Chapter 7: The Hidden Expert
Within the vast, boundless Sea of Stars and Mist, ten large metallic lifeforms surrounded a single small one. Thousands of figures flew out from the metallic lifeforms. These bandits all stared at the pitiful group of Linley and the others. Clearly, they didn’t consider these twenty-plus people worth their attention.
“It’s over. All over!” Achi trembled slightly, his face deathly pale.
The other mid-level god demons felt their hearts turn as cold as ice water in the dead of winter. Despair filled the eyes of the mid-level god demons. Surrounded by thousands of mid-level god bandits, they had no hope of resistance.
“Boss, this is a bit troublesome,” Bebe said, his expression grim.
Linley nodded slightly. It was more than just troublesome. The more attackers in a group, the more terrifying the combined assault. After all, these were thousands of mid-level gods.
“There are even people below.” Linley glanced down and saw hundreds of bandits lurking in the seawater, seemingly worried that Linley’s group might escape from the seabed.
“We’re done for,” someone said in despair.
The bearded Betts also had a grim expression. He said in a low voice, “There are thousands of mid-level gods, and it seems there are even high-level gods. Too many people. Everyone can only rely on themselves. I hope you all have the same luck as last time during the Mist Sea Riot!”
“Good luck, everyone,” the bald young man ‘Pofi’ also said in a low voice. Even as a high-level god, under these circumstances, he couldn’t protect the others.
The metallic lifeform fell into dead silence.
“Everyone.”
They all turned to look. The speaker was Achi.
The employer ‘Achi’ said solemnly, “I invited you all here this time, but I never expected to lead you into this near-certain disaster. I’m sorry!” Achi bowed slightly.
“Damn it! Even if I die, I’m taking a few with me!” someone roared hysterically.
“Right, wanting to kill me isn’t that easy. I survived the Mist Sea Riot, so I’m not dying so easily!”
The metallic lifeform erupted with roars.
Linley’s group of four remained silent.
“Something’s strange,” Linley said, looking outside. Above the misty sea, densely packed mid-level gods were gathered. “So many mid-level gods gathered, yet they haven’t attacked? What are they hesitating about?”
“Boss, what about us?” Bebe looked at Linley.
“At this point, we can’t hold back anymore,” Linley sent a mental message helplessly. At this moment, holding back would only get them killed.
Suddenly—
A violent thunder dragon of lightning abruptly burst out from beneath the water, roaring as it crashed toward the metallic lifeform where Linley was. With a thunderous “Boom!” the entire metallic lifeform shattered into pieces. Linley and the others immediately floated above the sea surface.
Linley and the twenty-plus others were like sheep surrounded by wolves, pitifully suspended there.
“Hahaha…” A burst of contemptuous laughter came from the thousands of bandits. At this moment, the Second Chief of Blade Edge Island, ‘Daiman’, led thirty-six high-level gods to the front of the island. The ordinary mid-level god bandits immediately stepped aside respectfully.
Daiman raised his hand slightly, and instantly the thousands of bandits fell silent.
Linley and his group immediately looked at Daiman.
“This man should be the bandit leader,” Linley thought, staring at Daiman and calculating. “And behind him are thirty-six high-level gods. This bandit leader is probably at the level of a Five-Star Demon, or even a Six-Star Demon.”
Linley grew cautious.
At his current level, he wasn’t confident enough to fight a Six-Star Demon.
“Whoosh, whoosh~” The waves rolled.
Daiman stood at the front of the group of high-level gods, stepping on the waves, his eyes faintly red.
“Haha, I didn’t expect there to be two high-level gods,” Daiman said with a wild laugh, his gaze fixed on the bald young man ‘Pofi’ and occasionally sweeping over Delia. “Do you know who I am? Let me tell you. I am the Second Chief of Blade Edge Island!”
Daiman had a sinister smile on his face, but his red-tinged eyes held a strange light.
The bandits all knew that when the Second Chief Daiman smiled like this, it was usually his most insane and twisted moment!
“Lord of Blade Edge Island,” Achi quickly said sincerely, “We are just ordinary travelers. Please, my lord, spare us. We are willing to offer all our wealth.”
“Wealth?”
Daiman’s mind involuntarily recalled the death of Akatz and the spatial ring taken by that black-haired man. That was the immense wealth of Blade Edge Island. Daiman was still unwilling to accept this loss. That was why he glared at Achi. “Wealth? How much could you possibly have? Do you think I care about that? I escaped from Blade Edge Island and have already encountered three groups along the way. I killed them all.”
Then Daiman pointed at Linley’s group. “And you are the fourth!”
Linley and the others frowned.
“These people escaped from Blade Edge Island?” Linley vaguely understood.
“That bald man and that bitch are both high-level gods. The four of you, deal with them,” Daiman said, glancing back casually. Four high-level gods immediately flew out. Then Daiman shouted loudly, “Brothers of the Second Mountain, it’s your turn this time. Kill them all!”
Instantly, the group of mid-level god bandits who had been waiting nearby charged forward. They hadn’t acted in the previous three rounds and were getting impatient.
“Kill!”
Their eyes gleamed with excitement. Nearly seven or eight hundred mid-level gods, led by four high-level gods, surged forward. The other bandits watched from a distance. Sending over eight hundred to kill just over twenty people was already showing them great respect.
Seven or eight hundred people charged across the waves, with thousands more watching. The psychological pressure alone was enough to make Linley’s group hold their breath.
“Everyone, save yourselves,” the bald young man ‘Pofi’ said in a low voice.
