The opponent was certainly no fool; they wouldn't just stand by and watch me escape. Therefore, I needed to do something first to draw their attention… Hmm, according to my memory, that thing should be to my left!”

This series of thoughts flashed rapidly through Fang Senyan’s mind. He suddenly executed a phantom sword strike, parrying an ambush from Aethelred. Then, he lunged toward a nearby stone platform; his target was nothing less than that sealed Pseudo-Descent Artifact!

Yes, even though Fang Senyan’s vision was severely impaired, his memory could be put to great use. Thus, he was almost certain that the object the enemy treasured so highly was precisely located there!

As for the crystal vial holding the Pseudo-Descent Artifact, Fang Senyan chose to ignore it entirely. Before the Demonic Sword Apophis, all defenses were merely paper tigers—oh, no, at best, they were just clinging vines.

The sword strike he unleashed seemed to slice directly into the hearts of Jian and Aethelred, hitting the precise vital spot as if striking a snake’s head!

Jian, in desperation, hurled his shield out again. This maneuver was his signature move, exceptionally skilled and always hitting its mark! If Fang Senyan’s strike landed successfully, it would certainly hit the shield first.

Aethelred coordinated with him perfectly, her body flashing like a water snake, almost instantaneously appearing in front of the crystal vial. She snatched it up and rolled away with extreme swiftness.

But then they heard Fang Senyan let out a long, booming laugh. The Demonic Sword Apophis dissolved in an instant, flowing like mercury before transforming into a pair of powerful Miner’s Gauntlets on his hands. He smashed both fists heavily onto the ground!

The rock instantly fractured and collapsed, erupting into a massive pit. Using the powerful recoil force, Fang Senyan executed a perfect backward somersault, springing up and landing agilely. He backed up a few steps with his back against the stone wall, immediately slipping back into the tunnel he had quietly dug earlier.

Aethelred and Jian immediately cried out in alarm, but an Earth Elemental was the first to pursue. Fang Senyan deliberately took the blow, grabbed the Earth Elemental’s arm, and hurled it out violently, nearly causing the pursuing Jian to stumble.

After Fang Senyan retreated five or six meters into the narrow, dark passage, the refracted light could no longer reach his eyes. Although his eyes still ached, teared, and vision remained blurry, it was vastly better than the near-total blindness he had experienced before. At this moment, Fang Senyan’s courage surged; with a sword in hand, numerous vicious thoughts immediately sprang to mind.

The first thing he did upon emerging was reach the entrance of the tunnel and pound repeatedly, seven or eight times, on the rock ceiling above the opening.

The gauntlets that had materialized on his fists were Miner’s Gauntlets, specifically designed to handle all kinds of rock. These seven or eight punches instantly triggered a massive, spectacular cave-in, completely obliterating the camouflage light screen.

As a result, the power of the detestable refraction trap inside the cavern was largely broken. Once his vision recovered, given Fang Senyan’s monstrous strength, he would fear neither Aethelred, the winged Forger and Awakened, nor any combination of them!

However, the immediate threat Fang Senyan had to deal with was the incessant stream of Earth Elementals pouring out. These thick-skinned creatures felt no pain, and once they locked onto an enemy, they never turned back—they were incredibly difficult to handle. Furthermore, they were immune to disease and could cast Slowing spells. Fortunately, this Slowing spell couldn't stack; otherwise, their instantaneous casting of Slowing without any mana cost would reduce a person’s speed infinitely to 100, which would be a massive bug.

Facing the monsters surging out of the entrance, Fang Senyan frowned, already having a plan.

He suddenly reversed course, charging back into the cave despite the attacks from three or four Earth Elementals. Because Fang Senyan had high Stamina and his Talents offset some negative effects, the slowing effect of the Slowing spell wasn't as potent as imagined. Moreover, Aethelred and Jian clearly hadn't expected Fang Senyan to return so quickly, leaving them momentarily caught off guard and slightly flustered.

But Fang Senyan charged straight toward the Ghost Fighter jet parked inside the cavern.

Fang Senyan had long since learned the structure of this machine from Pontan, and dismantling it was as easy as carving an ox—effortless and swift. In just two or three seconds, Fang Senyan punched out the cockpit’s windshield and leaped into the Ghost Fighter's cockpit. Although it appeared superficially to be fingerprint-activated, the reality was little different from what was shown in movies, perhaps even simpler…

Fang Senyan pulled out two wires (dodging a ranged attack thrown by Jian), hastily twisted the metal ends together, then slammed a fist onto the nearby optical computer, making it smoke, and finally switched off two blue power switches.

