Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Oh ho!” The thug with the whip raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a sneer as he looked at Reynolds. “You still have the gall to be arrogant?” As he spoke, he struck out with another whip.

  A ferocious light flashed in Reynolds eyes, and his lips quickly muttered the words to a magic spell.

  “BAM!” A series of fireballs the size of a person’s head erupted out from Reynolds, striking out wildly towards those two thugs. In the blink of an eye, they had been encircled by over ten balls of fire.

  “Ah!!!” Those two thugs screamed miserably, their entire bodies covered with flame. What’s more, these flames burned much hotter than ordinary, fire-stoked flames. The two thugs quickly had their skin turned into char. Soon, they stopped breathing.

  Immediately after casting the spell, Reynolds charged outside.

  But just then…

  “Bam!” A sudden hole appeared in the ceiling of the room, and a one-eyed man wearing a red robe descended into the middle of the room. With a flash, he reached Reynolds, and then kicked Reynolds with his leg.

  “Bam!” Reynolds was knocked into a corner of the cabin, hard. Blood spewed from his mouth.

  The one-eyed, red-robed man glanced back at the two charred corpses, then stared coldly at Reynolds. “You are asking for death!” Reynolds stared back at the red-haired and red-robed one-eyed man.

  “No wonder the organization insists on three months of special training. All of you are miserable wretches.” The one-eyed man cursed. Simply capturing an expert such as a magus of the seventh rank was not enough. To make them feel, in the deepest parts of their hearts, unable to resist any orders, was extremely difficult. If they were angered, they would go all out.

  Moments later…

  Multiple thugs grabbed Reynolds by his limbs, making sure he couldn’t move. The red-haired one-eyed man and two bald men stared coldly at Reynolds.

  “Pretty-boy, I’ve reminded you that you need to be a good boy on my boat. But you, you make me very angry.” The red-haired one-eyed man said in a cold voice. “Peel, help him improve his memory.”

  Reynolds’ face immediately turned pale.

  He remembered the threat which the one-eyed man had previously made to him. The terror-stricken Reynolds stared with bulging eyes, but the bald man named Peel only laughed as he walked over. “Hold one of his hands down for me.” Immediately, the thugs grabbed Reynolds’ hands and pressed them against the deck.

  From the deck, Peel retrieved a pair of steel pincers that were used for cutting through iron chains. He pressed the steel pincers around two of Reynolds’ fingers. Sensing the cold feeling from his fingers, Reynolds’ heart trembled.

  “Hrmph. Squeeze.” The one-eyed man sneered coldly.

  The steel pincers clamped down, and as easily as cutting through cloth, Reynolds’ two fingers were cut off. Fresh blood flowed out as piercing pain wracked Reynolds’ body.

  The pain of losing two fingers was far worse than even when he had received a blade chop on his body.

  Hearing Reynolds agonized moans, the nearby thugs began to grow excited. The one-eyed man sneered coldly, “Pretty-boy, remember this. Today, all I did was teach you a little lesson. If you forget this lesson again, I guarantee…you will never forget the next lesson again.” After speaking, the one-eyed man turned and walked away.

  Dark night.

  Reynolds was curled into the icy cold corner of the room, his body still trembling slightly. His severed finger-stubs had already clotted. The two nearby thugs occasionally looked at him, their eyes filled with madness.

  Reynolds had killed two of their friends. These thugs naturally were filled with hatred towards him.

  “Motherf*cker. Pretty-boy.”

  A whip suddenly flashed out, aimed at Reynolds’ wounded hand. Reynolds tried his best to hide his injured hand behind his back, but part of that whip still clipped his hand. An extreme wave of pain and agony came from his hand…the wound burst open yet again. In particular, the pain of the whip striking his finger bones was especially agonizing. It was as though his fingers had been chopped off yet again.

  “Enough. Stop hitting him.” The nearby thug said.

  Actually, the two thugs were also afraid that Reynolds would go crazy once more and cast magic at them. However, the thug which had just hit Reynolds was on extremely good terms with one of the two thugs that had been killed. Naturally, he wanted revenge.

