Chapter 888 - A Waste of Resources
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
Tang Tian slipped beneath the Matchless Ship, and by sticking on the surface of the ship, he reached the side.
When Tang Tian floated up, he realized that there were nobody, and not even a guard was present. He shook his head, ~This gold grade warship is truly a waste of resources in Elizabeth Tradings' hands.~ He had many armies under him, but he dared to guarantee that not one of them would mix in and enjoy with the crowd in battle and not have the most fundamental alertness.
Such small details revealed general trends, and in Tang Tian's heart, the fighting strength of Elizabeth Tradings' army dropped.
Tang Tian's judgement was more or less accurate, but he did not know that this was an extremely ordinary situation in the Honorable Martial Continent. The Honorable Martial Continent's armies being proficient in battles were raised through long term planning. Before the Southern Expedition, although there were no large scale battles, there were constant small scale battles occurring. Adding Temple's interest in improvement, Temple's armies were very powerful.
But the armies of trading organisations were a completely different picture. Safety in the Honorable Martial Continent could be said to be the best in the Sacred Saint Galaxy, and the trade business environment was also the best, with Temple's existence, battles and struggles between trading organisations were controlled. Thus the armies of trading organisations usually lacked battle experience. They could recruit the military generals that were retiring from Temple's Armies, all of these outstanding military generals could bring about an increase in standard of training, and could design outstanding tactics, but even the military generals could not do anything about the lack of opportunity for real battles, as the number of bandits and thieves in the Honorable Martial Continent could be considered minimal.
The lack of real battle experience became a general problem to the trading organisation armies in the Honorable Martial Continent. Everyone was aware of this problem, but no one took it seriously, reality was that obvious, and everyone lived with it.
No one would had thought that war would come so quickly, and no one would had thought that it affected them directly.
But the majority of the trading organisations were filled with anticipation and excitement towards the activation of the Holy Bell. Temple's plan and ambitions were no longer a secret to any of these aristocratic families. They firmly believed that Temple would be the ultimate victor, and had always been anticipating it, wanting to get a part of the profits. It was an enormous wealth that even with a portion of it could create a top line trading organisation.
But Temple's strength left no leeway for them to dip their fingers into the pie. In the Honorable Martial Continent, no one dared to go against Temple, to the point that the aristocratic families dare not even form an alliance.
But with the activation of the Holy Bell, it signalled the opportunity that the aristocratic families had been yearning for day and night, and all of the families acted as if they were on adrenaline.
It was an extremely rare investment opportunity!
The only time that could match this opportunity was when Honorable Martial Continent started the huge war to annex all the other continents. Thinking about it, how many first-rate aristocratic families were produced from that one war? All the first-rate families in the Honorable Martial Continent were produced in the same way, through war.
How could they not be excited with such an opportunity in their faces?
To them, the ringing of the Holy Bell only signified a temporary trouble encountered by Temple. No one was clearer than them of the strength Temple wielded, and all of them knew how deep Temple's accumulation of wealth was. Temple will lose? That was the funniest joke in history. People who voiced out their opinion that Temple would not surrender victory that easily suffered condemnation by everyone else. Because to them, Temple definitely would not surrender that easily, the current Temple was many more times stronger than the Temple of the past!
No one dared to seize the gains of victories from Temple, they only wanted to partake in the banquet of wealth.
Some saw further, if they truly conquered Heaven's Road, then was unifying the Sacred Saint Galaxy a foreseeable future? The riches and favourable circumstances contained within this foresight made everyone eager. They wanted to participate in the battle. How could the armies that they spent money on grooming do nothing?
~So what if our own armies lack the experience? By participating in the battles, their experience will naturally come.~
Elizabeth Tradings had the same thought, to them, even with the lack of experience, with the Matchless Ship, self preservation was not a problem if they encountered danger. With the flow of time and with experience, their army's fighting capability would naturally increase.
Elizabeth Tradings would never have expected that they would encounter Tang Tian.
The crew members on board were all gathered on one side of the warship and observing the battle, while the other side was completely empty, thus when Tang Tian boarded, no one noticed him. It was too lax that Tang Tian himself could not bear it. The Matchless Ship's energy barrier was not activated, most probably with the thought that Mace Field Tradings' trading ship did not pose a threat. But fortunately for Tang Tian, the energy barrier was not activated, otherwise it would be a problem for him when he boarded the ship. Even for Tang Tian's powerful strength, it would still be an extremely difficult task for an individual to breakthrough the energy barrier of a gold grade warship.
With one look, Tang Tian found Claudia. She was too striking, where everyone were huddled together, only Claudia was alone. Hank and his team had joined in the battle, while the other bodyguards dare not go close as Claudia did not enjoy being in crowds.
With regards to safety, ~We are on the Matchless Ship, why worry about safety? Furthermore, there are so many people on board, what can happen?~ No one dared to court a rebuff in front of Claudia, adding that Claudia's temper was terrible, and with the fiery rage in her from the humiliation she just suffered, no one wanted to be the scapegoat.
