1605 Flatten Everything!

*Kaboom!*

Just as Xia Fan saved the map in his recorder, he heard a loud explosion coming not from outside, but from within the Demon Palace, not too far away from them!

What was going on?

The people in the room were startled, hurrying over to the corridor outside. They saw that the warriors still outside were also confused, looking in the direction of the explosion.

A reddish glow appeared from somewhere several kilometers away, the place where none other than Christopher had gone ahead to explore. After Xia Fan had entered the room to inspect the mural, Christopher had not stopped and continued to explore the way ahead.

Soon they saw Christopher running back with a limp, looking like he had been through Hell, his combat armor in tatters. He was still bleeding freely from his wounds, running as he tried to spray down and close his wounds.

*Whoosh*

Xia Fan dashed over and brought Christopher back to gather with the others much more quickly than he could move by himself.

“Damn him. The White Bone Regiment has mutated into an army of suicide bombs!” Christopher cursed, forgetting his status as a young master of the Demon Subduers.

“The White Bone Regiment has turned all red, except for their white bone swords. They look like their entire bodies have been smeared in blood, which I found strange. I used my Shrinking Ability to get close to observe them, but ended up being discovered. Three of them exploded at the same time, and not only did they collapse the way ahead, they almost took my life along with them!” Christopher spat. “Let’s retreat. There’s no way ahead anymore!”

Everyone erupted in a clamor. The White Bone Regiment was the most basic combat unit of the Demons, comparable to the foot soldiers of the humans. Now that they had mutated to also explode, they were actually able to injure the elite warrior Christopher?

It had to be said that there were tens of thousands of White Bone Regiment in the Demon Palace. If they possessed such powerful combat strength now, they could very well threaten the lives of Xia Fan and the others!

“Let me go take a look,” Xia Fan said.

Accelerating, Xia Fan ran several kilometers and arrived at the place where Christopher had been attacked just now. The corridor here had collapsed; the ceiling made of alloy and stone was down completely, blocking the way ahead.

He could hear sound through the wreckage, and a bony palm soon pushed away the rocks, revealing a red head and half a body. Sure enough, it was a White Bone Regiment warrior. The rest of them were trying to dig their way through the rubble so that they could continue making their way toward the human intruders.

He recalled that the bodies of the White Bone Regiment had been completely black, as if they were made of dark steel. But now, they had all been painted as red as blood, their eyes gleaming with ferocity. The moment the first one saw Xia Fan, he began to bare his teeth and grabbed at him. Unfortunately, half its body had been pinned under the rocks and it could not get itself out.

*Rumble!*

Another of the White Bone Regiment soldiers exploded. Xia Fan could clearly see that someone had stuffed their bodies with powerful explosives. The explosion originated from its chest and spread spread throughout its body. A 120 kg White Bone Regiment warrior exploding would be equivalent to the force from 120 kg of explosives!

As another explosion thundered out, the corridor collapsed again, filling the air with dust. Ignoring it, the rest of the White Bone Regiment began to dig anew. It seemed they had all lost their minds and were desperately doing everything they could to get nearer to Xia Fan, just so they could blow themselves up along with him!

‘This is the self-destruct capability of the White Bone Regiment,’ Cid Raleigh said in Xia Fan’s mind. ‘Harikane, that b*s*t*rd, invented this technology. Originally, the White Bone Regiment were normal warriors of the Demon race, but Harikane injected a virus into them that forced them to kill one another.

‘Only the White Bone members who successfully killed their own kind were allowed to survive. Their weapon, the White Bone Sword, comes from pulling out the spine of their opponent.

‘Some willingly accepted the injection and killed their wives or daughters, and then pulled out their spines, reporting to Harikane as his most loyal servants!

‘When tragedy struck, the traditional and conservative faction attempted to stop it, but it was a pity that virus was far too virulent, and overnight, the demons lost a large portion of their citizens, and only the White Bone Regiment that Harikane controlled remained.

‘That was the final straw for us. Harikane’s methods angered the Three legendary leaders Blackfeather, Monsoon, and Purgatory, so the three of them declared war on Harikane at the same time. You know what happened in the end. That was the last time our legendary leaders joined hands, as not long after, they were either killed or went missing.’

Cid Raleigh’s voice was morose, revealing the heartbreak he felt inside. It was evident that the sudden mutation of the White Bone Regiment had dredged up some painful memories of the past.

Xia Fan had a feeling that given how much Cid Raleigh knew about the Demons and how he commanded such great strength, he must have had some connection to the three legendary leaders. But the moment he mentioned the three, he sounded like an old man, recalling his memories of his good friends when he was younger.

—

However, he did not have the time to listen to Cid Raleigh tell his story at the moment. Xia Fan turned around and made his way back. The White Bone Regiment, now augmented with self-destruct capabilities, was a far greater threat than before. Even he might end up losing his life if he found himself surrounded by them!

