Chapter 98 - Wilderness Battle Royale (Part One)

Chapter 98: Chapter 96: Wilderness Battle Royale (Part One)Lu Hong gradually left the town behind with Louise, until it was no longer in sight.

"This will do." Louise stopped walking, took out a small knife to cut her fingertip, and used her blood to inscribe a magic Array on an empty piece of ground.

"What is this?" Lu Hong had never seen such a method of crossing dimensions before.

"In every dimension, there is a group of people favored by it, known as the ’Favored Ones,’" Louise explained as she drew the Rune, "And the greatest benefit of being a Favored One is being able to call upon the dimension of one’s birth anywhere, thus opening a temporary portal back to one’s own dimension."

As Louise finished the inscription, a bright light rose from the ground.

"Quick! Follow me in." Louise stepped in first.

When her senses returned, Louise found herself in the middle of a grey hall.

"Tukuru, this is my..." Louise turned around, but Lu Hong was nowhere to be seen. Where could he be?

Just then, the door to the grey hall was pushed open, and a man dressed in a black suit, pale and handsome, greeted Louise with a bow, "My dear sister, you finally deign to come back."

"Luo Bolun, are you behind this?" Louise’s expression darkened. She hadn’t expected her action of crossing back to alarm him.

"What are you talking about? I can’t understand a single word you’re saying," Luo Bolun said with a smile, "I just learned that sister was returning through the portal, and I took care of the little tail trying to follow you."

Luo Bolun paused,then continued, "You should know, our Luo family never likes strangers visiting. Just in case they anger Grandfather, your hope of inheriting the family could be completely dashed. I’m doing this for your own good, am I not?"

Louise’s heart grew colder as she looked at the smug smile on Luo Bolun’s face. Her return to this wasteland was almost a 100% random event; how could Luo Bolun have so coincidentally seized the opportunity to divert Lu Hong, who had entered the portal a step behind her?

"Have you been monitoring this portal all along?" Louise didn’t believe there was a traitor within her group.

"Yes," Luo Bolun didn’t deny it, and with a look of grievance, he said, "My dear sister might not know, but ever since you left the wasteland three years ago, I have been guarding this portal day and night, constantly hoping for your return."

"Then I really owe you thanks," Louise said with a sneer. "Hurry up and tell me! Where did you transfer Tukuru?"

"You mean the person who tried to enter the wasteland following you?" Luo Bolun thought for a moment, "I seem to remember directing him toward the family’s northern portal. I recall that Earl Sa Re was hunting nearby. Rest assured, dear sister, I will immediately send a message to Earl Sa Re to help you search, and he will surely deliver the person’s corpse to you."

"Sa Re..." Louise eyed Luo Bolun coldly, then briskly left the grey hall. Sa Re was Luo Bolun’s confidant. Lu Hong was in danger.

"Where are you going, sister?" Luo Bolun called out with a laugh.

"It’s none of your business!"

But as soon as Louise stepped out of the grey hall, two elderly servants bowed before her, "Welcome back, young mistress. The old Family Head is waiting for you in the study. Please hurry over."

"Out of my way!" Louise, anxious to rescue Lu Hong, tried to bypass the two old servants.

"Please, miss, go to the study first; don’t make us force you." No matter how hard Louise tried, she couldn’t get past the obstruction of the two old servants.

"Sister, you should still meet with Grandfather first. I’ll have Sa Re help with the search."

In the end, Louise gave up struggling. Since she had returned to the family, her actions had been neatly orchestrated by Luo Bolun. The two old servants were probably his doing as well. At this point, she could only silently pray for Lu Hong’s safety.

Seeing Louise give up the escape, the two old servants stepped aside, "This way, young mistress, please."

Where am I? Where’s Louise? Lu Hong stepped through the portal and looked puzzledly around the empty training grounds, with no sign of Louise.

"Men, surround him!" Just then, an army of iron hooves broke into Lu Hong’s view.

"Who are you? Where’s Louise?" Lu Hong shouted at the figures across from him.

"I am Earl Sa Re. You’re looking for the young mistress of the Luo family? Try your luck in the next life!" Sa Re, mounted on a large horse, looked down at Lu Hong with contempt, "I can’t understand how a woman like Louise would bother with a useless thing like you."

"So you’re saying I’ve fallen into a trap?" Lu Hong was no fool; Sa Re’s attitude made it clear that he was not here for good intentions.

Sa Re laughed coldly, "Is there even a need for traps? You’re just a grasshopper that can be easily crushed."

"Oh?" Lu Hong glanced around; there were at least ten thousand people surrounding the training grounds, and they all seemed to be Second Transition professionals, "Then I’d like to see what price you have to pay to crush this ’grasshopper.’"

"Ha ha, quite confident, aren’t you, boy," Sa Re laughed, "I came here just to deal with a ’grasshopper’ like you. I had thought I would be facing a formidable enemy, but it turned out to be just a green kid who hasn’t even reached the First Transition."

"I didn’t come all this way for nothing; make way for the kid," Sa Re gestured to the soldiers behind Lu Hong, commanding them to step aside, then addressed Lu Hong, "I have a hobby, you see; I quite enjoy the hunt. Behind you lies the border forest between the Red Nation and the City of Magic. I’ll give you a ten-minute head start. If you can evade my pursuit, consider yourself lucky. How about it? Not a bad offer, hm?"

