Book 3 Chapter 10.4 - Net
The blood flowing out of Sarton's body actually listened to his instinctive call? In addition, during the final moments of the battle just now, Su could clearly sense that his own body had some type of reaction to Sarton's. When this type of reaction was established, Sarton's power began to quickly decrease, granting Su the opportunity for the decisive strike. Otherwise, the battle would have persisted for another twenty seconds, and Su's injuries would be roughly a tenth worse. This tenth couldn't be underestimated, because it meant that even if Su devoured Sarton's corpse, he would only be able to temporarily preserve his life. He wouldn't have been able to head for the Town of Trials at all. Without any food or treatment within two days, Su would similarly die.
Su lightly moved about his body, feeling that his injuries have already recovered a bit, to the extent where he even had a bit of fighting ability left. From the rate of decomposition and absorption, the efficiency of the blood that was called over was much higher than that from when he was sucking it out of Sarton's body. In addition, many substances in Sarton's blood were usable by Su, directly becoming a part of his body's tissues. This was the main reason he was able to quickly recover!
Su gave the droplets of blood that were still wriggling about on his hand in search of injuries a look, and then he gently placed them onto his tongue. The feeling his tongue brought him was a refreshing one. After making contact with his tongue's mucous membranes, it immediately lost activity, becoming pure nutrients that were brought to various parts of his body through his own bloodstream.
He already differentiated that this drop of blood's taste was entirely different from Sarton's. It could be said that it had become a completely new life form. He suddenly recalled Persephone mentioning intruder cells when he had joined the Black Dragonriders, a strange type of cell that had previously appeared on his own body. Could it be that Sarton's sudden weakness at the final moments and his blood's strange transformations were related to the intruder cell?
However, Su didn't have time to consider the problem of intruder cells. After carrying out a few simple movements that involved his body's crucial areas, he began to slowly run towards the Town of Trials at a constant speed of ten or so kilometers an hour. This speed wasn't fast, but this was the speed that would allow him to last until he reached the Town of Trials and also leave him with the lowest level of fighting strength. With his body's current situation, he could perhaps take down one or two arbitration officials with him. After all, the intruder cells weren't omnipotent, and right now, Su's injuries were merely sealed up.
After running a certain amount of distance, Su turned back again. After a wave of hesitation, his right hand deeply inserted into Sarton's chest. When he slowly pulled it out, a large gemstone was in his hands. Only then did he continue towards the Town of Trials.
When he was two kilometers away from the Town of Trials, Su found a rather inconspicuous pile of rocks. From within, he fetched a palm sized packet. There was a miniature communication device, a stimulant injection, and a small bottle of neurotoxin that was effective against most living things. Su injected the stimulant into himself and reapplied poison to the blade. Then, he started up the device, calmly recorded a short message, and then sent it out. The green light flashed a few times on the communication device, and then it turned red before fading. This meant that this message was successfully sent to Dragon City, and the reception installation on Helen's side would pick it up. After sending this short message, the energy left in this communication device was already used up, but it had completed its task.
Even if Helen immediately received his message and decided to make a move to hurry over to the Town of Trials, it would still take two hours. At that time, it would most likely already be too late. Even though Sarton's twelve hours weren't up yet, Su wouldn't wait that long. The message he sent was simply to inform Helen and Persephone what had happened here before.
Ten minutes later, in the Town of Trials' surroundings that was shrouded in near absolute darkness, Su's figure appeared.
He didn't have the strength to kill the arbitration official with a single strike, and he had completely lost the ability to hide his aura. It was to the extent where he couldn't make any extreme movements. However, based on his memory of the terrain, his grasp of the surroundings, as well as his deep understanding of combat, Su still closed in on the church.
What was somewhat comforting was that a steady and warm lighting continued to seep out of the small church, no different from how it was before he fled. A gleam of hope quietly bred within his heart. Perhaps they hadn't obtained Madeline's body yet.
However, there seemed to be some difference between the current Town of Trials and how this place was when he lead Sarton away. It was exceptionally quiet here, quiet to the point of almost becoming deathly silent. Previously, Su would occasionally detect the aura of one or two arbitration officials that patrolled around the town, but now, he couldn't detect the slightest bit of life force. The church was the only place flourishing with life force, being no different from how it was before.
