Desorock Highland Camp.
"Hold the south gate; the Tacet Discord tide's assault is weakening."
Jiyan shouted loudly to boost the troops' morale, his spear thrusting out like a dragon, swiftly dispatching a swath of Tacet Discords. Yet he heard a fighting soldier shout out intelligence:
"North gate! More Tacet Discords have broken through."
"The enemy is at the end of their strength; continue holding firm!"
Raising Lustrous Razor, Jiyan quickly dashed toward the north gate of the camp.
Time passed second by second until the pouring rain curtain completely stopped, countless raindrops suspended in mid-air. The Tacet Discord tide was finally thoroughly repelled.
The resting soldiers had no time to admire the Retroact Rain lingering in mid-air; disregarding their image, they sat down on the ground, gasping for air in large breaths.
"It's over!"
Jiyan retracted his long spear, not forcefully ordering the soldiers to reorganize their formation. Instead, he took out his terminal and sent a communication.
"The Rearguard Base side has already calmed down. How is the situation in Jinzhou?"
Taoqi: "The protective barrier hasn't been fully repaired yet, but the Magistrate has prepared to confront Fractsidus Scar at any time. All residents have been evacuated to safe areas."
Taoqi: "Baizhi is monitoring and controlling at the academy. Mortefi has arrived at the Engineer department, and that hero of Jinzhou has already gone to support the camp."
Upon receiving Taoqi's intelligence, Jiyan first felt joy, then immediately furrowed his brows.
That hero of Jinzhou is coming?
If he could get his help, dealing with the Threnodian would surely be much easier, but... would this violate Jinzhou's way of treating guests?
"I understand. I will hurry to meet and support them."
Ending the communication, Jiyan looked up at the perfect full moon phase on the horizon, his mind filled with constant thoughts.
Although the disturbance at the Rearguard Base had settled, the process had not been easy. The scale of this Tacet Discord tide was enormous, yet extremely organized.
This clearly did not conform to the behavioral patterns of Tacet Discords; there must be someone directing them from behind.
Besides the Threnodian, there should be another enemy in the shadows this time.
Forget it; he could only adapt to the situation. For now, the most important thing was to go meet that hero of Jinzhou and clear a path for them.
Gripping Lustrous Razor tightly, Jiyan ran toward the Tacet Field direction in Desorock Highland.
Along the way, there were indeed some stray Tacet Discords, which he casually cleared.
Lustrous Razor swung out, killing a Stonewall Bracer. Before Jiyan could catch his breath, he sensed an extremely powerful and familiar Tacet Discord frequency appearing in the south.
He gazed into the distance, his pupils suddenly contracting.
It was a terrifyingly grotesque Tacet Discord, its body covered in scales flickering with lightning, its long limbs entwined with dangerous electric arcs—Thundering Mephis!
===✧✦✧===
Desorock Highland - Tacet Field.
"Along the way, the frequency of encountering Tacet Discords has been frighteningly high; the closer we get to Norfall Barrens, the more so."
Yangyang worked hard to sense the route with the fewest Tacet Discords using her resonance, walking ahead seriously to lead the way.
"After crossing this Tacet Field ahead, we can reach the camp where General Jiyan is located."
This Desorock Highland had once served as one of the main battlefields between the Midnight Rangers and Tacet Discords.
Now, under the Retroact Rain, the battles that had once occurred turned into illusions, constantly replaying.
Noah looked around at the vivid illusions surrounding them, like holographic projections, watching fragments of soldiers battling various Tacet Discords.
The rain curtain suspended in mid-air mercilessly displayed their shouts, roars, and despair in full, even repeatedly showing their tragic deaths.
In the former Battle Beneath the Crescent, the soldiers led by Geshu Lin on this battlefield could not distinguish friend from foe, lost their direction, and were constantly attacked by illusions manifested by the Threnodian...
Now truly witnessing such a scene, Noah could only say: It really is a 16+ game; the things expressed to players in the plot are still too subtle.
"Noah, don't be drawn in by these anomalies. What you're seeing are all illusions. Be careful; we're about to cross the Tacet Field."
