The beastkin Grom’s roar was like thunder, instantly snapping Theia out of her dazed state.
Her emerald eyes narrowed as she forced herself up from the floor, enduring the dizziness.
With a metallic shing, her dagger left its sheath, and she neatly sliced the safety ropes securing Lin Gui and Eve.
"Move!"
Grabbing one in each hand, she pulled them toward the carriage door and vaulted out with agile grace.
Landing neatly on the ground, Theia positioned herself to protect Lin Gui and Eve, raising Azure Echo as she scanned their surroundings.
At this moment, the scene outside was suffocating.
The Wheelless Train lay overturned in the dense forest.
It had smashed through dozens of towering ancient trees along its path, and the ground was covered in broken trunks and scattered branches.
Freya and the others had already gathered by the train, forming a back-to-back defensive formation.
And surrounding them were dense crowds of demons, their numbers truly staggering.
They surged from the depths of the forest, their crimson eyes flashing with bloodlust in the dim light.
Low-rank lesser demons let out ear-grating shrieks.
Mid-rank horned demons advanced with heavy strides.
And even several Hero Rank Tyrant Demons were watching like predators from the rear.
The thunderous crash of the train’s fall had already awakened the demons in half the forest.
"Roar!"
The beastkin warrior Grom swung his battle axe, cleaving a lunging horned demon in two.
Barbarian warrior Barton bellowed as he swept his great hammer, sending three lesser demons flying.
But more demons were surging from all directions like an endless tide.
"Alvin, Dulu, Laisa!"
Freya barked the order while standing atop the train.
In fact, the three had already moved before the order even left her lips.
They each carried a pack filled with stinking blood bags.
Like phantoms, they bolted into the depths of the forest in three different directions.
As the blood bags traced arcs through the air, a thick scent of blood instantly permeated the area.
"Awoo!"
The low-rank demons let out excited howls, scrambling over each other to chase the scent of blood.
But the Hero Rank demons did not budge an inch.
They kept their crimson eyes fixed on Freya, wary of the Legendary pressure she emanated.
Cold sweat seeped from Freya’s brow.
She knew clearly that these demons were waiting for their Lord.
And she knew exactly what kind of terrifying existence lurked within this forest.
Most fatally, she did not dare cast spells that were too powerful in the wilderness.
That would be like splashing water into a hot frying pan, completely detonating the entire forest.
Their only chance was to take advantage of the diverted low-rank demons and have Betty lead everyone to evacuate through the air.
Looking at the heavy, overturned train, Freya could not help but sigh.
"We have no choice but to temporarily abandon the supplies..."
Just then, Theia had already brought Lin Gui and Eve onto the head of the train.
Lin Gui stepped away from Theia and pressed both hands against the cold chassis, his eyes focused.
In the next second, the entire train righted itself as smoothly as a living thing.
This sudden reversal nearly threw Freya off.
"Don't resist my Levitation!"
Lin Gui shouted to the group below.
With a wave of his right hand, the beastkin Grom, barbarian warrior Barton, Priest Silas, and Vice Leader Aubrey—along with the limp Betty and the scholar Eli who was supporting her—were instantly lifted by an invisible force.
The seven people landed lightly atop the train.
Behind them, Eve had already begun to chant, and a soft holy light enveloped Lin Gui.
The Wheelless Train was like a giant dragon awakening, sprinting toward the sky.
The twenty-meter-long steel body traced a graceful arc through the air.
Lin Gui's Levitation exquisitely channeled the train's immense momentum, allowing it to turn flexibly in mid-air.
"Concealment magic!" Lin Gui roared at Freya.
Freya understood immediately, her hands forming seals as she recited an ancient incantation.
"Shroud of Wind, Hidden from Sight!"
The Transcendent Rank wind-element concealment magic enveloped the entire train.
Simultaneously, the magic inscriptions engraved on the chassis lit up in sequence.
The train gradually became transparent in mid-air.
However, under the sunlight, it still cast a massive shadow over the forest.
"Screech!"
The demons in the sky immediately spotted this flaw.
Two Legendary winged demons let out piercing shrieks and were the first to pursue.
Their speed was extremely fast, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
Lin Gui clenched his teeth.
In the air, they were sitting ducks.
He steered the train into a dive, plunging back into the dense forest.
Under Lin Gui's exquisite control, the twenty-meter-long train acted like a nimble long serpent.
It sped through the towering ancient trees.
The lean and long car body, barely over a meter wide, moved flexibly through the gaps between trees.
This was a model designed specifically for crossing the wilderness, and it was proving its ultimate value now.
"Left turn!" Freya warned just in time.
Lin Gui steered the train into a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding a massive ancient tree.
Behind them, a pursuing demon smashed into the tree, letting out an angry roar.
He used the complex terrain to repeatedly shake off the pursuing ground demons.
The winged demons in the sky were also hindered by the dense canopy, and their speed dropped significantly.
Freya kept chanting, stacking layer after layer of concealment magic onto the train.
Only when the train completely merged with the environment—as the shadows beneath the trees covered the flaws of the concealment magic—did Freya finally let out a sigh of relief.
After applying the camouflage that allowed the train to blend briefly into the environment, she said, "That's it."
Lin Gui immediately controlled the train to hover under a dense canopy.
Using the interlaced branches and leaves, he perfectly hidden the car body.
Below, the demons were scurrying about like headless flies.
In the sky, the shrieks of the winged demons rose and fell.
And this demon riot ignited by the train lasted for an entire day.
During this period, at least five Legendary demons wandered nearby.
But they never discovered the prey that was right under their noses.
When the last demon finally departed resentfully, the scholar Eli carefully unfolded the map.
He took out various positioning instruments to determine their current coordinates.
"Three kilometers southeast," he said, pointing to a mark on the map.
"It's a safe outpost left over from the Golden Age."
Lin Gui steered the train, drifting silently in the direction Eli indicated.
Under the cover of the dense forest, they finally reached this ancient sanctuary.
It was a concrete building half-buried underground, its outer walls covered in moss, but its structure remained intact.
Several embrasures still maintained a posture of vigilance, as if they were still guarding the era before the apocalypse.
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