Chapter 454: Phantom Demon

The train carriage moved forward rapidly.

Judging from its speed, it became clear that its level of technology was not low. No bumps could be felt during their journey.

Roddy’s face was still very pale. After gulping down a bottle of medicine purchased from the Exchange System, he sat down in the back and slowly regained his breath. Qiao Qiao sat in the seat before his and turned around to check up on him.

“Are you all right?”

“I am ok.” Roddy grimaced. “I remember you giving me a kick at the end. You kicked my head, are you not afraid of turning me into an idiot?”

Qiao Qiao could not stop herself from breaking into a smile.

Lun Tai was seated on the other side. He pulled out a roll of bandages and carefully wrapped them over his wrist, one layer after another.

“What are you doing?”

“Preparing.” There was a frown on Lun Tai’s face as he continued, “Haven’t you considered it? The final quest of this instance dungeon is some demonic magic array… since there is something like that; I fear that some firearms will be restricted in the last moments. So, we may have to resort to using cold weapons in our fights.”

He lowered his head and looked at his bandaged hand. “With this, our grip on weapons will be better.”

“… … good thinking.” Roddy’s eye lit up. However, a look of disappointment soon appeared on his face. “But if that is the case, if firearms end up being restricted, my Mech will probably face restriction as well.”

“We all need to stay alert. Right now, we are the only team in the Demon Faction. When the time comes… …. I fear it will be a bloody battle.”

After those words left Lun Tai’s mouth, the atmosphere within the train carriage turned silent.

Everyone’s heart felt heavy.

After a while, Xia Xiaolei spoke up in a whisper, “I wonder how Guild Leader is doing right now.”

They exchanged glances and Roddy quickly replied, “I think he should be rushing to meet up with us right now.”

“But none of us can contact him.”

“He will figure out a way.” There was a confident look on Roddy‘s face. “He always does.”

Lun Tai looked at them all. Clearly, everyone was feeling rather dispirited. If this continued, their morale will be affected. Thus, Lun Tai shouted, “Enough. Now is not the time to be worrying about what ifs. How long before we reach Tel Aviv?”

“Around…” Roddy calculated for a moment and said, “In around 10 minutes. This carriage is very fast. Considering the distance between Stonecutter’s Mountain and Tel Aviv, it should take no more than 10 minutes.”

Suddenly, the train carriage gave a gentle shook.

Everyone inside the train carriage could feel it… … the carriage was slowing down.

After a few seconds…

“What happened?”

“It seems… … the carriage has stopped.” Qiao Qiao stood up. She moved over and grabbed hold of Soo Soo’s hand before turning to look outside.

She saw darkness outside the window. They were inside an underground tunnel.

Roddy jumped up and ran to the control panel of the train carriage. After examining it for a moment, he turned around to face the others. “Good news and bad news. The good news is… this carriage did not break down. There was no mechanical failure.”

“Why is it not moving?” asked Xia Xiaolei.

Roddy smiled bitterly. “The bad news is… … it has run out of power.”

“No power?” Lun Tai stood up. He first looked outside the window before turning to face Roddy. “Is there no way around it?”

“It is not a mechanical failure. If it is, I can fix it. But this is a case of power outage… … I have no ability to turn myself into a generator.” Roddy shrugged.

Lun Tai pondered about it for a moment. “Ten more minutes, right? This carriage’s movement speed is around 100 kilometres per hour, so the distance between our present position and Tel Aviv is no more than 20 kilometres.”

“To be more accurate, it is 17 kilometres.” Roddy nodded.

“Then let us get off and move on foot.” Lun Tai sighed.

…

“Route calculation complete.”

A tank was quickly moving along a highway. Inside the tank, a red coloured route appeared on the map on the surface of the dashboard.

Several Awakened ones in military gear sat inside. One of them had a leather eye pad over his left eye and a savage face. “Found anything yet?”

In the seat before the dashboard was a youngster whose messy hair resembled that of a chicken. His fingers flew across the surface of the controls. “Yes … …. I suspect they are not above ground. Earlier, when the radar revealed their positions, they were moving along a certain route. However, according to the map that I have, the route they are using does not fit any available highway.

