Chapter 144
: Standing Between Life and Death
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sound of the giant beast crus.h.i.+ng the trees as it expanded attracted the attention of the scouts from the supernatural realm.
“Aquimoro!” The person who snapped back to his senses the fastest was none other than the powerful warrior Casdia. Gripping his sharp sword, he leaped up about 200 to 300 meters into the air as if he was flying without warning. Looking down, he saw a giant lizard about 100 meters long that had been almost severed into two, swallowing a precious force from his own side. He could not help but become enraged as he brandished his sword down like thunder!
That giant lizard was none other than Zhang Lisheng’s wizard gu Island Dragon. He was brought to Hawaii by the young man and had been concealing its body as it followed beside Zhang Lisheng.
It was only when the owner was walking along the forest path to the volcano that the wizard gu was accidentally discovered by Altman when it was coursing through the forest. Afterward, it was even severely injured by Casdia and Julinas’ joint attack.
It was because of Island Dragon’s accidental injury that warned Zhang Lisheng of the existence of the enemies. Besides, due to the reason that it was hard for him to defeat the enemies this time, the young man did not command the wizard gu to initiate an attack.
It was only until he heard the horrifying cry of Carmine before his death that he felt that the archer would most likely kill him after he had finished his interrogation. Hence, Zhang Lisheng had no choice but to use the spell “connect” to swallow the enemy as a last resort.
The negative emotions produced by the archer it digested made the wizard power in Zhang Lisheng’s blood boil gradually. When the wizard gu that swallowed the archer from the supernatural realm obtained the nourishment from the powerful warrior, the wound on its body began to slowly recover in a speed visible to the naked eyes as well.
In such a situation where they had an advantage, the owner and the Island Dragon did not evade in the face of Casdia’s powerful sword strike. Under Zhang Lisheng’s command, the wizard gu raised its three scorpion tails that were 100 meters long and shot it towards the enemy in the air.
The wizard gu’s long tail and Casdia’s sword edge clashed with each other, letting out sharp sounds of collision. After a few rounds of clas.h.i.+ng, the Island Dragon began to gain an upper hand.
Unfortunately, Casdia was not the only scout who came from the supernatural realm. The reason the Island Dragon could portray such strength was all because of the omniscient power “expand, shrink” that Zhang Lisheng prompted it to cast using the “connect” spell, causing its body to swell up to its highest extent.
Very soon, Casdia’s reinforcements rushed over to his rescue one by one. Zhang Lisheng, who pretended to be nailed on the tree fainted as he had overdrawn the limit of the wizard power in his body already.
The situation quickly deteriorated. Right now, the only method left for the young man to escape was to command the Island Dragon to bring him out. However, the Island Dragon would not be able to cast the omniscient power “nihilate, solidate,” when it was carrying a person. Not only that, Zhang Lisheng felt that his chance of surviving should be less than 20% if he simply rode on the wizard gu if he was trying to escape from Casdia by relying just on speed alone.
“20% is still better than doing nothing as I wait for my death…” In the dark, Zhang Lisheng, who had a splitting headache, muttered to himself with a wry smile. However, when he was about to drive the Island Dragon to return to its normal size before grabbing himself to flee, he suddenly saw Alice, Annette, Ashley who were still alive following behind Altman as they appeared in front of him.
The young man’s heart gave a sudden jolt as he recalled how Carmine’s lover was slashed into half by Casdia’s sword just now. The reason he was killed was most likely because he was seeking for his own death by taking the initiative to attack and not because these people from the supernatural realm wanted to kill him to remove any witnesses.
With a quick whirling of his thoughts, he began to weigh the pros and cons of the situation again. Zhang Lisheng felt that in the case of a preplanned situation, by right, if they wanted to keep one prisoner alive, that person would most likely be him. Because of this, he gritted his teeth and began to change his mind.
After that, he took the initiative to squeeze the wizard power in his body till its last drop and finally used his thoughts to command the Island Dragon to run all the way towards the sea before letting himself black out.
When the Island Dragon was nourished by its owner’s fully exhausted wizard power, its body suddenly turned invisible before disappearing into the woods.
When Casdia saw how the giant lizard disappeared without warning once again, he, who was strenuously overpowered by the wizard gu, brandished his sword angrily and slashed the thick huge tree beside him. “It disappeared again! To think that it actually disappeared again! And this time, it even ate Aquimoro too…”
“Casdia, if you can’t keep your calm, then it may be you who would be eaten when it attacks again the next time,” Altman said in a deep voice. “The reason Aquimoro was killed this time was all because of his own conceitedness. I thought that the monster would become harmless after being fatally wounded but it has never crossed my mind that it could actually repair its wound by devouring animals and actually possesses a horrifying innate talent like the Gargantuan Spell…”
“Sage Altman, how can you blame yourself? It has never crossed any of our minds that the beast in this world where the devils live would actually be so strong. Speaking of which, such a powerful monster would definitely be known to all if it appears but the thing is that, none of these prisoners have ever heard of its existence before… How unbelievable…”
“You don’t have to doubt our words, Mr. Casdia. T-The government of our country is very ugly! That beast must be a biological weapon created through biogenetic technology. It’s impossible for ordinary people like us to know anything about it.”
