Fan Muran's sudden appearance left the members of Sky Blade utterly confused and bewildered.
"Why is Muran here?" Hulao rubbed his eyes, wondering if exhaustion was causing him to hallucinate.
Their leader had ordered Fan Muran to lead a retreat from the inner corridor earlier. After that, Fan Muran had managed to find Zero Wing, a guild willing to lend a hand, but how long had it really been since they departed from the outer zone to reach this place?
What truly baffled them was how Fan Muran had gotten through that massive army of mechanical puppets. They themselves had fought tooth and nail just to get in, suffering devastating casualties along the way, their stamina and mental energy drained to the brink. Yet Fan Muran hadn't lost a single point of HP — she looked as energetic and refreshed as ever, as leisurely and composed as if she'd been strolling through a garden.
"How did she get in here?" Blood oath stared at Fan Muran, his eyes narrowing.
The corridor had been crawling with mechanical puppets — Grand Lord-tier ones among them, with even a few High Grand Lords mixed in. Even their Tier 3 team had been shaken to the core watching them. Without the Tier 3 Invisibility Scrolls, there was absolutely no way they could have made it in safely. And even with those scrolls, it was only thanks to Sky Blade's desperate fighting retreat that they'd gotten through relatively unscathed. Otherwise, a brutal battle would have been unavoidable.
Yet now a mere Tier 2 Class holder like Fan Muran had walked in completely unharmed. It was beyond bizarre.
While everyone stared at the arriving Fan Muran, she seemed completely oblivious to the presence of Blood Oath and his people, turning straight to their leader Ziwei.
"Leader, reinforcements have arrived!" Fan Muran exclaimed, her expression brimming with excitement. "We're saved!"
Her voice wasn't loud, but in the vast, soccer-field-sized altar hall, every word rang out crystal clear to everyone present.
"Reinforcements are here?"
"Finally! We can get out of this godforsaken place!"
The moment the Sky Blade members heard the word "reinforcements" from Fan Muran's lips, a collective wave of relief swept through them, and indescribable joy and excitement surged in their hearts.
The endless fighting and hiding had pushed their nerves to the breaking point. Just when Blood Oath was about to succeed — when Sky Blade's main force was on the verge of being crippled, potentially dropping them out of the top ten on Dragon Heart Island — reinforcements had actually arrived. How could they not erupt in jubilation?
After all, even without the Tree of Life's main trunk, a branch alone would be enough to elevate their entire adventuring team's strength by a significant margin.
"Reinforcements?" Blood Oath's face darkened. "How could the Thirteen Thrones get here so quickly?"
He was well aware that the Thirteen Thrones intended to rescue Sky Blade. They had already sent someone to contact him beforehand, demanding that he cease his pursuit of Ziwei and her people.
But with the Tree of Life right there, and the Thirteen Thrones being so far away, even if he seized Ziwei and her group, the Thirteen Thrones wouldn't truly go to war over it. Their alliance with Star Ring made them all the more confident.
However, clashing directly with the Thirteen Thrones' main forces over the Tree of Life was an entirely different matter. That would be tantamount to declaring war, and the Thirteen Thrones wouldn't let Blood Oath or Star Ring off the hook — if only for the sake of their own reputation.
"Captain Blood Oath, are we still making a move?" Sword Demon discreetly sent a voice transmission.
"This…" Blood Oath hesitated, unsure what to say.
With the Thirteen Thrones arriving, the situation had changed completely from before. But the thought of abandoning the Tree of Life sitting right in front of him made his heart ache with reluctance.
Just as Blood Oath wavered, Fan Muran's next words caused the entire atmosphere to shift dramatically.
"Leader, Guild Leader Black Flame and the other three will be here any moment. After that, we can leave this place safely." Fan Muran hurried over to Ziwei with a beaming smile on her face.
The moment these words left her mouth, the members of Hulao and the rest — who had just been celebrating — fell dead silent, their expressions turning grim.
What?
The reinforcements were from Zero Wing?
But on second thought, that did make sense. Fan Muran had said she'd contacted Zero Wing and was bringing them here.
But Zero Wing sending reinforcements was one thing — why were only four people coming?