Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 16, Murderous Blows!
In the center of the Stellar River. Atop the giant, millstone-like floating boulder. Linley and Bebe were standing there.
“If we were to be surrounded and attacked, it would be dangerous.” Bebe looked at their surroundings.
“Hiding around the central boulders of the Stellar River?” Linley couldn’t help but look at the surrounding areas, then laughed. “Bebe, stop imagining things. I think no commander would be willing to battle within the center of the Stellar Sea. If you aren’t careful, you’ll immediately fall into the spatial tears or the chaotic space, and be finished.”
“Oh. Makes sense.” Bebe couldn’t help but rub his nose and chortle.
“Enough. If we stay here in the center of the Stellar River, we’ll easily be discovered. Let’s hurry up and find a way out and arrive at the opposite side in a hurry.” Linley said quickly.
“Right.” Bebe also began to immediately inspect the surrounding spatial tears and chaotic space.
If someone from the other side was paying attention to the center of the Stellar River, Linley and Bebe would be easily discovered.
“No, this route doesn’t work either.” Linley shook his head, negating another pathway he had just discovered. Sometimes, a pathway seemed promising, but after a hundred meters, spatial tears and chaotic space completely blocked it off, providing no chances for advancing.
Linley and Bebe continued to search rapidly.
“Boss, I found a path.” Bebe said in surprised delight.
“Oh? Which one?” Linley couldn’t help but feel delighted.
“Right over here. Look, follow this line, then there...take a big turn. The route after that is fairly clear.” Bebe said excitedly.
Linley’s gaze quickly swept down and followed the route, all the way to the other end. He wanted to make sure this route was passable.
“Let’s go.” Linley immediately gave the order.
Tarrying too long in the center of the Stellar River would make it easy for those on the other side to find them. Generally speaking, the easiest time for others to discover and ambush you would be during the process of travelling from one shore to another.
“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”
Two figures flashed through the Stellar Sea like bolts of lightning, occasionally curving and occasionally shooting forward, then curving again...in short, constantly dodging past one dangerous region after another.
“Captain, look, over there! Two people.” On the other side of the shore, a group of soldiers had discovered Linley and Bebe, advancing at high speed.
“Just two of them?” The leader, a silver-haired, sharp-eared, callous looking youth looked over, then gave the instructions. “These two definitely are commanders, or perhaps just one of them is. Let’s immediately move out, while at the same time...Second Bro, you go make the report to the Lord Commander. Should we let them go, or should we attack?”
“Understood.”
A figure left, flying at high speed.
Linley and Bebe had no idea that there was a camp located right at the part of the shore they had selected as their destination. Unfortunately, the camp was blocked by a small hill, and so Linley and Bebe didn’t discover it at all. Linley and Bebe’s attention was completely focused on the dangerous path they were traversing, and didn’t realize at all that people in the distance were staring at them.
“My brothers, all of you, step back. Don’t fight head on. The few dozen of us present won’t be able to stop them.” The silver-haired, sharp-eared youth instructed. “When the main army arrives or the Lord Commander arrives, then we’ll see.” They were nothing more than a small patrol of the camp, and were more than ten kilometers away from the headquarters.
They were no fools. The few dozen of them, go fight head on against a commander-level expert? That would be suicide.
If there were hundreds or a thousand of them present, then they might be confident.
“They’ve almost arrived.” The soldiers stared. They had retreated long ago, drawing close to the tall grass close to the hill next to the headquarters.
“The commander orders them to be killed!” The order from the commander came.
“Brothers, let’s go!” The silver-haired, sharp-eared youth immediately shouted. It wasn’t just them, now; a large number of people had arrived from the main camp as well.
“Rumble...”
The soldiers of the camp located in other areas had all come, and they too charged forward, attacking alongside the patrols. There were more than a thousand attacking soldiers.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” Linley and Bebe landed on the shore, moving lightning-fast.
“Boss, there are people here! Many!” Bebe said, stunned. Linley now noticed as well that in the distant grassy area, a large number of figures had suddenly emerged and were moving towards them at high speed. At the same time, more than ten meters away, in the distance, there was a short tent, with other tents blocked by the hill. “Not good. This is an enemy camp. We need to hurry and leave.”