  “I can’t do this. I have to escape.” Curled into a ball in the icy corner, Reynolds secretly thought to himself, “If this sort of life continues, I really will go insane.”

  Reynolds knew that even if he was able to persevere and hold on to his sanity, the only thing which would welcome him was the life of a slave.

  “Tomorrow. Tomorrow, when the ship reaches the shore, I’ll make my move.” Reynolds had no time for any misgivings. Actually, every day this ship would stop at the shore. One reason was to replenish their food supplies; the other was because the one-eyed man didn’t like to eat dry food. He preferred eating fresh delicacies. Thus, they had to go ashore to do so.

  However, the one-eyed man was very careful. Whenever he went ashore to eat, the other two experts of the seventh rank would watch Reynolds.

  Time passed very slowly. Lying on the floor late at night, Reynolds felt even colder. What’s more, throbbing pain continued to come in waves from his severed fingers. He gritted his teeth and endured.

  Slowly, the sky began to turn bright.

  Those two thugs whipped Reynolds a few more times, but Reynolds only huddled in the corner, quietly accepting the blows. He knew that he couldn’t resist. The first time he resisted, he had lost two fingers. The next time he resisted…then perhaps, like the one-eyed man had threatened, the next ‘lesson’ would be one he would never forget!

  Reynolds quietly waited for the boat to near the shore.

  After a long, long time…

  “We’ve reached the shore.” Ringing sounds could be heard from the deck above. Soon afterwards, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Clearly, the two experts had walked down.

  “Peel, you two stand watch. I’ll go rest for a bit, and then I’ll come and change places with you two.” The one-eyed man’s voice could be heard.

  “Milord, don’t worry.” Peel’s voice rang out as well.

  Hearing the footsteps head away from the ship, Reynolds let out a silent sigh of relief, and then he shut his eyes, once more mentally going through his escape plan.

  The plan was very dangerous, but he had to give it a try.

  Glancing at the two nearby thugs, Reynolds curled into a corner and lowered his head, and his lips began to slightly move…

  Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 46, The Order

  The red-haired one-eyed thug led a group of thugs off the slave ship, while Peel and the other bald man stood on the deck, casually chatting while occasionally glancing towards Reynolds.

  “Peel, tomorrow, we’ll finally reach the provincial capital. At that time, we’ll send off those common slaves and have ourselves a good time. Spending every day on a boat is a damnable way to live.” The bald man cursed in a whisper.

  Peel began to laugh as well.

  But just at this time, Peel suddenly heard a terrifying roar from a magical beast…

  “Hoooowl!” All of a sudden, a terrifying, enormous flame serpent, as thick as a water barrel, came exploding out of the cabin, blasting a hole into the side of the ship.

  The enormous fire serpent was as thick as a water barrel and over a hundred meters long. Howling, it circled around the slave ship, which instantly was set aflame. At the same time, the fire serpent charged directly towards the interior of the ship, blasting a hole through the entire vessel. Aside from around ten or so slaves in the bottom hold who were burnt to the death, the hundreds of other slaves wildly charged out from the hole in the ship which the fire serpent had made.

  “Motherf*cker. That pretty-boy!” Peel said, his face changing.

&n
bsp; “Quick! Catch him!”

  The two bald men immediately ran towards Reynolds room. At this time, they didn’t care about the common slaves at all, but that enormous fire serpent actually charged straight towards the two of them.

  “Motherf*cker, a Blazing Fire Serpent. Be careful!” Peel and the other man were both nervous now.

  Fire-style, spell of the seventh rank: Blazing Fire Serpent!

  This was the most powerful spell which Reynolds could cast; the Blazing Fire Serpent. If this spell were to advance in level, it would transform into the eighth-ranked spell, ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’. The ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’ would create and attack with seven enormous fire serpents , and the temperature of the serpents would be even hotter. As for the Blazing Fire Serpent, it was still extremely powerful.

  Most warriors of the seventh rank wouldn’t dare to fight it head on.

