Chapter 562 (1/2)

Chapter 562: The Nine O’Clock God of Moonlight (3/3)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The grass plains, nighttime

The caravans hastily made their way back to Norton Kingdom, but something unexpected happened. Around three in the morning, a mercenary ran back to his leader from the road up ahead. He seemed terrified, as if he had just witnessed something inexplicable.

“Leader, there’s a problem up front.”

The mercenary leader, Milo, looked a lot better than before. The symptoms of his poisoning had all but disappeared. He had also regained most of his strength.

Hearing this, Milo’s brows furrowed. He looked around and said in a low voice, “Don’t say it out loud, we don’t want this to get out.”

He feared that this would instigate panic among the merchants.

In a low, hurried tone, the mercenary said, “Leader, there’s something blocking our path in front. It’s wide and invisible, but it seems like a wall. A really big wall.”

Milo widened his eyes. Being more experienced than the ordinary mercenary, he had an idea of what they were up against. “Probably a magical barrier one of those masters had erected. Something big is happening right now.”

Milo felt powerless in the face of all this. In comparison with the masters of the continent, his power was simply inconsequential like a pebble in front of a huge rock. If the rock decided to roll over him, he would simply be ground to dust under it.

Knowing that there was nothing anyone could do about this, he went to the Red Earth Firm’s chief and explained the mercenary’s discovery to him.

The chief was a merchant and an ordinary person who had heard and seen much in his travels as well. When he heard Milo’s account, his face went pale. He was silent for a while, before he finally said, “What do you think we should do, Milo?”

Milo had already figured out what their next step should be. He said, “We are definitely no match for these masters. The only thing we can do now is not get caught in the crossfire. I’ve heard that when two Legendary masters clash against one another, the shockwave they send out can spread across more than ten miles. Anyone caught in that area will be disintegrated in an instant. I think our best option would be to find a low-lying place to hide for now. It would be even better if we could find a cave. We’ll hide inside it and then cover its entrance with a pile of reeds. This way, we’ll have a higher chance of weathering the coming storm.”

The chief did not have anything to add to this. He found Milo’s suggestion reasonable. “Alright then, we’ll do as you say,” he said.

Milo began making arrangements. Before long, the mercenaries scattered out to find suitable hiding spots. The merchants were all anxious about this, but it did not seem like they were in any immediate danger at the moment. Their caravans continued moving forward on their path.

After trudging on for more than 3000 miles, everyone saw the transparent wall that the mercenary had just described. It was soft to the touch. However, the wall hardened as soon as pressure was applied to it. No matter how anyone tried to push against it, the wall did not budge an inch.

Everyone was able to see the other side of the wall, but there was just no way to walk through it. The entire thing was surreal.

There were shouts and cries of terror amid the merchants. However, most of them did not speak a word. Their faces were all pale as they braced themselves for what was about to happen.

Milo remained in the caravans. This at least gave some sense of security to the merchants. The mercenary leader did not appear as uneasy as the rest. He seemed confident in the solution that he had come up with to survive the coming storm. Milo’s presence was the only thing keeping the caravans from descending into total panic.

As everyone waited silently for the mercenaries to return with a report on their surroundings, suddenly, three flashes of green light appeared in the sky.

They hurtled towards the caravans at an unimaginable speed.

At first, the flashes of light streaked past the caravans overhead without any intention of stopping. However, they suddenly turned back and landed before the merchants in the form of three hooded figures.

One of them walked through the crowd towards Milo. The figure observed him from tip to toe and then asked, “You’ve encountered the poisoned Beastmen. You were poisoned, were you not?”

The voice was clear as a bell. It was female.

Milo wanted to ask who they were, but for some reason, when the figure before him posed her question, he could not seem to control his own body. He nodded and said, “Yes, I was poisoned, but then I was cured.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. There was a sudden beam of moonlight from the sky, and then I just got better,” said Milo.

“Moonlight?” repeated the hooded figure strangely. Suddenly, she stabbed Milo’s arm with a thorn before he even had time to react.

Fresh blood stained the thorn’s tip. The figure gave it a lick and then went silent. Ten minutes later, she said, “I need to borrow something from you.”

“What… what do you want?” Milo felt that something was wrong.

“I’ll need to borrow your lives for a bit. Of course, none of you are in any position to refuse.” The figure waved a hand. All of a sudden, a faint green mist appeared above the caravans in the air.

Without warning, the mist descended on everyone. The merchants began coughing uncontrollably in it. Ten seconds later, the green mist faded. There was now a hint of green on the faces of all 300 people in the caravans.

“You’re now all poisoned. Two hours from now, you’ll lose all reason and meet the same fate as the poisoned Beastmen you’ve encountered before. What you should do now is pray that the same beam of moonlight will appear once more and cleanse you all of the poison in your bodies. What’s done is done. There’s no use getting angry at me. Attacking me will only quicken the spread of the poison in your bodies. Now pray.”

When she was finished, the figure stepped out of the crowd and returned to her companions. The three of them then turned into flashes of green light and zipped back into the sky.

Back on the grass plains, everyone sat on the ground despondently. Their faces were all ashen as they contemplated on their fates. Even Shallie, who always had a smile on her face, was stunned. She sat absently beside her father, unable to comprehend what had just happened to them.

“Father, why did she have to do such a thing? We didn’t even do anything to her,” said the girl to her father, Olan.

Olan chuckled bitterly. He looked at his daughter with a pained expression. He never thought that they would meet their end so soon. He should have never brought her along with him.

“Father, why?” asked Shallie.

Olan shook his head miserably. “Maybe it’s because… it’s our fate to die here.”

Shallie fell silent. After a while, hope welled up in her. “Father, do you think God will come and save us?”