Chapter 360: Desperate Situation

“Retreat! Backward! Go back to the Netherworld Villa!” Merk shouted loudly at his troops, who were steadily retreating.
That shout caused his wounds to flare up, and a mouthful of blood spewed out, making his face even paler.
“Father!” Seeing this, Lucy cried out loudly. Having grown up relying on her father, their bond went without saying. It was the first time she had seen him so severely injured, and she was filled with worry.
“It’s okay. You all go first. I’ll hold them off here with a few elders. Hurry!” Merk tried to stay calm as he shouted at her.
“I’m entrusting Lucy to you. I believe you can protect her. Take her and the rest of the group to the Netherworld Villa quickly. Everything will be fine once we get there!” Merk pleaded with Nightingale.
The situation was extremely dire. Staying here meant certain death. Although the Black Phoenix clan showed terrifying combat strength, it wasn’t enough. The enemy had too many soldiers—whenever one group fell, another quickly took their place, far beyond their capacity to resist. Under the tactics of overwhelming numbers, the Black Phoenix clan members fell one after another. In less than an hour, nearly a hundred had been killed! If this continued, they would all be annihilated.
The only option was to retreat to the Netherworld Villa. Although the path back was destroyed, if just a few of them could hold off the enemy long enough, it might buy time. With Lucy and the others’ strength, crossing those ruins shouldn’t be a problem—after all, those at the divine level could fly. As for the holy-level warriors, they would have to make sacrifices at this point. Besides, they had brought few holy-level warriors in the first place, and most of them had been lost in the fierce battle, which wouldn’t cause much of a loss.
“I won’t go! I won’t leave! I’ll fight here with Father and the elders!” Lucy, who was usually obedient, showed her stubborn side now, shouting through tears.
Ignoring Merk’s furious shouts, she rushed forward and cast a fire-based quasi-prohibition spell with a wave of her hand. Under the power of the Yin Yellow Realm, the spell’s strength was maximized, sending fireballs raining down from the sky.
Cries of pain filled the air as dozens of enemies were killed by a single spell.
“Hurry and protect Lucy! Take her away. Consider it a favor I owe you!” Watching his troops slowly retreat, Merk urgently said to Nightingale. Now, only Nightingale and the others could take Lucy away from this place.

Hearing Merck’s words, Nightingale nodded deeply. Looking at the situation ahead, it was already one-sided—the Black Phoenix clan was beginning to collapse. She knew that even if Lucy stayed here, she wouldn’t be of much use, especially as a magician. If caught by the enemy’s strong fighters in close combat, she would surely die!

“Miss Lucy, come with us quickly!” Nightingale said anxiously as she approached Lucy.

“I won’t go. You go ahead by yourselves!” The stubborn Lucy firmly refused the request.

“Idiot! Why be stubborn at a time like this? Can’t you see what’s happening? Damn it! Do you want your Black Phoenix clan to be destroyed? Hurry up and leave!” Thayer snapped at Lucy with a cold face.

At such a critical moment, she still acted stubbornly. Didn’t she realize that delaying even a second could cost her life?

“Alright, Lucy, come with us. Hurry! Staying here will only put Chief Merck and the others in even greater danger!” With a sigh, Nightingale signaled Thayer to stop speaking and pulled Lucy along.

Without caring whether Lucy wanted to or not, she dragged her away and retreated quickly.

The battle grew more intense, with more and more people falling. Gusty winds blew around, and the sounds of fighting echoed through the air. Passing by Merck and the others, they saw Lucy being taken away. Merck gave a comforting smile, nodded at Nightingale, expressing his gratitude.

At this point, the Black Phoenix clan began to retreat in large numbers, leaving Merck, the clan elders, and some key members—about a hundred people in total—to hold back the enemy, so as to get the remaining four hundred people back to the Netherworld Villa. Once they returned there, everything would be fine.

With the terrain of the Netherworld Villa, even if the Mi Jiao clan tried to attack forcefully, they wouldn’t be able to. First, the mountain paths were narrow, unable to accommodate too many people moving together. Second, the terrain was steep and difficult to attack, allowing them to defend effectively—perhaps truly achieving a situation where one person could hold off thousands.

“Elder Seven!” A furious roar came from behind, making everyone turn. Blood rained as Elder Seven was torn in two by a strong fighter from the Mi Jiao clan in an instant—a truly bloody scene.

The fighter who killed Elder Seven wore an ecstatic smile on his face.

“Grandpa Seven!” Lucy’s heart-wrenching cries were unbearable to hear. This was war—full of blood and violence. But this time, the Black Phoenix clan had lost, completely and miserably.

