Chapter 313: The Belly of the Beast (1/2)

Zac’s face soured when he heard that he would have to enter the belly of the beast if he wanted to evolve his skill. His initial plan was to reach level 75 and get his two new skills before assaulting Salvation, but now it looked like that idea was impossible to achieve.

He had already discarded the idea of felling one of the so-called Treefathers. For one they weren't as tall as the Redwood according to the report he was holding in his hand. They rather grew wide whereas the Redwood grew tall. And he didn't feel right about essentially killing the representation of the Ishiate's ancestors.

Still, there was some hesitation in his mind until Ogras suddenly motioned him to the side and erected one of the small array disks that Zac brought from the hunt. It isolated the small area around them, and Ogras’ shadows did the rest to completely obscure the two.

“What do you need such a high tree for? You never mentioned anything like this,” Ogras said. “I thought we were here for rooting out the spies and dragging out some compensation of these fools.”

“Compensation?” Zac blurted out with raised brows.

He never even considered such a thing and had simply wanted to fix an issue that the main branch of the Marshall clan perhaps wasn’t even aware of. To demand compensation at this juncture seemed a surefire way to sour the relationship with the Marshall clan which felt especially ill-timed now that he had just taken in another group of invaders.

“Don’t go overboard. I’m sure your stock around here isn’t the best since your stunt at the Auction,” Zac sighed. “And I need the tree for my class.”

“You need an enormous tree for your class..?” Ogras repeated with a blank face. “Never heard anything like it. Does it need to be 500 meters? The ones I spotted in the Mystic Realm weren’t that tall, but still pretty huge.”

“It’s 500 meters minimum,” Zac said with a shake of his head.

“So what are you thinking? Do you want to assault this Salvation guy immediately?” Ogras probed.

Zac threw a look at the intelligence officers around them. They were clearly curious about what was going on inside the portable array, but they all kept a respectful distance.

“I think it would be for the best. I don’t have any powerups coming up I think, apart from a few improvements of my Dao. My other skill quest won’t be finished in the short run as well,” Zac said.

Ogras thoughtfully mulled over the information, before he nodded.

“Might as well. But I don’t think our current lineup will be very useful against that person. He might seem to have a huge army on the surface, but in reality, he is only one entity from how you described him. There are no elites and no generals, just Salvation and his puppets. Bringing a bunch of weaklings will only slow us down.” Ogras said.

“Us?” Zac asked with a raised brow, ignoring the comment of the others being weak. Why was the demon so interested in heading into a heated battle?

“As I mentioned I got a few goodies as compensation for the forced fusion with this shadowbastard. I think fighting Salvation with his odd class might be beneficial for me. I have never heard of anything like it before, it’s even more mysterious than your class,” he said.

“So what do you propose?” Zac asked.

“Well, others can’t enter his little kingdom without being spotted, but that doesn’t necessarily include us,” Ogras said. “I say we sneak inside, cut down a tree, and kill the guy when he comes to investigate. The others could use the break to consolidate their gains. Many should be able to gain or upgrade a Dao seed from the recent battles.”

Zac nodded in agreement. He even felt that a few of his own Dao Seeds had improved even though the massive gains he just received from the Inheritance. The most notable was Sharpness, the Dao Seed that he used the most since gaining it. He was even considering using one of his remaining Dao Treasures to push it one step further before heading to the Cradle of God.

“Do you need to prepare anything before we go?” Zac asked, tacitly agreeing with Ogras’ plan.

“I just need a few hours in Port Atwood to make sure my shadows are fed and stable,” Ogras said after some consideration. ”She gets a bit agitated otherwise.”

“Great,” Zac nodded. “We’ll head back after this. I will try to improve a Dao seed to at least get a small boost before we fight Salvation. That guy is the strongest person I’ve met considering his level.”

“Which is what makes him so intriguing. Now for the next issue,” Ogras said with a malicious smile as he turned off the Array and dispersed the obscuring shadows.

”Don't do anything crazy,” Zac said with some helplessness.

”When have I ever?” Ogras answered, throwing Zac a youthful smile as shadows flooded the room.

Things took a pretty nasty turn from there, with Ogras essentially taking the entire building, including Roland, hostages until a young man was brought in front of them. He was called Henry Marshall, named after the current patriarch, and his ambition matched his name.

He wasn’t part of the main branch though, and was rather part of a distant branch. Before the integration, he had barely been considered part of the clan. But since the world changed he had been allowed into the fold, where he had been desperate to prove himself to improve his lot.

He had already been suspected of cooperating with the I’Rallashar, the humanoid clan that just ambushed them, giving intelligence in return for cultivation resources. After hearing that Zac’s group was ambushed he was immediately captured and brought over by the chief of the Marshall Intelligence Bureau, a thin and unassuming old man named Charles.

A cursory search of Henry's home was all that was needed to find ample evidence of his culpability.