Chapter 180: A Strong Foe Reappears

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“It looks like… I won’t be learning Raphael’s magic anytime soon.” Cessacioun sighed as he looked toward the hilltop.

“Who would’ve thought he could be so patient.” Yalina nodded in agreement.

Twenty days had passed, and Han Jin had stayed on top of the hill for the entire time. He looked as if he were meditating and didn’t even eat or drink. At first, everyone was worried that Han Jin would fall ill from not eating, but stopped once they realized his complexion looked even better than before.

Cessacioun thought it was just part of the massive magic matrix Han Jin set up. Even though they had to admit the matrix was unimaginably strong, it was also extremely costly! They knew full well they couldn’t meditate for twenty days straight. Twenty days! It was absolute madness. No meditation ever lasted past a dozen hours, and even a superior-grade grand magus couldn’t meditate for several days and nights! As for Han Jin… he was just a mysterious case.

Yalina and Cessacioun both shuddered at the thought of sitting still for twenty days. It was basically like prison, and the only possible difference was that it was more painful; at least prisoners had some free time.

Like the saying goes, differences in professions were like mountains. It was impossible for Yalina and Cessacioun to know that cultivators often entered a state where they ignored everything around them to cultivate in seclusion, sometimes for decades at a time. For an ordinary human, sitting still for decades was unimaginably dull and painful, but for a cultivator, it was merely having an enlightenment in a period of time which they perceived to be only as long as a finger snap.

They just weren’t Han Jin, so of course wouldn’t understand how he felt.

The only thing Han Jin had lacked before was energy, because he had firmly established his Heart in Dao* already. However, Han Jin had progressed surprisingly fast in the past year or so, especially after he had reached the one Xuan milestone. At this point, the difference between his Heart in Dao and his energy was becoming less and less obvious. For example, if one’s Heart in Dao was the bucket, then the energy was the water. Before, Han Jin had a massive bucket, so he could simply pour water into it without worrying about much else. But now, the bucket was more than half full, which meant he must increase the volume of his bucket.

And the twenty days of seclusive cultivation had enlightened Han Jin quite a lot. Since the start of his cultivation, he had only had one opportunity to arrange a large scale matrix, and at that time, his master had been beside him to give him pointers and assistance. But this time, Han Jin had learned a lot from arranging a matrix of this size by himself!

“He should be fine, right?” Sunier asked in a light voice.

“He should be.” Cessacioun smiled. “Just look at his complexion. He’s looking better and better, even…”

Suddenly, the entire Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix fell into a deathly silence. The eight guts’s expressions all turned ugly, while the stars, like Asa, appeared flustered, because a group of 200 or so mercenaries had walked into the matrix five kilometers away.

An enormous holy animal walked in front: the Abyssal Ghost Snake! In reality, a holy animal as big as the Abyssal Ghost Snake wasn’t suited for moving around in the forest. As the Abyssal Ghost Snake walked, the ancient trees which surrounded it were pushed left and right, while some fell altogether, causing a big scene. Maybe because they were worried about giving away their plan, but the Abyssal Ghost Snake stopped two kilometers after entering the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix.

Three people sat on the Abyssal Ghost Snake’s back. One of them was a young man wearing a black magician’s robe, about 25 or 26 years old. Clearly, he was the leader of the Abyss Mercenary Team, Manteco! Last time, the battle had occurred at night, so no one had seen his face clearly. But now, inside the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix, everyone could see him clearly! Manteco wasn’t particularly tall or short, and appeared slightly chubby. He held nothing in his hands. He had a pair of sharp brows, a straight nose, and thin lips. He should look like a handsome man, but unfortunately, his eyes ruined the whole look.

The shape of his eyes were sharp like a triangle, and his pupils were extremely small. They emitted a fierce light like some holy animals did, and overall, made him appear extremely ruthless.

The girl in the red magician’s robe should be Eva. Her body and face looked commendable, but she also had eyes which were similar to Manteco’s. Even though her pupils were much larger, it did little to change her overall look.

The thing which shocked Yalina and the rest the most was the third person on the Abyssal Ghost Snake! To be precise, it was an elf, Edwina! She was wrapped tightly like a zongzi1, lying down quietly with tightly shut eyes. They couldn’t tell if she was conscious or not.

Gibran took a deep breath while his brain furiously worked. Sometimes the world was cruel; if it were Julia who had been captured, he would have recklessly charged at them to rescue her. But it was Edwina who had gotten captured, which meant he could keep his calm, despite the fact that Julia and Edwina were sisters.

“Julia, did you attack during Manteco’s last attack?” Gibran asked in a solemn voice.

