A shrill screech pierced the sky, sounding like a hammer tearing through the night.
Eddie found this sound somewhat familiar.
It resembled the banshee-like wail of the Bloody Queen, yet it lacked the piercing clarity and soul-shaking impact. Instead, it carried an irritating, grating quality that bred annoyance and loathing.
Unlike the banshee's scream, this sound didn't possess direct lethality, but it was unpleasant to hear, evoking an indescribable sense of disgust.
"It's... it's the Harpies, my God, the demons from Lokesh Mountain!" The squad leader rushed to the door, his whole body trembling.
In the sky, countless flying war beasts soared overhead.
A few were visible in the firelight, but many more hid in the darkness above, their presence betrayed only by the air currents and the sound of their wings.
With the night vision ability shared from Queen Vivien, Eddie could see clearly even in pitch darkness, let alone now.
Within Eddie's field of vision, at least thousands of various flying beasts circled in the sky.
At the highest point soared the giant eagles and dragons.
In the middle flew the pitch-black Harpies.
These Harpies were different from those in the Heavenly Tower's spatial chambers; they appeared particularly grotesque and evil, covered in wrinkles and utterly repulsive.
At the bottom, a flying swarm of carrion crows, flapping lizards, membrane rats, flat snakes, and giant bats screeched as they hunted for targets, swooping down everywhere, attacking the crowd.
The screams Eddie heard earlier came from these ugly Harpies as they dove to attack the soldiers on the ground.
"Lokesh Mountain?" Yehken hadn't heard of this place.
"Lokesh Mountain?" In contrast, Hessian shivered in terror, his face the picture of horror.
"What's going on? Hessian, please tell us!" Sophia, too, was unfamiliar with the name Lokesh Mountain. Was there such a place on the Longteng Continent?
Eddie, keenly observing Hessian's reaction, suddenly heard another animal sound, faint yet distinct to his ears.
It was chilling—the sound of giant spiders crawling, one of the three major assassins of the Desperate Depths.
The lower-level scavengers outside were scared into fleeing, but apart from the fastest wolves and hyenas, most couldn't escape the spiders' predation.
Eddie stepped outside, leaped onto the rooftop, and scanned the slope below the halfway mark of the mountain.
His heart skipped a beat... Countless giant spiders, possibly thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, densely covered the hillside, encircling the Hope Inn.
The giant spiders, which never leave the Desperate Depths, were strangely swarming out, making their way towards Hope Inn.
Eddie furrowed his brow.
It was unlikely for so many giant spiders to leave the Desperate Depths without a special lure, and even more improbable for all of them to converge on Hope Inn to hunt.
Below the house, Hessian, pale and wiping cold sweat, spoke with a trembling voice, "Lokesh Mountain is a dreadful place, located somewhere in the ocean, on a vast island, far from our Longteng Continent. It is filled with countless terrifying creatures. "
"There, also known as the Forsaken Land, a place even the gods have abandoned... "
"In Longteng Continent, some heinous warriors, unacceptable to society, flee there and form an organization called the Demonic Temple, dedicated to disrupting Longteng Continent's peace, with the annihilation of humanity as their primary goal. "
"Lokesh Mountain, said to be even more terrifying than the Demon Abyss, where every creature is fallen... Anyone who enters Lokesh Mountain becomes assimilated by those evil beings, turning into indulgent and crazed defilers!"
"Demonic Temple?" Yehken froze in surprise, amazed that Hessian, usually less knowledgeable than himself, knew of such a secret.
"Is there really such a place? Why haven't I heard of it?" Sophia, the young girl, was still half-doubtful.
"It must be true!" Lyqeen and Lyken affirmed in unison.
They recalled the mercenaries' previous frenzy, finding Hessian's explanation very plausible.
Those crazily fighting mercenaries, weren't they just like defilers assimilated by evil life forms? In their madness for the golden ant eggs, they slaughtered indiscriminately, regardless of friends or family, brothers or sisters.
Without the influence of the defilers from Lokesh Mountain, the soldiers would not have behaved so abnormally.
Eddie was not surprised by the existence of the Demonic Temple of Lokesh Mountain.
Over the centuries, countless kingdoms on Longteng Continent have failed in their struggles for power, leaving numerous surviving elders and youths to flee overseas.
It wasn't surprising for them to form such an organization opposing Longteng Continent, but their immense capability made Eddie skeptical.
Without the support of innate experts, could a group of defeated refugees possess such strength to shake Tianluo Nation?
It was known that Tianluo Nation's overall strength was above that of Daxia and Purple Gold, recognized as the strongest nation.
Even compared to the battle-thirsty, martially-oriented Purple Gold Nation, Tianluo Nation had a slight edge.
Eddie, recalling the true and false Tenser Seniors at the Daxia Nation medical facility, and today's soldier-drugged frenzy, felt the undercurrents churning in Longteng Continent.
First, they targeted poisoned soldiers of the Dawu Nation, sowing discord between Daxia Nation and Piaomiao Sect; this time, the golden ant eggs incident triggered a mercenary frenzy, and even tonight's beast siege – it seemed, indeed, there was a terrifyingly powerful force behind these events.
Without the support of innate experts or a powerful faction, it would be impossible to forcefully oppose nations like Daxia and Tianluo!
This led Eddie to another thought: could the Demonic Temple be responsible for the death of Quinn Yew, the once greatest hope and genius warrior of the Yew family?
And could the broken engagement and subsequent suicide of the 'Tragic Man' also be linked to the Demonic Temple?
