Chapter 750 - 737: The Greatest Trial
Chapter 750: Chapter 737: The Greatest Trial
The soaked leather whip lashed down, and with a muffled sound, a white mark appeared on the skin which was soon filled with oozing blood.
Screams echoed in the opulent hall.
The great slave master of Silver Sand Bay, Glosa, panted heavily, supporting his waist, as blood dripped from the tip of the whip. In front of him were more than a dozen suspended islanders.
"Running away? Running away! I give you food, a place to live, let you survive to this day, and you want to run?" He violently swung the whip again, another scream sounded. "Silver Sand Bay is only so big! Where can you run to? Damn slaves, all of you should be slaughtered and fed to the dogs!"
Beside him stood his elite guards, heavily funded, their skills far surpassing those of the security team outside the manor, which maintained order on the island.
Boom——!
The large door was kicked open and crashed to the ground, a magic arrow flew in from outside, shooting straight at Glosa’s face.
The guards reacted swiftly, lunging over and dragging Glosa by the collar to the ground. The arrow scraped past the slave master’s scalp and embedded into the chest plate of the guard behind him.
The fine steel plate armor, like paper, was pierced through, and blood seeped from where the arrow shaft protruded. The man groaned and fell backward facing up.
"Assassins, assassins! Kill them! Kill them all!" Glosa scrambled up from the ground, shrieking his orders.
All the guards in the hall charged towards the assassins outside the door, while Glosa himself grabbed the sword from a fallen guard and rushed towards the suspended slaves.
Outside, Sofia stood on the steps, looking at the charging guards, and sighed, "As expected, it can’t be solved in one go."
Sofia shot another arrow, which split into six once released, killing the guards who had charged up close.
"Bella, rescue them."
Bella darted out from behind Sofia, stepping on a guard’s head to leap into the air, soared onto a beam, her sprinting skills turning her figure into a blurred shadow, dashing rapidly towards the deepest part of the hall where Glosa was.
Among the guards, some archers and mages attempted to attack Bella, but before they could aim, Sofia’s arrows had already pierced their throats.
Glosa stopped in front of a suspended slave, raising the longsword high; the blade reflected his twisted face under the candlelight.
"Die! Slave!!!"
Before the words had faded, his hands, along with the longsword, flew into the air.
"Huh?"
Bella landed in front of him. Before she was steady, the sword had spun out, smoothly and swiftly in one fluid motion.
In the next moment, Glosa’s well-maintained head, still bearing an astonished expression, slid from his neck, thudded to the ground, bounced twice, and rolled into a widening pool of blood.
Bella disdainfully flicked the blood off the sword, as if she had just hacked apart something filthy, "Didn’t expect I’d have to kill this disgusting fat pig a second time."
As Glosa was killed, everything around began to collapse.
The splendid hall, Glosa’s corpse, the dead and still-alive guards... all disintegrated into thick white mist and faded quickly.
Only the islanders who were suspended earlier fell to the ground.
Before long, the mist cleared, and the place where Bella and Sofia stood was not Silver Sand Bay but a small island north of it.
Although it was all illusory, the whip marks on the islanders were real.
A few subordinates rushed over and began treating the wounded.
One of the injured cried particularly hard, muttering, "This is my memory, it’s all... all my fault..."
Sofia stepped forward, patted his shoulder, "It’s the nature of the mist, it’s not your fault."
As she spoke, a glow appeared in Sofia’s palm, and the wounded’s emotions quickly calmed, his mind soothed, finally falling into a deep sleep.
Bella glanced at another small island nearby where the mist was also slowly retreating, clearly indicating Samuel had successfully driven back the fog there too.
"Came in time, the casualties are not large, but even so, we must abandon these two islands." Bella sighed with resignation.
They had been battling the mist intensely for a year now, gaining some understanding of its properties.
The constantly spreading mist could indeed be repelled, but this was only temporary.
Like a compressed spring, the more the mist was suppressed, the more dangerous it would become when it returned.
The initial real illusions, like the one of the slave master Glosa, were not too lethal. Even though staying lost in them long enough would eventually lead to death, they did provide ample time to break free.
However, after repelling several times, the illusions would start to manifest various dangerous scenarios, greatly escalating the mortality rate.
Thus, after driving back the mist once or twice, they generally had to retreat backwards.
Currently, these two islands were already adjacent to Silver Sand Bay.
And Silver Sand Bay, being the largest island under Sofia’s protection, would leave people without a foothold once it was lost.
The islands further south couldn’t accommodate so many people.
To bring the islanders back to Silver Sand Bay, over thirty ships capable of long-distance sailing were anchored at the ports.
Warren, who had once served as Inanna’s adjutant, came walking up, "Hero, the repair work on the two ships in the shipyard is nearing completion and will be ready to set sail tomorrow."
"Warren, just call me Sofia," Sofia responded with a hint of a smile upon hearing the good news.
Some of these ships in Silver Sand Bay had been built over the past year, while others were support requested by Sofia after Bella established a new communication method with the United Kingdom, meant to bring everyone from the island back to the continent.
The United Kingdom had also done its utmost to bring the Hero back.
During the Human-Demon War, the United Kingdom’s entire West Coast was occupied, and naturally, they suffered heavy losses in terms of ships.
Gathering twenty ocean-going ships was already the limit, and along the way, they encountered an insect attack which sank two ships, while the others sustained varying degrees of damage.
Fortunately, although the speed of the mist’s spread inexplicably accelerated recently, showing faster trends, they finally managed to prepare for departure before the mist engulfed Silver Sand Bay.
Just then, a soldier jogged over, "Lady Sofia, those two Fishmen wish to see you."
The smile that had just appeared on Sofia’s face quickly turned into helplessness. She knew what those two Fishmen wanted to say.
They had encountered the two Fishmen on their journey to Silver Sand Bay. Although the Fishmen had indeed attempted to lure humans, under the threat of the insects and the mist, they naturally chose to cooperate.
As aquatic creatures, they indeed provided unexpected assistance to the team, and Sofia naturally had no intention of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge by abandoning them.
However, they were still dwelling on their fellow Fishmen and the Fishman Empress back at their underwater home, hoping Sofia would help them when they returned.
Yet, the location they mentioned was now Chis’s territory.
Sofia could not risk everyone for some Fishmen who most likely were already dead.
In the end, she could only have the soldiers refuse the Fishmen’s request once more.
In fact, let alone saving others, to protect this fleet, Sofia was already prepared to give it her all.
The insects’ probing and surveillance of the islands had never ceased, and Sofia did not believe these intelligent insects would so easily allow them to return to the continent.
The greatest test had only just begun.
...
In some deep trench of the ocean, the enormous Heart of Chis howled in agony, its sound compressed into a dull drumming within the seawater.
Chis continuously made itself stronger, a process always accompanied by pain.
But for survival, for revenge, it was all necessary!
Through a recently eliminated Eye Worm, Chis had already sensed some actions by the mushrooms.
It knew the greatest test had begun!