The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 414

Chapter 414: Where Did the Last Words Come From?

 

They had never intended to join the allied army, nor their baffling operation. They were just using their cover identity to get through checkpoints in Osidian Plain. Once they were in, they needn’t to stay put in one place like needle to the pole.

The allied army wasn’t just an army right from the beginning; it had massive supplies and weaponry, logistics and auxiliary units had turned the vast land of Osidian Plain into cities. Barracks and towns were scattered within the million-square-kilometre area connected by web of roads. No one would have believed that one year after the war Obsidian Plain would be developed into its present state. The large army and complex of barracks had provided an ideal cover for Hao Ren to move around.

The commanders of the allied army weren’t gods; even if they could bring the best and the brightest bureaucrats over, they couldn’t possibly govern the vast land as tightly controlled as the barracks. There were many regulatory blank spots in Osidian Plain. Though identification, communication, and interdiction could be enforced, laxness and perfunctoriness were apparent. There were stand guards everywhere Hao Ren went, but he had no issue passing through.

“There are loopholes everywhere.” Hao Ren daid after he and Lily made their round in the vicinity. “As long as you have a human face no one’s going to bother you.”

Vivian, the walking air-conditioner, said “They couldn’t possibly secure every inch of this vast land. And don’t forget we’re still on the outskirt. The way I see it, crimes are bound to happen in the remote places everyday and people at the top mightn’t know what happen on the ground. Maintaining the formation in shape is already not easy.”

“It’s not like this one year ago.” Lanina scoffed. “One year ago, the allied army was the strongest army I’d ever seen. Though I don’t like to admit it, they had really struck fear in the heart of the demons. But they had slackened to such a state in just one year. Sure enough they are just a marriage of convenience. Without a long-term goal, the coalition would crumble in no time.”

“The allied army would be dissolved sooner or later but racial alliance will live on.” Y’zaks was quite concerned for the world. “At least I’ve done something good.”

Hao Ren looked at Vivian and asked, “Have you got something?”

The bats Vivian had released out had monitored and gathered information from places such as military officer’s residences and barracks. “The allied army is searching for the treasure—the source of strength of the mad demonci king. There is intel shows that the mad demonic king had got his power and wisdom from an ancien divine relic and this relic is hidden somewhere in Osidian Plain. This is what the allied army is after. In another hand, Serathon is also interested in getting their hands on the divine relic but hasn’t been able to do so due to the overwhelming forces of the allied army.”

Hao Ren looked up at Y’zaks and asked, “Do you know all these?”

Y’zaks looked at them, seemingly confused. “How come I don’t know I have had an ancient relic? My power comes from four hours of training everyday while my wisdom comes from reading…”

“In that case, could it merely a romour?” Hao Ren scratched his head. “Could it be someone was spreading rumour after Y’zaks was ‘dead’?”

“A rumour is able to keep millions of army in the demonic plane for a year?” Nangong Wuyue lay listlessly in bed. She looked up. “Even Serathon came here based on the rumour. Are there really so many idiots?”

Hao Ren smacked the siren’s head and said, “Get back in to your bed.”

Nangong Wuyue kept sticking her tongue but looked up again after a while. “Oh ya. Water! Doesn’t your dimensional pocket have enough water to fill up a swimming pool? Take some out to sooth my thirst.”

Hao Ren took a one-metre-across basin filled with water out from the dimensional pocket. The siren maiden immediately rose up before jumping into it like doing suicide.

“Wang, just don’t give up.” Hao Ren had noticed something was wrong with Y’zaks’ expression. He patted on Y’zaks’ arm and said, “The rumour of treasure is too coincidental.”

“You don’t have to comfort me. I’m not a child.” Y’zaks said, almost half-crying and half-laughing. “I’m fine. I’m ready for any eventuality. I knew Lanina was just trying to encourage me from the beginning, I don’t expect much from it. The main purpose I come here is to see what had become of this world since I left. I was leaving in a hurry and had left behind many regrets. Now I finally have closure. And to be honest, I am curious what the allied army is looking for. Nangong Wuyue is right, not everyone is idiot, they must have secured some solid evidence for them to stay back for such a long time. Something must have happened after I left.”

“The question is where they got the intel from.” Hao Ren’s brows pulled together as he looked at Vivian. “Who was the first one to say the mad demonic king had an ancient divine relic?”

