Book 5, Chapter 161: Betrayal and Utilization
Chapter 161: Betrayal and Utilization
Charge inwards!
These words echoed through Deep Blue Flame’s mind as a vicious, hardened expression began to appear in his eyes.
A moment later, Deep Blue Flame suddenly spewed out a stream of intense blue fire which appeared to transform into a dragon. It slammed ferociously into the barrier, actually passing through it and forming a tunnel of fire.
“After me!” Deep Blue Flame roared with unwillingness. The countless Beasts followed after him through that tunnel.
When Eternal Night saw this, he muttered in a low voice, “Sunset Blaze Tunnel…… Ke…… Kaderville, look at what you’ve done!”
Kelesda lowered his head in trepidation. “I know I have made many mistakes in the past. Please, Your Majesty, forgive me.”
Eternal Night harrumphed loudly.
Kelesda and Deep Blue Flame were both on the most wanted list for the mighty sky country. As such, they were sympathetic to each other, and it was only natural that they would communicate from time to time.
Kelesda was proficient in thunder, while Deep Blue Flame was proficient in flames. The two of them had learned quite a few things from each other.
One of the skills that Deep Blue Flame had learned was Sunset Blaze Tunnel, which used the formless nature of sound to forcibly penetrate a barrier, erecting a tunnel of wind and fire through the barrier. That was the skill that Kelesda had used to wander recklessly through the continent and do as he pleased.
When Eternal Night saw this, he was immediately infuriated.
Even so, Eternal Night was able to keep his anger in check and didn’t punish Kelesda for what he had done in the past. All he did was harrumph as he signalled for two more groups of soldiers to move out and intercept Deep Blue Flame.
He could also tell that Deep Blue Flame was running deeper into the city not to try and escape but to cause destruction.
This ambitious, ruthless Harpy had quite the ability to control his emotions. He seemed to have no intention of suicidally sacrificing troops for the sake of the city’s citizens. Instead, he had commanded the two groups of Harpy soldiers to merely chase after the beast but not try to stop its advance. This was Eternal Night’s way of preserving his strength as much as possible. As for the civilians…… well, given how many soldiers had already died, what did a few civilian deaths matter?
There was no concept of being a public servant at this point in time. Eternal Night’s way of thinking was entirely in line with what most other emperors of this time period would think.
“What a valiant leader,” Su Chen smiled slightly when he saw this.
Just as he had expected, Eternal Night was still focused on preserving his military strength. This would mean that his obstruction of Deep Blue Flame’s advance would be quite weak.
Deep Blue Flame’s movements clearly indicated that he was going to cut through the heart of the city like a knife preparing to plunge into a person's heart.
Most frighteningly, not only were the Beasts charging through the heart of the city, but so were the waves of poison as well.
Poisonous mosquitoes flew throughout the city, dispersing clouds of poisonous smoke and causing incredible devastation.
When Su Chen saw this, he transmitted to Deep Blue Flame, “Head for Stone Willow Road. I’ll be waiting there for you.”
Deep Blue Flame replied angrily, “I have no idea where Stone Willow Road is.”
“Don’t worry, my clone is waiting in front for you.”
As Su Chen spoke, a clone wearing a mask and activating its wind and thunder wings appeared before Deep Blue Flame and beckoned towards him before flying off into the distance.
Deep Blue Flame and the three-legged bird turned into a blur as they did their best to keep up. “You seem to have been prepared for this a long time ago, human!”
“You make it sound like I was the one who baited you into the trap.”
“Is there a difference? Without your ‘assistance’, they probably wouldn’t have succeeded in the first place.”
“So I was wrong to help you?”
“No, I just think that you have an ulterior motive.”
“If you want me to help you, you’d better be a bit more respectful to me.”
Deep Blue Flame harrumphed and fell silent.
Stone Willow Road wasn’t very close. As Deep Blue Flame followed Su Chen’s clone, the Harpy soldiers began to gather behind him as they chased after him. The Beasts attempted to outrun the Harpies as best as they could even while they began to unleash a slaughter in the heart of the city. Sky City immediately fell into chaos.
However, from Eternal Night’s vantage point, it appeared that the situation was different.
He frowned slightly. “Strange.”
“What is it, Your Majesty?” Kelesda asked.
“The route he is taking is problematic,” Eternal Night replied calmly. “It appears that he has some destination in mind.”
“That’s not that strange, Your Majesty. With that damned human helping him……” Kelesda suddenly felt his heart jolt. “Not good, that brat is proficient in spatial techniques. If he was prepared for this, it’s entirely possible that he could help Deep Blue Flame escape.”
When Eternal Night heard this, his expression also shifted slightly.
He had drawn up such a grand scheme in order to capture and finish off Deep Blue Flame, eradicating the problem from its roots and creating peace for the Harpies. If Deep Blue Flame were to get away, then this whole price would have been paid for naught.
As soon as he thought of this, Eternal Night immediately stood up and watched Deep Blue Flame’s advance, constantly tracing the path he was taking through the city. Suddenly, he said, “They’re headed for Stone Willow Road! Activate the puppets standing guard and stop them!”
As soon as the command was given, the puppets standing guard near Stone Willow Road immediately sprang into action.
There was a stone forest near Stone Willow Road that was filled with statues.
