Hearing that the attack below had made a breakthrough, Li Ban stopped paying attention to the ground. Instead, he seized the opportunity to speed up his slaughter of the spitters, tearing them apart to harvest more waste elements.
Zhu Yao had not expected to find so many waste elements here either.
But more than that, she could not understand why Li Ban needed so many.
Even if waste elements were somehow related to cultivating black wheat, there was no way he needed this much, right?
Before coming here, Li Ban had even cleared out a section of his Cubic Space just to secretly stash more waste elements today.
Of course, they didn't take every single one. They let some fall to the ground as a cover.
Across from them, the people from Blue Sea Camp seemed to be reaching their limit.
But seeing that Li Ban and Zhu Yao had yet to retreat, they gritted their teeth and held on.
"They should have gotten the corrosive fluid by now, right? I think I just heard the lair shatter," one of them said.
Suddenly, the spitters grew frenzied. Near and far, they all began shooting black webs at the duo.
Caught off guard, the Blue Sea Camp members were instantly ensnared.
Once entangled, their movements grew sluggish, making them easy targets for even more webs.
Finally, one of them couldn't hold on any longer.
"I'm leaving. Stay if you want to."
The entangled man grabbed his steel cable and climbed out the window.
His body was already covered in corrosive burns. If not for their lack of pain receptors, he would have collapsed in agony long ago.
Seeing this, the other man knew he couldn't hold out alone. He blew his metal whistle three times and climbed out after his partner.
With the Blue Sea Camp members gone, the pressure on Zhu Yao instantly multiplied.
Li Ban glanced down; the people on the ground were falling back as well.
He blew his own metal whistle, grabbed Zhu Yao, and blinked straight outside the window.
"Let's go."
After they climbed back onto the roof, Li Ban noticed a corrosive burn on Zhu Yao's shoulder. He pulled out his canteen to toss it to her.
But Zhu Yao checked her wound, shook her head, and refused it.
"We still have two more lairs to clear. I'll treat it all at once at the end."
If she healed it now, she would likely just get burned again later.
Having dealt with the first lair, the group rested outside.
The three leaders tallied the casualties.
They needed to adjust their next attack plan based on their remaining combat strength.
Fortunately, because everyone had come well prepared and had the support of ten elite fighters from Red Fruit Camp, their losses were light.
Only two people from Cliffside Camp were unable to continue fighting. Everyone else, even if injured, was assigned new combat tasks as long as their mobility wasn't compromised.
"Alright, let's move to the next target as quickly as possible," Shu Yu said. Forgoing rest, she urged everyone to move out immediately.
The three leaders were highly cooperative. After a quick personnel swap, they led the group toward the next lair.
Given their large numbers, making some noise on the move was unavoidable.
After accidentally drawing in a small wave of monsters, Lu Shi ordered a few people to stay behind and lure the creatures away. This prevented larger swarms from following the commotion and catching them in a pincer attack.
"But if we do that, won't we have to change our troop formation again?" Shu Yu asked, frowning.
"It's fine," Lu Shi replied, his expression solemn. "They'll deal with them and return quickly."
Watching the five people leave, Shu Yu's heart pounded with an inexplicable sense of unease.
"Zuo Hu, go with them."
She ordered her companion with the beast-like arms to follow them.
"Understood." Without asking questions, Zuo Hu obeyed Shu Yu's command and hurried after the five who had gone to lure the monsters away.
Lu Shi saw this but said nothing. He simply nodded at Shu Yu and ordered his men into the second building housing a monster lair to begin preparations.
Li Ban and Zhu Yao again chose to enter from the tall building on the left, smoothly making their way up.
The monsters in this building were even fewer than in the last one.
This was already their second operation.
The fact that they successfully retrieved the corrosive fluid earlier proved their plan was viable.
But this time, there was not a trace of relief on Zhu Yao's face.
When she and Li Ban reached the roof in even less time than before, she warned him in a low voice, "Be extra careful this time. The lair is probably stronger than we anticipated."
Li Ban looked toward the opposite building.
He didn't know if they had been delayed, but the two from Blue Sea Camp who had been competing with them earlier still hadn't appeared on the roof.
"You think the lack of monsters on the perimeter means they're all clustered inside the lair?"
Zhu Yao nodded. "When the monsters in a specific area are overly powerful, the number and strength of the surrounding monsters sharply drop.
"But there is one exception."
"One exception? The continental rift?"
"Mhm." Zhu Yao didn't stop moving as she spoke, already tying off her steel cable. "Only there do the monsters barely move and refrain from attacking each other. But the moment anyone tries to enter the rift, they instantly retaliate."