OK. The last steps were simply to roughly adjust the forward direction, forcefully shove the control stick all the way down—ideally breaking it off and jamming it into the socket—and the tail thrusters of the Ghost Fighter began to emit a pale blue flame stream, slowly moving toward the large mud pit where the Earth Elementals were concentrated!

Aethelred and Jian turned pale with shock when they saw this. It was clearly too late to stop the encroaching Ghost Fighter now; at that moment, what else could they do but flee frantically?

Fang Senyan, too, leaped out of the cockpit. Mid-air, he aimed a Raging Horn strike at the Earth Elementals gathered at the cave entrance, instantly traversing thirty meters. Upon landing at the entrance, he activated the ring’s translocation ability, moving another thirty meters sideways. After sprinting a short distance further, he lunged out and landed behind a large rock, curling up to protect his head!

The Ghost Fighter plunged, without any doubt, into the swampy area where the Earth Elementals were gathered, slowly sinking as if trapped in quicksand. This action, however, enraged the Earth Elementals. Like a swarm of killer bees whose hive had been disturbed, they rushed toward the Ghost Fighter, furiously tearing apart the modern war machine.

Under the assault of the Earth Elementals’ hardened fists, the Ghost Fighter was quickly mangled beyond recognition. High-energy fuel began to leak, followed by an Earth Elemental brashly attempting to shove its arm into the activated engine. For an Earth Elemental, losing an arm was as trivial as destroying a hoe or a carrying pole—as long as they had sufficient energy and earth, they could regenerate an arm whenever they pleased!

Then, the massive explosion occurred!

The Ghost Fighter’s fuel combined with the engine’s instantaneous explosion could raise the temperature to over 5000 degrees in an instant. In an enclosed space like a cavern, the atmospheric pressure at the core of the explosion could reach three hundred times the normal value!

Under these conditions, the energy within the Earth Elemental settlement was naturally triggered as well. A dim light flashed, and a terrifying shockwave surged out in all directions. The combined effect caused the entire mountain range to collapse with a roar. Hundreds of tons of rock were effortlessly blown away, tumbling and scattering across the ground, kicking up clouds of dust! Furthermore, due to the location of the Earth Elemental settlement, terrifying fissures, seventy to eighty meters deep, appeared in the earth.

Caught completely off guard, Jian and Aethelred were caught in the aftershock, dizzy and disoriented. Just as they caught their breath, they saw Fang Senyan, arms crossed over his chest, watching the two disheveled figures with a gentle smile.

Aethelred immediately felt intensely annoyed and shrieked, “Jian, go! With such a massive disturbance, our reinforcements will be back to check soon! We just need to stall for a few minutes, and this bastard will have to run away like a dog!”

Fang Senyan suddenly laughed, his smile strangely eerie: “Did you think I would give you a few minutes to waste? How… naive!!”

When Fang Senyan uttered the word “naive” (Tiān zhēn), his tone was drawn out, but the meaning was utterly coherent. As the word “zhēn” ended, Aethelred realized that the man’s feet had plunged deep into the earth like tree roots, submerged up to his calves. Centered on his legs, a terrifying number of fissures spread out, frantically advancing toward Aethelred!

In that instant, a profound sense of crisis flooded Aethelred’s heart. She let out a sharp scream, and large white fibrous textures began to cover her entire body, as if she were instantly turning into a giant silken cocoon.

The root-like stone fissures Fang Senyan had unleashed crawled onto the giant cocoon, and a layer of dark, ashen rock appeared, though it seemed unable to harm Aethelred inside. Jian, however, though shimmering with silver light, was fiercely entangled by those root-like fissures, his body stiffening. Rough, bark-like material even began to sprout on his skin—he was horrifically undergoing petrification!

It was then that Fang Senyan rushed forward, trampling the rock beneath his feet into powder, kicking up a long dragon’s tail of debris behind him. A flash of crimson light, and he thrust his sword into the silk-like giant cocoon that Aethelred had formed. Although a piercing shriek erupted from within, when the giant cocoon was cut open, it was found to be completely empty!

This missed strike stunned Fang Senyan for a moment, but he immediately turned and plunged his sword into Jian’s abdomen beside him. Jian let out a long, agonizing cry, but because Fang Senyan had attacked Aethelred first, Jian fought back with desperate fury. He countered with an axe swing that struck Fang Senyan’s head, drawing blood, yet Fang Senyan seemed completely unfazed. He suddenly exerted force, hoisting Jian into the air!! Several illusionary tentacles from the Solar Steps lashed out viciously, striking Jian’s body!