Chapter 878: Rescue
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As a descendant of the Blood Race, his childhood was miserable and definitely unfit for a child. He witnessed his entire family being burned alive back then, and the hideous laughter of the culprits was deeply etched into his mind.
When his mother gave her life to protect him, she reminded him to avenge his family. As such, when the people of the Kaiser Empire found him and gave him the opportunity to take revenge, he sold himself to Solomon.
His powerful bloodline and the training of the Kaiser Empire eventually made him stand out, and he successfully became a Dandelion. After that, he no longer needed a soul or a future. The only thing he had to do was to complete all the missions that Solomon a.s.signed to him properly.
He used to think that he would kill everyone in the Federation without hesitation, but that was until he met w.a.n.g Zhong. His smile. The way w.a.n.g Zhong trusted him.
It was without any hesitation.
Every single day was changing him, but no matter what, his fate as a Dandelion could not be changed.
Betray Solomon, the person who saved him and helped him take revenge?
Betray w.a.n.g Zhong, the person who let him find his own soul and trusted him like a family member?
At this time, w.a.n.g Zhong had no idea of the danger lurking behind him. He, too, was faced with unknown choices.
The Octopus people’s Shadow Moon Fortress was very spectacular. w.a.n.g Zhong once saw the data of the old human civilization in the Middle Ages. The fortress was a bit similar to that, but its layout seemed a few centuries older. The front of the outer periphery of the castle was separated by a moat. There was a huge suspension bridge, but it was pulled up, half-suspended between the gate and the moat.
On its walls, bright lights could be seen s.h.i.+ning every 10 meters or so, and there were many guards stationed there. There were also tall watchtowers on both sides of the castle, and from time to time, ‘whoosh’ sounds could be heard coming from mid-air. Those were the sounds produced by large fleets of flying beasts, with the heads of birds and the bodies of lions. Humans called them Griffins. Due to their thick, strong wings and huge bodies, the Octopus people rode on them to patrol the skies. As such, many well-equipped Octopus people could be heard whoos.h.i.+ng about in the air. w.a.n.g Zhong had seen these beasts before on the day of the landing battle. They were the main part of the Octopus people’s air legion, with an average combat strength similar to level-six dimensional creatures. Paired up with powerful elite soldiers, they were rather impressive.
The streaks of blue on the city walls reflected how ancient this fortress was. The fortress was made from a very special material, and it looked like it had remained standing for tens of millions of years. Those s.h.i.+ning blue lights on the ancient city wall were seemingly impenetrable. They were unlike runes, but they had the same effect as runes. It looked like there was some kind of elemental law protecting the castle.
Although the Octopus people didn’t understand runes, their understanding of elements was far above humans’. Their arcane techniques were derived from using their understanding of fixed elemental powers to create formations. In fact, they were the same as runic arrays; the only difference was that the core forces that powered the formations were different.
This truly gave w.a.n.g Zhong a slight headache. Originally, with Mu Zi by his side, it felt like they could go anywhere in the whole wide world. WIth Mu Zi’s death aura as their cover, almost n.o.body other than Heavenly Souls would be able to see through it. However, it was merely a smokescreen after all. Although it was able to deceive the perception and sense of smell of living things, it could not deceive power itself. The nemesis of this method was literally ‘dead formations’. No matter how well one was able to conceal oneself, in front of a formation that only recognizes one’s energy form, it would be rendered useless immediately. It seemed that sneaking into the city under the cover of darkness was now a pipe dream for them.
w.a.n.g Zhong couldn’t help but frown as he tried to come up with other countermeasures. At the same time, Napier, who was holding the Night Vision Telescope, suddenly nudged his arm gently.
“Look at the east city gate,” he said in a low voice.
The Shadow Moon Fortress had four city gates; each one was located in east, south, west, and north, so it was accessible from all directions. w.a.n.g Zhong and the other two were currently near the north gate, and the east gate was actually extremely far away. After taking the Night Vision Telescope from Napier, a clear view of the originally dark and not quite visible east gate, which was a few dozen miles away, was displayed in front of w.a.n.g Zhong. It had to be admitted that being able to use advanced equipment truly had its benefits.
The security there was also tight, and the city gate was closed. However, in the open s.p.a.ce outside the city gate, there were two iron pillars with a height of four to five meters, and two humans were tied to the top of the iron pillars.
They were covered in wounds and bruises. It seemed as though they had been stabbed, whipped, and beaten. It was truly a b.l.o.o.d.y sight. At this time, their heads hung lifelessly from their bodies, and they seemed to be on the verge of death.
“Hyde Alexander! Noraba!” w.a.n.g Zhong identified the two humans immediately.
w.a.n.g Zhong and Noraba knew each other very well. As such, w.a.n.g Zhong was naturally able to identify him. As for Hyde, w.a.n.g Zhong had seen him several times during the Tyrants’ newcomer lectures. Not only was he the best among this year’s batch of dimensional people, but it was also said that he didn’t come from a simple background. He might not be considered wealthy in the Holy City, but he definitely had a lot of influence among the dimensional people. He had a good family background and had extraordinary talents, but he was neither ostentatious nor domineering and was a fairly traditional person. Although he wasn’t friends with w.a.n.g Zhong, at least he wasn’t the annoying kind of person. He was also one of the more important people on the list of the missing.
“They are openly tied up there. They are definitely trying to display their strength! These d.a.m.ned natives!” Napier couldn’t help but comment in a low voice.