Inside the small church, Guile was nervously pacing back and forth, looking at the pocket watch Sarton left behind almost every minute. This old-fashioned pocket watch was not only an instrument for measuring time, but also a powerful explosive, powerful enough that it could level half this small town.
Guile already waited here without doing anything for almost ten hours, but Sarton still didn't send him any information, as if he completely vanished. Didn't Lord Sarton say that he was just going to catch a mouse? Why was he taking so long then? Forget about a mouse, enough time had already passed for him to capture every mouse in a circumference of several tens of square kilometers. Towards Sarton, who he had followed for more than ten years, Guile felt an almost worshipping level of confidence. Apart from Mitchels and those terrifying existences in the Blood Parliament, he didn't think there was anyone who was Lord Sarton's opponent.
Guile who had a rather explosive temperament hated waiting the most, but this time, he had waited for almost ten hours! He barely still remembered the importance of this mission. Even though Peperus was hanging right there, he didn't walk over and vent out his feelings. Raping a woman right now wasn't a good idea. Even though he had many six levels and a seventh level Combat Domain ability, he still wasn't willing to waste the slightest bit of strength during these critical moments.
He glanced over at the four curse masters by the blood pond. Right now, their entire bodies were shaking, and their chanting of curses were starting to become sporadic. The four individuals' bellies were swollen as if they were pregnant women who were about to give birth. However, the bottom of the blood pond was starting to appear, and from Guile's angle, through the surging blood waves, he could already vaguely see an enormous square shaped metal object that looked like a coffin.
Did that devil really die? When he saw the coffin, this thought couldn't help but emerge in Guile's mind. As a member of the Trials Division, Guile's fear towards Madeline had already reached the limit. Even though he had heard that what laid behind the terrifying armor was a devastatingly beautiful woman, Guile couldn't gather the slightest bit of improper thoughts towards her. It was to the extent where he felt it was better to not think about anything related to her.
After wiping away the sweat that continuously seeped out from his forehead, Guile felt as if every minute and second that passed was incomparably tormenting. To pass time, he repeated the important parts of this mission again and again: First, empty the blood pond until Madeline's body was revealed. Second, regardless of what kind of state her body is in, fish her out from the blood pond. Third, retreat. Fourth, kill all arbitration officials that participated in this operation.
Right now, the coffin that contained Madeline's body had already appeared, but even though there was still a thin layer of blood, Guile still didn't dare jump into the blood pond and try to salvage it. Not long after Sarton left, Guile had already been excited by Peperus' words until he almost jumped into the blood pond to bring what laid within out. Perhaps others might fear the poison inside the blood pond, but he wouldn't. His Combat Domain's sole seventh level ability was poison immunity. Of course, it wouldn't make him immune to all poisons, but most known poisons would be ineffective against him. Before jumping into the blood pond, he still revealed a slight bit of intelligence. He used an alloy stinger to try the blood pond. Then, he saw the bloody mist suddenly suge and tightly wrap itself around the alloy stinger! In addition, this stinger that was so hard that it could pierce through tank armor became a pile of ashes in under five seconds of time before falling inside the blood pond. A while later, a layer of metallic liquid appeared, smeared onto the pond's walls by the waves of blood.
Guile's face became as white as paper. No matter how arrogant and conceited he was, he still wouldn't believe his body to be more sturdy than that alloy stinger. In addition, judging from the speed which the bloody mist displayed when it devoured the stinger, Guile's end might be the same if he showed the slightest bit of carelessness. Only the four Magic Domain curse masters who Mitchels found from who knows where, under their magical robes that could isolate the bloody mist, could safely sit by the edge of the blood pond.
In reality, the power of the blood pond had been displayed when they first discovered it. The three arbitration officials that excavated the blood pond, together with their tools, had already become a part of this crimson liquid. However, back then, the blood pond looked a bit calmer, and its power didn't reach a tenth of its current state. That was why Guile couldn't be blamed for looking down on it.
