Tian Ling turned back and looked at the group. His face was twitching and didn’t know what to say. He invested too much in this hunting trip and gained nothing in the end. While he was lamenting inside, Quinn arrived at his side and grabbed his collar.
“What the hell were your men doing?” She questioned him angrily. Quinn was mad as hell. He knew Tian Ling would target Miles and encouraged him to join anyway. She thought Tian Ling wouldn’t dare to act against him when she was present. But Tian Ling disregarded her presence and attacked Miles anyway. Even though Tian Ling never ordered or attacked Miles, the way his men acted forced Miles to a bitter end.
Tian Ling freed himself and looked at her with anger. “What did they do?” He asked, and continued, “They were running away from the monster and only your stupid man stood where he was. Isn’t it normal for him to be alone while he stood where he was while my and Mihr’s men escaped from the dreadful monster?”
“You are gonna pay for this if anything happens to him,” Quinn said and walked with others to the edge of the mountain.
“Lucy!” She said, and Lucy nodded. Her powers surrounded their group and all felt gravity was hardly affecting them. They jumped over the cliff and leaped from rock to rock. In no time at all, they arrived at the base of the rift.
Tian Ling, Mihr Orril, and some of their men also arrived with some other means. They searched around and found a human-shaped silhouette in the dark. Mihr Orril created a light sword illuminated around, and they approached.
There Miles was lying on the ground injured. The electric sword was at his side with many cracks. Quinn ran to his side and checked on him. After feeling his pulse she sighed in relief.
Tian Ling approached and looked with his eyes like saucers. He couldn’t believe Miles survived the fall.
‘How! How can he be alive!’ He shouted in his heart, but he couldn’t do anything anymore. He wanted to take the sword lying beside Miles, but Quinn grabbed his arm with great force. “This is the second time you tried to kill my man. Don’t think you will get scot-free from this.” Quinn said and kept the sword. Miles woke up at that moment and looked at Quinn.
Tian Ling looked at Quinn with fear. He knew Miles would tell her what had happened in the cave and how he forced Miles to die for him, but still, when he heard it from Quinn, he felt a shiver.
“Where am I?” Miles asked with great difficulty.
“Don’t talk. You fell from the cliff, and you are injured. I will take you to the stronghold.” Quinn answered and they all left. Tian Ling could only gnash his teeth and curse inside.
Miles, on the other hand, could hardly suppress his laughter.
When he was forced to the edge of the cliff and was about to fall down, he forcefully grabbed the rock and saved himself from falling. He stood there and planned his next move. He couldn’t climb up once again, or Tian Ling would try to kill him once again, but he couldn’t go down either. The cliff was too steep to climb down. He waited there then got a brilliant idea. He discussed it with Coin, and Coin agreed to it too.
Then Coin left his wrist and Miles removed the ivory orb from his bag. The AI floated in the air wrapped around the white orb. Then Coin floated down to the base of the mountain, while Miles waited where he was, trying to regulate his rampant blood a little.
Thanks to the second serum, his body was stronger. It also meant his regeneration was better than a normal human. Even though he couldn’t heal his arm in a short period of time, he could still heal himself to move in the time he had. When the fight was at its climax, he climbed up and hid away behind a boulder.
He wouldn’t play tricks if Tian Ling didn’t target him. But since the latter wanted to kill him, Miles wouldn’t mind stealing from him. When the last attack fell on the monster and injured it to death, Miles donned his armor and ran to the monster with everything he had. It was the Psychic armor with the Electricity element. It could charge itself without any outside stimulus. Thus, it was the only orb he could use without Coin.
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With the armor, he was much faster than Tian Ling despite his injured body.
When he arrived at the monster, he moved the sword he had charged with the help of Coin before the latter left and cut open the monster’s brain. Although the monster was on the verge of death, its skin was still hard, but Miles was able to cut open its skull. He removed the bloody orb and saw two wings swimming in grey orb.
Miles looked at Tian Ling approaching and snickered, but it couldn’t be seen under his armor. Still, he felt satisfaction in doing it. He grabbed the heavy battle axe and ran away with everything he had. He was faster than anyone there, and had the empowerment of the armor, increasing his speed.
