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Menesis, who was scouting ahead, stopped. She took a communication jade from °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° her pack — palm-sized, glowing faintly in her hand.
“Who’s calling?”
Vieya asked curiously. She knew this setup too well: the tragic cliché where someone’s phone rings in a dangerous mission, everyone’s cover gets blown, and the whole team is wiped out.
“...It’s Captain Luna,” Menesis replied softly.
After checking their surroundings to make sure it was safe, she double-tapped to connect.
“Captain Luna, has something urgent happened?”
“This enemy is no ordinary foe,” Luna’s voice came through. “Their targets are the Holy Sword and its new master — and they’ve likely set traps ahead of us. We suspect they have someone skilled in [Mysticism·Divination] among their ranks.”
“Divination? I’m carrying a sixth-tier Breath-Sealing Stone. Ordinary people shouldn’t be able to pinpoint my current location.” Menesis paused, then asked, “How strong... are they, exactly?”
“We’re facing a mysterious organization that’s existed for at least fifteen years. My grandfather once tried to trace their movements, but found nothing. In terms of foundation, they’re far above our adventurer party.”
“I see... Then I’ll make preparations ahead of time. You all be careful as well,” Menesis said.
Luna answered quietly, “Understood. If you find their secret base under Mount Aisa, remember to turn off your communicators first. I won’t be contacting you again proactively. If you need anything, reach Yuancherin directly, like before.”
“Got it.” Menesis ended the call.
“Are they dangerous?” asked Rania, who had been listening the whole way.
“Dangerous...” Menesis thought for a moment and sighed. “The real problem is that we know absolutely nothing about them — and that usually means the mission’s difficulty has skyrocketed.”
“I won’t waste words. If anyone discovers something or runs into trouble later, speak up and share it.”
“So serious...” Vieya blinked. “Could it be worse than when we fought that Hero together?”
“The Hero, even after several years of death, still spared us humans until you took the Holy Sword and her remnant spirit faded away.”
Menesis looked at the white-haired girl earnestly and said in a low voice, “But our current enemies won’t show mercy. They’ll stop at nothing to take the Holy Sword from you.”
“So that’s what you think...”
Vieya’s lips curled into a strange smile — one she herself didn’t notice.
She looked playfully toward the silent Rania. “Seems everyone respects your teacher a lot. You’d better work hard too... don’t go tarnishing your teacher’s reputation.”
You dare say that!
Rania glared back gloomily. You damned white-haired pest, finally showing your true colors, huh?!
Once, she’d pretended to be some innocent, sweet little girl — cutely fooling people for fun. Now she just poked wherever it hurt, talking without the slightest filter.
Who was it just now who kept dragging out my embarrassing past?! Do you have no shame at all?!
Snorting, Rania turned and walked away, unwilling to deal with the heartless slime any longer.
“...”
Vieya stood still for a moment, sighed, and quickened her pace to follow the two ahead.
She kind of missed the old days. No matter how much she teased Rania back then, the girl would just laugh and act all silly.
Not like now — where she turned cold after just a few words.
Was it because of their difference in status now...?
...
At the same time—
Yuancherin pushed open the iron gate of the guard post and led the remaining elderly, injured, and weak from the group inside.
“Ugh, it’s so dark and stinky in here...” Liufir covered her nose as soon as she entered, her delicate little face scrunching up like a bitter gourd.
Pus sighed helplessly. “If only Captain Luna had let us keep that fireball nut Kare behind, we could at least start a fire. Ugh! By the Light, there are cockroaches in here!!”
“Those are giant roaches.”
Yuancherin rummaged through her bag, taking out both a communicator and a flint, then set a few bottles of insecticide on a cracked wooden table.
“If you two have nothing better to do, one of you start a fire, the other deal with the bugs. I’ll monitor the communicator and wait for their report.”
“Alright...”
Luckily, there were a few dead trees nearby. Liufir didn’t have to go far to gather a bundle of branches.
But no matter how many times she struck the flint, not even a single spark came out.
“This is hard...”
Liufir sighed toward the door, but suddenly froze — she saw several masked figures striding toward them with arrogant, unrestrained steps.
“Lin— Lin-sis, enemies are coming!” she cried out.
...
Rumble—!
At the same time, at Luna’s location—
Her team were all top-tier fighters skilled in large-scale destruction. Yet the masked men kept coming endlessly, fearless of pain or injury, charging at them like mad.
Even with their legs broken, they’d crawl on their hands just to bite one of Luna’s people — this suicidal frenzy was no different from monsters.
“Captain Luna! Some of the Wuchang followers slipped past us!” Kare shouted in shock.
He’d been a little too slow forming his fireball this time — several masked men dashed right past him. fгeewebnovёl.com
And they were bold — they actually took his fireballs head-on with their bodies, even turning back to make faces at him as they ran. Though they wore masks, their mocking gestures were enough to drive the hot-blooded young man in the straw hat mad.
“These kinds of enemies aren’t a big deal; Lin’s team can handle them.” Luna’s tone was calm, but her heart was not.
Because it had been quite some time already — and yet the higher-ups of these masked attackers still hadn’t shown themselves.
“Captain Luna!”
Suddenly, Arc shouted, eyes wide, looking behind her.
A shadow burst from the ground, laughing crazily as he stabbed a dagger toward Luna’s back while she was mid-swing in battle. His laughter was full of gloating triumph!
The dagger was poisoned — strong enough that even a dragon would be paralyzed and die within thirty seconds from a single cut.
“Ahaha, your achievements... are mine now!”
Clang!
Instead of the expected wet sound of blade piercing flesh, there came a metallic clang — like steel striking iron.
The attacker froze.
Luna didn’t even glance at him. With a casual flick of her sword, she cut him down as easily as picking something up from the ground.
Her hardened skin — even a chainsaw would snap several blades before leaving a mark, let alone a dagger.
Then, suddenly—
The battlefield changed. The once-suicidal masked men began retreating, as if receiving an order to withdraw, running into the alleys between the town’s houses.
“Heehee, that hurts so much!” the shadow who had just attacked screamed from the ground — though only his head remained, rolling and talking in a grotesque sight.
“Heehee, the boss found the Holy Sword’s master. You’re all useless — did you really think you could stop us with this level of skill~?”
Arc strode up, grabbed the head from the dirt, and stared into its eyes. “What did you just say?”
“Heehee, why don’t you guess? Guess right and I’ll tell you... Heehee, guess who I am?”
Thud!
Arc threw the head to the ground like garbage.
“Burn it.”
“...Ahh! Hot! Hot! I’m dying! I’m dying! Please, heehee, forgive me! I’ll never do it again... heehee... just kidding, I’m the immortal serpent! Come, dance with me in the flames—!”
Kare swallowed hard. When the head grinned wide enough to split its cheeks, chills crawled down his back.
“Holy crap... this thing won’t burn!” he muttered.
...
Elsewhere—
Vieya suddenly stopped walking, frowning as she looked back the way they’d come.
Seeing one teammate halt, Menesis asked, “What’s wrong, Vieya? Are you tired?”
“Not tired.”
Vieya shook her head. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
“I feel like someone’s following us...”
