Under Bombardment

“What do you mean, you don't know?”

Starlight took another large piece of meat from his storage space and brought out the oversized grill Xia Duo had bought earlier. Hearing the boy's words, he couldn't help but frown. “Also, I suggest you just accept that nickname. Your name is way too long, Little Gold.”

Little Gold, however, continued to eat the meat nonchalantly, shaking his head as he replied, “I really don't know. I was only born a few days ago and just escaped from those bad guys. How would I know so much...?”

“That's impossible! Little Gold, you were only born a few days ago? Then how do you know so many things and even transform into human form?” Xia Duo blurted out in surprise.

“You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Anyway, the first scene I saw when I opened my eyes was the inside of a dark box, and then I somehow escaped from those bad guys.” Little Gold shrugged, indicating he truly didn't know what was going on.

Seeing that they couldn't get any valuable information from Little Gold, Moen tilted her head slightly and thought for a moment before suddenly asking, “Then Little Gold, do you know Seranox? Or... the names of other dragons?”

“No, I told you, I've only been alive for a few days...”

“Then why do you know your own name and other things?” Starlight followed up curiously.

“Well... that's a tough question. These memories feel innate. While I was still curled up in my shell, it felt like someone was always whispering in my ear. I don't know exactly who it was, but I guess... maybe it was my parents?” Little Gold set down the steak in his hand, a hint of confusion in his voice.

“You said you escaped from bad guys? With your current strength? That seems unlikely! Looking at your small frame, you probably couldn't even beat a wild boar...” Po Kong looked Little Gold over carefully and shook his head with a look of disdain.

“...How do you know!? No... that's not right! Putting other things aside, I'm very strong when it comes to hiding! If I hadn't been lured by your food, I wouldn't have been caught so easily!” Little Gold argued hurriedly.

Just as Little Gold was making his case, Xia Duo suddenly leapt up. Before the others could react, she swiftly drew her longbow to full draw and fired an arrow into the pitch-black night sky.

“Watch out! Enemy attack!”

With Xia Duo's sharp cry, the crimson arrow seemed to strike something, triggering a violent explosion in the air.

“What?” Starlight looked up and saw crimson flames lighting up half the night sky. Behind the turbulent air currents, several dark silhouettes were hurtling toward them at an alarming speed.

“Crap! It's a magic crystal cannon!” Once he saw what was in the sky, Po Kong shuddered and shouted loudly, “Prepare for defense!”

He instinctively tried to summon his shield, but after waving his hand twice, he suddenly remembered that his spirit armament was already broken, which caused him to panic for a moment.

Starlight took Sacred Wood Phantom out of his space and tossed it to him while simultaneously waving his hand to quickly deploy multiple layers of mana shields over everyone. He shouted, “Catch! Leave the defense to us!”

At the same time, Xia Duo's arrows left the string again, accurately striking the closest shells and successfully detonating them.

However, the massive shockwaves from the explosions affected the trajectories of the remaining arrows, causing them to drift. It was no longer possible to intercept all the shells.

“Wind Vortex Spell!” Moen chanted loudly.

“Rain of Light!” Starlight responded almost simultaneously.

In an instant, a massive vortex formed of gale-force winds appeared in the air. The powerful suction dragged the remaining shells into the eye of the storm.

Immediately after, the countless beams of light released by Starlight poured down like a torrential rain, penetrating every single shell in a saturated strike.

A second later, with a deafening roar, all the shells were detonated by the magic at once. The massive shockwave generated in mid-air ruthlessly destroyed everything within a radius of dozens of meters.

Just a moment before the explosion, Starlight had already used instant movement to take his companions away from the spot, landing steadily in a safe zone a hundred meters away.

“Who on earth is it! This can't be a coincidence, can it!?” Starlight looked back at the temporary camp that had been reduced to ruins, his face as solemn as iron.

This round of bombardment was extremely targeted, and the place they were firing from was very far away—so far that even Xia Duo hadn't sensed any abnormality.

“Based on their size, those shells were fired from small magic crystal cannons. Their maximum range is about five or six kilometers. Generally, only regular armies have things like that!” Po Kong gripped the weapon in his hand, his tone sounding very angry.

“There's no use thinking about it now. Clearly, the enemy is coming for us. Since that's the case, there definitely won't be just one wave of attacks. Get ready!” Xia Duo reacted quickly and made a judgment.

Just as Xia Duo finished speaking, the shadows behind Moen and Little Gold suddenly twisted. Two black-clad figures leapt out of their shadows, their daggers pointed directly at the two's vitals.

“Moen!”

Seeing this, Starlight hurriedly reached out toward the black-clad figures, attempting to use spatial power to lock down the enemy's attack.

But the enemy's strength was clearly not something a weakling like Little Gold could compare to. The hastily released spatial power only controlled the opponent for less than half a second before they broke free.

However, that brief moment gave Xia Duo and Po Kong time to react. With a flash of golden light, Sacred Wood Phantom cut through the night sky, directly slicing one of the dark figures in two.

Xia Duo also drew the short blade strapped to her leg, intercepting another cold, gleaming dagger for Little Gold and kicking the opponent away in the process.

“Damn it!” The figure that had been sliced in two actually turned into two blobs of ink in mid-air, falling to the ground and disappearing. Po Kong, sensing that the strike hadn't felt right, followed up with another slash, but it hit nothing but air, only plowing a long trench into the ground.

Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, the whistling sound of shells cutting through the air echoed in the night sky again. Clearly, after the assassins failed their strike, the second wave of bombardment had followed right on their heels.

With the previous experience, Starlight was fully prepared. He quickly grabbed everyone and used his instant movement ability to leave the area again, dodging this wave of bombardment.

Clearly, the enemy did not intend to engage them in a head-on confrontation. Instead, they chose to use overwhelming firepower for suppression while sending assassins to harass them during the gaps between bombardments.

This tactic made Starlight's group feel very troubled, as they had yet to figure out the true identity and purpose of the attackers, leaving them completely in a passive position.

“This can't go on. We don't know how much ammunition they have; we can't just keep being worn down like this!” Xia Duo said anxiously. She was used to taking the initiative, and being forced into a completely passive state today made her feel very uncomfortable.

“Po Kong, since you can tell what kind of weapons the enemy is using, do you have any way to deal with them?” Starlight asked while staying alert for assassins that could appear at any moment.

Po Kong took a deep breath to calm himself down slightly and then quickly analyzed the situation.

“Without Saint Rank powerhouses involved in the battle, the range and power of magic crystal cannons are devastating for most people. However, based on the frequency of the bombardment just now, the number of magic crystal cannons the enemy has shouldn't be too many. I'd guess ten at most. For a team of that size, their ammunition reserves should also be limited.”

Starlight nodded, agreeing with Po Kong's analysis, and then he turned to Xia Duo. “Xia Duo, can you find a way to locate the enemy? While dodging the bombardment isn't hard, we need to come up with a plan to counter-attack.”

However, Xia Duo shook her head helplessly. Given such a vast distance, even she could only roughly determine the direction of the bombardment and could not precisely locate the enemy's position.

Additionally, the need to guard against the threat of those two ever-present assassins made it difficult for her to conduct a thorough investigation.