The appearance of the four men in black broke the gradually heavy atmosphere. Facing these sudden newcomers, Xia De chose his old, reliable tactic.
Restrain them first, then slowly interrogate them for information.
As for why he could act so decisively without worrying about accidentally hurting good people?
The reason was that he had seen their scumbag expressions all too often in his previous life when planning hunts and observing target behavior. The two were practically identical, radiating the stench of scum from the very marrow of their bones.
“Start talking. Who are you and what is your purpose? Maybe then I'll give you a quick death.”
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?!”
Xia De's and Hilia's voices rang out almost simultaneously. He glanced with slight surprise at Hilia, whose pretty face had turned ice-cold. There was no trace of the relaxed demeanor she had shown when they were alone.
Recalling how she had immediately followed up with her own attack after he moved, Xia De couldn't help but marvel in his heart. As expected of his veteran predecessor, her decisiveness was truly incomparable to that of greenhorns.
He didn't rashly approach the four. Even though their movements were sealed, Xia De was still worried they might have some trick up their sleeves.
They could hear each other perfectly fine from this distance anyway, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks.
Holding the cane with one hand, Xia De stared warly at the four, waiting for them to spit out their identities and goals.
The three behind him stared with wide eyes, their limbs hanging limply. They wanted to speak, but to their horror, they found themselves unable to make a sound. However, the leading man in black didn't show a shred of fear on his face.
He stared intently at Xia De, his head twisting a mechanical one hundred and eighty degrees like a puppet. A sinister grin spread across his face, revealing shark-like teeth as he let out a shrill, drawn-out voice.
“Hehehe, this distance is close enough. Nearly a thousand years of sealing, nearly a thousand years of hatred—everything shall be unleashed today! Let fear spread across the land once more, and let the world plunge into a cage once again! Today, I shall call upon your true name, Great Space Demon Dragon, Plutosas!”
A phantom of a black longsword emerged from his body. Strangely, the sword was asymmetrical, as if it were only one half. The phantom slowly solidified, sending a beam of black light carrying an ominous aura straight into the sky.
Shooting into the sky along with it was a pure white light radiating from Xia De.
To be precise, it was the pure white light emitted by the cane!
“Hahahahahahaha! Lord Plutosas, we welcome your return to the world!”
Bathed in the light, the leading man in black shouted, his voice filled with absolute madness.
Hilia turned her head away, crossing her arms in front of her. The blinding white light made it impossible to open her eyes, bringing waves of stinging pain.
Xia De's expression changed. The black and white beams collided in midair, then dissipated like fireworks.
The world fell into silence. The moment she realized the light had faded, Hilia opened her eyes.
Under the golden sunlight, the man in black, who had been completely frantic just moments ago, now stood with his mouth agape, staring in utter disbelief at the spot where Xia De had been standing.
But the place where Xia De had just been was completely empty!
Meanwhile, in an incredibly vast space, Xia De stared at the colossal creature before him, frozen in place like a statue.
Though he couldn't see its entire form, he could make out a terrifying beastly head. Dense, irregular dark purple scales covered its body, and a single eye larger than Xia De's entire body stared down at him with sheer brutality, as if it would tear him to shreds in the next instant.
Its mountain-like size exerted an immense pressure, causing Xia De's blood to run slightly faster.
But none of that was the most important thing. What truly made cold sweat break out all over Xia De's body was the number displayed on his panel.
【Species: Space Demon Dragon (Extremely powerful space energy flows through its veins)
Combat Power: 27,810/99,999 (Defense, Restriction)
Status: Severely weakened due to prolonged sealing. Suffers from internal injuries sustained in a battle against a legendary adventurer a thousand years ago. Currently suppressed by a precious sword.
Skills: Demonization, Death Breath, Barrier Space, Claw Swipe, Fortify, Tenacious Outburst...】
This ridiculous value and its unique status made Xia De realize—he had run into a mini-boss!
Shifting the perspective back to Hilia, the moment she confirmed Xia De's disappearance, she condensed a green arrow of magical power and notched it onto her bow. Locking onto the head of the man in black, she asked in a cold voice:
“Speak! What on earth is going on here?”
But the man in black seemed not to hear her. Even though the tip of the arrow had pierced his skin, drawing a few drops of blood, he continued to mutter in disbelief: “Impossible... This is impossible... The cult's secret records couldn't be wrong. But... but why hasn't Lord Plutosas's seal been broken?! Why?! Why?! Why?!”
Seeing that it was clearly impossible to communicate with him normally, Hilia's face darkened. She cast a cold gaze at the three behind him, only to find that their bodies had shriveled, their skin pale—they had long since stopped breathing.
Returning her gaze to the leading man in black, she felt a wave of irritation wash over her.
Xia De was the adventurer who had accepted this quest. Now that he was gone, was there any point in her staying here alone?
More importantly, Xia De had clearly been teleported away by something. He might be in grave danger right now, while she could only worry in vain here, unable to do a thing.