Linley didn’t dare to hesitate, immediately fleeing alongside Bebe.
“Attack!” The order came. There was nothing they could do; in terms of speed, these soldiers couldn’t compete with Linley and Bebe. If this continued, the distance would only grow greater and greater. It was better to immediately attack. With that order, instantly...
“Rumble...”
“BOOM!”
All sorts of rays of light, translucent soul attacks, and other things shot forward at high speed, traversing the kilometers of distance and attacking Linley and Bebe.
But Linley and Bebe fled very quickly as well.
“Bang!” “Bang!”
The various attacks rained down, covering Linley and Bebe. Multiple attacks landed on Linley and Bebe’s bodies.
Within the exploding sounds, Linley and Bebe continued to flee quickly, soon disappearing from the field of vision of the pursuing soldiers.
“Commander!” The thousand soldiers suddenly all turned and bowed towards a single person.
This person was a man with long golden hair as brilliant as the sun, a face that was as white and pure as a woman’s, and who was dressed in a long golden robe. He casually glanced at them. “You let them escape?”
“We didn’t catch up to them.” The military officer who gave the order to attack said.
“If you didn’t catch up to them, then forget it. We were already quite lucky to even encounter them, given the close distance to the Stellar Sea and how fast commanders move. If we were able to so easily kill one or two commanders, then my luck would have been too great. Enough, let’s return!” The golden-haired commander laughed calmly as he gave his orders.
In a patch of grass, Linley and Bebe were hiding.
“What bad luck.” Bebe twisted his lips. “Boss, you alright?”
“I’m fine. Just four material attacks landed on me, along with one soul attack. There wasn’t much of an impact.” Linley felt they were unlucky as well. The Stellar River was a million kilometers long. They had randomly chosen a place to come over, but who would have imagined that the opposite side would have a camp?
Linley then laughed. “Still, we at least made it safely to the enemy side.”
“Right.” Bebe’s eyes lit up. “Boss, are we going to search for our target now?”
“Let’s start to set up camp. I imagine on this side, things will be much better than at our side.”
Linley and Bebe set up the same camping strategy they had on the other side. They dug a fairly shallow hole into the ground, then calmly began to train in the hole. At the same time, they each controlled a Deathgod Golem, which began to sneak around, with the goal of attracting nearby commanders.
A muscular man dressed in short sleeves and long trousers who was three meters tall was currently stealthily moving forward. He had a head of golden, lion-like hair, an upwards hooked nose, and a large mouth. His golden eyes paid constant attention to the surrounding areas, searching for a target.
“Oh?”
The golden-haired man’s eyes lit up. He saw that in the distance, there was a figure that was stealthily advancing. He couldn’t help but let a huge smile appear on his face. “I didn’t expect I’d actually encounter one. Right. No badge aura. An enemy!” The golden-haired man immediately shot forward as though he were a bolt of lightning.
Right at this moment, that figure just so happened to turn, spying the golden-haired man charging at him.
“Swoosh!” Not hesitating at all, the figure immediately fled.
“Fleeing? But your speed is inferior to mine!” The golden-haired man’s eyes lit up.
In the underground cave, Linley and Bebe were quietly seated in the meditative posture.
“Boss, we have a target. He’s chasing after the Deathgod Golem I am controlling.” Bebe suddenly opened his eyes.
Linley, excited, opened his eyes as well. “The encounter rate is much higher on the enemy side. This is only the seventh day, but we’ve found someone.”
“Let’s hurry up and move out.”
Linley and Bebe didn’t hesitate at all, immediately moving out from underground. If the enemy discovered the ‘target’ was just a Deathgod Golem, he would definitely know that it was just bait, making the chances of their ambush being successful much lower.
Linley and Bebe had been controlling the Deathgod Golems at a close distance. Because they were keeping them close, that made it easier to control them, and it was currently fleeing towards the two of them.
Within the grass.
Linley and Bebe laid there in wait, staring at the two distant, running figures. The Deathgod Golem was a Highgod artifact level Deathgod Golem, and it was still quite fast. However, normally speaking, a commander level expert should be far faster than this Deathgod Golem.
