Book 12, The Descent of the Gods – Chapter 19, Controlled

[Note – There was an entire ‘fake’ Chapter 19 that was posted on April Fools (April 1st) 2015. If you are interested, you can read it and the hilarious reader comments here 😉 ]

Linley, Fain, and the Violet-Gold Rat King ‘Harry’ all flew in a straight line. The three experts flew at a very fast pace. Soon, they departed the Forest of Darkness and arrived within the borders of the Baruch Empire.

Linley clearly was rather nervous. He urged, “Harry, fly a bit faster. I’m worried that those two silver-robed men will begin the massacre before we arrive.” Linley was still quite nervous.

An entire city’s worth of people had been slaughtered.

The deaths weren’t even the worst part of it; the worst part was the turmoil and terror it was causing in the hearts of the commoners.

The citizens of an Empire wouldn’t be too terrified by a million people dying in battle, but a hundred thousand people dying in a city for no reason at all was simply too astonishing.

“No rush. It’s fine.” Harry was in no rush at all.

“Harry, just fly a bit faster. I know exactly how fast you are.” Bebe spoke up for Linley.

Harry glanced at Bebe with resignation. “Fine, then.” And then, the Violet-Gold Rat King, Harry, immediately increased his speed dramatically, and Linley and Fain immediately hurried to catch up. The three experts streaked through the night sky like rays of light, flying past one city and town after another.

“Linley, don’t worry. Those two silver-robed men will probably wait until late night before making their move.” Harry said with complete confidence, “Right now, it’s only nine or so at night. There are still many people outside drinking and eating.” Harry said.

Linley was simply too worried about this problem. He hadn’t even had a chance to think it through.

But now, hearing Harry’s words, he thought back to the description of the previous ‘city of the dead’ which Wharton had discussed with him. Virtually all of the dead people in Bluelion City had died in their homes. The number of people who were killed on the streets could be counted on one hand. At what time would a city have almost nobody outside on the streets?

After all, only after midnight would most of the restaurants close.

Linley instantly calmed down.

Fain was puzzled. “Harry, you say they will only make their move late at night? Then previously, didn’t you say that the silver robed men were the ones to attack the Eighteen Northern Duchies? Why did they attack so early in the Eighteen Northern Duchies?”

“Stupid!” Harry laughed loudly in delight. “The Eighteen Northern Duchies are amongst the coldest places in the Yulan continent. It is currently winter, and so there’s a major difference between day and night. The night is deathly cold. In the Eighteen Northern Duchies, at night, if you were to spit out a mouthful of saliva, it would freeze into an ice cube before hitting the ground!”

Linley secretly nodded. He, too, had heard how cold the Eighteen Northern Duchies were.

“In that sort of weather, most of the people of the Eighteen Northern Duchies will stay at home at night, staying next to their furnaces. In particular, those smaller cities will have almost no one out at night to brave the cold. There’s nobody to be seen in the streets.” Harry sighed. “Tell me, is there a need for those silver-robed men to wait until midnight to act in a situation like this?”

Fain now understood.

“Oh, we’re almost there. Just a hundred kilometers away.” Harry said excitedly.

Linley and Fain instantly felt a hint of a murderous intent begin to rise in their hearts.

The ‘dead city’ events in the O’Brien Empire and the Baruch Empire had truly caused both Fain and Linley to be completely enraged. For someone to act so wildly was a sign that they held both Empires in contempt, and also didn’t have any respect for the Saints who stood behind those two Empires.

“Everyone, come to a halt.” Harry said.

Linley and Fain immediately came to a halt. Right now, a few kilometers away, there was a small city in front of them. In mid-air, they could clearly see that the city was filled with lit lamps, and there were many human figures leisurely strolling about the streets. This city was very peaceful.

“Harry, where are those two silver-robed men?” Linley immediately asked.

He didn’t dare to search with his spiritual energy. After all, if he were to use his spiritual energy to search for them, once they noticed it, they would probably flee.

“You can’t tell?” Harry laughed so hard, even his whiskers curved up. “South of you, roughly six kilometers away in that wilderness, those two silver-robed men are currently seated in the meditative posture. Most likely, they will wait until late at night before making their move.”