Lucky? Even if he evaded the pursuit, he would only end up passing through the forest to reach the City of Magic, which was demonic territory. If he went there, it would also be a dead end. It seemed like Sa Re was offering him a chance at life, but it was merely an illusion.

Sa Re didn’t need to capture Lu Hong personally. With a parallel advance of his troops, they could drive Lu Hong into a hopeless situation, caught between front and rear.

"Fine, I agree."

After hearing Lu Hong’s response, Sa Re nodded in satisfaction, "You now have nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds to run for your life."

"Just wait, I will take your damn life, and it won’t be long!" Lu Hong left a harsh word and turned around, sprinting into the jungle.

"You, follow him!" As soon as Lu Hong’s figure disappeared, Sa Re suddenly ordered a man beside him, "No need to engage, just secretly follow and report his whereabouts to me."

"Yes, sir!" The man showed no surprise at Sa Re’s shameful rule-breaking, presumably because this wasn’t Sa Re’s first time doing such things.

As soon as Lu Hong burst into the jungle, he stopped in his tracks and looked back, knowing that simply running for his life would not end well.

But before Lu Hong could think of a plan, he immediately spotted the man who had crept into the jungle.

Both parties were taken aback; Lu Hong hadn’t expected Sa Re to be so shameless, giving ten minutes to run but still planning to sneakily follow him.

The other man’s face was equally embarrassed, being caught cheating was always awkward. Most people would be desperate to escape and not think to look back. But this guy, he wasn’t running?

"Do you have no common sense? You’re about to die and you stop to look back?" The man was infuriated, couldn’t he respect his own life?

"Common sense my ass!" Lu Hong switched into his Lion King Arrival mode, fully charging his Fighting Spirit and swung a punch.

"Such robust Fighting Spirit!" The man, who served by Sa Re’s side, was undoubtedly worldly and immediately saw the strength of Lu Hong’s punch.

The man raised his hand to deploy a defense, "To have a Fighting Spirit not inferior to an Early Stage Second Transition at the summit of First Transition is impressive. But in front of me, a Level 3 Second Transition Forest Master, you are simply..."

Unfortunately, the man’s boast was cut off by Lu Hong’s iron fist smashing into his face.

With a whoosh, the man was sent flying back from where he came.

Good thing they all underestimated a First Transition, the man precisely grasped the Fighting Spirit in Lu Hong’s punch and built a simple defense. In theory, blocking Lu Hong’s Fighting Spirit was not a problem.

But the real strength of Lu Hong wasn’t in the Fighting Spirit; it was the immense power brought by the Lion King Arrival.

"Ten minutes really feel too long; I can’t wait. If I’d known, I would have said less time." Sa Re, who was guarding outside the jungle, had yet to finish complaining when a dark shadow thudded beside him.

"What is this?" Sa Re focused and asked, "Why were you sent back here?"

"Earl, that kid is tricky!" The man’s nose was broken, and a row of teeth were missing. Had it not been for the strength in his bloodline, he probably wouldn’t have the chance to breathe now.

"What?! You were discovered by a First Transition kid and got thrown out?" Sa Re’s look at his subordinate was like seeing an idiot, "How did I not realize you were such trash before?"

Hearing Sa Re’s dissatisfaction, the man quickly knelt and pleaded, "Please give me another chance, Earl!"

"Get lost!" Sa Re kicked the man away and called out to the tens of thousands of soldiers behind him, "Screw waiting ten minutes; dismount and enter the jungle, bring him to me alive, I want to split him in half by myself!"

"Fucking hell, what a dishonest scoundrel!" Lu Hong saw the army stir outside and immediately turned tail and ran.

"Chase!" Sa Re’s elite troops took the lead into the jungle, commencing a long-distance sniping operation against Lu Hong.

"Black Arrow!"

"Soul Chaser Spike!"

"Fire Dragon Cannon!"

Various skills targeted Lu Hong, unleashing full firepower.

"Idiots." Lu Hong sneered and, using the jungle’s complex terrain, executed slippery maneuvers, using the large trees behind him to block a barrage of skill attacks.

"Move aside, all you useless fools!" Sa Re wielded a dark green longbow, nocked and drew in one fluid motion, clearly well-practiced.

Danger! An almost imperceptible killing intent instantly locked onto Lu Hong, who hurriedly sped up his pace. The sound of a waterfall approached in the distance.

"Die!" Sa Re drew the bowstring back to its fullest, releasing an arrow.

The emerald green arrow flew like lightning, cutting through legions, and aimed straight for Lu Hong.

Wherever the arrow passed, nothing could stop it, and Lu Hong, feeling the arrow’s power, dodged left and right. But it seemed as if the arrow had eyes, giving him no place to flee.

"Hahaha, this is the Life Lock Arrow, and it’s unavoidable," Sa Re looked forward to the next moment’s catch.

"It’s do or die!" Lu Hong channeled all his Fighting Spirit into his back, but like the trees, his body too was pierced instantly by the Life Lock Arrow.