Insufficient balance

  Finally came in, everyone had a refreshing feeling.

  When the sky brightened, we had already ventured about 3 or 4 kilometers into the Forest of God. "Everyone, slow down and be careful, Boundary Grandfather said there's danger here." I cautioned everyone to be on their guard.

  Surrounded by towering trees, where is the holy sword after all?

  "Everyone wait a minute. It seems like there's danger." I suddenly felt a sense of danger, no, it should be said that Xiaojin felt the danger and then told me, which made Xiaojin have a fearless attitude that definitely wouldn't be bad to that extent.

  We looked around in all directions without saying a word, but didn't find anything. However, the sense of danger that Xiaojin conveyed to me was getting stronger and stronger.

  Zhan Hu pointed at the lawn and suddenly said: "No, take a closer look at the ground."

  Following his finger, the ground was covered with green grass and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the small blades of grass on the ground were slightly trembling, no, they were slightly quivering.

  An experienced repairman immediately lay down on the ground and listened with his ear.

  "How is it?"

  Shūji raised his hand and waved it, meaning for me not to disturb him.

  After a short while, Shou jumped up from the ground and changed color, saying: "It's not good, it seems that unknown creatures are approaching from all sides. Judging from the sound, they're probably about 2 kilometers away from us. Their footsteps are very heavy."

  "What shall we do?"

  Everyone fell into deep thought.

  "Let's find a place with denser trees," said the Big Brother of Zhan Hu decisively. "We don't want to be surrounded and attacked from all sides. It seems we're already surrounded, now we can only hope they are relatively weak."

  Zhan Hu's suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by everyone. Soon we found a small clearing surrounded by several large trees.

  Shouji suggested: "When they come later, everyone will form a small circle, blocking several gaps, longbow, you can cast magic in the middle."

  "Okay, winter days are a bit less productive, but it's okay. Hayashi and Shuji are in one group, Koji and Takashi are in another group, everyone helps each other."

  Just as we were making arrangements, heavy footsteps could be clearly heard. We were all drumming in our hearts, what was it?

  Finally, we saw it, and everyone couldn't help but look at each other in shock, collectively taking a deep breath of cold air.

  Row after row of giants, like us, came walking, too many to count. They all looked as if they were carved out of the same mold, about 2.5 meters tall, with bodies made entirely of stone, steadily approaching us step by step from the gaps in the forest. As they walked closer, we could still hear them muttering: "Eliminate the invaders, eliminate the invaders."

  No way, it's too scary, what is this thing, a stone giant?

  They drew closer, and the war tiger let out a long roar, ready to attack.

  At this critical moment, my mind was surprisingly clear. "We can't just defend like this, we don't even know how many of them there are, and there's no way to retreat. Let's charge into the depths of the forest, Big Brother and Shou are opening up a path in front, Kou and Takeru are covering our backs, and I'll be supporting with Touka in the middle."

  The giant stone man was already in front of us, I shouted loudly: "Everyone charge!"

  Zhan Hu Big Brother took the lead, his long sword in hand, with a white glow, swept towards the giant in front of him. The giant raised his arm to try and block his attack, but how could Big Brother's swift and nimble movements be stopped? A flash of white light, "Ka Cha" sound, the giant was split in two by Zhan Hu, falling to both sides.

  The mighty sword of General Sen Tiger greatly boosted our morale, and Shou used the same method to take down another giant.

  "Element of light, my friend, form a shield of light to repel the enemy's invasion!" I quickly applied a light shield to everyone and took down one behind me with a slash of energy from the element.

  We fell into a bitter battle, and I was the busiest. The front was relatively easy, with Da Ge and Xiūzi's powerful Dou Qi quickly resolving 7 stone giants. However, the rear and sides were much more dangerous, with Gāo Dé and Xíng ào struggling to support the defense line despite their inferior skills.

  No way, with this speed of movement, we won't be able to break out of this giant formation.

  I silently called out: "Little Jin, help."

  Without warning, a robust and majestic figure of Xiao Jin appeared before everyone, its appearance instantly dwarfing the towering image of the Stone Giant.

  Xiao Jin let out a thunderous dragon roar, and a white dragon's breath shot out of its big mouth, instantly blasting out a passage about 5 meters in diameter.

  "I yelled wildly: 'Little Jin opens the way, everyone quickly follows behind and rushes.'"

  Xiao Jin's powerful physical attack played a huge role, and with just a sweep of its tail and a swipe of its claws, the surrounding stone giants were left completely defenseless. Of course, at the same time, I could feel Xiao Jin's magic power rapidly declining. With everyone protecting me in the middle, as Xiao Jin charged forward at high speed, I transmitted magical energy to it through my connection with Xiao Jin, providing it with an endless supply of power.

  If Xiao Jin were fully grown, we could ride on its back and fly out, but unfortunately, it can only carry two people at most now. Even if Xiū Jiǎo and Zhàn Hǔ could hold on and fly out, two people would have to stay behind and perish, which is something nobody wants to see happen, and it's not even certain that it would be successful, so no one has suggested this idea.

  Time passed minute by minute, and the stone giants crumbled one after another under our powerful attacks. We charged out of at least a kilometer or so, but the surrounding stone giants didn't seem to decrease in number at all. Although my magic power had increased somewhat compared to before, the need for continuous output was still gradually exhausting me. Xiao Jin was also covered in wounds now, and his movements were no longer as vigorous as when we first started. He panted heavily, struggling to fight on the front lines. The others weren't much better off either; Da Ge's sword had been broken, and he was now using a thick tree branch to barely hold on. Except for me, everyone else had suffered injuries that were not light.

  If this goes on, everyone will be buried here.

  "Winter days, Gao De, Xing Ao, you guys quickly get on Xiao Jin's back and be careful to lift your spirits and lighten your body. Big brother, you and Xiuzi fly up too. I'll hold them off for a while, you guys hurry up and leave."

  Zhan Hu fought with all his might and chopped down a giant stone man, roaring: "No way, I absolutely cannot abandon you to take care of yourself."

  "Come on, are you going to die here before you even get home?" I shouted angrily.