Ten minutes earlier.
Five li from Ji City, the terrain was rugged and littered with rocks.
Seven youths were standing in a circle, desperately fending off an attack from a swarm of locusts.
"Hold on everyone, don't slack off, the locust swarm will retreat soon!"
"That's right, according to predictions, the locust swarm will retreat in at most three more hours!"
Amidst the group, a cold and beautiful girl, her face pale, unleashed a lightning chain, clearing dozens of locusts from the sky.
Others also unleashed their innate abilities, flames, frost, various colored lights of power mixed together.
"Not good, another large swarm of locusts is coming!"
One of the youths, whose innate ability was the Heavenly Eye, could see everything within a three-li radius and could also unleash annihilating energy from his Heavenly Eye to attack targets.
It was an excellent ability that could both support and attack.
"Everyone, quickly form a formation!" Zhao Ke shouted urgently.
The others acted swiftly. Zhao Ke possessed the strongest innate talent among them, and she was undoubtedly the core of this team.
Everyone quickly formed a circle, wary of the impending danger.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz!!!
A large red cloud rapidly approached, it was countless locusts!
Seeing so many locusts, everyone's hearts sank.
"How can there be so many!"
"The leader of the locusts is the leader of the swarm, possessing Tier 1 combat power, and the thirty deep red elite locusts surrounding it are also Tier 1 monsters!"
The Heavenly Eye youth calmly analyzed the situation and informed everyone of what he saw.
A chill spread through their hearts, their worries growing heavier as they all turned their gaze to Zhao Ke.
Zhao Ke frowned, "The number of locusts is too great, fleeing will only lead to our deaths. You are all heavenly prodigies, fight with all your might and you can hold them off!"
The Heavenly Eye youth nodded, "Zhao Ke is right, fleeing is a dead end!"
"They're here!"
Buzz buzz buzz buzz!!!
The locusts were coming!
At a glance, there were countless locusts.
The Heavenly Eye youth said, "At least tens of thousands, everyone be cautious!"
Kill!
The locust swarm finally approached, and countless locusts spat out flames, which fell like rain!
Everyone defended themselves.
Zhao Ke frowned, "Li Yuan, use your storm to blow away these flames!"
Li Yuan said, "No, there are too many flames, I can't do it!"
He had other thoughts in mind. With so many locusts, the most likely outcome was to flee. He wanted to preserve his strength.
He deeply regretted coming out with them so stubbornly.
Awakened ones with S-class or higher innate talents formed small groups and often went out hunting to hone their abilities.
This time, he heard that Zhao Ke was going out for a trial and immediately scurried over.
His intentions were clear to many, but they didn't care. One more person or one less person in the team made no difference!
The Heavenly Eye youth noticed the situation over there and his heart sank.
The situation he feared had indeed occurred.
In a moment of crisis, it was most detrimental for someone to not exert their full strength and be selfish.
In the current situation, only unity could repel the strong enemy!
"You... you're really not going to act?"
"I'm already exhausted, I'm truly sorry!"
"You... are good!" Zhao Ke glanced at him coldly, a look that chilled Li Yuan to the bone.
However, for the sake of his own life, he gritted his teeth and persevered.
You all fight with all your might, and when you're exhausted, let's see how you escape?
He looked at Zhao Ke with resentment, his gaze lingering on her graceful figure, and a wicked thought sprouted deep within his heart.
Heh heh, just you wait!
Just then, the battle situation suddenly changed dramatically.
"Not good, the Flame Locust leader and its guards have attacked!"
A locust as thick as a bucket and more than two meters long, followed by fifty slightly smaller locusts, swooped down from the sky, charging forward.
Zhao Ke shouted, "Don't hold back, or we will all die!"
At this moment, apart from Li Yuan, did anyone else dare to hold back? They all unleashed their full power.
However, they barely managed to withstand the first wave of impact. Turning their heads, they saw Li Yuan lying on the ground, his face pale.
Someone asked with concern, "Li Yuan, are you alright?"
Li Yuan feigned, "I'm fine, my hand just cramped. Are you all alright?"
"Not good, here they come again!"
This time, the locusts' impact was even stronger, and flames rained down from the sky, making it impossible to defend against.
Boom!
The defenses collapsed, and the formation of seven people broke.
Everyone was already depleted of energy and exhausted, and then they were attacked by tens of thousands of locusts.
Adding insult to injury, the situation worsened, and someone intentionally not exerting their full strength had caused dire consequences.
"Run!"
Li Yuan shouted, seeing a gap open in the southwest direction, he immediately applied a storm to himself and fled with all his might.
But, to his utter surprise, after he had only run a few meters, the locust leader was waiting for him outside.
"How can this be?"
He looked back in despair, the expressions of the others were similar.
He thought he could escape even if they lost, but they were surrounded!
He looked at the locust leader, gritted his teeth, and seeing a wounded youth, he waved a storm towards him, immediately blowing the youth towards him.
Before the youth could even see what was happening, he found himself flying towards the locust leader!
"Li Yuan, you..."
The next moment, the locust leader, seeing the incoming attack, spewed out flames.
