1075 Escaping from the Tiger“s Den into the Wolf“s Nes
“Hahaha, I’ve escaped!”
A green ball of light floated in the s.p.a.ce storm. It was Traveler, who was protecting himself with a magic s.h.i.+eld.
At this point of time, he was no longer in the state of madness affected by Evil Convergence. Although his skin was still pale, he did not give off an evil vibe anymore. His mental state had also returned to normal, only filled with fear and frustration.
In order to ambush Clotti, Traveler had gathered the friends he had made in the secondary dimension in the past. He had thought that with a total of four Beyond Grade As, with the help of the fact that they were in the Evil Convergence secondary dimension, they would be able to force Dark Lord away at the very least.
However, reality slapped him right on his cheeks.
Clotti was way too strong. He had a Super High Risk Esper Ability to begin with, and it had evolved to a very high level. His area damage was explosive. Through simulating the phenomenon of a mini big bang with his dark energy, he thrashed the entire Evil Convergence secondary dimension and broke the s.p.a.ce wall from within.
If he was just powerful by himself, the four of them would still have had the chance to escape. However, what gave Traveler the most despair was the fact that Clotti had not just one but many Universal Treasures!
As a peak Beyond Grade A directly under the dynasty’s command and the personal guard of the Ruler, Clotti was not short on Universal Treasures. To make his mission easier, the dynasty had given him many Universal Treasures to use.
Before executing the mission, Clotti had taken five Universal Treasures from the dynasty’s stash, increasing his strength by a large extent. When he went all out, he easily killed three Beyond Grade As who had yet to surpa.s.s the 52,000 Energy Rank.
Traveler was the only one who had escaped with the help of the chaotic s.p.a.ce stream when his wife, the Evil Convergence secondary dimension, was being murdered.
Without Evil Convergence, his strength had plummeted back to the level of ordinary Beyond Grade As. His hard work over all these years had gone right down the drain. His heart was hurting so much it felt like someone was suffocating it.
However, one good thing was that the enemy could no longer track him using Evil Convergence. As long as he hid well, he would be safe.
“As long as I’m alive, it means I still have a chance.”
Traveler’s heart was filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
Furthermore, there was still hope of rising again…
Traveler lowered his head and opened his palm. An irregular shaped greenish-purple fragment lay quietly in his hands like a piece of gla.s.s.
This was the core fragment of Evil Convergence. As long as he planted it in another secondary dimension with a special method, there would be a chance for it to regrow into a new Evil Convergence. Only, it would take a very long time.
“All I have to do is avoid the Crimson Dynasty’s pursuit. When they give up, I’ll have more than enough time to recover. Looks like I’ll have to hide in the secondary dimensions for decades or maybe even a century… Fortunately, I still have a long life span.”
Traveler breathed a sigh of relief, cleared the shadow of failure, and motivated himself.
Surviving a disaster meant that fortune was ahead!
At this time, inside the s.p.a.ce storm, three cracks in the s.p.a.ce wall suddenly appeared. It was unknown which secondary dimensions they led to.
Inside s.p.a.ce storms, s.p.a.ce wall cracks were the only exits, or one would be forever lost inside chaotic s.p.a.ce streams.
“What a surprise to see exits so soon. Looks like my luck is about to change for the better.” Traveler’s eyes sparkled. Without hesitation, he directly chose one of the cracks and flew right in.
The next moment, the world in front of him changed into a secondary dimension filled with countless holes. Inside it were countless shattered black islands. It was dead silent.
Traveler pa.s.sed through the s.p.a.ce wall and fell into this secondary dimension. Before he could be glad about escaping death, he immediately saw a man and a woman inside the secondary dimension looking up at him. They were not wearing helmets.
When he saw their appearances, Traveler’s smile turned stiff on his face, and sweat ran down his forehead.
Black Star and Dragon Emperor!
What the h.e.l.l? Why are the two of them here?
I just escaped from one, now I’ve run into two more‽
Traveler’s eyes almost popped out. Before he could think of anything else, he immediately stopped his falling body and quickly returned the way he had come from, toward the chaotic s.p.a.ce stream above.
