Chapter 346: Battle 4
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Garen’s gaze kept shifting. Beckstone’s Plant Totem, Sunflower, was utterly damaged by the joint attack of four Form Three totems, and wouldn’t be easy to fix. The rarer the totem, and the higher it evolved to, the more difficult it was to repair, and the more substantial the funds required for repairs. Even if Plant Totems were supposed to be able to fix themselves naturally, it would take more than a couple of days.
That time period would be enough for him to advance to the next level.
"Cia." Suddenly, a voice came from the side. It was actually Viscount Vanderman, who was standing at the side.
This Viscount-lecturer, who was always stern and strict, suddenly looked a lot more relaxed, as though a heavy weight had been taken off his shoulders.
"Let them go." The Viscount’s expression was peaceful. His tone held a mild sigh and remembrance.
"You executioner!!" Beckstone straightened up from the ground, his emotions growing agitated. "For your so-called experiments, you killed several hundred people at least. Even Leanna!" This normally calm young man finally lost some of his steadiness. The veins all over his body kept expanding, as though his skin was covered with many earthworms and termites.
His voice was very loud, most of the survivors in the estate could hear it.
Thanks to Garen’s protection, there weren’t that many casualties in the estate. A few people were caught in the after ripples, but most survived.
"I’ll kill you sooner or later!! As revenge for Leanna!" Beckstone had nearly lost his sanity. His eyes actually returned to a regular person’s black, reddening slightly.
Right now, he had no Totem Light on him at all. All his totem power was used up in the Sunflower he activated last. He looked just like a normal young man.
"I once asked my teacher, when someone comes to a crossroads between their dreams and reality, how should they choose their own path?" Vanderman smiled bitterly. "In life, just make sure you don’t regret it many years from now. That was my teacher’s reply."
"I never regretted this path of mine." Vanderman closed his eyes slightly. "When I saw ordinary people suffering under the power of Totem Light, struggling, fighting back, wailing, but unable to do anything, I swore to myself, I will definitely come up with something that would allow ordinary people to fight totem power as well. This was my promise to my teacher, so, even if you kill me, I remain unrepentant."
"Nice words!" The middle-aged man in white chuckled coldly. "Out of those hundreds in the lab, can you truly say none died for your own bestial desires? Or rather, would you let everyone into the heart of your lab, to see just how many disgusting, dirty and bloody experiments you have hidden there?"
Vanderman couldn’t reply. Beside him, Du Qian hugged him tightly, sticking out a snake-like tongue to lick his face lightly.
"Even the woman who loves you the most was transfigured into this ugly form, neither man nor monster. Why won’t someone like you just die already!" The middle-aged man in white said loudly and coldly.
By then the whole estate had utterly fallen silent. The cold wind blew mournfully, bringing up the swathes of grey-white dust on the ground.
The others had long ago noticed this strange woman next to Vanderman. It was only upon hearing these words that some people noticed Du Qian’s lower body, hidden by her skirt, was actually a snake’s tail made of entangled tree roots.
Andel and Hathaway grew pale, as though they’d just heard the most absurd story. Seeing Du Qian’s irregularities now, both of them couldn’t help but lean away slightly. They were obviously frightened by Du Qian’s strange condition.
"Uncle wouldn’t do that, he’s not that sort of person…" Hathaway said softly, as though she could not accept such a drastic change at all.
The two Royal Alliance Masters’ expressions were ice cold. They were standing at the edge of the rubble and were surely in a far from a pleasant mood.
"Vanderman, you owe us an explanation!" Barr said coldly and loudly. Next to him, Baphje also looked displeased. There were so many totem users here, they just needed to control their totems to dig into the holes underneath the rubble for a look, and then they would know.
Soon enough, a few Sight Sharing totem users finally couldn’t hold back anymore, murmuring in tiny voices. Vanderman, their beloved lord, suddenly became a cold-blooded executioner. Most of these people found it hard to believe.
Yet others kept their gazes tightly on Garen in the middle, right now the person who truly had the right to talk was Garen. The Viscount’s son, who had nothing going for him, was now suddenly the person in charge of this whole area.
The murmurs and whispers pressed down their volume, as Garen’s gaze swept the area.
The beetles and Deep Swamp Crocs digging into the ground had already revealed Viscount Vanderman’s experimental location to him. Garen’s feelings were very complicated, the bloodiness of the underground lab was rare even to him.
"To think Vanderman is actually this sort of person."
"Several hundred people… just for his own experiments, he killed them just like that. There aren’t even several hundred of us here, are there?"
"Who knows when he might suddenly use us for his experiments?"
"Vanderman! To think you’re this sort of man!" Baphje reprimanded angrily, "I’ll report all of your sins completely! In front of His Majesty!!"