"Like they're being controlled?" Li Ban grabbed his steel cable and leaped down the side of the building.
The wind rushed past his ears as he fell, but it couldn't drown out Zhu Yao's soft hum of agreement.
His descent soon halted. Without hesitation, Li Ban chopped through the debris blocking the window.
Just like yesterday, he charged inside.
Zhu Yao followed close behind.
The Blue Sea Camp members who were supposed to be there still hadn't shown up.
Li Ban and Zhu Yao could handle the spitters above them on their own, so they didn't wait and immediately launched their attack.
The monsters in the previous lair had been cleared out quickly, so Li Ban had managed to tear apart less than a tenth of the total number of spitters.
If everything went as expected, the amount they collected this time would be even less than before.
Because the ground team had already coordinated once, their movements would be much smoother this time.
But Li Ban no longer thought that would be the case.
Zhu Yao's concerns, coupled with the continued absence of the men across from them, made Li Ban realize that this second assault might not go as smoothly as the first.
However, whether the battle went smoothly or not, his goal remained unchanged.
Soon, the sounds of fighting echoed from the dim ground below.
It was much like last time.
Small squads were responsible for causing a disturbance, luring away the smaller monsters on the ground and in the air.
Li Ban split his attention. As he listened to the commotion below, he searched for the spitters shooting black webs the fastest.
He executed a Rending Technique. Like invisible sword qi, it pierced straight through three spitters preparing to attack Zhu Yao.
Zhu Yao yanked her steel cable and swung hard, neatly catching the two dropping waste elements.
She deposited the waste elements directly into her Cubic Space.
As she swung back, she used her spear to hook into the black slime suspended in midair, steadying herself.
"The Blue Sea people still aren't here. Be careful, other monsters might suddenly pop up."
Li Ban nodded. "I know. Though it might not be monsters."
Zhu Yao pursed her lips; she had actually sensed it too.
Soon, the sounds of battle rang out again from below.
But these sounds were different from before.
It wasn't the sound of weapons impacting or slicing into flesh, but the clash of steel against steel.
Then, Shu Yu's furious shout echoed out.
Zhu Yao dodged a black web, knocked another away, and finally couldn't help but look down.
"They... they're attacking Red Fruit Camp!"
Even though she had suspected something, seeing the three camps united to encircle and slaughter the nine people from Red Fruit Camp still made Zhu Yao draw a sharp breath.
"They actually made a move. Aren't they afraid of retaliation from Red Fruit Camp?"
"Gu Sa guessed that the only reason Red Fruit Camp was in such a rush to get the corrosive fluid was because something went wrong on their end," Li Ban said, not looking too surprised as he repeated the intel he had heard.
Zhu Yao couldn't pause in midair for long. Because the Blue Sea Camp members never showed up, she had to constantly dodge black webs shooting in from a distance, forcing her to keep moving.
"I'm afraid they aren't coming."
Li Ban slightly slowed his pace.
Now he had to pay attention to three different directions at once.
"Red Fruit Camp didn't send many people, and they kept it highly concealed. Their crisis must be coming from the other camps across the White Strait."
The sounds of fighting below grew louder.
And they were steadily moving upward.
"They can't escape from below, so they might try to go up!" Zhu Yao warned Li Ban.
Li Ban thought for a moment before saying, "Not necessarily. Although there are fewer people up here, without pre-prepared flight tools or spells, they'll just become targets for the spitters if they come up."
Li Ban sliced open another spitter just as it was about to fire. Its half-formed black web dropped down along with a waste element.
As he looked down to catch the waste element, Li Ban caught a faint glimpse of Shu Yu.
Hundreds of people had suddenly turned on her in an encirclement, yet she actually managed to run up here?
Was the gap in combat prowess between the camps on either side of the White Strait really that massive?
Powerful as Shu Yu was, Li Ban's intuition told him she wasn't a Priest.
All she could rely on was her physical body.
Over a dozen people were chasing after her, but their climbing speed was clearly no match for hers.
And the closest pursuer to Shu Yu turned out to be Xie Xiaowu from Li Ban's squad.
Seemingly battered and exhausted, Shu Yu suddenly halted and fiercely lashed out with her tail.
The rush of wind was especially distinct inside the hollow building.
Xie Xiaowu grabbed a black thread, trying to dodge the tail strike.
But the spikes on that tail suddenly sprang out like hidden weapons.
One spike ripped right through the black webbing Xie Xiaowu was holding, while another shot straight toward her forehead as if anticipating her moves.
Shu Yu's timing was impeccable.