Julia’s face turned pale, then she slowly nodded. She squeezed the longbow in her hand so hard it creaked.

The eight guts, including Moxinke, were all intelligent people. After Gibran pointed out their crucial mistake, everyone realized what had happened.

During Manteco’s attack, Julia had used Treefolk Arrow, her signature move, which meant Manteco knew the Red Vanguards had decided who their allies were. But Edwina had returned to Isolated Cliff City before the attack and knew nothing about what had happened in the forest. When Manteco ran into Edwina in the city, he had naturally thought to take advantage of that.

Since the high ranking mercenary teams and corps of Isolated Cliff City all knew each other, it was normal for them to exchange greetings or some friendly chatter whenever they ran into a familiar face; no one would want to offend another high ranking mercenary so easily. It was inevitable for Edwina to fall into the trap since she was both alone and unaware of Manteco’s intentions.

It wasn’t Edwina’s fault for being careless, and it wasn’t Julia’s fault for rashly attacking. The whole thing was just a series of unfortunate coincidences!

“What should we do?” Sunier asked anxiously.

“We wait.” Gibran unconsciously looked toward the top of the hill. Manteco’s background and his true power had always been a mystery, and Gibran wasn’t absolutely sure he could rescue the hostage from Manteco. He wasn’t waiting for Manteco to slip up and give them a free opportunity, but for Han Jin to make a move.

Manteco didn’t know his every action was being watched, and ordered the dozen thieves under his command to go invisible and advance up the hill. The Abyssal Ghost Snake, on the other hand, slowly lowered itself toward the ground. A few magicians and warriors jumped onto its back and stood around Manteco and Eva. They appeared to be the leaders within the team.

Manteco said something, and the mercenaries started to inspect their weapons. Clearly, they were preparing for a battle. Manteco’s expression was solemn, while everyone else looked like they were placing a great emphasis on this move. The warriors wiped and sharpened their weapons, the archers stringed their bows, and the magicians checked on their wands. Everything went on in an orderly fashion.

Eva took out about thirty magic scrolls from her space ring. The sheer amount of tactical resources she had come with, surprised Yalina and everyone else. Magic scrolls were concentrated magic power, and because they saved time for incantations, they played a vital role during battles. But not every magician could produce magic scrolls, and its cost was often prohibitive.

All magic scrolls required high quality magic crystals, which directly affected their lifespans. After all, no one wanted to spend a massive amount of money on a magic scroll, only to find the magic scroll had become trash after years of an elemental power leak. On top of that, magic scrolls required an astonishing amount of magic power to create. Under normal circumstances, the amount of magic power it took to create a single magic scroll for Lightning Strike was enough for its creator to cast a dozen Lightning Strike spells. Higher level magic scrolls required even more resources, and even for Yalina, creating a high level magic scroll would take days or even weeks; she had to evenly spread out the process so the amount of magic power lost would be within a reasonable range.

Eva patiently opened one magic scroll after another, inspected them in detail to make sure there weren’t any problems, then put them back into her space ring. Manteco, on the other hand, held a black longsword in his hand, and talked while he cleaned it. Everyone else, including Eva, constantly nodded as they listened.

Manteco took a long time to prepare for battle. The sneaking thieves approached the camp, observed for a while, then sneaked back. The whole process took about two hours, and Manteco still wasn’t done after they had returned. Eva and the rest, however, didn’t show any impatience and listened carefully to everything he said.

Sometimes, you could learn way more from an enemy than from a friend. Reg, Cessacioun, and the rest all looked thoughtful as they watched.

Manteco had left them a very arrogant impression, yet he also placed such a large importance on battle preparation, which said enough about his true personality. As the saying goes, a man with great reputation can not be a pretender. If Manteco could threaten Capitan Dwightsteel, the Draconid Knight, he was not someone who could simply be described as “arrogant”!

After a long time, Manteco finally waved his hand. The magicians and warriors jumped down one by one, and the Abyssal Ghost Snake slowly stood up. With a slow yet determined walk, it forced its way through the forest and headed straight toward the camp.

“They are here. Give them a good show. At the least, we can’t make Manteco suspicious,” Gibran said in a faint voice.

This time, Manteco didn’t waste his time on pointless sneak attacks and instead chose to charge straight toward the camp. As they approached, the savage look in his eyes dimmed and eventually disappeared. His demeanor changed too, as if he had turned lazy. He started to constantly yawn, and smile harmlessly. Unfortunately, his performance was boring, because everyone knew that the actual Manteco was the one who had been meticulously planning before the battle. Right now, he was simply wearing a mask like Sunier.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep