Chapter 45 The Argo (3) What you resent is that no matter who you are...
Well, Xia Ying felt a mix of regret and a bit of happiness.
Before the two could take their next step, the witch Argo had already arrived at the island.
"Beep! New footprints have arrived at the desolate island! This island was once known for its legends of courage, love, and protection. Although those stories are now covered in dust and rust, three shining fragments still remain beneath the ruins."
"Beep! Medea's faction has been granted priority exploration rights!"
The moment the announcement of their arrival on the island was made, a glowing barrier appeared around the island, instantly changing the situation. Hero Argo and his allies were temporarily blocked outside the island's boundaries, while Xia Ying and the others were teleported to the island's center.
Also teleported there was a search party led by a harpy. Caught off guard, Harpy flapped her wings in confusion and panic: "What happened? What happened? Where is this?"
“This is an island. We’ve found the island safely.” Xia Ying stroked her feathers reassuringly. “Thanks to you, I was able to spot the enemy ship sneaking behind us in time. Thank you, Harpie.”
"Hehehe, is that so!" The harpy immediately became excited. "What's next? What should we do next?"
Cerberus had only been on board for a short time when he caused a loss of one-sixth of the fighting force.
Xia Ying muttered to herself: This is really difficult to deal with.
Medea's ghost reappeared at this moment, and the powerful red-robed witch reached out and gently touched Xia Ying's head.
"Ding! The Spirit of Medea grants you the identity {Princess Colchis}!"
"Beep! You have obtained the island map!"
As Medea's phantom faded, information about the island slowly surfaced before Xia Ying's eyes.
She saw the kingdom's former glory, the solemn temples and altars, the towering throne room, and the ever-blooming potion garden. It was in the potion garden that the witch first met the hero from afar.
Xia Ying said to the witch, "You hate him so much, right? Is he really a hero... Oh, you said that although he's not even as good as a dung beetle on the roadside now, he used to be."
Jason's arrival changed everything in the kingdom. The throne room was destroyed, the temples, now without priests, slowly fell into ruin, and the potions garden was burned down by the wrathful king who had been betrayed.
“But thinking about it carefully, it seems like you did all of these things yourself. Can you really blame it all on Jason? Oh, you said you hate him, but that's not why.” She listened to the witch’s story. “His appearance gave you an excuse to destroy the life you were tired of. The reason you fell in love with him is because he just happened to fill the void of your desires.”
Hearing this, Xia Ying smiled and said, "Right? Love is always easy to become the object of desire."
The witch took the girl's arm and led her to see the ruins of the temple, the throne room, and the potions garden, and talked with her intimately like sisters.
After learning the location of the last place, they stopped in their tracks.
“I’ve heard your whole story, and I will kill Jason as you wish,” Xia Ying said. “But to be honest, it’s basically for my own benefit, just like the fundamental reasons you make all sorts of decisions in your life.”
The witch smiled at her, and before the illusion shattered, she spoke her last words to Xia Ying.
Xia Ying paused for a moment, then smiled and replied, "You're welcome, Medea."
She returned to the game scene, where her companions were still waiting for her to devise the next plan; what had just happened felt like a dream.
“There are three locations on the island where the key magical artifacts are hidden: the temple, the throne room, and the potion garden,” Xia Ying said. “So now we need to split into three groups and obtain all the magical artifacts as soon as possible.”
After considering the distances between the three locations, she decided to split the group into two faster-moving teams to go to the closer temple and throne room, while she herself, with the necessary guards, headed to the furthest Potions Garden.
Xia Ying shared the island map with her companions, assigned personnel to the three teams, and instructed the members who were going to work separately to rejoin the Potions Garden team as soon as possible after completing their objectives.
####
The three teams set off separately, and Xia Ying embarked on her journey to the Potions Garden.
In fact, the ruins containing the key magical artifacts are surrounded by dangers, and if one is completely unaware of the situation, it will inevitably take a lot of effort to obtain the target.
Thanks to Medea's blessing, Xia Ying and her group not only knew the route in advance, but also the layout of traps and mechanisms. This greatly reduced the difficulty for them to obtain the key magical artifacts, but Xia Ying also sensed something strange.
Medea's blessing was so powerful that it could even determine the outcome of a battle, while the only blessing the Jason camp knew of seemed to be a war cry that enhanced combat power... Compared to Xia Ying's side, such a boost was far too weak.
A doubt naturally arose in Xia Ying's mind:
Does Jason's camp possess another unknown and extremely powerful blessing?
When they were halfway to the Potions Garden, Xia Ying received a telepathic link request from a harpy heading to the temple.
She answered the call, and a cheerful voice came through.
"Xia Ying! We've found the temple's magical artifact!"
In the shared field of vision, Xia Ying saw a ball of golden wool on the temple altar. Just as she was about to speak to Harpie, the earth suddenly trembled.
Xia Ying looked up and saw startled birds taking flight, heading towards the throne room.
She immediately severed the connection with Harpie and tried to contact the members of the Throne Hall squad, but Xia Ying failed three times in a row.
When she turned to the fourth member, the mind channel finally connected, but the other party was unable to communicate with her effectively. In the shared vision, the last thing Xia Ying saw was a giant black scythe swinging towards her.
Like the other unreachable squad members, this abyssal creature was also slain by Cerberus.
