988 Assault of the Crazy Ones Part 2 (1/2)

Two-hundred yards away at the rear of the storm region, a small vessel of about forty yards long chased after the storm. A young man was seen on the bow, wearing a black cape with his arms folded at his chest, keeping his cape down. His expression hinted that he was feeling rather cold.

The man's looks were that of a typical Tanggulasian. His facial features were clear cut, his nose long. He had black hair and his eyes were brown with hints of gold.

Four soldiers clad in black armor stood behind the young man. The equipment the four of them carried were prominent ones. A large emblem was printed at the breastplate, a spike stood tall above their helmets, making them look like single-horned demons.

The joints of the black armor had quite a number of such metal spikes on them. The visors of their helmets have had tiny holes all over them. They were the professionals among the wardens, and the tiny holes were etched with precious crystals. Such a visor allowed the wearer to see at a wider angle, which also required special skills to allow the wearer to process the large number of images acquired.

The small warship moved at immense speed. The storm region controlled by the Eye of the Storm moved aggressively forward at a speed of one-hundred and fifty miles per hour, yet the small vessel kept close behind without fretting. The young man wearing a black cape sneezed all of a sudden and smiled. His face was impeccably clean, and his expressions relaxed, lacking the gloomy look often associated with the members of the tribunal.

The winds at sea were strong, yet they parted before the small vessel. The young man's eyes were clear, as they looked faraway. The four wardens behind stood faithfully without saying a word, like four mountains.

The young man spoke all of a sudden, ”Hunting is one of the most boring things one can do. The life just ends up lost in your hands, and that is just too brutal for me. The Lord's head warden knew I didn't like operations like these, and yet I was sent here. There is no doubt that they didn't want that thing taken back alive.”

Murmurs were heard from the four armored figures, and it was clear that the warden leaders were unaccustomed to such insolence. The Lord's head warden was someone who was like the head inquisitor—an unquestionable figure demanding respect from all. In the tribunal, the status of the head warden was on par with the head inquisitor. The Black dungeon had always been the most important power of the tribunal.

The young man was obviously taking jabs at the Lord's head warden, but the young man was also of high status himself, and one that none of the warden leaders dared to offend. They would not even dare to report what he said to the Lord's head warden. If what he said was to be reported to the Lord's head warden, what would have followed was probably the immediate execution of all four of them, sweeping the incident under the rug.

”Are you guys mute or what? Man, you guys are boring. I take it that none of you know about that thing yet then. If it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have been able to finish their research. It's a real pity there are just too many bugs on it. Even if it was something capable of defeating the Cloudflow fleets, it wouldn't have been enough to go against the kind of warship Grand Duke Iron Blood has. The more the head inquisitor puts his hopes in that thing, the greater his anger will become when it fails. Do any of you understand? When that comes, I'll be one of those who'd get it. It's better to let it run loose. It's not my problem anyway.”

The four warden leaders shivered at the mention of the head inquisitor. Of the six head inquisitor positions of the tribunal, only three remained for the last century. The head inquisitor was seen like a god of the tribunal. No one other than the head warden would be able to go against the head inquisitor. Two head inquisitors died a couple of years ago, and the two who replaced them, were even more brutal than the ones that came before.

One could have anything when working in the tribunal; anything but a sense of safety. If one ended up offending the head inquisitor, there would be only three ways out of it: getting tortured by the head inquisitor's men to death, being sent to the black dungeon to serve as guinea pigs for research, or the most common option was if they were chosen for such a predicament—suicide before they were caught.

Under such circumstances, many who worked in the tribunal developed twisted temperaments, and they were known for their aggressiveness and brutality. Even the holy masters from the pivotal council would rather not mess with the tribunal.

The young man continued after taking jabs at the head inquisitor, ”The pope is yet another joker. Why did he insist on making peace with the tribunal? Isn't it just great that the two sides keep being at each other's throats? Doing so might even clean some useless garbage out. Now both sides are buddies and devoted all their might at Qin. Well, then what? Unless they can find a way to take Holy Rock City, a city like that that stands tall on the mainland wouldn't care about being surrounded. You can surround them for one-thousand years, and they will still not starve. After all, if both Holy Rock City and Alchemy City can't be taken down, the holy war will be all but a joke.”

The young man went on to not only explicitly defy the pope, but also throw insults at the holy war. The four warden leaders wanted nothing more than to jump into the ocean right there and then. It was just impossible for them to pretend to have not heard what he said.

The young man was a candidate for the position of next head warden, and he was the only one.

The position of head warden was unlike that of the head inquisitor; it was held only by one person. Once a candidate was named, the current head warden had to step down no matter what in twenty years, to make way for the next head warden.

It was due precisely to that that the current head wardens spent great effort to nurture their successors. The twenty years time was a time to enable to the named candidate to grow. The old head warden would then step down to become one of the elders of the black dungeon, spending his days training.

Most head inquisitors died in battle, yet most head wardens died of old age.

That young man was a candidate for future head warden. Anyone who wanted to move against him would have required permission from the elders of the black dungeon. A candidate needed to be a grade-9 professional and able to develop a lifespan of one-thousand years, to become head warden. How long had the black dungeon been around? With the head warden changed every twenty years, just how many grade-9 professionals were around?

”Wait? Why is it changing course?” The young man was astute enough to realize the peculiarity. The core of the hurricane controlled by the Eye of the Storm was changing direction. He did not pay any heed when it moved northeastward, but the monster was heading west that time.