Chapter 43 – Escape
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
A soft explosion sounds out every time I attack. Nobody cares about trying to escape silently anymore because we already know we have been found out. The only reason why we are not attacking with our full strength is because we do not want to kill these soldiers.
This is actually the first time I used the Cloud Treading steps in a real fight. The funny thing is that I am not using this to avoid attacks from the soldiers since the soldiers are busy trying to get themselves out of the vines but trying to use it to land more attacks on the soldiers who are bundled up in a mess right now.
The villagers are watching us knock the soldiers out with expressions of shock on their faces since they do not know of cultivators and we are moving and attacking beyond the capabilities of normal humans. For example, each and every thrust of Zhao Keng's spear attacks have pin point accuracy and accurately lands on the centre of the soldier's forehead, while each and every punch of mine lands on the side of a soldier. While there are four of us attacking, our attacks never overlap and within two minutes, all the soldiers are unconscious.
The sounds of fighting and the screaming from the soldiers are already echoing throughout the cave. The sounds of soldiers getting ready in the far distance and moving towards us are also echoing back to us. Once we are done moving the guard's unconscious bodies out of the way, we glace towards Mo Di and nod. Mo Di immediately waves his hand and shouts "Let's go!"
As Mo Di is leading the villagers to the exit of the cave, we are running in front of him to make sure that they have safe passage. We have to cross three junctions before we reach the guard room near the exit of the cave.
As we near the first junctions, a group of five soldiers, armed with their pikes arrives. "Stop!" they shout, but instead of stopping, we move towards them in a single movement and knock them out instantly.
Liu Kang uses a roundhouse kick that creates a low subsonic roar, I use instant blink and gives the guard a <Shadowless Kick> aimed at his abdomen and then knees his head, causing him to lose consciousness.
Ding Sha uses his sabre which is sheathed and delivers a strike to the top of a guard's head. Zhao Keng uses the long reach of his spear and swings it down on the heads of two soldiers who are standing in a line. Sima Di who was the last one to arrive since he is cycling between the front and back of our group uses the handle of his short sword on the leg of the last guard and elbows the guard's head who lost his balance.
All this only took around ten seconds to execute and it is perfect teamwork! Mo Di has already drawn his body out as he continued running forward, leading the group of villagers. We ignore the unconscious body this time and run ahead to catch up with Mo Di.
At the second junction, no guards were seen. We did not explore the cave completely so we do not know why but a guess would be because there were faster routes for the guards to use to reach the source of the commotion. Anyway, we were in a hurry so we did not think about it but just ran past it. We were glad that we did not have to fight more soldiers.
There were no soldiers at the third junction too. This junction being empty was a surprise because it is the last junction we had to cross before we reach the guard room and the exit. Mo Di slows down and stops as we near the guard room.
"There is one or two platoons ahead." Mo Di says in a serious tone.
We all know what that means. It means there are more than fifty guards there since a platoon consists of fifty people in the empire. Soon Judge Cui, Judge Tang and Zhuge Pang who were guarding the back arrived and Judge Tang said "I guess they had plans in case of intruders. We should have expected that they would guard the exit the moment we realized they were soldiers."
Everyone's face is masked right now but the tension can be felt in the air. "We have to fight and fight decisively this time. This is a trained platoon of soldiers." I say calmly.
"We can't lead this group of people out without hurting any of them anymore. Since we will have to face them, Let us tell them our purpose and hope they will let us pass peacefully." I continue saying decisively. Nobody opposes me and I walk in front this time.
Soon, we reach the guard room. As expected, there are around 80 soldiers here who are armed and ready to take our lives.
"Halt!" one of the soldiers shout.
"Throw your weapons away and surrender and we will not take your lives!" he continues yelling at us.
"We are here to free your prisoners. You know that they are innocent, why not just let us bring them away? This will solve your troubles since you do not know how to deal with them!" I shout back in reply.
"You…You know who we are?!" The guard stammers in shock.
"Only we do, the prisoners do not. Will you let us go or do we have to fight?" I tighten my fist and haunches a little so I can attack immediately if they refuse.
The guards are a little confused right now, looking at each other for someone to take the lead to suggest letting us go. They aren't afraid of us but like Liu Kang and the rest, they did not join the army to slaughter innocent villagers so they too, do not want to kill the people who they are supposed to protect.
After a few minutes, the guards cannot come to any agreements among themselves because they know that they will be punished if they let us go but we cannot wait any longer since more soldiers will soon converge at the exit and we will be surrounded.
"Let's go!" I shout. I execute instant blink but do not land properly this time, instead, I throw my body at one of the guards, sending him flying towards another. While on the ground, I perform a leg sweep and cause several more guards to fall.
Mo Di who already has prepared himself fires an explosion arrow which does not pierce but explodes on contact at the guards.
*BOOM!*
About eight to ten guards are instantly sent flying away. Liu Kang explodes out with his <Rising Roaring Dragon> fist which creates a flaming, roaring dragon on his fist which causes a strong explosion on another group of guards when it lands on them, sending them flying away.
Zhao Keng joins us in the fight and starts doing wide sweeps with his spear, causing many troops to be sent flying away screaming.
Ding Sha starts wildly sending qi slashes, slashing through the armour of the guards and causing blood to spray around the area. He does not attack any vital areas but just performs wide slashes which land on the chest of the guards. Since the guards are pretending to be bandits, they did not wear any armour and the clothing they wore did not give them any protection against attacks.
