Right now, he had practically no resistance at all to anything. He didn’t know how long the conflict would last, and the intense pain inside his body made him unable to even think clearly. He clenched his teeth and forced himself not to make any sound.
At first he could force himself to move at high speed, but to think that after activating his regeneration skill, it backfired instead and resulted in his whole body going stiff, rendering him immobile. If he knew that earlier, he wouldn’t have activated his regeneration skill here!
Now any totem user, or even a non-totem user, any normal person who was just a little stronger than average, would be able to easily end him.
Listening as the steps slowly moved away, Garen, however, heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that guy just now had left already.
Sploosh!
Suddenly he heard the sound of something heavy dropping into the water beside him.
Garen’s whole body stiffened.
He tried his hardest to turn his head, looking at the totem he had kept in his pocket. It had actually fallen out, sliding into the water beyond an edge nearby.
His clothes had been burnt away by the flames, and his front had been more or less carbonized. A large hole had been burned into the side pocket, and that was how the totem fell out.
"Who!!"
A man’s voice abruptly stopped.
The voice sounded rather familiar, actually.
Garen’s heart skipped a beat, and then he suddenly remembered, it was that Valerie’s voice.
"What’s he doing here!?" He resisted the pain and tried to analyze the situation, but the pain came in waves, making him unable to concentrate.
Valerie carefully glanced around the whole cave, there seemed to be some movement amidst the splashing of the water just now. He was slightly uncertain.
It wasn’t easy for him to escape that damned base. Thank goodness for Goth’s explosion, which blocked the totem users on the chase. The two sides were now embroiled in battle.
Upon discovering what this situation in this hideout, Valerie connected all the scenes and decorations he had seen along the way, thinking he had seen something similar in his teacher’s notes.
After thinking about it carefully, he suddenly remembered, this was very likely the secret base of some Phantom Light totem users.
After Goth started fighting the enemy leader, the others were in shock but all Valerie could think of wasn’t how amazing Goth’s abilities were, but what treasures might be hidden in this base!
The main powers were being distracted by Goth, so the back must be even more empty and unguarded.
While everyone was distracted, he quietly left from behind, ducking into another branch in the tunnel, attempting to go around behind the totem users.
After proceeding quickly down this tunnel for some time, he realized he was right when no one stopped him. Ecstatic, he increased his speed, and soon entered this cave.
But there seemed to be someone here.
Valerie’s heart sank.
He was worried there would be someone here! If he were to be discovered and the alarm raised, they would come from both sides, and he would be immediately surrounded. When that happened, he would be dead before he even knew what was happening.
The voice seemed to comev from over there.
Valerie’s gaze was aimed at the direction where the sound came from, and his feet moved over there quietly. At the same time, he flipped his hand, and a blue bird flew out, flying towards that place.
"Pierce!!"
He steeled his heart, and the Bluebird became a sharp blue arrow, piercing towards the rock where the sound came from with a hiss.
Hiss!
The Bluebird directly pierced through the stone, emerging from the back, and making a few circles around it. Just like a steel nail going through tofu, it was effortless.
"Nobody?"
He frowned, could it be a fish?
Somewhat hesitantly, he called back the Bluebird, turned, and left.
Garen slowly emerged from the water beneath the stone cracks. In his urgency just now, he had ducked into the water. That was the only way he could avoid the Bluebird’s attack, otherwise that pierce would have made a hole through his chest.
Putting aside his condition now, even at his peak, he would not dare to go directly against a totem user’s attack.
Phew… Garen released a long breath. The piercing cold stream water soaked his body, and mixed even more with the two other stimuli in his body. His condition right now was unprecedentedly troublesome.
He used both his hands and legs to climb out of the water, lying on his back on top of the stone and panting deeply.
"So it was you… Garen?"
Valerie’s voice suddenly came from above.
Garen jolted slightly, and turned his head with difficulty.
Garen didn’t know when he got there, but Valerie was already standing on the stone that had been pierced through, a hint of amusement on his face.
"Not bad… It’s actually just as I thought." Valerie’s gaze fell on the hole in Garen’s pocket, where the silver glow of a totem was peeking out.
Seeing that it was an inactivated totem, his gaze instantly became passionate.
"You came out from inside too, didn’t you? A punk who doesn’t even have a core totem, could actually bring out so many totems from inside? Tsk-tsk… it sure makes me envious." Valerie licked his lips.
Garen’s heart sank. Judging from his actions just now, he could tell that this Valerie fellow was an extraordinarily cunning character.
"Hehe… did you think… I could escape from there… without some tricks up my sleeve…?" Garen smiled with difficulty. It was just that his appearance, covered with boils, was rather terrifying.
That was what Valerie was worried about. Since his attack just now didn’t hit, he was starting to feel doubt.
And now, seeing that Garen wasn’t dead despite looking like this, and could even smile, he was starting to feel the hairs rise on his skin.
"You’re already like this, I’ll just send you out for treatment." He acted as though coming over to help Garen up, but his gaze was unreadable.
Suddenly he froze, seeing the round object protruding from under Garen’s charred-black clothes.
