Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
A narrow slit slowly opened amidst a shrub, and the invisible thief within observed the hill. He had chosen a good angle and could see the majority of the camp. The people inside walked around, and everything seemed ordinary. No one had discovered him yet.
Approach further? The thief thought about it, then promptly rejected the idea. His mission was to confirm whether the targets were actually here, not to spy on their camp layout. His mission was already complete.
Just as he was about to retreat, he felt a cold wind shooting toward his neck. His body instantly tensed and shifted to the side, narrowly avoiding the fatal hit.
Knowing that he had been discovered, the thief didn’t stay for a moment longer. He abruptly turned around with a tap of his feet against the branches, then force-activated his stealth mode.
A massive cobweb fell from the sky and landed squarely on the thief, while a few blades of wind simultaneously shot toward him from all directions.
Even though the situation was dire, the thief didn’t panic. With an angry roar, his body started to emit a faint light. This thief knew magic as well! He swung his dagger at a rapid pace, leaving countless shadows behind, and shattered the wind blades which arrived in waves.
The air distorted a little, and a tall shape appeared in the air. With hundreds of tons of force, the figure slammed his greatsword toward the thief.
A warrior who practices magic? One who knows how to cast Teleportation? The thief was greatly startled. Under normal circumstances, he would want to befriend the guy. There were many ways to become powerful, and practicing both magical and physical skills was one of the hardest roads to take. They had plenty of reason for becoming friends, since they had chosen a similar route, but this wasn’t a good time to chat. With his body constrained by the cobwebs, he was forced to meet the great sword with his dagger.
There was a giant boom as the thief’s dagger clashed with Moxinke’s great sword. But although he was able to block the great sword, he couldn’t block the torrent of River of Star Fighting Strength. Thievery wasn’t a profession which excelled in direct confrontation, even if the thief also practiced magic.
Moxinke’s fighting strength slammed into the thief’s chest like a giant whip. Instantly, countless holes as small as a needle appeared in the thief’s breastplate, who screamed in pain and flew backward.
The air distorted again, and another shape appeared behind the thief. The figure swiftly stabbed at the thief’s neck with the dagger in their right hand.
Gibran! The thief couldn’t believe his eyes. When had Gibran learnt Teleportation? As startled as he was, the battle-hardened thief instinctively dodged backward. Gibran’s dagger only left a red mark on his neck and didn’t cause any severe damage.
But Gibran wasn’t the only thief present. Reg suddenly appeared behind the thief, and buried his dagger deep inside the thief’s ribs!
Moxinke dove forward like an eagle hunting for its prey. With a swipe of his great sword, the stunned thief was cut in two from the shoulders up.
“What a waste of a perfectly good soft armor,” Gibran flatly said, “Can you tone down the violence next time?”
“Raphael promised the first dragon scale armor would be mine. Who cares about this crap,” Moxinke uncaringly said before ripping a piece of cloth from the thief’s clothes to clean his great sword.
Reg glared at Moxinke with irritation. Just then, he hadn’t had the time to dodge aside, and the blood had splattered right onto his face. Half of his face was red, and a bloody stink filled his nose. Well, of course it filled his nose; his nose was covered in blood. It was not a pleasant experience.
Asa and a few other magicians appeared around them. To be honest, the thief had died horrifically, with his body cut diagonally in half from the shoulders up, which meant his innards had also splattered onto the ground. Despite that, Asa and the magicians’ faces were calm; at this point, they were used to killing.
A breeze swept by, and the leaves in the forest ruffled. Reg and the rest of the people present instantly shut up and carefully listened as if the breeze was telling them something. A moment later, Reg and his companions looked at each other, and all abruptly disappeared with a distortion of the space. Asa and his companions, on the other hand, dragged the broken body into a shrub, then split up in the forest. All that was left on the ground was a splatter of blood and flesh. No one could tell an unfair battle had occurred not long ago.
Somewhere else, Sunier and Yalina listened carefully to the wind. They hadn’t joined the previous fight – three people were more than enough to take care of an eighth-grade thief.
“A total of 132 mercenaries. This one’s for you, Yalina,” Sunier said in a light voice.
“Mhm.” Yalina nodded. She wasn’t interested in neither the previous fight nor the fight that was about to happen. Lately, she was bothered and confused by another strange feeling. And her eyes were constantly glancing toward one direction: where Han Jin stood.
Han Jin stayed on top of the hill in a meditating position. His body levitated in mid air, and he appeared calm and composed.
The Eight Gates Heaven Lock wasn’t a lethal matrix, but it’s power still should not be underestimated. He was the eye of the matrix – the soul of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix. Yalina, Sunier, Moxinke, Reg, Cessacioun, Julia, Gibran, and the magician Cain from the Red Vanguards, formed the guts of the matrix, also called the gate guardians – in control of the eight gates of Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Si, Jing, and Kai.
The Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix was also supposed to have 128 stars, but there was nowhere near enough people for that. Although this flaw limited the matrix’s power, Han Jin had one extremely powerful gut: Yalina!
The veins of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock consisted of the entire forest. Wherever the veins reached, everyone could instantly observe all intrusions, even if it was just a fly! The omnipotent nature of the matrix perfectly made up for Yalina’s lack of experience. In an environment where every detail was laid bare to her, Yalina’s power as a magus was able to be utilized to its fullest!
On top of that, the eight guts of the matrix possessed an absurd advantage. In plain words, since they controlled the eight gates, as long as they were within range of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix, they could open or close gates anywhere at any time. They could, in one instant, group together as eight to take care of a powerful mercenary, then scatter back to their posts in the next.
It was extremely difficult for a magician to lock onto an enemy during a battle in the forest. On a flat battlefield, magicians could cast spells from hundreds, or even thousands, of meters away, but in a forest, the cover of the shrubs and branches severely limited their casting range. However, the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix made that convenient for them. Even Asa and the young magicians could strike their foes from an insane distance!
The one unexpected side effect of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix was its effect on everyone’s mood, especially the eight guts. Since the whole matrix was a connected entity, the eight guts knew each other’s situation at all times, kind of like a psychic link. Yalina normally disliked Reg, and was hostile against Gibran mainly because she had continuously suffered at the hands of thieves and hated their ability to be invisible with all her heart. But now, even if Reg and Gibran went invisible, she could tell their exact location and what they were doing. Her enmity naturally decreased.
However, the most important change was people’s attitude toward Han Jin. He was the soul of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix, and it could even be said that he was the supreme overlord within the matrix! He could go against nature and look down on men, and if he so wished, he could easily destroy any one of the eight gate guardians, or the 128 stars! This was why he had even allowed Gibran and Cain to be gate guardians in the first place; everything was under his control. To avoid suspicion, he hadn’t told them that when he had cast the charm on Moxinke and the rest.
But just because he didn’t say anything didn’t mean everyone couldn’t feel it. When moving inside the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix, everyone could feel the constant pressure coming from the eye. It was a will that was impossible to go against, like a god among mortals! That was the reason why Yalina would constantly fall into deep thought, and why Gibran felt confused. The former had always been in a high position and was not used to this feeling of obedience, while the latter was too proud, only trusting himself and never bowing his head easily.
There were also some embarrassing consequences. One time, a female deacon had to answer to nature’s calling, and had naturally gone behind a tree. Just as she was about to take care of her business, her friend suddenly shrieked; her friend had seen everything. At the same time, all the girls’ faces turned red, and all the boys smiled wretchedly. They had all seen her.
The deacon was extremely embarrassed. She immediately ran to the top of the hill and demanded Han Jin take care of the problem. Han Jin hadn’t thought of that either, but it was something that had to be taken care of. At least, he couldn’t let Sunier be seen like that. He set up a matric cloud near the camp, which disabled all powers of the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix.
But that caused another problem. Everyone wondered if Han Jin, the master of the matrix, knew what was going on in the cloud. No one asked him. Even Sunier was too embarrassed to bring up the topic, let alone everyone else. Han Jin naturally didn’t say anything either, so the topic would remain a mystery forever…
“Why isn’t Jefferson back yet?” a hulking man with a face full of beard asked in a low voice.
Mercenaries surrounded him, including a few invisible thieves. They had a total of a total of 132 men. It was an absolutely correct number – no need to double check. The flowing wind could sense all of their secrets.
“Relax, Jerfferson is a eighth-grade thief – one that also practices magic.” Another magician smiled. “Who do you think can stop him?
“But… I just feel odd,” the hulking man with the beard said.
“Are you scared? You could quit. No one’s forcing you to stay.”
“Scared?” the bearded man angrily said. “I wouldn’t be here if I was scared! But… did you notice? Something’s wrong with this forest. I can sense something lethal!”
“Haha… that’s a good one.” A thief laughed and patted a tree beside him. With a mocking face, he then said, “Come, kill me! You lethal tree!”
The thief’s joke caused some laughter. Some mercenaries that didn’t work for him looked at him frivolously. Looking at the hulking man, they concluded that reputation was an unreliable thing! Who would have thought someone nicknamed the ‘Fierce Tiger of the Forest’ would be scared of the forest? In what way was this guy ‘fierce’? And more importantly… was he even tenth-grade?
“You…” The hulking man suppressed his anger and said in a serious voice, “Don’t forget that the Red Vanguards accepted the task a month ago! If our intel is correct, then where did the Red Vanguards go? Were they killed already?”
“Do you seriously think everyone got that information?” The skinny magician smiled. “This is the Tarasha Mountains. Trying to find a group of people here is like trying to find a needle in an ocean. I don’t doubt the Red Vanguards’ power. I suspect… they were just really unlucky and haven’t even found their targets yet.”