“There is a lead.” Vivian nodded. “Do you remember the people we have saved earlier said that they had found the ‘last words’ of the mad demonic king? It’s said that it’s a piece of crystal which has recorded the last image before the mad demonic king disappeared. The crystal is the command centre of the allied army.”

Things had developed rather strangely now. It was not just the rumour of an ancient divine relic appeared after Y’zaks left but he was believed to have left behind a crystal. And the key to the secret seemed to lie in the crystal.

“We must take a look at it.” Hao Ren rubbed his chin. “Is it possible to get in there?”

“Highly unlikely.” Vivian shook her head. “The command centre is unlike this barrack where we are at. It has extremely tight security, no even my bats could get in there as any unidentified flying objects more than two-centimetre-across would be immediately shot down. But I have reliable intel that the crystal is currently on the table of General Grigory of Terran who is one of the seven generals of the allied army. The crystal is watched by seven people in turn. The elven general would take over the task next month.”

“What are they doing?” Hao Ren was amazed. “Why would they want to pass around the crystal?”

“I guess they want to crack the secrets of the crystal.” Lanani smiled. “I could almost read their mind. If there were truly such a treasure which could turn people into king of the world, no races in the world would have wanted to give in. Judging from the lax situation of the allied army, they are already fighting among themselves before the treasure is even found. But people at the top have to portrait a picture of unity, the best way to achieve this is take turn guarding the crystal—whoever could crack the secret of the treasure would get the most share. At least they have seemingly made this agreement.”

Hao Ren thought for a monent before he asked, “Any map? Like map of the camp of the allied army.”

“I’ve already got it.” Vivian summoned a bank of bloody mist which quickly formed into hologram-like floating model. “Bats have ultrasonic detection ability. Even if hundred of bats couldn’t penetrate the camp, they could construct a 3D model of the place—this is their command centre.”

Hao Ren was amazed by Vivian’s capability. “You’re truly a radar in human form.”

Everyone gathered around to study the map and discovered that the command centre was located near to the former site of the demonic royal city. As the demonic royal city had turned into a crater, the command centre was actually built on the edge of the crater. Looking at the map and recalling the modus operandi of his former foes, Y’zaks began to form his thought. “I have an idea: we could create some troubles… but before that we’re best to observe for a few days and figure out their pattern of movement before we give it a go.”

Chapter 415: Under the Red Night Sky

 

A few days later.

It was nightfall, but the hellish world hadn’t turned into total darkness. As the dark-redish star set completely below the horizon, Osidian Plain was enveloped in a faint redish glimmer. The faint red light came from the giant red planet which its soil was rich in iron and the slowly decaying radioactive elements.

Every demonic plane had its unique landscape; the Third Plane had Hulme smoke column, the Seventh Plane had a giant red planet. Due to the gravitational pull, the shattered planet which Y’zaks had once ruled and the giant red planet had maintained their relative orbit for millions of years and became a bizarre twin planet system. Whenever night falls, Osidian Plain would be illuminated by the glow of the giant red planet. Looking up above one would see the monolithic round thing hanging overhead, it was so close that the wood-like pattern of the surface of the giant red planet could vividly be seen.

A few black figures were hustling through Osidian Plain, circumventing all barracks and sentry posts before approaching the ‘urban zone’ of the Allied Army command centre.

Lanina looked up at the familiar sky. “Many outsiders couldn’t survive in this environment; the relatively high temperature during the day and the toxic susbtance in the air are just two of the reasons, the other reason is the influence of the giant red planet. Delicate creatures like humans and elves are pyshologically vulnerable to the influence of red colour. Prolonged exposure to the red atmosphere would cause emotional disorder, not to mention the influence of the radiation from the red planet. Many humans and elves were suffering at night despite they had adapted to the local weather. But now it seems that the Allied Army have already adapted, no one is going berserk under the glow of the red planet.”

What interested Hao Ren wasn’t the giant planet, he was more curious about the situation of the land before Y’zaks’ empire crumbled. “Was the environment just as bad back then? I remember during the the rule of Y’zaks, there were many other races here. Had they adapted?”

“The condition was slightly better back then, especially in the city.” Lanina said as she smiled. “We had studied many environmental engineering techniques, and by using a great block enchantment we had created a forest in Red Peak for the elves. But what’s left now is just destruction.”

Hao Ren nodded without saying a word.

Only Lanina was with him, the others had split and headed to different directions. Tonight, they were going to create some distractions in the heart land of the Allied Army. With the knowledge of the terrain which Vivian had mastered and the pattern of movement of personnel near the target, they should be able to make it.

