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Published at 2nd of June 2018 12:45:07 AM


Chapter 345: Things That Have Been Happening All This While

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The dust had just settled and a commotion was heard from The Gnarled Grove again. But this time it sounded like it was humans and the pounding of the hooves. Dots of fire began to emerge from the forest and even more were coming. Lily summoned her Fire and Ice Claws instinctly while others also were on their guard.

A series of hoofbeat accompnied by a group of knights appeared from the dense forest. The knights were riding war horses, wearing the glittering church knight regiment armour and draped in heraldric sacred gown. Each of them was wielding a sword which had a magical glow on it as if they were going to war. Another group of people, who were military sorcerers, followed from behind.

Meanwhile more knights had come out, among them were the Kingdom’s knights. Riding horses, these knights almost overran the open space on the lakeside but what they saw had their jaws almost dropped to the ground: the place was piled with black rocks, there were only a few strangers here but their prey had gone.

"Halt—"

The knights stopped. A few knights, who appeared like the leaders, strode on their horses, came up to them but didn’t dismount. The knights asked cautiosuly with swords in their hands. "Who are you people? What are you doing here on the lakeside?"

Hao Ren was half stunned, unsure what was happening. But he quickly replied with the usual bullshit he had been saying for nth times, "We’re wanderer-sorcerers from the Northen Empire. We’re also a registered mercenaries in The Kingdom of Holletta searching for the missing Orb of The Holy Synod."

He was cautious about these knights and their real identity, so he just briefly mentioned about the search operation but didn’t tell them he had found the orb. The middle-aged knight, probably a leader, became even more cautious. "Orb? The search had been called off half a month ago! You..."

Sensing the knight’s suspicion, Hao Ren was figuring way to respond. Suddenly Big Beardy came up and spoke, "You’re knight of the church? From which diocese? We’re ascetics on Goddess’ mission."

Big Beardy and his company had their clothes almost torn like a sack, and with their low sense of presence, you won’t notice their presence when they are not speaking. The knight leader had thought the four were just some poor mercenaries. Only when the ascetic revealed himseld, the knight began to notice him and his grey robe which was exactly an ascetic’s signature. Big Beardy took out a shiny metal plate from his robe and waved it in front of the knight leader. The former took a gander and said, "It’s ascetic? How you end up here? I’ve never heard the church have sent ascetics..."

The knight leader was cautious. He didn’t take the ‘ID card’ at face value. After all ascetics were a very special group of people in The Disciples of Glory; they weren’t regular forces but elite forces directly under the command of the pope and the Goddess, the appearance of ascetics at the lakeside was just unbelievable. Big Beardy looked at the insignia on the church knight, recognising it. He took his hat off and said, "You’re a senior knight of Bishop Gelton. Then you must have recognised us at the ‘reception ceremony’ a few months back."

Reception ceremony was a gathering held when Orb of The Holy Synod arrived in Beinz diocese a few months back. The knight leader began to size up the four of them, then appeared shock. "You... the four of you are the four masters of Orb of The Holy Synod? How did you end up here?"

Becky jumped out, patting her chest pretending to be their leader. "Of course! We’re the mercenary that found the orb! We also found the four masters. Asides from a manor for the Orb, I wonder how much these four masters worth..."

Hao Ren quickly dragged the machine-gun-mouth mercenary back. Becky had been a fantastic person, the only downside was she couldn’t guard her mouth when got excited. The way she spoke it was almost as if she had kidnapped the four ascetics...

Big Beardy turned and glanced at Becky, his face like wood. "We’re surely not as precious. But at least we do worth a few fine horses."

Hao Ren tried to smooth things over. "You’re being humble. The way I see it, the four of you should at least worth two houses..."

Vivian quickly hit him on the back and said quietly to him, "If you don’t know what to say, don’t say it"

The knights and other groups were now a little confused; the Orb of The Holy Synod which had been missing for months was found, and even the four masters who were declared martyrs were now standing right in front of them. They felt everything was so surreal. The professional knights later came to their senses as the knight leader turned around and ordered his right-hand man. "Launch the signal. Summon a few teams to escort the sacred orb back to the town!"

The right-hand man shot a flare into the sky. As the flare exploded, the knight leader suddenly realised it as he looked at mountains of black rocks, dumbfounded. He turned looking at Big Beardy, feeling incredible. "Master, a group of rock monsters were here... were the four of you the ones who cleaned them up?"

Big Beardy pointed at Hao Ren and said frankly, "He was the one."

The knight leader swallowed. He was already stunned when he founded the pieces of the rock monsters, he wouldn’t think that it was the mercenaries that did this, he rather believed that it was the ascetics who had done the incredible thing. But the former had given all the credits to the mediocre mercenary. He felt even more incredible. "Him? Alone?"

"They killed two in average," Hao Ren smiled wryly as he pointed to the others. "I killed one hundred and twenty two ."

The knight leader’s jaw completely dropped to the ground this time. He almost couldn’t believe his ears. "... Are all sorcerers from Northen Empire monsters?"

Hao Ren stood with his arms crossed, feeling proud. The MDT vibrated in his pocket, buzzing directly into his mind. "Yeah, keep pretending. Besides running a few rounds and burning some calorie, what have you actually done? Even Becky had higher DPS then you!"

The knight leader knew nothing about what actually happened. Anyway, Hao Ren was already a monster in his eyes. He was just a lower-ranking officer, he wouldn’t ask to much. Knowing the air had been cleared, Y’zaks stepped forwards and asked, "What happened earlier? Were the rock monsters being chase here? We saw the outpost at the lakeside, what happened?"

The knight leader saw the two-and-a-half-metre giant, he couldn’t help holding to his helmet. "Don’t you know already? Where were you for the past half month?"

"With them. Not in Beinz Blood Lake." Hao Ren pointed at Big Beardy. "We just came here by teleporting. It was about the Orb. And it’s classified. We’ll tell the bishop when we see him. Why not you tell us what was happening here?"

Using Orb of The Holy Synod as an excuse worked. The knight leader suspected him no more, and began to relate what had happened as he sighed. "The rock monsters came from Dragonspine Ridge... you know, right? Good. About half a month ago, the rock monsters had been multiplying in great number, they breached the Leyton defense. There was a ancient route appeared at the side of the mountain range through which the monsters had penetrated The Gnarled Grove all the way to this area. We were ordered to round up and terminate these monsters. We had been tracing them for two days two nights and successfully cornered them here, until you guys finished them all. The lakeside outpost fell a few days ago. Other outposts around the sacred lake have been attacked almost everyday. These aren’t classified intel, so you could ask around and you will know. Many mercenaries are guarding the outer line of defense to prevent the rock monsters from entering into the kingdom."

"How about situation in Leyton?" Hao Ren asked.

"It’s been retaken. Marhal Opra is guarding the town now. You guys could put up there" The knight leader said with a smile, shrugging. "But I can’t guarantee you would’ve a sound night sleep because of the trembling of the earth when those rocks run. There have been a few landslides in the nearby mountains."

Suddenly, Big Beardy asked nervously, "What about the sacred lake? What do the rock monsters want coming to the sacred lake? Did they spoil the lakewater?"





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