Chapter 1171 - Reemergence
The blades clashed, sending dazzling sparks flying in midair.
The shadowy figure flitted across the air and pounced from above. Facing this ambush, the armored man snarled, unleashed a formidable aura from his blade, and retaliated with a mighty slash. The shadowy figure in midair had no choice but to evade, rolling away desperately upon landing on the ground. However, it stood to its feet quickly and retreated in a trail of afterimages. Along with its movement, ghastly, white skeletal soldiers broke out of the soil, raised their weapons, and swarmed the humans ahead.
“We need to leave this place right away!”
While defending the luxurious carriage, a middle-aged man clad in leather armor and wielding a longsword put up a hesitant expression. He gazed solemnly at the undead creatures ahead, flourishing his longsword to repel them. Then, he moved his gaze to the petite young lady donned in a mage robe within the group. She gnashed her teeth, held the magic staff up high, and cast a wall of flames before them to keep out the undead creatures.
“Lavita! Hang in there!”
“…!”
Upon hearing the middle-aged man’s order, the young lady didn’t respond, but continued to gnash her teeth instead. Upon witnessing her reaction, the middle-aged man was astonished. However, the movement of his hand didn’t come to a halt as he repelled two more undead creatures. Swinging the longsword in his hand, the mighty blade airflows rose from the ground and dispersed in all directions. In the blink of an eye, the blustering winds pushed back the undead creatures around him. But despite that, the undead creatures were unperturbed. They let out terrifying snarls and attacked, charging forward in large strides.
What an annoying bunch.
Gazing at the unrelenting undead creatures, the man knitted his brows tightly. He lowered his gaze to the silver-whitish cross symbol hanging on his chest and put up a hesitant expression.
After Rhode became the Void Dragon, he stopped minding the development of Starlight. However, the guild didn’t decline in strength after his departure. Instead, as Rhode became more prestigious, Starlight also expanded greatly. The wars and battles over the couple of years forced many refugees to seek shelter in the Void Territory. Among them were some who possessed supreme feats. They refused to join the army to battle, but chose to join Starlight as mercenaries instead. After all, Starlight dominated the Void Territory. Under Marlene’s grooming (intentionally or otherwise), Starlight was basically considered half an official and civilian association. The complicated mercenary rules were temporarily abolished because of continuous wars. After all, during such times mercenaries had to protect their homeland and none of them would be interested in accomplishing missions. The Void Territory itself had no relation to the Mercenary Association either, which was why Starlight developed strongly. Everyone was also aware of the relationship between Starlight and the overlord of this territory, which explained why they felt assured seeking help from them. As the Void Territory was occupied with endless matters, they lacked manpower from the start. Sometimes, when the military was too busy, mercenaries would complete the tasks in their stead. The mercenaries also felt unrestrained in Starlight. After all, with the Void Dragon protecting them, no one was foolish enough to stir trouble with them. Of course, under Marlene’s strict orders, Starlight was prohibited from bullying smaller guilds or mercenary groups, which was why Starlight was wildly loved and popular.
Upon witnessing the fire elemental creature, the vampire hidden in the rear lifted his head and screamed all of a sudden. Along with his screams, the flat ground around them rumbled and skeletons emerged from the soil one by one, surrounding everyone before them.
“Damn it!”
The middle-aged man turned pale after realizing the vampire’s true intention. It seemed like the vampire had already decided to use himself as bait to attract more mercenaries over. If not, if the vampire had summoned so many undead creatures from the start, the mercenaries would have been dead by now. Now that the mercenaries were seemingly intending to escape, the vampire stopped using himself as bait and decided to take them all down!
Gazing at the almost 600 skeleton soldiers, the middle-aged man froze to the spot. He reached out for the badge hanging on his chest, but let out a long sigh after a few moments. He stripped the badge off his neck and tossed it to the young lady.
“Leader?”
Looking at his gesture, the young lady was stunned. Facing her doubtful gaze, the middle-aged man said with a smile.
“Get ready. Use your remaining magical power to activate this badge. This is a treasure we received from Madam Lapis back then, which is entirely different from the one you are wearing. A teleportation ritual will appear after you activate it and we will head back together afterward.”
“Ah… Okay…”
Upon hearing his words, the young lady was taken aback. But despite that, she took over the badge and sized it up curiously. Gazing at her expression, the middle-aged man let out a sigh. He wondered what her reactions would be after she figured out that he lied about teleporting back to safety together. But now, he couldn’t worry about it anymore. He went through trials and hardships in these two years with the boss and encountered whatever he could, so what was there for him to be afraid of?! On the other hand, this little fella here lost her parents and had no intention of becoming a mercenary at first. After all, the Void Territory had high requirements for spell casters. If she were willing, she could be sent to Grandia and grow stronger under Marlene. However, she chose to dedicate herself to go on adventures with him and the rest…
Now, it was about time to end this misery.
“———!”
All of a sudden, the situation took a turn. The rune hovering around the young lady and meant to control the spell began to twist and turn in shape. Lavita’s expression became as white as a sheet. She gnashed her teeth and continued to maintain the rune with all her power. At that moment, the other mercenaries had crowded around to defend her.
“Hurry, Lavita! Activate the badge!”
“No, my power. There seems to be something…!”
Boom!
Before Lavita completed her sentence, the flaming rhino suddenly exploded, turning into a sea of flames that dispersed in all directions and devoured the undead creatures that couldn’t escape in time. Not only that, but the flames also didn’t dissipate like in the past. On the contrary, they rushed forward like a stream and at the next moment, a dazzling, scarlet radiance burst out, forcing everyone to close their eyes.
“Phew… Looks like we made it.”
At that moment, a voice sounded in their ears. Upon hearing it, everyone turned around and couldn’t help but widen their eyes in astonishment. In the place where the flames exploded stood over 100 people all of a sudden. They wore strange, ancient costumes and were seemingly travel-worn as though they had a long and difficult trek. But what shocked the middle-aged man was… Where did they come from?
“Finally…”
Lifting his head to gaze at this familiar starry sky, Rhode couldn’t help but lament. Even though it wasn’t tough getting out of Fiery Plains, it wasn’t that smooth sailing either. If it weren’t for Marybelle who realized that someone was establishing a summoning channel that connected the Dragon Soul Continent and Fiery Plains and made use of this opportunity, perhaps Rhode would spend a lot more time before returning to the Dragon Soul Continent.
“I’m back…”
Rhode muttered under his breath, stifling the intricate emotions in his mind. Then, he gazed at the surroundings and was taken aback.
What is with these undead creatures?
“Ssss!”
Facing the sudden appearance of Rhode’s group, the undead creatures were also stunned. The leading vampire commanded in response and the skeletal soldiers hesitated no more. They raised their weapons and charged ahead like a raging flood that was about to devour everyone.
“Hmph!”
Looking at this scene, Rhode turned grim.
“Finish them.”