Chapter 257: Encounter
Reef.
Hicks put away the crystal ball in his hand, which had become dim due to the exhaustion of power, and instead took out two exquisite small stone bottles.
"Take one pill a day for three days and take it every other day. If you still haven't found a solution by the time you finish the pills in this small bottle, then you can think about where to bury the body."
Hicks' humor was not recognized, and both Lena and Sairen looked very ugly.
The two brothers who might turn into corpses had normal expressions. Lulton even had the mood to ask him what the pills tasted like and whether they were bitter.
Hicks looked old but had a sweet heart. He smiled and replied, "It tastes like sea mint. It's very refreshing."
"That's good." Lulton grinned, "The medicines prepared by the pharmacists in New Victory are very bitter."
He didn't want Lu Yi to experience the same suffering he had suffered.
Lu Yi opened the stone bottle with great action and roughly estimated the number of pills in the bottle.
There are probably about twenty or less than thirty.
After dealing with the hybrid mermaid, Hicks began to drive people away.
"You idle mermaids can go and have fun, but we elders are pitiful. We are old and still have to deal with all kinds of messy things in the tribe."
Hicks pointedly said, "Look at you guys. You killed a leader and didn't even know how to bring back a leader. Although Ed deserves to die, you can't leave the whole tribe leaderless like now, without even a merman to work, right?"
There aren't many mermaids in the royal family, but there are only a handful of people who are capable and responsible enough to take on the responsibility of being the leader. These mermaids were killed by Ed for various reasons over the years. So even though Ed is dead now, it will take a while for them to find a suitable mermaid to inherit the throne.
The Council of Elders is actually interested in letting the returning Sairen succeed to the throne. After all, Sairen was the successor originally chosen by the old mermaid leader. Just from his name "Sairen", one can see the old mermaid leader's full expectations for him.
But the problem is that Sairen doesn't want to.
He didn't care about the throne decades ago, and decades later, Sairen, who already had everything in the human race, would not be willing to stay.
As for the few remaining royals of the mermaid tribe who were not killed? Sorry, they have been lying low and enjoying themselves for too many years, and it is impossible for them to diligently take care of the whole family.
It was obvious that the proud mermaid throne was what Ed longed for, but now it was left vacant, and all the affairs of the tribe were handled by the Council of Elders.
Sairen pretended that he didn't understand anything and pushed Louis Lulton out of the hall.
He had already handed over the affairs of the Klein family to Astor a long time ago. How could he be so stupid as to come to the mermaid tribe to take charge and find trouble?
Seeing the elder shift his gaze towards her, Lena immediately turned her eyes away and swam forward.
Her azure fish tail swayed vigorously, and she swam several meters away, but stopped abruptly when she was about to catch up with Lu Yi.
Like a butterfly with broken wings, her tail suddenly went soft and her whole body fell heavily downwards.
Lu Yi was closest to her and was the one who reacted the fastest. He accelerated downwards and caught Lian Na in time, stopping her from falling further.
Lena frowned in pain, and red bloodshot appeared in her beautiful blue eyes.
Without waiting for them to ask, she said in a panic, "Something happened...something must have happened to Xin Shengli!
"I have used a special induction potion on Wende, and the induction is now weakening rapidly!
"Wende's vitality is fading. He must have encountered a special situation that is life-threatening! We must go back quickly!"
…
Po River, Crisse Gorge.
I don't know when the wind and snow stopped. It was four o'clock in the morning, less than two hours away from daybreak.
Astor struggled to move his almost frozen thighs.
Perhaps it was really the gods' blessing that no hungry wild beasts came after them that night - of course, it could also be that in such bad weather, even the wild beasts had to stay dormant temporarily.
He slept all night with a worried look on his face. Although his sleep was not restful and was very shallow, it at least made him feel more energetic and the wounds on his body did not hurt as much as yesterday.
Astor had never thought that ordinary people's vitality could be so tenacious. Even though he had imagined the scene of death countless times in his mind, every cell in his body was still trying to survive.
Stay alive.
He must survive.
He is not a lonely ghost without any ties, he has his reasons to live. Even if there is only a glimmer of hope, he will not give up.