“Just wait here.” As the red planet reached its third peak glow, Hao Ren and Lanina arrived at an osidian spike which was a monitoring blind spot closest to the command centre. “Y’zaks should be in position. We’ll move as soon as he does.”

At the same time, under another osidian spike ten kilometres away from where Hao Ren and Lanina stood, Y’zaks was staring down at the gorge.

 

The spot where he stood was the edge where the royal city used to be but was no longer there. In its place was a giant gorge stretching out to infinity like a scar in Osidian Plain showcasing the aftermath of the brutal war.

Y’zaks looked down at the gorge in silence. At the bottom of the gorge was a stream of golden-red lava being part of the magma network. The lava was used to be hidden underground but was exposed after the imprisonment spell was cast.

Years ago, these magma flows were the main source of energy for the royal city and The Osidian Throne. And this time, they were going to serve the demonic king of this land again.

“If this land still remember its master,” said Y’zaks, sitting leg-crossed and muttering to himself. “Then wake up and help the king again.”

As if the lava flows had heard the murmur of its former king, they began to surge. Loud noise was heard and tremble was felt in the earth beneath him. Y’zaks smiled. “Then I shall see if the blood magic of the vampire is of any good.”

The night was still silent and the giant red planet began to dim as it had just passed its peak. The sentinels around the gorge were preparing for the last shift of today. An elven warrior with spiked ears yawned and walked out of the sentry post as it saw its counterparts were coming for the shift. It was very relaxed as it felt no danger here: this was the heart of Osidian Plain, the core of the Allied Army. Though a year ago the place was still the base of the mad demonic king, it had now become the safest place in the demonic dimension as Serathon’s army was a thousand clicks away, so he thought tonight was just going to be another night.

But just when he wheeled, a strange rumble suddenly came from behind him. The sensitive ears of the elf flickered, the sentinel rushed back to its sentry post and looked down at the bottom of the gorge: that was where the sound coming from.

Lava was surging at the bottom of the gorge, and bright and hot liquid was scaling up the gorge like a living creature Countless giant monsters of lava like the ancient giants in mythology climbing the pillar of the world were rising up from below to the surface!

Cold sweat trickled down the elven sentinel’s spine. It was almost panic and had even forgotten that the gorge was too high for the lava monsters to climb. It sounded the alarm as it shouted. “The demons are back!”

At the same time, a dozen warning flares were deployed up into the sky from around the gorge as the situation in the barracks heated up!

In the command centre not far from here, a man-made watchtower was still well lit. The three-story, square structure made of stones was the residence of the supreme commander of the humans. In the top floor of the watchtower, a middle-aged man, short brown hair, draped in body armour frowned as he gazed intensely at the dark-red crystal in front of him. He is General Grigory, the human supreme commander, one of the ‘Seven Heroes’ of the Allied Army.

The cavalier, one of the most experienced commanders who had faught in the ten-year war, and one of the founder of the Allied Army, was highly revered and tenacious. The general, who was known for his wisdom and steadiness, looked at the crystal and was confused. He couldn’t make of what else the little dark-red stone was telling aside from a short visual clip. But he could sense the breath of the demonic king in the crystal—it was this breath that convinced the commander of the Allied Army that this wasn’t a joke.

Just when Grigory was immersed himself with the stone, a sudden noise outside had his brows knit together.

He got to his feet, opened the door, summoned his guard and asked, “What’s going on?”

The guard who was just back from learning about the situation immediately saluted as he saw Grigory. “General! Lava flow is surging at the bottom of the Demon Scar Gorge, and lava demons are crawling up on the ground.”

“Just this?” Grigory’s brows knit even tighter together. Apparently he wasn’t happy. “Lava demons rise from the lava flow every day. Haven’t we already known that? They’re not going to make it out of Demon Scar Gorge!”

“General, but this time they come in large number.” The guard explained frantically. “Thousands of lava demons have splintered from the lava! Their behavior seems to resemble the pattern of the mad demonic king’s army…”

“What did you just say?”

“They look like the lava demons under the command of the mad demonic king…” The guard took a deep breath. Though the Allied Army was the winner of the ten-year war, the sheer mention of ‘the demonic king’ was still able to strike fear in the heart of everyone. Like a shadow hanging over their heads, it was something not even the ten-year war could eliminate.

Grigory thought for a moment before he waved the guard to calm down. “Stay calm! Let Master Lufferne come here. Also alert General Kastina about the situation.”

