Chapter 370: Gliding
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Han Yue took a look at the pack of Fangwolves before him. His heart ran cold as his eyes were overflowed by the rumbling pack. The people stood there, their faces were pale. It was a miracle of their training that their feet could stand still.
Fangwolves were the typical social animal. They traveled in pack, a rampaging pack, in which they raised their furry body that reached the height of a grown man. They would wield threatening strength in their most brutal aggression. It would be a fortune if you encountered them in single or a pair. It would be your doom if they came to you in a pack. They were strategic fighters, in a coherent group, to an extent they would put any merchant group or practitioners to an absolute death.
Han Yue's lips tightened as his palms were frozen by the grip of the sword. A fine 28 he was, where he was believed to be freed from being the shrinking violet of early adolescence as he would march towards the grand adulthood. He might have dressed plainly, without any unnecessary adornment, but no one would judge him by his look. His hands were coated with cuts and calluses, his eyes were sharper than his sword. Speaking of his sword, that was another marvel to behold, an overlooked one though.
He was a trustworthy worker as he would make his decisions firm, that the master would respect and hand him the mission. He knew a great mission had been shouldered so he was well-prepared, as he carried an army of 300 men who possessed impeccable skills, enough to raid a tiny town on their will.
And there he was, being surprised of the attack. He never expected to be surrounded by pack of Fangwolves with size that reached the horizon ahead. There should be about ten thousands of them, a formidable force, almost destructive, annihilating. Unless a miracle was bestowed or he would never survive.
Without any order from the leader, everyone in the group took their weapons out. The alchemist was producing potions promptly at a hurry behind, which were then passed to the warriors at the frontmost. Mentalists were right behind the practitioners, assisting them to avoid the critical hits using their extrasensory future sight.
Han Yue was feeling fine with the current formation, as he took the leisure to glance at the old lady whose face was glaze-white, whiter than the snowy hair of hers, looking worn out as she sank in her white cloak calmly, with her emerald bracelet as the eye-catcher. A team of men in black guarded her, along with a white clothed girl beside. To be honest, the panicked look of the girl was getting more colorless than her clothing at the moment.
The ten men were the adepts of the experts. Han Yue would assume he had the more diabolical side while being more strategic than the foes, yet he never managed to state the standard of the black-clothed guards.
"My leader, what do we do now?" Asked his assistant, with a fearful look. obviously he was at loss of ideas and was too confused to move.
Han Yue's eyes rested upon the old lady who was all serene and insensible. He breathed in deeply, as he heard his heart resounding. A boiling rage, "What are you so panicked about? It's clearly either they die or we die!" His shaking hands fondled the handle of his sword, trying to regain his temperament.
The assistance, the vice leader of the team remained in an awkward silence of embarrassment.
Han Yue went to the front and shouted, "All in your position! Shrink your formation! Prepare for battle! The backup had been sent! Aids are coming! We only need to guard for 10 hours. Remember, only t-e-n hours, as long as we made it, we would be alive, by hook or by crook!" His tone rang affirmatively and it was inspiring to the people. Staying on tight guard for the next 10 hours might be the harshest task in their whole life, but it was not impossible.
Han Yue was looking undisturbed, yet he was sighing inside. The pack of wolves must have aimed them quite sometime ago. Based on his experience dealing with Fangwolves, he recognized the animal-unlike intelligence as they would show up in front of their prey only after they had prepared their unattainable for the aids to break through the siege. Nevertheless, he could not express that statistical pessimism of his, being the leader, the last reliance of hope, that little bit of probability was the fuel to rekindle their souls.
The old lady seemed to be ver impressed. She could think in Han Yue's shoes, as she had also experienced many.
The gathering Fangwolves were howling in aggression, signing the completion of their formation, as the thrashes waved in with the dances of fangs.
The Fangwolves were fighting with brutal force of nature, as they manically rushed upon the formation of human at its shrinking-most. Fleshes were splashing, blood was smelled - it was nauseating but people were not bothered by the little detail to the atmosphere.
