Chapter 108: Fleeing into the Dungeon

“Within two minutes and twenty-seven seconds, they absolutely dare not come close,” Zhao Tianhe declared confidently, as faint, sword-shaped red lightning flickered around him...

In the next moment, countless sword weapons were projected from Zhao Tianhe’s Infinite Sword Technique into the real world, then suddenly burst out of the sea, soaring into the sky!

Five kilometers away, some keen-sensed elite Wind Demons spotted the swarm of swords but did not yet understand their significance.

This was a group of strange lifeforms resembling black mist with mouths, lacking fixed shapes, moving at incredible speeds, leaving black trails on human retinas.

Wherever they passed, weaker lifeforms had their life energy drained, their bodies corrupted into an eerie black energy.

Where the Wind Demon army marched, the seawater often surfaced with countless black particles—remains of fish and even microorganisms corrupted into corpses.

These particles slowly gathered, eventually birthing new monsters...

“Three hundred, four hundred, five hundred...” Zhao Tianhe murmured, projecting more and more swords.

Meanwhile, Li Mei pulled out a map from her pocket, casting spells and comparing their current location.

A Wind Demon snarled at the dense sword swarm in the distance.

“Release!”

Eight hundred swords thundered toward the Wind Demon army. Due to individual differences, the swords flew at varying speeds.

A spiraling red light moved fastest, piercing through the army, shattering the torsos of a dozen demons, who howled in agony as they died.

Only a few elite Wind Demons detected the anomaly and hastily halted, but it was useless.

Streams of light pierced through the monster horde stretching for kilometers, prompting the Wind Demons to finally realize the threat and scatter.

Possessing the attributes of undead and elemental beings, these monsters had immense vitality, making ordinary slashing spells ineffective. To truly destroy them, one had to obliterate over half their body at once.

Under the wind pressure of the high-speed flying swords, even a graze would blow apart parts of their bodies. After the formation broke, a single sword strike might not kill many, but it would severely wound dozens.

Thus, Zhao Tianhe single-handedly halted the entire monster army, their wails echoing over the sea.

A colossal blood-red Wind Demon suddenly transformed, sprouting a dozen blood-red misty tentacles that formed a massive hand, fiercely grabbing at a sword!

Sparks flew as the sword was stubbornly blocked by this suspected boss monster.

Nearby Wind Demons marveled at their leader’s display of power, but Zhao Tianhe noticed an anomaly in that sword strike.

So the next dozens of swords directly changed targets to strike the boss!

The blood-red Wind Demon roared, its body swelling over tenfold. Thousands of tentacles combined into dozens of thick arms, forcefully blocking the dozens of swords.

Yet then it faced two hundred!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire sea erupted in splashes. The blood-red Wind Demon was ruthlessly pierced through by a hundred swords, utterly disintegrated...

This pitiful boss was blasted to pieces before its minions.

The monster army came to a complete halt, exchanging glances, some even retreating.

The remaining bosses were intimidated, hiding among their loyal troops, unwilling to show themselves.

With the dire situation, none dared to reveal themselves before understanding the enemy.

“Hey! Why run?!” Zhao Tianhe anxiously shouted at Li Mei.

The Infinite Sword Technique’s duration had less than half a minute remaining.

“Wait, we’ve pinpointed our location. Let me recall, let me recall...” Li Mei muttered, furrowing her brow. “The nearest dungeon is less than five kilometers from here!”

Returning to the island was impossible. They couldn’t outrun the monsters, nor easily hide. Wherever these monsters passed, nothing grew; the weak were corrupted instantly, the strong would actively hunt survivors.

Without the Infinite Sword Technique, Zhao Tianhe’s combat strength was still inferior to Li Mei’s. Together, they might barely handle a dozen elite Wind Demons.

For now, the best plan was to find somewhere to hide beyond the monsters’ search range—and the dungeon was the prime choice.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tianhe cast the Swimming Fish Technique and followed Li Mei underwater, projecting swords to hurl at the Wind Demon army as they swam.

After over ten minutes since Zhao Tianhe stopped projecting, the Wind Demon army began moving again.

They formed massive black formations centered on several bosses, launching magical bombardments toward Zhao Tianhe’s last position.

This unique formation, developed in the “Wind Demon” dungeon realm, combined their innate talents and physiques into a special spell.