The guard took the order and left. Grigory turned around and glanced at the dark-red crystal again, shaking his head slightly before sitting back behind his desk.

He didn’t leave the room.

Chapter 416: Steal

 

Grigory was back to the desk studying the dark-red crystal as if the commotion outside didn’t concern him at all. In fact that commotion wasn’t worth his time: the lava demons weren’t something special that needed his attention, anyone passing by the lava flow would encounter the low intelligence, elemental organism, Demon Scar Gorge was the confluence of the underground magna network from where lava demons emerged. But those creatures hadn’t the ability to climb their way out of the gorge, the only threat to passingby soldiers was the steam from magma activity. This noxious gases could harm even the most magic-equipped and well-trained soldiers.

But warlocks had a way to contain the noxious gases.

The door was pushed open. An elderly man wearing a long purple robe and holding a wand walked in. He was one of the higher commanders of human warlock forces.

“Master Lufferne,” Grigory got to his feet and greeted. “There’s a hell of activity at the bottom of Demon Scar Gorge where noxious gases could burst out from the block enchantment any time. I hope you could go there and make sure everything is under control.”

“No problem.” The elderly who was known as Master Lufferne nodded. He was a founder members of the Allied Army, a best friend of Grigory, so there was no need for him to be punctilious. He saw the dark-red crystal on the table and couldn’t help asking, “You still study this? What have you got?”

“Nothing except a visual clip.” Grigory shook his head. “I almost think that it’s just a joke.”

“This is a part of the demon sword, it’s real.” Lufferne stared at the dark-red crystal, his eyes gleamed. “And we have confirmed the presence of demonic breath which is impossible to forge, it must be a personal item of the mad demonic king before he fell. Just that we do not know why he left this message, what was the purpose. He was very elusive.”

“Purpose? It’s just a conspiracy.” Grigory smiled scornfully. “It’s purpose is nothing more than wanting the Allied Army to plunge into chaos and infighting. He knew the destructive power of secret especially of a powerful person. He purposely left us a secret so that we couldn’t ignore it. Furthermore, he saw it was in our nature that we wouldn’t destroy or seal the crystal—and that’s the conspiracy.”

Lufferne looked at the crystal in silence. Then he closed his eyes slightly. “Indeed. The other six heroes also know that’s a conspiracy but they couldn’t help. Gee, that’s human nature, just look at the way your’re facisnated by it. But then, do you really believe in the existence of the artifact? It would be a joke of the year if it came out to be only a lie made up by the mad demonic king. This crystal is real, but the artifact mentioned therein may not.”

“I believe it’s real.” Grigory smiled. “Or else how are you going to explain from where the mad demonic king had got his power…”

Before his could finish, the sound of an explosion outside interrupted him.

“What happen?” Grigory and Lufferne were shocked. They ran to the window and saw fire lit the sky and the soldiers down in the barracks were scrambling for battle. Far ahead where the fire was burning, countless giant demons had appeared from nowhere!

Among the demons was a five-metre-tall primitive cerberus. The cerberus was draped in heavy rock armour, eyes bloody-red and blood was dripping down from its fangs as it looked up and pointed its nose toward the giant red planet. “WOOOOOF—W…”

The cerberus choked in its howl.

But Grigory hadn’t the time to delve into this minute thing. He could tell by the blood smell in the air that he was facing an army of blood-thirsty demons. And sure enough, those demons were wearing the armours of Serathon army!

“The demons are attacking the barracks?” Lefferne appeared shocked. “Could it be that some higher warlocks controlled by the demons had infiltered us and opened a gateway from within?”

The door swung open as a guard burst into the room, appeared panicked. “General! Serathon army is coming from the east!”

“Prepare for battle! Protect the warlock tower in the east!” Grigory ordered. “Sound the alarm and call the elven and orc armies for help!”

While the flame was burning furiously in the east, more demons emerge from it. Apparently they were elite forces being teleported here—it was a flame gateway which the Allied Army had never seen before: this kind of demon summoning was very different from the ordinary method used by warlocks.

But it was no time to delve into the details as the demons had formed a massive army marching toward the barracks. They’re attacking the city.

Sound of alert blared throughout the barracks and a dozen bright flares were shot into the air. The Allied Army, an elite force which had been baptised by the brutal ten-year war, appeared well organised and calm in the face of the sudden attack. Warriors lunged out from the barracks to meet the enemies. As both sides were closing in on each other rapidly, a fierce battle was about to erupt right at the doorstep of the barracks.

