Chapter 248 Ambush (2/2)

Shing!

Rhode instantly tilted his body as soon as he saw the arrow shooting for him. At the same time, he unsheathed his Crimson Blade and deflected the arrow.

Unlike what Rhode had expected, they didn't return to the central control room. Instead, they returned to the tall platform where the Ophenian Researchers had opened the hidden huge door from. Well, at least Rhode didn't have to worry about falling downward.

But, there were still troubles ahead as Rhode discovered the battle happening right now…

”Sir, you are finally back!”

Just as Rhode finally figured out the situation, Kavos and Shauna ran over to his side with sweat pouring from their foreheads. Both of them were petrified when this odd, oval shaped door suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Now that Rhode, Lapis, and Gillian had come out of it, both of them let out sighs of relief and explained the whole situation.

Luckily, although both of them were panicky, they were once mercenary group leaders and had no problems relating and expressing the issue. It only took a while for Rhode to get a grasp of the situation.

These mercenaries were quietly following instructions to wait for the return of Rhode and the others on the tall platform. However, as they didn't know what happened to Rhode, they were devastated. The Ophenians seemed to have realised the tragedy that the mercenaries were facing. Hence, they didn't speak much and continued with their individual tasks.

Previously, everything was engaging smoothly, but things changed when it turned past midnight. A bunch of vines and mischievous rats appeared out of nowhere and attacked the mercenaries. From the start, the mercenaries were unprepared against the ambush and were overwhelmed. However, with Celia's alertness, she immediately led the team to destroy the pests.

”Afterwards, we discovered many naked men, which was unusual, because they were unarmed and yet so powerful. Their movements were incredibly quick too, which injured many of our men. Luckily Miss Celia was around to suppress the unknown forces. Now they have returned to the entrance, and it seems like they won't be coming back for a while.”

Rhode went silent after listening to Kavos's description. He frowned and asked, ”How's the situation with the Ophenians?”

”The ambush killed three to four of them. The remaining were injured but are still in a generally good condition.”

”I understand.”

Rhode nodded in agreement. He turned around and saw the Ophenians on the other side. From their expressions, it seemed like this ambush terrified them. The male researchers held weapons in their hand, guarding their female counterparts, who were behind. The Ophenians were glad to see Rhode return. They knew that the ambushers were the group of Druids that had attacked them in the forest. However, at that point in time, Rhode and Gillian weren't around to defeat the Druids, which worried the Ophenians. Now that both of them were back, they were glad.

But Rhode had other ideas.

Previously, Rhode had intended to wait for the Ophenians to dig up the Composition Adornments before finding an opportunity to kill them off, at the same time retrieving all the information on the Composition Adornment. However, it seemed like there was no need for that anymore. Rhode had specially consulted Lapis and the latter had confirmed with him that he had received the Composition Adornment's production process for the most perfect crafting. Of course, it would require some time in order for Lapis to be totally familiarized with the process and formulas.

So then, should I spare the lives of the Ophenians?

Although sparing their lives was fine based on the current situation, Rhode wasn't willing to let them leave with the intention of preventing any future enemy attacks or to deliver a setback to his enemies. Although he was unsure of how the Ophenians had initially retrieved the production process of the Composition Adornment, they were more or less related to the slabs that were dug up previously. If Rhode let them off, who knew what would happen in the future?

However, Rhode quickly thought of an idea to get the best of both worlds.