Furthermore, it seemed likely that Inan had a history of enmity with the Demonic Temple.
Now, it appeared that Bird Wing and Evil Fire were surely from the Demonic Temple.
Especially Evil Fire, who could blood-sacrifice to summon the demon king Hasin—if he wasn't a defiler from the Demonic Temple, how could he possess such tremendous power?
In any case, many mysteries remained unsolved, with neither truths revealed nor answers found.
Unless one went to uncover and expose them...
"General, the teleportation array is being interfered with!" An exclamation came from the direction of the array.
The steady stream of people being teleported suddenly halted, a black column of light eerily hovering above the array, rendering it inoperable.
"What's going on?" Chaos ensued among those who had just been teleported.
"Hurricane Vanguard Squad, return to the capital for reinforcements," General Old Ma ordered urgently, his bushy eyebrows deeply furrowed.
His personal guard squad immediately dispersed, each running a hundred meters away and unfurling their teleportation scrolls.
The flying war beasts in the sky, noticing the emergence of white light below, swooped down in attack.
Meanwhile, defiled warriors riding flying beasts in the darkness, armed with hand crossbows or strong bows, rained arrows in an attempt to shoot down the soldiers seeking reinforcements.
With a wave of his hand, General Old Ma directed well-trained soldiers to lift giant shields, shielding their comrades from the arrows.
Bowmen also raised their bows in unison, firing back into the sky.
The dispersed teleportation of the Hurricane Squad greatly reduced the enemy's focused firepower... At the same time, twenty teleportation gates appeared around Hope Inn.
Even so, many soldiers attempting to escape for reinforcements were shot down by the warriors in the sky, with only a few managing to enter the gates and leave in time.
"The teleportation failed, the space has been distorted," an experienced official in charge of the array quickly realized that the teleportation hadn't been completely successful.
Though they had been teleported, the enemy had used a treasure to twist the space, making the actual destination miles away from the intended one, rendering the rescue attempt futile.
Hearing this, General Old Ma's face showed a slight change, but he remained composed and ordered, "All troops defend, Hurricane elites, follow me!"
"Yes!" Hundreds of elite soldiers responded thunderously, rallying behind General Old Ma.
"You all get back inside, a major battle might break out any moment! Don't worry, I—I will protect you!" Despite his trembling lips betraying his fear, the squad leader tried to remain calm, urging Eddie and the others to go back inside.
He then stood guard at the door, his hand shaking uncontrollably as he gripped his sword. Eddie couldn't help but feel both annoyed and amused.
With his meager skills, he dared to talk of protecting them?
"Eddie, Sophia... Yehken, Hessian, are you there?" Suddenly, a shout pierced through the noisy chaos, coming from afar.
"It's Inan, no wait, Brother Inan!" Hessian, quickest to respond to a lady's voice, immediately leaped up in excitement.
He dashed out, knocking the squad leader aside and stepping over him, shouting, "We're here, here! Inan, where are you?"
"Over there!" Sophia, with her sharp eyes, spotted Inan in thief attire standing at the edge of the teleportation array in the inn's center.
She waved frantically, "I'm here, it's dangerous there, come quickly!"
In the sky, a dragon beat its massive wings in a spiral descent, its sharp talons reaching out, preparing to snatch the anxiously calling Inan.
Hessian, desperate as if wishing for eight legs to sprint over, was agonizingly slow compared to the dragon, moving as if crawling like a tortoise.
Yehken was faster, but he too was too late to rescue.
Worse still, Inan, having just teleported in and not yet grasping the situation, was too focused on calling for his companions to notice the thousands of flying beasts circling in the sky, let alone the dragon attacking from above.
"Dodge, get out of the way…" Sophia's cries were lost in the surrounding chaos, failing to reach Inan's ears.
Just as the bloodthirsty glint in the dragon's eyes shone and its claws reached for Inan, a burst of purple flames soared into the sky.
Turning around in shock, Inan saw Eddie, like a demonic god, wielding a blade of purple flame, slashing down towards him... His eyes widened in disbelief. Why would Eddie, whom he hadn't seen for so long, try to kill him upon their reunion?
The blade flashed past.
Just when Inan thought he was doomed, he realized the blade had sliced over his head, striking empty air.
Boom! A loud crash echoed.
He felt droplets of blood splashing down like rain, followed by the creature's agonized screams. A massive shadow fell before him, its long tail thrashing and wings flapping wildly.
Above it, Eddie stood like a majestic war god, wielding dual blades in a thunderous assault. Each strike splattered blood, eliciting continuous cries from the beast.
The creature, severely injured, flapped its wings, seemingly trying to escape back to the sky.
Inan watched, captivated by the one he couldn't forget, as Eddie abandoned his blades and brutally grabbed the dragon's giant tail, savagely slamming it to the ground.
Such a domineering display was as if defying the heavens and earth! Boom! The ground shook.
The dragon crashed heavily onto the ground, its limbs broken, head shattered, and blood gushing out. After a few feeble struggles, it lay dead before him.
In the firelight, his silhouette stood like a god of war, majestic, heroic, and unparalleled in the world.
This was the man who had stormed into her heart! Overwhelmed with emotion, Inan couldn't help but rush forward, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, hugging him tightly. Although her heart overflowed with joy, inexplicable tears welled up in her eyes...
This wasn't sadness, but an overflow of joy.
Mixed in were the emotions of a long-awaited reunion, the surprise of his unexpected appearance, the thrill of being rescued by her hero, and the indescribable longing she harbored for him deep in her heart...