Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 164 Trapped, Targeted, Totally Unstoppable

He’d already torched over twenty transport trucks - their fuel tanks blowing one after another. Plenty of soldiers trying to run without using Metal Crystals got blown to bits.

But the thirty or so still hot on his trail? They’d all used Metal Crystals, no doubt about it.

"Think you can catch me? Gotta be faster than that." Magnus let out a cold snort, sprang onto a truck roof, lit it up, and leapt again...

Another thirty trucks went up in smoke. Explosions echoed loud behind as the crystal infantry started falling further and further behind. Magnus eased up, his nerves slightly relaxed - until a blur burst out of the smoke to his side. Over twenty figures, and a dozen of them struck all at once.

Shit.

Magnus tensed his legs, launching upward, but the ambush had already predicted him. Seven or eight dived ahead and slammed him straight to the ground...

The logs were scattered again. These twenty were Bruce’s hand-picked soldiers, sent to grab Magnus alive. Pinned, he thrashed under four bodies, twisting, fighting with all he had. Right arm moved slightly. Not much, just enough. He dug in with left knee, shoved up with both knees and his right elbow - flung the bodies aside like broken crates.

Another two tried to pounce. He rolled hard to his right, dodging both.

Magnus took that split-second to roll again, pushed off the ground, swung around, and cracked two more under his fists. Then he bolted forward without looking back.

But... Springvale’s Metal Crystal troops? At Ridgebreak Battalion’s base?

Didn’t make a damn bit of sense. He didn’t have time to figure it out.

A kick came flying right at him - he just barely dodged, cursing himself, "Idiot!"

Wrong damn direction. He’d run back right into the forces chasing him!

Thirty Ridgebreak soldiers jumped on the chance, now closing in fast. Ten more shadows lunged at once, seamless from all sides.

He countered with two punches, a kick, one more strike - four down, and fast.

Too late.

One tackled from behind and brought him down again.

Another. Then another. One by one, more Metal Crystal brutes piled on.

These bastards didn’t even try to kill - they wanted him alive. Just dogpile and smother him with bodies.

Damn it. Again?

His arms and legs were pinned tight. Every breath got harder, heavier - like a bull trapped in a dry well, strength useless, stuck deep.

Gunfire crackled in the distance. Emily and Sophia - still fighting. No rescue. The Nature Crystal? Gone. And even if it was here, it wouldn’t work - they all ran on Metal Crystals.

His mind spun into chaos. Chest tight. Breath shorter.

Until his right hand brushed something cold.

Metal. Round.

A grenade? Magnus’s mind snapped into razor sharp focus as his middle finger yanked hard on the grenade ring.

Ten seconds. Nine. Eight...

Boom!

The explosion sent Magnus and seven or eight bodies around him flying. But he was ready. Mid-air, he grabbed hold of one body, yanked it down, then pushed off with both feet, launching himself higher - at least eight meters up.

From that vantage, he took in the chaos below - two squads of Metal Crystal soldiers had started fighting each other. The blast had thrown them off. Magnus adjusted mid-air, angled his body, and crashed feet-first onto a burning transport bus. Without stopping, he sprang off again, vanished in a few quick blinks.

Both factions of Metal Crystal troops froze, scanning around, unsure of what just happened. They paused their battle - orders were orders - catch Magnus first, ask questions later.

Magnus had already moved fifty meters, slipping through smoke and debris. He avoided jumping across the line of transports; instead, he chased every sound of explosion, every plume of black smoke - that’s where confusion lied, and that was his path.

His eyes narrowed as he spotted a log still burning with faint blue flames. Two Metal Crystal-enhanced soldiers were trying to move it, but it wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard they pulled, the wood stayed stuck. They couldn’t use Nature Crystals - completely incompatible.

Magnus didn’t pause. He leapt and slammed a foot into one soldier’s back, sending him flying into his comrade. In a heartbeat, Magnus bent down and scooped up the log - about two fists thick and a meter twenty long - heart aching a little as he pressed down on the black tattoo on his left middle finger and stored the item. Then, another jump put him on the hillside, and he dashed up the slope.

Twice-Awakened versus Once - four times the speed versus double. On open ground, unless someone blocked the road ahead, even thirty thousand soldiers enhanced by Metal Crystals couldn’t catch him.

He made it to the top in one go. No one followed. Leaning on a tree, he bent over, panting. After a few deep breaths, he rummaged around, pulled out a cracked set of binoculars - one lens shattered, the other’s still usable.

It would have to do. Closing his left eye, he squinted through the right and scanned the battlefield below.

Springvale’s forces clearly had the upper hand now. They had taken the ground, but paid a steep price. Most of their casualties came from Ridgebreak Battalion’s mortars and rocket fire. They were on the offensive, not defending - and Magnus estimated they had lost at least half their men.

As for Ridgebreak? Nearly wiped out. Barely five to six hundred left, huddled around a few vehicles. About a hundred were Crystal-enhanced, holding the outer ring. He saw them get blown away by grenades every now and then, and each time, Springvale soldiers would move in, pin them, hands clamped over mouth and nose.

Damn it... this wasn’t how he thought it’d go.

Magnus frowned at the sight. Springvale still had at least ten thousand troops. Emily and Sophia had maybe five hundred soldiers left with them - twenty to one odds.