On Blade Edge Island’s side, two of the four high-level gods leaped forward side by side. A dragon’s roar echoed as two pale ice dragons rose from the sea and lunged toward Pofi, while the two high-level gods continued forward.
The other two high-level gods fixed their eyes on Delia and attacked simultaneously.
Linley’s gaze turned cold. The Violet Blood Soft Sword appeared in his hand.
“Linley, let me try,” Delia’s voice entered Linley’s mind. Linley turned to look. Delia was holding the Gotes Spear, her waist slightly arched backward. Then she snapped forward, hurling the spear with all her might—
“Swish!” A flash of green light, and it was already before a high-level god’s eyes.
The man tried to dodge, but the Gotes Spear, imbued with the profound mystery of ‘Dimensional Attack,’ was too fast. He could only avoid his head. With a “Pfft!” sound, the Gotes Spear pierced straight through his right chest.
The other high-level god tried to take advantage of the moment to attack Delia, but suddenly, a Death God Puppet appeared before him!
“Hmph!” The Death God Puppet swung its right leg, aiming directly at the high-level god’s head.
“Clang!” The high-level god immediately blocked with his divine artifact, but he was still sent flying backward.
The high-level god flipped and steadied himself, his face changing dramatically as he stared at the Death God Puppet. “A Death God Puppet!”
In truth, the attack of these four high-level gods was still a minor matter. The truly terrifying threat was the seven hundred-plus mid-level gods. Especially as they closed in, these seven hundred mid-level gods simultaneously swung their divine artifacts. Countless blurry beams of light shot out, targeting the twenty-plus people.
“Roar~”
Linley immediately dragonized, forcefully blocking several attacks aimed at Delia. The attacks from the mid-level gods had no effect on Linley.
Bebe also helped the nearby Oliver.
Even so, the seven hundred-plus mid-level gods still killed six demons. The seven hundred-plus bandits roared and charged in for close combat. The dense swarm of mid-level gods closed in, forcing everyone into chaotic individual battles. Linley, Bebe, and Oliver all displayed their formidable strength.
Linley and Bebe needed no introduction. As for Oliver, he had reached the mid-level god stage in both Light and Darkness. As a soul mutant, he fused Light and Darkness divine power. Each of his strikes was incredibly fast and carried a strange purifying force.
One strike, one kill.
“Hmm?” Daiman’s expression changed in the distance, and he stared intently at Oliver.
“Soul mutation!” Daiman identified it immediately.
Oliver’s fusion of Light and Darkness power hadn’t yet reached the level of Reimund. Reimund could fuse two types of divine power to the point where it sometimes exhibited the aura of Destruction divine power and sometimes the aura of Fire attribute power.
But Oliver couldn’t.
“Haha… Blade Edge Island suffered heavy losses, but I didn’t expect to encounter a soul mutant,” Daiman thought, his heart burning with excitement. “If… if I offer him to…”
Daiman began to grow excited.
But the scene on the battlefield made Daiman frown again. It wasn’t just Linley, Bebe, and Oliver killing swiftly. One person was even more terrifying—strangely, with only the sounds of “Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” mid-level gods kept falling one after another.
A black blur flickered continuously. The seven hundred-plus bandits were rapidly decreasing, falling powerlessly one by one.
Screams rang out endlessly, but no one could resist.
Linley swung his Violet Blood Soft Sword, easily killing a mid-level god who charged at him, while he looked in surprise at the rapidly darting black blur. “I didn’t expect him to be hiding his strength. No one noticed!”
“Brothers of the Second Mountain, fall back!” Daiman shouted angrily.
The surviving bandits immediately retreated, but in the blink of an eye, the seven hundred-plus had been reduced to just over four hundred. The vast majority had been killed by the one who had been hiding his strength.
“Ah, how boring. They ran away.” The figure materialized on the waves. It was the bearded ‘Betts.’
At this moment, Betts’s aura was mysterious and powerful—he was a high-level god expert!
“Hiding his aura!” Linley thought to himself. Normally, when probing someone’s strength, one sensed their aura to judge their power. If you couldn’t sense it, that meant they were a level above you. Based on this, Linley judged whether someone was a mid-level god or a high-level god.
He couldn’t sense the aura of a high-level god.
But sometimes, some powerful high-level gods could deliberately emit a faint aura to mislead others about their true strength.
“Haha…” Daiman laughed in fury. “I didn’t expect that among you, there was a third high-level god, and it seems he’s the strongest one.” Daiman was in a bad mood today, and his killing spree was just to vent.
Encountering a tough nut like Betts only made Daiman angrier.
“The strongest one?” Betts looked around. The bald young man ‘Pofi’ was now severely injured, and Delia was barely holding on with the help of the Death God Puppet.
The bearded ‘Betts’ smiled at Daiman. “Hey, leader of Blade Edge Island, I’m sure you understand. If you try to deal with us, even if you succeed, you’ll probably lose more than half your men. That’s not worth it. I don’t feel like killing those weak mid-level gods either. How about this—you go your way, and we go ours?”
The surviving mid-level god demons immediately grew excited.
“Betts, oh, Lord Betts!” Achi, who had some strength and was still alive, looked at Betts with excitement. “Lord Betts, I’m truly grateful this time. I, I will definitely increase your pay when we reach Blood Peak Continent.” Achi was so excited he didn’t know what to say.
In Achi’s view, as long as Daiman wasn’t an idiot, he wouldn’t waste his men’s lives.
“Pay?” Betts grinned. “Alright. But make it double what Pofi gets!”
“Definitely double,” Achi quickly agreed.
Betts then looked at Daiman. “Hey, what’s your decision? Why are you just standing there dumbfounded?”