School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 144 --The Disappearance of the Flesh Fortress
Exhausted, Owen and his group sat on the ground, gasping for breath.
Monkey, lifting a waterskin from the guards’ pack, drank eagerly, even choking a bit from the haste.
Jiplin, using arcanergy to stop his bleeding, asked in a faltering voice, "How much longer do we need to hold out?"
Rummaging through the guards’ pack, Owen found some candy, specifically hard candies.
At such a moment, the sweet treat was a morale booster.
Unwrapping the small pieces from their wax paper, the scent of honey sweetly diluted the taste of blood in their mouths.
In this dire situation, this sweet taste was unexpectedly precious, leaving an unforgettable impression.
Owen glanced around at his companions and said with a soft laugh, "Not much longer. Reinforcements have arrived."
Everyone looked up incredulously.
Monkey asked urgently, "Really?"
"Of course."
Owen, with one eye now useless and covered in blood, presented a sorry figure, but his words were firm and carried a potent influence in such a moment, "Haven’t you noticed the River Crossing Demon’s offspring acting as if it’s gone mad? Under normal circumstances, it would slowly deplete our strength and then grind us to death. But it’s been too eager to deliver a killing blow, impatient."
Pah, is that supposed to be good news?
Jiplin, with a grave face, responded, "Is that your basis?"
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Owen pondered internally.
His soul, by all accounts, should be capable of transforming into a dragon.
Why couldn’t he manage this transformation now? Was it due to the illusion, or was there an external factor at play?
While deep in thought, he responded, "Indeed, this creature is extremely cautious. Every time we’ve injured it, it retreats into the rock walls to heal before emerging again. Now, it doesn’t even bother to heal. It implies that it too cannot afford to waste time."
Just like Owen, in his previous battles, whenever he found himself depleted of arcanergy, he would directly consume various arcanergy potions to replenish his arcanergy and spirit power.
After all, being a saint of dragons, he had considerable wealth at his disposal.
But if he stopped using arcanergy potions and became frugal with his expenditures, it would certainly indicate a problem.
Thinking it through, it made a lot of sense.
Willow followed his line of reasoning and said, "It controls the entire flesh fortress. Although I don’t know the underlying logic of how this dungeon operates, according to what you’ve said, something must have happened inside and outside the dungeon, making it so desperate to succeed."
After Owen’s explanation, everyone looked at the River Crossing Demon’s offspring and realized it was indeed covered in wounds, no better off than any of them.
Where was the imposing presence that had initially terrified them?
It required only about ten seconds to heal minor wounds in the dungeon, and a bit longer for more severe ones.
Were even those brief moments too costly for it now?
Owen had hit the nail on the head; the creature was indeed in a hurry.
Owen continued to offer encouragement, "We’ve managed to hold on till now; we absolutely cannot give up. It would be the height of folly to quit when dawn is almost upon us. As long as we endure this final assault, those who survive will surely be us."
Any news, as long as it disadvantaged the enemy, served as an absolute advantage for them.
The spirits of the group were visibly lifted, their complexions brightening somewhat.
They weren’t afraid of battle, only of a battle where no end or hope was in sight.
Without needing further urging from Owen, everyone began to close their eyes to meditate, regulating their arcanergy and restoring their physical strength.
They found themselves in a dilemma akin to that of prisoners; regardless of whether the outside situation was as Owen predicted, they had to believe it was.
The path was narrow, further constricted by the entangling carnivorous vines, allowing only a few Skeletal Golems at a time to breach their defenses, which Owen promptly dealt with.
He was not merely acting out of kindness but out of the knowledge that survival in this dire situation would be impossible without the concerted effort of his teammates.
Merely a dozen seconds after their conversation, several crisp cracking sounds emanated from the frozen River Crossing Demon’s offspring.
The ice shattered.
Owen could see its eyeballs moving as the cracks on the ice sculpture multiplied, and finally, the creature violently broke free, its form crumbling into shards of ice.
Even without the dungeon’s enhancement, its strength was formidable.
It struggled briefly, realizing the crossbow bolt’s hook was lodged firmly in its back, making escape impossible.
It then decided to climb up the hook, knowing to jump down from the rock.
It no longer sought Jiplin but launched itself directly at Owen, its small eyes filled with hatred.
The prey, despite being visibly wounded and handicapped, remained undying.
It finally realized that there was a resilient leader among them.
Killing him should disband the team.