“Also, judging by the speed they were going, I ruled out the possibility of them being in an aircraft. It must be a land-based vehicle. Since they are not above ground… … they must be underground! In other words, they must be riding a subway or something along those lines.”

“Can you find it?”

“No problem, boss!” There was a prideful expression on the youngster’s face. “I am a mechanical genius! Our tank is hot on their trail and we are very close to them! Our speed is almost the same as theirs, however… … I still need another minute.”

Having said that, the youngster slammed down heavily on a button on the control panel.

Two drones quickly flew out from both sides of the tank. With a buzzing sound, the two drones sped into the wilderness.

The eyes of the youngster inside the tank shone as he focused. “Underground layer scanning has begun. By calculating the route they were using earlier, we can scan the area… I say, boss, can we get more of this underground scanning device? This thing is very useful.”

“Enough. Our resources are limited. However… … if you are able to accomplish this time’s task properly, I will consider purchasing one more for you.”

“No problem, leave it to me!” The youngster laughed. Half a minute later, he laughed out gleefully. “Got it!”

The results of the scan appeared on the screen.

“After scanning the area according to the route taken by the other party… … the underground scanning device found metal constructs somewhere around 15 metres below ground…. ha ha, there is indeed an underground passageway!”

“They are hiding underground? Where did this underground passageway come from…” The one-eyed fellow grumbled.

He turned around to look at his other companions inside the tank. His gaze fell upon a thin fellow. “What about you? Do you have any way to catch them?”

“Leave it to me.” The thin man swivelled his eyes upward and a mad look overcame his face.

…

“Keep up.” Lun Tai, who was in the lead, kept turning around to encourage the others.

In his hand was a tactical flashlight.

Only the light from the tactical flashlight could be seen within the darkness of the underground tunnel

They had put a distance of a thousand plus metres between them and the train carriage that stopped down due to insufficient power earlier.

The underground tunnel appeared very safe. However, Lun Tai continued feeling uneasy.

Although the system had prohibited participants from killing each other… after Qiao Qiao finished off the Demon King’s Feather, the quest had changed. Lun Tai felt that things were not that simple… … it was possible that a more complicated situation would arise.

As the only team in the Demon Faction… … they will have to go against the whole world.

An animal like instinct drove Lun Tai and a faint voice spoke out: We cannot stay in place! We need to move quickly and run!

…

They had kept the tank back. The one-eyed man, the youngster, the thin man and their other companion who had remained silent now wore strange looking flight-capable equipment on them as they flew over the wilderness in a line.

Even as they were flying at high speed, the youngster held onto a tablet like device in his hands. The map of the underground tunnel appeared on the surface of the tablet.

Soon, the thin fellow, who was at the rear position, broke off from the team. There was also a tablet in his hand…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After emitting a series of sounds, the flying equipment he wore ejected out a clump of metal bullets. The metal bullets shot down the air and struck the ground beneath.

Each of the metal bullets was less than five centimetres in diameter. After falling onto the ground, the sharp tips of every metal bullet that was facing down suddenly transformed. They transformed into a spiral shape and every one of the metal bullets drilled down.

“Found you, little mice!” The thin fellow grinned and cackled.

A loud rumbling suddenly rang out from underground.

Dust rose up to the sky and a circular hole appeared in the ground surface of the wilderness.

“There it is! Let us head in!”

…

BOOM!

The tremors inside the underground tunnel were huge.

Everyone could feel the tremors rocking the underground tunnel. Will, who did not have a stable footing, nearly fell headfirst onto the ground. Thankfully, Xia Xiaolei, who was beside him, acted quickly and grabbed him, sparing his nose a painful encounter with the iron track.

“What happened?”

“Earthquake?”

Hearing the exclamations of shock from his teammates, Lun Tai went down, placing his ears on the ground. Roddy and Qiao Qiao quickly made their way to the walls of the tunnel. Roddy placed his ear on the surface of the wall while Qiao Qiao embraced Soo Soo.

