It wasn’t the right time nor place to think about the new path. Nevertheless, Zeke was almost sure he wasn’t going to take it. Fortunately, it wasn’t time-gated so he wasn’t forced to make an urgent decision. Furthermore, abandoning all his available paths and skills was too much of a loss, even if the Poison Emperor would offer equally strong skills, they wouldn’t be as diverse as his current ones. Shortly after Red Mask Viper died, loud sounds of military trucks could be heard outside. Teresa King and a couple of Special Agents barged into the warehouse but they didn’t attack. When her remaining eye landed on the lifeless corpse of Viper, the Minister grinned and started clapping her hands as she approached the deadpan youth. “I had no doubt that you’ll take him down. A shame I couldn’t witness it.” In response, Zeke shrugged and responded, “Technically, I wasn’t the one who killed him.” He subtly motioned toward Velvet Signora, who wore a red mask that covered her upper face
The talk between Zeke and Teresa lasted for three long hours. The Minister of External Affairs explained everything; Whom to trust and whom to be suspicious of, how to respond to General Zhang if he were to try and dissuade Zeke, the secret location to meet up with the members of the Special Forces Expedition Team, and so on…By the end of it, Zeke had most of his questions answered. As was his wont, he still harboured a bit of suspicion toward Teresa, nevertheless, he felt she was more trustworthy than the General.Her methods might be too extreme, but at least she didn’t force anything on him and was more than willing to elaborate any and all things, whether it was her motives or trivial stuff.“Take care of yourself, Zeke. From now on, Special Agent Elizabeth will be our ‘middle-man’, so to speak.”“Alright.”He nodded, his eyes cursory glancing at the stoic woman standing near the door. In terms of combat strength, Elizabeth might not be the strongest, but she was superior to Kat
“Does it hurt anywhere?”Within the newly-constructed laboratory at the basement of the building, Red Mask Wolf was sitting across Angel and checking her pulse as she shook her head in response.The Alchemical treatment has been proceedingly amazingly well, though most credit was from the artifact provided by Zeke. It has significantly facilitated the use of ‘Alchemy’ for Wolf and rendered him capable of conducting a treatment for Angel.It hasn’t been long, but the petite girl looked considerably better. She had already started trying to talk by letting out incoherent words.It wasn’t enough to hold a basic conversation, nevertheless, it was a massive improvement.“I bought you a gift, Angel! Come with me!”Signora held the girl’s hands and took her to the office, leaving Zeke and Wolf alone.The beastmen scientist wryly smiled toward the youth before explaining,“There have been no mishaps, fortunately. In two weeks, her body will be fully ‘functional’ and no longer suffer from the
12th of August.It has been ten days since Zeke’s birthday party, and a week since the 4th examination of the Paths of Extinctions System, conducted in the same place: The Extinction Order.Along with the Seat of Criminality and Seat of Death, Zeke faced off against a double-headed black snake that can petrify people with its gaze.The fight was short-lived and the beast was ripped apart by the voltage and Velvet’s shiny magical ability.All in all, it was a relatively easy fight that rewarded Zeke with an artifact. A magical Shortbow, 2nd-Grade and imbued with Wind Magic.It looked fancy and exquisite, but he used ‘Bow Collector’ to absorb it, subsequently increasing his Agility and Aether stats by 20 and 10 respectively.There was no development from any of Zeke’s vengeful opponents such as the Vyrsan Household or the Ascetic Blasphemers. Therefore, he swiftly prepared himself for the upcoming long trip.“I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can, ‘kay?”Angel sat on his lap, lookin
The Far Edge Province, commonly known as the Kingsmen’s Ruins, was a relatively medium-sized region directly North of the heart of the Serey Zhan Empire.It neighbored the Abyss Ocean and despite being under the control of the Imperials, it was infested with bandits and criminals.It was a lawless place where crime ran rampants, totally unchecked or resisted.In name, the Kingsmen’s Ruins was part of the empire, but it was ignored and left to rot along with its greedy and cold-blooded inhabitants.Unlike the other notoriously dangerous regions such as the Living Forest, the Kingsmen’s Ruins earned its infamy due to the abundance of immortal bandits and merciless killers.It wasn’t a place any merchant would go to, nor was it a place for the wealthy people to sight see at.Most fascinating of all was that the land itself had plenty of resources such as oil and fertile lands, which made the morally evil individuals settle there and earn a living through illegal trade and so on.It was a
Soon, the neighing of the horses could be heard by everyone, which made the children flee to their tents and hide all the food. Alas, the white van was in plain sight, parked next to the wooden fence.Zeke saw Destiny urged everyone to hide while she picked her wooden spear, her hands trembling ever-so-slightly.Celestia obviously picked up on the girl’s perturbed expression, but she didn’t say anything.“You should go. Come back later, I promise I’ll tell you whatever you want.”“It’s too late now.” Zeke grinned and didn’t budge from his position. “Also, why should we leave? We didn’t do anything wrong.”Destiny wanted to argue back but there was no time. The horses had climbed the small valley and stopped near the Wooders’ camp.In total, there were 6 horses, all muscular and bigger than average. However, they were hideous, dirty, and let out the putrid smell of feces, piss, and alcohol.“Ohohoho! I told you they'll bring up something good if we push them, Valo!”A slim and lanky m
“Thank you!”Destiny and all the children bowed towards Zeke and Celestia. Not only did they give them a lot of food and water, but they also beat Valo and his goons.The bandits had awakened from their premature slumber, but they were handcuffed and thrown to the cramped back of Stella.“You don’t have to move out of here or do anything. We’ll be heading to the base of Mad Dogs to talk with their leader.”Celestia chatted with the lively children for a bit before getting into the driver’s seat.“They’re good children. It’s unfortunate that they have to live like this.”She paused for a bit before adding, “I’ll talk to my father when I’m back home. He has contacts in the empire.”“Yeah, you do that. Shall we go?”Zeke shrugged and turned his head to the back, gazing at the frightened piss-smelling men clustered together like chicken.With his hand, he beckoned Valo, who obediently crawled closer while forcing a smile.“Y-yes… sir?”“You’ll take us to your base, okay?”“O-of course, si
The nocturnal breeze was chilly, the road was dominated by an invisible pressure as dozens of armed bandits were marching together.They made no effort in hiding themselves, and not even the darkness of the night was enough to hide their presence.Their footsteps and clanking of their armors was loud and echoed across the nearby streets.They were all heading toward a pagoda-like red building at the center of Crystal City.The trip there didn’t take long and though there were many curious eyes spectating from the side, none let out as much as a squeak.Very soon, Zenzo’s men, all holding glistening daggers and wearing black cloaks, were a distance away from the pagoda.Roger and Sena charged from the other side and only stopped when the Blood Ghouls Bandits appeared, all armed and ready.“So it came down to this? Ohohohohohoho!”A resounding and domineering voice rang from the top of the building. It was Paul Franxi, The Warlord, hiding in his den and seemingly enjoying this show.Zek