*******
*WHISH*
*WHISH*
*WHISH*
In a jungle surrounded by large, purplish black trees, three panicked figures quickly made their way out.
*THUD THUD THUD*
A braided young woman flew behind the two juniors in front, her blue uniform soaking in sweat as she kept track of the figure in the distance. Soon, her eyes started glowing blue. She sent a divine sense transmission towards Wang Min and Fei Rin.
“On my command, hide behind the bushes.”
*THUD THUD THUD*
*RUSTLEEEE*
A earsplitting noise could be heard from behind, with thunderous noises of trees falling and breaking with each step
“Go forward 200 metres, then turn nine'o clock.”
The three quickly hid behind the bushes and watched the figure go far away, their nerves finally calming down in relief.
Soon, the loud footsteps stopped, realising that it had lost the group.
*SCREEEEEEEECCCHH*
A large, screeching noise reached their ears from afar.
Fei Rin sighed in relief as she sat down on the branch, closing her eyes to take a brief breather from the exhaustion.
*Hissssss*
Listening to the hissing noise, she opened up her eyes again. A huge purple snake sithered it's way towards her. It's red stripes and eyes burned with hunger as it lunged towards her.
Fei had zero Qi reserve left in her dantian and all the pressure finally caused her to lose her nerve.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”
*Thud*
The distant footstep resumed again.
The braided young woman in blue responded quickly.
*split*
The rank 2 Violetskin boa was cut in half before it could reach Fei Rin.
"Rin, you idiot."
The young woman sighed resignedly as she looked at the unconscious Fei Rin.
*Thud Thud*
The sounds of footsteps could be heard getting closer as the entire landscape seemed to shake.
"You two are such a pair of incompetent bastards,"
Stera missions are the worst. Why do I have to carry juniors every year?
"Wang Min, activate your shield of Orathrox on my call. How many more hits can you last?"
The dark-skinned young man in brown seemed hesitant.
She stared at Wang Min urgently, the draconic tattoo on her left cheek simmering under the bright red sun.
"3...maybe 4, Lady Yu"
Wang Min sweated at the stare, replying uncertainly as the footsteps kept getting closer. Looking at the situation in hand, Long Yu sighed. She had gotten stuck with two inexperienced juniors that barely faced the real world outside the walls,
However, now they had been forced into a life-and-death situation. It was as if they were suddenly starting a game from level 99, with no equipment or stats.
I should have just left these two and waited for Apollo to come.
The veins on Long Yu's forehead bulged as her blue eyes glowed faintly again.
*THUD THUD*
As the footsteps even got closer, the ground started quaking loudly. Long Yu’s eyes flashed as she carried Fei Rin on her shoulder, sending a divine sense transmission to Wang Min.
"Move to the left in 3."
*Thud*
“2”
*THUD*
“MOVE”
Whish
*THUNK*
As two of them jumped to the left with full strength, a bony club that seemed to be over 10 metres long and 3 metres wide hit the spot they stood on. The surrounding reddish purple trees and rubble were obliterated by the club, creating a deep cavern on the black ground.
“NOW”
A transparent blue shield rose up rapidly, covering the three. A large aftershock and wood splinters created ripples in the shield.
*Tick, tick, tick*
A gigantic humanoid creature made of pristine white skulls stood in front of their eyes. On its thick, overlong hands hung a huge bone club, full of sharp spurs. The white skulls on its body showed expressions of deep enlightenment, each chanting in an ethereal, rhythmic tone.
“XEI XURK”
“XEI XURK”
“XEI XURK”
“SCHREEECHHH*
Its triangular head hissed at the trio as it attacked again.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Long Yu brought out a worn-out page
That’s the last attack.
Fei Rin woke up. Staring at the large bone club that was getting closer, she seemed to have given up all hope, clutching onto her staff as she accepted her fate.
Sorry, mother.
Long Yu looked at the backs of her juniors.
Sigh. How unlucky. Fucking Academy with its bullshit missions.
