Chapter 2158  Runestone

Not good!

Fang Heng frowned.

Without the buff of the ‘undying body’, the Licker horde’s ability to continue fighting was greatly reduced!

The Lickers could not even catch their breath for half a second under the AoE attacks of the mechanical creatures!

“Bang! Bang Bang!!!”

Flesh and blood exploded on the battlefield!

“It’s almost time…”

Seeing the number of Lickers decrease, Fang Heng muttered to himself.

It was not completely impossible to fight.

He could also directly join the battlefield and force his way into the enemy’s half-mechanical team, buying more time for his defeat.

However…

There was no need to continue.

Fang Heng looked at the few tree spirits beside him and said, “As you can see, the situation is not good. At most three minutes. After three minutes, my team will be defeated.”

The tree spirits looked solemn.

They knew that Fang Heng wasn’t lying, so they didn’t say much. They immediately turned around and returned to the research institute to report.

In less than a minute, Fang Heng noticed that a group of tree spirits had left the research institute.

Senzo was among them.

It could be seen that the faces of the tree spirits were very stiff.

It was easy to guess that they had not found the Niam alloy.

In the crowd, Fang Heng did not expect to see his old acquaintance Vannes.

Vannes was at the back of the crowd with his head lowered. He looked a little discouraged. Suddenly, he glanced at Fang Heng outside the research institute and could not help but be surprised.

Eh? What was going on?

Fang Heng?!

Why was he there?

Senzo came to the exit of the research institute to observe the situation outside.

It was terrible.

A large number of tree people had been wiped out in the previous few waves of battle. Only the Leaf and Root tribes still had most of their combat strength left.

The battle had been able to persist until now, largely thanks to Fang Heng’s group of Lickers acting as meat shields in the front, providing the tree spirit race in the rear with opportunities to deal damage.

Even so, the tree spirits had suffered significant losses.

Yet, he did not find anything!

The few tree spirits that Great Elder Senzo had invited had ugly expressions on their faces.

“Take the people and retreat first.”

“Understood!”

Now, if they wanted to evacuate safely, they could only brace themselves and ask Fang Heng for help.

Elder Senzo took a deep breath and prepared himself to pay a huge price. He led the tree spirits to the research institute and walked towards Fang Heng.

“We’ll retreat from the back of the research institute later.”

Fang Heng turned his head and looked at the demoralized tree spirits. For some reason, his mood suddenly improved.

Fang Heng asked, knowing the answer, “Have you gotten the thing?”

Elder Senzo took a deep breath and shook his head.

They had expended a large amount of manpower and resources, and even sacrificed the lives of their clansmen, but they had gained nothing.

It was undoubtedly a major failure.

“Why? Forget it. No matter what, we’re in a lot of trouble now.” Fang Heng was afraid that he couldn’t help but laugh out loud, so he turned around and shifted his gaze to the battlefield in the distance. He continued, “In this situation, I’m afraid the Federation won’t let us leave so easily.”

“I need your help to cover our safe retreat.”

Fang Heng didn’t agree or refuse. He just stood there and didn’t answer.

Senzo sighed in his heart.

He had already seen through this human.

Benefits came first in his eyes.

But he had no choice.

Things had already come to this point. If the tree spirits did not pay a little price, it would be difficult for them to escape safely.

“The tree spirits are willing to provide you with this rune. I believe it will be useful to you.”

As he spoke, Senzo handed over a small rune in the shape of a stone.

[Item-Forest Blessing (rune).]

Type: Rune

Level: Unknown.

Description: Possessing the power blessed by the ancient tree spirit race, this item can be engraved on equipment/weapons (some conflicting equipment/weapons may not be able to be engraved). After engraving, when the player wears the equipment/weapon, they will receive an additional 20% reduction in damage from nature spells.

Description (triggered by advanced natural science): The player can directly absorb the natural energy contained in this item, converting it into natural science experience points, or infuse its natural energy into another object to produce other special effects.

Description: The rune seems to contain a huge amount of natural energy.

Vannes was shocked when he saw the rune and shouted from behind, “Elder! Why are we giving a human…”

“Shut up!”

Senzo halted Vannes and turned to Fang Heng, saying in a deep voice, “Fang Heng, the Federation’s war machines will only increase in number. Act quickly.”

“Alright then.”

Fang Heng thought that it would be difficult to get more things from the tree spirits. He reached out and took the rune from Senzo’s hand. He nodded and said, “I will immediately try to break through from the front and help you attract the attention of the Federation. As for whether you can leave…”

“Yes, that’s enough.”

[Hint: The player’s current mission-Cover the retreat of the tree spirits has changed. Please cover the tree spirits to escape the range of the research institute. The difficulty of this mission has increased. Additional reward-Forest Blessing (rune).]

[Hint: The player’s friendliness with the tree spirits has decreased by 5 points.]

Fang Heng glanced at the game hint and couldn’t help but smirk.

Tree spirits.

They sought help yet showed such reluctance, affecting the favorability rating.

So be it.

It was better to part amicably.

“Since I’ve taken their stuff, I might as well help them again.”

Fang Heng pondered, realizing he still needed to assist. If things escalated too much, and the tree spirits were wiped out by the Federation, what then? After all, he still needed to find a way back to the Inner World from the tree spirits.

After figuring this out, Fang Heng immediately controlled the Lickers to gather and launch a counterattack against the Federation!

At the same time, Fang Heng dashed towards the battlefield!

“He’s coming!!”

Seeing Fang Heng enter the battlefield in a flash, the expressions of the half-mechanical soldiers immediately turned cold.

Before entering the battlefield, they had already memorized all the information about Fang Heng!

“Reporting to the command center. Target locked on Fang Heng!”

“Target’s strength is S-level. Don’t let him get close!”

“Continue to suppress them! Try using the latest injection!”

“Understood!!”

Before Fang Heng could get close to the Federation’s half-mechanical team, a dense number of sniper rifles were aimed at him!

The blood-red long sword on Fang Heng’s back exploded with a bang!

His lifeblood instantly turned into a wall, enveloping Fang Heng.

“Pu, pu pu…”

The dense needles struck the blood-red wall and were absorbed by it.

Behind them, the tree spirits took this opportunity to abandon the research institute and retreat.

Vannes was surprised to see that Fang Heng was able to charge into the group of mechanical creatures alone and still hold on without being at a disadvantage.

This human…

How could he be so strong?

“Vannes!”

A stern shout interrupted Vannes’s astonishment.

“Don’t just stand there! Let’s go!”

“Yes, sir!”

Vannes immediately withdrew his gaze and retreated with the tree spirits.