While the old warlock Luffern was rushing to back up the warlock forces, Grigory clenched his fists and looked at the flame and explosion far ahead outside. He felt the movement and the speed at which the demons moved was weird, and the stink of blood in the air had him realise the severity of the situation.

The lava demons of Demon Scar Gorge were rioting…demons were attacking the city…

The coincidence of the two events made Grigory realise that the attack was premeditated! Serathon, the cunning abyssal demon must have planned for the attack for sometime. But what he was after?

Grigory immediately thought of the dark-red crystal but he also knew that Serathon hadn’t found out that the crystal was with him. He looked at the advancing demons and found that they were actually coming toward the platinum obelisk where the pope was at.

Grigory was still a cavalier in his blood through and through. He grabbed his weapon and ready to go to defend the platinum obelisk. Just when he was about to leave, he again glanced at the dark-red crystal on his desk.

Though it seemed the crystal didn’t contain any secret, he had to hide it from preying eyes. Grigory turned back. He put the crystal into a large metal box by the wall and protect the box with a magic lock which even Lufferne wouldn’t be able to hack. The metal box gave out a series of weird noise before a large number of gray iron arms grew out of it and attached to the wall and floor as if by welding.

Then only he rushed out in full swing and ordered his guards to meet the enemies together.

After Grigory left, the window suddenly opened on its own before Hao Ren and Lanina slipped in.

“Thanks to your charm the soldiers were lured away.” Hao Ren praised the succubus. “Didn’t you say that you have never practiced that skill?”

“I didn’t. All I know is only the basic. Those are just ordinary soldiers, they aren’t difficult to deal with.” Lanina looked a little strange. “Don’t talk about this anymore, I’m having goosebumps right now…”

Hao Ren quickly slipped to the corner of the wall next to the metal box. “I saw he placed the crystal in here. Are you sure that was the crystal on Y’zaks’ sword?”

“I’m sure as hell. I was the one mounting it but unfortunately the demonic sword was lost during the final battle.” Lanina squatted down in front of the metal box, her brows pulled together as she looked at the floating magic runes on the metal box. “Damn it… it’s a lock made by the elf and the dwarf.”

“Can you open it?” Hao Ren was surprised.

Lanina shook her head. “Ony if it were a normal lock. The lock needs a specific rune formula to unlock. There is no way to read the information related to the runes before it is opened.”

Hao Ren’s brows knit together instantly. He tried to shook it but realised the box had fused together with the entire room. He reached his hand into his dimensional pocket before taking out the alloy spear. “Step back. I remember the spear head has a plasma arc welding function… it’s OK we cannot unlock it, we can take the entire box away.”

“What?” Lanina asked.

Chapter 417: An Impersonator?

 

As lame as Hao Ren was, he was simple and crude in method when it came to critical moment. Brute force was his key. What would people normally do when they want to steal from a safe? Hack the password and pry the safe open. But the first thought Hao Ren had in mind was to carry the box away…

Just when he raised his plasma arc welding spear and was about to cut the metal box, Lanina stopped him. “Wait a second!”

“What’s wrong?” Hao Ren held the alloy spear in his hand, feeling confused.

Lanina quickly pointed at the shimmering runes behind the metal case. “It’s an alarm. The alarm would be triggered if the the case is disconnected from the wall, or the case leaves the building. If that happens, the entire army in the barracks would surround the building.”

Only then Hao Ren noticed the metal case wasn’t just attached to the wall by the metal tentacles but also protected by flux of light below the metal tentacles. It was a safety mechanism more high-tech than anything else on earth!

As a former military strategist of Y’zaks, Lanina had a profound knowledge of magic and alchemy of the human world. She quickly checked the various settings on the metal box as her tail behind her contracted into a small lump. “The box shouldn’t be shaken, unlocked by force, its outer shell even the corner of it shouldn’t be damaged or else it would also trigger the alarm. The box has fused together with the building, you can’t remove it or move it…there’s a set of sensors here which in the event the box leaves the room the alarm will sound. Besides, the building itself has a magic array monitoring the box, once it’s disrupted, the building will sound its alarm.”

Hao Ren was stunned. “What the hell the world of magic have do with all the high-tech gadgets?”

“What is ‘high-tech’?” Lanina looked at Hao Ren, perplexed. “This is the elven and the dwarf’s masterpiece. So the crystal must be very important to them. We have miscalculated that.”