A display of strength? This was Mizobudapi territory. Humans had yet to show a battle stance here, and their sphere of influence had yet to spread to this area. Was it truly a display of their strength? It was more like venting their resentment. The amount of hatred the Octopus people had against humans was definitely far from little. It had to be noted that the daytimes here were very hot, especially when the skies were clear. To be tied to the top of the iron pillars and exposed directly to the sun, one could only imagine the pain and agony they were in.
w.a.n.g Zhong and Mu Zi gave each other a knowing glance. This was most probably a trap, but one would never know without trying. If it was truly a trap, who were they waiting for? The mission a.s.signed to the Wanderl.u.s.t Team was only to acquire intelligence, not to rescue hostages. However, w.a.n.g Zhong came for Noraba. Seeing Noraba tied up in front of him, w.a.n.g Zhong definitely had to try his best to rescue him.
“Let’s move nearer to get a closer look first.”
The three of them bent low and walked through the wilderness. The patrol whoos.h.i.+ng across the skies clearly failed to spot them under the cover of Mu Zi’s death aura. If they wanted to remain unseen, they naturally had to move slowly. Although the east gate seemed extremely near through the Night Vision Telescope, it took them around two hours to get there as they had to circle around the fortress. By the time they were there, it was already nightfall.
The movements of the patrols in the skies also became less frequent. Most of the time, it was the lights from the observation decks which served as lookouts for incoming danger.
The three of them were in place. At this distance, even without the aid of the telescope, they could clearly see the two people bound to the iron pillars. It seemed that they were still breathing. However, they seemed lifeless and on the verge of death.
Along the way they came over, w.a.n.g Zhong had been observing the layout of the area with the Night Vision Telescope, and there seemed to be no anomaly. The security on the city wall was no tighter than in other places, and there was no sign of an ambush nearby. Everything seemed reasonable when he thought about it. Their enemies had no idea that they were coming after all. Why would they set a trap in a place where humans would never set foot on? Was it really like what Napier said? Were they just venting their hatred? Was this just a meaningless display?
Hu…
The color of Mu Zi’s pupils changed slightly. His left eye turned black, while his right eye turned white. The colorful world became black and white in his perception. All sorts of obstacles in this black-and-white world seemed to have turned invisible, and Mu Zi soon discovered that the trap was underground.
The two huge, towering ‘iron pillars’ were not really iron pillars, but thorn-like things that grew out of the heads of two strange creatures. The two creatures exuded a strong aura, and they were definitely peak level-six creatures. As such, their strength was not to be underestimated. They were currently lurking under the east gate. The hard ground was like a stream of water for them, seemingly not an obstacle for their physical movement at all. At this time, their heads were tilted, and their monstrous, b.l.o.o.d.y mouths were pointing upwards. Noraba and Hyde were bound to the two spikes like two baits. If any creature dared to rescue them or walk into that area, these two monsters would definitely swallow the creature up in a gulp.
“There are two Giant Abyss Monsters.”
After that, the strange black-and-white color in Mu Zi’s eyes slowly disappeared, and he came out from that state. Two days ago, he had seen creatures like this on the Holy City Army’s database. It was a bit like the anglerfish, which could be found in deep seas on Earth. They would use the light on their ‘whiskers’ to entice smaller fishes to approach, and then violently eat them. The Holy City Army had reported many sightings of them; some of which were wild, and some of which were reared by the Octopus people. Their strength was not really feared by the Holy City Army. The terrifying thing about them was their ability to conceal themselves and their alertness.
“Is there a way to hide from them?” w.a.n.g Zhong wasn’t too sure whether Mu Zi’s death aura could conceal them from the two Giant Abyss Monsters, let alone s.n.a.t.c.h the ‘food’ directly above their mouths. They did not fear these two level-six creatures, but once the sound of the fight alarmed the defending troops on the city wall, everything would be different.
“It should be okay to hide from these two creatures, but if they realize that the people tied up on the tips of their teeth are gone… After all, they are tied to the creatures’ body parts, so they will definitely realize that they are gone.”
w.a.n.g Zhong mulled over it and took out a huge thing from his s.p.a.ce crystal. That was the body of a wolf that he had killed in the jungle yesterday. According to the database, this thing was edible, and its taste was rather good. Originally, he had kept it as a ration. Now, he cut two large pieces of meat from the wolf’s body based on his estimation of Moraba and Hyde’s weight. Then, he wrapped them in clothes and said, “We can try replacing them with these to have more time. The Octopus people will probably not pay much attention to us.”
“I don’t think that’s enough. I am afraid that we will get found out once someone on the city wall notices them. I’m going to polish them up,” Napier said excitedly. He was very interested in making puppets, and he was talented in this field. The art of disguise and knowledge of cosmetics were the basics of puppetry.
There were many tools in Napier’s s.p.a.ce crystal as he loved applying makeup. Soon, the two b.l.o.o.d.y pieces of meat were transformed into two human figures by Napier. Of course, if one were to look closely, one would definitely be able to see through it, but under the cover of darkness and from such a far distance, they looked rather similar to Noraba and Hyde.
Mu Zi kept the two ‘dummies’ inside his s.p.a.ce crystal and got ready to move. As a wave of death aura covered Mu Zi entirely, he instantly disappeared. Even though he was clearly standing in front of the other two, Napier felt that Mu Zi had vanished without a trace. It was only until he heard a voice saying “I’m leaving now” that he realized that Mu Zi was still there. What’s more was that this realization was a very weird feeling. It was as though a stone had spoken. He was there, but you wouldn’t be able to notice him at all.