“This golden-haired fellow isn’t that fast.” Linley immediately came to this judgment.
“Boss, I don’t sense any aura from his badge. He should be an enemy.” Bebe said, delighted.
Linley’s eyes lit up as well.
Good heavens! They had lain in wait for half a year on their own side without anything to show for it, but after having waited here for just seven days, they had encountered an enemy. The efficiency rate here really was much higher.
“Bebe, prepare to act.” Linley sent mentally.
“Don’t worry, Boss.” Bebe grew excited as well.
Linley and Bebe just watched as the golden-haired man continued to chase after the Deathgod Golem. Finally...the golden-haired man caught up to it. The muscular man, his head wreathed in large amounts of golden hair, let out a large howl as he swept forward with his right palm. With that blow, space itself rippled as though spacetime was water.
“So powerful.” The faces of Linley and Bebe changed. The stability of the Planar Battlefield was far greater than even the Higher Planes.
The Deathgod Golem struck back as well. Their fists met!
“BANG!”
The Deathgod Golem’s right arm immediately transformed into shattered pieces, while the entire body then began to tremble before immediately collapsing.
This scene badly startled Linley and Bebe. To break through a Highgod artifact sword with a punch wasn’t frightening; however, when this golden-haired man had broken the Deathgod Golem’s arm, then somehow caused a powerful vibration that made the entire Deathgod Golem collapse. This sort of attack was simply too awe-inspiring.
“Eh?” The golden-haired man stared. There was no divine spark on the ground, nor any badge.
“Not good!” The golden-haired man suddenly raised his head.
HE saw that a hundred meters away, an enormous Godeater Rat phantom had suddenly appered in midair. A youth was staring at him coldly. “Rumble...” A strange ripple instantly spread out. The golden-haired man wasn’t able to dodge at all, and was immediately struck by it. A strange energy pressed down on his mind...
Innate divine ability – Godeater!
“Rumble...” An earthen yellow light instantly vibrated outwards, pressing down on the golden-haired man.
“Swish!” An azure-golden blur shot forward as well.
Based on Linley and Bebe’s plans, regardless of whether or not Bebe’s technique succeeded, Linley would still use his most powerful sword attack in that moment. Someone capable of blocking ‘Godeater’ wouldn’t necessarily be able to block Linley’s sword.
“Raaaaaaaaawr!” The golden-haired man let out an angry roar.
“He’s actually still alive.” Bebe couldn’t help but curse to himself. The enemy was either a Highgod Paragon or possessed a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. The enemy camp they had encountered when they had just arrived had been a thorny problem, and now here came another one. What horrible luck.
“Swish...”
The invisible godspark sword, Mirage, shot out...Firmament Splitter!
This most powerful technique was executed through the invisible ‘Mirage’ sword, and the sword pierced straight towards the man’s forehead.
“Bastard!” The golden-haired man sensed the sharp aura and hurriedly moved his head aside to dodge.
“Slash!”
Mirage stabbed directly into the right side of the golden-haired man’s face, but as it stabbed down, with a ‘crackle’ sound, Mirage just barely managed to cut through the golden-haired man’s face, and it was unable to go any further.
“What sort of defense is this!” Linley was stupefied.
Aside from Bebe and Beirut, Linley had never before encountered such powerful, terrifying defense. Most likely, even Patriarch Gislason of the Azure Dragon clan was far inferior. His most powerful sword attack was aimed at the enemy’s face, not the enemy’s fist. He had only been able to cut slightly into the skin of the face. This was too ridiculous.
“Die!” The golden-haired man let out a bellow, smashing out at Linley with an angry fist.
Linley, terrified, retreated with explosive speed.
That attack just now had been launched from just half a meter away from Linley. However, just as Linley thought he had dodged it, a golden yellow light suddenly shot out from the golden-haired man’s fist. As it shot out, it actually caused space itself to tremble.
There was no way to dodge!
“BOOM!”
The golden light struck Linley on his chest, and with a ‘boom’ sound, it shot straight through Linley’s chest, creating a large, fist-sized hole within it.