“The way ahead’s blocked. According to my Scent analysis, the other routes aren’t too optimistic, either. Our best bet would be to Shrink ourselves, just like how we came in, and then find a safe route through the ventilation ducts to avoid encountering any of the mutated White Bone Regiment,” Xia Fan told the others. “From what I’ve determined, Lord Stanley is quite vengeful. Directly blowing up the Demon Palace seems to be too cheap a death for us, so he plans to first use the White Bone Regiment to smother us, before destroying the place! If we’re able to withstand all that, perhaps we’ll have a chance to escape this predicament with our lives.”

Christopher was at first stunned, but then revealed a disappointed expression, “It’s not that I don’t wish to help, but there’s a limit to what I can do. There’s no way for me to repeatedly use my ability in a short span of time. At most I can control it for just myself. There’s no way for me to shrink all of you as well!”

The situation had in turn become problematic. Xia Fan furrowed his brow. Everything came with a price. The more powerful and rare a special ability was, the more restrictions would apply. Take his speed, for example. Normal people would not be able to bear the huge energy consumption needed to maintain high speeds.

Fortunately, Xia Fan had been fed Grade Nine energy crystals since he was a child by the Disasters, and had also inherited the amazing physical constitution of his clan. Accelerating to high speeds would not cause any problems to his body.

“That’s tough. I’ll go then. Even if those people self-destruct, they won’t be able to harm me!” Traveling Buddha stepped forward bravely.

“That won’t do. Although your Battle Buddha’s Golden Light is known for being impenetrable, I’m afraid you won’t be able to withstand a series of consecutive explosions on yourself, either. After all, we’re talking about the White Bone Regiment, which numbers in the tens of thousands. Each of them could self-destruct! Maybe taking one or two of them is fine, but repeatedly exploding a hundred times will surely be the death of you!” Xia Fan rejected his offer outright.

Everyone was silent. The best way of dealing with explosions was with shields, and while Traveling Buddha was the perfect human shield, he was ultimately just one person, and there was no way he could survive a repeated explosive assault!

That was when Nikai suddenly stood up, with the help of Jia Yuntian’s arm, and pointed to herself, “I can do it! Xia Fan has Speed, while Traveling Buddha has the Battle Buddha’s Golden Light. If my Divine Wings of Color were included in the mix, we should be able to withstand a large-scale explosion!”

Xia Fan raised his head and looked at her pretty face. Indeed, Nikai also had a protective special ability! Battle Buddha’s Golden Light working in tandem with her Divine Wings of Color… if his speed was included, perhaps they would be able to carve out a path when surrounded by the White Bone Regiment!

“Nikai, you’re injured.”

Jia Yuntian, who rarely ever spoke up, could not help but try and dissuade Nikai. There was great danger charging into an encirclement of the White Bone Regiment, and he did not wish for Nikai to take that risk.

“It’s worth a shot, and you can even throw in my Fiery Wrath Army,” Dongfang He unexpectedly chipped in. “I can use my Fiery Wrath Army and let Xia Fan control them. Since they are just disposable beings with no life or soul, there’s no problem in sending them to the frontlines to die.”

“Dongfang He, have you gone insane?” Jia Yuntian stared at his old nemesis in shock.

“No,” Dongfang He replied calmly. “I wish to protect Nikai even more than you do, but given the situation we currently find ourselves in, everyone will just die if we don’t take a risk. Nikai is my woman, and I believe she would be just as brave as me.”

This young master and his macho mentality…

Xia Fan was speechless. Dongfang He was born a prince, and he treated everything as if he deserved them. Any woman he desired belonged to him, and his woman had to be equally as brave as him.

Originally, everyone had been rather touched that Nikai was willing to risk her life at this critical moment, but the moment Dongfang He said that, it made it sound as if the reason Nikai was being brave was because she was Dongfang He’s woman. As long as anyone had a relationship with him, even a dog that belonged to his family would also become a brave dog!

“Tsk, this world doesn’t revolve around you; everything will still exist with or without you!” Traveling Buddha also had the temperament of a young master, and he pointedly expressed what he was thinking. Dongfang He turned livid, as Traveling Buddha’s words hurt his pride.

Xia Fan sniffed the air and then said, not giving anyone face, “All of you shut up. There’s no sense in us talking about all this now.

“We don’t have much time left, and Christopher has no way of using his Shrinking ability. There are only three paths before us, each of them surrounded by White Bone Regiment. Only by speedily carving out a bloody path out will we have a chance to escape. Everyone has to decide immediately if they wish to take this risk or not.”

Nikai took a deep breath and nodded firmly, “I have no problem. My wound’s a lot better after recovering my strength and administering some medicine to myself. I’ll be able to use my Divine Wings of Color.”

Traveling Buddha shrugged noncommittally, “You know I hate thinking. I’ll leave it to you to decide.”

Xia Fan did not glance at the others and merely said to Nikai and Traveling Buddha, “Then it is decided. Traveling Buddha will be a shield in front of me, and Nikai will act as protection behind me. I’ll be the accelerator for us, and force a path through. Who cares if they are the White or Black Bone Regiment. We’ll flatten everything!”