Saving Unpermitted

Chapter 44.2: Long Time No See (Part 2)

Though Shu Jun’s moves were agile, he still suffered quite some bruises. After being smacked hundreds of times, Monday had turned almost silly and was becoming more and more sluggish as each second passed, with not even a single sound leaving its mouth.

Let’s think of a way, it’s not yet time to give up. For now, revealing his identity and forcibly fleeing is the next best choice —

[What should we do here? This is troublesome.] A vague voice came to his ears, sounding like a child’s complaint. [The monsters keep coming, who knows where the leader is hiding? Or let’s just keep on defence. In any case, it’s best to reserve energy.]    

[……You can send a small group to ambush the middle and tail of the team.] Another child’s voice came, its tone even lower and sounding a tad shy.

[Hey, what do you mean?]

[Once ambushed, the team will be disrupted. The leader must react and make adjustments in time. This map…… Well, isn’t this map not ideal for long-distance communication? Then…]

[I understand, I understand! We’ll attack at the same time and see how the team’s reaction speed is like, right?]

[Uhm…… Uhm.]

[Wow, it’s amazing that you see things from that perspective! I only thought about how to stay on defence, thank you —] The whiny kid’s mood immediately changed and he became very cheerful. [Ah yes, we got some chocolates today…… I think these are quite delicious, you should try them.]

[Okay.]

[By the way, for this terrain, if we send another group to divide the team from the middle, will the effect be better? ……A Yan, look over here, look over here.]

Shu Jun opened his eyes.

He had no time to pursue the details of this memory. Time was limited, so he directly took action — Shu Jun raised his broadsword horizontally, wrapped a very thick wind shield around himself and cut off the liquid pillar straight right at the middle, all while focusing his energy to feel the airflow.

Forcefully separated by the thick wind, the Mirror Erosion Marsh’s lower part stiffened for a very quick moment, while the upper part was still twisting like mad. Very soon, the upper and lower half merged into one, but Shu Jun’s attack didn’t stop —

Because this thing had stretched itself too long, there was indeed a gap in its reaction time.

Not giving the creature any time to make up its mind, Shu Jun raised his hand and shot three huge wind blades, aiming directly for the middle of the marsh’s upper half. Without Monday opening the way, the wind blades wouldn’t be able to entirely chop off the marsh; the cut would close in a few seconds.

But a few seconds was enough.

There was a tiny gap between the time the cut closed and the time the liquid pillar stabilised its shape. After a few waves, seeing that the wind blades were getting increasingly focused on a single target, the Mirror Erosion Marsh finally realised the imminent danger.

It swiftly changed its shape and retracted towards the ground, at the same time recklessly trying to attack the humans standing there.

But too bad, it had missed the best timing — fifteen minutes had passed.

Using the fallen fragments of the rocky mountain, Hu Yan glued together a small ship, and all the members of the Blackbird frontline team evacuated onto it. Before the doubtful gazes of his members, Hu Yan utilised the tarpaulins for the second time and raised the sail.

Zhu Yanchen, Hu Yan and Yu Jin were the only ones who hadn’t boarded the ship.

On the other side, Shu Jun was descending quickly. He never stopped feeling the surrounding airflow — this marsh was disrupting its own body structure, playing a ‘guess the cup’ game with him. The Mirror Erosion Marsh was much bigger than Sweet Vanguard, and it hadn’t suffered any substantial damage. If Shu Jun lost track of its brain now, the next battle would be multifold harder.

“You go first!” Shu Jun opened the speaker device on his protective suit: “Everyone board the ship, I’ll send you away!”

If I keep hitting the marsh’s brain, it wouldn’t pay attention to attacking the frontline team. As a player from the first-tier team, Hu Yan certainly knew what to do. If Shu Jun fought for long enough, the others would have a very high chance of escaping.

All that was left was that he had to fight head-on with this Mirror Erosion Marsh.

After all, it was here to test the humans, and it was even stronger than Sweet Vanguard. To be honest, Shu Jun didn’t know if he could win or not — but then again, there was no such thing as a sure-win battle.

As long as Zhu Yanchen and the Blackbird frontline team successfully escaped, the plan might continue. Among this whole group, Shu Jun carried the highest chance of surviving the marsh. Certainly, this was a gamble with little loss.

Not knowing Shu Jun’s true thoughts, Hu Yan felt little pressure and thus acted decisively: “Then we’ll head off first!”

