Read Novel Full Chapter 528 - 328: First Attack
Chapter 528: Chapter 328: First Attack
Marco suddenly snapped, his voice rising sharply.
"How would I know? Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?"
Damien blinked, momentarily stunned.
Marco continued ranting, clearly irritated.
"I came all the way here, found you, explained everything, and you don’t even have useful information! How can you be this useless?"
Damien rubbed his temples tiredly. ’He’s started again.’
Without another word, Damien moved, intending to shut him up physically if necessary, but Marco instantly grabbed him and glared.
"Don’t you dare ignore me."
"I don’t have time to listen to your nonsense," Damien shot back.
That was enough.
Marco lunged.
Their clash erupted like thunder, their movements so fast that even the surrounding air seemed to tremble.
Dust scattered, the ground cracked beneath their feet, and the echoes of their blows sounded like distant explosions.
To any ordinary human, their power would have seemed like something out of myth, far beyond imagination.
After several violent exchanges, Marco suddenly stopped, grinning as if nothing had happened.
"You’re still my best friend," he laughed. "Still the strongest."
At that exact moment, he drove his blade forward again, stabbing Damien for the second time.
Damien’s expression twisted with fury. ’This bastard praises people while trying to kill them.’
Taking a steady breath despite the pain, Damien asked, "Do you feel better now?"
Marco nodded cheerfully and stepped back, finally creating some distance.
Damien wiped the blood from the corner of his lips. "Good. Then let’s find the beast that can attack the base."
Jeff agreed, and they quickly settled on a target: mutated bats.
These creatures, once ordinary animals, now possessed heightened vision and relied heavily on sound rather than sight. Because of this, they were less affected by Ivy’s aura-based defenses.
"If they can ignore her influence," Jeff murmured, "they’ll be perfect scouts... or weapons."
Damien raised his hand and released them.
Hundreds of mutated bats, at least four hundred, burst into the sky, their shrill cries slicing through the darkness as they surged toward Ivy’s base like a living storm.
Meanwhile, inside the fortified base, Ivy was occupied with internal matters when a soldier rushed in, breathless.
"Ma’am! A massive swarm of bats is heading straight toward us!"
Ivy’s posture stiffened instantly. "Prepare for combat," she ordered, her voice sharp and controlled.
"Arm yourselves. If those mutated creatures breach the perimeter, we will have a serious problem."
She began equipping herself as well, fastening her gear with practiced precision.
Within minutes, soldiers lined the outer boundaries, guarding every direction. Those who had been waiting outside were quickly ushered into the inner perimeter for safety.
This defensive structure was something Ivy had designed carefully.
The protective systems were not limited to the base itself but extended throughout the surrounding perimeter, forming hollow, reinforced zones where civilians could shelter.
As long as they remained within those enclosed structures, they would be safe.
Above them, the dark sky trembled with the approaching swarm.
Hence, once everyone had safely moved inside the perimeter, Ivy raised her hand and signaled for the soldiers to prepare for combat.
Weapons were lifted, safety latches clicked open, and the faint metallic scent of sharpened steel mingled with the dust-heavy air.
Yet Ivy did not lower her guard.
"These may look like ordinary bats," she warned, her voice calm but firm, "but do not underestimate anything that approaches this base."
The soldiers nodded, tightening their grips. However, before the swarm could even reach the defensive boundary, something strange began to happen.
The bats suddenly froze mid-flight.
Their wings twitched violently, their bodies spasming as though struck by an invisible force.
High-pitched screeches filled the air, chaotic and panicked, and in the very next moment the entire swarm scattered in terror, flying away as if fleeing from something far more frightening than the base itself.
Silence followed.
Ivy stared, momentarily speechless. The soldiers exchanged confused glances, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
They had prepared for a massive battle, yet the threat vanished before it could even touch the walls.
A few of them let out relieved sighs.
One soldier muttered under his breath,
"What a strange base... In the last one, we barely had time to breathe, and here we keep preparing for fights that never even begin."
Another gave a tired chuckle. "I don’t know what protects this place, but I’m not complaining."
Ivy remained quiet, her eyes still fixed on the empty sky. ’My powers forced them back... not fear, not instinct. Authority.’
Far away, Damien’s expression darkened as he observed the failed assault.
He had expected the mutated bats to at least disrupt the defenses, perhaps even attack those waiting outside. Instead, they had not even crossed the safety line before retreating in panic.
His jaw tightened. "Useless creatures."
In frustration, he ordered the remaining bats to be killed off, unwilling to let them expose further weakness.
Jeff, already looking bored and exhausted, waved a dismissive hand. "Do whatever you want. I’m done for today."
Damien’s irritation flared. ’Of course he would lose interest now.’
Without waiting, Damien decided to test the base personally.
He approached and stood among the line of people waiting to enter, lowering his presence carefully.
At first, everything seemed normal. He could walk. He could breathe. Nothing stopped him.
But the closer he moved toward the entrance, the heavier his body felt.
It was not physical pressure. It was rejection.
Every step forward felt like moving against an unseen current. His muscles trembled, his instincts screamed to stop, and a suffocating resistance wrapped around him like invisible chains.
By the time he reached the entrance, he could not move at all.
A few guards noticed his strange behavior, frowned, and then forcibly dragged him away before throwing him back outside without ceremony.
Damien landed roughly, the impact sending a dull ache through his bones.
He was stunned, not by the treatment but by the power itself.
’So that’s how it is...’
As realization dawned, his eyes narrowed.
Temporal Storage.
From everything he had studied, from ancient records to fragmented texts, one truth remained constant: Temporal Storage was not merely a container ability.