Looking at the still dark night, Astor took out the small pocket watch from his arms. It was 4:15 in the morning.
Perhaps it would be dawn in another hour and a half, Astor thought.
Astor clumsily touched the Klein family photo clipped in the pocket watch cover with his stiff fingers, and then carefully put the pocket watch back into his pocket.
He couldn't help but think pessimistically that if he died beyond recognition, then this pocket watch might be a major proof of his identity.
It was just a brief moment, and he couldn't help missing her.
This longing was so strong, but in reality it was only a brief second or two, or even just a heavy breath of his, and it was quickly suppressed.
He didn't have much time to miss or feel sad. Every minute and every second now was precious, it was the golden time for them to escape from danger.
Astor felt the blood flowing more freely in his body, and his awakened brain reawakened his organs.
Astor removed the heavy coat covering his body and stood up with difficulty. The other four non-commissioned officers in the team were still asleep.
The movement of his getting up was not big and the noise he made was very small, but even so, one of the two non-commissioned officers closest to him opened his eyes sharply.
"marshal."
Astor did not stop him from speaking.
It's almost time to act now. If we wait until it's light, they will be passive.
"Let's go wake them up." Aster whispered.
He took the lead and walked over to the other non-commissioned officer closest to him, who was also his adjutant.
Astor whispered his adjutant's name and pushed him.
As soon as he touched the adjutant's body, Astor knew something was wrong.
It's too stiff, and it doesn't seem like the softness that a living person should have.
Astor held his breath and turned the adjutant's body over, exposing his pale and stiff cheek to the air.
Astor's breathing stagnated. Even though he knew exactly what was happening, he subconsciously reached out his hand, trying to feel the adjutant's breath.
But he failed.
He was clearly the magician's adjutant, but he died quietly in the cold night.
No, not without reason.
The adjutant's warm coat was covering Astor. If it weren't for this coat, the person who died last night would not be the adjutant but him, Astor thought very calmly.
But why did the adjutant do this?
Astor was a little confused.
The adjutant had no previous contact with him and was just a non-commissioned officer temporarily assigned after Astor was sent to lead the army.
He had read the adjutant's file on the march. This ordinary resident of New Victory had been in the direct army of the New Victory Royal City since he graduated from the military academy.
There was nothing outstanding about him, nor was there anything worth paying special attention to. Under normal circumstances, such a person would be someone that Aster would not even bother to look at.
But it was this civilian non-commissioned officer, whom Astor didn't care about at all, who gave Astor his only warm coat that represented his life.
Although Astor was a noble, he knew that not everyone was a slave with a broken spine.
The title of nobility is certainly useful in ordinary times, but at the moment of real life and death, how to survive is the first priority for people.
Astor's doubts did not last long.
In the short while since he discovered his adjutant's death, the other non-commissioned officers had woken up, and three of them gathered around him.
The sergeant interrupted his silence, "Yves, this guy, promised to treat me to a drink at the best tavern in the capital after this fight, but he broke his promise and teased me...
"You little brat, I'll go on a date with Lily as soon as I get home. I'll make you mad..."
"Look!" Another sergeant with sharp eyes pulled something out from under Yves' stiff body.
It's an envelope.
"What is this? Is this Yves' suicide note?"
No one answered his question, and the three of them looked at the envelope in his hand in silence.
"Do you want to open it now?"
He looked at Astor inquiringly.
Astor shook his head. "Let's go first. We don't have time to read it. After all, if we don't leave now, maybe what we'll do is not to read his suicide note, but to leave a suicide note as well."
For the first time, the sergeant realized that their superior actually had a bit of black humor. Although the joke he told was a hell of a joke, it did not stop him from laughing heartily.
"The Marshal is right. Let's go! As for this letter, let the Marshal keep it! I believe the Marshal will definitely hand it over to Yves's relatives."
Astor nodded indifferently, turned around, folded the letter and put it into the lining pocket where the pocket watch was hidden.
If he could get out alive -
-
At five o'clock in the morning, the four of them were traveling through the canyon.
Because it was not yet dawn and the light was still dim, they were not moving forward very quickly, and the unfamiliar terrain made their groping process even slower.
While passing through a dense jungle, the branches and leaves not far away swayed without wind.
