Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 46, The Order
The red-haired one-eyed thug led a group of thugs off the slave ship, while Peel and the other bald man stood on the deck, casually chatting while occasionally glancing towards Reynolds.
“Peel, tomorrow, we’ll finally reach the provincial capital. At that time, we’ll send off those common slaves and have ourselves a good time. Spending every day on a boat is a damnable way to live.” The bald man cursed in a whisper.
Peel began to laugh as well.
But just at this time, Peel suddenly heard a terrifying roar from a magical beast...
“Hoooowl!” All of a sudden, a terrifying, enormous flame serpent, as thick as a water barrel, came exploding out of the cabin, blasting a hole into the side of the ship.
The enormous fire serpent was as thick as a water barrel and over a hundred meters long. Howling, it circled around the slave ship, which instantly was set aflame. At the same time, the fire serpent charged directly towards the interior of the ship, blasting a hole through the entire vessel. Aside from around ten or so slaves in the bottom hold who were burnt to the death, the hundreds of other slaves wildly charged out from the hole in the ship which the fire serpent had made.
“Motherf*cker. That pretty-boy!” Peel said, his face changing.
“Quick! Catch him!”
The two bald men immediately ran towards Reynolds room. At this time, they didn’t care about the common slaves at all, but that enormous fire serpent actually charged straight towards the two of them.
“Motherf*cker, a Blazing Fire Serpent. Be careful!” Peel and the other man were both nervous now.
Fire-style, spell of the seventh rank: Blazing Fire Serpent!
This was the most powerful spell which Reynolds could cast; the Blazing Fire Serpent. If this spell were to advance in level, it would transform into the eighth-ranked spell, ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’. The ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’ would create and attack with seven enormous fire serpents , and the temperature of the serpents would be even hotter. As for the Blazing Fire Serpent, it was still extremely powerful.
Most warriors of the seventh rank wouldn’t dare to fight it head on.
The bald man, Peel, dodged as agilely as a fish, avoiding the attack of the Blazing Fire Serpent, while at the same time moving towards where Reynolds previously had been staying. In the room, Peel saw nothing but ash. Those two thugs’ bodies had been charred to dust, and there were two large circular holes in the walls.
Clearly, Reynolds had fled via these two holes.
“Ah! Ah!!!” A miserable scream could be heard nearby. The other bald man hadn’t been able to completely dodge the Blazing Fire Serpent. As soon as it had brushed by the man, the Blazing Fire Serpent immediately wrapped itself around him. The bald man’s battle-qi armor quickly was depleted, and the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh appeared.
Seeing this, the look on Peel’s face changed.
“Dale [Da’luo]!!!!” Peel went insane. “You motherf*cking bastard!”
By now, many of the slaves who had escaped from the bottom of the boat had begun frantically fleeing in each direction. After having been captured as slaves, they had felt utterly hopeless, but now, all of them were filled with hope once more, and they frantically fled.
Peel charged out from within those two holes as well, and with a mighty leap, arrived directly onto the shore.
“That damnable pretty-boy.” Peel stared at the slave ship in the Bonai River. The utterly demolished ship was slowly sinking, and it continued to burn with sheets of flame. Filled with smoke and fire and water, this ship was clearly finished.
“Peel, Dale!” A furious roar from afar.
The red-haired one-eyed man ran over at high speed, his single eye filled with unspeakable rage. Staring at Peel, he howled angrily, “Peel, where is he? Where is that magus?”
“Milord, that magus cast the Blazing Fire Serpent spell. No idea where he fled to. Dale died.” Peel was furious as well.
The one-eyed man panted with fury.
The Blazing Fire Serpent was capable of dealing with warriors of the seventh rank, but if it had encountered the one-eyed man, given his power as a warrior of the eighth rank, he definitely would’ve been able to destroy the Blazing Fire Serpent and seize Reynolds.
This was the reason why his slaving organization had sent him, a warrior of the eighth rank, on this mission.
