Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
It was an unbearably hot summer; even the wind blowing on their faces was mixed with air as hot as fire. The soldiers were all sweaty in their heavy armors, appearing as though they had just climbed out from a river. But they couldn’t take off their heavy armors, for they were soldiers, not bandits; soldiers had disciplines. On the contrary, they had to wear more to protect their skin from being burned by their armor which was being heated by the sun.
Reg became anxious when he noticed more and more soldiers falling due to heat stroke. Yesterday, Ronning suddenly suggested for him to lead the main force westward. Ronning himself planned to stay in Nuremberg with two cavalry brigades, and would rendezvous with Reg at least three days later. Although Guevara went with Reg, Reg couldn’t ask for his help all the time. Now, he had to make his own decision.
“Young Marshal, we can’t march forward anymore,” a knight whispered into Reg’s ears. “Otherwise, all the soldiers will fall from this heat.”
“We will rest after climbing over the hill before us!” Reg ordered.
His order passed from the middle of the line to both the front and the rear. The exhausted soldiers almost cheered. But right at that moment, a commotion occurred at the front of the line. Soldiers shouted and horses neighed. If not for the fact that no one had blown the alarm horn, Reg would have already ordered the soldiers to form a battle formation. Regardless though, he didn’t dare let his guard down, and immediately rushed to the forefront with a dozen knights.
Ronning was able to smoothly lead the forces without any trouble. It would be quite an embarrassment for Reg if something were to happen as soon as he had started leading.
He rushed up the hill and was going to ask something, but stopped when he smelled a horrendous odor. He could swear that he had never smelled such a stench in all of his days alive. The slightest whiff made his stomach turn, and his eyes blear. Reg immediately covered his nose, and then heard someone angrily shouting, “Put your hands down! All of you! Damn it, what is the meaning of this?!?”
Paul, the leader of the third cavalry brigade, appeared to be very angry. Since Ronning had appointed him as the leader of the vanguard in his absence, Paul thought it was his chance to demonstrate his capability. But unfortunately, all his subordinates disappointed him. Before, they were complaining non-stop about the hot weather, and now they had even started covering their noses for no reason! On top of that, all of their faces were ghastly pale, as if they were seeing some horrifying things!
“General! The stench! It’s too much!” a soldier complained after he received a lash.
“What did you say?!” Paul roared angrily.
“I… I didn’t mean you, General.” Cold sweats appeared on the forehead of the knight due to fear. He immediately explained, “I mean, the air here is too stinky.”
“Fart! I smell nothing…”
“Not a fart! General! It’s definitely not a fart!” Several other knights shouted simultaneously. “A fart can’t stink this much!”
Paul was surprised. He turned around to ask his personal guards. “Do you smell it?”
The knights, around seven of them, stood and looked at each other before shaking their heads. They were not lying, judging from their expressions. Meanwhile, those who claimed to have smelled the awful stench all turned pale.
Paul was so annoyed his eyes looked on fire. His personal guards wouldn’t lie to him, so who were the liars?
Just when Paul was about to lose his temper, a voice came and immediately calmed his temper. “You can’t smell it, Paul?”
“Young Marshal! You… smell something?” Paul asked in astonishment.
“Do you really not smell anything?” Reg was more astonished than Paul.
“No, and they can’t either.”
Now Reg was doubting himself. He turned around and asked the knights behind him, “Can you smell it?”
They all nodded. One of them loosened the hand covering his nose and took a gasp to verify again. That turned out to be a mistake. His stomach churned uncontrollably, and he started to violently vomit on the ground.
Sometimes, vomiting was as contagious as yawning. The other knights were barely containing their nausea, and they all started vomiting as well. Waves of gagging noises rose and fell throughout the line.
In the distance, Han Jin and the others were approaching the scene. They didn’t want to march with the army because it was too noisy, but had come as soon as they had noticed that something was off.
“What’s that stench…” Moxinke’s loud voice echoed. “Who farted?”
“It must be you!” Cessacioun looked at Moxinke with a contemptuous look. “You’ve used that trick before! Don’t think you can fool me again!”
“Bullshit! I…” Moxinke still wanted to retort, but the giant tortoise had carried them up the hill. The stench was so horrendous that he felt like his chest was going to explode. He immediately covered his nose.
The others were acting no better than him. Sunier and Keeley had begun to vomit. The stench was truly unimaginably horrendous! Meanwhile, Han Jin looked solemn. He had felt that there was something wrong at the front. In Daoist terms, an evil scent surrounded them all!