Hao Ren was a little at loss. His plan went perfectly until he came to the box—no wonder Grigory could be so easily lured away. The hardest part wasn’t the human general but hack the alarm system.

He was thinking what to do next: he couldn’t disassemble it, move it, open it or carry it way, he could only…

A thought crossed his mind. He patted on Lanina’s shoulder and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

The succubus follwed Hao Ren jumped out of the window, but was still perplexed. Outside was still chaotic as the noxious gases of the lava steam had spread to the barracks. The soldiers were strengthening the shield enchantment to prevent the noxious gases from overwhelming the whole place. Sentries around the watchtower who had been enchanted by Lanina weren’t going to notice them. As the ‘demonic army’ was engaging the Allied Army outside, it was just a matter of a few minutes before they found out the demons were just phantoms.

“What are you going to do?” Lanina glanced back at Hao Ren and saw him touching the watchtower with his hand.

His dimensional pocket was opened and the watchtower disappeared before them, leaving only the foundation behind…

Lanina was shocked beyond word.

“Let the alarm sounds in the otherworldly dimension.” Hao Ren grinned as he held the succubus by her hand and ran. “Let’s go and meet with Biggie!”

Lanina hadn’t realised what had just happened. As experienced and well travelled as she was, she had never seen someone doing thing so uncommon-sensically.

Meanwhile, Grigory was busy holding off the devilised demons.

A three-metre tall higher demon wielding a huge axe was coming toward him. Dark-green evil flame was burning on the osidian axe, the terrifying look had the battle-hardened soldiers flinch a little. But Grigory was fearless. His sword was burning with a magnificient white light as he charged toward the enemy like a ray of sacred light.

Sword versed the axe, the sword cut through the enemy silently before the demon turned into a red mist with an illusory ‘bang’ and dissipated in the air. Then a bat dropped down from the air but no one had noticed this little black shadow.

Grigory held his sword waiting for the demon’s next move, wondering as to where the demon had gone. He looked up and saw the demon had dissipated into a bloody red mist.

His stomach churned. He looked around and found his soldiers were in fact battling with a bunch of illusory demons which was quickly turning into mist. The phantom demons could withstand attack for a while before they dissipated, but the battle strength of the higher cavelier was so great that the phantom demon instantly disappeared in a puff.

“It’s not real!” A soldier shouted. Grigory instantly realised he was fooled.

“They are all phantoms!” Grigory shouted. “Team One, Team Two, follow me back immediately!”

The rest of the demons were still running around rampantly, but the soldiers had realised that the phamtoms weren’t lethal but just a diversion tactics of the enemy. They didn’t bother with the phamtoms and followed Grigory falling back to their defense position quickly. Following that, the ‘demons’ began to scatter around as if losing their interest. The ‘cerberus’ looked around before it bit a rock and vanished in a puff of mist.

No one had noticed a vampire was lying inside the ‘cerberus’.

Grigory quickly returned to the barracks and stared blankly in front of the familiar spot wondering if he had come to the wrong place. He turned around and asked his guard, “Have we come to the wrong place?”

“I don’t think so…” The guard was just as dumbfounded.

Grigory glared at the empty space, dumbstruck. He had forgotten he should first be worried about the dark-red crystal. He scratched his head for a long while before he choked up a word. “Where is my watchtower?”

By now Hao Ren and Lanina had retreated via the route they had planned beforehand and moved northward in Osidian Plain. They soon arrived at the osidian spikes—the monitoring blind spot of the Allied Army.

The place was far away from the Allied Army camp. The nearest sentry post was ten kilometres away. The reason the Allied Army didn’t put up a station here was because the osidian spikes were located at the confluence of two lava flows, the huge osidian spikes were shrouded in noxious gases burst out from the lava flows at the time. Also the osidian spikes weren’t large enough that even the demons wouldn’t choose it as a stopover. So no one was going to come here.

A thin layer of mist barrier was opened up in the osidian spikes to block the noxious gases out. Hao Ren, Lanina and the rest assembled at the space between the osidian spikes. Nangong Wuyue had transformed into a mermaid and soaked in a large basin filled with water to prevent dehydration while keeping the mist barrier in place. Meanwhile, Lil Pea was swimming around her. It seemed the two fish were pretty happy with what they had right now.

It was naturally that people would only appreciate life in a harsh environment. Nangong Wuyue, who used to complain that swimming pool wasn’t large enough, was a happy bunny in a basin.