  The bald man, Peel, dodged as agilely as a fish, avoiding the attack of the Blazing Fire Serpent, while at the same time moving towards where Reynolds previously had been staying. In the room, Peel saw nothing but ash. Those two thugs’ bodies had been charred to dust, and there were two large circular holes in the walls.

  Clearly, Reynolds had fled via these two holes.

  “Ah! Ah!!!” A miserable scream could be heard nearby. The other bald man hadn’t been able to completely dodge the Blazing Fire Serpent. As soon as it had brushed by the man, the Blazing Fire Serpent immediately wrapped itself around him. The bald man’s battle-qi armor quickly was depleted, and the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh appeared.

  Seeing this, the look on Peel’s face changed.

  “Dale [Da’luo]!!!!” Peel went insane. “You motherf*cking bastard!”

  By now, many of the slaves who had escaped from the bottom of the boat had begun frantically fleeing in each direction. After having been captured as slaves, they had felt utterly hopeless, but now, all of them were filled with hope once more, and they frantically fled.

  Peel charged out from within those two holes as well, and with a mighty leap, arrived directly onto the shore.

  “That damnable pretty-boy.” Peel stared at the slave ship in the Bonai River. The utterly demolished ship was slowly sinking, and it continued to burn with sheets of flame. Filled with smoke and fire and water, this ship was clearly finished.

  “Peel, Dale!” A furious roar from afar.

  The red-haired one-eyed man ran over at high speed, his single eye filled with unspeakable rage. Staring at Peel, he howled angrily, “Peel, where is he? Where is that magus?”

  “Milord, that magus cast the Blazing Fire Serpent spell. No idea where he fled to. Dale died.” Peel was furious as well.

  The one-eyed man panted with fury.

  The Blazing Fire Serpent was capable of dealing with warriors of the seventh rank, but if it had encountered the one-eyed man, given his power as a warrior of the eighth rank, he definitely would’ve been able to destroy the Blazing Fire Serpent and seize Reynolds.

  This was the reason why his slaving organization had sent him, a warrior of the eighth rank, on this mission.

  But the one-eyed man hadn’t expected that right after he had taught that magus a lesson, he would dare to go all out like this.

  “Quick, seize him. Bring that magus back.” The one-eyed man immediately shouted towards the surrounding thugs. “The ten of you, split up and search upstream and downstream. The dozens of you over here, start searching the nearby area. You must bring that magus back to me. Quickly!”

  “Yes, milord!”

  The furious thugs scattered every which way. Most of their forces were concentrated in the surrounding area, while only five thugs were sent searching upstream and downstream.

  Reynolds was dressed like the other slaves, in absolutely raggedy clothes, and his body was covered with scars. Because the other slaves had fled as well, on many occasions, those thugs would see some other slaves, think they were Reynolds, and immediately rush over to seize them. Unfortunately, they were wasting their time.

  An hour later.

  The one-eyed man stood at the harbor, his heart filled with rage as he stared angrily around him.

  “Milord, we’ve discovered over ten slaves downstream, but we didn’t find that magus.” A thug ran over to report. The speed at which they had travelled on land was definitely faster than the speed of the flowing river.

  “Milord, we didn’t find that magus upstream either.“

  “Milord, we didn’t find that magus in the surrounding areas. All we found were those common slaves.”

  Hearing one report after another from his subordinates, the one-eyed man stared at the surrounding area. He was so angry he could die. This harbor was the harbor for a small township. Their organization didn’t have any forces here.

  This was why the one-eyed man had no choice but to send those few dozen thugs to search for Reynolds.

  Several dozen people had spent an hour without finding Reynolds. Then…there was no way he could be found. Because one hour was more than enough time for a person to travel a great distance. And how could several dozen people search an area of several dozen square kilometers?

  “Bastard!” The one-eyed man snarled and cursed. “Let’s go. We have to report this immediately to the organization. That pretty-boy better hope that I don’t catch him. Otherwise…I will make sure his fate is worse than death.”

  The sky was dark now. The one-eyed man and the others had already left helplessly. Several thousand meters away, next to the riverbank, a human form emerged from the water.

  “Patooey.” Reynolds spat out the breathing reed from his mouth.