“Don’t run!” Ames reacted instantly. She reached out and pulled. A powerful force field grabbed onto Traveler’s body and pulled him to her.
Traveler was heavily injured to begin with. Furthermore, losing Evil Convergence had damaged him even more. He was in an extremely horrible state at this point and could not escape Ames’ force field at all.
“I can’t fall here!” Traveler ignored all consequences and used secret techniques to stimulate his exhausted mind and body. He forcefully started to generate magic energy and cast spells.
A teleportation gate started appearing beside him.
However, before he finished casting the spell, a sudden movement restricting force field interrupted his channeling.
Below him, Ames’ eyes that were usually lazy turned sharp and stared at Traveler. A force field overflowed from her brows.
Buzz!
Force Field: Gaze of the Dragon!
Traveler’s body was instantly fixed in midair!
Before he could respond, in the blink of an eye, Ames appeared before him using Void Travel. She raised her hand and softly pressed on his forehead.
The next second, a raging force field gushed out from Ames’ palm into Traveler’s body.
Force Field—Stress Tear Down!
The force field inside Traveler’s body pulled him in all directions, forming countless forces that reacted with each other.
Snap!
Countless sounds of bones cracking and muscles being torn apart sounded in Traveler’s body. An immense sense of agony erupted and flooded every single one of his nerves, so much so that he could not even control the contorted expression on his face.
Hong!
Flowers of blood exploded from every part of his body. He let out silent screams with his mouth opened wide as he bathed in blood.
His heavy injuries immediately got even worse.
This time, with coldness in her eyes, Ames raised one leg. A highly condensed force field formed an extremely sharp cutting force on her calf as she slashed down.
Force Field—Dragon Axe!
Swoos.h.!.+
Ames’s long leg slashed down from Traveler’s shoulder. Like a hot knife cutting through b.u.t.ter, Traveler’s entire arm was cut away!
She did not give Traveler any chance to respond. Following the momentum, she stepped on Traveler’s neck and dashed down, falling onto a shattered black island below, pressing the barely alive Traveler under her foot.
Only this time did Han Xiao slowly fly over and look at the fearsome expression on Ames’ face with surprise.
“How come you’re so violent all of a sudden? It’s not like you.”
Without turning around, Ames stared at the Traveler below her foot and coldly said, “When Hila was being attacked, he came to attack Black Star Palace. I did not know what was going on; only afterward did I roughly guess that he wanted to lure your Lord’s Avatar out to divert your energy. However, you planned ahead and told me to stay in Black Star Palace, which prevented it from happening.”
Facing Traveler, Ames did not hold back at all. Not only because Traveler was on the side of those enemies who tried to kill Hila but also because these people had forced Han Xiao to pay the price of burning his potential. From the way she looked at it, Han Xiao did not talk about it because he did not want Hila to feel bad. Ames understood Han Xiao’s intentions, but she never forgot it.
In her eyes, this trip to the secondary dimension was mainly to stroll with Han Xiao, but part of it was also to look for Traveler and make him pay.
Once they met, Ames immediately went all out without hesitation.
Han Xiao tutted, looked at the heavily injured Traveler on the ground, and chuckled. “Yoho, what a lucky day it is today. I was just thinking about looking for you, but you came right to me.”
Veins were exposed on Traveler’s frustration- and hatred-filled face.
After finally getting out of Dark Lord’s nightmare, he came right to Black Star’s barrel.
He had escaped a tiger’s den and entered a wolf’s nest!
After such extreme fluctuations in his mood, Traveler was completely exhausted and did not even have the energy to complain about how unfair fate was to him.
Being so unlucky, he had nothing to say and could only let out a long sigh in his mind.
This means the world wants me dead!
Han Xiao looked at the wounds caused by Dark Lord on Traveler’s body and asked curiously, “Who did you meet? How did you end up so heavily injured?”