“As there’s no blood magic in this world, they couldn’t tell if the demons were real or not.” Vivian boasted. “It seemed everything went pretty smoothly today.”

“Thanks Y’zaks for the intel.” Nangong Wuyue said as she raised her tail up wagging. “The guy has basically learned all the twists and turns and knew what to do and say here. He’s truly a nasty old rival.”

Hao Ren took out a small dark-red stone from the dimensional pocket. He said, “This is the crystal.”

Vivian looked at him, marvelling. “Isnt’ the entire room was still inside the dimension pocket? How did you get the crystal out?”

Hao Ren shrugged and said, “Haven’t you known there are autonomous robots inside? I let them cut open the box. Screw the alarm, it’s in the dimensional pocket, and there’s no wi-fi in there…”

Then Hao Ren lamented. “If we could think of this trick at the beginning, it would’ve saved us a lot of trouble. Maybe I’m not innovative enough.”

Vivian looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression, she couldn’t fathom how the mind of the fellow work…

OK, let’s see what the ‘last words’ of Y’zaks is all about.” Hao Ren shoved the dark-red crystal in the hand of Lanina. “Do you know how to use it?”

Lanina nodded. Then she carefully injected her magic into the crystal as a phantom appeared above the crystal.

Everyone’s jaw dropped to the ground:

The phantom was none other than Y’zaks, even the iconic broken horn looked alike!

Chapter 418: The Strange Impersonator

 

Everyone’s jaw dropped to the ground. That demon in the image was Y’zaks.

The giant demon was standing on a piece of cracked, scorched earth. The land under his feet was burning while behind him was a distorted chaos which looked like a door to the endless dark abyss. The demon’s body was scarred, molten iron dripped down from his wound on the ground. The iconic broken horn and body shape was undoubtedly that of Y’zaks.

At the same time, countless demons with the same scars were surrounding the image. These demons were like knights swearing allegiance to their leader guarding around him. However, the blurry background left one wondered where the location was.

“I’ve almost ruled the whole world.”‘Y’zaks’ was making a rumbling noise in the visual clip. “My failure is insignicant. There will be a new demon taking over the artifact I have left behind and regaining the world dominating power! I’ve buried my infinite strength and wisdom in Osidian Plain. Within a thousand years, a new demonic king will be born and taking over my scepter to destroy your puny world!”

As he visual clip flashed, ‘Y’zaks’ and the last remaining hundreds of thousands of demons began to leap into the endlessly dark gateway as if they would rather go into exile in a different dimension than getting defeated by puny creature like human.

That was all about the visual clip and the rest was just static.

They exhanged look with one another. Vivian couldn’t help but say, “I think… I think that is Y’zaks.”

Y’zaks was no less dumbfounded. He scratched his bald head and said, “But I don’t recall I have ever said that things… I don’t even recall that there’s an artefact. I was so badly beaten back then, who would have the time to finding a successor?”

Nangong Wuyue looked up and asked as she taught Lil Pea swirling in the water. “Are you sure you don’t have a brother whom you have lost contact with?”

Y’zaks rolled his eyes. Clearly there were only one great demon in a thousand years, no mother was terrific enough to give birth to two demonic kings at the same time. Lanina, who was beside him, frowned. “I feel that demon in the visual clip is weird. Though it looks like him, sounds like him, but his aura is totally different. And the conduct of the demon in the visual clip is somewhat unnatural like he was acting.”

“You mean he is fake?” Vivian’s brow twitched upward. “Who could it be?”

“It’s hard to say.” Lanina spread out her hand. “I don’t see the point. There’s nothing to gain by faking the a ‘dead’ demon king. The only reason I could think of is to cause the Allied Army to plunge in chaos. But that effect won’t last. Even if the Allied Army believes in it, they wouldn’t stay in the demonic world for a thousand years for that prophecy. But then as fake as that demon in the image is, it does look like my king. It makes people wonder who is it.”

“Y’zaks lookalike has leave thing behind.” Hao Ren scratched his chin, looking with interest at the crystal. “It seems that Y’zaks is influential. Could it be that the new demon king is making his debut announcement in advance?”

No one say a word because they found the situation so strange that they didn’t what to make of it. After a while of silence, Lily suddenly clapped her hands and said, “Eh, I think I have found something suspicious!”

Everyone stared at the husky. Lily pointed at the crystal and asked, “Who was the one holding the crystal shooting the video?”

