965 Close Call 1

There was an oppressive flock of black flying birds in the sky, with eagles, gulls, and even tiny sparrows, or strange-looking colorful birds. There were countless translucent strings connected to the bottom of the birds, and these strings were all connected to a huge, enormous shadow at the very bottom.

It was a giant oval-shaped platform, like a silver moving castle made of silver. It even had some things that looked like chimneys sticking out, constantly spewing black smoke.

Garen and the other two rode on the Big Wild Wolves, looking at the huge moving castle platform in the sky ahead of them. They were all kind of stunned, and completely at a loss for words to describe that big guy, which was at least several thousand meters large.

"Just those few birds would actually be able to move such a big thing?" Sinno murmured, she could not believe that merely several thousand birds would be able to tow such a terrifying castle. It had to be at least several thousand tons, and it was made of metal to boot.

"It probably has an anti-gravity device, the birds might just be there to lead the way," said Sixth in a deep voice, it was also his first time seeing the Energy Machinist's Secret Region. He glanced at Garen, and noticed that the key-like item in front of his chest was glowing slightly. That was the logo of the Energy Machinists, without that thing, they would not be able to see that large thing even if they were even closer by. The whole Secret Region only showed itself automatically when Energy Machinists approached, or rather, it was always in an invisible state to start with. Only those who were shielded by the force field of the Energy Machinists' key deserved to see that huge castle.

"I know we can already see it, but in truth it's quite far away. That's because the Region itself is too huge, and the weather is good today, without any fog or clouds, that's the only reason we can see the whole thing clearly. Alright, let's continue on our way, it should still be about an hour away," said Garen softly.

The other two nodded, and the three of them rested slightly, towed by the Big Wild Wolves, before they continued to rush towards the gigantic flying castle.

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"Damn it!! You sure run fast!"

Barroom!

There was a huge sound accompanied by an explosion of red light, and a dark blue humanoid Mech holding twin swords slashed at a decently-sized hill in front of it, as though venting its anger. The red light and energy virtual attack shattered the hill into pieces, earth and grass flying everywhere. But before the spray could get too far, it was rapidly melted by the black smoke, turning into ash and vanishing.

"Lord Fourth, according to the test results, they probably did not get far. The Sixth, Masanra, was grievously injured, and he would surely be unable to move unassisted, so someone must be helping him! Not only did they rescue him from the battlefield afterward, they should still be taking him away from the area through the night, wandering around everywhere," a soft voice said from one of the two slightly paler blue humanoid Mechs standing behind the Fourth Wind General, it was the one on the left.

"What do you suggest? Sixth has the Willpower barrier that can prevent tracking, Illusory Light. Even in the whole Blackboard Region, his Illusory Light is among the best skills to block Willpower. Even I can't track him," Fourth asked with a cold snort.

"It can block Willpower waves, but it won't be so easy to block other signals," said that subordinate darkly.

"Aura and Biological Radiation don't work well in the radiation belt," said Fourth coldly. "Lingering Willpower will also be blocked off by the barrier."

"Not those usual ways, I mean… deduce it using the highest possibility." The subordinate chuckled. "My lord, think about it, the Flying Predators will be coming any time now, and at this point, even we have to retreat into the regions to defend ourselves. And there are so few of them, so if they want to survive, they only two possible choices."

Fourth's eyes instantly lit up.

"You're right, I've been relying on technology too much, I forgot that even basic deductions could lead us to clues. Not bad, you!"

Fourth nodded, his tone becoming considerably more gentle.

"If they want to avoid the Flying Predators, one option for them is to find a place and hide themselves completely, hiding their scents and falling into deep hibernation, so that they would have a certain chance of avoiding the Predators. And the other option, would be to hide in a secret area that's even safer."

"As expected of my wise lord!"

Fourth laughed coldly.

"And now we have people guarding all the large regions, plus they're too far from here. They're in a rush, so they would not possibly choose somewhere too far away, it has to be somewhere nearby. And there are just two safe spots around here, both belonging to the Underground Rebel Army."

"The Underground Rebel Army's secret spots have already been closed down completely," said the other subordinate softly.

"Oh? Are you sure?" Fourth looked at his other trusted aide.

"Certain!" replied the man steadily.

"Then this might be slightly troublesome…" Fourth touched his chin in the cockpit, deep in thought.

"My lord… There might be one more thing that you seemed to have forgotten," the subordinate who had spoken first said again, a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Oh? Do you mean…" Fourth paused slightly. "The Energy Machinists' Moving Castle? Could the person he rescued him be an Energy Machinist? Is it really such a coincidence? Energy Machinists are few and far between, at such a critical moment…"

"According to our observations, there weren't any footprints or similar trails left behind, but we found many marks that looked like they came from a pack of wolves. Evidently, there might be surviving groups of some wolf-like creature around here. If the opponent is an Energy Machinist, they always have had many tricks up their sleeves. It would not be impossible for them to temporarily tame a few Wild Wolves to help them escape using chips. After all, these Wild Wolves are no more than Level One creatures at best," said the man with extraordinary confidence. "Besides, according to my observations just now, among the wolf tracks, three of them were headed straight for the general direction of the Moving Castle, without any hesitation. This, together with your general sense of direction from before, sir…"

"Let's go! No matter how unlikely it could be, let's go to the Moving Castle!" Fourth humphed coldly. The Mech leapt from the ground, blue flames shooting from its back, making the cape on the Divine Wind General's shoulder flap in the wind. He flew like the wind towards the direction Garen and the others had run in.