Seeing the Erosion Marsh collapsing, Yu Jin felt that an avalanche might crash the next moment, so of course, he didn’t dare to linger for long. As the two men rapidly jumped on the boat, Shu Jun was about to raise his hand but found that one of them hadn’t moved yet.

Zhu Yanchen wasn’t showing the slightest intention to board the ship. He held the fully-powered purifier in his left hand and the gun in his right hand, his aura so calm it felt almost unreal.

“You get on the boat!” Having almost sent a whirlwind towards the sail, Shu Jun hurriedly called it back.

Marshal Zhu immediately made a move — he threw two small bombs at the sail, which caused a huge blast as they blew up, almost pushing the ship out of the two men’s sight. Seeing that Marshal Zhu had no hope of getting on the ship, Shu Jun clenched his teeth and could only push the sail again. The ship disappeared to the horizon in an instant, with a speed that seemed as though it was taking off into the sky.

“Zhu Yanchen, is your f**king old habit coming back?!” Just when Shu Jun felt that this person was showing signs of living a positive life, Marshal Zhu began dancing around the death god again.

“You need a light source, as well as a way to determine the  erosive substance’s movements.” Zhu Yanchen saw through Shu Jun’s tactics at a glance. “The concentration of erosive substance here can’t break my immunity. If I stay here, your winning chance will be higher. On the other hand, once the marsh leaks the information to others, the threat that ‘two people together’ face will certainly be lower than ‘a single person’.”

“I understand that logic, but the problem is that we don’t understand this thing at all! I can’t guarantee that I will —” 

Before he could finish the sentence, Zhu Yanchen’s calm voice cut him off.

“I know you won’t lose.” He said.

A sense of familiarity suddenly struck, and Shu Jun was stunned for half a second: “In case……”

“In case we die, the marsh will lower its guard. I’ve made arrangements for a future plan…… The fact that I’m still alive has never been part of the plan, so everything will just get back on its original track. Not to mention that with more intel, Lao Dong and The Fourth Team will be better prepared to take action later.” 

So you stay to increase the winning chance a little bit? Compared to Marshal Zhu’s previous behaviour, this was really not conventional.

But it had to be said that with the light source and Zhu Yanchen’s instructions, the delaying strategy indeed became a lot easier — Zhu Yanchen was very good at calculating the flow of erosive substance, and Shu Jun didn’t have to spare some mind to feel the airflow. Once the marsh tried to submerge them, Shu Jun took Zhu Yanchen into the air, attacking the brain non-stop.

“Time is almost up.” Zhu Yanchen fired several shots at the Mirror Erosion Marsh, breaking a tentacle that was swinging towards them. “The frontline team should have escaped.”

“But we can’t withdraw now.” Shu Jun’s sweat slid down his neck, his clothes inside the protective suit already soaking wet.

Seeing that there was no hope in chasing the frontline team, the Mirror Erosion Marsh called the old trick again, spreading ‘petals’ around the liquid pillar. But compared to the time when the trap was first used, the petals this time were a lot plumper, tightly wrapping the two men in the middle. Despite Shu Jun’s continuous attack with his wind, the gap was getting smaller and smaller.

The marsh didn’t even need to use any erosive substance. It was trying to suffocate them by mere physical force.

The battle had reached the moment where he needed to pull his trump card. Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen were flying in a space that was growing narrower by the second. His suppression was a surprise attack, and facing this kind of Erosion Marsh with ample experience in changing its shape, the effect of suppression would be the greatest the first time it was used.

Shu Jun was feeling a tad nervous.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t dealt with a situation where the outcome was highly unpredictable before. He had always been a happy-go-lucky person. First, it was thanks to his optimism brought about by the ‘blessings’ he received during childhood, and secondly, it was because…… his life was nothing but this. No matter whether the world was real or not, he had not a single next-of-kin.

Compared with Zhu Yanchen’s tactic to pretend to be an 80-year-old man, Shu Jun carried a conscious conscience. At least he and his friends all knew the risks of fighting. In a certain corner of his heart, Shu Jun had always thought that — he was a warrior, and when the time came, there would be nothing wrong with just facing his death calmly. 

But now he was sweating and feeling anxious all over, worrying about gains and losses.

……Because if I die, Zhu Yanchen would surely be buried six feet under with me.

Seeing that the space was stabilising, the Mirror Erosion Marsh once again summoned its powers. Numerous human skin balloons without any facial features emerged along the inner wall of the marsh, gradually filling the space. Countless soft hands stretched out to Shu Jun, frantically trying to hinder his actions.

One after another, untuned yet ear-splitting screams echoed. These things had no mouths, so no one knew where the sound came from.

