Chapter 112: The plan b.

Chapter 112: The plan b.Lee had never been more annoyed with himself in all of his lives. He would’ve loved to blame the Prophet’s failed seal or the Ashland’s toxins that polluted his consciousness, but after the encounter with the mushroom elemental lord, his mind was sharper than ever.

At least he thought so. This carelessness, though, had no excuse.

Now he was only left with the option than to go down while taking along the albino bitch. The office was next to the Artisan quarter where her residence was, and after his return from Verdaria Lee made sure the group was still there. He planned to bring few of the useless items, hide in their place, and then start the rumor they had robbed the God, but now had to change the plans.

But when Lee stepped on the surface, he realized he had made another oopsie. While running away from the guards through the underground tunnels, apparently he had lost the items from the new bag and now it dangled empty on his shoulder.

If he had the strength, Lee would’ve cursed again, but he threw the bag inside his waterskin and increased his speed. Behind him, in the distance, he already saw a furious caretaker rushing over the roofs, and it was clear he was basically done for.

He had one last burst in him, though. He didn’t have a wind spark, but from the speed he ran at his eyes began to water. He knew the way well – he had scouted the area where Victoria lived multiple times.

While he wasn’t scared of dying, the caretaker who had almost caught up to him, was terrifying. The guy didn’t shout, or call for help. He jumped from roof to roof without making a sound as if he was a shadow.

"Guys! I did it!" Lee confessed in a happy and cheery voice around ten yards from Victoria’s house, but his cheers immediately died down after he was hit in the back and crushed inside through the window.

Lee’s vision swam, but it was highly likely the bitch was also done. Even if she talked her way out of the situation, which was unlikely since they were from the same race, then surely the caretakers would find the remains of the people she killed either in her house or in the back yard.



But while Victoria and her three companions gawked at him in disbelief, lying on their floor with bloodied face, no one came in, in fact, no sound came from the outside.

***

The moment Lee left the underground tunnel, Lunax appeared above his city to look for the one who dared steal from him. After keeping the rift gate open for extended period of time he was tired, as usual, but pissed even more so.

He already sighted Lee’s tiny stature far below and Coulax rushing after him, and intended to open a small rift to arrive next to them, when six people appeared around him. All of them were humans, dressed in lavish robes, and some for a split moment were caught by surprise, realizing they arrived in the air, but immediately recovered and stepped on a thin air in a strange manner, keeping themselves from falling.

Now there were seven of them in the sky, and while six were either amused or even smirking, Lunax’s expression had turned ugly. There was nothing left of the divine bearing he usually showed his so called children.

"Would you look at that!" The first person to speak was one of the two women in the group. Her red robe was the first thing to catch the eye, but any man’s attention was immediately drawn by her nature’s gifts of impressive size, gently juggling as she spoke. Her eyes were full of joy, seeing the host’s unsightly appearance. She said, "Who would’ve thought that you would cause us such inconvenience the moment we arrived."

"Don’t blame him!" A tall and thin, middle aged man, with a fancy looking sword at his side, said, "Little LunLun is obviously trying hard to show us around the dump he has been stuck in!"

While laughs and giggles filled the air, Lunax hissed at the man, "Wanna die, Jin Wulei?"

But while the man was happy to accept the challenge, the other woman of the group said, "Cut the crap, LunLun! None of us want to be here, so be a good boy and don’t fuck around. At best you might kill two, maybe three of us, and none of them will be Wulei!"

She was of average build, and not particularly pretty, but there was a strange allure about her. She did have a peculiar weapon in her hand, a whip, and it currently was burning with blue flame. Apparently she was not as confident in her skills as her colleague, and was prepared, in case Lunax was about to do something unexpected.

"Then why are you here?" After the first waves of emotions were gone, Lunax calmed down.

He was alive, thus they were not after him. And in the current situation he was more than certain he was able to leave unimpeded. Unfortunately the next part spoiled his mood even more.

"The old man was bored and invented a new competition for the kids." The big breasted woman said, "He selected some from the inner sect and sent them here to save people."

"People?" Lunax repeated, and glanced down, and his expression turned grave.

"Yes, people! Humans!" One of the men who hadn’t spoken yet, said, "I don’t know why you keep those other creatures around, and honestly – don’t care. If it was me, I would’ve cleansed this place and put you in shackles, but the old man for some reason has the soft spot for you."

"Chen Huan, you bastard! So you waited until I send my strongest forces away?" Lunax quickly deducted.

"And what are you going to do about it?" The man sneered, "Follow Yue Feiyan’s advice, and be a good boy. You didn’t deliver on time and the overlord’s protection is halted until you do. Be glad we didn’t come for you!"

"So you’re spying on me?" Lunax asked.

"LunLun, no one has time for that!" The woman in the red robe laughed at him, while few of the men stole glances at her bouncing melons, including Lunax, "Despite you robbing the sect’s treasury, the old man still loves you and occasionally is curious how you are doing."

"You shouldn’t be here!" Lunax pulled himself together, and said, "Ashland is part of the overlord’s territory ..."

"Every place is part of some overlord’s territory." Jin Wulei interrupted him, "Why do you think they are called overlords?

"Alright, it’s enough." The oldest one of the present, a man with a short, gray beard and bold head, said, "Let’s watch the play below. Standing on the gravity step gives me creeps ... I always get the feeling it will go out the moment I expect the least! Let’s get this thing over with so we can get out of here. LunLun will be here for another millennia ... or was it two? Doesn’t matter. If you want, you can come back and chat privately."

Yes, Elder Wang! most of the present murmured, including Lunax, and the group turned to the events below. But while they were talking, the main action was already over. Now the interesting part was mostly underground, with the younger generation running around the mines and looking for humans to save.



***

Lee barely recovered when an object crushed in the wall from the outside and a part of the house, mostly the wall, crumbled. Out of rubble crawled out the head caretaker, and, after coughing up a mouthful of blood, darted towards a pair of youths standing across the street.

They nonchalantly stood there, hands behind their backs and even looked amused seeing Coulax’s struggle. From their body structure and postures, they were obviously men, but one of them had his long hair freely falling over his shoulders, while the other had tied his hair into a bun. They wore robes, but of different colors, although the symbol on their chests was identical.

Even though he was the head caretaker, Coulax was having a bad day. After getting thrown into the wall, he tried to recover his self respect, but was met with a lazy foot in the face and, this time, flew even further. The two caretakers who came to the rescue were busy with the other youth who, contrary to his buddy, didn’t play around and pulled out the sword right away.

The newcomers clearly had the upper hand, but few moments later more reinforcements arrived, and now the local resistance finally became a challenge.

Lee, still lying on the floor, watched the spectacle with his eyes wide as saucers, not knowing what to think. The last time he saw a fight like this was in the underground pyramid, several lifetimes ago. But those were special circumstances.

And the fight shouldn’t have lasted that long. Lunax might not be a real god, but he had to protect his underlings. Theoretically.

In reality the caretakers lost.

Lee didn’t saw the details, but one of the youths turned into a living inferno and destroyed half a block while fighting three opponents, but the other cut one of his in halves, and froze two more. The caretakers didn’t exactly turn into ice cubes, but it was evident they were covered in a layer of frost.

Lee was baffled at the sight not because they both were superhumans, but because he had never heard of an ice spark. And a quick glance at Victoria and Edward told they haven’t either.