Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 14, Ambushed
They had only been flying in the Planar Battlefield for less than half a day, but ended up actually encountering a lone traveler. Linley knew that ordinary soldiers couldn’t possibly be travelling alone.
“Move closer!”
Linley said mentally. What Linley now had to do was...discover if this was someone on their side, or an enemy. Linley and Bebe quietly advanced through the grass, drawing closer, not daring to release even the slightest hint of energy, for fear of enemy discovery. Moments later, the distance between the two was reduced to two hundred meters.
“Eh? I can’t sense the badge aura from him.” Bebe sent.
Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. “An enemy!”
People on the same side would be able to sense their allies’ badges. Being unable to sense the badge...meant it was an enemy!
“Haha, I didn’t expect that as soon as we arrived in the Planar Battlefield, we’d encounter an enemy. It is probably a commander.” Bebe’s eyes lit up. “Boss, hand this one to me. I’ll get rid of him.”
“Right.” Linley suppressed his excitement.
“Swoosh!” Bebe suddenly flew into the air.
A blurry, enormous illusion of a Godeater Rat suddenly appeared behind Bebe. At this moment, Bebe, not hesitating at all, used his supreme technique – his innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’! But the strange thing was that the figure didn’t collapse; it turned to look towards Bebe.
“Boss, I can’t sense his divine spark or his soul!” Bebe said frantically. “Right, there’s another person nearby. I can sense the aura from his badge. He’s not too far from us. He belongs to our side.”
Right at this moment, someone suddenly appeared in the distance. This person knew that he had been discovered.
“The two of you!” The gray-robed figure said clearly. “Stop attacking that black-robed figure. That’s my Deathgod Golem.”
“Golem?”
Bebe and Linley were stunned.
“So it was a golem. No wonder I couldn’t sense its aura. No wonder, when Bebe used his innate divine ability, he failed.” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The gray-robed man turned and was about to leave, but Bebe called out, “Hey, don’t leave in such a hurry!” As he spoke, he flew over.
“Swoosh!” The Deathgod Golem immediately flew over, wanting to block Bebe while speaking in the human language, “What are you intending to do?”
“We are on the same side. Can’t I ask a few questions?” Bebe stared at the Deathgod Golem.
The gray-robed figure himself was already far away. The Deathgod Golem he left behind naturally wasn’t something he was worried for; even if he lost it, that just meant he had one less golem.
“The two of you...” The Deathgod Golem said calmly. “How do I know if you are on my side? Perhaps the two of you killed some ordinary soldiers of my side, and then bound the badges with blood and used them to disguise yourselves. Who can be certain as to whether or not you two are fakes?”
Linley and Bebe were stunned.
It was possible to be imposters?
But when he thought about it carefully, it made sense. All they had to do was come up with a way to kill an ordinary soldier, then remove their own badge before binding an enemy badge. Thusly done, they would have a disguise. Once the Planar War ended, they could simply put their own badges back on. Linley and Bebe hadn’t thought of this yet.
“Even if you aren’t imposters, people on the same side can still kill each other!” The Deathgod Golem said, then left.
Linley and Bebe didn’t try to stop the Deathgod Golem.
“Boss, I’m starting to understand why that allied camp commander was so wary of us.” Bebe said. “He was just like that previous person; afraid we would act against him.” Bebe also understand that it wasn’t that they were afraid of the two of them; rather, they couldn’t be bothered to kill people on the same side.
This was because even in success, there would be no military merits gained.
But in failure, one’s life would be lost. Naturally, the gray-robed man had chosen to leave.
“He was afraid we’d kill him?” Linley said helplessly. “But I won’t gain any military merits for killing him. Oh, wait!” Linley had a sudden thought, and he finally understood why it was possible for people on the same side to want to fight each other.
“Eh?” Bebe looked at Linley, puzzled.
“People on the same side...might kill each other as well.” Linley sighed emotionally.
“How can that be?” Bebe didn’t understand.
