190: Base Under Attack

With the experience from the first time, the process of slaying dragons became much simpler.

Without Ryen needing to remind them, everyone took up their roles and steadily followed the established procedures.

Ningguang and Lisa were in charge of collecting Dragon's Breath, while Zhongli and Xiao dismantled the cages.

The others drew aggro and launched attacks.

Perhaps it was because Venti had been carelessly hit by a Wither blast last time that he learned his lesson.

This time, everyone followed the plan strictly, making no unnecessary moves.

After slaying a few more dragons, everything settled into a routine.

Dragon-slaying was only full of excitement and novelty the first time.

Anyone, stuck in the dark and endless End realm, repeating such mechanical combat day after day, would eventually grow bored.

After all, not everyone was like Tartaglia, who thrived on battle.

If it weren't for the allure of the dragon eggs, they would've longed to leave already.

The Manor Villa

At this moment, in the overworld, it was already dusk, the time when Ryen and his team had departed.

Cloud Retainer had finished a day's work and returned to the villa to rest.

With Ryen away, she couldn't return to Teyvat either.

But for Cloud Retainer, that didn't really matter.

Just in terms of rest, the beds in this world were actually more comfortable.

All day long, Cloud Retainer had continued her struggle with the mountain behind the base. After repeatedly revising her blueprints and rebuilding, the area had started to resemble Jueyun Karst.

However, starting today, her progress would likely slow down significantly.

The Qianyan Army and the miners had all been redeployed to excavate the mine, leaving her without help. Relying on herself alone, it would take a lot more time.

Cloud Retainer also gave up her plan to build a statue of herself.

It was just too ugly...

After hastily eating dinner, she wanted to check on Ryen and the others' progress.

But after thinking it over, she figured they were probably already fighting dragons.

So she gave up on that idea.

With nothing else to do, Cloud Retainer decided to collect various pieces of tech from around the villa.

She even went up to the floating island to inspect the mob farm and similar constructions.

Once she was done, she planned to get some sleep.

However, just as she lay down, a communication link from the Qianyan Army came through.

Annoyed, Cloud Retainer sat up — she had just started feeling drowsy.

But before she could complain, deafening gunfire blared from the other end of the call.

"True Adeptus Cloud Retainer ! We're under attack!"

Dashí's panicked voice, mixed with an overwhelming barrage of gunshots, instantly made Cloud Retainer shudder and fully wake up.

Without Dashí needing to say more, she understood: they were under enemy attack.

And the attackers had firearms.

The Qianyan Army had no modern firearms — so this dense volley of gunfire meant...

There were a lot of enemies!

Cloud Retainer immediately jumped to her feet, grabbed the guns and ammo from a storage chest, and ran downstairs.

Dashí's voice came through again, but before he could say much, Cloud Retainer barked:

"Everyone, stay where you are and hide! Block the doors with iron blocks! I'm on my way!"

With that, she instantly teleported to Base No. 2. After confirming everything there was fine, she quickly contacted Ryen.

Moments later, the call connected — but before Cloud Retainer could speak, the sound of gunfire came from Ryen's side too.

Cloud Retainer immediately felt a headache coming on.

"Ryen, are you guys in combat too?"

Ryen fired a shot at the Ender Dragon, then retreated.

"We're slaying a dragon. What is it?"

"No time to explain. Base No. 1 is under attack. The enemy has firearms — and from the sound of it, a lot of them."

Ryen's expression tightened. He threw an Ender Pearl and left the battlefield.

"Go to the tulip flowerpot. There's a lever there — use it to enter my storage room. The large chest to the right of the workbench has five MP5s and a batch of grenades. Take the ammo and head to Base No. 1 to support them."

"We can't come back just yet — we won't be done until early tomorrow morning."

"Don't engage the enemy directly. Have everyone hide and check if any enemies are carrying RPGs or sniper rifles."

"If there's an RPG, take them out fast. If it's a sniper, stay hidden."

"Hold out until morning!"

Cloud Retainer quickly agreed and ended the call.

She rubbed her brow in frustration.

She had expected the base might come under attack eventually — but she hadn't thought it would happen this soon.

Just yesterday before they left, Ryen had personally scouted the area within a fifty-mile radius to ensure it was safe.

Looking at the others — who were still unaware of what had happened — Ryen pressed his lips together, choosing not to tell them yet.

They were in the final stage of dragon-slaying. As long as the base was only defending, with Redstone cannons and block-building skills, they should be okay.

If not, he'd ask Cloud Retainer again later. If she could handle it, they'd finish off the dragon first.

If she couldn't, he'd return personally.

After all, the teleportation point had already been set.

With those thoughts, Ryen rejoined the fight.

Far away, Cloud Retainer followed Ryen's instructions and found the weapons.

Beside them was a batch of grenades.

Luckily, she'd seen Ryen use them before, so she decisively armed herself, transformed into a crane, and flew toward Base No. 1.

It wasn't far, and driven by urgency, she arrived quickly.

But she didn't dare land immediately.