With nothing nearby to leverage, Xie Xiaowu helplessly went into free fall. She flailed her limbs, desperately trying to grab onto any webbing below, but suspended in midair, her body had absolutely no way to dodge the incoming spike.
However, just as Xie Xiaowu watched the spike shoot straight between her eyes with a mix of despair and relief, a faint, transparent barrier suddenly materialized in front of her.
Smack! The spike hit the invisible shield and ricocheted away instantly.
Xie Xiaowu's gaze naturally drifted up toward the dim heights.
She vaguely locked eyes with someone.
It was her new vice-captain who had stepped in to save her.
'A spell?'
'The vice-captain is a Priest, just like Zhu Yao!'
In an instant, his immense strength and haughty demeanor all made sense.
Xie Xiaowu even felt it was only natural.
A Priest possessing spiritual rhinoceros was naturally different from ordinary people like them.
Thwack!
A spiked iron chain suddenly pierced through Xie Xiaowu's shoulder.
Caught by the chain's barb, her body jerked violently, stopping her fall.
Although it didn't hurt, the intense tearing sensation was anything but pleasant.
Xie Xiaowu turned to look at the other end of the chain.
Her assault partner, Ming Kai, was clinging to a crack in the wall.
That strike just now had been to save her, preventing her from plunging to the ground and smashing her head open.
Even though she felt awful from being yanked like this, she would still have to thank Ming Kai once the battle was over.
Dragged by the chain, she swung toward the wall.
Right before impact, she grabbed the chain piercing her shoulder with her free hand, adjusted her posture in midair, planted her feet against the wall, and bent her knees to absorb the shock.
Once she was sure she had a steady hold on the wall, Xie Xiaowu yanked out the iron chain, hurriedly unstoppered the spare canteen at her waist, and poured it over the gaping hole in her shoulder.
Doing this inevitably caused some water to drip down her body.
It was a bit wasteful.
But the situation was urgent. There was no time to grab a towel and wipe it carefully, waiting for the wound to slowly heal.
She had no choice, even if it was a waste.
After quickly and roughly treating her wound, Xie Xiaowu looked up again, only to find that Ming Kai hadn't launched a new attack. Instead, he was staring upward in a daze.
Following Ming Kai's gaze, she peered into the gloom and saw Zhu Yao slowly descending on a steel cable, with Shu Yu dangling from her grip.
Catching sight of Ming Kai, Zhu Yao tossed the unconscious Shu Yu over to him.
"This is an extra kill. The merit goes to me," Zhu Yao said, her voice cold and clear.
"Understood," Ming Kai agreed readily. Then, he unhesitatingly lopped off Shu Yu's head.
He tossed the headless corpse to the very bottom. A moment later, a heavy thud echoed up—the sound of the body smashing into pieces.
Seeing the perfectly intact head in Ming Kai's hand, Zhu Yao raised an eyebrow, guessing that the camp leader had probably ordered her captured alive.
The sounds of battle below still hadn't ceased, but Shu Yu's plunging body would definitely shake the remaining Red Fruit Camp members.
The fight was likely nearing its end.
Zhu Yao paid no more attention to the events below. She tugged on her steel cable and was hoisted back up by Li Ban, who had remained above the whole time.
Holding Shu Yu's head, Ming Kai was in no rush to descend either. Instead, he stared up into the darkness, lost in thought.
"Ming Kai," Xie Xiaowu called out.
"He's strong." Ming Kai finally lowered his head to look at Xie Xiaowu, his voice faint.
"He's a Priest. You'd better drop whatever you were planning. You're no match for him."
Ming Kai shook his head, then nodded.
"If he's a Priest, then there was no need for him to make a move at all."
Ming Kai took one last look at the ceiling before shoving Shu Yu's head into a sack on his back and slowly climbing down.
Xie Xiaowu let out a sigh of relief and followed him down.
The battle below wasn't over yet, but it wouldn't be long now.
Watching the people who had chased Shu Yu up all retreat back down, Li Ban withdrew his gaze and resumed harvesting the spitters on the ceiling.
"I thought you were going to ignore it," Zhu Yao said after being pulled up. She perched on a nearby window, waiting for the signal to retreat.
"She made the first move against us," Li Ban said softly. "Besides, even if we left her alone and let her escape, Red Fruit Camp would still mark us as enemies."
Zhu Yao nodded. "That's exactly what Gu Sa intended."
Whether Li Ban and Zhu Yao intervened or not, the fact that Cliffside Camp attacked meant Red Fruit Camp wouldn't let them off the hook anyway.
Li Ban looked back up, blocked a black web with the flat of his axe, and unleashed another Rending Technique.
"It doesn't matter," he said with a smile.