Traveler kept silent and looked like he was not afraid of death. When he was not affected by Evil Convergence, he was quite sane. Since he knew he would not have the slightest chance of surviving, he was not planning to beg for mercy.
“Yo, you’ve got quite the backbone.” Han Xiao chuckled. “However, I wonder how the Star Arc Civilization will react to your death. You don’t have to deny it. Since I can accurately name the civilization you work for, I’d have enough proof for it.
The moment Han Xiao said that, the expression on Traveler’s face changed drastically into disbelief as he looked at Han Xiao.
When he moved in the outside world, he had always disguised himself as a neutral Beyond Grade A who accepted hires from different civilizations, all to cover the fact that he belonged to a Super Star Cl.u.s.ter civilization. His true ident.i.ty had always been a secret. The Star Arc Civilization was indeed the Super Star Cl.u.s.ter civilization he secretly worked for, and the outside world had no idea.
This way, no matter what he did, nothing would be connected to his civilization. This was also the reason he could mess around without having to worry.
However, the ident.i.ty he had always been hiding was suddenly exposed by Han Xiao. He immediately lost his cool and panicked.
Subconsciously, he wanted to deny it, but having heard Han Xiao’s certain tone and seeing his expression, it was clear that this was not a trick. He did indeed have hard proof.
“H-how did you…”
“How did I know?”
Han Xiao finished his sentence, smirked, and said, “Sorokin told me.”
Initially, he was just throwing the blame on someone else out of habit. However, Traveler’s reaction surprised him.
“I knew it!” Traveler clenched his teeth. “He noticed something. The upper echelons shouldn’t have worked with him!”
Hmm? Sorokin really is involved in this too? Han Xiao was the one who was slightly shocked this time.
He had thought that it was the Super Star Cl.u.s.ter civilization that wanted to escalate the conflict between the three Universal Civilizations. He did not expect Sorokin to be related to Traveler coming to attack Black Star Palace.
Looks like I’ve accidentally discovered some interesting information…
On the surface, Han Xiao’s expression remained the same as he smiled and said, “Since I know your ident.i.ty, you’d better tell me everything from the beginning. Otherwise, you know the consequences. The Star Arc Civilization will be blamed for all of this. I, however, might be able to help you with that.”
If Traveler was all alone, he would be able to face death without any worries. However, according to the information Han Xiao had from his previous life, Traveler was absolutely loyal to the Star Arc Civilization. Now that what he cared about most was exposed, Han Xiao had control of his weakness.
Furthermore, Traveler hated Sorokin deeply for telling this to Black Star and was worried he might tell even more people. Hence, he told the truth about the agreement he had with Sorokin.
This was not just compromising. He was also trying to use this to direct Black Star’s hate toward Sorokin. He was hoping this would indirectly lead to Han Xiao killing Sorokin.
Traveler explained everything truthfully from the start. Only then did Han Xiao see the full picture of this incident. He caressed his chin and said with a deep voice, “Sorokin… so you’re the one who convinced the Super Star Cl.u.s.ter Alliance. Plus, you’re on the opposite side of the united Beyond Grade A battlefront…”
Connecting the information Traveler gave with the limited information he had from his previous life, Han Xiao roughly understood Sorokin’s true intentions.
All that about maintaining balance of the universe and Beyond Grade As knowing when to be satisfied, he was just hiding his own ambition.
There were two paths to higher power. One was to become stronger and step into the higher territory; the other was to reduce the number of compet.i.tors. Sorokin took the latter approach. From the way Han Xiao looked at it, this guy would love for the universe to have fewer than ten Beyond Grade As. He basically wanted to have all the power alone.
The fewer high-level combatants, the less resistance he would face, which led to him wanting to reduce the numbers of Beyond Grade As. Hence, he used factions’ differences to trigger conflicts between Beyond Grade As.
Han Xiao had always been wary of Sorokin. Only, he never really knew his goals for sure. Now that he finally knew about Sorokin’s goal, this meant that this powerful foe who was hiding in the dark plotting conspiracies was exposed, and he would be able to make more comprehensive preparations against him. Having thought of that, he was in a much better mood.