The other two followed closely, leaving only the debris and chaos as a result of his venting behind.

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The Moving Castle moved slowly. From afar, one could only see how slowly it was floating, and as they grew closer, the details of the Moving Castle began to gradually appear in front of the three of them.

Silver-white walls, complicated carvings that looked like electric circuits, blue electricity pulsing through it, and the occasionally buzzing vibration.

As they got closer, underneath the huge Moving Castle, there was a projection of a translucent, illusory green pillar of light. The pillar of light was like an empty cylindrical pillar, as though a green stick had descended down from the underbelly of the Castle and embedded itself into the ground, becoming the connecting apparatus for others to enter the Castle.

When Garen and the others were about to arrive, even from a distance, they could see at least several dozen people, some with more followers than others, lining up to enter the Moving Castle.

There was a large clock counting down on the green light pillar, indicating that there were only 32 minutes left, and the number kept decreasing.

The people lining up all wore different clothes, but they all had one thing in common, which was they all had an Energy Machinist key, either in their hands or hanging conspicuously somewhere on their bodies. They all had at least a few followers standing next to them, most of the followers were dressed neatly, and many of them had outstanding appearances or body figures. The male Energy Machinists were mostly surrounded by extreme beauties, and the female Energy Machinists had beautiful or handsome men standing around them. But the thing that surprised Garen the most was that these followers mostly had strangely dazed gazes, giving off a feeling of dispirited despair. They even wore black dog-like collars around their necks.

Garen's arrival was not eye-catching at all, two more Energy Machinists had arrived at the same time, also rising a panther and a lion respectively. Jumping off the Wild Wolf, Garen lined up at the very end of the line, slowly waiting for his turn to enter.

The person in front of him was a fatty, who was currently lowering his head to play what looked like a high difficulty counting game on the small game console in his hand. Two other thin and tall people lined up behind Garen's group, their eyes dark. They each wore a red bangle, one on the left hand and the other on the right, and it seemed like they were brothers.

The wind grew stronger, time passed slowly, and people entered the pillar underneath the Moving Castle one by one. After each one entered, there was a short waiting period, presumably for registration and verification of some information. It was not going very fast.

It was also Garen's first time seeing other Energy Machinists in the real world, and as he observed the others, he found that most Energy Machinists dressed completely differently, and there was no rhyme or reason to them.

The fatty in front of him looked like a rich merchant, all meaty like that. He seemed to have noticed that Garen was watching him as well, and turned around to give Garen a friendly smile. His followers were two extremely seductive and beautiful young ladies, even if they wore long white robes, Garen could still vaguely see their sexy bodies and beautiful faces.

And the two brothers behind had their arms crossed in front of their chests, closing their eyes and resting, acting arrogantly as though ignoring everyone. They did indeed have the right to be arrogant, their Willpower forces seemed to be Level Four, the panther and the lion they were riding were both half-machinized elite units, which meant that they were evidently rich enough to own an experimental platform. Only by owning the other necessity besides the Biochemical Pool, the experimental platform, would they be able to properly modify a cannon fodder creature in depth, so that it would not disappear immediately. Other than lasting longer, its fighting power and other abilities would also be greatly increased.

The two of them also noticed that Garen was watching them, and the one that seemed to be the older brother opened his eyes coldly. He glanced at Garen, and then his gaze instantly locked on the Sixth Divine Wind General, who was lying on the wolf's back. A hint of wariness flashed past his eyes.

"Hmph!" With a cold harumph, he closed his eyes again and ignored them. Evidently, the Sixth Divine Wind General's Willpower forces made him exceedingly wary.

Garen knew that his own Willpower was too weak, so he would be noticed if he stared, so his eyes stopped wandering. He just stood quietly in line, waiting his turn.

Time passed slowly, and soon two more Energy Machinists joined the line. No one said anything, they were all here to leave their followers, those without followers could have left a long time ago.

"You have to fulfill your promise!" Suddenly, a cold woman's voice came from the back of the line.

There was a young girl with one of the newly-arrived Energy Machinists, she had pitch-black skin that looked just like coal, and her body was unnaturally seductive and sexy. Even so, she was not the type that Energy Machinists here would go for. It was practically a miracle that the Energy Machinist took her in as a follower.

The Energy Machinist had a tiny black goatee, a bit like a middle-aged academic scholar from the ancient Hua-Xia dynasties, his aura calm and collected.

"Do not worry, I will naturally keep my word," he replied to the girl's question calmly, his expression unchanging.

The girl hmphed coldly, as though disbelieving, but she had no choice but to let it slide.

The Energy Machinist who looked like a middle-aged scholar also only had Level Three Willpower, like Garen. And he did not have any cannon fodder creatures with him either, having apparently arrived here through other means.