Chapter 43 – The Corpse
Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 43, The Corpse
If Reynolds was alive, he wanted to see him. If Reynolds was dead, he wanted to see Reynolds’ corpse!
From Yale, Linley had learned that Reynolds’ corpse had actually been taken away by the enemy. On this trip, no matter what, he had to bring his friend’s corpse back. However, before that, Linley had to pay a visit to Neil City. After all, the soldiers of Neil City should have known exactly what happened on the day Reynolds was killed.
“Boss, don’t be too heartbroken.” Bebe said softly.
Linley stared at the distant horizon, then turned to glance at Bebe, forcing out a smile. “Bebe, I’m fine.” But it was hard to make out any expressions on the face of the Dragonformed Linley; all that could be seen was the corners of his lips curving slightly.
After flying for a while, the distant Neil City appeared in the desolate landscape.
“We’re arriving.” The temperature around Linley suddenly dropped by a level.
The army of the O’Brien Empire was currently camped a few dozen kilometers outside Neil City. Ten kilometers away, facing them, was the army of the Rohault Empire. The two armies stared at each other.
After Prince Julin had left the city, the Golden Flame Legion had quickly exacted revenge for Reynolds. But the Rohault Empire had been prepared already, and they wouldn’t lower their heads either. The two armies had engaged in multiple engagements, with tens of thousands of casualties. They were now at a temporary halt, but the next attack could come at any moment.
Right now, the garrison of Neil City was fairly relaxed. After all, there was an army of tens of thousands in front of them.
“Man, that Prince-whatever was such a coward. He let the enemy make it all the way to our walls, and didn’t even let us go out.” A couple of garrison guards were huddled together in a corner of the walls, chatting idly.
“What a tragedy. Senior Captain Reynolds died such an unjust death, and even his corpse was taken away.”
The Golden Flame Legion was, without question, an extremely elite legion. What happened last time at the walls of Neil City was, without a doubt, a mark of shame for the entire Golden Flame Legion. But the military commanders at that time hadn’t dared to disobey the orders of Prince Julin.
“Who are you?!” Suddenly, terrified, angry shouts could be heard from outside. One soldier after another stopped resting in their cubbyholes and came out, but when they saw the Dragonformed person standing in mid-air, wrapped within a cocoon of azurish-black mist, they were all stunned.
They were elite soldiers, elite soldiers who constantly lived on the line between life and death.
But when they saw this expert standing in mid-air, they understood that this aberration was definitely a Saint-level expert. These soldiers didn’t have any ability to fight against him at all.
“You…you are Master Linley?” Suddenly, a military officer whispered these words.
The eyes of the surrounding elite soldiers suddenly lit up. Linley’s Dragonformed appearance had become the stuff of legends. Those elite warriors carefully inspected the cloud-shrouded Linley’s appearance. Indeed, he looked very much like how the legends said he did.
“It is I.” A dark whisper drifted out from within that azurish-black mist.
Master Linley. A genius magus. A grandmaster sculptor. A peak-stage Saint. The pride of the entire O’Brien Empire…countless people in the Empire worshipped Linley. After realizing that this aberration was Linley, the surrounding warriors actually began to feel that Linley’s transformation was extremely ‘manly’ and very ‘ferocious’.
These were valiant warriors indeed.
“Master Linley, if there is anything you need, please just ask us.” The military officer hurriedly said.
“A while ago, a group of your scouts were encountered and attacked by the Rohault Empire’s forces, and were chased all the way to the city walls. The senior captain of that group was named Reynolds, correct?” Linley’s voice was hoarse.
The military officer said, “Yes, Master Linley.”
All of the surrounding soldiers felt a deep sense of humiliation. Even Master Linley had learned of the Golden Flame Legion’s shame. All of them felt extremely awkward and embarrassed.
“Where is Reynolds’ corpse?” Linley asked.
“Master Linley, Lord Reynolds’ corpse was taken away by the enemies.” The military officer’s face was turning a bit green. He truly felt ashamed. Before their very eyes, three hundred people had not only killed Reynolds and his men, they had even taken away Reynolds’ corpse.