Jason's forces must have only recently landed on the island, right? How could they move so quickly and accurately?
Thinking back to the mysterious Argo that had appeared behind her earlier, Xia Ying suddenly had a sudden realization.
That's why the other side can use this method to launch attacks repeatedly at critical moments.
“You’re right, Medea.” Xia Ying was instantly enraged. “Jason’s methods are truly despicable!”
The island's tremors intensified, and Xia Ying guessed that Ker had activated the magic artifact in the throne room. Without further thought, the magic artifact immediately demonstrated its effects.
A summoned giant slowly rose from the distant smoke and dust.
Xia Ying recognized his identity.
That's Hercules!! And he's huge compared to all the ones in the previous missions!!
Another tremor followed, and a giant creature appeared at the location of the temple—a poisonous dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece.
Xia Ying realized that it was Harpie who activated the magical artifact in the temple.
Hercules and the Poison Dragon, serving different factions, locked onto each other, and those few silent seconds became the final calm before the earth-shattering battle erupted.
Xia Ying immediately turned around and shouted to her companions, "Let's go! We need to get to the Potions Garden first!"
As Lin Ye hurriedly walked, loud and chaotic footsteps suddenly rang out, drowning out her voice. Xia Ying looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large number of abyssal creatures rushing down from the high ground.
They were ambushed.
Xia Ying quickly confirmed the identities and numbers of the enemies in her field of vision.
The good news is that Ker is not here; the bad news is that almost all the enemies except Ker are probably here.
It's okay, they've already rehearsed for this situation.
"Clay Colossi! Terrain Transformation!"
The earth colossus crouched down, and the mycelium in its body quickly burrowed into the ground, instantly transforming a piece of land in front of it into a swamp. The demonic horse and wolf riders running at the forefront lost their footing and plunged headlong into the swamp, where they were pulled to the bottom by the water vines.
The retreat of the front-line monsters tore a gap in Jason's defenses, and Nightmare let out a shriek as a powerful shadow of control spread toward Xia Ying and the others.
In a flash, a purple shadow swept into Jason's loosely positioned camp. Nightmare's frail body was torn apart by sharp leopard claws, and the Shadow of Control had no choice but to dissipate in defeat.
"At least protect the fragile mage who's casting a spell... Well done, leopard man!"
Xia Ying cheered, raised her hand to give a high five to her companion who had returned to her side, and then looked at the enemies in front of her, whose morale had greatly diminished, with ill intent.
"Although there are many of you, you seem easier to deal with than I thought."
####
Although Heracles had been released, Jason's spirit continued to haunt Cerberus.
He was initially quite pleased with the cruelty and power of the demon hound, but his dissatisfaction grew as he realized that Cerberus was deliberately avoiding a direct confrontation with Medea's possessor.
"It's so noisy..."
Cerberus frowned, shook his head violently, his patience was almost at its limit, and his composure dropped sharply.
"Stop spouting nonsense. Nobody's interested in your pathetic life, you piece of trash."
Jason, who had been mercilessly insulted, remained silent for a second, then began to shout even louder.
Cerberus was completely unconcerned about what Jason's soul was doing, but the situation was indeed a dilemma for him.
As the mission progresses into its second half, the force of the scenario is desperately trying to force a final battle between the two factions. Resisting this force is becoming increasingly difficult, and to make matters worse, "Shadow" is also taking the opportunity to wrest control of his body from him.
In short, let's go to Xia Ying's place first. If her spirit is weakened further, it may be difficult to suppress "Shadow".
Cerberus sprang into action, rushing toward where Xia Ying was, but for the first time, the closer he got to her, the more uneasy he felt.
What should we do? Should we really take action?
The demon hound drowsily looked down at his hands, and even just imagining the feeling of having Xia Ying's blood on them made him extremely resistant.
Or, he could do it like he did on the Charon train...
As the shadows began to twist and throb, Xia Ying's face suddenly flashed in his mind.
"Ker, believe me."
Cerberus stopped abruptly when those words came to mind.
What lay before him was a battlefield that had not yet cooled down.
Cerberus examined each of the abyssal creatures left behind, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face.
Apart from the demon hound, all members of Jason's camp were killed.
This situation was not what Cerberus had anticipated. He had already confirmed on the deck that Medea's camp did not have any particularly powerful opponents... Of course, his own side was in a similar situation, but they were at least clearly superior in numbers.
"Is this because of you, Xia Ying?"
Cerberus muttered to himself.
You must have tried many methods to achieve this, right? You're right, I should trust you more...
Because before you even open your mouth, I will tear down all obstacles for you.
The shadow let out a mocking laugh.
What exactly are you resenting?
Is it Cocytus? Or this game?
Or perhaps, it's the very fact that Xia Ying can keep moving forward regardless of your existence?
"Is that really so, Xia Ying?"
Cerberus twitched slightly; the "shadow's" provocation had finally taken effect... but perhaps it was his own voice all along.
"Then let me try killing all your companions."
-----------------------
Author's Note: Kernel: I'm going to kill all your companions and then commit suicide in front of you so you'll realize the truth and truly understand that I'm the best dog in the world!
Xia Ying: Bao, did you watch some kind of short drama called "CEO! The Madam Has Been Cremated for Three Days!"?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