“It’s simple. Two people who are close friends. One enters the side of the Divine Darkness Plane, the other enters the side of the Divine Light Plane. For example, Bebe, you and I might be located in opposing camps. I’ll kill people on my side and obtain red badges, which are useless to me, but I can give them to you! And when you kill someone on your side and acquire a golden badge, you can give it to me to use.” Linley smiled bitterly.
Bebe now understood as well.
The Lord Prefects, Tartarus Lords, and others who were supreme amongst Highgods had many friends at the same level. For example, Beirut; he might even have friends of the same level in the Celestial Realm. They absolutely could join different camps and use this strategy.
“Thus, we can’t trust people on our side, unless we know them well.” Linley said with resignation.
No wonder the black-robed, bald youth, upon realizing that he didn’t recognize Linley, immediately had Linley leave.
“It seems we need to be careful as well.” Bebe pursed his lips. “Even if we encounter allies, we can’t be too careless.”
“Right.” Linley, too, began to feel how dangerous these Planar Wars were.
Aside from true friends, outsiders were not to be trusted. And the status imparted by a badge might not be true!
“Just now, that fellow was quite clever to use a Deathgod Golem as bait.” Bebe said with a chortle. “Boss, we can do this also. Nobody, regardless of the side, will be able to sense the aura of a badge on a Deathgod Golem. They’ll take the golem to be an enemy and ambush it! We’ll hide nearby and counter-ambush them instead.”
Linley couldn’t help but laugh.
This was indeed a good method.
The Planar Battlefield was a million kilometers in diameter. If one flew at high speed, it wasn’t a very long distance, but in this sort of place, where attacks and battles occurred in secret...in such a large area, the few dozen or a few hundred commanders would be like drops of water in the sea. If they were hidden somewhere, it would be very hard to find them.
Within a mountain cavern. Linley and Bebe were within the cavern, while each of them also controlled a Deathgod Golem, flying not too far away from them.
“We encountered a person when we first entered the Planar Battlefield, but now it’s been another month, and we haven’t encountered anyone.” Bebe mumbled. “Based on what you said, Boss, we have to be careful even when just travelling around. This sort of slow, plodding pace...how long is it going to take for us to reach the Stellar River.”
“Don’t be impatient.”
Linley laughed as he spoke. He was very patient. “It is possible for battles to occur between commanders in any location here in the Planar Battlefield. We don’t need to run around wildly. Doing so would be very dangerous, and the chances of encountering someone isn’t that high either. If we occasionally set up an ambush, our chances might be higher.
“But if everyone is waiting in ambush, then nobody will encounter anybody.” Bebe rebutted.
“That’s why we’ll advance a little bit every few months, changing every so often.” Linley said calmly. “We have eight centuries! Plenty of time!”
What was most critical in a place like this Planar Battlefield was patience. Whoever became impatient and revealed their traces would most likely be observed by others, which would make things dangerous. Linley knew how much power he had...a commander specialized in soul attacks would make things tough for him. And....most commander-level experts were skilled in soul attacks!!!
“If you aren’t able to keep waiting, you start training.” Linley said with a laugh.
“Got it.” Bebe pursed his lips.
Linley, too, had his true body in a state of maximum vigilance, while his divine clones were focused on training.
Who amongst the commanders weren’t elites? In addition, quite a few of the commanders had been in the Planar Battlefield before. All of them had their own strategies.
Linley’s cautious, guarded approach produced no results in the first three months. Although they did encounter one person, that person was on their side as well, and so Linley and Bebe didn’t attack.
“Let’s change places! Most likely, there are very few enemy commanders who will pass through this place.”
“Boss, you should’ve made this decision long ago. As I see it, let’s go to the other side of the Stellar River. I imagine that the enemy camp must have quite a few enemy commanders!”
After having waited for three months, in the end, Linley still decided to leave this mountain cave. That very day...Linley and Bebe slept away, advancing forward towards the Stellar Sea.
Within a squat but large mountain, there was actually a spacious room.
A violet-robed, black-haired man was currently seated in the meditative position, while three people were seated next to him. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the stairs below. Bowing, he said, “Milord, our people outside have discovered the forces of the Divine Plane of Darkness. One is a youth, while the other is a youngster! Master, these two people aren’t in the documents you provided.”
