Chapter 1260: The Capture
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren was glad that he had narrowly escaped the attack, but he did not ease up.
His s.h.i.+eld was not indestructible. Plus, his s.h.i.+eld’s capacity had been declining throughout the battle earlier.
Although the warriors used ordinary weapons, their combat effectiveness was still astonis.h.i.+ng. Collow had its own special power system. There, ordinary people could gain superhuman strength through special training methods and power infusion. Filled with all kinds of energy, their swords were no less powerful than ordinary werewolves or demon hunters, and some of their special skills could also bring considerable damage. Hao Ren was immune to most magic in the Plane of Dreams, but he could not escape the damage beyond the magic. So, the warriors’ a.s.sault did hurt him to the max.
If the siege had doubled, and Hao Ren had no time to prepare his various ma.s.s-destruction weapons, he would have had to run away.
Unfortunately for them, their trump card was not a fighter, but a wizard with zero lethality towards Hao Ren.
Actually, there was no problem with this arrangement. In Collow, the most lethal combat professions had always been the magic units, especially the wizards. Although wizards were too weak to be trained as a.s.sa.s.sins, with adequate preparation, only wizards could hit ambushed targets nearly 100% of the time. The reason for this was, the warriors of Collow had a single means of attack and lacked the ability to control the situation. Meanwhile, wizards had a wide range of magical skills to bury enemies under endless spells.
Most of the warriors had already been destroyed in the battle, and the three remaining fighters were clearly not a threat. Every wizard, except Lamore, had died of exhaustion and the overflow of magic power. The ambush was finally settled, but Hao Ren still had many issues to figure out.
He looked around and frowned: Count Willie was gone.
The count was clearly the man behind the scene. Based on what he said moments ago, it seemed that this “young talent” was absolutely the hidden threat lurking within the kingdom. Hao Ren could make a vague guess, but he was still confused.
Now, Hao Ren could only focus on Lamore and the three fighters.
The old wizard had been weakened by two consecutive shocks of mana exhaustion as well as the poison of the Abyssal Tear. He collapsed to the ground, his face pale and trembling. Great beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. The three soldiers raised their swords immediately after they saw that Hao Ren had turned his eyes to them. However, it was more like an instinctive reaction.
A monster immune to “forbidden magic”; this was beyond their mental endurance capacity.
“You certainly didn’t think this through,” Hao Ren approached Lamore and spoke in a condescending manner.
Lamore had no strength to move, but he was not terrified. Perhaps he knew that fear would not help. “You are not an ancient guardian. What the h.e.l.l are you?”
Hao Ren raised his eyebrows and asked, “Why do you say that? Have you ever seen a true ancient guardian?”
“I have not, but the ancestors of the cult did not see any magic-immune freaks when they destroyed the Ca.s.souin Grand Temple a thousand years ago…” said Lamore, coughing violently. “…This… This is not the kind of power a mere mortal would possess. You are a monster based on the laws of the world… Ha, so, you’re just like us…”
Hao Ren frowned. “The cult? You? Who the h.e.l.l are you? Why did you attack me?”
Lamore’s expression changed. “You really don’t know?”
Hao Ren shrugged. “How would I know? All I know is that you’ve had a wicked plan from the beginning.”
“Is that Veronica just a…” Lamore laughed miserably. “Ah… That’s what happened. Fate is a cruel thing. We have acc.u.mulated our numbers and operated for so many years, and this is how it ends.”
“It looks like I’m involved in a big conspiracy,” Hao Ren said with a poker face. Then he took out several sets of shackles from his Dimensional Pocket. “Well, we can get Veronica and her father to look into it when we get back. They must be glad that I dragged you out. These shackles were meant for Willie, but he’s fled, so now, I can only use them on you.”
Lamore was stunned by the shackles. “You… You didn’t…”
“I never believed what Willie told me.” Hao Ren grinned. “I came here just to see what surprise he had prepared for me. Ha, Wolfwalker? What a joke!”
Lamore looked at Hao Ren as if he were a ghost. “How could it… There should be no flaws in this story! We were sure that it fit your description perfectly, and there were no unnecessary details to be found! Who the h.e.l.l are you?”
“It’s simple. There is no such thing as a Wolfwalker from a thousand years ago. At first, I thought there was a werewolf in this world who looked like my friend, but the closer your description of her was to what I said, the less I believed it. I understood it completely when you took out the portrait. It’s all just a hoax.”
Lamore just looked at Hao Ren coldly without saying a word.
“It looks like you’re not going to say anything, so let me guess…” Hao Ren looked at the three warriors with cold eyes so that the three of them did not dare to act rashly. He then turned to look at Lamore. “You mentioned Veronica just now… So you attacked me not because of my ident.i.ty as the ancient guardian, but because of the princess?”
Lamore refused to respond.
“What have I done? Ah, because of my intervention, Veronica, who was supposed to die in Chaos, returned safely. I think I must have ruined your plans, hence you think I’m a great threat. Or, do you think that I purposely came here to ruin your plans?” Hao Ren asked while he touched his chin. “Wait, that doesn’t seem quite right. The reason isn’t sufficient enough. You should have a bigger and clearer motive to explain a battle of this scale. It’s not easy to have a count as a p.a.w.n at the top of the kingdom. I don’t believe Willie would so willingly be used a p.a.w.n.”
Lamore remained silent.
“I think you should know what happened to Princess Ania and Prince Andrew. Well, that seems to connect; you have a big appet.i.te. What do you want? Power? Status? The whole country? Or are you just trying to subvert it? Your actions seem irrational, and I’m really curious.”
Lamore sneered with disdain and said, “Well, I thought you were a real know-it-all, but you’re just an ordinary man. You don’t know anything at all.”
“An ordinary man? My status is much higher than yours. I have an ID card.”
Then he picked up the super-alloy shackles and looked at the warriors next to him. “You guys, handcuff yourselves or let me do it? Oh, you probably don’t know how to use this…”
Before Hao Ren finished his words, the three warriors suddenly shook at the same time and fell to the ground.
Hao Ren was shocked. He rushed forward to check on them, only to find that all three had stopped breathing. They had shattered their guts with a special technique. It was probably a suicide technique they had been training for.
“What the f*ck?!” Hao Ren was dumbfounded. He then grabbed Lamore by the neck and threatened, “You’re not going to kill yourself! Do you believe that I can keep your brain alive even after I dig it out?”
Lamore coughed and said, “Don’t worry… I have no strength to kill myself.”
Hao Ren did not believe the old wizard. The old wizard was now the last survivor, so he immediately handcuffed the man and activated the nerve suppressor on the shackles. That way, the old man could not try to kill himself even if he wanted to.
At that moment, he suddenly saw the dust rising in the distance. Cavalry troops were running towards them, carrying the emblem of the Taros Royal Family.