Not only was the front gate surrounded, but the sides and rear were also swarmed by strange creatures.

There were hundreds of them.

Gunfire filled the air, and bullets streaked across the sky.

If she forced a landing, she might be riddled with bullets.

With her weakened Adepti power, Cloud Retainer couldn't guarantee she'd survive a concentrated volley from so many firearms.

Even in Teyvat, that would be dangerous.

High in the sky, she circled and observed carefully.

Many Qianyan soldiers were already wounded, collapsed near the houses, bleeding, their armor blown apart.

A squad of Qianyan soldiers rushed around the base, hurling healing potions nonstop.

Perhaps it was because of this that there had been no casualties yet.

But the miners weren't doing well either.

They held up shields, trying to patch up the gaps in the barricades while bullets flew wildly.

But it was basically a futile effort.

The shields couldn't withstand the power of the bullets at all—any hit would blow a large hole through them.

Still, they only needed to hold out briefly. The rest was up to the iron armor to take the brunt, so they wouldn't be knocked down directly.

A team of seven to eight hundred people was being completely suppressed by the hundred-plus bandits armed with hot weapons—they couldn't even lift their heads.

It was frustrating, but there was nothing they could do.

They could try to counterattack with bows and arrows, but no one dared to expose themselves.

Otherwise, they'd be easily hit by the stray bullets flying everywhere.

At this moment, Base No. 1 had taken on a tragic tone.

The iron golems stationed outside had already been blown to bits by gunfire.

Base No. 1 had become a lonely island.

Cloud Retainer didn't dare waste time and quickly contacted Dashí.

"Dashí, I'm here. Look above you."

Dashí, who was commanding the miners to plug the last gap, was overjoyed when he heard this. He wiped the blood off his face...

"True Lord Cloud Retainer, what should we do?"

Cloud Retainer took a deep breath and calmed down completely.

After all, she had survived the War of the Archons. Her combat experience was beyond seasoned.

Though the situation was dire, at least the enemy hadn't breached the walls.

They could still protect themselves for now.

But they couldn't remain trapped here forever.

After a brief moment of thought, Cloud Retainer looked toward the front gate.

"Have someone activate the Redstone Cannon. Blast the enemies directly in front. I'll enter from there."

Dashí didn't hesitate. He summoned a dozen Qianyan soldiers, had them equip fresh iron armor and shields, and cautiously made their way over.

At this point, the walls were already reinforced with two-block-high stone barricades. Though debris flew as bullets struck them, they were at least holding for now.

He waved his hand to signal the team to activate the Redstone Cannon.

In the next instant, a barrage of TNT whistled through the air, catching the bandits at the front gate completely off guard.

The gunfire paused briefly.

Cloud Retainer seized the opportunity and dived down, weaving around stray bullets as she spiraled into the base.

Dashí and the others quickly returned inside as well.

After the brief lull, the gunfire around them grew even more frenzied.

They didn't use the Redstone Cannon again.

The enemies were too close now—almost face-to-face—and it would be hard to hit them with it.

Cloud Retainer returned to human form and glanced around.

Although everyone was covered in blood and many of their iron armors were in tatters...

Their spirits were still high.

Dashí rushed forward to report.

"True Lord Cloud Retainer, we were ambushed by these bandits on our way back. They caught us completely off guard."

"Many brothers didn't even have time to react…"

Seeing Dashí's grief-stricken face, Cloud Retainer frowned slightly and asked in a low voice:

"What's the casualty count?"

Dashí quickly shook his head.

"Many are injured, but none dead. We weren't far from the base at the time, and healing potions were used constantly."

"It's just…"

The Qianyan soldiers around them all lowered their heads, their eyes red.

"Our wolves… they all died protecting us…"

"Out of 242 wolves at the base, only 23 were rescued and survived…"

Cloud Retainer pressed her lips together, not uttering any ill-timed remark like "they can be raised again."

To these people, the wolves had fought by their sides through countless battles, had ventured with them into dark mines—

They had risked their lives to protect them.

To them, the wolves were comrades-in-arms.

And now, over 200 wolves had perished, leaving only 23…

One could only imagine their sorrow.

"This isn't the time to dwell on that. As long as everyone is safe, that's what matters."

Cloud Retainer sighed inwardly, looking up at the dense bullet marks above. For a moment, even she felt at a loss.

If she still had her immortal power, while she couldn't tank bullets head-on, she could at least summon a raging wind to blow all those enemies away.

But now…

"True Lord Cloud Retainer, we've never seen enemies like this before…"

Seeing her remain silent, Dashí grew anxious.

"The weapons in their hands are terrifying—one bang, and even with iron armor, we end up with a hole in us…"

"If this keeps up, things will only get worse. Even the stone walls won't hold much longer. They even shattered the iron golems made from pure iron!"

Hearing this, Cloud Retainer snapped back to focus and said solemnly:

"I know. These are hot weapons…"

~~----------------------

To read 30 future chapters head over to patreon: 

patreon.com/Dreamer20