Chapter 952
Chapter 952 The Moon Monarch (2)
Li Mu had never seen a Child of the Moon before.
Children of the Moon look undistinguishable from humans in almost every way if not for the pointy and elegant leaf-shaped ears and silver-blonde hair. If anything, Li Mu thought that they rather looked like the elves from the fairy tales and stories from Earth. And they would have looked beautiful and handsome too, if not for the visibly enraged and livid looks they were wearing. They would have looked perfect.
“SLAY THEM ALL!”
The Moon Monarch boomed, swinging his scepter.
Hordes of Moon Sentinels rumbled across the decks and from under the cabins below, rushing up to overwhelm the human Trailblazers.
Without a warning, a fight broke out.
Li Mu instinctively cast his gaze around the Lunar Specter. The beasts and wraiths that had been tussling and jostling among each other to fight for an extra drop of Deluge of Illumination had withdrawn a distance away from the ship. The Moon Monarch’s terrible presence must have been what drove them away. Even the four Beast Kings had retreated as well.
A scream tore his gaze off the beasts and back onto the deck.
The silver-armored Trailblazers might be one of the best of Legion Kommodore, but they were still no match against the Moon Monarch’s Moon Sentinels. Caught by surprise, the Trailblazers only managed to maintain their ground after losing almost a dozen men.
The sudden turn of events had caught everyone unaware.
All three captains did their best to lead their men and cast wards to retaliate.
Li Mu maintained a watchful position just in front of his Shroud of the Golden Bell, observing the battle.
He did not want to do anything just yet.
Meanwhile, consumed by their fury and bloodlust, more Moon Sentinels massed on the decks, surging forward against the humans.
They should have been dead. Yet here they were, despite being ghosts, very much physical that they could deal bodily damage to the Trailblazers. In the end, the humans—the remaining Trailblazers, Li Mu, and the Oststern villagers—found themselves surrounded by a ring of steel in a radius of not more than a hundred meters somewhere near the prow.
“Lieutenant Xiao, do something!” Lei Cang hooted frightfully.
Panicking, Lei Cang began digging himself deeper into the crowd, vainly hoping to put as many barricades between him and Death as possible.
As a person who had literally tasted Death once, it was not something he would like to endure once more.
In the meantime, Ye Ying fearlessly thrust her nickel-iron spear at every Moon Sentinel that came by, the weapon in her hand lashing furiously like an enraged serpent as she steadfastly held the defensive line at her end.
Wielding his double-handed claymore, Lin Jingxin was like a whirlwind of death, becoming one with his favored weapon as he cut down every Moon Sentinel foolish enough to stray into his path. The captain of the Trailblazers was a stark contrast to his usual carefree demeanor, swinging heavy and precise blows at his foes with unnerving callousness and determination and fighting at the front to rally his men.
So was Lieutenant Xiao. The deputy of Squad Thunder of the Trailblazer Corps unleashed his crude but effective and deadly attacks using his mace. Inferior to both Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin, he was nevertheless an experienced and competent Upper King Realm soldier, leading his Trailblazers in an impregnable troop formation to deter the Moon Sentinels from advancing.
“What should we do now?!”
Lei Cang’s screams slashed across the bedlam of the fighting. “We won’t hold out any longer! We need to get out of this place!”
“Wards!” Ye Ying cried loudly, the one-syllable word articulating her suggestion.
“That’s right!” added Lin Jingxin as he fought on, “Conjure a magical ward to transport the Lunar Gems away, then we can retreat with the civilians!”
“Very well,” quipped Xiao Jianfei.
The Trailblazer Corps are Legion Kommodore’s best. Even with the elements of surprise and the greater numbers of their enemies, they had managed to hold up well enough. Some makeshift mid- to low-range portal wards would be their best bet for a full withdrawal and immediately, Trailblazer casters skilled in conjuring these wards began their work at once, protected by the rest of their comrades.
They needed to transport all the Lunar Gems too, and for that to happen, the three Trailblazer squads pooled together the supplies needed for the conjuration of the ward. It included the assembly of a contraption needed for the conjuration before the casters could begin searching for a certain “frequency”. They needed to search for the nearest portal ward that could provide a link here.
Mid- to low-range portal wards of this kind needed a pair to function: a receiver and a sender. That would mean that the Trailblazers needed another portal ward to connect as a pair before the link could be established.
Li Mu could not understand what was going on.
“Schwarzfeder: Connection fail”
“Fliestfeuer: Connection fail”
“Wurfelgold: Connection fail”
“Lauffeuer: Connection fail”
A disembodied and emotionless voice repeated itself in cascades, announcing their failure to establish a connection.
The faces of every man and woman who heard the voice writhed with horror.
Mid-range connections with the portal ward were the farthest they could reach and there were six such cities in a radius of a thousand miles that they could contact, but the Trailblazers could reach none of them. Even Li Mu could see that this was not by coincidence. It was the—
“Something’s wrong with this ship! It’s jamming our signal!”
The beautiful female captain Ye Ying cried.
“What else can we do? Get off this bloody ship and try again!” Lin Jingxin roared, “Get out of range of this ship’s jamming ability and try again!”
“But there are beasts and wraiths down below!” Lei Cang countered.
“Send some of our men down to keep the casters safe while they work!” Xiao Jianfei barked. “Fast, people! No time to lose!”
Even with peril staring at them in their faces, the captains and the lieutenant displayed exemplary composure while they came up with plans and solutions.
“Very well! Let me lead the men down!” Lei Cang shouted, volunteering to go first.
He picked forty men and all nine wardcasters from the three squads and leaped off the side of the bow. He charged and opened up a space to let the wardcasters begin their work.
The beasts and wraiths were daunted enough by the Moon Monarch’s presence and were still pulling backward. None of them cared for the humans. They were still busy trying to ingest as much Deluge of Illumination substance as possible. That gave the chance and security Lei Cang and his team needed to quickly set up the contraption and restart the attempt to establish the link for the portal ward.
“Lauffeuer: Connected”
“We’ve done it!” One of the wardcasters cried, unable to hide his excitement.
Xiao Jianfei exhaled with relief. “Quick! Bring the Lunar Gems now! Make sure they are all sent off first!” As valuable supplies that would be extremely useful to the military, it was imperative to see them off first and foremost.