Han Yue picked his sword and struck upon the pouncing Fangwolf. Splash... the warm blood of the cold animal showered upon him. He had no place to run, had no place to hide. His sight was tainted by the angered crimson. He became agitated as he repositioned his sword and gave a quick wipe on his face.
He was a bloody man, not bleeding but bloody, like his fellow comrades.
The formation was shrinking drastically as men collapsed. In the past 30 minutes, he had lost 41 comrades, a painful 1/6 of his current force. His heart ached in a burning rage, his longsword swung violently.
The battle carried on, not ending but intensifying.
...
"Okay." Ye Chong was performing the final checkup which the main focus would be examining the connective points of all the main components, since the parts were connected using the Emerald Vines. Such plant had a very relaxed structure that offered decent durability. It was a bit of a chore to take the very lining within the plant though. At least it was rewarding. The greenish lining was fairly thin, while having lightweight. It was more than sufficient to wrap the points with 3 linings to keep the parts together.
This was probably the simplest, the most primitive glider Ye Chong had ever imagined himself producing. It took the form of a bird literally, with two curving wings reaching the back. To achieve a better airborne time, Ye Chong had polished the surface of the wings with his dagger, since it was just a glider without engine to produce the required momentum, only with a simple purpose of carrying Ye Chong to the ground safely.
The other side of the cliff was a terrain of grasses, where a broad winding river reached the horizon.
Well the glider was meant for two persons at first. Who knows Huang Baiyi left the party at the eleventh hour. He thought it would be more convenient to Ye Chong but it was quite the contrary, merely because Ye Chong would have to perform his calculation all over again. Fortunately, it was a simple issue to remedy, as long as Ye Chong got somebody or something else to take Huang Baiyi's place, like the two giant wooden crates he made for example, which contain all the materials and raw production of his alchemy series. The Black Forest offered super rare materials after all... Also his wooden lance had become his assistance again, as it acted as the supporting pole to carry not the sacks but those crates. One would imagine the lance breaking upon hanging but Ye Chong had wrapped it with layers of Aromatic Leaves. In addition, Ye Chong added a sack to carry his food and Water Bamboos on the greenish pole.
Ye Chong was considerably well-prepared for his next journey. He even did a new camouflage. Hell knows if the Wangs could reach the other side of the world. It would be nasty if he was surrounded by a bunch of Wangs upon landing. Lunatic Guan's encyclopedia had taught him the camouflage formula, in which he pick one randomly, well, since the formula seemed to have the highest rating by the author herself.
Materials were a little hard to find, but producing the potion was not hard. Ye Chong had coated his entire body with the potion, just to make sure he looked natural and not artificially duo-colored at some angle. He must admit the potion was pretty good however. Unlike the inapproachable terminal patient look he used to disguise himself before, he just looked different. Well the potion was considered a superb luxury to the outside world, only a fool like him would pour the entire bottle of gold on his body.
Ye Chong checked thrice, okay, everything seemed fine. He would not want to gamble this, he might be a Jie expert but he would be a goner if something went wrong in the air. Man, how he missed the mechs, the fancy flying crafts he had. Seriously the glider he made felt like something he would scavenge on Trash Planet of the ancient.
He fixed the sack and the crates on the lance.
He reached his out beyond the cliff, feeling the airflow.
Weather: Fine
Airflow: Stable
Wind: Gentle
He inhaled slowly and began sprinting towards the edge. He was accelerating and he sprung into the air at the very end. He spread his body and let the wind carry his weight.
He glided, like a bird!
It was quite a sensation on his adventure, as the incoming wind whispered into his ears. It felt refreshing. But he regained from it quickly, as he began shifting his focus on the steer.
He never had once "piloted" a glider but he was a talented pilot after all, he got the gist of it... since the control of a glider was way more simpler than a mech. A glider was much slower too, thus more time to react. It eventually did not take long for him to grow familiar of the handles.
It seemed like his next journey was indeed happening. The departure was seemingly successful.
And that was when the airflow changed.
The gale slapped upon him. It happened too quick. The glider was shaking and Ye Chong had already forgotten the gorgeous view above.
The glider waved like a fallen leaf.