Without warning, a trembling voice of refutation resonated in the woods. The person who spoke was none other than Kamil, the only best friend of Alice who was still alive. This introverted boy rarely talked when he was hanging out with his friends so he was easily overlooked. It was surprising that he would be brave enough to speak of his view vehemently.
What was more surprising was that his words were actually agreed upon by Altman. “Casdia, I don’t know much about this world yet but I understand just how ugly the government is. Kamil is right. Perhaps he and his friends really didn’t know anything.”
“T-Thank you for your understanding, Sage Altman…”
“Kamil, y-you’re crazy! This p-person has instructed his men to kill C-Charlot, Georgina, Bonnie, Carmine, and two more innocent people! H-He’s a killer! A murderer! B-But you actually thanked h-him?!” Alice, who was originally stupefied, suddenly yelled hysterically. “Y-You’re crazy! Are you crazy?!”
“Alice, their homeland was invaded by our government. The reason they came to our world is so that their country will not be ruined and their people will not be enslaved! They did not know who we are when they first met us…” Kamil was stunned for a moment before spouting out an eloquent and logical statement with a complicated look.
Altman smiled languidly as he watched Kamil’s emotionally wrought up and pridefully righteous expression not far away from him before whispering to the guard beside him, “Neluya, go check whether the yellow-skinned boy who was nailed to the tree is dead or alive. If he’s still alive, bring him to the volcanic area. Remember, he’s our most valuable prisoner so be careful and don’t let him get injured even more.”
“Understood, Sage Altman.” The strong warrior nodded before chasing Zhang Lisheng. After he touched the young man’s neck, he pulled out the arrows nailed on the tree and carefully carried the young man on his shoulder.
Just like this, Zhang Lisheng got his feeble life back easily. When he started to regain his consciousness dizzily, he realized that he was lying sideways beside a campfire, with Alice, Ashley, and Annette sitting beside him.
“Ugh…what the h.e.l.l? I just had a terrifying dream! I dreamt that a group of superpower thugs has attacked us and killed…” The young man shook his head with a bit of difficulty and put on a confused expression as he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
“It’s not a terrifying dream but a terrifying reality instead. The thugs who attacked us are just right there.” Alice pointed to another campfire not far away and replied with an absent-minded expression.
“Sh*t! The nightmare turned out to be true instead…” Zhang Lisheng sat up and began to look around. He realized that the towering volcano was already close to them. “This must be the volcanic area then. Ugh! This is f*cked up! I seem to be seeing your friend who is called Kamil chatting very well with the head of those thugs! What’s going on? Has he surrendered?”
“No, Kamil didn’t surrender. Those thugs are the soldiers and the defense advisor from the Red Iron Nation from a supernatural realm. According to them, their country has been invaded by America and so they came to our world for the purpose of collecting intelligence. After learning all of these, Kamil sympathizes with them a lot…”
“What the f*ck? We’re not shooting any sci-fi movie! Rather than saying that these madmen are professional soldiers and defense advisors from the supernatural realm, I’d rather believe they’re superpowered people who just broke out of the mental hospital… On top of that, they killed several of your best friends, right? Why would Kamil sympathize with their encounters instead?” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment before responding, not knowing whether to cry or to laugh.
As he was asking questions here and there, he had already controlled the Island Dragon that had escaped into the ocean far away with his thoughts. He began to command the wizard gu to hunt for fishes and shrimps so that it could heal its wound.
“I also don’t know what Kamil is thinking actually. His mindset has always been very strange since he was young. He opposes the government’s dumping of wastewater into the oceans and rivers, even the treated ones! He has also partic.i.p.ated in animal demonstrations and painted his entire body red with logos. He has even driven a hovercraft and slammed onto a whaling s.h.i.+p at sea before…”
“Oh, so he’s actually a guy full of justice…” As Zhang Lisheng was speaking, his tummy began to growl. “I’m starving! What do those mad men plan to do with us? They didn’t kill us, neither do they release us, so don’t tell me that they just want to starve us to death?”
“Now that you mention it, I’m hungry too. That’s right! Didn’t you have raw meat and iron plates in your backpack? If we’re quick enough, we can eat our barbecue soon.”
Those who had never experienced hunger before might feel that it was absurd for them to even have the mood to barbecue after the life-and-death situation just now but those who had experienced hunger before would understand just how important a meal was when one was really starving.
“Good idea.” Zhang Lisheng took off his backpack and took out the iron plate and raw meat. After that, he found that there was also a crushed wasp hive other than Mountoad in his bag.
Conveniently, he also took out the hive before digging out the wasp pupa and putting in his mouth while asking casually, “Do you guys want to have any?”
At this time, Alice and Annette were busy digging a hole in the volcanic ground with the iron plates and right now, Ashley no longer had the mood to curry favor with Zhang Lisheng so naturally, n.o.body else would want to eat such a disgusting snack.
Since n.o.body answered him, Zhang Lisheng dug the wasp pupa and threw it into his mouth all by himself. He knew that eating pupa was far more nutritious than the roasted meat. At this moment, storing even an extra ounce of nutrition might be the decisive key to victory in such a crisis.