Chapter 178: Trust Yourself

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

During a time like this, no one paid attention to Gibran, and even Yalina overlooked the threat Gibran might have posed. When Asa and his companions finally arrived, some tended to their wounded friends, while the others ran next to the barricade, which had been completely destroyed by the Nine Grid Thunder Call. They bent down and pushed away the dirt and the rocks, trying to find something.

“Cough....” The young man who had been burned was lying on the ground, his desperate voice twisted in pain. His face and body had been burned black and was barely recognizable, while his legs were bent backwards at an awkward angle. His hands were extended toward the sky as if he were trying to hug something.

“Aibo, are you ok?”

“Aibo...”

The two female deacons desperately cast healing spells. One after another, rings of magic fell onto Aibo, but everyone knew he was past saving. All they could hope for was a miracle.

“Headmaster!” a female magician cried.

Yalina looked toward Han Jin. He was the one who had saved her when she had been severely wounded. If there was going to be any miracle, he would be the one to make it happen.

Han Jin walked beside Aibo and held his wrist. After a moment of concentration, he shook his head.

“My Lord, please save him! I beg you, please save him!” The female magician was so desperate, she dove into Han Jin’s arms and clung to his sleeves.

“If it was only a surface wound, I have some ways,” Han Jin slowly said. “But he cried for help while running and inhaled too much smoke. His lungs are completely burned. This kind of injury...”

“Let me.” A dagger appeared in Reg’s hand, and he slowly raised it.

“What are you doing?” the young men all yelled in astonishment.

“Ending his pain,” Reg said flatly. He didn’t rush for the kill, since this was a matter that required consent from everyone, else he would be a murderer.

“Are there no other ways?” Yalina implored.

Han Jin shook his head. Daoist Arts wasn’t all-powerful; he was out of options – at least at his current level. Besides, he had told the truth about Aibo’s inner wound. The majority of Aibo’s lungs had been burnt to charcoal, and all Han Jin could do was watch as Aibo stepped closer to death.

Yalina bit her lips. She clearly hadn’t given up yet, and fixated her gaze on Han Jin, who was forced to look away.

Reg leaned down and made a forward gesture with his dagger. The female magician, whose face was stained with tears, madly dove forward and pushed Reg away. “No! I won’t allow you to hurt him! You damned thief!!”

Reg smiled bitterly, then quietly said, “Shouldn’t we get his opinion?”

“Hiss... Hisss.....” Aibo suddenly nodded on the ground, except it was more like a spasm; there was a twitch, a pause, and then another twitch. The burnt flesh on his neck splintered, and more blood sprayed out.

“He is in great pain. Do you understand?” Reg gradually said.

“Hiss...” Aibo was still nodding.

At that moment, another scream came from the front. Asa slowly stood up with a fist sized rock, his body trembling like a shaking sieve.

Everyone shifted their gaze and saw that the rock had half a face on it. There was an eye, eyebrow, and even half of a broken nose. Yalina took a deep breath, then said, word by word, “Curse of Demon-God!”

“Headmaster, Irwin, they...”

No one responded. It was clear what had happened, and people had witnessed Irwin and his friends shattering onto the ground.

Asa tried to control himself, but tears still flowed out. He knelt on the ground and sobbed gently with the rock tightly held against his chest.

Asa was the leader of the students, and when he started crying, everyone else became affected as well. The cries were only sobs at first, but they then became louder and louder.

A lot had happened since they had entered the Tarasha Mountains, but under the protection of Yalina, Han Jin, and the rest of the team, those were only obstacles. But now, death fell upon them so abruptly, and took five of their friends at once! This was a blow that was too hard for them to bear.

Reg looked at Han Jin for a decision, and received a slight nod. He slid his dagger across Aibo’s throat, and the strange hissing sound abruptly stopped.

Cries of grief echoed across the camp. The female magicians and deacons were especially emotional, and cried so hard they were almost out of breath. Yalina’s face was pale white, her right hand constantly squeezing and relaxing around her wand. The one who felt the worst here was actually her, because she was the Headmaster!

Han Jin felt bad too. Even though he did not have a good impression of these young men, who appeared naive and childish, those were, at most, shortcomings, and not because they were actually bad people. And precisely because of their naivety and innocence, he could tell they had never intended to hurt anyone! Besides, humans were emotional creatures; spending so much time with the young magicians and being looked up to by them, Han Jin had started treating them like a group of children who needed protection, despite the fact that they were basically the same age. Combined with his friendship with Yalina, he felt a responsibility to protect them if they were in danger. But unfortunately, he had failed.

“Chipango, who did this?” Gibran asked coldly.