“It’s Titan Kojac,” Guevara’s voice came. “Also known as the Flowers of Hell. They can give off a strong smell of corpses. Strangely, the pollen of this plant can be diluted with water to produce a kind of mysterious perfume which is popular among all races.
“What did you say? The smell of corpses?” Moxinke exclaimed.
“What did you say? Perfume?!” Keeley asked in surprise.
Moxinke was still sick after taking a gulp of the smell of corpses, while Keeley was contemplating whether she should throw away all of her perfumes.
Guevara did not reply, but quietly looked down the hill. As everyone followed his gaze, they saw clouds of gigantic mushroom-shaped plants in the distance. None of them had noticed the plants in the distance because they were distracted by the stench. Even if someone had noticed, they would have never expected that the smell was coming from so far away.
The infantry of the Riptide Regiment had arrived. A captain suddenly inhaled a long breath and exclaimed, “What’s this smell? It’s so fragrant…”
They all looked at him in astonishment. How could he call such a disgusting stench fragrant?
Even Guevara turned around in astonishment. This was the first time he heard of someone who liked the smell of Titan Kojac, as even the Abyssal Race couldn’t bare its smell!
The captain took a few steps back when he realized that everyone was staring at him. He murmured. “What… what’s the matter, My Lords?”
The other infantries all arrived with different expressions. Some complained about the bad smell with their hands covering their noses, while the others enjoyed it very much. However, the number of the latter was small – less than ten, including the captain.
“Sir, can the Titan Kojac produce illusions?” Reg asked suddenly.
“It’s just a normal flower, at best used to make perfume; no other uses.” Guevara shook his head.
“Then why…” Reg pointed to the infantries. The scene looked very weird. Most of them felt sick and were vomiting, some could smell nothing, and some even thought it was fragrant. It was hard to explain this, unless there was something wrong with the Titan Kojac itself.
Even Guevara, a calm and composed old man, showed an expression of hesitation. He couldn’t figure it out either. Finally, he chose to trust in his own experience. “Reg, order the soldiers to leave here as soon as possible. We can find another spot to rest.”
“Sir, Zaganide wouldn’t plant Titan Kojac here without a reason. Are you sure there is no problem?” Reg asked seriously.
“Titan Kojac is a resilient species. They can grow naturally even if no one has intentionally planted it. Besides, what if there’s a problem?” Guevara said lightly, “Except the three monsters Zaganide, Caroline, and Betty, there’s nothing that I can’t handle here.”
“I understand, sir.” Reg nodded, turned around, and shouted, “Speed up! Leave here as soon as possible! You guys, inform your men of the characteristics of Titan Kojac. Calm them down.”
“Yes, Young Marshal!” Several knights saluted and left.
Han Jin patted the back of the giant tortoise to order it to lie down. “Keeley, Steelberg, and you guys, go down,” he softly said.
In this small team, Han Jin had such a high prestige that no one protested. They jumped down. The giant tortoise immediately strode down the hill.
Reg let out a sigh of relief and gave Han Jin a grateful look. Han Jin was a true friend to him – one who would help him when in trouble without being asked to. If there was really something wrong, the army would be sure to suffer great losses. But with the help of Han Jin and his strange magic, Reg was confident that he could keep his soldiers safe.
When the giant tortoise approached the flower area, they braced themselves and were on high alert. The closer they were to the Titan Kojac, the uglier the flowers looked. The lumpy peel was covered with fur-like things which were like countless steel needles. Even the smallest Titan Kojac was much taller than Moxinke.
Han Jin threw two paper charms into the depths of the flower shrubs – if they could even be called flowers – and then cut out a part of its stem. “Raphael, what are you doing?” Moxinke shouted, his hands tightly covering his nose.
Han Jin did not answer, but instead put the stem into his space ring, quietly looking around. The Titan Kojac looked scary, but in fact, they were very fragile and would either be knocked into the air or fall down as soon as his giant tortoise touched them.
The Titan Kojac covered about three miles. After a short while, the giant tortoise had charged through them and had reached the other side. After making sure nothing was wrong, Han Jin turned his head and said in a low voice, “Send them the signal, Sunier.”
Sunier took off her long bow and shot an arrow into the sky. On the hill, Reg saw the signal and waved his hand. “Forward!”
