"There! Over there!"
So shocked by the scene, Kannai Guji momentarily lost his ability to articulate, only able to point distractedly into the distance and mutter to himself.
The commander-in-chief hadn't even realized what was happening until he lazily and smugly turned his head, only to find that things had escalated to an utterly unacceptable degree.
The foreign tribes they had just been mocking had all vanished into the black fog, and their barrier seemed to have had no effect whatsoever.
After all, if it had any effect, it wouldn't have lasted even a second.
This meant that their barrier was exactly the same as the one the foreign tribes had penetrated – a mere empty shell with no function!
Consequently, the commander-in-chief was also utterly stunned, his brain freezing instantly, unable to utter a single word.
It was finally Kannai Guji whose mind worked faster, recovering from the extreme shock first.
The moment he regained his senses, he first grabbed the commander-in-chief by the collar in a rage:
"Idiot!"
"Didn't you adamantly swear that the Nagasaki Fortress's barrier could withstand the erosion of the Wind of Annihilation?!"
"You even said that one of the hypothetical enemies during the establishment of the defense shield was the Wind of Annihilation!"
"At full energy and without replenishment, and covering all areas, it could last for more than half an hour..."
"Now it seems, all of that was just to fool me, wasn't it?!"
"Do you understand the consequences of deceiving your lord?!"
The commander-in-chief was startled by the shouting and immediately snapped out of his stupor.
However, his mind was now even more chaotic and panicked; he wished he could burrow his head into the ground.
Unfortunately, not only was his head not small enough, but in the highly mechanized Nagasaki Fortress, he couldn't find a large enough hole to bury it in.
Seeing the commander-in-chief's blank, stammering silence, Kannai Guji's burning rage intensified:
"Barrier! Activate the second barrier!"
"Quickly, at all costs, keep the Wind of Annihilation outside the gates!"
The commander-in-chief, who had almost been scared to death, finally retrieved his scattered wits from the gates of hell. He dropped to his knees with a thud, weeping:
"Your Majesty... it's no use!"
"We do have a second barrier in Nagasaki Fortress, but it will also be useless!"
"After all, the second barrier was designed without any consideration for attribute defense..."
"In other words, it has no resistance whatsoever against something like the Wind of Annihilation."
"The first barrier, with its powerful resistance, was defeated in an instant, let alone the second one..."
At this moment, Kannai Guji was almost suffering a cerebral hemorrhage from the rush of blood to his head.
Relying on his last shred of reason, he once again grabbed the terrified commander-in-chief:
"We have to try! Are we just going to wait here to die?!"
"A desperate attempt is better than doing nothing!"
"Are you just going to stand here and wait for the Wind of Annihilation to consume you?"
"If the first barrier with resistance was ineffective, then perhaps doing the opposite, the second barrier might work?"
"If you don't hurry up, we'll truly be meeting again in the underworld!"
The commander-in-chief, jolted as if waking from a dream, tears streaming down his face, no longer cared about appearances. He scrambled to the command console and fumbled to activate the second barrier.
It was a large, emerald green barrier, giving off a vibrant and lively aura.
However, no matter how abundant the vitality, it was ultimately unable to save them.
Under the anxious gaze of Kannai Guji and the commander-in-chief, the second barrier followed the same fate as the first, allowing the Wind of Annihilation to advance another layer without any effect.
"It's over... everything is over..."
Seeing his last hope dashed, the commander-in-chief collapsed onto the command console, his face ashen, closing his eyes to await the arrival of death.
However, Kannai Guji clearly desperately wanted to live and was unwilling to give up any hope of survival.
He lunged forward, roughly yanking the commander-in-chief up from the ground again:
"Idiot! Stop playing dead and get moving!"
"Quickly check how much time is left until the teleportation array is ready!"
Perhaps due to his complete despair, the commander-in-chief's eyes no longer showed any fear or respect towards Kannai Guji.
After a slow glance at the countdown timer on the console, he sneered:
"Can't you see for yourself?"
"A full eight minutes. Just wait!"
"At this point, you're still thinking of escaping this way... There should be a limit to wishful thinking!"
"If we're praying for a miracle, for the teleportation array to be ready early..."
"It would be better to start running now and pray the Wind of Annihilation will leave you alone."
Hearing the commander-in-chief's mocking and sarcastic tone, Kannai Guji was utterly enraged and beside himself.
If he had the strength to physically kill a tenth-tier expert, he would have torn this beast in his eyes apart.
But now, with the Wind of Annihilation imminent, every second was precious, and it was not the time to waste on the commander-in-chief.
Unwilling to give up, Kannai Guji shoved aside the commander-in-chief's limp body and desperately manipulated something on the command console.
However, due to his unfamiliarity, Kannai Guji's work efficiency was extremely low, mostly consisting of random button presses.
The dark Wind of Annihilation had already passed the area of the third barrier when he frantically activated it.
But the fact that parts of the black fog that had not yet crossed the barrier still advanced unimpeded indicated that even if he had activated the third barrier in time, it would still have no effect.
The commander-in-chief continued to sneer:
"I told you long ago that all these efforts are futile. Why insist on wasting time?"
"With that energy, you might as well write a suicide note to your loved ones..."
After speaking, the commander-in-chief closed his eyes with a look of resolve.
Judging by his expression of dignified acceptance of death, it was clear he had already written it.
Kannai Guji, panting, looked at the despair-inducing countdown of the teleportation array, then at the commander-in-chief who lay on the ground, spouting sarcastic remarks. Finally, in a fit of rage, he drew a sword, intending to vent his boundless anger and resentment on the commander-in-chief.
However, before he could make a move, the boundless black fog had already arrived, engulfing both of them.