After half a day’s journey, standing atop the carriage, they could already glimpse the silhouette of Nanfeng Watchtower from afar. It was a fortress building that was not particularly grand, perched upon a hillside.
Having slept soundly, they spent the route discussing the scenery, which only reinforced Green’s conviction that Ye Dui and Debbie were there for a leisurely outing. His expression grew much more solemn. They recalled Jiji’s words from the previous night when sending her back to the heroic spirit world: there were some dreadful things to the south. That direction pointed precisely towards Nanfeng Watchtower.
Though Jiji had become a heroic spirit with a child’s temperament, her identity as a Valkyrie was genuine. Her body brimmed with holy aura. The dreadful things she mentioned were likely no trifling matter.
Yet they showed no signs of retreat because of it. This mission was worth twenty gold coins, after all. Even if it meant braving mountains of blades or seas of fire, they would see it through. The two of them had aces up their sleeves.
“Hmm?” While the carriage advanced, Ye Dui kept a vigilant eye on the map in his grimoire. The white dots representing the three of them moved swiftly along the wilderness path. Suddenly, five red dots appeared ahead, charging rapidly towards the carriage. Red signified hostility. Were these bandits, then?
Ye Dui had no time to glance ahead. He scooped up Debbie with one hand and grabbed Green’s waist with the other. Activating the [Windstride] spell, whoosh, they burst out from the rear of the carriage. In the next instant, boom, a massive fireball struck the carriage compartment, shattering it into fragments. The horses, startled, neighed and bolted into the distance.
Ye Dui, Debbie, and Green, who had escaped in haste, tumbled awkwardly to the ground. The incident had been so abrupt that, though they evaded death, they still suffered some fallout. When they hit the earth, however, Green landed at the bottom. Ye Dui, holding Debbie and sitting atop Green, remained unscathed…
This familiar scene drew a wail from Green. “Am I a professional human cushion or something? You are using me as a meat pad again!!”
“Green, what nonsense are you spouting? You are far from a professional human cushion. You ought to put on more weight.” Ye Dui quipped in jest, swiftly leaping to his feet. His eyes scanned ahead warily. The force that pulverised the carriage compartment had been immense. Now, the compartment lay as a pile of burning wooden debris. The attackers were three figures in blood-red robes, their faces shrouded by large hoods.
This attire… it did not match the bandit style, did it? Were not bandits supposed to be ragged and brutish in appearance?
“Who are they?” Green rubbed his waist as he scrambled up from the ground. He summoned his grimoire in a panic while asking Ye Dui and Debbie.
“No way? They seem to be… dark believers?” Debbie’s small mouth fell open in surprise. She turned to Ye Dui. “Do you remember me mentioning them before? I thought I would never encounter such fellows in my lifetime.”
“Murphy’s Law?” Ye Dui recalled Debbie’s earlier account of the dark believers. He sighed aloud, eyeing the five blood-robed figures approaching swiftly.
They had clearly unleashed a fireball just now, yet without using a grimoire. Their power was exceedingly peculiar.
“How could dark believers possibly be here? Were we not here to exterminate bandits?” Green said in disbelief. He had never even heard of dark believers. It seemed following Ye Dui and Debbie guaranteed encounters with all manner of bizarre affairs.
“This mission might have been a trap from the start.” Ye Dui frowned. He paused, then snorted coldly. “As I suspected, indeed.”
Green’s face lit up. “You, you knew all along?”
Ye Dui lowered his voice. “No idea, actually. But saying it like that makes us seem confident. Let me tell you, momentum is key at times like this.”
Green: “…”
Debbie nodded beside him, clearly approving of Ye Dui’s words. She then shouted loudly at the five. “You evil lot, we knew you were here all along, so we came specifically to wipe you out!”
Evidently, the five blood-robed figures faltered for a moment. Shortly after, one stepped forward. A chilling laugh emanated from beneath the hood. “Wade, my dear foster son, you knew it was me all along?”
At that voice, Ye Dui’s feigned composure shattered instantly, replaced by genuine shock. He recognised the owner.
Debbie and Green looked at Ye Dui curiously. Foster son?
“You are… old Bond?” An image of an elderly man surfaced in Ye Dui’s mind. He exclaimed aloud.
Amid eerie heh-heh laughter, the blood-robed figure removed his hood, revealing a face with snow-white hair and beard. His eyes gleamed with a red hue, glaring coldly at Ye Dui. This was the very face from Ye Dui’s memories: old Bond, the man who had adopted Wade from the orphanage at age ten and bequeathed his wooden cabin to him upon death.
