The person who had left earlier was definitely an apprentice Adept. A man who was able to control such a frightening Golem monster was obviously something that he, as an Underground Rogue Hunter, could possibly deal with. However, since the beginning, this lady never showed any special ability. It was likely that she was just a mistress the male apprentice had brought along. If she was really a normal human, then it was possible that he could successfully abduct her.
After making up his mind, the shadowy figure hid behind the rock that the naked lady was sitting on. He quietly pulled out the leather pouch that was tied onto his waist. A palm-sized green object climbed out of the leather pouch and quickly moved onto the rock, climbing towards the naked lady.
After a brief moment, Mary cried out. As soon as this happened, the shadowy figure instantly bolted out, like a lightning strike, and placed his two bent blades against her neck.
The tiny green lizard opened its mouth, draping itself over Mary’s naked body and sticking its tongue out. It had actually bitten Mary’s sexy butt! Greenish liquid oozed from the small wound, and Mary seemed to be paralyzed, looking as if she could hardly stand by herself.
The shadowy figure had no use but to use one of his hands to hold up Mary’s body. He had to do this in order to prevent Mary from slipping into the pond.
“You better make sure to hold her tight. If you tear any of her skin then you’ll suffer some nasty consequences.” A deep and steady male voice suddenly rang out throughout the cave, scaring the shit out of the shadowy figure.
Somehow Greem had returned from patrolling and was leaning against a stalagmite. He was watching the scene with a smile on his face. Behind him, the frightening Demon Alligator Hunter walked out of the darkness. The noise it made as it walked was comparable to a giant.
The shadowy figure seemed not to have expected this situation. He stepped back and positioned his body behind Mary’s. He then raised one of his bent blades to Mary’s throat and gripped her arm with his other hand. He looked like he was holding Mary hostage.
However, the figure was puzzled, as the male apprentice didn’t seem to want to rescue his companion. On the contrary, he seemed to be preparing himself to watch a good show.
‘Her… life… is in my hands, don’t…try… anything rash!” The shadowy creature was speaking in the Salus language, which was different from the universally used human language. However, this didn’t stop Greem from understanding what it was saying. Language, with the help of the Chip, was perhaps the easiest thing for Greem.
Greem, still leaning against the stalagmite, watched the scene before him.
The perfectly curved, seductive body of Mary was a magnificent view and Green would never miss such a good opportunity to enjoy it. Also, as Greem was extremely interested in this creature, he ordered the chip to scan it.
“Beep! Scanning of creature completed. Found a matching species in the living beings database. Does the host wish to view it?”
“Yes! Show it to me!”
After Greem’s agreement, the detailed information on the creature in front of him was sent into his mind.
The Lizardmen race are intelligent creatures found in the Underground. They possess the bloodline of both a lizard and a human. They are mutated creatures and are able to move stealthily, and control their body temperature. In the Underground world, they are found in every major region working as assassins.
Lizardman?
While studying the information, Greem quietly matched the shadowy figure in front of his eyes with the one in his mind.
The creature had a skinny, human-like body and wasn’t wearing any clothes. Dark green lumps could be found everywhere on its rough, thick skin. It only had four fingers, and its hands were like webbed like a frog. It also had long and curvy nails, which looked like razor-sharp blades.
The creature seemed to have human-like facial features, but, as its skin was too dark, no one could clearly see its expression. Its transparent eyelids kept blinking, allowing its protruding eyeballs to focus freely and turn in any direction it wanted.
Judging from its voice, it should be a man, no, a male.
However, this was beside the point. In any case, it was an ugly fellow who made Green feel disgusted after just one look.
Especially, after it recklessly abducted Mary!
Inwardly, Greem gave out his final verdict.
If it wasn’t for the advantage it had in this environment, it would only be able to, at most, match up to an intermediate apprentice. Greem scoffed. With this little ability, it still dreamed of abducting the frightening Mary?
A faint smile emerged on Greem’s face. He really didn’t know whether he should give a three-second tribute for its unfortunate encounter.
Greem only hoped that it wouldn’t come to regret its decision.
Chapter 53
Greem’s overly calm attitude had caused the Lizardman to start to doubt the value of the hostage he held in his hands.
But, before he could do anything, the frail Mary moved first.
With just a few twists, her fair and slippery naked body was freed from Lizardman’s control. Mary then dodged nimbly, suddenly appearing behind the Lizardman. Greem could see that the Lizardman’s arms were hanging limply by his sides, and he seemed to have lost the ability to defend itself.
Blood was oozing out from the joints of the Lizardman, dying his dark green scales red. It seemed that Mary had cut his muscle tendons using her sharp nails.
Any ordinary human, when getting wounds like these, wouldn’t be able to fight, however, Lizardmen were different. They had a strong vitality and excellent resistance, so, to them, it was simply a minor injury. After all, although the Lizardman couldn’t move his limbs, he still had a mouth full of sharp fangs.
But, because Mary was hiding behind him, all of his attacks had failed.
As he was trying to detach himself from the frightening lady, his body turned numb and, like a robot losing power, he stiffened. A smile graced Mary’s features as she slowly pulled her long, sharp nail out of the Lizardman’s back.