“I’m going to come up.” Shu Jun hissed, his voice sounding as if it had been torn. “It’s a well-used tactic. I can’t take you with me.”

“I know.”

Zhu Yanchen flipped his hand and swung the purifier, pushing back the surrounding marsh and giving himself a foothold. HIs purifying gun was so terrifying that the human skin balloons couldn’t come close for a while.

Shu Jun rushed towards the Mirror Erosion Marsh’s brain.

The process was much more painful compared to the battle against Sweet Vanguard. Numerous threads instantly squeezed Shu Jun’s protective clothing, digging into his nose and mouth, trying to entangle him. Pulling his last bit of energy, Shu Jun desperately tried to suppress them and struggled to advance towards the brain.

His mind had never been so focused, and for the first time, he hoped that the ‘blessings’ really came from god. Even if this way of thinking was rather unsightly, he wanted to win this battle.

As the hair-thin threads of erosive substance tore his flesh, he suppressed them layer after layer. In order to protect itself, many films of erosive substance that looked almost like human skin had wrapped around the brain, making it extremely tough to break through.

He couldn’t give up yet. Behind him, Zhu Yanchen was still holding up.

Shu Jun held back the excruciating pain, looking as though he was squeezing every bit of energy out of his bone marrow. He had no idea how long he had stopped breathing, and the sight before his eyes was beginning to turn black. Perhaps it was an illusion, but amidst the screams of the human skin balloons, fuzzy colours and shadows slowly emerged.

[You will never lose.]

Yeah, I won’t lose.

The broadsword broke down layer after layer of protection and Shu Jun forcibly dragged himself into the marsh’s brain. The pain was burning between his bones, so much so that he almost thought he was being cremated alive.

There was only one opportunity.

Suppress, suppress, continue to suppress.

……F**k, Shu Jun thought. He must survive.

As he stretched out his hand, the grey erosive substance flowed from the tips of his claws. Shu Jun didn’t stop his movements for even a second — in the last battle, his suppression felt relatively quiet, carrying with it a soothing sensation; but now, he only wished to turn into a human-shaped mixer, such that he could simply grip his greatsword and wantonly destroy the brain of this creature.

In the end, as his own consciousness became blurred, the destruction and suppression on his hands were getting more and more frantic. In the darkness, more erosive substance rose from his spine, forming a huge blade that looked like a wing.

Unfortunately, Shu Jun had almost passed out.

Under the disturbance from the sharp blade, the device on his wrist was still working silently.

[Harmony: 45%]

[Harmony: 57%]

[Harmony: 73%]

An unknown amount of time later, his breathing suddenly relaxed. With a soft thud, Shu Jun knelt on the spot, his sword plunging into the ground. The Mirror Erosion Marsh lost its form and the erosive substance drizzled quietly around it. A lot of those human skin balloons didn’t immediately fall apart, rather, they floated on the marsh surface, slowly dissolving into it.

Zhu Yanchen’s fluctuating light source staggered in mid-air, like a firefly with its wings injured.

Being attacked by the human skin balloons, Marshal Zhu himself was a little dishevelled, but he was still standing firm. After confirming that the man was alive, Shu Jun put on a feeble smile.

His protective suit had long disintegrated in the tough battle, his whole body nearly exposed naked. Monday was scared silly once more, but this time, it had quickly snapped out of it and was making a hoarse cry of “ahhhhh”.

“We were separated for nine minutes.” Zhu Yanchen came closer, took off his torn coat and gently put it on Shu Jun’s back. “Don’t worry, that marsh didn’t have any time to send out information that there was a human-shaped Erosion Marsh here.”

“……Really?”

Zhu Yanchen calmly opened his pocket and measured the erosive substance around them for a moment.

“I’m sure of it. It was suppressed quite badly and wasn’t able to save much information. We really kept the secret intact.”

“Nine minutes…… I thought I’d fought for nine years.…..”

As dizziness assaulted his mind, Shu Jun gazed at Zhu Yanchen. He had so much to say but couldn’t utter a word. He did obtain some memories amidst the severe pain, but it was unlike the time he fought with Sweet Vanguard. The Mirror Erosion Marsh was a pure marsh; no human memories had ever entered its brain.

He thought of himself. Even if they were just a few fragments, it was enough to piece together a lot of things.

“A Yan…”

Shu Jun reached out his hand and pressed it against Zhu Yanchen’s heart. A powerful pulse passed through the muscles, tapping the nerves along his palm.

“……Long time no see.”