Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Spreading out its six wings, Da Zi launched itself into the air, electricity dancing around the tips of its wings and leaving purple arcs of light in its wake.
It gazed down at the villa and lake from above. The entire place was situated in a small basin, with the lake in the middle of it. On a nearby field, Da Zi could see a huge group of familiars either training or playing with each other.
The familiars on the field now were the White Dragon, the Silver Dragon, the Primitive Jade Armored Crocodile, the Thunder Shell God, the Forbidden Adamantine Duck, the Flaming Red Crane, the Disaster Mountain Spider, the Dimensional Jellyfish, and the Yin Yang Calendula. Even Uncle Liu’s Phantom Japalura, Nightshadow Cat, and Blood Eye Bearded Vulture would drop by at times.
The Skeleton Dominator and the Growing Brain were standing by off-world at that moment, while the Desolate Frost Lion and White Steel Bladed Beast were currently being carried in the air by the Dark Golden Centipede Dragon. With this many familiars at his disposal, Gao Peng could open a familiar petting zoo if he wanted to.
A cold wind howled past. Having anticipated how cold it would be in the air, Gao Peng had put on a helmet and jacket before climbing on Da Zi. He leaned back and puffed his chest out.
Suddenly, Da Zi adjusted its direction slightly, causing Gao Peng to nearly fall off its back. The latter quickly pressed himself flat on Da Zi’s back, no longer trying to act cool. Half an hour later, Da Zi finally reached their destination.
Mount Jinfo was one of Yuzhou’s more unique mountains. It was extremely high, so much so that one could even go skiing on it in the winter. Luoxia Valley was situated to the north of Mount Jinfo, but it was a somewhat isolated place.
Gao Peng narrowed his eyes at the map on his tablet. They would be arriving soon.
He could see the trees beneath them being disturbed as the monsters in the forest fled from Da Zi, unnerved by its intimidating aura.
Gao Peng strained his eyes as he noticed what appeared to be a group of people huddled together in a cave on top of a cliff. There were at least ten of them, their bodies drenched in blood.
A pack of monsters had the base and top of the cliff surrounded. On the outside, these fierce-looking monsters looked like mutant deers. Their hides were rotten and ragged, their pearly white bones poking horribly out of their bodies. There were plastic straws, food wrappers, bottle caps, and pieces of metal stuck between their muscles and bones.
Their eyeballs had long rotted away. One could see green spectral flames burning brightly in their empty eye sockets.
[Monster Name]: Decomposing Corpsedeer Pack
[Monster Level]: Level 11-20 (Excellent-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Normal-Excellent
[Monster Attribute]: Ghoul/Metal
[Monster Weaknesses]: Holy/Radiant
[Description]: These creatures are the result of modern society’s imprudent handling of heavy metal waste. They’ve come to despise all of humanity, who they believe are responsible for the environment’s pollution. They have lost all sense of pain, and despite appearances, they don’t seem to carry any form of contagious disease.
Aaaooo— The deer let out chilling cries.
These Decomposing Corpsedeer stood approximately seven to nine feet tall. The bones protruding from their bodies were thick, and the sharp antlers on their heads had a metallic gleam to them. Some of the Corpsedeer stamped their hooves violently on the ground, letting out cries of resentment at their oppressors.
Some of them simply stood motionless, quietly watching the group of people on the cliff. The group of deer numbered in the hundreds. Some of them were at the bottom of the cliff, with more on the top of the cliff.
This… doesn’t seem right, thought Gao Peng.
These Corpsedeer were only standing there, trying to intimidate the group of people. There was no Commander-tier Corpsedeer in sight.
Gao Peng remembered that Chen Hanqiao had at least seven Commander-tier familiars in his monster-hunting group. Under normal circumstances, a Commander-tier monster would be able to slaughter ten Elite-tier monster on its own.
Seeing the ten or so people standing in the face of the Corpsedeer pack, Gao Peng assumed that there must have been thousands of these monsters in the forest to actually be able to back those people into a corner.
Suddenly, warning bells went off in Gao Peng’s head. He looked down and saw a huge black claw rising from the forest towards Da Zi.
…
Five minutes earlier, a group of masked individuals in form-fitting black clothes had stood quietly in the middle of the forest, at times looking to the east as if waiting for something.
“Has he arrived?”
“Any time now…”
“Boss, I don’t think we’re going to win this fight,” said someone at the back of the group, stammering.
“Hm?” Their leader turned around, coldly gazing at his teammate.
“He has a King-tier familiar. I’ve read his profile. We might stand a chance against a high-level Lord-tier familiar together, but King-tier is a completely different realm from Lord-tier. This is a suicide mission,” explained his teammate, his head slightly inclined and his legs together.
The group leader’s face stiffened, then relaxed. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to,” he said casually.
Suddenly, someone reported, “I’ve just received word that he doesn’t have his King-tier familiar with him.”
The group leader stared at him wordlessly. “He doesn’t have his King-tier familiar with him?”
“That’s great news!”
“What a fool! Why would he come here without his greatest weapon? He may be the world’s first King-tier trainer to be killed! Hahaha!”
The forest was filled with the sound of laughter and general merrymaking at that moment. Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder in the sky. The group of people in the forest fell silent as they warily eyed the approaching Da Zi in the air.
“What kind of familiar is that? There was no mention of it in his profile…”
“Looks mean.”
“Quiet!” hissed the group leader. Silence fell over the forest once more.
Up ahead, a milu deer with huge antlers looked up. Its antlers were spreading a soft and warm glow over the entire forest. Da Zi drew closer and closer until it stopped just above the forest.
The group leader waved a hand. A black slender human shape stepped forward at his signal. The human-like monster’s body was dappled with sunlight passing through the leaves above it. It looked up at the sky, its face horribly disfigured and its eyes filled with despair and anguish.
My name is Anderson, but these people prefer calling me the Infernal Incinerator.
I was once a knight from the Middle Ages. As a child, I was put through the most rigorous training, all so that I could carry out my knightly mission to protect the princess.
The princess was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, as pretty as a camellia flower. How was it possible that such a beautiful thing ever existed in the first place? I loved her from the bottom of my heart.
I had sworn that I would protect her for the rest of my life. Then, our enemies invaded the castle. In the midst of the chaos, I was able to find the princess. I wanted to run away with her from that place so that I could continue keeping her safe.
She told me that she was the country’s princess and that she couldn’t just disappear in her country’s hour of need. Our enemies soon found us. I desperately tried to protect the princess, but I was vastly outnumbered. I begged them to spare the princess. She had never seen so much bloodshed. She had nothing to do with whatever was going on.
They said that if I could survive being burned alive for half a minute, they would spare the princess. A bonfire was readied, and I stepped into the fire. The flames mercilessly scorched my body. Pain raked through my very being. Half a minute passed. I dragged my body out of the fire, and I saw those b*stards kill the princess right in front of me.
Then I was thrown back into the fire. The last sound that I heard in my final moments was their jeering. Now, the only things driving my body are hatred, anger, despair, and vengeance!
Whooosh— Flames fanned out from the bottom of the human-like creature. Everything in the fire’s path was instantly burnt to a crisp.
“Infernal Incinerator, kill that thing!” roared the leader of the group.