Linley and Fain immediately turned to look towards the south.

That was a desolate area, filled with wild grass.

Linley and Fain exchanged a glance. From each other’s gazes, they could tell what their decision was. Without hesitating at all...

“Swoosh!”

Those two Prime Saints transformed into blurs, stealthily drawing near that desolate area. As for Bebe, he hopped off of Linley’s shoulders and followed by Harry’s side. He didn’t want to disturb Linley’s attack on those silver-robed men. In addition, Bebe was completely confident in Linley’s abilities.

Linley had even managed to defeat a million Abyssal Blade Demons. How could he possibly fear these silver-robed men?

“Whooooosh.”

The wind blew against the grass and causing it to continuously sway. Within the wild grass, the two silver-robed men were seated in the meditative posture, not moving at all. Even if someone drew near them, unless they paid particular attention to their surroundings, they might think that these two were nothing more than two white rocks.

Suddenly, the two silver-robed men simultaneously opened their eyes and turned to stare at a nearby space with their cold, knife-like gazes.

Knowing that they had been discovered, Linley and Fain, who had been quietly moving closer and closer, didn’t hesitate any longer.

“Kill!” Linley and Fain raised their speed to their utmost levels. From this, one could tell the difference between Fain and Linley. When Fain raised his speed to the maxium level, he transformed into a bolt of lightning that slashed through the air. As for Linley, when he raised his speed to the limit...

He simply transformed into the invisible, formless wind. In the dark night, Linley’s form was no longer visible.

But as soon as the two silver-robed men knew that enemies had come, they had immediately used their spiritual energy to cover the surrounding area, and thus were completely able to sense their opponent’s movements.

“So fast.” The two silver-robed men were both astonished by Linley’s speed. Fain’s speed was already quite terrifying, but Linley’s speed was nearly three times that of Fain’s. In virtually an instant, Linley arrived in front of one of the silver-robed men.

Retreat!

Not hesitating at all, the silver-robed man immediately transformed into a streak of silver light, retreating backwards at a speed comparable to Fain’s.

“Die!” Linley stared at the silver-robed man with an icy gaze. Like a god looking down upon a commoner, he struck out with a simple blow from his blade, and a visible, faint-blue Dimensional Decapitator appeared. Where the Dimensional Decapitator attack passed, space itself immediately began to crack and split apart.

He left no openings at all.

The Dimensional Decapitator directly chopped the silver-robed man into two halves.

“Hrmph!” With a sweep of his hand, Linley caused countless, extremely sharp wind knives to appear, chopping the silver-robed man’s head into a muddy pile of flesh and destroying his soul.

In an instant, he had slain his foe!

“Bang!” From not too far away, a terrifying collision sound could be heard. Fain and the second silver-robed man flew away from each other, and a terrifying wave of energy blasted in every direction. Much of the surrounding grass was chopped through as though cut by sharp knives, flying away in a neat circle.

Linley frowned. “Swoosh!” Moving like the wind, he quickly arrived near the silver-robed man.

The silver-robed man wanted to flee, but his speed was simply far too slow compared to Linley’s. Linley’s right leg, moving like a gust of wind, carrying enormous power, smashed viciously against his back, instantly sending the silver-robed man flying away.

Flying towards Fain’s direction.

Naturally, Fain would seize this opportunity!

Moving at his highest speed, he arrived next to the silver-robed man. The badly injured silver-robed man, with an angry roar, sent a fist smashing towards Fain’s chest, but Fain completely ignored the attack, using his own palm to smash directly down towards the skull of the silver-robed man.

“Bang!” A tremendous crunching sound.

The silver-robed man’s punch caved in Fain’s chest, but despite that, the silver-robed man’s body still fell down from the air, powerless. As for Fain, due to his possession of a Pearl of Life, his caved in chest almost instantly repaired itself to normal.

Linley and Fain drew near each other.

“Linley, you are growing more and more powerful.” Fain sighed in amazement. “If it wasn’t for you, I would probably have had to use up my spiritual energy and utilize my ultimate attack.”

Linley laughed. “Fain, let’s go take a look and see who they are. They are covering up their entire bodies with these silver robes.”

