Chapter 275: Friend Turned Enemy
Chapter 275: Friend Turned Enemy
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Zachery was the most powerful pirate because there were no other pirates who could defeat the three factions’ alliance and challenge the Confederation publicly.
He made the first contact with the Kaedians and brought the scourge of war to earth.
The Pirate King Zachery was one of the brightest stars in the history of interstellar pirating history. He could have made history if he had not been confronted by the most powerful man in the world—The Blade Warrior.
During that time, Zachery was the only person whose power could rival Li Feng and Rilangalos.
However, all that he had built up had been destroyed by Li Feng. Wang Tong reckoned that Einherjar Wannabe was a much more terrible opponent than even an Einherjar because of his brutality.
Wang Tong conceded that he could not let such a maniac let loose in the real world, so he decided that he should do whatever it took to keep Mr. Wannabe in here.
Wang Tong always believed that there was no free lunch, and this turn of event had proven that he was right.
Ever since he had gotten this space crystal, he had gained a lot of help from Mr. Wannabe. He had been extremely cautious in keeping the crystal a secret, but it seemed that Mr. Wannabe had become the greatest threat after all.
No, not Mr. Wannabe, it was the Pirate King Zachery.
Zachery looked relieved after revealing his secrets. He would be lying to say that he did not form any friendship with Wang Tong, and it was in the name of their friendship that he had given the latter the second option.
Zachery waved his hand and turned around, looking at the gray expanse of the horizon. He was so close to getting out of his jail. Without Li Feng and Rilangalos, he would do whatever he wanted, and no one would be able to stop him.
Using Wang Tong's identity, Zachery was confident that he could quickly take advantage of the power of House of Ma and House of Li. Eventually, he would be able to bring chaos to the human world once again, and he would sit on his throne of bones, watching the world burn.
To put it simply, he was the most dangerous person in human history.
Seeing that Zachery was not looking at him, Wang Tong ran away even knowing that Zachery looked away on purpose to give him an opportunity to run away from him. Wang Tong had only one day to prepare for the battle, so he could not afford to waste too much time.
Although Wang Tong didn't know why Zachery was in the crystal, he knew Zachery was imprisoned by the Blade Warrior, which made him an enemy of Li Feng. The thought of fighting General Li Feng's enemy made Wang Tong concede that he would have his work cut out for him for the next ten days.
Despite their friendship, Wang Tong reasoned that he would not be able to get out of this jail without defeating Mr. Wannabe.
Suddenly, Wang Tong realized that this might be an excellent opportunity to defeat the Pirate King once for all, as he recalled that Mr. Wannabe was gravely injured while defending Wang Tong on Norton.
Wang Tong wagered that Zachery had told him about his injury out of sheer confidence. The Pirate King's confidence was not unfounded, since he was the only person that was able to stand up against Li Feng and Rilangalos.
Despite Zachery's injury, Wang Tong reasoned that he would not afford to rely on that one advantage entirely. A newfound determination rose inside him as he realized that his only option was to win, so that the Ma Xiaoru and his friends would not fall victim to this evil pirate.
Wang Tong kept on running for a few more minutes until he could not sense Zachery's presence any longer, and then he stopped. As he studied his surroundings, he realized that this place was a virtual space, and therefore, no matter how long he ran for, he would never reach the exit.
After understanding how the crystal space worked, Wang Tong then wondered if Zachery purposely gave Wang Tong the false hope that he could run away from this crystal space.
Wang Tong registered that the upcoming battle was not only a competition of soul energy, but also wits. Wang Tong reckoned that he should carefully analyze every word spoken by Zachery to see if they contradicted each other. It would not only help Wang Tong to avoid deception, but it was also a good way to seek out the truth among lies.
This was the first time Wang Tong had encountered such an opponent that not only tried to outpower him on the battlefield, but also tried to outwit him with words
However, Wang Tong had decided to never give up regardless of how powerful and deceiving his opponent was.
Wang Tong kept on studying the terrain. He reminded himself to think with a clear mind and never to be mired in details. The more doubts he had, the harder it would be for him to see through deceptions.
Wang Tong remembered that Zachery had overspent his soul energy last time at the Aurora city, and it took him a while to recover. While on Norton during Wang Tong's previous battle, Zachery had spent much more soul energy than he did at Aurora city. Therefore, Wang Tong was convinced that Zachery had not been fully recovered yet, but he wasn’t certain about how much he had already recovered.
Wang Tong decided to probe Zachery first. After all, his enemy would only become stronger the longer he waited. He suspected that Zachery had avoided fighting right away by intentionally tricking Wang Tong to run away from him, saving him some precious time to recuperate his soul energy. However, Zachery had underestimated Wang Tong's intelligence and determination.
Wang Tong had only been running for half a day, so he was confident that Zachery would be able to catch up with him. He studied the terrain and tried to find a good ambush spot.
Wang Tong looked around and found a Zerg Hive. Since this world was somewhat of a copy of the real world, it was not surprising to find Zergs here as well. Wang Tong reckoned that he might be able to defeat Zachery with the help of Zergs. `He found it ironic that in this virtual world, he would have to fight alongside with his enemies from the real world.
Wang Tong killed off a few lower level Zergs and smeared their blood and flesh all over his body to hide his scent, then continued searching for an even larger hive.
Wang Tong finally found what he was looking for after two hours of searching. He crept into the hive and buried himself in the dirt. All he had to do then was to wait for Zachery to turn up. While buried under the earth, Wang Tong started to initiate the Tactics of the Blade. Soon, he felt as if he himself had become one with the world around him.
From time to time, there was a Zerg who stepped on Wang Tong's head, but luckily, the cave was too small for larger Zergs to enter. So, Wang Tong's head was not instantly squashed into meat paste.
Slowly, Wang Tong fell asleep and forgot the passage of time.
He woke up to the heavy thuds of Zachery's boots on the ground. He was finally here.
Zachery knew that Wang Tong was hiding among the Zergs, and he found Wang Tong's plan laughable.
Zachery knew Wang Tong was inside the hive, but the entrance was where the trail went cold. It was clear then that the Tactics of the Blade was capable of concealing the user entirely.
The world inside the crystal was both real and an illusion; it was real because the Zergs would be able to deal real damage to other entities such as Zachery and Wang Tong. Meanwhile, the life force of these Zergs were entirely conjured up by the power of the crystal.