But Zhao Tianhe and Li Mei were located over a kilometer away, submerged more than 800 meters deep. Unless Wei Luan revived and launched a nuclear-level cloud bomb, they were safe.

Li Mei scrutinized the map, recalling the dungeon’s location. After searching underwater for over ten minutes, she finally spotted a white thin membrane.

It sat atop an underwater cliff, barely a dozen square meters, resembling a cave entrance.

As soon as they stepped inside, a wave of chill greeted them...

A B-rank dungeon, Silent Ice Sea.

“This is bad. The dungeon hasn’t been cleared today...” Li Mei trembled, casting a warmth spell on herself.

On a distant ice plain, one-eyed giants nearly three meters tall, clad in thick fur and wielding ice weapons, were chiseling ice blocks.

Obviously, dungeon members had delayed their routine clearing to join the commotion.

Still, it wasn’t a big deal. Even if delayed or done every other day, it just meant significantly reduced experience gain.

“Should we clear a floor?” Zhao Tianhe asked.

“No need. With only the two of us, provoking the entire floor’s monsters could be disastrous—unless you can pull off that move again,” Li Mei said, eyes shining with hope.

Zhao Tianhe shrugged helplessly.

‘Sigh, I thought I could master the Infinite Sword Technique, but who knew...’ he sighed, unaware a faint red spark flickered through his spinal marrow.

Li Mei appeared even more disappointed. Honestly, she was almost enchanted by Zhao Tianhe until she saw the broken sword armor he made for himself using the Infinite Sword Technique.

It resembled the Saint Seiya armor but looked comical— or rather, foolish.

Next, Li Mei cast several scouting eyes at the dungeon entrance to monitor any intruders.

They planned to quietly carve out an underwater ice cave on the ice plain and stay there until the Wind Demons were driven away and the dungeon was cleared.

As long as they acted cautiously and avoided detection, this would be their safest refuge.

Meanwhile, on the sea surface, the Wind Demon army found no response after their bombardment.

Sending a squad of ordinary monsters for reconnaissance and plunder confirmed no life signs in the surrounding waters.

So the army resumed marching.

However, a blood-red boss broke away with thousands of ordinary monsters and hundreds of elites, diving underwater.

Their destination was exactly the B-rank dungeon, Silent Ice Sea.

In the quiet ice cave, Zhao Tianhe lay on a bed fashioned by his level-zero cantrips, Air Solidification and Heating.

“Finally, a rest. This is killing me...” Li Mei, equally exhausted, lay on the warm air bed beside him. “I’ll never forget today... But no one would believe it if I told them. The Wind Child Wei Luan betrayed us, led the Wind Demon army to invade Saint Rose Harbor, killed civilians of the coastal defense, attacked heroes, and worst of all, was killed by a B-rank hero...”

“That’s not true! If it were you, it’d be fine!” Li Mei suddenly sat up, looking at Zhao Tianhe. “You used that life-saving artifact specially issued by the Royal Capital Saint Veil! An ancient miraculous spatial magic artifact. If it’s you, maybe...”

“Well... no one would believe me,” Zhao Tianhe said awkwardly with a bitter smile.

He then explained his situation to Li Mei.

“Oh! So the materials Jeros obtained last time were actually for you?!” Li Mei was surprised, recalling their experiences as a team. “No wonder we never had equipment breakage when with you...”

“See?” Zhao Tianhe smiled wryly.

“But to unleash such power, even if one-time, your talent is terrifying,” Li Mei said, more amazed. “No wonder you’re rated S+ potential. I think you’re not just S+, but have the potential to be among the ‘Top Ten’!”

The “Top Ten” refers to the strongest among S+ heroes, ranked within the top ten.

For reference, the Old Ghost is one of the Top Ten, ranked ninth.

Among the Top Ten, nine have comparable strength; only one holds the title of strongest. The rest, including Old Ghost, have no definitive order.

Current rankings are mere rumors spread by civilian media, which the heroes themselves ignore.

At this moment, outside the white membrane of the Silent Ice Sea, the blood-red Wind Demon boss stood silently, gazing at the dungeon entrance with its mouth wide open.

Within its mouth floated a crystal ball emitting faint blue light, with a golden arrow pointing toward the Silent Ice Sea.

The exquisitely crafted crystal ball and spell formation clearly did not originate from the weak civilization formed by the Wind Demon dungeon...