Book 16, Starmist Sea – Chapter 29, Unable to Leave!
“Trap!”
Linley felt his heart turn cold.
“What an enormous lie!” Linley began to shudder.
Demigods. Gods. Highgods. Generally speaking, all those capable of winning a hundred battles had high potential and some special abilities! In addition, after arriving at Castle Hendsey, they had to be tested. Only after their potential was verified would they be allowed to stay, while the others were deported.
“All those who are allowed to stay have special potential.”
“Wait! If that’s the case, how can we explain Dylin?” Linley, based on the series of events and on the fact that Dylin and Tarosse had chosen the Bagshaw clan’s side, was now certain that Dylin had been controlled as well.
Linley immediately came up with a possibility...
“It’s not just those who pass the test who are spiritually controlled. Even if they don’t pass, most likely they will still be controlled. Only, a subordinate will do it instead.” Linley understood this; after all, how could any hundred battles victor of the Arena be weak?
The more the merrier, as far as soldiers for one’s forces.
Pondering this from the viewpoint of the master of Castle Hendsey, instantly understood: “The so-called examination is most likely to divide people based on their power. After determining how powerful an opponent is, they’ll know what level of expert is needed to control that person.” The more powerful a person was, the harder they would be to control.
For the likes of Lomio, a Seven Star Fiend, it would be incredibly difficult to control him.
“Lomio and I didn’t need to be tested at all. This means...very possibly, this master of the castle, the so-called lord ‘Commander’, will personally deal with us.” Thinking of this, Linley couldn’t help but be frightened. Even in Miluo Island, there were quite a few red-robed elders.
Within Castle Hendsey, there were multiple Six Star Fiends and Seven Star Fiends.
“Even Seven Star Fiends have been effortless controlled. Then the power of this Lord Commander...?” Linley frowned. For the Lord Commander to be able to control Seven Star Fiends meant one thing...this person was extremely powerful with regards to the soul.
But what Linley feared the most...
Was precisely this, experts skilled in soul attacks!
“When I encounter this castle master, I won’t be able to resist at all. Can it be that I will have to use my Sovereign’s Might?” Linley immediately thought back to how the clan leader, Bakwill, had Destruction-type Sovereign’s Might himself. “This master of the castle is clearly the true power behind the Bagshaw clan. Even Bakwill has Sovereign’s Might...how can the master of the castle not have it?”
“Someone capable of letting Miluo Island stand proud and independent in the Infernal Realm...the power this master of the castle possesses is at a level which I definitely cannot take on.”
Linley immediately came to a conclusion...
“Flee!”
He had to flee!
Linley turned to look at the window. Ganmontin was currently resting in his room. Ganmontin now only had his divine water clone, and it would be very easy for Linley to kill Ganmontin.
“Cannot kill him! If I kill him, I would attract attention, and they will definitely keep a close watch on me. If I want to leave, it will be very hard.” Linley, after having come to this understanding, couldn’t possibly remain here and wait for death.
He had to flee quickly!
“Just consider yourself lucky.” Linley glanced at the window, then immediately utilized the Worldwalker technique and entered the ground.
After having come to this conclusion, Linley himself felt shock in his heart. Based on what he knew...his hypothesis was most likely 99% correct! It no longer mattered whether or not this place truly had scryer records of experts; he couldn’t remain!
Having one’s soul controlled was a fate worse than death!
On the city walls that were forty meters tall, there were a large number of patrolling black armored guards. Occasionally, there were some red cloaked guards amongst them. This place was more severely guarded than any other place Linley had ever seen.
All of the black armored guards were silent, not daring to make a sound.
However, the red cloaked guards would occasionally chat, as though quite relaxed.
“Each time Arena victors are sent here, even we have to come over and be on patrol.” Two red cloaked warriors were walking alongside each other while chatting and laughing.
“Actually, all we need to do is capture anyone we see fleeing. The real task of oversight isn’t for us to worry about; it’s that thing over there.” One of the red cloaked warriors pointed to the core of the city.
“You are talking about the Water Element Heart?”
