Main pit entrance.
The initial roars and noises inside gradually disappeared. The bandits were quietly waiting for the return of their two leaders or the cerberus. However, nothing happened after a long time. All of them were nervous. Some of them suggested to take a look down there.
Some of them insisted to continue waiting and guard the entrance to prevent the enemy from escaping. While they were discussing how to divide the responsibilities, they heard a distant roar from the main pit.
Many of the bandits’ faces changed because they knew that it wasn’t the roars of the cerberus, Nagurala. That roar was deeper and longer than cerberus’; the horror within was far superior than Nagurala.
The roars were getting closer and closer. Then, the ground faintly trembled as if some kind of giant demonic beast was walking. The bandits’ nerves were suddenly tightened. Could it be…
The one fighting with their two leaders and the cerberus, Nagurala was actually the terrible underground demonic beast. The powerful demonic beasts that only roamed in the lower layers actually broke the seal at this time and came to the upper level.
As the tremor approached, the bandits retreated cautiously as if a strong enemy was coming. The tremor stopped when it came to the door and a pile of things was thrown out far away, falling to the ground messily.
It was a rather big skeleton. Under the light of the fire, it showed two white, canine’s skulls. Some of them immediately related it with the disappearance of cerberus’ roars just now. “That’s Nagurala.”
Nagurala… must have been swallowed up by some terrifying demonic beast. Then, aren’t Ms. Sully and Sir Yagus…
That discovery frightened the bandits, and they quickly retreated. Subsequently, the footsteps that trembled the ground sounded again. Then, a huge figure appeared within the bandits’ sight. Under the illumination of the torch and the moonlight, everyone finally saw the true face of the demonic beast. They immediately had a chill down their spines.
It wasn’t a demonic beast; it was a monster.
That should be a dragon. To be precise, it was the skeleton of a dragon. However, this set of skeleton was alive. The pale skeleton glowed creepily, and the eyes were two dots of strange, green light.
Demon Realm used to have necromancer or lich that used corpse or skeletons to fight, but they had never heard of someone who could control the dragon’s skeleton. It was definitely not an undead that was controlled by a mage but a genuine monster.
“A ghost like dragon…” Someone said while trembling.
The monster made a roar filled with anger and an overwhelming demeanor immediately came along. Even if the distance was far away, the bandits could still feel the horrific power of this demeanor. They were intimidated and scared.
The Dragon’s Demeanor was really the legendary Dragon’s Demeanor.
An adult dragon was at least at the level of Demon Emperor, not to mention after becoming a monster.
After the monster roared, it walked toward the bandits with a heavy footstep. Now, no one dared to hesitate. Those who responded slightly faster ran right away; even those who couldn’t stand still crawled down the hill in fear.
The bandits who rushed to the mining office at the mountainside to guard heard the noises from the main pit. Subsequently, an unforgettable scene appeared before their eyes. Their companions were running away from the mountaintop in a fluster. After that, a scary monster with white skeleton appeared at the summit and made a scary roar toward the two moons in the sky.
Emotions were always contagious, especially the transmission of fear. Soon, the bandits at the mountainside joined escaping group, followed by those at the foot of the mountain.
Judging merely the skeleton of the cerberus, a strong demonic beast equivalent to a Higher Demon was eaten to the point that its bones… Wait, the bones were left. However, no one bothered asking pointless questions like “why didn’t Ms. Sully and Sir Yagus escape?”
Dodo was very proud now to the point that he almost forgot the master’s order of not speaking and shouted the slogan of “Mighty Sir Ghost Dragon”. Such intimidating task was much easier than dealing with the cerberus. Besides, for Dodo, who had acted as the ghost dragon for decades, knew how to do it well, so the timing and atmosphere were handled perfectly.
However, Sir Ghost Dragon was now more of an empty shell than when it was in the black rainforest. The roar toward the bandits at the beginning used up all the hardly accumulated Dragon’s Demeanor, so the roars after were basically ineffective.
With Dodo intimating with the dragon’s might, Chen Rui could rest assured and entered the Super System to convert auras in the waste ores room. These waste ores were exactly the same as those sold at the blacksmith shop. They were full of strange crystals. The more advanced a material was, the more time consuming it was to convert. These crystals were easier to convert than any other magic material. Besides, after entering the Mizar state, the speed of <Aura Conversion> was much faster than before. After about 3 hours, the auras increased by 100,000 auras. He had more than 90,000 auras when he left the black rainforest. Together with the passive ability, <Damage Absorption> when he got attacked just now, the total amount had reached 200,000 auras whereas the ores in the storage were only reduced by 10%.
Chen Rui realized it was already midnight after calculating the time. The effective time of Dragon Inscription was ending. Thus, he didn’t stay in the waste ores room and walked out of the waste ores pit. He cleared up the scene and brought Dodo back to the tent on the hill with Mengda.
The next day, Athena saw Chen Rui’s exhausted look and asked, “Did you not sleep well last night? It’s almost noon, but you still look tired.”
