Chapter 1288: The Explosions
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
For the high-ranking executor of the Cult of Armageddon, the former Taros n.o.ble, Count Willie, things started to get out of hand since many days ago.
The chain of events began a few months ago. The whisper of the great Lord Rockmarton in the nightmare world brought a sign to the believers, and what happened afterward had boosted their confidence. The prophecized end of the world seemed to be coming soon as the power of Chaos still prevailed when it was supposed to be receding. The border of the world of Order was faltering as the Sea of Carnos had produced an unprecedented powerful surge, bringing unmatched power to all followers of Chaos. At the same time, a so-called catastrophe of divine punishment had befallen Sanctum, wiping out the Cult of Armageddon’s greatest enemy—the foundation of the Theocracy. Everything unfolded just as the prophecy predicted: the world was a monotonous, meaningless spiral; someday, the power of the great Lord Lockmarton would break the cycle and show the real future of Collow.
At that time, Veronica had brought back an ancient guardian from deep inside the land of Chaos.
It was at that moment that things began to go out of hand and become strange.
The sacred relics from the Ca.s.souin Grand Temple, once thought to be lost, had reappeared. It was close to bringing down the holy land, but the unexpectedly powerful Ancient Guardian had derailed everything. The followers then fled the hinterland of Taros. When they were about to cross the southern hills, a burst of Light of Order coming from the direction of White City had wounded everyone. The followers finally found a place to recuperate in the tearing point of Chaos and completed a vital ceremony by harnessing the power of primordial energy nodes. But the group of knights and monks that came out of nowhere was right at their doorstep. It took them a while before they finally made it out but then met a mighty yet crazy female warrior.
Count Willie could not wrap his brain around who this crazy female warrior was. There was no love lost between the believers of Order and the followers of Chaos, but Willie had never seen anyone as hateful as Lily who wanted to tear people into pieces.
“Thief!” Lily cut into halves another unlucky one in front of her. She then yelled, “Return my plate! It belongs to my house!”
“Cover the executor!” A black armored warrior, covered in blood, rushed up and shouted, “Lockmarton is the greatest!”
Lily was already in a state of frenzy. She tore the high-ranking warrior, who was as strong as a werewolf, into two halves, and lunged at another black warrior and bit him to death before throwing the body before Count Willie. Count Willie looked up and saw a pair of beast-like golden eyes.
Lily’s combat style shocked the cultists. The cultists might be known for their madness and cruelty in the eyes of the humans, but Lily was of another level of madness and cruelty.
But this time, Lily was upset.s
Because she found it difficult to capture the ‘thief.’
These humans were weaker than her, but it was not a ‘level-distance’ disadvantage. Lily might look fearsome, but these cultists would not flinch. Instead, they continued to charge at Lily, and each time, they would successfully bog her down, so that the two thieves could escape.
Lily’s a.s.sistants, including the Raven Knights and the Sanctum Warriors, were tied up with the other cultists and unable to come to her help.
The melee had spread from the vicinity of the Horgus’ Hut as smoke from the magic explosions had shrouded the entire hillock.
The Raven Knights and the Sanctum warriors had formed a strong defense against the mad cultists who continued to launch suicide attacks against them. The war mages and the monks bombed the earth continuously, restricting the movement of the cultists. But the sorcerers among the cultists were occupying the Horgus’ Hut—a favorable spot on the hill; getting close to the building was not easy.
The abhuman guards of the alpha, which had magic-resistant skin and hair that was as strong as steel, were probably the only ones that could still move freely in the battlefield. They were trying to back up their leader, but Lily was farther away from them, cut off by a group of frenzied black warriors. These black warriors were comparable to the beasts in combat strength. So in trying to get close to the alpha, an ogre and two demonic wolves were injured and had to withraw from the battlefield.
Just when the battle fell into a stalemate, a strange whistle came from the battlefield.
Lily kicked an enemy away and turned to look in the direction of the whistling sound. She saw a small black dot, dragging a long tail of flame, piercing through the air before punctuating the roof of the Horgus’ Hut. A moment later, fire rose in the house as an explosion tore apart the nortwest corner of the house, sending debris and body parts flying out in all directions.
The sudden blast shocked everyone, but Lily’s eyes brightened up.
“It looks familiar. This style… Mr. Landlord is coming!”
It seemed to confirm Lily’s speculation; another whistle pierced through the air, and the sh.e.l.l landed on the ground next to the building. The blast instantly blew three members of the cult away before they could scream.
The battlefield became strangely quiet after the two explosions. Finally, someone heard a strange roar of a machine from a nearby hill. Everyone finally realized where the sh.e.l.lings came. A weird-looking battle tank, covered with heavy armor as if a double-decker bunker mounted with a cannon at the top, was swooping down a hillside. The battle tank fired another round, and the sh.e.l.l exploded on the hillock.
Lily suddenly jumped up in joy. “It is 59! Mr. Landlord’s Type 59 tank is rolling down the hill!”
At first, the cultists had no idea what was going on. But by now, even the stupidest people could see on which side of the battle tank was. In contrast to the discouraged cultists, cheers rose among the Raven Knights and the Sanctum warriors. They did not know where the tank came, but they knew that the alpha was excited for a reason. They figured that the steel monster must have something to do with the landlord that the alpha had been talking about all along.
The melee was still going on, and the triumphant atmosphere was s.h.i.+fting toward the Order’s side. The tank had come down from the other hill and now was climbing up the hillock. As the hatch opened on top of the tank, Hao Ren began to emerge from inside. Surprised to see the husky, who now looked like a forest fighter, Hao Ren waved frantically at her. “Lily!”
“Mr. Landlord is here to help!” The husky maiden jumped up in joy again. “Someone has stolen something from our home!”
Hao Ren had now spotted two familiar faces in the melee. One was Count Willie, who escaped from him days before, and the other was the former guardian Lavinia, who defected and went missing with the fruit plate. Here, they finally crossed paths with each other again.
Willie and Lavinia also saw Hao Ren. The duo, who might curse in all the vocabularies they had, were prepared to fight to their death. As professional cultists, they knew what it was like to fall into the hands of the enemy. So the duo had given up any possibility of peaceful settlement from the beginning.
The other cultists had the same thinking too. They had figured that the biggest threat was the mad female warrior, so with all their strength they lunged at Lily all at once and successfully pushed her back.
Hao Ren was hesitated to use the cannon fire now because he was worried that it could inflict an unintended casualty. In a split second, Hao Ren’s hand had grabbed something in the pocket, and he grinned—it was the spicy sticks.
Hao Ren tore the packaging open and tossed it directly toward Lily as he shouted, “Open your mouth!”
Lily, still struggling to fend off the annoying cultists, suddenly heard her landlord. She instinctively turned her head around and then jumped to catch the spicy strips.
It was a familiar formula and taste.
A strong wind suddenly blew on the hillock as a loud wolf howl rose. Those who heard the cry seemed to have seen an illusion of a bright moon appearing in the sky. The illusion was fleeting quickly. When the wind stopped and the moon faded, there was only a silver giant wolf standing on the top of the hillock.
The wolf skin of the alpha fluttered in the air before dropping to the ground.
Calaxus froze for a long moment as he muttered to himself, “It is the alpha, the real alpha wolf.”