Chipango blanked, then quickly responded, “The Abyss Mercenary Team!”

Gibran’s face slightly changed as if he was thinking about something.

“Abyss Mercenary Team is it?” Yalina said through gritted teeth.

“You are the one who raised the alert? You saved all of us. Thank you,” Han Jin quietly said. His tone was very humble. Even though Chipango was only a prisoner, the outcome would have been disastrous without his warning!

“Only doing what I should, My Lord!” Chipango straightened his back.

“That holy animal... was the Abyssal Ghost Snake? It can become invisible?” Han Jin asked.

“Yes.” Yalina nodded.

“How did you spot them?” Han Jin looked at Chipango.

“This guy has a skill similar to Eyes of Truth,” Gibran answered for him, then looked up and down at Chipango. “He’s not a bad thief, just... too agile.” In reality, he didn’t respect Chipango at all. That day, even though he had personally killed Chipango’s companion, Chipango had shown no intention for revenge and had very easily surrendered. But he couldn’t insult Chipango to his face right now, so he used ‘agile’ in place of many other words.

“Ah,” Han Jin slowly said. He understood Gibran’s subtext: Chipango was decently powerful and possessed Eyes of Truth; generally speaking, very useful, but had questionable loyalty.

“Raphael, what should we do?” Yalina asked in a low voice.

“Let us bury those who passed away... so they can rest in peace,” Han Jin said before slowly walking out of the camp.

“Where are you going?” Yalina panicked a little. Even though Han Jin had told her what to do, she had no idea how exactly she should do it.

“There are people treating us like fragile deers and attacking us one after another.” Han Jin didn’t stop. “I would feel unsettled if I didn’t do something for them in return.”

“Let him go.” Maybe because of sympathy, or maybe he just wanted to improve the two sides’ relations, Gibran appeared very enthusiastic today. He paused before saying, “The burial is only a minor concern. We need to focus on the Abyss Mercenary Team. They are bound to return!”

“Minor concern?” Yalina’s instantly frowned. “Please get out! You are not welcome here!”

Gibran stepped back with a bitter smile. At that moment, he saw Julia and Sunier, and his eyes instantly brightened. “Julia!”

But Julia completely ignored him. Gibran hurriedly yelled again, “Julia, it’s the Abyss Mercenary Team this time. You know how strange that bastard Manteco is and how hard it is to deal with him! We should gather and think of a solution, or else... Julia, don’t leave! Julia!!”

Yalina coldly humphed. Gibran was about to chase after Julia, but he froze after hearing Yalina. Sunier looked at Julia’s back, then at Gibran, and shook her head. She had spent most of her time over the past few days with Julia and Edwina, and had heard a lot about Gibran. She no longer despised him, and had instead started to pity him.

Gibran was a prudent and ruthless man who also had an arrogant demeanor; few men could earn his respect. But all men had weaknesses, and Gibran’s was, undoubtedly, Julia. No one knew, but Gibran had fallen in love the moment he had laid eyes on Julia. Even though Gibran was one of the central leaders of the Red Vanguards, he was still only a captain in name. If Julia did not approve of his decision, it would be very hard for him to do anything. Julia’s decision, on the other hand, would always win the support of everyone, because Gibran never opposed her.

Members of the Red Vanguards constantly made fun of Gibran for that, which should be embarrassing for someone as proud as Gibran, but he never felt embarrassed. The only thing that can be said is that a young man ceases to be logical when he falls in love.

That was one of the main reasons why Sunier had forgiven Gibran. A girl’s world views were usually clear and steady; what she saw was a love as deep as the ocean, and compared to that, those chilling deceits Gibran had pulled before, seemed minor.

“You know about the Abyss Mercenary Team?” Reg suddenly asked.

“Mhm.” Gibran answered half-heartedly.

“Do you have time? To talk about it?” Reg invited.

“Oh... Sure...” Julia had disappeared into the distance, and Gibran had finally cleared his mind. He slowly said, “I don’t know much actually. Their captain is named Manteco, a summoner who formed a contract with an Abyssal Ghost Snake, which he can summon at will. Manteco also has a younger sister – not sure if they are actually related or not – named Ewa. She’s a tenth-grade magician – specializes in the fire element.”

“That’s it?”

Gibran thought about it some more. “One time, I talked to the captain of the Dragon Singer Mercenary Corps, Dwightsteel, about the Abyss Mercenary Team. We suspect... that Manteco is an ambusher.”

Reg’s expression changed slightly, while Chipango twitched a little beside him. It must be said that without Julia as a distraction, Gibran was extremely observant. He instantly noticed Chipango and asked in a low voice, “You knew about it too?”