Following Eternal Night’s command, these statues actually came alive, morphing into giant puppets nearly a hundred feet tall. They walked out of the stone forest and arrived in the middle of the street. They wielded massive swords in one hand, and some of them even carried Origin Energy cannons on their backs. Apart from these giant puppets, a number of puppets made in the shape of Beasts also appeared to block the road, each one of them incredibly powerful.
These puppets were incredibly thick-skinned, and they had both potent offensive and defensive capabilities. They made a perfect front line. Once Deep Blue Flame arrived, he would be greeted by projectiles fired from the Origin Energy cannons. Next, the puppets would all begin to charge forwards, relying on their powerful metallic bodies which naturally resisted Origin Energy to resist even Deep Blue Flame’s corrosive fire-type attacks. Then, they would use their swords to hack at the Beasts, with Deep Blue Flame given the special attention of two Titan-class puppets.
Titan-class puppets were treasures belonging to the Harpies. They were constructed entirely from Darkness Prison Metal and secondary Sark’s Nuclei. Each one was as powerful as a legendary Arcana Master.
Of course, there was no way these puppets would be able to actually fight against a legendary Arcana Master. After all, they lacked the adaptability of the Intelligent Races. Their powerful defensive and offensive capabilities, however, were up to par. In a two-on-one battle, they would be able to fully demonstrate their strength.
Deep Blue Flame immediately became entangled with the Titan-class puppets. Even a Demonic Beast would have a hard time escaping from their pursuit. He roared with agitation, “Hey, help me out over here!”
Unexpectedly, Su Chen’s clone merely shrugged. “I’m just a clone. There’s nothing I can do for you. You will only be able to rely on your own strength to escape. If you can’t do that, then I cannot help you.”
“What exactly have you prepared here?” Deep Blue Flame asked.
Su Chen, however, chuckled. “That’s not something you need to know.”
When he saw Su Chen’s carefree smile, Deep Blue Flame felt his heart sink.
He seemed to have realized something.
“You weren’t ever thinking of saving him, were you? You were just using us.”
Su Chen was mildly taken aback.
He glanced at Deep Blue Flame, who was staring intently at him even though they were currently in the middle of a battle.
A deep gaze filled with nothing but hatred.
He laughed.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “Yes, I was using you. I was never considering helping you from the very beginning. No matter what, you are a Beast. I will never ally myself with a Beast. This is my bottom line. I will only ever deceive and use you for my own personal benefit. That is the case now.”
Unexpectedly, Deep Blue Flame didn’t appear to grow angry. Instead, he chuckled, “You’re right. You’re human, and I’m a Beast. It’s impossible for us to ally with each other. We will only ever deceive and use one another. But what exactly is your goal, human?”
“You’re pretty smart. That’s something you should be able to figure out on your own,” Su Chen replied. “What you are facing now is exactly what I need.”
Deep Blue Flame was momentarily taken aback before understanding dawned. “The Divine Armaments Workshop! Your goal is the Divine Armaments Workshop!”
The Divine Armaments Workshop was located in the heart of the Harpy industrial complex. Their Sun-Shattering Cannons, Black Fiend Chariots, and combat puppets were almost all produced from this Divine Armaments Workshop.
This was an incredibly important area for the Harpy war machine. Eternal Night had stationed a large number of guards there to keep watch over it. Even in Sky City’s most perilous moments, he had never attempted to redirect troops from there even once.
Until Su Chen’s clone brought Deep Blue Flame towards Stone Willow Road. They would definitely pass by the Divine Armaments Workshop, which was why Eternal Night had activated the puppets standing guard there to try and intercept them.
Even so, that was precisely Su Chen’s plan.
There was nothing on Stone Willow Road. He had no special escape plan in place for Deep Blue Flame. Even though Su Chen could have prepared something if he had wanted to, Kelesda and Eternal Night were both unaware of Su Chen’s bottom line.
Allying with the Beasts crossed his bottom line.
He would only ever deceive and use the Beasts, not ally with them.
As such, he didn’t hesitate to deceive Deep Blue Flame and strung him along this whole way in an attempt to bait the guards away from the Divine Armaments Workshop.
Eternal Night had fallen for it. He almost instinctively took advantage of the “opportunity” to send the nearby troops to intercept Deep Blue Flame. If he hadn’t fallen for it…… well, then Su Chen probably would have just led Deep Blue Flame around for a while longer.
There were plenty of important locations in Sky City. It was impossible for Eternal Night to let them wander as they pleased throughout the city for forever.
And as soon as he made a move, Su Chen would pounce.
This was the greatest benefit of being a spy. He was hidden in the shadows, while the Harpies were exposed in the daylight. Su Chen had the ability to adapt to the situation on the fly, but Eternal Night didn’t have that luxury.
As such, Eternal Night was fated to lose this battle of wits. It wasn’t because Eternal Night was an idiot, but because he didn’t control the initiative.
While Deep Blue Flame and the puppets standing guard were locked in battle, a human-shaped figure hurriedly shot towards this critical structure.
A devastating slaughter and robbery was about to take place.
At that moment, Eternal Night received word.
“The Divine Armaments Workshop was attacked!”
“BANG!” When Eternal Night heard this, he finally lost his composure and shattered his armrest with his palm.
“Halcyon Wing Streak…… You really are vicious!” Eternal Night said through gritted teeth.
It seemed that this kid wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had plundered every one of Eternal Night’s important locations. Was he a bandit by trade?