So he had not died after all. And he was a dark believer?
Ye Dui suddenly sensed the whiff of a conspiracy…
Just then, the sound of galloping horses echoed from afar.
Ye Dui turned his head, his expression cooling slightly. He recognised them as the Blue Fox Mercenary Group. These fellows had indeed refused to let go of Ye Dui’s mission, trailing at a distance all along. With the hoofbeats, seven of them charged in boisterously, kicking up dust. Nick’s horse led the pack. From afar, he bellowed. “Ha ha, we have finally caught up to you little ones…”
Then he spotted the blood-robed figures blocking Ye Dui’s trio. Nick, a seasoned mercenary, did not identify them at once, but instinct told him of their dreadfulness. These were no bandits. That eerie aura stirred profound unease in him.
He wheeled his horse around at once. What had been intended as threats turned into. “We just came to wish you good luck, ha…” Amid the clopping hooves, he prepared to lead his men away decisively.
Ye Dui: “…”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh. Four of the five blood-robed figures dissolved into crimson shadows and surged forth. Their speed rivalled the horses’. In a blink, they reached the Blue Fox Mercenaries attempting to flee. Neighs rang out. The two lead horses toppled abruptly, crushing their riders and eliciting successive screams.
Old Bond spread his arms. His lips seemed to murmur an incantation. Suddenly, a layer of blood-red mist billowed from all directions, enveloping the area tightly.
Nick yanked the reins. His horse’s forelegs reared high. A blood-robed figure lunged at him. The robe flared, exposing an arm etched with bizarre blood runes. Swish, the arm pierced the horse’s chest in an instant. With a cry of alarm, Nick tumbled to the ground, rolling several times. His reflexes were sharp. He dashed to Ye Dui’s trio.
The other horses were halted too. In moments, three of the seven Blue Fox Mercenaries lay dead. The remaining three hurried to Nick’s side.
“From the moment you set foot here, escape was never an option.” Nick sneered, sweeping his gaze over Nick and the others as if appraising corpses. His eyes then settled on Ye Dui. “Wade, your life should have ended a month ago. Yet fate has favoured you unusually, letting you linger until now. But… it ends here.”
“A month ago?” Ye Dui had held back thus far, even quietly stopping Debbie from summoning her heroic spirit when she prepared to. He wanted the truth about himself. Hearing old Bond’s words, he recalled one lingering puzzle: his transmigration stemmed from Wade’s death by Ricken’s [Flame] spell. But how could a mere [Flame] spell wield such lethal force?
Wade’s death had been suspiciously abrupt back then. Now he understood something. “A month ago, I nearly died. Because of you lot.”
“Precisely. We planned to kill you on your sixteenth birthday. Ricken’s spell bore the power of the spirit god. We hoped to use him as our instrument to slay you. Alas, that fool failed. Heh heh, I adopted you to raise you as a sacrifice. You were the vessel I meticulously cultivated. Your entire life was a snare. Upon your death, the great spirit god shall revive from your flesh and blood!”
Old Bond spoke in a rambling, deranged manner. He bore no resemblance to the kindly elder in Ye Dui’s memories.
“You are the one we chose. Gifted beyond measure, brimming with mana. Your initial failure to awaken a grimoire stemmed from already possessing one: the dark grimoire. One cannot hold two grimoires, hence you could not awaken a new one. But matters went awry. You unexpectedly awakened another new grimoire. That we could not foresee. No matter. All shall be set right today… The dark grimoire will devour you in the end!”
So Wade’s awakening failure had not been an anomaly. Rather, the Wade of then already harboured a grimoire!
The iPad grimoire was evidently rather special, though.
“Today, the spirit god shall be born. You shall all become offerings to the spirit god.” Old Bond shrieked. The blood mist permeating the surroundings thickened further. One mercenary suddenly screamed. His hand had brushed the mist inadvertently. Accompanied by a foul stench, when he yanked it back in panic, only a skeletal palm remained.
This blood mist wielded potent corrosive power.
The blood-robed figures moved unaffected within it.
“Strike now.” Ye Dui murmured to Debbie. He had learned what he sought. He readied for battle.
Yet at that very moment, amid the enveloping blood-red mist, a white light appeared suddenly. Like a full moon in a crimson night. At the same time, a clear, melodious chant drifted over.
