Chapter 27: Change
On the desolate land, O'Carol's corpse lay there.
"Dead!" Linley sighed inwardly. "This O'Carol was on the same level as Reisgem. Even a Sovereign-level expert at the Great Perfection would find it hard to kill him. If a Sovereign didn't act, the only way to kill such a super-strong expert would generally be through group attacks. But BeBe's divine ability, Soul Devourer..." Linley couldn't help but look at BeBe.
BeBe walked over to the corpse of the elf man, O'Carol, and snorted, "He actually ignored me!"
"Haha, BeBe, you're the bane of those experts who are skilled in the soul but haven't reached the Great Perfection!" Reisgem said with a laugh as he walked over and put an arm around BeBe. "I've discovered we're a perfect match! Your soul attack is number one, and my material attack, even if not number one, is still top-tier. When we join forces, who can stop us?"
Reisgem glanced at the corpse on the ground and sneered, "Hey, strong expert, strong expert! That's all it amounts to. When this strongest body dies, even if a clone remains, what is he worth in the future?"
Just then—
"Hmph!" A cold snort rang out. Reisgem's figure moved instantly, transforming into a blurry purple phantom that shot across the sky in an instant.
"What's going on?" Linley quickly turned his head to look. He saw a black shadow fleeing at high speed in the direction Reisgem was chasing. Linley was greatly shocked. "There was someone nearby? It seems all our attention was on O'Carol, and we didn't even notice someone spying on us."
Linley watched closely as Reisgem pursued that person.
As he chased, a purple light immediately emanated from Reisgem's body, spreading outward to form a purple crystal space. The fleeing black shadow was trapped within it, and its speed naturally decreased drastically.
"Swish!"
A purple streak shot out from Reisgem's hand, like a meteor. Its speed was so great that the black shadow had no way to dodge. "Sizzle..." The purple streak instantly crossed the distance of less than a hundred meters between Reisgem and the black shadow. The space seemed to part like flowing water, and faint spatial rifts could be seen. With a "Bang!" sound, the purple streak pierced into the black shadow's body. The entire black shadow exploded, sending fragments flying in all directions. Only then did the purple streak reveal its true form.
It was a knight's lance, nearly one and a half meters long, relatively short. Its entire body was a dark purple.
Of course, it could be thrown or used in close combat.
"Sovereign artifact!" Linley understood in his heart. This was Reisgem's only Sovereign artifact. "The power of that thrown lance from Reisgem was terrifying to this extent! Spatial rifts!"
Linley clearly remembered that when the lance was thrown just now, very tiny spatial rifts appeared.
This was the first time Linley had seen anyone cause the space of the planar battlefield to crack since he arrived! "Reisgem cultivates the Edicts of Destruction. Just his profound mysteries alone are strong enough. His strength is also immense. Paired with an offensive Sovereign artifact, his material attack is, as he said, if not number one among the commanders, then definitely top-tier."
Linley fully realized Reisgem's power.
Soul attack and material attack were both perfect. If there was a weakness... it was probably a slight fear of BeBe. BeBe's Soul Devourer was his bane. Unless Reisgem could obtain another soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. Unfortunately, even though his mother was a Sovereign, she couldn't directly give him one; he had to rely on military merits.
"Damn it, it was just a Death God puppet!" Reisgem cursed as he walked back.
"It was a Death God puppet, so getting angry is useless," Linley said. "His true body is probably hiding somewhere, not knowing where. Knowing how powerful you are, he probably fled far away long ago."
"Every time I see a target, but only realize it's a Death God puppet after killing it, it's the most frustrating."
Reisgem said, pointing to the golden badge on the ground. "There's only one commander badge. There are four of us. How should we split it? Everyone, speak up."
Linley and BeBe couldn't help but look at each other.
A commander badge!
For Linley, each commander badge represented the ability to save one of his family members or brothers! Linley deeply desired to obtain this commander badge, but he also understood that since the four of them had formed a team, there had to be team rules. He couldn't just take the spoils for himself.
"Linley, you two speak up," Reisgem said, looking over instead.
In Reisgem's heart, Lei Hong was like family to him, not an outsider. But Linley and BeBe had just joined the hunting team. Although he knew them, their friendship wasn't that deep. He couldn't make arbitrary decisions.
"Let's do it as we originally said," Linley said with a smile. "We'll split it four ways. But obviously, there's only one commander badge here. So how about this... Reisgem, you and Lei Hong count as one share. BeBe and I count as one share. I think you two shouldn't have any objections."
"Of course not," Reisgem also smiled.
Just like Reisgem and Lei Hong, their military merits were shared. Linley and BeBe were the same.
"For this one commander badge, whichever side gets it first is fine. If you get it this time, then the next commander badge goes to us. If we get it this time, then the next one goes to you," Linley said with a faint smile.
"Alright then," Reisgem said very straightforwardly, reaching out his hand to take the commander badge and tossing it to Linley. "You just joined our team, so I'll be courteous this first time. Let you have this commander badge. The next time we get one, it'll be mine."
Linley caught it, not being pretentious, and nodded with a smile. "Fine, next time it's yours."
Holding this golden badge, Linley couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. "Another one!" This time, Linley wanted to save his father, Yale, George, and also the wrongfully killed Dixie. After all, Dixie was Dylia's only brother. As for those who died naturally, without any regrets, Linley didn't intend to restore their memories.
After all, people like Uncle Hillman had lived for hundreds of years, with children and grandchildren, living freely before dying of old age.
No regrets, so why disturb them?
But Yale, George, and even his own father, Hogg, had died very unjustly.