"Cough cough…" Vanderman suddenly started coughing intensely.
"Don’t say anymore!!" Du Qian started screaming, a sob in her voice. She supported the Viscount tightly, covering his mouth with her hand, trying to keep the blood from flowing out. "The master…" Before she knew it, her face was already covered with tears.
"The master performed experiments on his own body, just for the armor most of you are wearing, just so everyone can fight totem power, he experimented on his own body, he never had long to live! Why do you all still want to treat him like this!!!" Du Qian cried loudly, sobbing.
"Don’t say any more." The Viscount stopped Du Qian. Looking around him, the whispers from before had slowly quieted down.
It was true, without this new technique, most normal people would die as soon as they came into contact and fought with monsters. They wouldn’t be able to resist or even run. Thinking of that, most of them fell quiet.
Garen walked up, but Vanderman raised his hand to block him.
His eyes sparkled. Only at this close distance, did he truly detect the problems with the Viscount’s body, because it looked very normal, just like any other person. But the truth was that there seemed to be a whirlpool inside, sucking away all his body’s nutrients.
And because there was Totem Light separating it off, Garen’s shallow knowledge of totem research caused him to overlook it until now.
Looking at his son’s tortured expression, Vanderman smiled.
"It’s nothing, life is only several decades long anyway, and I never regretted my decision from back then. My only regret is that I hurt so many little children back then. I only understood how precious life is now that I’ve gotten old."
His gaze fell on Andel and Hathaway beside him.
"Cia, can you agree to two requests of mine?"
Garen nodded with a heavy heart. He had initially thought he could save Vanderman, as compensation for possessing his son’s body, but he didn’t know that Vanderman was already slated for an early death. He could sense it now, Vanderman was currently on his very last legs. Compared to before, his body seemed to be lacking the support of the most important something.
Vanderman’s gaze fell onto Beckstone. "Let them go, all the sins began with me." There was a hint of guilt in his eyes.
"I don’t need your pity!!" Beckstone roared, and couldn’t help but spray out another mouthful of blood.
Garen fell silent. Everyone was waiting for him quietly, waiting to see what sort of decision he would make.
After more than ten seconds, he finally raised his hand lightly.
Whoosh…
The Dual Headed Salamander opened its large mouth, spitting out the unconscious red-armored woman in its mouth and tossing her onto the ground next to Beckstone.
"Berlina!!" Beckstone propped his body up and stood, running over to Berlina. He then forcefully summoned a white Form One steed totem, putting Darian and Berlina on it one by one.
Having protected his companions, Beckstone’s hands lit up with golden flames again. He actually still wanted to fight.
"Stop!" The middle-aged man in white appeared in front of Beckstone as though he teleported there, and chopped Beckstone’s neck with the side of his hand lightly, rendering him unconscious. His palm didn’t seem to be hindered by the Totem Light at all, going straight through it.
"Hurry up and scram. Before I change my mind." Garen’s voice was deep.
The middle-aged man in white felt he was about as strong as Stone, and without the secret treasure Stone had, he could not release such a powerful totem like just now completely. Even the Sunflower Tree, that had the power of a secret treasure, failed, and he still didn’t know what Garen hid in that white light just now.
He mused over it for a bit, and decided to leave first. First, he needed to take the three under his protection back, to recover and recuperate.
"We’ll meet again in the future. My name is Challaha." He spoke slowly, and a sea-blue diamond-shaped crystal appeared beside him.
The crystal spun rapidly, slowly becoming slightly faint and translucent. All the three casualties and the man in white, Challaha, slowly became translucent, fading away.
Splash!
The crystal suddenly turned into an umbrella of shards, exploding apart.
The four of them also disappeared utterly.
"Challaha…" Garen licked his lips. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make them stay, but he couldn’t see the extent of the man in white’s powers, and besides, now wasn’t the time to declare war on Terraflor. Beckstone was still very immature right now, and there were many people stronger than him in Terraflor. This immense organization wasn’t something regular little powers can fight against. To be able to stand opposite across Obscuro, Terraflor would at least have some peak-level fighters in charge.
And, this was one of Vanderman’s requests.
Garen’s gaze returned to Vanderman.
Vanderman’s expression was comforted, as he nodded at Garen.
"I still have one wish." He paused, his gaze falling on Hathaway. "While I lived, my biggest wish was to see the birth of your children, my grandchildren. For the sake of our Trejon family’s future, I can’t let the roots of the family die in my hands."
Garen suddenly had a bad feeling.
As expected, Vanderman’s next words proved his premonition utterly true.
"I hope, that you and Hathaway can get engaged." His expression was hopeful as he looked at Garen. "This is my last request, don’t reject it."