Chipango could only nod helplessly.

Yalina didn’t even want to talk to Gibran at all, but she couldn’t resist asking at this point, “What does ‘ambusher’ mean?”

“A word we mercenaries use among ourselves,” Reg explained. “Ambushers are the strange mercenaries – usually those who are vicious and cruel – who spend their time in the forest. But they don’t hunt holy animals, and instead attack other mercenaries.”

“Huh?”

“Hard to imagine?” Gibran smiled coldly. “For example, we encounter a unicorn, and after a hard battle, our warriors are wounded and our magicians are out of magic power. Right then, another group of mercenaries suddenly charges out from behind. What should we do?

“How despicable!”

“Insults don’t change anything. In the end, we would be killed, our loot would be stolen, and if they wanted to, they could keep a few...” Gibran glanced at the female magicians in the distance, but didn’t finish his sentence.

Yalina finally realized she was talking to Gibran! She laughed coldly and said, “So you are an ambusher?”

Gibran looked stunned, and only answered in a faint voice after a pause. “I...”

Chipango resisted the urge to laugh as he looked at Gibran. He agreed with Yalina that Gibran was not a good person! Hadn’t his friends died at his hands?!!

historical

“I’m different. I would never make attacking other mercenaries my job. I...” Gibran struggled to explain himself.

“Ha, then I suppose we met by chance? You shameless hypocrite!” Yalina ruthlessly cut off Gibran.

“This time... was because we accepted the black task...” Gibran replied in an arduous tone. He then saw Chipango’s funny face and coldly said, “Chipango, I had already warned your companions before. They had decided to be greedy and ignore me. Only then did I attack! Do you understand? They asked for it!”

Warning? Why wasn’t I aware of any warning? Chipango nearly asked out loud. But just because a magus had spoken to Gibran harshly didn’t mean he could, so he swallowed what he was about to say.

“Also, how did you know about the Abyss Mercenary Team?” Gibran asked. It was a great opportunity to shift the topic, otherwise it would be too awkward for him. He didn’t know how to explain himself either – you can’t change the past after all.

“I checked their teleportation log,” Chipango said. “I realized that wherever the Abyss Mercenary Team went, there would be an increased number of mercenary teams and corps disappearing around the area. Even though hunting holy animals is a dangerous job and accidents are common, the pattern was suspicious. I checked the log for the past three years, and the Abyss Mercenary Team had used the teleportation matrix seven times. They stay inside the Tarasha Mountains for at least three months at a time, and the longest they stayed was a whole year. During that year, a dozen mercenary teams who were teleported to nearby areas never came back. Doesn’t that tell you enough?

“The Mercenary Association’s teleportation log is classified. I have tried to access it before, but they wouldn’t provide any information related to it. How did you get their record?” Gibran asked in a low voice.

“I just... have my ways.” Chipango shrugged and dodged the question.

“Enough of that.” Cessation walked over towards them. “Think of a way to bury the fallen.”

It took a long time to calm the young magicians, and only then did they have time to dig a big pit at the camp’s center. The location was decided by everyone unanimously; even if their companions had passed, and some didn’t even have any bones left, with their bodies turned to stone, no one wanted the grave to be outside. That way, at least they could still keep the fallen company.

After who knows how long, a strange wind abruptly swept across the forest. The wind blew harder and harder, and eventually started to howl. As the night waned, everyone could clearly see that even the white clouds in the sky were being shredded into pieces and churned into a whirlpool, spinning endlessly at an amazing speed.

“What...” Yalina looked at the sky in amazement.

The wind howled louder and louder, as if tens of thousands of demons were hiding within them, and cried so loud it shook the earth. The trees in the forest danced left and right in unison as if they had come alive. Everyone felt a heaviness as an indescribable amount of pressure were coming from the sky. It wasn’t something that a person or holy animal could possess, and felt more like the wrath of nature!

“It’s Master Raphael!” A female deacon pointed toward the sky.

Han Jin stood proudly in the air, his sleeves flapping in the wind. Like an immortal visiting Earth, he quickly formed a series of gestures with his hands, and flung charms, one after another, into the air as if they were free. After three hours, the Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix was finally completed.

At his current level, Han Jin could not deploy a large scale lethal matrix. Although Eight Gates Heaven Lock Matrix wasn’t really lethal, it still pushed him to his limit. The usage of this almost fanatical move was partially because Han Jin felt responsible for what had happened. He had relied too much on the power of a magus, but had failed to realize that the magic of this world had established its own system: there was naturally a solution to everything one could cast.

One mistake was enough! Instead of trusting others, he might as well trust himself!