Chapter 338

Chapter 338: Enemy at the Gates

The five members of the Relentless Team, though masters of survival, still needed the right environment to thrive.

Facing the extraordinary beasts that loomed like mountains and surged like oceans, the Shadow Master could easily slip away, while the Survivor had rapidly evolved remarkable agility. But for Ink Drench, whose expertise lay in versatility, the situation was far from ideal.

If the beast tide were composed solely of First and Second Level Extraordinary Beasts, Ink Drench would have no qualms about taking them on single-handedly, even if they numbered in the tens of thousands.

Yet, confronted with an endless tide of Third to Fifth Level Extraordinary Beasts, her limitations became glaringly apparent.

Even when she pushed her life force-depriving field to its absolute limit, Ink Drench couldn’t eliminate the high-level extraordinary beasts before their claws pierced her chest.

Her physical frailty was her Achilles’ heel, a weakness she couldn’t overcome.

Though her physical abilities surpassed those of ordinary humans in Hope City, they paled in comparison to Wang Xiao or the Survivor.

As for Sleepless, he remained largely indifferent to the beast tide.

In his biological field vision, the glowing dots representing the extraordinary beasts shone nearly as brightly as the sun when he closed his eyes. Yet, once he concealed his presence, the beasts couldn’t detect him, even though he remained in place.

His ability wasn’t true invisibility but rather a perfect masking of his biological field, creating a similar effect.

In theory, this should have granted him a sense of security. In reality, however, being unseen also meant he could be trampled or crushed by the beasts, or even struck by friendly fire from the walls of Hope City.

To avoid such a grim fate, Sleepless chose to retreat with the team.

But neither he nor Ink Drench were swift runners. After several kilometers of relentless sprinting, the composed and sturdy Wang Xiao scooped them up, one under each arm.

Thus, only three members of the Relentless Team were truly on the move—Wang Xiao, the Survivor, and the still sprightly Fulan.

The city walls now loomed in the distance, and the sight of the densely packed soldiers and the array of weapons stripped of their waterproof covers brought a collective sigh of relief.

“Miss Fulan has some good news and some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”

Fulan, bounding forward like a leopard, asked between heavy breaths. Her mischievous tone added a dash of absurdity to the otherwise serious atmosphere.

“The good news,” Ink Drench, cradled under Wang Xiao’s arm and not overly fatigued, answered for the group.

“The good news is, according to Miss Fulan’s calculations, we’re exactly one kilometer from the city walls.”

“And the bad news?” Ink Drench pressed.

“The bad news is…” Fulan began, only to be cut off by Sleepless, who spoke with a tone of despair:

“The bad news is the extraordinary beasts are only half a kilometer behind us.”

No one could muster a laugh now.

As the group prepared to push their limits and quicken their pace, a shadow suddenly darted across the distant city walls.

A streak of pitch-black lightning raced along the wall, speeding across the barren land before leaping up less than five meters in front of the group, unfurling into a pitch-black curtain.

This curtain seemed to devour all light around it, as if woven from pure shadow—intangible, formless, visible only as a dark void.

It swiftly enveloped Wang Xiao and the other three, then vanished into the ground like a fish slipping into water.

Still running with all her might, Fulan paused for a moment, staring at the shadow that gradually receded and the emptiness around her. She then exclaimed in disbelief, “I haven’t boarded yet!”

A thin black thread emerged from Fulan’s shadow, snagging one of her front paws and pulling her into its depths.

Fulan felt a wave of dizziness as everything around her twisted, disrupting the rules of her reality.

In this chaotic space, the black shadow became an actual existence, binding her like a thin silk ribbon and dragging her in a certain direction.

Moments later, a mass of black shadow suddenly appeared above the city walls, resembling a whale that had eaten something bad, and it spat out four people and one cat before transforming back into a humanoid shape.

The group turned back to see faster-moving extraordinary beasts passing through where they had just been, soon swallowed by a tide of typical extraordinary beasts that flooded the area.

Stunned for two seconds and unable to thank the Shadow Master for saving them, Sleepless, Ink Drench, and Fulan began to lean over the edge of the wall and vomit.

Although it had only been less than a minute, with all senses disrupted in the confusing space, anyone unable to completely block their perception would experience similar symptoms.

The Shadow Master habitually picked up his water cup and drank the last bit, his eyes showing no trace of previous fear.

“How are our teammates?”

Several members of the Relentless Team had once been the Captain, and as the beast tide approached, they naturally thought of their teammates.

Without the Captain’s coordination and commands, would their cooperation falter?

The Shadow Master lightly replied, “I asked. They will be organized into separate teams to fight, and the remaining personnel from both groups can look after each other.”

“What about me? Where did my teammates go?”

Having listened for a long time, Fulan also turned to the Shadow Master, questioning him. She had already sent the signal to evacuate through her blood connection, but now it felt fragmented, as if it was too far apart to hear clearly.

The Shadow Master glanced at Fulan and said, “The soldiers saw those extraordinary beasts running south around the city walls with you.”

Fulan then felt a slight sense of relief; those creatures were not too foolish. Running either south or north would, at least to some extent, help them avoid the impact.

Her team was still in its early stages, and a single blow from the beast tide could wipe out all their efforts.

“Compared to that, I think we should worry more about ourselves.”

The Shadow Master looked around as he continued, “You must have realized we are right above the western gate, right? In other words, we are on the front lines of an unprecedented battlefield under the beast tide.”

Everyone fell silent, observing the fully armed soldiers and the heavy weapons positioned beyond the typical height of the walls. They quickly came to an understanding.

Now free from her dizziness, Ink Drench looked at the others and said, “Since there are no problems, I’ll continue to command the team for now.”

She glanced down at Fulan, who had also finished vomiting, “You can do as you please.”