Chapter 419 A Deadly Secre (2/2)

Does this mean that the army of the Country of Darkness will be much harder to oppose than I had expected?

This was the most tricky question to Rhode right now.

However, even though this question was bugging him, he didn't need an answer to it now. He decided to throw this thought away, pulled himself up, and approached the corpse dust of Vulture. At this moment, the ferocious Undead Knight was nowhere to be seen. What remained was a pile of pale, white dust as a tribute to his final moment in this world.

The entire commercial route had been blasted beyond recognition. Apart from the destruction which the Black Hound left after self-exploding, Gillian's flip out and Anne's banging with her shield had brought along many chaotic scenes. Just look at the broken bones scattered around and the plants that were burnt…

And in this complete disorder, the number of spoils that Rhode could find was limited.

The Black Hound's self-explosion let off an impact comparable to a medium-range missile, which annihilated a fatigue Master stage Undead Knight like Vulture. This went to show just how limited the spoils that remained were. After searching in the pile of 'ashes' in the Undead Knight, Rhode was only able to loot a couple of unimpressive items. There was a blown up ruby ring, recoverable with some patchwork, which Rhode valued as only a dinner worthy of a few gold coins. The Cyan Moonlight was much more unfortunate. Perhaps it was the first victim of the explosion which led to it being split into half, and this rare weapon instantly turned into worthless metal with a value less than the ruby ring.

The only valuable loots to Rhode were Vulture's 'Soul Core' and 'Soul Flute'. As a high-level undead creature driven by the power of the soul, the quality of Vulture's Soul Core was impressive. On the other hand, the Soul Flute was a magical equipment used to order about the Bone Griffins. Rhode could use this equipment to summon a Bone Griffin as his personal escort. However, even though this was asking for death under the sky of the Country of Light, Rhode could still command the Bone Griffin to investigate the surroundings in the border area of the Land of Atonement with the dark night as cover.

Of course, with the precondition that no one discovers it.

That was all for Rhode's spoils of war.

Rhode wasn't entirely furious or dissatisfied with this result. After all, that battle involved his life, which was unlike the game, where he could revive instantly. He felt fortunate enough to survive this ordeal. As for the equipment, he could count himself lucky if there were good ones, but so be it if there weren't any. At least he got to keep his life.

Harboring this thought, Rhode packed his loots and approached the chariot. It was seemingly impossible for them to hasten on with their journey because the unfortunate senior chariot driver was long dead and the few horses were murdered by the undead creatures at the start. Furthermore, in order to resist the explosion, Gillian forcefully used the chariot to defend against it, which left huge damage. Now, they only had two choices. They could choose to continue their journey while carrying all their luggage from the chariot. However, this wouldn't be an easy task because even with the chariot, they would need at least half a day's time to reach the Eagle City. If they were to walk, they would need at least two to three days.

The second choice was to 'hitch a ride'. After all, this was a commercial route and there would be merchant chariots passing through from time to time. It wouldn't be too difficult to hitch a ride with thorough explanations. However, Rhode didn't wish to start any incident again as he had had enough.

In the end, Rhode decided to go on foot to the nearest village to see if they offered any chariots or horses for rental—at least he could avoid relying on his legs to reach the Eagle City. Rhode knew that the local garrisons would be notified of this incident; however, he didn't have the intention to reason out with them because everything would be resolved after arriving in the Eagle City.

But, before that…

”Miss Deland.”

Rhode approached Natasha and Grendy with a stern expression. At this moment, the young lady was pale-faced as she hadn't fully calmed down from the earlier battle. In response, Natasha nodded instinctively; however, Rhode's next words to the young lady changed her expression greatly.

”I didn't want to meddle in your business. But now, since I've been dragged into this, I think I have the right to know what exactly am I protecting.”

Natasha's stomach turned to ice. The young lady took two steps back in uncertainty and found herself against the chariot door. At this moment, Gillian and Anne arrived timely.

”That's right, that's right. Anne doesn't even know what was Anne fighting for.”

”I agree, Master. No matter what, we have sacrificed our chariot, the poor chariot driver, and our precious time. I think we need to affirm if the thing that we're protecting was worth this much energy and time of ours.”

Grendy and Natasha sulked and didn't know how to respond. However, what Rhode said was reasonable. There must be an explanation for them to put up a fight against undead creatures. Even if the contradiction between the living and the dead was irreconcilable, Rhode wasn't a brainwashed citizen of the Country of Light who would kill any undead creatures whenever he spotted one. After fighting for the whole night and even putting himself on the line, Rhode was definitely curious what triggered Vulture to lead his elite unit in person.

Natasha exchanged glances with Grendy and the latter nodded helplessly. After gaining her companion's agreement, Natasha let out a sigh and she handed over the wooden box that she held tightly in her arms.

Rhode took over the wooden box curiously and opened it.

Then, his expression suddenly changed.