The youth was incinerated into ashes by the flames!
Taking advantage of this brief moment, Li Yuan thought it was a good opportunity, and with the assistance of the storm, he charged out with all his might.
With the storm's support, his speed was incredible, and soon he disappeared, having made his escape.
The others stared at the scene in a daze.
This was followed by boundless rage.
"Li Yuan! If we survive, you will die!"
Everyone's hearts were filled with hatred. Looking at his speed, he clearly hadn't exerted his full strength when defending against the locusts!
He had ruined them all!
Everyone's hatred was immense!
However, facing the desperate situation before them, all of them despaired.
Our lives are over!
Zhao Ke frowned, anger rising in her heart. If Li Yuan hadn't held back, they could have weathered this ordeal.
As long as they could hold on, she would have had time to unleash her newly comprehended innate skill - Lei Di, and annihilate all the monsters in one fell swoop.
But it was too late!
Releasing this skill required a long period of preparation and charging!
"Everyone, don't give up. Gather around me, give me half an hour, and I'm confident I can eliminate these locusts!"
"Don't ask, conserve your energy. Everyone listen to me, there's still a glimmer of hope, otherwise, we're doomed!"
The crowd hesitated.
The Heavenly Eye youth said, "Listen to Zhao Ke, Zhao Ke is an SS-class innate talent holder, she is our last hope!"
"Alright, we'll gamble!"
Zhao Ke was surrounded in the center, closing her eyes in silence.
Wisp of lightning flickered around her body, all converging behind her, slowly forming a blurry human silhouette.
As more and more lightning gathered, the silhouette became clearer.
"Not good, here they come again, everyone hold them off!"
Rumble!
Countless fireballs rained down from the sky.
The monster's offensive was incredibly fierce.
The locust leader charged like a wild bull, time and again.
Everyone desperately held on, their faces etched with bitterness.
Suddenly, a youth's arm was bitten by the locust leader's mouthparts, and with a crunch, a large chunk of flesh was torn off.
"Ah!" The youth clutched his arm, groaning in pain!
Seeing this, the others felt a pang of empathy for their fellow creature and all attacked, repelling the locust leader.
"Kill! There are still twenty minutes left, these twenty minutes are everyone's chance of survival!"
Locusts were all around, making escape an insurmountable task. Fighting with their backs to the wall, they all unleashed their full strength.
The Lei Di phantom behind Zhao Ke was becoming increasingly clear.
The locust leader saw the situation on their side and aimed for Zhao Ke, attacking her.
The others desperately blocked, but they were no match for the sheer numbers and eventually failed.
Boom!
The locust leader spewed out flames towards Zhao Ke.
Zhao Ke opened her eyes, lightning flashing in her gaze, and the blurry Lei Di phantom behind her lightly raised a finger.
A small bolt of lightning shot out and split the flames with a boom, demonstrating the power of this Lei Di.
However, in the next moment, the Lei Di phantom behind Zhao Ke became significantly blurred.
Buzz buzz buzz!!!
The guards behind the locust leader attacked.
Zhao Ke once again commanded the Lei Di phantom to desperately resist, but the numerous locusts were too difficult to fend off.
Finally, she collapsed from exhaustion.
"Ah!" Suddenly, her thigh was bitten, and she angrily unleashed a bolt of lightning, blasting away the locust guard.
"It's over!" Despair welled up in everyone's hearts.
"Help us!" Zhao Ke and everyone else, in unison, uttered their final lament!
Despair grew within their hearts, and in that moment, their lives flashed before their eyes.
Their lives had just begun, and they were going to die?
They were unwilling!
Suddenly, they noticed something unusual.
All the locusts had retreated!
"What's happening!"
"There's fighting over there, someone's coming to save us!"
Seeing this, Zhao Ke rejoiced and quickly said, "Protect me, let me gather Lei Di!"
"Okay!"
The chaos on this side was caused by Lin Yu's clone.
He hadn't expected Zhao Ke to be attacked by so many locusts.
An endless expanse, at least tens of thousands!
Moreover, the dozens of locusts leading the charge were all Tier 1 combatants.
Although his ten clones all possessed Late Tier 1 strength, each comparable to the Flame Leader, they were still struggling against such overwhelming numbers.
"The problem is significant, but holding on for half an hour should be fine. After half an hour, Zhao Ke should also be able to escape!"
"It doesn't matter if the clones die, as long as Zhao Ke is safe!"
"Kill!"
Locust after locust fell by his sword, and Lin Yu's upgrade points increased rapidly.
In just ten minutes, he had killed over a dozen Tier 1 locust guards, and his upgrade points soared.
His clones also suffered heavy losses, with five dying. Lin Yu immediately created five more to replace them.
He maintained ten clones at all times, and the number of locusts decreased.
Lin Yu was overjoyed. He had initially thought he wouldn't be able to hold them off, but unexpectedly, the more he fought, the more adept he became.
Since that was the case, he would annihilate them all!
"Haha, it's almost half an hour, and my upgrade points have finally reached ten thousand!"
"I can upgrade my combat power again!"
"Tier 2 combat power, here I come!"
"System, upgrade my combat power!"