In close combat, by using the gap between the Lizardman’s scales, Mary could sever his neck instantly. At this moment, the Lizardman was completely powerless and had no way to fight back.
“What? Are you going to stay here and watch?”
After ridiculing Greem, who was in a rather embarrassing situation, Mary draped herself over the Lizardman’s body, gradually moving her tender lips towards his fragile neck.
“Beauty and the Beast!”
“Little Green Man Fighting the Vampire!”
It was such an erotic drama, that Greem hoped he could enjoy it close-up. He wanted to clap excitedly.
However, whenever he imagined the potential scene that was going to unfold, he felt that it was better to just avoid it. Unlike those vampires who, in his memory, would gently poke their sharp fangs into their lover’s necks, Mary obviously preferred to ravage her meal and enjoy it completely.
Greem felt that if he saw the scene of fresh blood mixing with organs, he would lose his appetite. Therefore, he just spun around and sulkily left.
As he passed by a stalagmite, he heard the frightening sound of muscle ripping, followed by Mary’s excited moans. As Greem heard the weak cries of a creature in the throes of death, he couldn’t help but shudder and increase his speed.
After nearly half an hour, Greem saw Mary fixing her dress as she walked out of the cave. It seemed that she had enjoyed her ‘restaurant’.
Anyone looking at her beautiful face brimming with energy, wouldn’t be able to tell what had just happened.
“Have you taken the sample from the mission site?” Greem closed up his magical book and asked.
“This is just a small matter, so obviously it’s completed!” Mary said contentedly. After agreeing, she casually tossed a Rune Crystal to Greem.
Greem cast a verification spell, and, after finding it suitable, he placed it into his waist pouch.
&
nbsp; Every pond located in the mission sites had a small magical formation placed at the bottom of it. These formations helped the Adepts on garrison duty grasp the situation in the Underground Cave. It enabled them to observe the terrain without leaving their Adept Towers.
The duty Greem and the other apprentices were given was to collect the information stored in the formations by using a custom-made Rune Crystal. After completing this duty, they were free to use their spare time to harvest some rare Underground resources.
The team, after splitting up, had agreed to reunite in three days. Thus, they had plenty of time to harvest all the resources located around the mission site. Since both of them had completed their mission in half a day, they had some spare time they could use to leisurely travel around.
However, while both of them were traveling around, a heart-pounding battle was occurring in another cave just five miles away!
Leo, the apprentice Adept from the Mushroom Forest in the Rofen region, was fleeing. Two black-robed Pseudo-Adepts were chasing after him. Matthew, the other advanced adept in Leo’s team, was nowhere to be found. It seemed that he had been struck with great misfortune.
Leo truly deserved to be the young Pseudo-Adept his family had high hopes for. It could be seen that he had extraordinary talent in Thunder Elemental magic spells. Although he didn’t have great Agility, he could move freely thanks to the layer of white Wind Elementium surrounding his body. In fact, one could even liken his speed to that of a feather or a fast stallion. If it wasn’t for the winding tunnels and stalagmites, Leo probably would’ve already escaped his pursuers by now.
Whenever he ran by some narrow areas, he would stretch both his hands outward and form an arc of blue electricity, allowing it to dance violently between his palms. Then he would toss it over his shoulder and, without even bothering to check the result, continue onwards. After throwing it, within ten seconds, a loud boom would ring out from behind him, followed by a bunch of cursing.
Following that, two sorry-looking, burnt figures would emerge from the dust. This happened so often that, every time they exited, the small Lightning Storm would’ve ripped off a bit more of their black robes. Their robes were falling off like butterflies.
After one of the black robes was completely torn to pieces, it revealed a man wearing pitch-black, soft leather armor. He carried a snake-headed staff and had bloodshot vertical pupils. He was absolutely terrifying.
“Are we still going to chase? This guy is a tough nut to crack!” A middle-aged man asked through clenched teeth.
The figure on the left pulled off his hood, revealing a malicious and cruel looking face.
“Chase! This guy isn’t familiar with the surrounding terrain, and, once he runs into a dead end, we’ll teach him a slow lesson.”
“Where are Anna and Gary? Why aren’t they here yet? Do they really need to take so long just to settle an advanced apprentice?” The man with bloodshot eyes asked, looking over his shoulder.
“They changed their route! They’ve already sent me the details about the enemy team’s situation. They sent me all the information they got from that advanced apprentice. I think that they’re on their way to sector seven right now in order to search for the weakest team.” It seemed that judging by the way he gave orders, the middle-aged man was the leader of the group.
“Damn it! I knew this was going to happen! It looks like we have to try harder. If we let this guy go, then we’ll have to return empty-handed.” The man with bloodshot eyes cursed with clenched teeth. After hitting the ground with his staff, he transformed into smoke and merged with the cave wall, disappearing without a trace.
The black-robed leader grinned somberly, and a ring of black light flickered out from his body, doubling his running speed.
A moment later, a ground shaking boom echoed out from a tunnel far away.
The brutal and violent shock wave swept across the winding tunnel, crushing everything in its way. Anything that stood in the way of it, be it stalagmites, stalactites, sand, stone or dirt, was all swept up and thrown in a random direction. The residue magic energy caused the debris to act like sharp arrows, shattering the cave in a violent explosion.
