Thick, black smoke rose from the lakeside of Baine University.
By the lakeside, a figure with triangular see-through shields was fighting with a group of masked men in black armor.
Streams of dark powers crashed and exploded, letting out a thunderous crash.
Scorching green light and black smoke spread out continuously as uneven craters were gouged out upon the verdant grassland.
*Bam!!*
A figure fell into the lake and kicked up a massive splash. Before he could even get up, a cold, silver light shot out like a beam into the lake and struck the person square in the chest.
By the shore, Bluetail gently pulled his right arm back as he twirled the long blue hair on the side of his face with his pinkie.
He had a very muscular body, which was clad in blue female tights. His lips were coated with blood-red lipstick while red eyeshadow lined his eyes.
He seemed strong, bizarre, and charming.
That would be the first impression most would have upon seeing him.
“Did you see that? This is the result of being stubborn.” Bluetail gently forked his hand over his waist, as he skipped over toward Baine University.
Behind him were three people, all massive men and women clad in white armor.
They were professionals sent from the Sect of Thousand Graces, Whalerudder, and Blacklion.
The Whalerudder was the powerful dark-skinned lady with white hair, whom Lin Sheng had met before, Fea.
The other two were male, one looked like a rich kid in sunglasses while another wore a short white t-shirt and jeans, as his muscles twitched about like a standard bodybuilding trainer.
“Master Bluetail, we are going to hit Baine University head-on? Don’t we have any plans?” the rich kid-looking Madram could not help but ask.
“Plan?” Bluetail broke into a mischievous smile. “Are you ordering me about?” He turned around and slowly stared at Madram, a glint of bloodlust and madness appearing in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t dare, but this is a joint operation by the Sevenlocks Tower and our Sect of Thousand Graces. Regardless, we do not wish for any unforeseen incidents in the operation, so wouldn’t it be better if things could go a lot smoother?”
“Smoother? That means you think my plan is no good as yours?” Bluetail ran his finger gently across his lips, painting it red.
Madram’s expression turned dark as his body subconsciously tensed up.
Bluetail, while an operator of Sevenlocks Tower, was a genuine maniac. If not for his attitude problem, he would not have been sent out as the vanguard.
One needed to know that the casualty ratio for the vanguards is always the highest.
“You know I did not mean that. But Our Sect of Thousand Graces is just a mere small force, and cannot afford to send men anywhere like you. So if we do not agree to the plan of action, the sect’s team will not join in the main force,” Madram insisted.
“Heheh… pitiful… pitiful caution…” Bluetail pulled his hand away and wore an exaggerated helpless look.
“So that means you’re threatening me?” His expression suddenly turned chilly.
Madram gasped.
“No, I did not mean…”
Suddenly, a massive blue tail flashed before his eyes as the ten-odd-meter-long spiked tail crashed against him like a speeding freight train.
Madram let out a howl as a three-meter-tall green ram appeared and fused with him. His body suddenly grew as ram horns appeared on his head, as he lowered it to block the attack.
*Bammm!!!*
An explosion rang out all across Madram like shattered glass as he flew up into the air and spurted blood as he went, before crashing into the lake.
A grunt later, a white water pillar blasted out from the surface of the lake as mud roiled at the bottom of it.
The blue monstrous tail returned to Bluetail like a bolt of lightning as he smiled while placing his finger in his lips.
“Anyone has any other opinions?”
The remaining two members of the sect kept silent and dared not speak.
Madram was their leader and the strongest among the three of them. For someone with an Oppressor-class ability to be so easily pummeled into half-death into the lake, Whaleruder and Blacklion dared not say anything at all.
“Seems like both of you have nothing to add. Let’s go.” Bluetail then took big strides towards the university gate.
Every other distance he walked, a ten-meter-long half-translucent monster tail would appear as it swept around, sending every student or teacher flying and tethering on the brink of death.
Soon, however, an old man rippling in cold blue light with a staff in hand slowly walked out of the gate.
“Bluetail, it is you,” the old man said as a white, mysterious matrix akin to a mistletoe spun within his eye.
“Thirty years, and you are getting older, and older, Cainphas.” Bluetail stopped as he looked at the old man about twenty meters away.
The old man smiled. “You couldn’t defeat me thirty years ago. It will be the same today.”
He lifted his staff and gently tapped it against the ground.
*Ting!*
The moment the other end of the staff made contact against the ground, a gentle, hidden ripple rang out.
The ripple quickly expanded and enveloped every heretic within a fifty-meter radius, Bluetail included.
“Skyfrost!”
The mistletoe matrix within the old man’s eyes lit up in blue light.
*Bam bam bam!!*
At that instant, barely a fraction of a second later, a sea of white frost emanated from his feet and engulfed the entire rippled area.
White frost quickly crept up the shoes, back of the leg and thighs of the heretics before rapidly freezing, expanding, and exploding.
*Bam bam bam!!*
Within a second, countless of blood-colored snow flowers bloomed at the same time within the fifty-meter radius.
…
Inside the gloomy city before dawn.
Amid the skyscrapers, a muscular frame was moving like an agile cat as the figure rapidly jumped his way from building to building.
Soon, a sea of buildings was left behind the figure.
He did not stop as he traversed districts after districts as neither malls, shopping complexes, residential areas or parks could slow him down.
Not long after, the figure suddenly paused as he stood silently on top of a massive billboard above a shopping mall.
The figure was clad in dark grey long shirt and pants, with a dark green crystal mask on his face; revealing only a clean-shaven chin. It was Lin Sheng.
He quietly stood at the corner where the light did not shine and looked at the Soul Fortress’ entrance from afar.
It was nothing but quiet, and only a couple of drunkards were screaming about as they sat on the steps.
Many shops have yet to open their shutters, as it was not yet operations hours. Or perhaps it already was, but no one dared to open their doors.
“It seems like this place is not the target. Should be safe.”
Lin Sheng took a step back and launched himself into the air as strands upon strands of dark power threads formed around him. The threads then formed into stable platforms to allow him to quickly leap forward.
Shortly after, he left the Soul Fortress entrance far behind him.
A few minutes later, he reappeared near a fountain plaza as a four-meter-tall dark figure was fighting with two green wolves.
