Chapter 17: The Unyielding Stand

The deeper we plunged into the forest, the higher the terrain became. Currently, we were scrambling up an incline, our pace drastically reduced. Su Yingning’s stamina was draining rapidly, and it was clear she wouldn’t last much longer.

Fortunately, our pursuers behind us were equally winded, their heavy breaths echoing like bellows, and their steps faltering. As such, the distance between us had not shortened significantly in the short term.

“No, this can’t go on.” I couldn’t tell if Su Yingning was speaking to me or merely to herself. Considering that in her eyes, I was nothing more than a blob of AI data with limited intelligence, I surmised she was simply muttering.

“We can’t escape. This forest isn’t vast; beyond this small hill lies its edge. Once we lose the cover of the trees, we won’t be able to evade the mages’ ranged attacks, and death will be inevitable. Dying isn’t the issue… but after death, we’ll only return to the resurrection point. Every resurrection point is swarming with their people, trapping us in an endless cycle of being corpse-camped.”

Su Yingning’s face was etched with anxiety, yet her feet never ceased their movement. Her breath came in ragged gasps from exhaustion, and even the hands clutching me trembled uncontrollably. Still, she gritted her teeth, refusing to put me down.

The small hill flattened into a barren clearing, roughly a hundred meters in length and width, utterly devoid of tree cover. Should we choose to cross it, we would become two moving targets. Yet, even attempting to circle around was no longer an option.

From all directions, hundreds of players surged towards us, forming an impenetrable encirclement. To attempt a detour now would mean colliding head-on with a segment of their relentless siege!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Yingning made her decision.

Cross the clearing! Climb the hill!

Even with the boost from a warrior’s skill, crossing the clearing would take approximately five seconds. Five seconds might seem like a mere blink in time, but in this game, it was an eternity!

Even Su Yingning had to concede that the opposing guild was well-trained and highly experienced. The instant they spotted the clearing, members of their guild’s formation had already begun chanting for Fireballs and Ice Cones.

In the blink of an eye, the air around us was filled with the incantations of spell-casting, their ominous murmurs resembling the pronouncements of an apocalypse. A tidal wave of oppressive force enveloped the night, making one’s heart feel as though it were clamped in an iron grip, blood struggling to flow, and knees turning to jelly.

The dense, ubiquitous chanting, akin to the buzzing of mosquitoes, was enough to make one’s scalp prickle with dread, as if already pulverized by countless spells.

“Master! Please, put me down! I’ll fight them!” I struggled desperately, a handful of glowing white peas already clutched in my grasp.

Su Yingning bit down hard on her lower lip, her face a mask of fierce determination: “No! You cannot die. Carrying you as I run is the only way!”

Her primary concern was not her own survival, but mine. Had I not been present, Su Yingning would undoubtedly have turned back to engage the enemy, seeking revenge and unleashing a full day’s worth of accumulated fury, even if it meant certain defeat.

Su Yingning abruptly tightened her embrace, halting my struggles. Her grip was so forceful that it caused me to accidentally scatter the peas in my hand haphazardly across the clearing ahead.

She simply couldn’t bear to leave me to fight alone. If she hadn’t been continuously targeted by enemies, keeping her in combat and preventing her from dismissing her pet, she would surely have sent me back to my pet dimension long ago, or perhaps never even brought me into such peril. This wasn’t merely a guess about her character; it was confirmed by the constant, desperate cries of “Dismiss Summon” that I heard escaping her lips.

Yet, every single one of these commands was rejected by the system.

Dazzling spells of every color surged forth, as if the entire forest’s magical essence had been instantly siphoned away. The air filled with the parched scent of impending death. Blazing fireballs and bone-chilling ice cones rained down upon the two of us. In that fleeting moment, the blinding light illuminated the clearing and the forest’s edge as brightly as day!

“Surrender now! Otherwise, you and your pet will die together!”

Yujian Lin had already arrived from another resurrection point. He granted Su Yingning a single second to consider his offer. If she accepted, Yujian Lin, as the guild leader, would instantly disable the team’s free-for-all PK mode, preventing any attacks from harming her. After all, he, too, could not bear to see the fruits of his arduous efforts over such a long time ultimately reduced to a corpse—a mutually destructive outcome.

The enemy employed the most straightforward form of brute force intimidation, and Su Yingning fully grasped their intentions. As multi-colored spells danced in mid-air, she faced a stark choice: either accept my death and the lengthy penalty of being unable to resurrect, or surrender and hand me over.

‘If it were me, I would choose to feign surrender.’

Yet, after enduring such a humiliating day, Su Yingning’s hatred for her opponents was so profound that she couldn’t even bring herself to feign surrender.

She chose to break rather than bend.

By this point, she had stepped onto the open ground beyond the forest’s edge. Countless spells erupted from the treeline, streaking across the sky like meteors, whistling as they hurtled towards the two of us—one person, one fox.

Su Yingning desperately tried to evade the rain of spells, but at last, the first fireball struck her.

With her current health, she could withstand only a single hit.