Linley asked, “Who here personally witnessed what had happened on that day?”
Many people looked at each other. These people had only heard of what happened to Reynolds. That squad of soldiers who had been on the walls and had personally witnessed what had happened had all been punished and sent to the front lines to do battle with the enemies.
Seeing the expression on their faces, Linley frowned.
“I…I witnessed it.” An ancient-sounding voice rang out from behind. All of the soldiers parted, allowing a lavishly dressed old man walk over. This old man was the governor of Neil City.
“Lord Governor!” All the surrounding soldiers bowed respectfully.
Staring at Linley and the azurish-black cloud surrounding him, the city governor sighed secretly. As the city governor of a border city like Neil City, how could he possibly be a soft, spineless person? At that time, he had been accompanying Prince Julin. When he had seen Reynolds and the others being pursued, he was just about to order his men to go rescue them.
But at that time, Prince Julin’s attitude clearly showed that he would not permit anyone to go outside. They had to stand their ground inside the walls! The city governor was already quite old, and he had sons and grandsons. He didn’t dare to disobey the order of Prince Julin.
“You are the city governor of Neil City? Good. Clearly explain to me what happened that day when Reynolds was pursued here and killed.” Linley said coldly.
The city governor nodded. “When Reynolds and his men fled here, they had all been wounded. There was an arrow sticking out from Reynolds’ shoulders. When they reached the walls, ten or so experts of the enemy came rushing over, ignoring the arrows of the garrison troops as they immediately began to slaughter Reynolds and the others. Reynolds was slashed to death by a blow to his chest, and then the leader of the enemy forces took him away.”
Linley secretly nodded to himself.
The Dawson Conglomerate’s intelligence was indeed accurate.
“The leader of the enemies? Do you know where he is?” Linley stared at the city governor of Neil. “I must find and reclaim Reynolds’ corpse.”
The city governor of Neil nodded. “Right now, the legions of the Rohault Empire are currently in a deadlock against our legion. They are located a few dozen kilometers outside of Neil City. I imagine their leader is there as well. Right…the leader should be a warrior of the eighth rank.”
“Oh…”
Linley turned to stare towards the south. He could clearly smell the scent of battle and blood in that direction. The bloody scent created by the deaths of tens of thousands was extremely thick!
“Bebe, let’s go.”
“Boom!” A terrifying sonic boom could be heard as Linley and Bebe, the man and the magical beast, slashed through the air, disappearing into the southern horizons. Seeing this, the city governor of Neil had a hint of excitement on his face. “Looks like those bastards of the Rohault Empire are in for it now.”
The city governor of Neil immediately descended from the walls and led a small squad out of the city into the direction of the Golden Flame Legion’s camp.
The two armies of the two Empires stared at each other. Within the central battlefield, many soldiers were carting away the corpses of their own people. At a time like this, the two legions had quite conscientiously paused their battle.
The corpses were carried away, one after the other. At this time, the already faintly red earth was stained even more crimson, and the stench of blood had attracted quite a few locusts.
In the camp of the army of the Rohault Empire’s, their military flag was gently waving in the breeze. Multiple squads were out on patrol. Suddenly, an azurish-black cloud appeared in the air above the Rohault Empire’s camp.
“Not here?” Linley’s spiritual energy had encompassed the entire military camp, but he couldn’t find Reynolds’ corpse.
Senior Captain Hugh [Hu’ke] was currently in his tent, taking large gulps of strong liquor. He was in a wonderful mood. Hugh was certain that, after this battle, he would definitely be promoted.
“At the very least, I will be promoted to deputy legion commander.” Hugh mused to himself.
But right at this moment, a powerful force suddenly ripped apart his sturdy tent. Hugh was shocked. “What on earth? Have the enemies broken into our camp?” While thinking this, Hugh quickly rushed out, but when he did, he felt the wild, howling wind, so powerful that he couldn’t even stand straight.
Staring at his surroundings, Hugh’s face turned pale. He saw countless gusts of energy swirling about throughout the Rohault Empire’s camp, and all of the soldiers found it hard to stand stable.