As Yangyang's words fell, Noah nodded, took out a Premium Revival Spray and handed it over, pointing in a direction with his finger:
"There's a Midnight Ranger soldier over there. Yangyang, go save him; he should still be savable."
"You must have seen wrong; that might be a ghost of the Retroact Rain..."
Before she finished speaking, the sound in Yangyang's throat got stuck.
Because in her resonance sense, in the direction Noah pointed, there really was a Midnight Ranger on the verge of death.
Strange—why did Noah notice this Midnight Ranger before her, who possessed the ability to sense resonance?
There was no time to think about this question. Yangyang obediently took the Premium Revival Spray Noah gave her and ran toward the dying Midnight Ranger.
Meanwhile, Noah silently drew his long blade Ages of Harvest, skillfully removing the "Rover" Echo and equipping it to "Jinhsi."
Within his perception range, a black-purple figure, like a hungry wolf encountering prey, came rushing with a thunderstorm at high speed.
Thundering Mephis—an Overlord-class Tacet Discord formed from the "thunder" that devoured the Reverberations of thousands of fallen soldiers here, possessing the power to control electricity.
It sounded very frightening, but in reality, it was just a mere vanguard, at the bottom tier even among Overlord-class.
"Twenty."
Noah gently stroked Ages of Harvest, the corners of his mouth slightly rising, poised and ready:
"Nineteen."
On the other side, Yangyang finally reached the dying Midnight Ranger soldier and administered the Premium Revival Spray in her hand.
"Run quickly... Yangyang..."
The soldier recognized Yangyang and uttered a weak voice:
"Thundering Mephis... has revived... I am... from the Desorock Highland supply transport team..."
"What—Thundering Mephis!"
Yangyang only heard the first four words from the soldier's mouth. Losing her balance, the Premium Revival Spray in her hand fell to the ground.
The soldier instantly became like a fish exposed to air, his staring eyes filled with longing for the Revival Spray on the ground, trembling anxiously:
"Guh— the spray... it's leaking... Yangyang!"
Yangyang had no time to mind him. Anxiously turning around, she just in time saw Noah beating a massive black-purple figure into constant retreat.
"Uh..."
It seemed he didn't really need her help.
Clearly, that guy had only recently awakened his resonance abilities, yet his strength was becoming more and more monstrous... Perhaps he really could defeat the Threnodian?
Yangyang finally felt some comfort in her heart. She bent down to pick up the Premium Revival Spray from the ground and helped the soldier take it:
"What did you just say?"
"Be careful... of Thundering Mephis..."
"No need."
Yangyang calmly shook her head. She was only unsure if Noah could defeat the Threnodian, but she never doubted Noah's own strength.
In the center of the Tacet Field, Noah leaped up, perfectly dodging Thundering Mephis's dragon tail sweep.
"Three."
Thundering Mephis swung its wildly aggressive right claw, parried back by Noah's blade. Following the momentum, Thundering Mephis swung its left claw again, only to be parried back once more.
This Tacet Discord's characteristic was its long attack wind-up, making it very easy to parry. Noah fought it with no pressure at all.
"Two."
A pair of dragon horns grew from Noah's head, surging resonance energy erupting outward from his body. Ages of Harvest transformed into the solid illusory shadow of the Sentinel.
"One."
Thundering Mephis sensed danger. Its figure turned into ghostly afterimages, flashing left and right at lightning speed.
The massive black-purple body darted around within the Tacet Field; the naked eye could barely follow its trace. No one could predict where it would appear in the next instant.
"Sacred light!"
A majestic and terrifying white beam of light erupted without warning, as if it had pre-emptively judged Thundering Mephis's own prediction, accurately hitting its landing point in advance.
In the instant just before the white beam would have missed, Thundering Mephis teleported in, perfectly catching the attack.
Boom!
Jiyan hurried over and just in time saw Noah toss out his terminal, collecting the Echo dropped by Thundering Mephis.
Such a scene caused the tense expression on Jiyan's face to suddenly relax.
He extended his hand, his face filled with recognition and respect:
"Long admired, hero of Jinzhou. Thank you for coming."
Noah gripped Jiyan's extended hand in return:
[Skip.]