Chapter 14: Soul Guardians
The Soul Speaker inside the cell was tightly bound, with a hood over their head.
"If this place falls, kill her immediately."
"Yes!"
The young adjutant took out a steam bomb and stuck it to the wall beside the iron cell.
Su Xiao turned and walked out of the dungeon, ascended the stairs, entered the underground hall, dragged over a metal chair, and sat down in the center of the hall.
Su Xiao was verifying whether his conjecture was correct. To continue triggering the awakening mission, he had no choice but to do this. Now, all he had to do was wait.
It was quiet outside. With nothing else to do, Su Xiao took out the [Soul Source (High Purity)]. There were many ways to use this item, varying depending on the ability being enhanced, such as direct consumption, injection, or absorption through an ability.
Su Xiao opened the small glass vial. The entire vial was only as long as a thumb, and the liquid inside was completely transparent, odorless when sniffed.
Su Xiao brought the small vial to his lips, opened his mouth, tilted his head back, and tapped the bottom lightly with his index finger. The colorless liquid inside fell into his mouth like a jelly.
Su Xiao frowned. The Soul Source had a strange taste, somewhat sweet yet a bit sour, like ice cream mixed with vinegar.
After swallowing the Soul Source, Su Xiao mobilized the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy within his body and began to absorb it.
As soon as the Soul Source entered his body, it dispersed. The Cyan Steel Shadow Energy did not repel it but instead absorbed it at a visible rate, though the process was not fast.
Su Xiao could feel the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy within him rapidly growing stronger, but it stopped once it reached a certain level. This left him craving more Soul Source, but unfortunately, he had only seen this item in the hands of the Old Saint King.
Only after Su Xiao eliminated Eagle Marquis did the Old Saint King produce this small vial of Soul Source. The preciousness of Soul Source was self-evident.
[Cyan Steel Shadow ability has been upgraded to Lv.46.]
[Cyan Steel Shadow ability has been upgraded to Lv.47.]
[Cyan Steel Shadow: Lv.47 (Active Skill)]
Usage Condition: After activating (Cyan Steel Shadow), the Hunter consumes 134 mana points per minute (increased by 4 points). Automatically deactivates when mana falls below 1%.
Skill Effect: After activating (Cyan Steel Shadow), each melee attack burns 265 mana points from the enemy (increased by 10 points) and deals true damage equal to 1.6 times the burned mana (424 true damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn. While enduring the pain, the enemy has a 20% chance to trigger one of three abnormal statuses: Paralysis, Immobilization, or Stun. The abnormal status duration is 0.2 to 3 seconds.
Defensive Form: Proud Song (Active), can generate energy shields of any shape for defense...
External Release Form: Energy Blockade (Active), insufficient Cyan Steel Shadow energy intensity, temporarily unable to use this ability.
Note: This ability can be awakened when Cyan Steel Shadow reaches Lv.40. It can be used when upgraded to Lv.50.
The overall attributes of Cyan Steel Shadow had improved, and it was only 3 levels away from reaching Lv.50. At that point, he would gain the 'Energy Blockade' ability. What this ability did was still unclear to Su Xiao for now.
As one of the two forms of Cyan Steel Shadow, Energy Blockade would certainly not be weak, so Su Xiao had high expectations for it.
A somewhat lengthy wait began. Until the next morning, there was no sign of trouble near the base camp. The soldiers who had been summoned stood at attention, and the 29 Transcendents were hidden on the first to third floors of the building.
Sunlight filtered through the dense forest. The walls of the base camp building were covered in climbing vines, everything appearing peaceful and natural.
Until the sun set on the horizon and the moon gradually rose, the surroundings remained quiet.
Swoosh~
A dark figure darted through the forest, agile and swift.
"Safe."
The figure crouched on a tree branch. She had a head of fiery red hair, wore leather armor, and her hair strands were stirred by the night wind. A few small pimples dotted her fair cheeks.
A few seconds later, at least a hundred figures rushed out from behind the forest. The red-haired girl leaned back and landed steadily.
"Lan, what do we do next?"
The red-haired girl spoke. The 'Lan' she referred to was named Rice·Lan, a young man with blonde hair. He appeared to be under 20 years old, and his aura was like sunlight, bringing warmth to people's hearts.
"We must rescue Lady Nidiya."
Lan picked up a branch and began sketching a rough plan on the ground.
"Those despicable rulers, what did Lady Nidiya do wrong? Suddenly arresting her."
