mostly cleared out, with only a few scattered holdouts stubbornly resisting.
Confirming their surroundings were temporarily secure, Dan Heng quickly explained the situation to Stelle and March. "The attack erupted suddenly, just as the Great Land-Beast entered the outer districts of Oherma. Phainon and Tribbie sensed greater pressure coming from the core area and have already pushed ahead along the central main road to provide support. We were a bit slower and got bogged down by the chaos here."
He pointed toward the city center, where the flames burned brightest and the sounds of battle were most intense. "We have two choices now. One, we find a nearby shelter and escort these civilians there. Two, we immediately head to the main battlefield, rendezvous with Phainon and Tribbie, and join the fight. The first option is safer. The second... carries a greater risk, but it might be what turns the tide of this battle. What do you think?"
March 7th immediately turned to look at Stelle.
Stelle puffed out her chest without a moment's hesitation. She slammed the end of her baseball bat onto the ground with a dull thud, the power of Destruction surging around her like an aura.
"Is that even a choice? Of course, we keep fighting! I promised Tribbie I'd uphold the will of the Trailblaze and help the people here! Now that the enemy has come knocking on our door, how can we possibly shrink back?"
She grinned, her eyes burning with a fierce fighting spirit. "Besides, I just woke up and really need to stretch my muscles! Dan Heng, lead the way! Target—the main battlefield!"
"Good." Dan Heng showed no surprise, nodding decisively. "Follow me!"
Wasting no more time, the trio entrusted the civilians to the Oherma city guards who had just arrived, drawn by the commotion. They immediately sped off toward the city center, where flames clawed at the sky.
Along the way, scattered enemies continued to dart out from the shadows of the ruins—hulking Sky-Scourge Gladiators swinging their stone fists and nimble Sky-Scourge Hunters firing cold arrows from the darkness.
But the three of them moved in perfect concert. With Stelle and Dan Heng clearing a path and March providing vigilant cover fire and pinpoint eliminations, they advanced at an incredible speed, like three sharp blades piercing toward the heart of the battlefield.
However, just as they passed through a shattered street and were about to step onto the main road leading to the central square, their path was completely blocked.
An impossibly massive stone pillar, looking as if it had been snapped by some terrifying force, lay across the center of the road, completely sealing off their way forward. The fractured surface was a grotesque mess of splintered rock, and unextinguished flames still licked at its length, filling the air with acrid smoke.
"Tsk, how troublesome!" Stelle frowned. She hoisted her baseball bat, concentrating the power of Destruction at its tip until it glowed with violent energy. "Everyone, stand back! Watch me blast it open with one swing!" she declared, preparing to unleash a powerful strike.
It was at that critical moment—
An ethereal, familiar voice, seeming to pierce through the clamor of the battlefield, rang out clearly from ahead. "...Unveil the curtain of memory, stir the ripples of the past!"
As the last ancient syllable of the incantation fell, time itself seemed to flow backward.
Broken stones, as if pulled by an invisible hand, flew upward against gravity, reassembling themselves. The cracked body of the pillar smoothly rejoined, and peeling fragments of its carved reliefs flew back to their original positions.
In just a few breaths, the obstructive, burning, broken giant pillar was enveloped in a beam of soft blue light. Miraculously, it was restored to its complete, pristine, and solemn form, standing steadily in the center of the road as if it had never suffered any damage at all.
A clear path reappeared before them.
"Awesome, it's Tribbie!" March 7th exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
"This move again!" Stelle stared at the instantly restored pillar, her eyes filled with wonder and admiration. Her motion of preparing to smash the pillar was frozen in place. "This 'Miracle of Olonis' is way too useful! It's practically a divine skill for clearing paths and rebuilding!"
She looked at the restored stone pillar, and a wild idea began to grow in her mind. 'It's decided! After this battle is over, I'm going to pester Tribbie until she teaches me this! It's so much more efficient than using my bat for demolition, and it saves a ton of effort!'
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