“Hurry up! Someone’s chasing us!” An urgent shout snapped everyone out of their daze. Turning around, they saw that at some point, a large group from the Mi Jiao clan had broken through to pursue them. Leading them was a gaunt old man who seemed frail, yet he was extremely ruthless in battle. Wherever he went, corpses lay everywhere, limbs were scattered in all directions, and blood flowed like rivers. Some of their own people even died at his hands. His presence exuded a chilling aura, his momentum overwhelming, and his killing intent palpable—making everyone feel a wave of fear.

“He’s very strong. Let’s go quickly!” Taking a deep breath, Nightingale said in a low voice. This was the first time she had felt such fear; even with Doron, she had never experienced anything like this. Now, she even trembled slightly.

“Hurry! Move faster!” Some people in front started moving. With the path blocked, they could only use their combat energy to leap forward. Their speed was slow, and the crowd only served to waste time. Just then, the old man charged forward and arrived in front of the group in an instant.

“Gah gah gah… None of you will get away!” A hoarse, unpleasant voice came from him. The old man moved swiftly to stand in front of everyone, while screams echoed behind them. Looking back, they saw that those who had tried to retreat first had been attacked the moment they took off. A group of men in black carried huge spears, and an arrow rain poured down from above—there was no way to dodge it.

“Damn it!” Nightingale gasped and cursed silently. Sure enough, their escape route was blocked. It seemed the Mi Jiao clan and the Demon Clan were well-prepared, aiming to capture everyone at once.

“Those two girls are quite good. Don’t worry, I won’t let you die so easily!” Noticing Lucy and Nightingale, the gaunt old man continued in his eerie voice.

“Damn it! Let’s retreat that way!” As the old man advanced, he faced no opponents. Even martial artists at the later stages of the divine level were no match for him in a single move. Screams filled the air as he moved, cutting through enemies like vegetables, with limbs flying everywhere.

“Miss, run quickly!” Seeming to sense what was happening behind them, the Eighth Elder quickly retreated and shouted at Lucy.

“As long as the miss is alive, our Black Phoenix clan still has hope!” he added solemnly.

“I said, none of you will get away today!” The old man frowned slightly and waved his hand. In an instant, several people beside him were flung backward, spitting blood—some of them were even his own subordinates. Yet he didn’t even frown at this.

“Hurry up! I’ll buy us some time!” Glaring fiercely at the old Eighth Elder in the distance, he threw those words aside and charged forward.
“Go quickly!” Nightingale urged Lucy anxiously, realizing that this old man was far stronger than Doron. Staying here meant certain doom.
“Let’s fight to the death, brothers! Even if we die, we’ll take as many with us as possible!” As their comrades fell one after another, the members of the Black Phoenix Clan went mad. With a powerful enemy ahead, pursuers behind, and no way out, they were trapped in a desperate situation—desperation driving them insane.
In an instant, the place was no longer a mountain foot but a hell! The air was filled with the stench of blood and screams. The Black Phoenix Clan, driven mad, fought like beasts, killing anyone they saw. If they couldn’t defeat their enemies, they would fight to the death together! This was nothing short of a Shura hell.
Lucy cried uncontrollably. Never having seen such a scene before, she was pale and trembling, completely forgetting that she was a powerful warrior from the Yin Yellow Realm. Nightingale and the others could only imagine her pain.
Think of their own first time killing, their first time witnessing comrades fall—how much better could they feel? Right now, just being able to stand was already a miracle.
With no hope of breaking through, the members of the Black Phoenix Clan gathered again amidst the chaos. Out of the nearly thousand who had descended the mountain initially, nearly half were dead or injured, leaving around five hundred. Even these five hundred were severely wounded, with few able to stand properly.
“Chieftain Merk, I think you’d better stop resisting. It’s only going to cause more suffering for everyone. Hehe, I give you two choices: First, surrender to my Mi Jiao Clan. We won’t kill you—we’ll just hold you temporarily. Once everything is over, we’ll officially incorporate you. Second, commit suicide quickly. What do you say?” Jiao Hong surrounded the group and sneered as he stepped forward.
With the enemy trapped, the situation was settled. He wasn’t in a hurry. On the other hand, seeing the Black Phoenix Clan’s desperate counterattacks during the brief battle had cost his Mi Jiao Clan dearly—these were his own people. Jiao Hong was heartbroken. He didn’t want to waste too much time here. His real plan was to surround them and let the members of the Demon Clan handle the main fight.