The red-haired girl was somewhat indignant. She was one of the main members of the Soul Guardians. Although this organization had only been established for a few years, it had gained considerable fame. They were mainly responsible for handling supernatural anomalies, and the Soul Speaker acted as their guide, a very noble image.
The Soul Guardian organization had repeatedly applied to the Empire for official status, meaning a small amount of administrative power, which would make it much easier for them to handle supernatural anomalies.
Judging by the Soul Guardians' past performance, they had indeed done many good deeds. They had resolved the Skin Peeler Incident, the Hanging Rat Kidnapping Case, and the Red Boots Serial Murder Case, saving many civilians.
Because of this, this civilian organization had recruited many civilian Transcendents, operating in a manner similar to a detective agency.
Unfortunately, the members of the Soul Guardians were unaware of one thing: what this generation's Soul Speaker had done in the past. Without the protection of the Moon God Monastery, the Soul Speaker would have been killed by the Ninth Unit a hundred times over.
In fact, the Soul Guardian members didn't even know the Soul Speaker's true identity. They firmly believed she was a kind old woman named Nidiya, the original founder and guide of the Soul Guardians.
"Are we defying the Empire by doing this? Is that... really okay?"
One of the Soul Guardian members spoke.
"At worst, we flee the Dawn Empire. The Rodan Empire will take us in."
"That's right. Our mission is to ensure ordinary people aren't harmed by those bizarre supernatural events, so they don't suffer the same misfortune as our families. This has nothing to do with national borders. And the rulers of the Dawn Empire are completely unreasonable, suddenly arresting Lady Nidiya."
"The soul is supreme."
"The soul is supreme!"
A dozen or so men and women around them spoke in unison. As the second-in-command, Lan frowned slightly. He felt that everything about the Soul Guardians was fine, except for that phrase 'the soul is supreme,' which made him somewhat uncomfortable.
Clearly, the Soul Speaker had done a good job of brainwashing. A sense of justice, responsibility, kindness, righteousness, unfortunate experiences, and a sense of belonging—all were things she could exploit. More interestingly, the members of the Soul Guardians were generally quite young.
"That building has 200 well-trained soldiers around it. There are 29 Transcendents inside. Lady Nidiya is imprisoned in the basement. Her aura is somewhat weak."
"Damn it, those bastards."
"We can't delay any longer."
After arranging the attack formation, over a hundred members of the Soul Guardians began to converge on the base camp.
Two minutes later, the battle erupted. It turned out that the civilian Transcendents were not to be trifled with, but the soldiers were no pushovers either.
The battle lasted nearly half an hour before it stopped. Lan punched and knocked out an Imperial Transcendent, his fist wrapped in golden light at the time.
Corpses lay scattered near the building. When they first attacked, the Soul Guardian members hadn't expected so many deaths. They rarely engaged in group battles; their largest-scale fight had only involved a dozen or so people.
The battle spiraled out of control from the start. The soldiers and Imperial Transcendents didn't care about the Soul Guardian organization at all. Anyone who attacked was killed!
As a result, the battle was far more brutal than Lan had imagined. Over a dozen Soul Guardian members even fled during the fight.
Lan was breathing heavily. The red-haired girl beside him wiped the blood from her face and sheathed her two rapiers. Her heart was heavy.
"Continue."
Lan led the remaining dozen or so members into the four-story building. After a search, they found a corridor leading underground.
Pfft~
The first steam door opened. Lan was at the front, crouching low, staying alert.
"No one?"
"Keep moving forward."
The dozen or so Soul Guardian members advanced down the corridor, quickly opening the second steam door. Still no one. The third steam door was just over ten meters away.
The group reached the third steam door. A one-eyed young man placed his hand on it.
Pfft~
White steam rose as the door opened. The scene before them was an underground hall paved with black marble. Scattered pieces of paper and dried bloodstains could be seen here and there.
Lan and the red-haired girl stood still, not daring to move forward. Because in the center of the underground hall was a metal chair, and sitting on it was a man. He was sitting with his legs crossed, a sheathed longsword resting against the armrest of the chair.
Lan and the red-haired girl exchanged a glance. Without even getting close to the man, they could smell a faint scent of blood. That faint, terrifying aura was something they had never encountered before. It seemed as if what sat there was not a human, but a blood-soaked, grinning beast of prey.
None of the dozen or so Transcendents dared to take a single step forward.