The mountain wasn’t easy to climb down, especially when Miles was climbing down in the opposite direction they came. He couldn’t go to where Tian Ling’s men and the crowd from earlier were waiting.
After a few stumbles, he reached the base of the mountain, and jumped into the car Coin was driving. He jumped in the car and dropped the weapon and the orb. And just as the car arrived at the second mountain, Miles jumped out of the car secretly and removed his armor to arrive at the rift. The speeding car moved further and further away, while Tian Ling watched. Miles on the other hand arrived where he was found and feigned unconsciousness.
He and Coin would meet later at a place not far away from the stronghold, so Miles let Quinn and others carry him. Lucy reluctantly cast anti-gravity on him, so others could carry him more easily. Since there were lots of dead, the others' mood wasn’t great, so Miles couldn’t laugh, but the crowd at the base of the mountain laughed without restraint when they heard what had happened at the top of the mountain.
Tian Ling spent more than 500 million UD for killing one monster, but both orb and the monster artifact were stolen by the Marooner. The crowd didn’t know why the hero Marooner stole something from Tian Ling, but they were still happy to see Tian Ling lost.
Since Tian Ling prohibited them to enter and monopolized the monster, they found pleasure in his misfortune.
The hunting team didn’t lose anyone. Their number was small, to begin with. Secondly, they were only there to support from behind. They too lost some orbs and ammunition, but Tian Ling would compensate for them anyway. On top of that, they would earn a pinnacle-tier Orb. Who knew? Maybe no one in the line would like the orb, and they may luck out.
The team moved without any rest and arrived at the stronghold in no time. Miles was taken to the doctor, but he was fine, so the doctor just ordered him to rest. Miles returned to his room and after some time, he sneaked out secretly. When he left the stronghold, he noticed Tian Ling’s men were waiting outside of the stronghold and checked every person entering. They were looking for the Marooner.
Too bad for them, they could never find him.
Miles left the stronghold and met with Coin at the rendezvous point, and jumped in the car. There laid a grey orb and his new monster artifact.
————
“Coin, can you charge it please?” Miles looked at the grey orb in his hand. There were a pair of wings inside, looking glorious. Miles wasn’t sure if his guess was correct or not, but if it was, this orb would be a game-changer.
Coin charged the orb, and a grey orb melted in his hand. The liquid formed a pair of wings and attached to his back. Miles felt a slight pinch on his spine, then in his mind appeared two new limbs. It was a marvelous feeling. He willed it, and wings flapped. Miles started to float from the ground.
“It is awesome!” Miles looked at the ground and felt so excited. He could fly!
“Seems like wings have an anti-gravity element, allowing you to float and with its size, you can use it to actually fly.” Coin analyzed it.
“Perfect!” Miles exclaimed. The battle axe had a gravity element making it heavier when clashed, and wings, oppositely, were reducing the gravity.
Miles flew randomly to get used to the feeling. He was always a fan of flying but using his own body to do it was much better. After testing the wings for a while, and flying around. Since he couldn’t come to the stronghold as Marooner in the risk of getting caught, he couldn’t bring the monster artifact with him. He drove to the Lonely Cave and buried the weapon for the time being before he arrived at the stronghold.
He returned to the stronghold as himself. At the entrance, Tian Ling’s men were still looking at everyone and doing identity checks. When Miles walked, he was stopped by a group of people.
“Show your identity.” One of them said sternly. Miles looked at them before walking by without any care.
“Bastard, stop or I will attack!” The same person said, but guards from the stronghold ran from afar.
“Sir, do you need any assistance?” They said to Miles while looking at Tian Ling’s goons with stink eye. Even Miles got surprised when he saw the guards, but then realized it must be Quinn’s order to protect him. After all, Tian Ling tried to kill him. So guards must be ordered to defend him when they are near.
“Does the commander know about this?” Miles asked as he pointed to Tian Ling’s men.
“She has been informed, but no order given to us,” Guard said.
“Alright, at ease,” Miles said and walked to the stronghold. Since guards rushed to protect him, Tian Ling’s men didn’t dare to attack him again.
Miles walked in without any problem and walked to the Dimensional Device.