1608 Buried Underground!
Charging!
Desperately charging forward!
The moment they began their withdrawal en masse, Xia Fan burst forth at the forefront, using Traveling Buddha as his shield and Nikai as his armor, with the former in front of him and the latter carried on his back. The three were as one, plowing straight into the formation of the White Bone Regiment.
*Kaboom!*
The sounds of explosion went off repeatedly, masking the massive changes happening outside the Demon Palace. Xia Fan was like an unloaded cannonball, hurtling through their enemies and sending them flying!
Xia Fan’s plan was very simple. Though the White Bone Regiment warriors had gained the ability to self-destruct, all that mattered was that they did not explode near him! Just like soldiers dealt with enemy grenades in war films, the moment such explosives were thrown into the trenches, people could choose to either take cover by falling down on the ground, or they could pick it up and throw it back where it came from before it exploded.
Xia Fan opted for the second method. Any sort of explosion still needed a moment to trigger, and Xia Fan capitalized on that very moment to ram right into the self-destructing White Bone Regiment warriors at full speed, sending them flying just as they were about to explode. That way, the explosion would not happen around him, but further in front of him, where there just so happened to be many more enemies gathered!
In the blink of an eye, the White Bone Regiment had to deal with Xia Fan’s counterattack. The whole lot of them were sent sprawling everywhere. Body parts were strewn all over, and the walls were covered in thick blood and guts, looking like a scene taken straight out from Hell.
Though the combined effect of Xia Fan’s speed and reckless charge was effective, that meant he was also unable to avoid being affected by the same explosions. Thus, this all depended on Traveling Buddha and Nikai’s performances. Traveling Buddha was like a shield, acting as the first line of defense. He was like a naval ram, solid and sturdy, able to withstand the collision against anything.
Meanwhile, Nikai used her Divine Wings of Color to protect both Xia Fan and herself, guarding against the explosive impacts coming from the sides and behind them. Everything was absorbed by the colorful and magical wings that sprouted out from Nikai.
The young woman had shut her eyes, burying her face in Xia Fan’s shoulder. She could distinctly hear the explosions happening everywhere around them, but she could also feel the beating of Xia Fan’s heart. Instinctive fear of the danger around them caused Nikai to hug Xia Fan even more tightly, like a man clutching onto a final blade of life-saving grass.
Emotions grew during battle. Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha’s trust in each other had been established since the first time they let each other cover their backs, and was further built upon through the countless battles they braved together. If Xia Fan was unreliable, the Little Old Buddha would have long since abandoned Xia Fan, but the fact remained that not only was Xia Fan reliable, he was even frighteningly so. Thus, the trust they had in each other had been strengthened to the point it was now an unbreakable bond.
A similar experience was happening to Nikai now. When she was alone, she had Xia Fan’s voice to accompany her. In battle, she had Xia Fan’s back to rely on. So very naturally, Nikai found Xia Fan’s back to feel very warm and dependable.
*Kaboom!*
With that last explosion, a bloody path opened up. Xia Fan was like a directional missile that had pierced through the Demon Palace, blowing a breach which had passed through the thick outer walls.
General Dresden and the others chased desperately after Xia Fan, but Xia Fan’s top speed was nearly 50,000 meters per second, nothing a normal person could keep up with. The distance between them kept increasing, and everyone saw Xia Fan, Nikai and Traveling Buddha’s figures fade into the distance. They witnessed countless shattered bodies and the walls that had been blown open in the trio’s wake!
“Is the sea on the verge of collapse?”
Traveling Buddha frowned. They had gotten through the Demon Palace after quite the struggle, only to see that there was still a Domain barrier above their heads, and then the great sea outside it. At this moment, there was only just a line of sky left, visible through the sea. They had no idea when the land around them had ascended to the point where it looked like they were in the giant mouth of some sea monster, about to swallow the entire Demon Palace whole!
Without a doubt, there was a great change happening to the sea. The ground where the Demon Palace was situated was sinking deeper into the ground while everything was happening. While Xia Fan and the others were busy dealing with the attack of the White Bone Regiment, the explosions had muffled the sounds from outside. Only after they broke through the wall of the Demon Palace did they realize that the Demon Palace was sinking rapidly.
“I get it now!” Nikai exclaimed. “The sounds of explosions we heard outside the Demon Palace before were not from Cotillard attacking the palace, but him actually warning us with the explosions to get out of this accursed place as soon as possible, seeing as we had lost any lines of communication with each other!”
Nikai’s analysis was spot-on, but it was already too late to realize that.