If Owen were aware of the River Crossing Demon offspring’s thoughts, he would have shouted in protest, insisting that Jonathan was the actual leader!
Owen had mostly adapted to the vision in his one good eye, seizing the moment to recover significantly and resumed his attack on the River Crossing Demon’s offspring.
The clashing of blades rang out thrice in succession, each encounter marked by the sharp exchange of weapons.
Owen’s combat technique level was rising steadily, his blade moving freely, flashes of cold light signaling his strikes.
With the fourth strike, he sheared off half of its shoulder.
The shoulder armor hit the ground, blood spraying as the creature howled in pain.
Just then, another twist occurred.
The mine suddenly shook uncontrollably as if hit by a magnitude seven or eight earthquake, even causing the entire tunnel to twist ninety degrees.
The rock walls turned into the floor, and the floor into the walls.
Everything, whether human, dragon, or monster, tumbled together.
Only the carnivorous vines did not change direction, even pulling the Skeletal Golems along with them onto the wall.
Now, they became creatures on the sidewall.
Then, a long, piercing roar was heard, grand and divine in nature, yet unmistakably female, filled with endless fear and agony.
Hearing a female voice here could only mean one thing—
"His mother is in trouble," Owen immediately realized.
"Quick, take down this creature." Their long struggle had finally led to a turning point.
Now, the moment had arrived.
Owen no longer held back, instead roaring in his mind, "[Prophecy] activate."
Suddenly, an entity resembling "Owen" stepped out from Owen’s body.
Even within Soul Haven, the defy-nature ability of [Prophecy] could still be invoked.
Hearing Owen’s call, his teammates were overjoyed, roaring as they charged forward.
The River Crossing Demon’s offspring, now devoid of the will to fight, let out a loud cry and hurriedly burrowed into the rock wall, despite accumulating more wounds on its body.
"Owen" watched as Owen gripped the hook and pulled with all his might.
Just then, another earthquake struck, shaking the entire [Prophecy] world even more violently than before.
"Owen," merely a soul entity, could feel the earth-shattering force rising from beneath the ground.
Willow opened her mouth, but her words were lost in the chaos.
The team could no longer focus on the battle and rushed towards the exit.
Bursting out of the dead-end path, they witnessed the outside world undergoing massive changes, with sudden rock formations crushing several Skeletal Golems into dust.
Brawny stood before a giant rock, his face etched with fear.
The [Prophecy] world ended abruptly, and Owen returned to his body.
It was the first time Owen’s venture into the [Prophecy] world had yielded little, highlighting a drawback of [Prophecy]: not every vision aligns with one’s expectations.
However, Owen breathed a sigh of relief, grateful they no longer had to face the River Crossing Demon’s offspring.
Just as in the [Prophecy] world, the group, fueled by fervor, charged at the River Crossing Demon’s offspring.
The demon screeched, desperately attempting to flee into the rock wall.
Owen could only tug at the hook, then the earthquake struck.
This upheaval, far more tangible than anything in the [Prophecy] world, was a force capable of tearing everything apart, a testament to nature’s might that not even a sage would dare to lightly disturb.
Willow shouted, "Stop fighting, run!"
Just like in the [Prophecy] world, everyone surged out from the dead-end path.
A giant rock tumbled down, and Owen was the first to pull Brawny out of the way.
Brawny, patting his chest, looked at Owen gratefully, "Thanks."
"Now’s not the time for pleasantries," Owen replied without stopping, continuing to sprint forward.
[Congratulations host, you have earned +545 fate points.]
Pausing briefly at the notification of fate points, Owen then pressed on.
It made sense, after all, in the [Prophecy] world, Brawny had been crushed by a boulder; Owen had altered Brawny’s future as foreseen in [Prophecy].
After about ten seconds, the anomaly ceased.
Looking back, the group saw that the entire tunnel had vanished, as if erased by magic, and the path outside had split into two narrower paths.
The wooden frames and supports that propped up the mine reappeared.
"It’s reverted," Jiplin croaked, "Back to a mine. The flesh fortress is gone."
"And the monster?" Brawny scanned the surroundings, his vigilance yet to fade.
With the dungeon transformed back into a mine and the flesh fortress disappeared, the River Crossing Demon’s offspring lost its home field advantage, reduced to a weakened demon, and heavily injured at that, its capabilities severely limited.
"It ran," Jiplin gasped, the relief of surviving death washing over him like rain on parched land, "I saw where it went."
He pointed towards the left tunnel.
"Chase!" Owen led the charge.