Suddenly, Hilia seemed to sense something. Tapping her foot against the ground, she leaped into the air. Her hood was blown back, letting her pale-gold hair flutter in the wind. Mid-leap, she aimed at a certain spot and cleanly released a condensed magic arrow.
Boom!
An explosion rang out, and thick smoke billowed from two different spots simultaneously.
One was the spot Hilia had just aimed at, and the other was none other than where she had been standing just a second ago!
“Oh my! The sneak attack failed. As expected of an elf, your perception is incredibly sharp!”
As the smoke cleared, a figure in a black cloak appeared. He was holding the green arrow condensed from magical power in his hand.
With a gentle squeeze of his hand, the magic arrow—powerful enough to kill a Tier Three magical beast—shattered like ceramic.
Landing on the ground, Hilia quickly backed away to put distance between herself and the cloaked man. She condensed an arrow, notched it, and drew her bow in one fluid motion. She watched him warily, a trace of gravity in her eyes.
“You're with them, aren't you? Who on earth are you!”
“With them? Indeed we are. To be more precise, this guy here is my boss.”
The burly cloaked man strolled unhurriedly over to the dazed man in black, seemingly completely unafraid of Hilia's attacks.
And indeed he was. She had been keeping her eyes glued to his movements, looking for an opening to attack, but she found that despite his casual demeanor, he was on high alert at all times.
“He is my boss, you see!”
The burly man spoke in a respectful tone, but in the very next instant, he swiftly reached out and grabbed his boss's neck. With a light squeeze, a crisp crack echoed. The boss's eyes lost their light, and his head slumped limply.
“But now this useless trash looks like his whole family just died simply because the plan didn't go as expected. No, actually, he didn't even look like this when his family died. Staring blankly like that—how utterly baffling!”
“I think you're the one who's baffling!”
Hilia released her fingers, and the magic arrow shot off the string, sending ripples through the air.
“Who exactly are you people?!”
A magic circle formed on the burly man's hand, and a black light barrier rose to block Hilia's arrow.
“Who are we?” He pulled back his hood, revealing a mark on his forehead.
The pitch-black mark was carved irregularly onto his forehead, but the twisted lines clearly depicted a horned demon, radiating an ominous aura.
Hilia stared blankly for a split second when he revealed his face, then blurted out subconsciously, “Sausage lips?”
“What do you mean, sausage lips?! Stop focusing on such trivial details! Look at this mark properly!”
As if a sore spot had been touched, the burly, sausage-lipped man pointed at the mark on his forehead and bellowed at Hilia in dissatisfaction.
Hilia chuckled awkwardly in her head, then shifted her focus back to the mark on his forehead. Her expression instantly changed.
“You're from the Demon God Cult!”
“Indeed, we are the great Demon God Cult. We learned from our cult's secrets that the Space Demon Dragon was once the mount of the Demon King. After they ruled the continent, this mountain range became its domain. Who would have thought that the Lord Demon King would be defeated by the Hero, and the Space Demon Dragon under him would be sealed as well? As for that legendary adventurer, they were nothing but a dwarf who carried the Hero's luggage. If not for the power of that meteoric iron from beyond the heavens, Lord Demon Dragon could never have been sealed!”
As he spoke, he glanced down at his lifeless boss and laughed mockingly:
“This operation was originally initiated by this useless trash. He claimed that as long as we gathered both keys, Lord Demon Dragon would be unsealed. Who knew he would be so fragile, losing his fighting spirit over a minor hitch in the plan? Back then, he even cheered and clapped when he killed his own family with his own hands.”
What the burly, sausage-lipped man didn't know was that it wasn't that the boss had lost his will to fight. Rather, Xia De had mixed mental manipulation magic into his shadow magic. This kind of magic could strip a person of their will and fill them with pessimism, causing them to give up resisting and accelerating the devouring of their life force.
However, since Xia De wasn't here and the dead boss couldn't explain, this beautiful misunderstanding could only continue.
The burly, sausage-lipped man then turned his gaze toward Hilia. His greedy eyes sent a shiver of disgust down her spine. He licked his lips and grinned maliciously:
“But then again, running into an elf on this trip is an unexpected harvest. If I capture you and hand you over to the Bishop, it will be a grand achievement. After all, you are of her kin. Who knows, maybe we'll gain another companion!”
What! A Bishop of her own kin?!
Hilia immediately realized that there was a traitor among the elves. One had to know that the Elves and the demon race had been mortal enemies since ancient times, yet an elf had actually become a Bishop in the cult of the demon race!
But before Hilia could organize her thoughts, the burly, sausage-lipped man clenched his fists. Covered in black light, his bulky biceps bulged as he released the aura of a Tier Four, Rank Three combatant. Taking large strides, he swiftly lunged at Hilia with a punch, leaving behind a pit covered in web-like cracks on the ground.
Tier Four, Rank Three, Demon God Cult, Pugilist, Burly Sausage-Lipped Man vs. Tier Three, Rank Seven, Elven Archer, ?, Hilia
The battle begins!!!
Rate on N.U.