  Glancing at his surroundings, Reynolds finally let out a long sigh. Reynolds hadn’t dared to be the slightest bit incautious during this escape attempt. After casting his spell, he had immediately dove into the water, then plucked a hollow reed and used it to breathe. Each time he dove down, he would travel more than a thousand meters before daring to raise his head.

  “I’m very far away now. Those people can’t possibly find me now.” Reynolds went onto the shore.

  Reynolds body suddenly began to emit a white steam. A few moments later, Reynolds tattered clothes were totally dry again. Glancing at the surrounding area, Reynolds centered himself through using the flow of the river.

  “That slaving organization has people in all the major cities. It is better if I stick to the smaller cities. I can’t go back through the border between the two Empires. The slaving organizations have quite a few people in the border cities.” Although Reynolds believed that they wouldn’t spend too much effort searching for him, it was better for him to be careful. Reynolds had decided to first enter the Anarchic Lands through the Rohault Empire, and then return to the O’Brien Empire through the Anarchic Lands.

  …..

  The world was very dark now. The only light that could be seen was sporadic campfires. A dark shadow was flying through the skies, slashing through the air at high speed.

  “Whoooooosh!” Their high-speed flight caused Old White to unconsciously narrow his eyes. From the skies, he could clearly make out the various roads, and so it was easy for him to make out the various landmarks.

  “Master Linley, it is right below us.” Old White pointed at a distant countryside town.

  “Oh? That little town is your organization’s headquarters?” Linley glanced at Old White. The town seemed no different from any other ordinary little town. In the darkness, a few lamp lights could be seen.

  Old White hurriedly nodded. “It is. This is just some of our organization’s camouflaging abilities.”

  “Whoosh!”

  Linley immediately charged down, leaving a black shadowy trail of afterimages behind him. He landed in the middle of the headquarters of the slaving organization…this countryside town.

  Linley was wearing a deep blue robe. Hovering up into the air, he loosened his hand, allowing Old White to fall to the ground. “Have the leader of your organization come out.”
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br />   Old White didn’t dare to disobey.

  At this moment, a number of people ran over at high speed, surrounding them. But when they saw Linley was standing in mid-air, they were all stunned. Generally speaking, only Saints were capable of flight. Naturally, powerful wind-style magi could fly as well. In truth, right now, Linley was only capable of flight without transforming because he had already cast the Windshadow spell.

  “Old White, why have you come?” A middle-aged madame glanced at Linley, then whispered to Old White.

  Old White shouted loudly, “Quick, quick, have the leader come! This is Master Linley, the mighty Dragonblood Warrior, Master Linley!”

  Master Linley?

  These words were quite effective. A slaving organization, in terms of power, was far inferior to even the three major trading unions or the four great assassin’s guilds. Naturally, it didn’t dare to offend a Saint. Many people immediately ran to get their leaders, and all of the high-ranking people quickly began to assemble.

  Linley stood there in mid-air, calmly waiting. Bebe stood atop of Linley’s shoulders.

  “Boss, this little town looked quite ordinary, but the insides of these buildings are quite unique! Many of them have underground basements.” Bebe spoke to Linley mentally.

  Linley nodded slightly.

  In just a short while, a large group of people began to head in this direction from afar, with their leader being a tall, thin man who was dressed in a gaudy long robe. This man was half-running, half-walking, his forehead covered with sweat.

  “Master Linley, my name is Dennis [Dan’ni’si], and I am the leader of this organization. Is there something we can do for you, Master Linley? If there is, please inform us, Master.” The tall, thin man said humbly, filled with terror.

  Although he had never met Linley before, a Saint who could hover in mid-air, no matter who he really was, wasn’t someone he dared to offend.

  Linley glanced at him, then said, “Dennis! A month ago, you bought a magus from Old White over at the border city. He should have arrived here by now.”

  Dennis was startled.

  A somewhat fatter, older man next to Dennis hurriedly said, “Master Linley, I was responsible for this assignment. Halfway here, at the Bonai River, that magus burned our slaving vessel and fled.”