Putting all those thoughts behind him, Han Xiao pointed at Traveler’s wounds and asked, “What about your wounds? Who’s chasing you?”
Traveler glared at Han Xiao with sorrow and rage. He clenched his teeth and said, “Dark Lord from your Crimson Dynasty!”
“Hmm? He’s here too?” Han Xiao was surprised. As he recalled that Dark Lord had just quit from being the captain of the Ruler’s personal guards, it occurred to him.
It seemed the Dynasty Ruler was not happy about the temporary cooperation between the federation and the church. Plus, there were the issues surrounding the Flickering World and the Evolutionary Totems. She wanted to set an example for high-level combatants. Hence, she sent Dark Lord after the enemy to send a warning to those organizations with ulterior motives… Speaking of which, to peak Beyond Grade As at Dark Lord’s level, the position of personal guard captain was more of a chain than a benefit.
Hearing how Clotti easily shattered Traveler’s ambush, Han Xiao could not help but praise him.
Han Xiao thought for a while and activated the King mechanical suit’s communication system. He found the Crimson Dynasty’s A000 Outpost Station and called in.
Unlike the main universe, the secondary dimension was not covered by the quantum network, so many areas had no signal. However, Han Xiao took a super long-range quantum base station with him everywhere he went, so this was not a problem. Clotti also wore the dynasty’s specially-made mechanical suit that was equipped with a fixed directional communication device that allowed him to contact the dynasty’s outpost station any time. This also prevented him from going missing. Hence, Han Xiao decided to call the dynasty’s outpost station and ask them to direct the call to Clotti.
Since Traveler was Dark Lord’s mission target, Han Xiao felt that he had to notify Clotti about it, or he would think Traveler had escaped and would continue to waste energy in the secondary dimensions searching for him.
After a while, the communication finally went through. Clotti’s remote projection appeared in front of him. He was frowning.
“Black Star, what are you calling for?”
They were both pillars of the dynasty, but due to the differences in their positions and ident.i.ties, the communication between them had been very limited. The relations.h.i.+p was also not close, limited to just work colleagues.
“Traveler is here with me. I’ve captured him…”
Han Xiao briefly explained the situation.
After Han Xiao finished, Clotti replied with very few words. “I’ll go there to confirm.”
“Okay.” Han Xiao paused and sent the coordinates to Dark Lord.
Clotti nodded and slowly said, “By the way, when Traveler escaped, he took a core fragment of Evil Convergence. Search carefully. It should still be in his hands.”
Then, his remote projection disappeared as he hung up the call, showing no intention of chatting.
“How unfriendly,” Han Xiao murmured. He then turned to look at Traveler, extended his hand, and said, “Core fragment, take it out.”
Traveler clenched his teeth, reluctantly took out Evil Convergence’s core fragment, and handed it over to Han Xiao like giving his wife away.
Han Xiao placed it in his hand.
This was the key for Traveler to summon Evil Convergence, like the lamp core of the Shadow Lantern. With the core fragment as the medium, one could use the special energy of the respective secondary dimension.
However, now the Evil Convergence was no more, this core fragment could only be used as the tinder. However, knowing the crazed state Traveler was in when he used it, he had no plans to become the new husband of Evil Convergence.
Han Xiao kept this loot and thought about how to deal with Traveler.
According to him, the best was, of course, to seal him in s.p.a.cetime Amber. However, Dark Lord’s mission was to kill him, and it did not seem like Ames would be satisfied with that result either.
Buzz!
As he was thinking, the senses of all three of them felt the appearance of a new signal.
The three of them looked over simultaneously and saw that the s.p.a.ce wall in the distance had cracked open, and a small fleet came out of it.
Before the three of them had time to think, this fleet briefly adjusted its direction and turned right toward the three of them. It was clear that they were not there on friendly terms.
Inside the main s.h.i.+p command room, Law stared at the confused Han Xiao on the screen and yelled, “We’re correct this time. That’s Black Star! All fleets, lock onto the target. Prepare to fire!”