Everyone: “…”

“That’s what you come up with after so long?” Vivian was half-crying and half-laughing. “Is knowing who held the crystal shooting the video important?

“Of course.” Lily said. “Would you ask a cameraman record your suicide? The scene in the visual looks like a battlefield. And in that case, don’t you feel it strange that a cameraman was willing to risk death taking the video? Which cameraman would want to do that? And look at the last scene.”

Asking Lanina to replay the visual, Lily let everyone pay attention to the final moment when ‘Y’zaks’ led the last remaining demons leaping into the dark door. “Just take note the jerk of the visual—this tells us that the crystal wasn’t placed on the ground but someone was a tic or an impassioned emotions while recording the clip…”

At the end of the visual, the dark gateway closed slowly and this scene lasted for a while. Lily explained. “Obviously the cameraman was still outside the gateway…”

Vivian was flabbergasted. “Whoa, I’m blown away by Doggie’s observativeness.”

Hao Ren had never expected Lily could have come up with such a great analysis. He rubbed Lily’s hair and asked, “Then what’s your conclusion?”

“The whole thing is orchestrated.” Lily nodded and said, “First of all, I’m sure someone was directing the video and those guys were all actors; secondly, the scene must be somewhere in the demonic dimension, they had purposely blurred out the background to cover up the location; thirdly, those who left behind the stuff must be someone who was close to Y’zaks: he not just knew Y’zaks well but also was able to get the crystal and most important of all he had also found someone who looked exactly like the real demon king. This person had well planned it.”

Hao Ren clapped his hands marvelling at the observativeness of Lily. He quickly took out a pack of spicy sticks and gave it to the maiden as reward. Meanwhile, Y’zaks began to ponder about who was the one close to him who would do such a thing—especially those demonic warlords who closely resembled him in appearance. His facial animation changed quickly as he had a few suspects in mind.

But those suspects had already died half way into the war.

Unless they faked their deaths!

“This must be further investigated .” Hao Ren concluded. “Impersonating a dead person is so disrespectful. We should’ve let Biggie ‘die’ in peace…”

Before Hao Ren’s voice trailed off, Lanina had already glared at him. Vivian jabbed Hao Ren on his arm and said quietly, “Don’t say anything if you don’t know how to say it.”

“I was thinking that if we could figure this out, wouldn’t the Allied Army?” Nangong Wuyue asked curiously. “Could they already find out that it was all orchetrated?”

“Not necessary.” Y’zaks grinned. “At least they haven’t figured that out yet. Our world is different from the Earth, we don’t have the concept of orchestration, let alone live streaming of suicide…”

Then Y’zaks got to his feet. “I’m going to track down the person who impersonated me.”

“Then what’s your plan?” Hao Ren looked up at Y’zaks.

Y’zaks lowered his head and thought for a moment. “I’m going to Cadeceus.”

Lily was excited hearing a new place. “Where is Cadeceus?”

Nangong Wuyue, who was beside her, let out a sigh. “Hope it’s not as dry as this place. I almost couldn’t stand the environment here.”

Y’zaks laughed. “Don’t worry. Cadeceus is a perfect place for you—it’s a place for humans, the most lively enclave of the human world.

Hao Ren was surprised because he thought Y’zaks would naturally go to the other eight demonic planes looking for clues, little did he expect the human kingdom was his target. “Are you looking for clues in the human kingdom? Aren’t we looking for the demon which looks the same as you?”

“Sometimes it’s better taking a different route.” Lanina had guessed what Y’zaks was thinking. She explained. “There are ten demonic planes, each of which is vast and under the rule of dictatorships, going in there would be too dangerous. On the other hand, Cadeceus is a stronghold of humans. Despite of the constant war between different races, the demonic planes are their common enemies. They have built the biggest hub in Cadeceus where warlock sanctury and various agencies are sending out their spies to reconnoitre in the demonic planes. We could learn about the situation in the demonic planes through them, saving us the trouble of going in personally. Human might have difficulty decipher the secrets of the demonic world, but we as senior demons might be able to find something human couldn’t.

“There’s one most thing.” Y’zaks grinned. “We are too eye-catching in the demonic planes.”

“OK!” Hao Ren clapped his hands together and said, “Let’s go to Cadeceus! But then again, how do we go?”

“It’s simple,” Y’zaks pointed at the abundant osidians. “Mine a few osidians and then make a teleportation gateway…”