novelraw Chapter 264: Extreme Challenge
Chapter 264: Extreme Challenge
"Get ready."
Lin Jie's voice sounded, low and distinct.
The five of them were currently lurking at the edge of the pine forest in the bushes, their bodies pressed tightly against the cold ground like leopards, even their breathing deliberately slowed.
One hundred yards ahead of them was that open grassland leading to the dried-up riverbed, offering no cover whatsoever.
Moonlight poured down, illuminating the grassland as bright as day, turning it into a veritable death zone.
"Synchronize time." Lin Jie confirmed again.
"Nineteen hours, seven minutes, thirty-one seconds." Ethan looked at the luminous hands on his pocket watch and accurately reported the time.
Everyone adjusted their breathing rhythm to match the ticking rhythm of the second hand.
An intangible understanding rapidly formed among the five of them.
"Evelyn, time check." Lin Jie issued the command.Evelyn's voice came immediately.
"Twenty seconds until the next common silent period."
"Nineteen... eighteen... seventeen..."
The countdown sounded like the footsteps of death.
Sweat seeped from Ethan's palms; he had never experienced such oppressive stealth before.
Phineas was so nervous his teeth were chattering. He tightly hugged the instrument in his arms, afraid of making the slightest unusual sound.
Hawk slowly adjusted his body posture, strapping that massive battle-axe onto his back with a special belt to secure it firmly, avoiding any unnecessary wobbling during the sprint.
His burly physique was undoubtedly a huge burden in a mission requiring such high agility and concealment.
It made him feel a considerable amount of frustration, like a lion being forced to learn a cat's gait.
"Ten... nine... eight..."
Lin Jie's gaze swept over each person.
He could feel the suppressed restlessness in Hawk's muscles, and he could feel Phineas's fear.
Even after so many adventures, his own heart was pounding violently in his chest.
But Lin Jie had to maintain absolute calm, because he was the "brain" of this team. Any hint of wavering could plunge everyone into an abyss of ruin.
"Five... four... three..."
Everyone was like a leopard wound tight, muscles tensed to an extreme degree, ready to sprint.
"Two... one..."
"Go!"
The moment Evelyn's last syllable fell, five figures shot out from the bushes like arrows released from a bow!
They poured all their strength into their legs.
Hawk took the lead. His massive frame erupted with astonishing speed completely disproportionate to his size. Each step was heavy yet swift, yet deliberately controlled to minimize the sound of impact.
Ethan followed closely behind, his posture the most elegant, like an antelope running under moonlight.
Lin Jie and Evelyn were in the middle, with Phineas protected at the rear.
The thirty-yard distance seemed infinitely shortened by the surge of adrenaline.
Lin Jie could hear the wind whistling past his ears, could feel the burning pain in his lungs.
His eyes were fixed only on the black outline of the riverbed ahead, symbolizing safety.
"Silent period over!"
Evelyn's warning sounded at the end of the sprint.
Almost simultaneously, the five of them executed a forward dive and roll, leaping into the dried-up riverbed!
Their bodies slammed heavily onto the ground full of gravel and sand. Ignoring the pain, they immediately pressed their bodies tightly against the depressions in the riverbed and held their breath.
Just a second after they hid, waves of invisible yet sharp sonic detection nets swept over the open ground above their heads.
Several Clockwork Owls glided silently over them, their glowing crystalline eyes carefully scanning the ground.
They found nothing unusual.
Only after confirming safety did Ethan let out a long, heavy sigh. He felt his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
Just the first stage had already been this perilous.
"Well done." Hawk praised in a low voice, his breathing slightly labored.
"Don't relax." Lin Jie reminded promptly. "This is just the beginning. Phineas, check the equipment."
Phineas tremblingly checked the instrument in his arms, then gave a thumbs-up.
"Good. Evelyn, continue guiding." Lin Jie ordered.
The team continued advancing along the dried-up riverbed.
The terrain here provided them with a natural cover, significantly reducing the risk of detection.
Evelyn constantly used her [Echo Goggles] to indicate the path with the weakest sonic detection for them.
The entire team was like a group of ghosts moving stealthily on the seabed, finding the only safe passage through complex reefs and currents.
However, trouble still arose.
At a bend, Hawk's burly frame inevitably made slight contact with a pile of weathered rocks accumulated by the riverbank.
"Clatter..."
Several pebbles rolled down from the rock pile, making a very grating sound.
"Stop!" Evelyn's voice turned sharp. "Left front, seven o'clock direction, one Owl has been alerted! It's moving toward us!"
Everyone's hearts leaped into their throats.
They immediately curled up in the shadow of the rocks, not daring to move a muscle.
Lin Jie could hear the faint "clicking" sound of internal gears turning as that Clockwork Owl glided silently, getting closer and closer.
"What do we do?" Phineas's voice carried a sob. "We're locked on!"
"Shut up!" Hawk growled in a low voice, his face filled with annoyance and self-blame.