“I’m just not used to the new place.” Chen Rui smiled. Actually, after returning last night, he was busy converting aura. At present, the total amount of aura had reached 350,000 while most of the ores in the storage were still not converted. Then, he was really too tired near dawn, so he fell asleep.
Athena remembered that Chen Rui’s physical condition wasn’t very good when he was in the council hall last time. After thinking, she said, “You must have not recovered from the sickness last time, and you are not used to living in a tent. Let me build you a wooden house.”
“You don’t have to. I’m really fine.” Chen Rui knew that Athena was trying to be nice. The last time was the spirit deprived caused by <Deep Analysis>, which was different from the current situation. The injuries he suffered last night were basically recovered. It was just that he was “striving” too hard to convert auras, so he had a lack of sleep.
“Since you’re not feeling well, then don’t go hunting. The nearby water sources and prey are controlled by bandits. I’ll ride Kegu to the green forest that we passed by when we came here to hunt prey. Didn’t you promise to give the miners meat soup?”
“Don’t be so anxious. Yesterday, I said it’d be once every alternate day. Besides, I said “try.” Chen Rui actually reserved some room in his admonishment yesterday to avoid giving an empty promise.
“Chen Rui, I’m not as smart as you are to have so many rhetorics in a sentence.” Athena frowned. “I only know that the miners risk their lives every day to mine, but they can’t even guarantee a filled stomach. That’s too suffering. Since you’re the mining officer now and they’re all your subordinates, shouldn’t you do something?”
Chen Rui didn’t expect Athena to say something like that. The position as a mining officer was just a cover for him to come to Mountain Xilang overtly. He thought he’d at most just let the miners escape before Barnacle returned.
“I thought about it for a long time last night. The power of the bandits were too strong. I couldn’t rival alone. If I’m too impulsive, it might hurt you… and everyone else. What I can do now is to do my best in hunting prey and let them have a filled stomach.” It’s clear that Athena indeed thought it clear last night for her to realize her own shortcomings.
Athena looked at Chen Rui who still remained silent and she asked cautiously, “Am I stupid?”
“Very stupid.” Chen Rui affirmed that question without thinking and Athena’s mood suddenly fell.
Every man for himself and the Devil take the hindmost; the survival of the fittest, the strong will be respected. Protect your own interest is enough, why bother about other people’s business? Do you think you’re the savior?
This type of person, even if in his original world was also an idiot. There were even a lot of examples of kindness ended up with bad results. They were labeled by the “smarter people” as “retarded, dumb” and other “praises”.
Every would have such an idiot, but every world also needs such an idiot. Although without these idiots, the world would still operate normally. However, it was exactly because there were these people that the sky became more blue, the sun became brighter and life became more valuable.
Chen Rui stopped his thought and went on to say, “However, stupidity is contagious. I think I’ve been infected by you.”
Athena’s eyes lit up and raised her head suddenly. Her eyes looked at him with a strange passion while Chen Rui smiled slightly, “Then…”
“Let’s go hunting together?” Athena eagerly added.
Looking at Athena’s eyes that were filled with hope, Chen Rui shrugged his shoulders, “Then, I will go back to the tent to rest.”
“Hmph!” Athena rolled her eyes on Chen Rui with dissatisfaction. She stopped caring about him and rode Kegu to the sky right away.
Chen Rui sighed helplessly: Silly girl, you don’t understand. It’s exactly because of that I need to go back to the tent.
It was less than 2 days before Culia’s return. Even if the miners weren’t dismissed and he didn’t sleep, he couldn’t convert all the auras in the waste ores room. If he left, auras in the waste ores room would be more difficult to obtain. Moreover, there were also bandits’ spy among the miners, so he couldn’t alert the enemy too soon.
With Dodo making such a commotion, no one would dare to enter the main pit for the time being. Although the ghost dragon’s act might not deceive Culia or Barnacle, at least they wouldn’t immediately suspect the mining office. On the one hand, he must absorb the auras as soon as possible. On the other hand, he must be prepared to fight hard.
Judging from Shea’s past information, Mountain Xilang’s bandits were likely to come from the Red Spirit Estate. Chen Rui was clear about Joseph’s objective for “recommending” him. First, it was to kill him to eliminate the potential threat of the Princess Retail Store and even the Dark Moon’s economy. Second, it was to damage and weaken Shea with his death.
Therefore, even if Chen Rui, the mining officer couldn’t go to the main pit and he couldn’t be killed by the underground demonic beasts, the bandits would take the initiative to “help”.
Unless he abandoned his position as the mining officer and escaped, he’d have to face Culia sooner or later. Judging from the Yagus’ words, Culia’s strength was above than the combined effort of Sully and Yagus. This challenge was absolutely not easy; it would be another difficult trial.
No matter when the opponent will come, it’s imperative to improve my strength as soon as possible.
The strength that belongs to myself is the actual protection. As for the miners, I will think of a way to arrange them properly…