After a while, the wild wind disappeared.
“All of the military officers of the Rohault Empire are to report to the central gathering location. Quickly.” A calm voice rang out from the sky. Everyone craned their heads upwards. They saw that constantly flowing azurish-black mist, and within that mist, they could vaguely see the form of a terrifying creature.
“I am Legion Commander Chastre [Sha’si’te] of the Rohault Empire’s Wright [Lai’te] Legion. Might I ask why you have come here, esteemed expert?” Legion Commander Chastre said respectfully.
From the power the man had just displayed, Chastre knew that this was a terrifyingly powerful expert with the ability to destroy this entire legion.
The azurish-black mist was drawn closer to Linley’s body, allowing the people below to clearly see what Linley looked like.
“Freak!”
“Demon!”
Many soldiers let out quiet cries of fear. Linley’s body landed heavily on the ground, causing it to shake and cracks to appear. Linley’s draconic tail swished about, gouging deep holes into the ground wherever it passed.
“Dare I ask, esteemed expert, are you Master Linley?” Chastre said respectfully.
Linley glanced at Chastre. The man was quite experienced, and lived up to being a legion commander. After Linley had become famous, news about his Dragonformed appearance had been widely spread as well.
“It is I.” Linley said calmly.
The countless surrounding soldiers immediately felt a terrifying sense of pressure. They had all heard of how powerful Linley was, but Linley belonged to the O’Brien Empire’s side. Right now, they were currently engaged in battle against the O’Brien Empire.
“Master Linley, can it be that you are going to violate the laws of war? As a Saint-level expert, are you also going to participate in this battle?” Chastre said in a voice that was neither humble nor offensive. When two Empires engaged in battle, unless it was a do-or-die final battle, Saint-level experts generally were not permitted to participate.
Linley glanced at him coldly. “I dislike others threatening me.”
Chastre immediately no longer dared to make a sound. If Linley were to go wild, he was truly capable of annihilating this entire army. He didn’t have any recourse…
“Speak. A while ago, you sent some people out on ambush and chased a scouting party of the O’Brien Empire to the city of Neil. Who was the leader of that squad of three hundred?” Linley said coldly.
When he said this, virtually all the surrounding soldiers turned to stare at the nearby Hugh.
Hugh’s body quivered.
No one needed to say anything. Linley turned to look at Hugh as well, and Hugh immediately said respectfully, “Master Linley, a while ago, I did indeed lead my troops to kill a large squad and utterly annihilated them in the end.”
“Utterly annihilated?” Hearing these words, the muscles beneath Linley’s eyes twitched once.
Linley stared at Hugh, his cold gaze causing Hugh to feel as though he had suddenly sunk into a frozen land of ice. “I heard that you not only killed all the people in that squad, you also brought back the corpse of the senior captain.”
“It is true.” A look of arrogance appeared on Hugh’s face. As far as Hugh was concerned, this was something worth being proud of.
Linley’s heart shook.
The man in front of him had admitted to it, but the military camp didn’t have Reynolds’ corpse within it. Could it be that Reynolds’ corpse had already been destroyed? When he thought of this possibility, the angry flames in Linley’s heart burned even hotter.
With a flicker, Linley appeared in front of Hugh.
“Ah.” Hugh didn’t have the chance to run away. Stretching out one arm, Linley’s powerful right hand clutched around Hugh’s throat, lifting Hugh into the air.
Linley’s dark golden eyes stared death at Hugh. “Do you know? The name of that senior captain was Reynolds. He was a friend for life of myself, Linley!” Linley ground his teeth.
The surrounding soldiers now all understood why Linley had come and done such a thing.
Hugh’s eyes were filled with shocked understanding as well. At the same time, he could sense that the force Linley was exerting around his throat was increasing. His face turning red, he forced out one word after another with difficulty. “No…that…that Reynolds…he…he didn’t die!”
Linley was stunned.
His hand loosened, and Hugh collapsed to the ground. Hugh immediately held his throat in his hands and began to cough.