"Linley, it's just a commander badge. Is it worth that expression?" Reisgem teased from the side.
"Ah." Linley snapped out of his thoughts, immediately smiled, and put away the golden badge. "Just thinking about some things."
BeBe, standing nearby, sighed, "Reisgem, you guys came here to collect enough badges to exchange for a Sovereign artifact. But the boss and I, although we're also here to gather military merits, have different goals. You wouldn't understand how important these badges are to the boss."
"Oh?" Reisgem immediately looked surprised. "How important?"
BeBe immediately started whispering with Reisgem, and Linley could only shake his head with a smile.
"Reisgem, what should we do with this Sovereign artifact?" Linley asked.
"What to do? Just leave it here," Reisgem replied.
Linley and BeBe were stunned.
"Leave it here?" BeBe exclaimed in surprise.
Reisgem casually kicked it and snorted, "Of course, leave it here. What, are we going to carry it with us? This Sovereign artifact, the Sovereign will take it back anyway. Taking it is useless. Besides, that O'Carol clearly still has a clone outside. This Sovereign artifact isn't easy to use right now, and carrying it is just a burden."
Linley and BeBe looked at each other upon hearing this, but they had to admit that Reisgem had a point.
"Let's go, continue moving," Reisgem said with a laugh. "With the strength of our hunting team, haha... on this planar battlefield, who are we afraid of? Gah gah."
Linley couldn't help but laugh as well. The four of them in the hunting team set off again, splitting into two groups, walking parallel to each other about two or three miles apart.
Somewhere else.
A man with short golden hair, dressed in a black robe, had a face full of shock. "I didn't expect that the widely circulated news of Beirut's arrival among the commanders was actually false! The one who used the divine ability wasn't Beirut, but someone else. Besides Beirut, there's actually a second person who knows this move! This is terrible. And it seems that straw-hat-wearing youth has no scruples at all, unlike Beirut, who values his status."
The one who had used the Death God puppet to observe BeBe killing O'Carol was this man.
"I must tell my brother about this!"
The golden-haired man gritted his teeth and immediately flew away.
Among the commanders on the planar battlefield, especially those from the same camp, most had some connections with each other. Important information was usually shared. When Linley and BeBe first arrived on the planar battlefield, the commander at the military camp had intended to team up with them and share some information. But since he didn't know them, he didn't do so.
The news that the user of the divine ability Soul Devourer wasn't Beirut, but a straw-hat-wearing youth, spread among the commanders at an astonishing speed.
By the Stellar River, inside a military camp, in a mansion formed from elemental condensation, a man in a blue robe strode towards the building.
"Sir."
The guards at the mansion's entrance immediately opened the gates. They knew that this visitor was a commander-level expert and a good friend of their master.
"Bray, why are you back?" In the courtyard of the mansion, a woman in a red robe was drinking wine. She glanced at the blue-robed man who walked in and said with a smile, "Weren't you going to stay out there and kill a few more commanders to get more commander badges?"
"I'm not going out anymore. It seems there's a new variable now," the blue-robed man snorted, sat down, grabbed a bottle of wine, and took a big gulp.
"A variable?" the red-robed woman asked, puzzled.
The blue-robed man said indignantly, "Wasn't there a rumor before that Beirut had arrived? If it really was Beirut, I wouldn't be afraid. I've met Beirut before, and we have some connection. If I ran into him, he wouldn't attack me. And with Beirut's pride, if you don't anger him, he generally won't lower himself to kill ordinary commanders."
"That's what I thought, which is why I dared to roam the planar battlefield! But who would have thought, I just received a message from a good friend of mine. The one who used the divine ability attack wasn't Beirut, but a straw-hat-wearing youth!" The blue-robed man shook his head. "Forget it, I don't have a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. I'd better not mess around out there. If I run into that youth and die, it would be too unjust!"
Hearing this, the red-robed woman understood.
"There's a second divine beast, the Soul Devourer Rat?" The red-robed woman also realized the seriousness of this news.
Among the Highgods, many had realized the importance of studying the soul. Therefore, among the commanders, many were extremely skilled in the soul. Moreover, among Sovereign artifacts, soul-protecting ones were the hardest to forge. Sovereigns rarely bestowed soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts even on their Sovereign's Messengers.
This resulted in an extremely small number of soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts.
At the same time, many commanders were very confident in their own soul defenses. Experts like Reisgem and O'Carol could barely withstand even the soul attacks of a Great Perfection Highgod. In their view, obtaining a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact was useless. They would rather have another type of Sovereign artifact.
But when Beirut rose to prominence, many realized that the most terrifying soul attack among Highgods wasn't the attack of a Great Perfection Highgod, but Beirut's divine ability.
However, given Beirut's status, he rarely lowered himself to slaughter ordinary commanders.
They hadn't worried about it.
But now, an unknown figure who also knew the Soul Devourer move had appeared. Those experts who didn't have soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts and hadn't reached the Great Perfection began to be wary.
One by one, they no longer dared to roam confidently as before. Some hid and used Death God puppets to scout.
"Haha... with the appearance of this youth," the red-robed woman laughed, "the number of commanders who dared to roam the planar battlefield freely was already small. Now, with your group gone, the only ones still roaming the surface of the planar battlefield will be either large teams or truly invincible figures."
"Forget it, I'll wait for the decisive battle. I'll earn some military merits then. If not, I'll wait for the next planar war. I don't know where this youth came from. I'll have to investigate thoroughly after leaving the planar battlefield," the blue-robed man sighed.
PS: Chapter one is here.