But the one-eyed man hadn’t expected that right after he had taught that magus a lesson, he would dare to go all out like this.
“Quick, seize him. Bring that magus back.” The one-eyed man immediately shouted towards the surrounding thugs. “The ten of you, split up and search upstream and downstream. The dozens of you over here, start searching the nearby area. You must bring that magus back to me. Quickly!”
“Yes, milord!”
The furious thugs scattered every which way. Most of their forces were concentrated in the surrounding area, while only five thugs were sent searching upstream and downstream.
Reynolds was dressed like the other slaves, in absolutely raggedy clothes, and his body was covered with scars. Because the other slaves had fled as well, on many occasions, those thugs would see some other slaves, think they were Reynolds, and immediately rush over to seize them. Unfortunately, they were wasting their time.
An hour later.
The one-eyed man stood at the harbor, his heart filled with rage as he stared angrily around him.
“Milord, we’ve discovered over ten slaves downstream, but we didn’t find that magus.” A thug ran over to report. The speed at which they had travelled on land was definitely faster than the speed of the flowing river.
“Milord, we didn’t find that magus upstream either.“
“Milord, we didn’t find that magus in the surrounding areas. All we found were those common slaves.”
Hearing one report after another from his subordinates, the one-eyed man stared at the surrounding area. He was so angry he could die. This harbor was the harbor for a small township. Their organization didn’t have any forces here.
This was why the one-eyed man had no choice but to send those few dozen thugs to search for Reynolds.
Several dozen people had spent an hour without finding Reynolds. Then...there was no way he could be found. Because one hour was more than enough time for a person to travel a great distance. And how could several dozen people search an area of several dozen square kilometers?
“Bastard!” The one-eyed man snarled and cursed. “Let’s go. We have to report this immediately to the organization. That pretty-boy better hope that I don’t catch him. Otherwise...I will make sure his fate is worse than death.”
The sky was dark now. The one-eyed man and the others had already left helplessly. Several thousand meters away, next to the riverbank, a human form emerged from the water.
“Patooey.” Reynolds spat out the breathing reed from his mouth.
Glancing at his surroundings, Reynolds finally let out a long sigh. Reynolds hadn’t dared to be the slightest bit incautious during this escape attempt. After casting his spell, he had immediately dove into the water, then plucked a hollow reed and used it to breathe. Each time he dove down, he would travel more than a thousand meters before daring to raise his head.
“I’m very far away now. Those people can’t possibly find me now.” Reynolds went onto the shore.
Reynolds body suddenly began to emit a white steam. A few moments later, Reynolds tattered clothes were totally dry again. Glancing at the surrounding area, Reynolds centered himself through using the flow of the river.
“That slaving organization has people in all the major cities. It is better if I stick to the smaller cities. I can’t go back through the border between the two Empires. The slaving organizations have quite a few people in the border cities.” Although Reynolds believed that they wouldn’t spend too much effort searching for him, it was better for him to be careful. Reynolds had decided to first enter the Anarchic Lands through the Rohault Empire, and then return to the O’Brien Empire through the Anarchic Lands.
.....
The world was very dark now. The only light that could be seen was sporadic campfires. A dark shadow was flying through the skies, slashing through the air at high speed.
“Whoooooosh!” Their high-speed flight caused Old White to unconsciously narrow his eyes. From the skies, he could clearly make out the various roads, and so it was easy for him to make out the various landmarks.
“Master Linley, it is right below us.” Old White pointed at a distant countryside town.
“Oh? That little town is your organization’s headquarters?” Linley glanced at Old White. The town seemed no different from any other ordinary little town. In the darkness, a few lamp lights could be seen.
Old White hurriedly nodded. “It is. This is just some of our organization’s camouflaging abilities.”
“Whoosh!”
Linley immediately charged down, leaving a black shadowy trail of afterimages behind him. He landed in the middle of the headquarters of the slaving organization...this countryside town.