“Oh, strangers?” The violet-robed, black-haired man opened his eyes, a hint of violet light flashing through them.
“Yes, Master.” The figure bowed.
“Very good. It’s time to go hunting.” The violet-robed, black-haired man’s body swayed, then disappeared from the secret room.
In the Planar Battlefield, Linley wanted to ambush others, but others wanted to ambush Linley as well. It all came down to whose detection skills were better, whose stealth skills were better, whose strategies were better! This was Linley and Bebe’s first time in the Planar Battlefield. They had too few experiences to rely upon, and so it really was quite hard for them to attempt to ambush others.
But now...
They had been locked onto by others!
“Boss, which place should we set up camp? How about let’s head directly to the side of the Stellar Sea, right over there...hmph, if someone comes over, we’ll go fight them.” Bebe sent mentally. He had no hesitation in his eyes; rather, he had a hint of excitement.
“If we just set up camp by the river, we’ll be treated by others as a punching bag.”
Linley’s forehead suddenly creased.
“What is it?” Bebe said, puzzled.
“Swoosh!”
Linley suddenly turned his head, only to see a blurry, translucent white arrow instantly arrive in front of him. Linley’s first reaction was...
“Rumble...” An earthen yellow light exploded forth from his body, instantly encapsulating a region of a thousand meters. This was Linley’s supreme technique...Blackstone Space!
The direction of the gravity was towards Linley!
“Crunch!” The translucent white arrow entered his body.
The speed was too fast. Linley wasn’t able to dodge at all.
“Bebe, kill that assailant!” Linley only had the chance to give this single shout through divine sense, then whole-heartedly focused on defending against the soul attack.
“BANG!”
The translucent arrow continued to inexorably strike towards Linley’s soul, but when it smashed against the translucent scaled membrane, it instantly shattered, transforming into white specks of light. These specks of light instantly discovered that the defensive power at the damaged hole was weaker, and immediately attacked there.
“Crackle...” Linley’s azure spiritual energy transformed into rays of invisible sword-ripples, repeatedly smashing against the white spots of light.
“Who is this? Reisgem? The appearance is completely off, but the gravity is so strong...fortunately, I started far away.” The violet figure was originally within a few hundred meters of Linley when he launched his ambush. If he had been closer, Linley and Bebe would have discovered him.
Although Linley’s Blackstone Space was set up to cover a large distance, the violet-robed figure was very fast. While resisting the power of the gravity, he managed to flee the Blackstone Space region. But as he fled from the region, Bebe reached a distance of just two or three hundred meters from him.
“SHKREEEEEEEEE!”
The enraged Bebe once more used his innate divine ability.
“Eh?” The violet-robed man, who had continuously paid attention to the space behind him, was terrified upon seeing the enormous phantom of a Godeater Rat. “Just now, that was Reisgem’s supreme technique, but this one is Beirut’s!” The violet-robed man’s body suddenly exploded with white light. It was Sovereign’s Might!
His speed instantly increased to a new limit.
“Rumble!” The strange ripples of Bebe’s innate divine ability flew towards him at high speed!
“Dammit, I let him get away!” Bebe said discontentedly.
His innate divine ability was executed through relying on his spiritual energy, and there was a process of waves, as well as a distance limit. Bebe had been two or three hundred meters away to begin with. Given that in this moment of crisis, the enemy had also used up a drop of Sovereign’s Might to flee at full speed, the enemy had managed to put enough distance between them.
“What is going on? Those two young strangers...one actually had Reisgem’s supreme technique, while the other had Beirut’s supreme technique. What incredibly bad luck. Today, I, Oona [Wu’a’na], very nearly died in their hands. I didn’t get anything, but ended up using a drop of Sovereign’s Might. Jeeze!” The violet-robed man felt extremely discontent as well. “Not good...as my Sovereign’s Might continues to leak outwards, it’ll definitely attract the attention of other commanders. Terrible, terrible!