Tang Tian suddenly noticed that Claudia had froze and then started to look around, and immediately realized that Claudia had realized his disappearance, and was looking for him.
Without hesitation, Tang Tian took action. Any hesitation at such a critical time would most probably lead to failure. And if Claudia sensed that something was amiss and immediately rushed into the protection of the guards, Tang Tian would had been in trouble.
But Tang Tian had obviously overestimated Claudia. When Claudia realized that Tang Tian was not in the Forbidden hoop, her first reaction was that Tang Tian escaped, and never thought that not only did Tang Tian not escape, but was instead on the ship and was actually targeting her!
She suddenly felt herself being choked and lifted off the ground, the sky in her vision spinning round and round as the powerful force rendered her incapable of breathing, her eyes going behind her head.
She was completely stupefied as her mind went into a blank.
She regained her senses after an unknown period of time, ~I was actually ambushed….~
The hand that was wrapped around her throat felt like steel claws, Claudia felt that she could not breathe at all as the intense fear enveloped her entire body, causing her to lose all her strength.
~Am I going to die…..~
She wanted to scream, but her throat was grasped tightly, preventing her from making a sound. She was extremely terrified that her entire body was trembling, and only then did she suddenly realize that the beauty that she was proud of, the family backing that she was proud of were all useless. She did not even dare to struggle in fear that the man would break her own neck.
The bodyguards on the ship only awoken from their daydreams when Tang Tian had choked Claudia by the neck and flew to the highest point of Matchless Ship.
It was as if Tang Tian was holding onto a hornet's nest.
"How dare you! Quickly put our young miss down! Or die!"
"You're seeking death!"
"You lunatic! Do you know what you're doing? You're creating a huge disaster on yourself!"
"You better not do anything, we can talk about it, there is no harm in saying whatever conditions that you have, as long as you let our young miss go, we can talk about it!"
….
Hank who was observing the battle suddenly heard the ruckus on the Matchless Ship, and turned to have a look. In that one look, he felt as though his spirit had flown out of his body, and that he was plunged in ice as his feet and hands turned ice cold. At the crown of Matchless Ship stood a masked man with his hands on Claudia's neck.
Hank's mind trembled, he could disregard Claudia's emotions, but he had to ensure her safety at all costs. He subconsciously turned to look at the Forbidden Hoop, which caused his eyes to constrict, as there was nothing sealed inside the Forbidden Hoop.
A cold chill shot up from his feet and straight to his mind!
~He actually escaped from the Forbidden Hoop! And I didn't even notice anything!~
~How….is that possible…..~
Shock overwhelmed Hank's heart. If the enemy had simply gotten out of the Forbidden Hoop, he would not have had such a reaction. ~How is it possible that he slipped out of the Forbidden Hoop without alarming me? Does he know the Forbidden Hoop as well? But, I created the Forbidden Hoop….~
It was not only Hank, the companions beside him, upon noticing the empty pillar of light and Tang Tian at the apex of the Matchless Ship, all had expressions as though they had seen a ghost.
And the intense battle in the air stopped upon noticing the changes on the Matchless Ship. Everyone from Elizabeth Tradings all became anxious as though they had encountered a formidable enemy. If Claudia encountered an accident, everyone would be in trouble.
As for Ji Ze and the rest, it was as though they were in for a good show. They returned to the trading ship and folded their arms and started discussing amongst themselves.
"Hehe, Master truly doesn't have any protective feelings and gentleness towards ladies! And she is such a beaut, it is truly a pity."
"Gentle towards Ladies? Hehe, can you eat that? If you pity her, you can go at her, Master will pity you carefully."
"Whatever, dying for a beauty is not in my character. I have a feeling that Elizabeth Tradings is about to bleed."
"Why do I have that same feeling?"
…..
Listening to Ji Ze and Fu Zheng Zhi's idle chat, Melissa's face turned pale white. Tang Tian's actions were actually a satisfaction to everyone, but it had already smashed through the conventions of battles between trading organisations. Trading organisations fought openly and covertly, but there was an ironclad rule that definitely could not be violated, and that was regardless of anything, they could not directly harm the heirs of the families. Violating this rule would lead to the death of either one of the party.
Claudia was a princess in Elizabeth Tradings, and was well beloved and pampered by everyone. More importantly, Claudia was the Elizabeth Tradings' successor.
Tang Tian's move on Claudia would most probably incite an all out war between both trading organisations.
Melissa's face quickly returned back to normal as she laughed bitterly, ~Alright, with Tang Tian's personality, making it huge is his character.~ She took a deep breath, her eyes regaining their determination, ~Now that the Mace Field Tradings is with Tang Tian, I should not have so many complaints.~
Having calmed down, Melissa became extremely curious as to how Tang Tian would conclude the matter.