“An explosion went off behind us.” Lun Tai stood up and looked at Roddy, who nodded in response. “I came to the same conclusion. Something must have happened to the tunnel and it is likely an explosion, not an earthquake. If that was an earthquake… … the tremors would not have been so small. Additionally, if that was an earthquake, the tunnel would become twisted.”

Lun Tai’s heart sank. He turned his head back…

…

At a certain location behind them, an opening had been made on the ceiling of the underground tunnel.

The metal bullets had drilled their way into the tunnel and they were now littered across the walls and dirt. Suddenly, fine shaped metal bodies emerged from the metal bullets and they crawled out from the ground and walls, like insects.

Four flying equipment descended through the opening above.

The one-eyed man landed, pressed a button and the flying equipment transformed. It quickly fell off and folded together until it was only a metal cube the size of a palm. The one-eyed man then kept it back into his Storage Watch.

The others did the same thing.

If Roddy and the others were around, they would be shocked… each of these four nameless fellows actually possessed their own Storage Watch.

“Bugs, send your little things to do work. We need to find those fellows as fast as we can! The other Awakened ones will be coming over quickly. I don’t want to have to compete with others for a dish that is already so close to my mouth,” said the one-eyed man.

The thin man chuckled and stretched out a hand. One of the metal insects crawled up his palm. Next, two tentacles sprouted out from the top of his body. They swung around like antennas for a bit…

“Found them. They are right in front of us.” The thin man gave a sinister laugh and pointed to the front. “I detected life signs two kilometres from our position.”

Hearing that, the one-eyed man licked his lips. “What are we waiting for? Let us move out! kiddo, prepare the Combat Fortresses!”

The youngster chuckled. “Charging is long complete. It is ready to be deployed at any moment, boss!”

The other fellow, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly waved with his hand. Whimpering sounds came from his mouth.

Surprisingly, he was a mute.

“Tongueless, you mean… combat strategy?” One-eye seemingly understood what Tongueless was saying.

“I think this is a good idea. We will need someone to be a decoy. This decoy will be responsible for feints and lure them in. Then, we will ambush them from the side!”

“All right. Tongueless, we will be making use of your ability.” Clearly, this One-eye was someone willing to listen to advice. He quickly nodded to affirm the proposal.

Tongueless smiled. He moved to the wall and placed both hands on the surface of the wall. Next, his body quickly slipped into the wall.

“Let us move! Tongueless’ skill has a duration limit. We will be running after them from behind while Tongueless attacks them from the side!” One-eye shouted.

…

Chen Xiaolian jumped out of the stopped train carriage.

Just now, he too had felt the tremors inside the underground tunnel.

Crouching down, he felt the track on the ground.

Without Roddy’s mechanical type of skill, Chen Xiaolian had no way of figuring out what was wrong with his train carriage… even so, it would not have made a difference. He would not be able to repair it.

Thankfully, he had other items inside his Storage Watch.

He retrieved the fiery red coloured motorcycle from his Storage Watch and jumped on it. The motorcycle engine roared out within the underground tunnel and the motorcycle sped forward…

…

“A tear drop, turning back halfway, I can only fight, fi~ght… sky-filled stars, after their descent, I beg them to stay, st~ay… that degree, cannot retain it, the love has frozen, fro~zen… oh my heart, can share all with you, as one till the end, the end…”

Shen had his hands inside his pockets as he slowly made his way along the highway – surprisingly, he was heading back to Jerusalem.

His mouth was casually humming to an indistinct song.

In the evening, the winds were cool and the stars alluringly beautiful. There was a languid expression on Shen’s face.

Then, a lazy sounding voice sighed out in the darkness of the evening.

“I can’t help but say this, your singing is shitty. If those girls who swoon over you can hear you right now, they will be disillusioned.”

Shen suddenly halted, the look of laziness on his face suddenly faded.

His sapphire like eyes looked around before fixing upon a certain spot. Then, his expression grew relaxed.

“How lively. To think you would run over for a mere [B] class instance dungeon.” A near indistinguishable smile appeared on Shen’s face. With a provocative voice, he said, “Aren’t you always lazy?”

After a pause, Shen shook his head and continued, “You have said that my singing is bad before. Don’t you have anything new to say?”