Long Yu thought back on the events that transpired. Her request for one month of leave had prompted this Stera mission. Everyone in the academy must do one of these missions, starting in class VI. As she was in class X, her curriculum required her to undergo at least 1 training session with her juniors per year.
Usually, these were mild missions, less risky than individual and group missions. This was supposed to be a rank-D information scouting mission on an exotic tribe that lived on the outskirts of Alsamaya.
It was nothing that should have posed a threat of death, whatsoever. However. Things had gone very, very awry.
*BOOOOMMMM*
The club stuck again, causing the shield to dent and distort.
*BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM*
It quickly dimmed under the continuous onslaught, turning pale blue.
*RIPPPPPP*
A spur broke through the shield, piercing Wang Min’s left shoulder.
“Humph”
Long Yu quickly yanked him back
A fountain of blood spurted out of him, but she did not have any time to care for that.
Well, if this doesn’t work, then we are all done.
Focusing all of her Qi on her legs, Long Yu propelled herself up, jumping more than hundred meters above the ground.
“OI, YOU BIG BLOODY BONY WANKER, UP ERE”
The Triangular head of the bone monstrosity looked up, its purple eyes burning at the provocation.
*SCREEEEECCHHHH*
Gravity pulled her back as the air current whistled against her ears
“Second Gate, Aspect of devour”
The soul artifact that was hanging on her neck quickly squirmed and grew bigger.
“Open”
The draconic soul artefact feasted on her blood and qi as it grew bigger and bigger.
Long Yu felt her head spinning at the rapid loss of blood and Qi.
*Thud*
She slapped the worn-out paper on the growing body of the dragon, causing it to finally stop absorbing her blood and descent.
The gigantic maw enlarged even more as it descended.
*Crunch*
The bone club attacking Long Yu split in two like butter.
The bone monster stared at the broken club in it's hand, looking puzzled.
*CRUSHHHHHHHHHH*
The enormous dragon maw bit through almost the entirety of its upper chest and neck, leaving only the large triangular head and bits of bone fragments.
*THUDDD*
A deep chasm spanning hundreds of meters was created .
The fractured half eaten triangular head of the bone monster fell loudly into the large crater.
The deathly pale Long Yu looked at the fallen bones that had stopped moving, finally sighing in relief.
It's over
A crying Fei Rin ran and hugged the faltering Long Yu from the back.
“Big sister Yu! I am sorry for all the trouble."
She slapped Fei Rin lightly, pointing towards Wang Min.
His brown uniform had almost soaked red, his fate unknown as he had stopped moving.
Putting Long Yu down, Fei Rin ran towards Wang Min, quickly casting a regeneration technique.
*Cough cough*
Wang Min spurted out some black blood as he turned himself over,
*Pant Pant*
“XEI XURK”
“XEI XURK”
“XEI XURK”
Long Yu trembled at the faint whisper that arose from behind.
*Thud*
A wet, squirming being that seemed to be straight from hell climbed back up.
Deformed skeletons came out of its newly formed chest, reforming it's lower body very quickly.
*SIZZLEEEEE*
A corrosive liquid drizzled from it's body. The ground around it turned black and caved down as the corrosiveness seemed in, seemingly losing all life.
All of them were horrified as they looked at the large monstrosity standing back up. A long shadow cast over the trio as the crimson sun sank behind its triangular head.
Its violet pupils were burning mockingly as it produced an even larger bone club.
Long Yu no longer had any energy to even move, that last attack had taken up everything.
My birthday banquet is going to become a funeral.
How ironic.
They felt their lungs stop as they watched the bone club get closer and closer
“Huh? That’s it? Long Xiang did not leave you with anything else? What a careless lad. Well, in a way, that does make sense. He was always this unfeeling.”
Listening to the seductive voice behind them, they finally seemed to have found a shred of relief.
Madame is here.
The bone club was still descending, albeit at a speed that seemed to be slow as a turtle.
A large amount of Qi emanated from Madame Li Na , turning into huge transparent purple veins that chained the large bony being down.
“XEI X-.”
“XEI ……XURK”
“XE-”
“XEIII”
The wet skulls on it's body showed expression of struggle.
