544 Biding for Time, A Successful Plan Ruined by Someone (1/2)

Day 129 - 4:06 PM - Newton Lake, Veteran's Memorial Park, Oaklyn, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

Several minutes before the barrier vanished, Mark was already frowning as he detected new guests arriving one after another.

It was a pretty problematic situation. Many people were approaching. Some of them were humans, but none of them were regular people. Luckily, the energy from the curse in the area they sat at was thick. It was to the point of obscuring the view from outside the barrier.

In the least, before the barrier vanished, none of the guests outside could see them.

”Gege, what are we going to do now?”

Mei could not help but ask as she readied her weapon.

There, Illia thought of something.

”You have some space pocket, right? Can't you put Master inside that? After that, we can run away and escape.”

”You are going to trust us with that?”

Mark asked.

”It's not like we have other choices, do we?”

Sure enough, even Illia felt the pressure of the situation. She was willing to risk it rather than letting her Master get harmed here.

Mark smiled. It kind of felt nice, being trusted by someone you just met. Unfortunately, he could only shrug.

”That's not possible.”

”Why?” Illia frowned. ”Isn't that woman inside?”

Mark stared at Illia. Even though this woman was over five-thousand years old, she was an airhead towards things like this.

”That's a bluff,” Mark replied. We can't store living creatures inside. Elise already escaped with her brother. I just said that to make sure that you won't chase them.”

Illia stared at Mark with a blaming look. She just realized that the man outside the barrier before was now gone. No wonder now.

”Gege, what about your Miasma?”

Mei whispered. If Mark used it, there would be no problem even if several times more enemies were surrounding them.

”I'll leave that as our last card,” Mark replied with a shrug. ”I can't risk things with an Eye lurking around.”

Mei nodded. It was a reasonable thing to do.

Back then, Mark could just use it without regard for anything. It was because he barely knew things he should watch out for. Ignorance was bliss, as they said.

Now, along with gaining knowledge about the hidden face of the world, he had many factors to consider before using his best abilities.

It was even more now because the creatures and people that lived hidden in the society before the outbreak started coming out.

If it was before the outbreak, most of these guests that appeared now would not even come here. Even the first thing to happen if the curse activated at that time would be the American Military securing the place and controlling the information from coming out.

”Why the hell did we suddenly get thrown into a Chinese Novel setting...”

Mark murmured with a deep sigh. Both Illia and Mei heard that but could only look at him with confusion. The two could not understand why he said that, after all.

***

Soon, the barrier vanished, and Chimetrice was still not finished absorbing all the energy from the crystals.

Illia could not help but stand up, ready to fight. On the other hand, Mei was waiting for Mark's instructions.

”You should sit down.”

Mark said to Illia.

”But...”

”Just let me handle this for now. Don't make any rash moves unless I said so.”

Mark said with a serene expression. Illia seemed hesitant. Furthermore, she had never taken any orders that did not come from her Master. However, her Master was still in a meditative state, and she knew that she was not too smart enough to deal with these kinds of situations. Thus, she could only back down and sit as close as possible to her Master.

Mei, on the other hand, remained on position. Still, it was clear that she was ready to act whenever Mark called for it.

”Mei'er, hide your wings.”

”Okay.”

While Mark told Mei that, he also hid his. If things go awry, it could serve as a good surprise.

As Mark stood up, he took a deep breath. He was not scared. And rather than saying that he was calm, it was better to say that there were no traces of any emotions in his face.

In this condition, it was easier to face the guests.

Mark stared at the guests rushing towards the center of the place affected by the curse.

Many of them did not even look human. There were even beasts that were only heard off from local mythology, legends, and folklore.

It was somehow unexpected that there was a strange flying vehicle about the size of a bus. Furthermore, it was moving without making any unnecessary sound.

There was also a small group of people riding on flying swords and were wearing traditional Chinese clothes. Without a doubt, they were cultivators from China. It was quite mysterious that they were here despite their county being on the other side of the globe.

But the strangest thing that made Mark frown was that even though he could sense the presence of the Eye in the surroundings, he could not see it or even pinpoint its exact location after the barrier vanished. He could feel that the Eye never left, but it disappeared as if its existence earlier was nothing but a lie.

On the other side, these guests that rushed towards the source of the curse could not help but stop on their tracts as they saw Mark's group. They could not fathom how there were people inside the barrier.

”Who are you, people?”

It was the middle-aged man with white hair that asked. He was the leader of the first group that arrived. Because they were riding on a Thunderbird, they reached the center faster than the others.