"Fuck, why hasn't Lord Sarton returned?" Guile roared inwardly, helplessly spitting out a ball of hot white air. Just as he was about to walk another circle around this place for the umpteenth time, he suddenly stopped moving and stared at the sermon platform with shock.
On top of the sermon prayer, an elder had appeared unknowingly when. He wore a black swallow-tailed coat and perfectly straight trousers. His leather shoes didn't have a speck of dust on them, and every lock of his snow white hair was combed meticulously. His appearance didn't match this ruined, dull gray church that was full of bloodiness and coldness at all.
The elder stooped down slightly, looking towards this blood pond in a somewhat spellbound manner. However, the four curse masters that were sitting right by his side seemed completely oblivious to this. The curse masters were concentrating all of their attention on the mysterious struggle against this blood pond, not paying any attention to their surroundings. However, aside from these curse masters, there were eight whole arbitration officials! They seemed to have gone stupid, showing no reaction towards this old man's appearance at all!
Guile suddenly felt as if inside of this entire small church, he was the only one that could see this old man!
From this elder who was dressed formally and orderly, he couldn't see the slightest trace of ability. However, Guile still felt a suffocating pressure. He felt as if his sight became a bit blurry, as if there was just something not right with the old man's figure. After carefully looking him over, only then did Guile notice that there was less than a centimeter of distance between the elder's feet and the ground. He was calmly floating in midair.
The elder's levitation, seriously speaking, wasn't all that special. There are many abilities in the Magic Domain that would bring about a temporary floating effect. The other four ability domains also had abilities that allowed one to more or less float in the air. Even Guile, when his abilities were activated, could produce a similar floating effect.
It wasn't like the floor was lava, so why did this elder have to float in the sky? Was he trying to use this to confuse others? If it was anyone else, this might have been what Guile felt.
However, every movement this elder produced made Guile's heart rate speed up, to the extent where even this normal levitation brought him this type of feeling. This bald robust man naturally wouldn't know that this elder in front of him spent every minute and second levitating like this!
"You… what kind of person are you?!" As soon as the words came out, Guile noticed that his voice was dry, rough, and extremely unpleasant to listen to. In addition, he was also stuttering. Even in front of great individuals like Sarton or Mitchels, Guile wouldn't forget himself like this.
When he heard Guile's question, the elder didn't move at all and continued to look at the blood pond. He said differently, "About to suck the blood pond dry already. Not bad!"
"Who exactly are you?!" Guile shouted forcefully. His body's muscles swelled, and veins began to throb on his shining bald head. In the blink of an eye, Guile already gathered all of his power and was ready to fight. Meanwhile, the initial bit of fear he felt had already completely vanished.
Guile's thunderous voice shook the entire church. Only then did those arbitration officials seem to wake up from their daze. They all stared at the elder that appeared out of thin air with stupefied expressions!
The elder finally stood up. He turned around, and with a meaningful smile, he said, "Don't ask me such useless questions."
Guile's roar suddenly sounded. He didn't attack the old man and instead pressed down on the pocket watch's button before throwing it towards the blood pond with all his strength!
The old man slowly and gracefully fetched a snow white towel from his jacket's pouch. He placed it over his hands, and then he grabbed the pocket watch. The cloth then completely wrapped around the pocket watch.
A hint of an evil grin appeared on Guile's face. He understood quite clearly just how powerful the pocket watch was. With the olden era's standard, this pocket watch that contained power equivalent to a hundred tons of TNT could raze half of the Town of Trials to the ground. In addition, under this type of distance, even Guile would suffer serious injuries even if he focused completely on defense. If he was unlucky, there was even a chance that he might be permanently crippled! That old fellow actually dared to grab it in his hands?
The explosion was just like how Guile expected.
The cloth in the elder's hand suddenly expanded, and its volume immediately swelled up several times, causing the elder's slender yet powerful fingers to move slightly. One could even see the scorching red and blue-white alternating flames of explosion!
However, the elder smiled and closed up his five fingers, unexpectedly clenching the cloth into a small ball!
The elder loosened his hands and shook the cloth a bit, scattering down a bit of clear smoke and ashes.