The immense Demon Palace had already sunk deeper into the ground. Looking up, Xia Fan felt like he was a frog in a well, only able to see a small piece of the sea and sky.
…..
The sky was blue and everything was calm. No one could have imagined that just minutes ago, there had been a hurricane and waves rising several tens of meters high raging across the land.
The North Sea that had covered a total of 14,335 square kilometers had completely disappeared. Countless flying beasts were panting heavily, landing upon the muddy ground to rest. The flying beasts were exhausted from braving the powerful hurricane winds while carrying their masters on their backs. At the moment, everything was back to normal, and they finally had a chance to take a breath and stretch out their sore muscles; maybe even catch a few of the big fish that were struggling in the mud to help replenish their physical strength.
All the warriors leapt off their flying beasts, landing on the muddy ground. Every single one of them was dumbfounded. Mountains had sprouted from the seabed, and the Demon Palace in the middle of the North Sea had completely disappeared, becoming a huge depression. When someone stood on its periphery and looked down, they could see that the bottom of the depression had been completely sealed off, and there was no passageway that led to the buffer zone.
The technical team’s flying beasts were still in the air, using all sorts of measuring instruments to probe the land below. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the headquarters was somber.
“I’ve built a model,” Cotillard said, rubbing his red eyes.
One of his men carried over a transparent glass water tank. At the bottom of the tank was sand, made into a replica of the North Sea’s seabed.
*Pop*
Someone pulled out the stopper at the bottom of the model. Instantly a cavity formed beneath the mock-seabed, and the water in the tank drained away rapidly. The surrounding sand was also dragged along to the opening thanks to the flowing water, which created a whirlpool on the water’s surface. Soon water vapor rose and began to form a layer of white mist in the air.
Several minutes later, the water in the model was gone, and its seabed was in a similar state as the North Sea right now, with a collapsed center, the surrounding ground elevated. The black rock that represented the Demon Palace in this model had also sunk a layer, and was buried deep down.
Looking around, Cotillard stated gravely, “Though it isn’t exactly accurate, this is the only conclusion I could draw based on the information we currently know. There has always been a huge cavity beneath the North Sea. The area of this cavity is far larger than the total surface area of the North Sea!
“For some unknown reason, a fault appeared in this underground cavity, which caused the North Sea to flow underground through the fault. Meanwhile,the sand and sediment that make up the seabed, as well as the Demon Palace, have been sucked into the buffer zone due to the siphon effect.
“In the later stages of this event, because the flow of water was exhausted, large amounts of sediment have blocked the cavity again. While we are now just above the fault, we are still unable to find any passageway that would lead us to the buffer zone.”
It was easy for everyone to quickly understand what had happened to the Demon Palace, as well as Xia Fan, General Dresden and everyone else who were inside the place, thanks to the model.
“Since it’s an underground cavity, can we dig a path through the fault?” Nizeru asked loudly. Plenty of his hair had turned white overnight, and a few red pustules had even grown in the corner of his mouth. Ever since Nikai had been trapped there, Nizeru had not had a drop of water and was holding on solely by willpower alone.
Cotillard shook his head. “All of you ought to know just how big the buffer zone is. We need seven full days’ time just to take a high-powered magnetic elevator down to the next level from Subduing Demon City. Given how the average depth of the North Sea is around 236 meters, to suck away the entire North Sea in such a short while must mean that the underground cavity is frighteningly large.
“Based on what we know, if we were to dig along the original path, we’d need to ferry over at least three engineering corps and have them work non-stop for four to six months.”
Everyone went pale. Nizeru nearly even fainted after hearing that. It would take them four to six months of non-stop work, just to excavate the buried city?
Even if they were to ignore the fact that they had no idea if Nikai was still dead or alive, wasn’t a six month period of digging simply too long?
It had to be said that plenty of peculiar lifeforms lived in the buffer zone. Over the past eons, humanity had sent countless exploration teams into the place, and on average only one in every ten people sent was able to return alive.
Calvinson coughed twice and had someone open the map. He then pointed to a location not too far off from the North Sea, an area known as the Gulgnac Volcano.
“Right now, the only solution we’ve come up with is to enter the buffer zone through the mouth of Gulgnac, an entry point to the buffer zone closest to our current location.
“Approximately six thousand years ago, Gulgnac Volcano had a mega-eruption that created a narrow channel that we can use to enter the buffer zone.
“Everyone, please look. This is the volcano’s entrance, and this is the location where the Demon Palace has disappeared. They are no more than eight hundred kilometers apart, but the buffer zone is like a maze. Though we don’t know the way, we will be able to probe in the direction of the North Sea.”
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