“Right.” Fain wanted to see what the silver-robed men really were as well.

The silver-robed man which Linley had killed had his head utterly shattered, and his body had been chopped in half as well. Linley and Fain landed near one of the chopped halves, then pulled aside the long silver robe which covered that half body. When they did so, both their faces changed.

That half a body was covered with dense white scales, like a fish.

“Not human.” The two were utterly certain of this.

Not hesitating at all, Linley and Fain walked over to the silver-robed man which Fain had killed, pulling aside the silver robe which covered his body. This silver-robed man’s skin was a metallic color, but just judging from his features, he seemed very similar to a human.

“Also not a human.” Linley and Fain were both all the more certain now of their hypothesis.

Whether it was the hidden Deity or the servants of that Deity, all of these people were from other planes.

“Haha, Linley, your power has improved quite a bit.” Harry and Bebe, who had been hidden far away, flew over now. Harry was chortling. “However, I have to tell you two things. One is good news. The other is bad news.”

Linley and Fain both felt their hearts tremble.

Bad news?

“Tell me, which one should I say first?” Harry looked as evil as a little devil.

“The bad news first.” Linley and Fain both said.

“You two are quite well coordinated.” Harry nodded his little head. “Then I’ll tell you. In the past, when I told you that the Deity wouldn’t know that you were the ones to kill the silver-robed men, that was a lie! That Deity definitely knows that you were the killers.”

Linley and Fain’s faces instantly turned ugly to behold.

Both Fain and Linley, although being powerful amongst Saints, would be easily trampled upon by any Deities.

“Harry, you...” Linley truly had no idea what he should say.

“How does that feel? Are you pissed off? Haha, if I didn’t say what I said, would you two have dared to kill the two silver-robed men?” Harry clearly seemed very delighted with himself.

“Harry.” Bebe was now unhappy as well.

Harry hurriedly said, “But there’s still the good news, right?”

Linley and Fain immediately looked at Harry.

“Earlier, when I said that the Deity had been badly wounded and was also busy with an important task, and that he wouldn’t seek the two of you for revenge...that was true. Tell me, isn’t that good news?” Harry carefully watched the expressions on Linley and Fain’s faces.

Linley and Fain truly didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

“Harry, you said that the Deity is currently busy with an important task. Then...after he is finished with the task, wouldn’t he have enough time to seek us out for revenge? How long do you think he will be busy for?” Linley asked.

Harry paused for a moment. “That’s hard to say. I expect he’ll need three or four years.”

“I hope it’s four years later.” The reason Fain was saying this was because nearly six years had passed since the War God and the others had gone to the Necropolis of the Gods for their ten year trip. In a little over four years, the War God, the High Priest, and the others would return.

Linley secretly let out a sigh of relief as well.

At least...in three or four years, he should definitely have become a Deity himself.

“But of course, that’s just my guess.” Harry added those extra words. Seeing the hopeful look on the faces of Linley and Fain, he immediately began to grin so widely that his little eyes turned into merry little slits.

Within that dark, gloomy underground room.

The skeletal figure remained seated in the meditative posture, and that crystal globe still hovered in front of him, with the fog-like energy swirling within it. Only...it seemed as though there were a few more silver drops that had coalesced within the fog, compared to before.

“Two more died?”

The skeletal old man’s eyes flickered with that devouring green light. “The two of them?” In the mind of the skeletal figure, the images of Linley and Fain appeared.

As a Grand Warlock, he was spiritually controlling those nine silver-robed men. In the moments before their deaths, those two silver-robed men had already seen Linley and Fain’s appearances, and had immediately transmitted that knowledge to the Grand Warlock’s mind. Although the Grand Warlock had never personally seen Linley and Fain...

Others had!

“Yale, have you seen these two before?” The skeletal old man directly transferred the images of those two to Yale’s mind.

Yale, who had been in the middle of a nap, suddenly opened his eyes.

“Grand Warlock, the one with long brown hair is Linley. He is a good friend of mine. The other one, the one with short blue hair, I once met at Third Bro’s place. He is the eldest disciple of the War God’s College, Fain.” Yale’s voice also directly entered the Grand Warlock’s consciousness.