She was closest to the spatial barrier, so the moment the white flames burned a large enough opening, she was the first to break through.
This was no time for niceties. Humility and seeking death were one and the same in this situation. With the two-hundred-meter-tall titan’s undead clone glaring menacingly, it was a case of every man for himself.
Galidos was the next closest. As a demon hunter, his speed was exceptional. The instant Hermes emerged, his body vanished from the undead plane as well.
The spatial barrier that could accommodate a human couldn’t possibly hold a dragon like Haisewei. Cameron couldn’t fathom why he hadn’t stored Haisewei in his spatial flute earlier. It was only upon her sudden appearance that he remembered to do so.
Fortunately, it only took Cameron a moment to produce the spatial flute. The flute’s suction immediately pulled Haisewei in, from head to tail. However, this process wasn’t instantaneous. It was like a person walking through a door; normally, it would take one step, but in a high-stakes battle, that single step could last half a second.
Half a second was enough time for a master to kill you dozens of times over.
Li Xi was not slow either. The moment Galidos’s body disappeared, Li Xi arrived at the entrance of the spatial barrier.
Cameron’s body followed closely.
The distant undead clone, seeing that someone could escape the undead plane, twitched its finger. The countless skeletal remains before the spatial barrier moved as if commanded. Dense, grass-like undead arms emerged from the ground, grabbing indiscriminately at anything within reach.
As the undead bone claws lunged towards Li Xi, he had already leaped out, and the bone claws grasped only empty air.
Cameron’s body followed Li Xi out, but as mentioned earlier, it took time for Haisewei to be pulled into the flute. What was normally an instant was not quite instantaneous here.
By the time Cameron exited the spatial barrier, and the countless undead bone claws reached out, Haisewei’s tail, which had been slightly outside, was still being drawn into the spatial flute. That last bit of her remained in the undead plane.
This small portion of her tail was then caught by the undead bone claws.
These undead bone claws, empowered by the undead clone, possessed incredible strength. Not only did they halt Haisewei’s body, which was being sucked into the flute, but they also snagged Cameron’s body at the waist as he jumped out, holding him back.
Having leaped to the main plane, Li Xi watched as Cameron, who should have been falling towards the ground with him, did not follow. Instead, Cameron’s body was hanging outside the spatial barrier, roaring in what seemed like a desperate tug-of-war with something behind him.
With Cameron’s body blocking the spatial barrier, Li Xi couldn’t see what was happening inside. After a breath, he saw Cameron’s desperate cry of "No!" followed by him being violently pushed out, tumbling uncontrollably through the air towards the ground.
Without Cameron blocking his view, Li Xi could finally see what was happening inside. Countless undead bone claws were dragging Haisewei’s body back in.
Every inch of Haisewei’s skin was being torn by the undead bone claws. Her struggles only met with more frenzied suppression. Some undead bone claws even ripped off her green dragon scales, flesh and blood flying. They seemed intent on tearing Haisewei apart alive. As a creature at the apex of the food chain, she was now like a fish in a net, her struggles futile, only serving to amuse the fisherman with her vitality.
To avoid implicating Cameron, Haisewei, who was being dragged back into the undead plane, resolutely pushed Cameron out.
Li Xi gasped. These undead bone claws had actually pulled Haisewei, who was mostly absorbed into the spatial flute, back out!
The spatial flute, like a spatial ring, was a spatial artifact. One could store living beings, the other inanimate objects. Once locked by spatial power, almost nothing could escape. Yet, here, Haisewei, on the verge of being completely absorbed, was pulled back. This meant the undead bone claws had neutralized the spatial power generated by the flute.
A Level 4 professional could achieve temporary flight, let alone a Level 7 Dragon Knight like Cameron.
The spatial barrier Hermes had burned through was in the sky. Pushed away by Haisewei, Cameron fell for less than fifty meters before halting his descent.
"Ah—"
Watching Haisewei, covered by countless undead bone claws and no longer struggling, Cameron descended into madness. Tears streamed down his face like a flood, unable to believe that his mistake had led to such dire consequences.
"Haisewei!"
Cameron’s heart-wrenching roar echoed through the sky, a cry of profound grief.
Cameron unleashed his battle qi at all costs, blood seeping from his pores. The price of his severe injuries was a body moving at arrow-like speed towards the spatial breach.
Haisewei was not just his mount, not just his combat partner; she was family, bound by life and death. He would never allow Haisewei to leave him!
Haisewei also saw Cameron, who was rushing towards her without regard for his own safety. Tears, like pearls, fell from her massive dragon eyes, her gaze conveying a thousand unspoken words. Despite her deep reluctance, she knew she couldn’t drag Cameron into this abyss with her.
Cameron's body had not traveled more than ten meters. What was usually a short distance of a few dozen meters now felt like the span between two worlds, an impassable gap that could never be closed, even with a lifetime.
Inside the undead plane, Haisewei, without hesitation, used her remaining strength. She swung her dragon claws, now adorned with undead bone claws, and extinguished the white flames. As the white flames died out, the spatial rift Hermes had burned merged and disappeared.
Desperate, Cameron, with a resolute body, passed through where the spatial barrier had been. But he did not emerge into the undead plane. Instead of the grey, desolate world filled with undead despair, he found himself under a clear sky.
"Ah—"
Cameron would have preferred to die with Haisewei in the undead plane rather than live alone in this world.
Despair, heartbreak, disbelief, and a myriad of complex emotions consumed Cameron, causing him immense pain.