However, the next moment, it’s triangular head raised itself again as if it felt no resistance.
Its purple eyes sparkled with intelligence as it looked at Madame Li.
*Whish*
The bone monster broke down into small pieces of bone.
The bones quickly turned into a black-ish liquid, disappearing into the black ground.
Madame Li’s expression turned grave as she watched the scene transpire.
That was the law of death.
After a while, she finally stared back at the disheveled trio.
"Well done, Long Yu."
*Neighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*
Apollo, you big useless bastard
Long Yu cursed Apollo for being late.
*Thud thud*
“Oh? This one came all the way here? Your soul beast?”
Madame Li Na asked Long Yu as she stared at the large dragon-back horse.
“No, it’s unbound, there is no engraving. Then how”
Her eyes widened as she stared. The horse seemed dissatisfied with the continuous stare, deciding to return the stare.
The trio gaped as they watched the woman and a horse have a staring contest.
.
.
.
After a while, Madame Li Na finally stopped staring and turned back towards the trio.
"Tch. Such a rare innate talent.”
*Neighhhhhhhh*
Apollo was jubilant at its victory.
******
Going to the highway, Long Tian saw a middle-aged man dozing off on his auto-bike. It was a Frankenstein vehicle that looked like a mixture of a bike and a car.
While it looked cheap and weird, the three wheeled vehicle could go up to 100 kilometers per hour, making it a popular ride among mortals.
His footsteps seemed to have woken up the driver.
“uhhh, Where to, Sir?”
The driver replied in a groggy voice as he yawned.
“10th street, Feng estate”
“That would be 8 bronze.”
Long Tian tossed a gold coin to the man and hopped onto the autobike.
“Be fast”
The driver's eyebrows arched in surprise as he glanced at the circular gold coin in his hand.
An engraving of a young face stood in front of the gold coin, while smaller engravings of a dragon, a panther, a bird, and a ray sat on the other side.
His expression transformed into one of pure joy as he gazed back at the source of his unexpected fortune.
“Thank you for your generosity, sir.”
The driver quickly started the bike without delay.
Long Tian observed as the landscape slowly changed from the lush greenery to the black-and-white city aesthetic.
Rows of houses, shops, bustling markets and even industrial complexes flashed by.
“My daughter has been pestering me for a doll she saw on her way to school. I promised to get it for her, but when I looked at the price, I felt my stomach drop. It was frickin' 10 silvers, sir."
The driver ahead seemed to be in a very good mood, talking to himself as he drove his small vehicle.
"That's almost half of my monthly income. However, she is only 6, how would she understand? Every day I return home to find my sullen daughter, refusing to talk to me.”
Long Tian was engrossed in thinking about the genome sequence results, only barely making out the driver’s words.
“I can finally get her that doll. Thank you very much, Sir”
“Hm? You’re welcome.”
The driver did not mind his nonchalance, humming to himself as he continued towards the destination.
If I could find out a way to stimulate my white dragon genes, I might be able to awaken. Time, i need more tim-.
“Sir, we have arrived.”
Long Tian's racing mind got interrupted by the driver.
There was a large black “Fang estate” signage on the gate.
“Wait here”
The driver happily acknowledged the instruction and parked his bike.
*****
The guard stationed outside greeted him warmly with a smile.
“Good evening, young master Long.”
Long tian checked his wristwatch, which showed the time to be 5:15. He had lost track of time again.
“Good evening, Liang. Is Feng Yuan home?”
“Yes, young master.”
“Alright”
Walking inside, A spacious black pathway greeted his eyes, bordered by lush green gardens.
Looking ahead, several buildings were arranged in a circular manner.
At the heart of the arrangement, a tall marble-black building stood proud. This building had a significantly different aesthetic from the rest. The simplistic design that curved and thinned with increasing height would definitely make people worried about its structural stability.
The seamless black glass panels all around the structure reflected the sunlight, creating a striking contrast with the reddish afternoon sky.
Going inside the large hall, he found a maid waiting.
“Good evening, young master. Young master Fang is wai-”
“You bastard, you finally remembered this friend of yours.”