Linley was wearing a deep blue robe. Hovering up into the air, he loosened his hand, allowing Old White to fall to the ground. “Have the leader of your organization come out.”
Old White didn’t dare to disobey.
At this moment, a number of people ran over at high speed, surrounding them. But when they saw Linley was standing in mid-air, they were all stunned. Generally speaking, only Saints were capable of flight. Naturally, powerful wind-style magi could fly as well. In truth, right now, Linley was only capable of flight without transforming because he had already cast the Windshadow spell.
“Old White, why have you come?” A middle-aged madame glanced at Linley, then whispered to Old White.
Old White shouted loudly, “Quick, quick, have the leader come! This is Master Linley, the mighty Dragonblood Warrior, Master Linley!”
Master Linley?
These words were quite effective. A slaving organization, in terms of power, was far inferior to even the three major trading unions or the four great assassin’s guilds. Naturally, it didn’t dare to offend a Saint. Many people immediately ran to get their leaders, and all of the high-ranking people quickly began to assemble.
Linley stood there in mid-air, calmly waiting. Bebe stood atop of Linley’s shoulders.
“Boss, this little town looked quite ordinary, but the insides of these buildings are quite unique! Many of them have underground basements.” Bebe spoke to Linley mentally.
Linley nodded slightly.
In just a short while, a large group of people began to head in this direction from afar, with their leader being a tall, thin man who was dressed in a gaudy long robe. This man was half-running, half-walking, his forehead covered with sweat.
“Master Linley, my name is Dennis [Dan’ni’si], and I am the leader of this organization. Is there something we can do for you, Master Linley? If there is, please inform us, Master.” The tall, thin man said humbly, filled with terror.
Although he had never met Linley before, a Saint who could hover in mid-air, no matter who he really was, wasn’t someone he dared to offend.
Linley glanced at him, then said, “Dennis! A month ago, you bought a magus from Old White over at the border city. He should have arrived here by now.”
Dennis was startled.
A somewhat fatter, older man next to Dennis hurriedly said, “Master Linley, I was responsible for this assignment. Halfway here, at the Bonai River, that magus burned our slaving vessel and fled.”
“Fled?” Linley was surprised but also relieved.
Fourth Bro was quite impressive, to be able to able to escape from the clutches of the slaving organization.
Only now did Dennis come to his senses, and he nodded. “I’m aware of this event as well. After the magus fled, we sent our forces to some cities to try and recapture him, but we’ve yet to find him. This was over ten days ago now.”
“Leader, that magus is Master Linley’s bosom friend!” Old White hurriedly said.
Dennis’ face immediately turned ugly to behold, while at the same time he was filled with fear.
Linley glanced at them. “From today onwards, you are forbidden from attempting to capture my friend.” Dennis hurriedly said, “Of course. If we find him, we will definitely treat him as an honored guest.”
Linley nodded calmly. Without wasting any more words, Linley and Bebe flew off and left.
Given the current situation, the slaving organization didn’t really matter much now. Fourth Bro had escaped over ten days ago. By now, he should’ve fled quite far.
In mid-air.
“Bebe, you go back first. Immediately have Zassler and the others head out towards the Anarchic Lands. I plan to spend a bit of time scanning the area around the Bonai River and between the borders of the Rohault Empire and the O’Brien Empire. I want to see if I can find Fourth Bro. After I finish my search, I will join up with you.” Linley had already come to this decision.
Searching using spiritual energy was actually quite a painful experience for most Saint-level warriors.
Most Saint-level warriors would only be able to occasionally search using their spiritual energy, because in truth, their spiritual energy wasn’t extremely strong. It was magi who had powerful spiritual energy. In terms of spiritual energy, that Haydson who had been training for centuries was at most on par with Linley.
It would only take a short hour to cover that distance, but if one were to search carefully, one would definitely have to spend at least several days.
“Got it.” Bebe obediently nodded his little head, then flew at high speed towards the O’Brien Empire.