Chapter 43 – Escape
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
A soft explosion sounds out every time I attack. Nobody cares about trying to escape silently anymore because we already know we have been found out. The only reason why we are not attacking with our full strength is because we do not want to kill these soldiers.
This is actually the first time I used the Cloud Treading steps in a real fight. The funny thing is that I am not using this to avoid attacks from the soldiers since the soldiers are busy trying to get themselves out of the vines but trying to use it to land more attacks on the soldiers who are bundled up in a mess right now.
The villagers are watching us knock the soldiers out with expressions of shock on their faces since they do not know of cultivators and we are moving and attacking beyond the capabilities of normal humans. For example, each and every thrust of Zhao Keng's spear attacks have pin point accuracy and accurately lands on the centre of the soldier's forehead, while each and every punch of mine lands on the side of a soldier. While there are four of us attacking, our attacks never overlap and within two minutes, all the soldiers are unconscious.
The sounds of fighting and the screaming from the soldiers are already echoing throughout the cave. The sounds of soldiers getting ready in the far distance and moving towards us are also echoing back to us. Once we are done moving the guard's unconscious bodies out of the way, we glace towards Mo Di and nod. Mo Di immediately waves his hand and shouts "Let's go!"
As Mo Di is leading the villagers to the exit of the cave, we are running in front of him to make sure that they have safe passage. We have to cross three junctions before we reach the guard room near the exit of the cave.
As we near the first junctions, a group of five soldiers, armed with their pikes arrives. "Stop!" they shout, but instead of stopping, we move towards them in a single movement and knock them out instantly.
Liu Kang uses a roundhouse kick that creates a low subsonic roar, I use instant blink and gives the guard a <Shadowless Kick> aimed at his abdomen and then knees his head, causing him to lose consciousness.
Ding Sha uses his sabre which is sheathed and delivers a strike to the top of a guard's head. Zhao Keng uses the long reach of his spear and swings it down on the heads of two soldiers who are standing in a line. Sima Di who was the last one to arrive since he is cycling between the front and back of our group uses the handle of his short sword on the leg of the last guard and elbows the guard's head who lost his balance.
All this only took around ten seconds to execute and it is perfect teamwork! Mo Di has already drawn his body out as he continued running forward, leading the group of villagers. We ignore the unconscious body this time and run ahead to catch up with Mo Di.
At the second junction, no guards were seen. We did not explore the cave completely so we do not know why but a guess would be because there were faster routes for the guards to use to reach the source of the commotion. Anyway, we were in a hurry so we did not think about it but just ran past it. We were glad that we did not have to fight more soldiers.
There were no soldiers at the third junction too. This junction being empty was a surprise because it is the last junction we had to cross before we reach the guard room and the exit. Mo Di slows down and stops as we near the guard room.
"There is one or two platoons ahead." Mo Di says in a serious tone.
We all know what that means. It means there are more than fifty guards there since a platoon consists of fifty people in the empire. Soon Judge Cui, Judge Tang and Zhuge Pang who were guarding the back arrived and Judge Tang said "I guess they had plans in case of intruders. We should have expected that they would guard the exit the moment we realized they were soldiers."
Everyone's face is masked right now but the tension can be felt in the air. "We have to fight and fight decisively this time. This is a trained platoon of soldiers." I say calmly.
"We can't lead this group of people out without hurting any of them anymore. Since we will have to face them, Let us tell them our purpose and hope they will let us pass peacefully." I continue saying decisively. Nobody opposes me and I walk in front this time.
Soon, we reach the guard room. As expected, there are around 80 soldiers here who are armed and ready to take our lives.
"Halt!" one of the soldiers shout.
"Throw your weapons away and surrender and we will not take your lives!" he continues yelling at us.
"We are here to free your prisoners. You know that they are innocent, why not just let us bring them away? This will solve your troubles since you do not know how to deal with them!" I shout back in reply.
"You…You know who we are?!" The guard stammers in shock.
"Only we do, the prisoners do not. Will you let us go or do we have to fight?" I tighten my fist and haunches a little so I can attack immediately if they refuse.
The guards are a little confused right now, looking at each other for someone to take the lead to suggest letting us go. They aren't afraid of us but like Liu Kang and the rest, they did not join the army to slaughter innocent villagers so they too, do not want to kill the people who they are supposed to protect.
After a few minutes, the guards cannot come to any agreements among themselves because they know that they will be punished if they let us go but we cannot wait any longer since more soldiers will soon converge at the exit and we will be surrounded.
"Let's go!" I shout. I execute instant blink but do not land properly this time, instead, I throw my body at one of the guards, sending him flying towards another. While on the ground, I perform a leg sweep and cause several more guards to fall.
Mo Di who already has prepared himself fires an explosion arrow which does not pierce but explodes on contact at the guards.
*BOOM!*
About eight to ten guards are instantly sent flying away. Liu Kang explodes out with his <Rising Roaring Dragon> fist which creates a flaming, roaring dragon on his fist which causes a strong explosion on another group of guards when it lands on them, sending them flying away.
Zhao Keng joins us in the fight and starts doing wide sweeps with his spear, causing many troops to be sent flying away screaming.
Ding Sha starts wildly sending qi slashes, slashing through the armour of the guards and causing blood to spray around the area. He does not attack any vital areas but just performs wide slashes which land on the chest of the guards. Since the guards are pretending to be bandits, they did not wear any armour and the clothing they wore did not give them any protection against attacks.