His huge hand tightened around the battle-axe, ready to be the first to charge out and buy time for the others if they were exposed.
Ethan's gun muzzle had also quietly aimed in the direction of the sound, but he knew that firing would completely expose them to the concentrated fire of the entire defense network.
"Nobody move."
At this critical moment, Lin Jie raised his hand, signaling everyone to stay quiet.
His brain was rapidly evaluating all possibilities.
A direct confrontation would definitely attract the attention of the main force.
Escape was absolutely too late.
The only way was to make this Owl "disappear," or rather, make it "malfunction," before it completed target confirmation and relayed information to the entire network.
Lin Jie slightly extended his left hand, revealing the bronze vambrace hidden by his sleeve.
"Evelyn," he whispered, "how far is it from us?"
"Fifty yards... forty yards... It's descending, preparing for precise scanning!"
Lin Jie quietly peeked out half his body. His gaze, through a crack in the rocks, locked onto the Clockwork Owl slowly descending.
Simultaneously, the [Cursebreaker Vambrace] on his left hand was fully exposed. The complex spiritual conduction circuits on its surface began to glow faintly.
[Curse Storm]!
He concentrated all his power into a beam of interference radiation, aiming it at the Owl's brass wing.
The Clockwork Owl hovering in mid-air shuddered a few times.
Its glowing crystalline eyes suddenly flickered on and off, like an old electric lamp with poor contact.
Its flight posture quickly lost stability. Like a drunken moth, it circled erratically in the air for two loops, then flew off in a wobbly line in the direction completely opposite to Lin Jie and the others, eventually disappearing into the darkness in the distance.
A crisis that could have wiped them out was once again silently resolved by Lin Jie.
"...W-what happened to it?" Phineas asked curiously.
"Just a little mechanical malfunction." Lin Jie shook his left hand, feeling a slight mental fatigue.
Precisely controlling the output power of the "curse" still had certain requirements on mental energy consumption.
"Nicely done." Hawk's face showed genuine admiration.
So besides using an axe, combat could also have such an elegant form.
After passing this crisis with a scare but no real danger, the team continued forward.
They soon reached the second key node in the plan—that abandoned quarry.
The environment here was much more complex and dangerous than the riverbed.
Huge rocks cast jagged shadows.
And overhead, the densest sonic detection net Evelyn had mentioned enveloped everything like a celestial net.
"The node density here is five times that of before." Evelyn's voice was grave. "I can't find any fixed silent period lasting more than two seconds. We must... jump across."
She pointed to a piece of cover five yards ahead.
It was a huge triangular granite rock.
From their current position to there was a patch of completely exposed open ground with no cover whatsoever.
"I've been calculating." Evelyn continued. "When the signals from the Owl directly above and the one on the side intersect at that location, due to the absorption effect of the rock wall, they will create an 'absolute silent point' lasting approximately 2.8 seconds. That's our only chance."
Two point eight seconds.
A time so short it's a luxury even for a sneeze.
"Countdown." Lin Jie spoke.
"...In thirty-five seconds."
This time, everyone felt immense pressure.
This wasn't just a simple test of speed, but a severe test of timing, movement, and team synchronization.
"Listen to my command." Lin Jie's instructions were clearly conveyed to each person. "When Evelyn calls out 'two,' Hawk, you're responsible for throwing Phineas over."
"When she calls 'one,' Ethan, you cover the right flank. I'll take the left. The remaining people exert force simultaneously. Remember, upon landing, you must use the most standard rolling motion to dissipate force. No extra sound can be made."
No one raised objections.
At such a life-and-death juncture, absolute trust was the only path to survival.
"Ten... nine... eight..."
Evelyn's countdown sounded again.
Lin Jie's gaze swept over that open ground.
With the assistance of [Mental Staircase], his thinking was elevated to a very high degree.
"Four... three..."
Hawk was already like a trebuchet ready to fire, grabbing Phineas by the back of his collar.
Phineas, terrified, closed his eyes, completely entrusting his fate to this burly Native American.
"Two..."
"Go!"
In that instant, Hawk let out a suppressed roar. The muscles in his arm erupted violently, throwing Phineas like a sandbag toward that triangular granite rock!
"One!"
Simultaneously, Lin Jie and the others rushed out at their fastest speed!
The 2.8 seconds felt infinitely stretched in their perception.
They could see Phineas's parabolic arc through the air, could feel every single pebble rolling under their feet.
Finally, in the instant just before the silent point disappeared, all five of them almost simultaneously arrived safely in the shadow of the rock.
They succeeded.
Evelyn slumped to the ground, gasping for air.
The difficult calculations and timing just now had almost exhausted all her mental energy.
"We... we did it." Phineas's tone carried relief.
Lin Jie leaned against the rock wall and let out a breath.
He looked up at the Aether Tower, which appeared even more menacing in the night. It was now less than a mile away.
The road to hell, they had already traveled more than half of it.