The battle of life and death that had occurred between the Pseudo-Adepts had brought about devastating damage to the Underground tunnel. It had even caused widespread damage within a two-three mile radius. A large amount of the area had collapsed, causing rocks to shift positions and block tunnels. This caused many tunnels to become unavailable for usage, however, at the same time, new passages were being formed. The old saying “When one door shuts, another one opens” had never been so true before.
Of course, such a massive commotion could never escape from the eyes of the apprentice adepts in this region. After witnessing the destruction, they all quickly found themselves a stable spot and hid. They were all quietly wondering what had caused this huge turmoil.
Within a dark, quiet and broken cave, a soft popping sound was heard, and a huge, dark figure suddenly emerged from underground. The figure nearly occupied the entire space in the cave.
“Damn it! Why is there suddenly an earthquake? Could those other Adepts have stumbled upon an active region during their inspection? Damn it…” Mary’s sweet and seductive voice echoed throughout the darkness of the cave.
“I’m afraid this earthquake isn’t a natural one!” Greem’s stable and calm voice quickly followed. His eyes flickered with an intelligent expression as he continued saying, “The source of the quake is located five miles to the south-east of us, and is around twenty metres deeper than us. If this was a natural earthquake, the focal point wouldn’t be so close to the surface, so…”
“So… someone caused it!” Mary looked over her shoulder at Greem. Obviously, she was surprised by the fact that Greem could still remain calm in such an situation. She was also surprised that he could have such an accurate sense of direction, even though they were in an underground area with no light. After thinking these thoughts, she continued with her speech, “Are you saying one of our teammates has met with enemies?”
“That’s highly possible!” Greem analysed. “Firstly, because the source of the quake is so close to us, it is unlikely that it has no relation to our team. Besides, you know the strength of the Underground creatures in this place, and, except for a few rare creatures, it is impossible for any of them to harm us. Therefore, the earthquake cannot be because of a Pseudo-Adept going all out against a creature. Since that isn’t a possibility, there can only be one logical explanation!”
“En!” Mary nodded her head in agreement. “It should be those black-clothed bastards from before. The only thing is, is that we have no idea who bumped into them. Truthfully, I really want to test out their ability. I mean, with your golem we can travel underground, so maybe we can launch a sneak attack!”
“We were overconfident on this mission. After all, this is our first mission and the first time we’ve come to the Underground. Hence, before we understood the unique environment and the new style of fighting here, we shouldn’t have split up. We should’ve completed our mission together and waited until the next mission to split up. Also…”
“Also what?”
“Also, don’t forget that we’re the weakest team amongst all of them. If the enemy really wants to ambush our group, we’re the most likely to be targeted!”
“So what? I really want to test out their ability. Since you claim your Earth Elemental golem is so amazing, can you sense the surrounding enemy’s activities? I’ll tell you what, if you help your sister catch one of those bastards, I’ll spend the night with you. What do you think?” Mary trailed her finger across Greem’s lips and giggled carefreely.
For some unknown reason, Greem suddenly shuddered. He couldn’t help but feel heartache due to Mary’s naughty behaviour.
Mary’s interest in teasing men had grown stronger, and she never forgot to keep flirting with Greem. However, after noticing that her bloodshot eyes would grow darker when she g
ot excited, Greem had no choice but to use his powerful will to suppress his lust. He did this because he didn’t want to become Mary’s lab rat and someone she could just toy with whenever she wanted.
Chapter 54
After trying his best to get rid of the thoughts brought about by Mary, Greem used the chip to connect his mind with the controlling core of the Demon Alligator Hunter.
Greem’s surroundings seemed to suddenly dissolve into complete silence, and, by using the golem’s crystal core, Greem found himself looking at a whole new world. In this strange new world, Greem could see the all of the Earth Elementium in his surroundings. By using this feature, Greem could observe any movement made on the ground, as even a slight movement would cause ripples in the surrounding Earth Elementium.
However, these ripples were extremely weak, and only occurred in the Earth Elementium. So, anything that wasn’t an Earth Elemental creature would find it extremely difficult to sense movements happening far away.
But, Greem had actually done it!
While he was immersed in that strange world, he could sense movement from as far away as a hundred metres! Not even the sounds of snakes crawling or scorpions nesting could escape his notice. He could sense all of these movements through the delicate spiritual connection between each Earth Elementium. He could then project these movements into his mind, forming an image that looked almost identical to the real world.
As he was limited by his Spirit, the maximum distance he could sense was only one hundred meters. If he tried to sense anything beyond one hundred meters, he could only roughly sense the direction where the vibration originated. In addition to this, he couldn’t picture the exact scene in his mind like he could when it was within his range.
When on the surface, observing a distance of one hundred meters was an easy thing to do. In fact, any apprentice Adept could see dozens of miles by simply standing on high enough ground. If the apprentice was capable of flight, then they could see over an area of nearly one hundred miles. However, when this one hundred meters was placed within the Underground world, where everything was coated in thick rocks, sand and dirt, it became really impressive.
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