“Naturally. The Water Element Heart controls the vast water around this area. If anyone dares to exit our boundaries, the Water Element Heart will easily detect it. By then, we’ll just have to act.” The roving guards were quite relaxed.
It was impossible for anyone to secretly flee!
Forcibly flee? That depended on if they were strong enough. If they were, those patrolling guards would be dead.
But suddenly...
The enormous city wall glowed with the colors of the rainbow, and the multicolored light even blinked twice, immediately startling awake all of the patrolling warriors.
“Someone is fleeing!”
Dozens of the nearest black armored guards and red cloaked warriors all flew directly towards the direction of the disturbance. They clearly could tell that the person who had charged out was...
The red-robed Linley!
“Good heavens, a city wall that has a circumference of tens of kilometers is actually protected by an enormous magic formation? And which seems to have all types of elemental energy?” Linley stared at the massive city walls and the flashing, multicolored magic runes. He tasted sourness in his lips.
He wasn’t able to flee.
Currently, a large number of black armored guards were staring at this place, and many red cloaked experts descended from the skies as well.
“A red-robed elder?” These red cloaked warriors were startled, and then one of them said in a sonorous voice, “You dare to abscond? Hmph!”
Linley glanced at the group of red cloaked warriors. Previously, during the testing, Linley had seen a red-cloaked warrior attack. They were roughly on a Six Star Fiend level. “A group of Six Star Fiends?” Linley laughed bitterly to himself.
There was no way for him to forcibly escape any longer.
“I am a red-robed elder of the Bagshaw clan, Linley! I have something important that I must immediately return to handle. I didn’t want to disturb you. Now, please step aside and let me return to Miluo Island.” Linley’s voice rang out.
The leader of the red cloaked warriors said calmly, “Oh, Elder Linley? The rule of our Castle Hendsey is that unless we have permission, no outsiders are ever permitted to leave.”
“I have something important to do!” Linley said angrily.
“Please, Elder Linley, just wait a while.” One of the red cloaked warriors said. “If you want to force your way out, then don’t blame us.” Actually, these red cloaked warriors, upon seeing that it was a red-robed elder of the Bagshaw clan, didn’t want to attack either.
This was because red-robed elders were all Seven Star Fiends.
Once battle began, their group of people might be able to obtain victory through numbers, but it would assuredly be a pyrrhic victory.
Linley was frustrated. “Neither acting firmly nor speaking softly works. If I try to force my way out, most likely all the experts from the castle will pop out.”
“Linley, why are you in such a rush to leave?” A familiar voice rang out. Linley turned and saw that white-haired elder with red armor and a red cloak fly out. It was that expert named ‘Uriah’.
Uriah laughed as he looked at Linley. “Linley, you haven’t even gone to the first viewing room yet.”
“Mr. Uriah.” Linley said hurriedly. “There’s nothing that I can do. Just now, I received a soul message from my servant. I really do have something important I must handle, and so I have to leave. As for the first viewing room, how about I return tomorrow?”
“Oh?” Uriah frowned.
“Makes sense.” Uriah laughed. “Linley, since you really do have an important task to handle...”
Linley’s heart leapt up.
“Then I won’t force you to stay. However, I’ve already reported your arrival to the master of the castle. I don’t have the authority to let you leave. How about this. You wait here for a while, and I’ll make a report to the master of the castle. I trust that he won’t make things difficult for you.” Uriah laughed.
“Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Uriah.” Linley said.
Uriah laughed calmly, then immediately flew away.
Linley’s face sank. “Ask the master of the castle? This is going to be troublesome!” Linley glanced at his surroundings. There were tens of red cloaked experts staring at him, and on the walls, there were many black armored guards watching as well.”
“How can this Castle Hendsey have so many experts?” Linley was helpless.
Originally, in Royalwing City, even Six Star Fiends were very rare. As for Seven Star Fiends, they were virtually nowhere to be seen, as they were usually hidden throughout the Infernal Realm. But this Castle Hendsey had a pile of Six Star Fiends and even quite a few Seven Star Fiends, and a seemingly even more powerful ‘master of the castle’.
Moments later...
“Eh?” Linley’s face changed.
From afar, with Uriah at their head, three red armored and red cloaked experts flew over, with the black-robed expert, ‘Lomio’, with them!
“Red armor, red cloak? The other two people have roughly the same status as Uriah. Most likely, they are here to keep me from fleeing. But...why did they bring Lomio?” Linley was puzzled, but Lomio had a rare smile on his face.
“Mr. Uriah, you have news?” Linley said clearly.
Uriah and the others landed alongside Lomio, and Uriah laughed. “Good news, good news. The master of the castle is truly considerate towards you, Linley.”
Linley was startled. Could it be that he had guessed wrong? The master of the castle was going to be so kind as to let him leave
“When he learned that you, Linley, had something important to handle, he agreed to let you and Lomio go to the first viewing room right now! Going to the first viewing room and using your divine sense to view the scryer recordings is a very fast process.” Uriah laughed.
Linley’s facial expressions couldn’t help but congeal.
“Linley, since you could wait here for me, you also have enough time to go to the first viewing room and do a quick viewing with your divine sense, right?” Uriah laughed. The other two red armored, red cloaked experts laughed as well as they looked at Linley.
But Linley felt bone-deep terror from their stares.
“Alright, then we’ll go do a viewing first.” This was the only thing Linley could say.
Uriah immediately laughed. The three of them immediately led Linley and Lomio towards the center of Castle Hendsey. The path over there had multiple intersections, and patrols could be seen everywhere. Outsiders would probably find it hard to take a single step here, but as Linley was following Uriah, he wasn’t barred or impeded at all.
“Lomio, you need to thank Linley. If it wasn’t for him, you’d probably have to wait until tomorrow before you can go to the secret room.” Uriah laughed.
Lomio had a rare smile on his face. Clearly, he was in an excellent mood due to the prospect of about to see so many experts doing battle in those scryer recordings.
“Linley, it is quite rare for the master of the castle to let you go to the secret room early.” Uriah said to Linley.
“Right. I truly need to thank the master of the castle.” Linley said, but in his heart, he was cursing nonstop. That master of the castle clearly had no good intentions.
While walking on the path, Linley was paying attention to his surroundings.
But the deeper into the heart they went, the more patrols there were, and in addition, he had those three experts around him.
Flee?
Hard!
“Rumble!” The great door covered with mysterious carved runes swung open, revealing a corridor which had many carvings on each side. Linley and the others thus began to walk towards the end of the corridor.
Linley didn’t have any time to enjoy the sculpture.
As they reached the throne room at the end of the corridor, Uriah walked to one side of the throne room, against a brazier, and opened up a mysterious, wide corridor. The corridor was made completely from blood red stones, and emanating a heart-shaking, deathly aura.
“How mysterious.” Linley frowned.
Lomio frowned as well. The silver-haired woman by Uriah’s side laughed and said, “This is the place where the scryer recordings are held. Naturally, it’s rather hidden. The two of you, just follow me in.” As she spoke, she was the first to enter.
Linley and Lomio naturally followed them in, while Uriah and the other followed from behind.
At the end of the tunnel, they reached that black, patterned door with the blood red edges. They came to a halt.
“Teacher, Lomio and Linley are here.” Uriah said respectfully, while the others bowed as well.
Lomio raised an eyebrow. “There’s someone else inside?”
“A place as important as this naturally must be guarded.” Uriah laughed as he explained. Linley just narrowed his eyes, musing to himself, “It seems this so-called ‘Teacher’ is the master of the castle.”
“Fine. Let Mr. Lomio be the first to enter for the viewing.” A low, gentle voice came from within the door. Immediately, the large door swung open slightly, revealing a crack that was enough for one person to enter.
“Lomio, go on in.” Uriah and the other two looked towards Lomio.
Lomio was a bold, courageous expert. He immediately was about to head in, but Linley gave a soft cough, then hurriedly sent via divine sense, “Lomio, be careful. The person within the room will most likely take sinister action against you. Beware his soul attack.”
Lomio glanced at Linley in surprise, but then with a laugh, he still entered.
“Regardless of whether this is true or not, thank you! If someone inside really does attack, I’d actually be quite happy.” Lomio’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind, while he himself entered past the door.
“BANG!” The great door once more slammed shut.