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

While the figure was not too tall, he was outstanding with an elegant stature. The faint illumination afforded by the stars revealed his red coloured hair, which fluttered lightly in the evening wind.

“Oh? You want a new one? Let me think.” The figure continued talking in a lazy tone. “All right, then I will change it to… once you open your mouth, wolves within a 10 li radius will rush over in cars. Are you convinced now?”

Shen lowered his head and thought about it. “That is too harsh. It does not suit your aristocratic status.”

“There is nothing I can do about it. You are requesting too much.” The red-haired fellow walked into view and spread out both his hands. At that moment, his face was revealed. It was very pale and his facial features were handsome. A breath-taking glimmer lurked within his eyes.

“I am surprised to see you here.” Shen looked into the other fellow’s eyes. “Why did you come? I recall the last time I met you was at the Napoleon instance dungeon. You nearly burned down the entire palace.”

“How would I know? You were the one who gave me the torch.” The young looking red-haired man smiled.

Shen laughed in response. The sound of his laughter was carried far away by the night air…

After laughing for a while, Shen narrowed his eyes. “All right, enough with the nonsense. Why did you come here?”

“Simple, I heard that there is a branch quest related to a Demon King.” An amused look could be seen on the red-haired youngster’s face. “A Demon King. You know I have always been interested in those types of things.”

Shen… rolled his eyes.

“Is your interest sated now?”

“Sated. Just now, I had gone to the ruins along the road to have a look. Man, that slime is really disgusting. The Demon King has no sense of aesthetics at all.” The red-haired youngster seemed somewhat disappointed.

After pondering for a moment, Shen’s expression became serious. “I am not going to joke around here. These next words of mine are very serious.”

“What?”

“Leave this instance dungeon now, ASAP,” Shen said with a cold tone.

“What is that supposed to mean? The whole area? You want to mark your territory in front of me? You think this whole instance dungeon is yours?”

“Whatever you think.” Shen shook his head. “At any rate, don’t appear in this instance dungeon. Just hurry up and leave. Consider this… consider this a request of mine.”

“In the name of friendship?”

Shen pondered those words. Then, his tone became very serious. “Fine, consider this a request in the name of friendship.”

Hearing that, the red-haired youngster became slightly shocked. “Oh, my God. It seems this instance dungeon is very important to you.” His pair of eyes narrowed and he continued, “Shen, are you sure? In the name of friendship? According to our agreement, each of us can only use it three times.”

“No need for you to remind me, I know that. I also know that you had used up all three of yours.”

There was an abashed look on the red-haired youngster’s face as he smiled. “Because I am lazy. Sometimes, I just don’t feel like fighting you. Since there is a more convenient to force you off, why shouldn’t I use it?”

“Enough nonsense. Are you leaving?”

“… I will leave then.” The red-haired youngster waved his hand. “At any rate, my curiosity is already sated. Well, I am feeling very disappointed though.”

Seeing that the red-haired youngster was about to retreat into the darkness, Shen suddenly opened his mouth. “I have a question for you. I need you to answer me truthfully.”

“Mm?”

“The reason you came to this instance dungeon, is it solely due to your curiosity for the Demon King’s branch quest? Are there any other reasons?”

A very shrewd smile appeared on the red-haired youngster’s face. “You want me to tell you the truth?”

“Yes.”

“In the name of friendship?”

“In…” Shen halted his mouth and glared at the other fellow. He smiled wryly and said, “Of course not! You are too shrewd. I will not waste something as useful as that! Are you going to answer this question?”

The red-haired youngster suddenly revealed a serious expression as well. “If so, I refuse to answer!”

After saying that, his figure retreated into the darkness and disappeared.

Shen sighed and muttered to no one in particular. “Interested in the Demon King? What a joke. When it comes to demons, who can be more demonic than you? Humph!”

Then, he shouted, “The one called Rudolph is a bastard!”

A reply rang out from the dark air, “The one called Augustine is an idiot.”

“Aha! You liar! You haven’t left!”

“Aha! I knew you would curse me behind my back! Fine, fine, I’m leaving now.”

…