"If you come here, we’ll all die together!" Garen grinned horrifically. "I still have a totem bomb here. Come over if you don’t want to die."
"Listen to what you’re saying. We’re teammates, you know, why would I possibly hurt you!?" Valerie’s gaze went a full circle, and suddenly he was all smiles. "But are you sure you don’t need me to help you? Look at how serious your injuries are…"
"You don’t need to worry about that." Garen tried to withstand the pain, looking at how Valerie still stood there and refused to leave, it was obvious that he was plotting something. "You’re still not gonna leave?"
Valerie chuckled, but didn’t say anything, his greedy gaze fixed on the totem peeping out of Garen’s pocket.
The Bluebird beside him kept flying rounds around him, its intention very clear. It would be easy for him to put some distance between them and let the Bluebird attack Garen from a long distance. At the most, he would just lose one totem.
Seeing this, Garen’s eyes shone with despair.
He clenched his teeth, his whole body shaking, his chest rising and falling fast.
"Fine, fine, fine!! I’ll give you the totem!" Furious, Garen managed to bring out the bat totem, the poisonous wasp totem, and a few beetle totems. Wrapping them up in the remains of his clothes, he tossed them over.
Smack.
Valerie controlled the Bluebird to grab the package of totems in its beak, and bringing them over for him to check. The smile on his face grew even deeper.
"Are you really sure you don’t need me to help?"
"Scram!!" Garen’s eyes turned red, panting as he roared.
Boom!!
There was yet another explosion. A large tremor shook even the cave ceiling.
Both of their expression’s changed.
Valerie glanced at Garen, and knew that he wouldn’t have to get away if he didn’t leave now. He clenched his teeth, turned around, and strode towards the entrance into the hideout.
Hiss!
A flash of blue pierced Garen’s body mercilessly, going right through his right arm while he could only move slowly.
Garen cried out loudly, and fell into the water. In an instant, there was no trace left of him.
Valerie was somewhat confused. Although the Bluebird did seem to find its target, it hadn’t seemed to hit the vitals.
"With such serious injuries and heavy blood loss, he should be dead for sure."
His expression had a hint of cruelty.
"If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for bumping into me."
He ducked into the tunnel, the Bluebird flowing closely behind him as they disappeared into the darkness.
**************
Inside the hideout,
The skinhead totem user and a white-haired totem user were riding on two black male lions, advancing rapidly down the tunnel. Many black bats squawked around their heads, following behind them.
The skinhead was holding up a round crystal mirror, with a bright red dot blinking on it. He would occasionally glance down at the red dot on the mirror, a sardonic smile on his face.
"Did you think our Obscuro’s totems were that easy to acquire? You idiot. To think you could resist so well, you’re not dead despite taking two hits."
The white-haired man beside advanced in tandem with him.
"Is that side not settled yet? Why is Debicci stalling so long even for a smallfry like that?"
"I don’t know, he probably wants to play. That guy loves nothing more than to torture his opponent. The more stubborn the opponent, the more excited he gets." The skinhead licked his lips and laughed. Suddenly he looked at the round mirror in his hand, surprised.
"What’s the matter? This guy didn’t run out, but dared to return?!"
"What?" The white-haired man looked over from the side, and saw that the little red dot on the round mirror was actually running towards them.
"Does this guy think that our Obscuro Society is a free treasure vault?" The skinhead was getting slightly angry.
"Maybe he thinks we haven’t discovered him? But this kid definitely wouldn’t know that we installed tags on all our totems. Of all things, to think he dared to take an inactivated totem…" The white-haired man couldn’t help but chuckle. "This kid’s pretty quick, we can’t let him escape now. Send more people to block the exit."
"Leave it to me." The skinhead grinned. "I missed once, but I won’t miss again. This time, he’s truly pissed me off!" He revealed his creepy white teeth.
The two of them dashed ahead and turned the corner, then stopped abruptly.
A tall and thin man was standing in the opposite tunnel, a bluebird perched on his shoulder. It was Valerie.
Valerie stopped dead in his tracks, staring blankly at the two totem users, the skinhead and the white-haired man.
"Fuck...!!!"
He was instantly covered in cold sweat, his whole body freezing cold to the bone.
"This was… this was the back tunnel…? How??"
"Hehe, kid, did you think I wouldn’t recognize you after you changed your appearance?" The skinhead’s expression was vicious. "After stealing our stuff, you dare to come again for seconds?"
Valerie stumbled two steps back, terror making his whole body tremble.
He could feel the horror of the two men facing him. The bats flying in circles over their heads were actually all Form 2 totems, and there were six of them!
Besides, there were the black lions they rode on, the saliva dripping from the lions’ mouths actually corroding many large holes in the ground.
"Finish him!!" The skinhead pointed at Valerie, and the bats above his head instantly pounced over madly.
"No!!!!"
Valerie’s scream kept on echoing through the tunnels, going very, very far.
Just then, he suddenly remembered Garen’s expression back then. That looked like fury, but it seemed to hide a trace of faint mocking.
It was only then that he realized just how brutal that man called Garen secretly was inside. This was all his own fault!