However, he immediately turned and charged towards the Magus Hermes on the ground. His body, out of control, slammed in front of Hermes. Disregarding his disheveled state and the overgrown grass, with a sliver of hope, he pleaded with Hermes in the most humble tone, his voice more desolate than that of a dying man, "Master, I beg you, open the spatial barrier and let me in to save Haisewei. She cannot survive without me."
Looking at Cameron, who knelt on the ground despite his Level 7 status, Hermes’s lips moved. After a long pause, he spoke with an apologetic tone that plunged Cameron into despair, "I am sorry, I am powerless."
Like a drowning man spotting a piece of driftwood, Cameron trembled as he removed his spatial ring. Disregarding Hermes's refusal, he respectfully presented the ring to Hermes, "Master, this is all I possess. If you open the spatial barrier, not only will this be yours, but I will obey your every command from now on. I am willing to become your servant, to do anything. I beg you, Master."
Hermes did not take Cameron's spatial ring. Instead, he said gently, "Please accept my condolences, Cameron. I truly am powerless."
The undead plane was a dangerous place. They had only been there for less than two sand-glasses of time, and at the last moment, they almost lost everyone. Hermes’s heart was still pounding. The last time he felt this way was seventy years ago when he faced a lone wolf in the wilderness.
If not for Li Xi’s last-minute efforts, not only a Level 6 green dragon, but all four of them would not have made it out alive. Now, having sacrificed a Level 6 green dragon and escaped the undead plane, it was, to outsiders, a glorious victory.
To re-enter now, to face countless undead, tens of thousands of undead knights, and Gagaro's two-hundred-meter-tall undead clone, which had thrown them into disarray with just two moves, was unthinkable. It wasn't just that they dared not; even an Level 8 powerhouse would hesitate. No one was willing to go head-to-head with death for a mere Level 6 little dragon.
This was their nest, cultivated over tens of thousands of years. It wasn't a hotel where one could check in and out simply because they had the money!
Let alone risking their lives for a Level 6 green dragon, even if the Dragon Ancestor himself came, Hermes would refuse.
Moreover, the undead plane could not be located from the main world. How could they burn through it? Even if they got incredibly lucky and found it, burning through from the main world would take a sand-glass of time. In that time, a weak Level 6 green dragon like Haisewei, not to be disrespectful, would have been turned into a bone dragon a hundred times over.
Cameron continued to kneel and plead with Hermes. Galidos, who had remained silent but exuded guilt, walked over.
He pulled Cameron up and shouted, "Brother, it's my fault. I was blinded by greed and instigated you to kill the Flame Demon. Haisewei's fate is all my doing. I will repay you by serving you like an ox or a horse in the future."
"But what’s done is done. Pressuring Master Hermes will not change anything. Accept reality."
"What reality?" Cameron's veins bulged, like a lion on the verge of rage, retorting to Galidos. "What do you mean? You also think Haisewei is dead?"
"I..." Galidos didn't know how to answer. If Cameron refused to accept reality, nothing anyone said would matter. You couldn't wake someone who was pretending to be asleep.
But just as Cameron stubbornly insisted, like an unyielding stone, that Haisewei was not dead, his face suddenly turned pale. Then, he involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood. What was different about this blood was that within the red human blood, there was a hint of gold. Sudan Novel Network.
Regardless of his previous stubbornness or disbelief, upon seeing the golden flecks in his blood, Cameron seemed to lose all vitality. His soul appeared to have been ripped away, and he collapsed like a walking corpse, staring blankly at the golden flecks in the blood. Tears dripped unconsciously, diluting the bright red blood into a pale red, which was then washed away by more tears, leaving only bloodstains on the ground.
Hermes walked over to Li Xi, his voice filled with sadness that anyone could detect. "After every Dragon Knight forms a contract with a dragon, their bodies are involuntarily influenced by the dragon's aura. Coupled with the contract, a few drops of dragon's blood essence are produced within their bodies. This has the benefit of allowing the Dragon Knight to exert more power."
He sighed heavily at this point, looking like an eighty-year-old man. "But when the dragon dies, the contract is broken, and the golden blood in the Dragon Knight's body is expelled."
This meant that after Cameron spat out this mouthful of blood, Haisewei in the undead plane was dead. The contract between her and Cameron was nullified by the dragon's death.
Li Xi had seen death before. He had killed many people himself, especially in the mercenary profession, where life and death were commonplace.
He had seen a comrade, who was closest to him moments before, die, and then without hesitation, he had taken the comrade's spatial ring and put it on his own hand. Grief, he had only shed a few tears while drinking, but who could tell how much of it was feigned and how much was real?
But in Cameron's case, Li Xi saw genuine camaraderie. It was a bond of life and death, a commitment to follow each other, regardless of the outcome.
Li Xi didn't know what to say at this moment. Anything he said would sound hollow. "Please accept my condolences."
Hearing Li Xi's voice, Cameron turned his head. His face was devoid of life, a face that sought death rather than life. Even a dead person opening their eyes would have more vitality than Cameron.
"Pfft."
He coughed out another large mouthful of blood, tilted his head, and fainted into Galidos's arms. That a Level 7 expert could faint from grief was a testament to the depth of his emotions.
Galidos murmured bitterly, "This is for the best. If he's unconscious, he won't know anything."
Galidos took out a flying carpet, laid Cameron on it, and said apologetically to Li Xi and Hermes, "This is my fault. I led everyone into danger. I will make proper compensation to everyone when we return."
Li Xi shook his head and instead took out the dismembered body of the Flame Demon from his spatial ring. "This is not your fault. No one could have anticipated a big shot like Gagaro acting behind the scenes. Being able to come out alive is what matters most. These are the Flame Demon corpses I collected. As agreed, let's divide them now."