The thief thought for a moment. “The Red Vanguards? I saw Edwina in Isolated Cliff City.”
“And Gibran?”
“Wasn’t there. Just Edwina by herself.” The thief paused. “And… Manteco from the Abyss Mercenary Team was with her. They looked like they were discussing something, and they looked quite serious about it.”
“That’s not good!” The skinny magician exclaimed. “Is Red Vanguard planning on working with the Abyss Mercenary Team? If so… we need to attack soon. We can’t allow them to come here.”
“What are we scared of? We have so many men!” the thief said.
“You really aren’t afraid?” the skinny magician sneered.
The thief opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. If it was only one mercenary team, he wouldn’t be scared at all. But if the Red Vanguard and the Abyss Mercenary Team decided to work together, it would be a sizeable threat.
Just then, a fluctuation of magic came from the distance. The leaders present all stood up, and the hulking man with the beard said, “What happened? Was Jefferson discovered?”
The magic fluctuation intensified, and the skinny magician shook his head. “Impossible. If it’s just for Jefferson, they wouldn’t use a powerful spell like this. He would have escaped with all that time.”
The thief glanced at the sky randomly, and his face suddenly turned ugly. He screamed, “Nine Grid Thunder Call! The target is us…”
The hundred or so mercenaries immediately scattered like a herd of birds, but it was too late. If they had fled immediately after they had felt the fluctuation of magic, Nine Grid Thunder Call, even with its massive range, would not be able to reach them. Unfortunately, they had dug their own grave with their useless chatter!
One after another, pillars of lightning fell from the sky, ruthlessly bombarding and ripping everything apart. Globs of flesh and dirt went flying and mixed together in the air. In an instant, the camp had become Hell filled with lightning.
After a moment, the lightning disappeared, along with the lives of more than a hundred people. Only two men were left standing; one was the magician, who had barely sustained his magic barrier, and the other was the warrior, who was covered in wounds.
The skinny magician knew he was in danger, and had already cast Levitation in an attempt to escape, but a sudden dagger strike that penetrated deep into his back stopped him permanently.
Moxinke appeared in front of the warrior and violently swung his sword.
“Fuck off!” the hulking man roared in a thunderous voice before raising his sword in response. Even though his body was covered with wounds, he was still the ‘Fierce Tiger of the Forest’, and his actions matched his nickname.
With a boom, the two warriors clashed, their fighting strength wildly splashing everywhere. The hulking man retreated two steps, while Moxinke flew backward like a cannonball. Blood appeared around his mouth, and even the fighting strength surrounding him was dispersed. Luckily, the hulking man was almost completely exhausted as well and couldn’t follow up with any attacks, or Moxinke would have been in a dire situation.
A flash of green suddenly appeared. Swarms of vibrant vines dug out from the soil beneath the hulking man and viciously wrapped themselves tightly around him.
“Julia!” The hulking man roared out hopelessly. Treefolk Arrow was Julia’s signature move. He could tell Julia was here even if he had to think with his toes.
From the forest, a raven black arrow flew straight toward the hulking man’s right eye like a lightning bolt, but the warrior was truly resilient. He somehow managed to block the arrow with his sword despite being wrapped in vines.
“Gibran! Curse you!!” the hulking man roared in rage as he desperately tried to break out of the vines. He had seen that the thief who had killed his friend was Gibran, and assumed the Red Vanguards had allied with the Abyss Mercenary Team to attack them!
Sunier was clearly not happy that her attack had been blocked. She started to draw and shoot her bow at a fast speed, and arrows after arrows continuously flew toward the hulking man.
The hulking man blocked left and right, but couldn’t change his situation. Finally, Sunier’s last two arrows buried into his chest.
The hulking man froze for a moment, then let out a deafening roar of rage. He started to release his fighting strength in an almost brilliant fashion. The vines around him started to bulge as if they were on the brink of snapping.
Gibran’s expression slightly changed. “Who would have thought, Master Jaylon is about to break through the tenth-grade bottleneck! But… should I congratulate you or feel sorry for you?” In reality, all the high ranking mercenaries in Isolated Cliff City were all acquainted with each other, yet because of a single decision he had made, Gibran had suddenly became the enemy of one of those mercenaries. Despite his usual ruthlessness, the situation made Gibran a little emotional.
The hulking man suddenly stopped his struggle, because Yalina had appeared in front of him, her eye-catching wand clearly indicating who she was. The hulking man was baffled. What was happening? Why had Gibran allied with his target? Also, wasn’t Edwina with the Abyss Mercenary Team? He also knew that all struggles were useless in front of a magus, because he wasn’t on the same level as a magus even at his prime!
Moxinke had already appeared behind the hulking man. He raised his great sword, swung down with all of his strength, and a head with a baffled expression flew into the sky.