The four of them stopped instantly and hid where they were.
Astor's eyes were blocked by the leaves, and he could only peek at the movements elsewhere through the narrow gaps.
Because his blond hair was conspicuous, he covered his hair and cheeks early on, leaving only a pair of narrow blue eyes exposed.
The branches and leaves swayed even more violently, and Astor could already hear the crunching sound of branches and leaves being stepped on.
Although those people intentionally slowed down their pace, it was impossible to make no sound at all in such a dense jungle. It was these slight sounds that allowed them to discover the approaching people in advance.
He was like an experienced cheetah, holding his breath and hiding in the jungle, patiently watching for possible prey.
Only after the most rigorous evaluation will he decide whether to attack directly or take emergency shelter.
On the other side of the jungle, Zorn and his mercenary team were searching anxiously.
They had been searching this vast canyon for almost an entire night, but still could not find any trace of Astor.
The canyon had a unique terrain, with countless places to hide. All of Aster's magic weapons had no response, so they could only use the most inefficient and stupid method of searching on the ground.
They cannot make a big move and have to be careful, otherwise if they alert the army ambushed in the Po River, they will all die here.
"There seemed to be some movement over there just now." The fox tilted his head and said.
Zorn stopped walking and looked carefully in the direction he pointed.
Such cautious troops are most likely not from the Po River.
Zorn waved his hand and approached quietly, holding his breath.
The sound of breaking air came without warning, and the cold light reflected by the blade was extremely dazzling.
Zorn reacted quickly and dodged the arrow by leaning sideways.
At the same time as the cold arrow was fired, Zorn's rapid, low cry was also heard.
"Brother! Is that you?"
Astor suddenly stood up from the jungle, with several leaves hanging on his head and body.
"Zorn? Why is it you?!"
Zorn walked quickly towards Aster, looked him up and down carefully, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he did not have any particularly serious injuries and was in good mental state.
"Were you ambushed? When I didn't see you guys after returning to the camp, I knew something must have happened."
Astor nodded and did not elaborate on what they had experienced. He simply said that they had been ambushed several times and now there were only four of them left in the team.
Although Astor wanted to teach this reckless brother who ignored the danger a lesson, there was obviously no time for small talk.
"Do you remember the way here? Let's evacuate before daybreak."
"Remember, but we have another way." Zorn said with a cheerful smile.
He turned to look at the fox, who poked his head out and grinned at Aster, "Hey, brother, I'm your brother's teammate. My talent is the special seventh element, space, are you surprised?"
Astor's eyes lit up instantly.
Several people put their hands together, the golden space elements began to distort, and the invisible air seemed to change shape as well.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Nothing happened.
The folded hands of several people glowed wildly, but the space teleportation array that was supposed to take them out of the canyon did not take any further action.
Cold sweat broke out on the fox's forehead.
There had never been any problem with space teleportation. This was the first time that he had successfully activated the spell but the space did not change.
He was a little flustered in his heart, but he remained calm on the surface and said, "It's a small problem, don't be nervous, let's try again!"
The golden hair shone again and again, but the spell never took effect.
After trying countless times, the fox's magic power was exhausted, and the golden light emitted by the space spell became weaker and weaker.
The fox fell to the ground exhausted, "No, something must be wrong."
His spells are the most powerful space magic that ignores constraints!
The fox racked his brains but could not think of any possibility, unless it was the power of God, but how was that possible?
If the other side has divine help, do they really have hope of survival?
The fox was really beginning to despair now. They had been dominating the Isaiah continent for many years, but this time they were really going to fail.
Fox grasped the hand that Zorn extended and climbed up, saying gloomily, "Let's go back the same way we came here..."
"I'm afraid it won't work." Zorn said solemnly.
He looked up at the top of the mountain, his eyes passing through the layers of leaves and meeting the gaze of the man with his face covered in a black robe.
On the small flat land in the cliff, several people in black robes were staring at them closely, with bright magic power gathering in their hands.
The author has something to say:
I originally wanted to finish writing it in one go, but it seems like I can’t finish one chapter [chin on hand][poor]
There's something going on in the 3D world on Thursday and Friday, so the update may be a little late, but it will definitely be updated! [Hug]
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