Chapter 128: Psychic Compression
Lin Ye retrieved the Peace shotgun that was charging at the stronghold center. The spiritual energy inside was enough for three shots.
The Mad Ghost wasn't being arrogant. Instead of entering the stronghold directly, it sent its subordinate ghouls to assault the position.
Numerous ghouls swarmed into the stronghold, triggering rune traps one after another. Lin Ye continuously controlled the surrounding spiritual energy to form spiritual energy blades, backstabbing the ghouls that made it through the traps. This method reduced his internal spiritual energy consumption.
Lin Ye's mental energy was exceptionally strong, and forming Backstab Blades didn't consume much mental energy. He could also replenish it with Spirit Potions.
While eliminating ghouls, Lin Ye continued adding rune traps inside the stronghold. He was facing a massive army and had to prepare for a war of attrition.
Lin Ye wasn't in a hurry to deal with the three third-tier alien races outside. If they died too quickly, the next attack on the stronghold would definitely involve fourth-tier creatures.
Even with the stronghold's advantage, Lin Ye would struggle against a fourth-tier Mutation Creature like the Spider Man. The physical capability gap was too large—even if he could react mentally, his body could hardly keep up with such movements.
So Lin Ye didn't quickly eliminate those first and second-tier ghouls. Instead, he deliberately slowed his pace, pretending to struggle with insufficient spiritual energy.
Of course, the enemy wasn't stupid either. After the previous third-tier ghoul entered the stronghold and died mysteriously, they didn't dare enter directly without understanding the reason.
As Lin Ye cleared the ghouls approaching the stronghold center, the first batch of triggered rune traps finished cooling down. The ghouls just rushing in triggered the traps once again. If this continued, Lin Ye could clear all thousand-plus ghouls after just one more trap cooldown cycle.
But beasts that enjoyed feasting on corpses wouldn't patiently wait for him to eliminate all the ghouls. Under the Mad Ghost's command, a third-tier ghoul charged into the stronghold.
Having sensed the situation from outside for so long, it naturally knew to avoid the traps. However, the stronghold interior contained many traps Lin Ye had just laid, and these were concealed quite skillfully. The ghoul quickly stepped on a composite rune trap.
Lin Ye had been waiting for this moment. The instant the ghoul triggered the trap, he raised the Peace shotgun and fired at the creature.
Boom!
Lin Ye stepped back to brace against the shotgun's recoil. The muzzle discharged a visible stream of spiritual energy fluid that shredded everything in its path.
The third-tier ghoul vanished completely. Every ghoul in a straight line was cleared out, without even leaving scraps of flesh behind.
Just as the first third-tier ghoul disappeared, a second ghoul charged into the stronghold, with the Mad Ghost following closely behind.
The Mad Ghost believed it had discovered why the previous third-tier ghoul vanished. It only needed to be cautious of Lin Ye's shotgun to easily eliminate him and capture the stronghold.
Lin Ye aimed the muzzle at the second ghoul. Ghoul Number Two urgently changed its movement path, darting to the left.
Boom!
Lin Ye continued moving the muzzle and pulled the trigger just as Ghoul Number Two stepped on a rune trap positioned to its left.
Ghoul Number Two vanished. The Mad Ghost suddenly accelerated, moving through the traps already triggered by the first and second-tier ghouls to reach Lin Ye's side before he could redirect his aim.
Instead of trying to swing the shotgun around, Lin Ye activated a sphere he had previously moved to his left hand using the black glove.
High-Energy Piercing Blade.
He had been wanting to use this organization-originated item again.
Lin Ye had previously studied this item in the spiritual energy workshop, but its spiritual energy changes could only be clearly perceived during activation. Thus, he hadn't achieved any valuable research results yet.
Now facing a suitable enemy, Lin Ye used the sphere without hesitation.
A high-energy blade pierced through the Mad Ghost's body. Despite being severely wounded, the Mad Ghost still attempted to counterattack, but Lin Ye already had the massive gun barrel aimed at its head.
"Goodbye."
Boom!
Lin Ye stepped back as the Mad Ghost's upper body completely disappeared.
Returning the Peace shotgun to the stronghold center, Lin Ye repeatedly recalled the scene of the High-Energy Piercing Blade's activation from his perception.
'Spiritual energy compression and release... quite difficult... but not impossible to replicate...'
Lin Ye attempted to compress spiritual energy using mental energy, trying several times without success. Forcibly compressing spiritual energy demanded extremely high mental energy requirements that he currently couldn't meet.
Recalling the previous scene again, the sphere's spiritual energy compression process seemed to contain certain compression techniques.
With the leading third-tier alien race eliminated by Lin Ye, the remaining ghouls attempted to flee the stronghold. However, some rune traps had finished cooling, and the escaping ghouls triggered traps once more.
Lin Ye temporarily set aside the compression rune problem and quickly eliminated the remaining ghouls. These were all kills that would determine the loot quality in the treasure chest.
After clearing the stronghold of ghouls, Lin Ye didn't pursue outside. Apparently not expecting the third-tier Mad Ghost to die in a rear stronghold, the alien races temporarily halted their offensive, not sending more forces to certain death.
Unlike the alien races whose offensive had been disrupted, Kalan City was greatly encouraged seeing Stronghold Ten eliminate another army.
"City Lord, they've eliminated another alien army."
The adjutant was already considering pinching the main alien force from both flanks.
"I saw. It's definitely not our people in that stronghold."
The city lord didn't believe any of his subordinates could handle two waves of such enemies.
"Then who could it be? Reinforcements from the imperial capital?"
The adjutant also understood his colleagues' capabilities.
"Impossible. The imperial capital has no time for us now. It must be several passing third-tier experts in the stronghold."
The city lord stated with certainty.
"How can you tell?"
The adjutant asked curiously.
He had been wanting to use this organization-originated item again.
The city lord analyzed seriously.
The adjutant expressed deep regret. He had long wanted to strike out and eliminate these monstrous creatures.
"Counterattack? Right now I only hope they can hold out longer and leave safely afterward. The alien army likely contains more than one fourth-tier alien."
Although the other side used some method to conceal themselves, the city lord—who also enjoyed ambush tactics—had detected the scent of conspiracy from the alien army's movements and the action routes of their seemingly fourth-tier alien.
"What if they send a fourth-tier alien to attack the stronghold?"
The adjutant asked nervously.
He didn't want those well-intentioned reinforcement experts to die here.
"Then I might have to venture out and take risks... Charge the Annihilator and prepare it for firing."
The city lord decided to prepare for a desperate struggle.
"Yes!"
The adjutant knew what using the Annihilator represented. Kalan City's spiritual energy reserves were limited. If using the Annihilator didn't end the war, the ghoul army could charge into the city unimpeded, and numerous citizens would become food for the alien races.