Chapter 170: Terrifying foe
Sprawled on the ground helplessly right now was the mischievous demon rabbit full of tricks from just now, he was conscious but unable to move in the slightest from the pain which sealed his strength miraculously, maybe by attacking the weakest parts of its body. The pain was lessening, but the previous lesson was more than enough for him to remember it for life, a experience too fearful to be recalled or the rabbit might go insane. To make matters worse, the stars are lying dormant in the body of the rabbit and if Nightin wishes to, then the rabbit might have to face its worst nightmare again.
Is the rabbit pitiful or does he deserve it? Nightin doesn't really bother as he made use of the soothing healing properties of his order sword to help the rabbit recover within his system storage of infinite space.
"Nightin, you went too far with that." Ash commented from the sidelines with his sniper rifles retracted. He had no qualms with Nightn's actions, but he just felt way too unfamiliar to him. He was merciless and cruel without sparing a thought for the demon rabbit who he was trying to tame and even went further than a forced contract.
"You don't understand." Hearing Nightin's hoarse and quivery voice, Ash knows that he has gotten the wrong idea about him. Nightin was still himself, it's just that he was forced to execute that decision out of consideration for their lives.
"I'm sorry, I understand you much better than most people and while you place your trust in me, I actually doubted you without even asking for the reason." Ash says with his head lowered,
"Don't speak anymore, I understand your point." Nightin replies as he raises his head to look ahead, the tears glistening in his eyes controlled after he opens his eyes again. Being merciless wasn't his style and being ruthlessness was his nemesis, but he has to accept it as part of him in order to survive in this cultivation universe and discover the mysteries which are being hidden from him.
"Smith, have you figured out how we can leave this castle?" The fox commander asks openly on behalf of all the eight commanders. Nightin may not have said anything, but all of them recognise the truth that the fox commander is the strongest among them all, that can also be seen from his army having the most achievements as a one platoon team compared to them.
"Why are you still asking him? He's just a stupid strategist with brains and no brawns. Who knows, he might have been lying about being able to lead us out and the previous discovery might have been a fluke." The tiger commander says in disdain, unpleasant by the fact that the guys are ignoring her for some strategist which doesn't meet her eye.
"Leona, that's enough!" Taylor, the commander of the Crystal drakes calls out, unwilling to say his allies attacking each other personally. Turning his head to look at Smith, he apologises through his eyes and heaves a sigh of relief when Smith nodded back.
"Leona, I know that you doubt my ability, but please stop questioning my capabilities before you've seen where my limit lays." Smith replies back politely just like how a gentleman would, gaining a thumbs up from all the males present except for Jax, the leader of the three tailed fox platoon.
"Hmph! Prove to me just how capable you are then!" Leona then turned away from the guys.
They have only spent about an hour to get out of the maze, but about two days have already passed in the castle and yet they're still unable to find their way out. On just the first floor of the twenty two floors alone, there are a hundred doors. With the number of doors increasing with each increase in floor, there are a total of thousands of doors waiting for them to explore.
"Don't you guys see it yet?" Smith says to all the commanders around him, even amplifying his voice so that all the soldiers on all floors can hear what he just said. His voice reverberated off the castle walls, causing the air particles in the air to vibrate about as he turned towards one of the doors on the first floor.
"Smith, just what have you found what?" Adagio the commander of the foresight owls asked this time around, his curiosity piqued by Smith who was able to arrive at conclusions much more quickly than him.
"If you pay close attention, you'll see a contrasting difference between the doors. But before you peek any deeper into the darkness, brace your heart as what you see may leave behind a scar in your heart for life, one too terrifying for you to ever forget." Smith says, cautioning those with the ability to see further before they take a look, but the person he was cautioning is nobody but Adagio.
Adagio nods his head and thanks Smith before closing his eyes, preparing to open his eyes once again to foresee the future, something which even Smith isn't able to execute. The foresight owl is also known as the species that sees into the future and in every generation of its bloodline, only two will exist and if the two of them manage to step past the Mystical realm, then they'll exist eternally until the universe ceases to exist.
Opening his eyes again, Adagio peeks into the gaps left behind by the metal bars. His body stumbled backwards as his body quivered in fear, he wanted to speak but no voice was coming out, his eyes were begging for help as he fell towards the ground, only to be caught by Smith who had already prepared to catch him.
"Adagio, are you okay?" Lloyd the commander of the Speedy rat asks in worry of his comrade who has been with him ever since they entered the battlefield for the first time.
"What happened? What did you see?" Blaze the commander of the Pyre wolves was in turn a direct person who cut straight to the chase, he was definitely worried for his friend, but he knows that he must keep his mentality of being objective based or the army might fall one day.
"I… I saw a future where all of us will perish to one being behind that door, one that's either a guardian entrusted with the duty of protecting the place or a prisoner who has been corrupted by anger.
"Can you calm down first before describing his looks?" Smith says as a blue halo surrounded him and Adagio only, a halo with the effect of calming people down and it works much better when the radius is smaller, which is why he left Blaze and Lloyd out as their anxiousness can be suppressed.
"Smith, what the hell is in there! If there wasn't a need for Adagio to peek inside, then why did you get him to do so?" Gates the commander of the Albino elephants asked. If everyone has a role among the eight commanders, then he'll be the one that is always on a justified stand to ensure fairness among everyone.
"I didn't know what was inside either and even though I can sense its dominating presence, I'm unable to gauge its strength until I see it for myself, Adagio was the only one who can get the task done. I know that you guys may resent me for putting Adagio through such pain, but this is the best that I can do. If an unavoidable battle does break out later, all of you must leave without me, I'll deal with the unknown threat."
"And you think you have the strength to do so? Jax the commander of the three tailed fox platoon asks. He doesn't mind others being stronger than him, but he definitely wouldn't tolerate a strategist acclaiming that he's stronger than all eight commanders and their armies combined.
Just like this, awkward silence started between them as no one spoke, the rest too worried or angered to speak, Smith not bothered to care about how the other soldiers think.
After about an hour or so had passed, colour gradually returned to Adagio's face, but his lips were cracked as he asked through his dehydrated lips in a hoarse voice. Even though Adagio tried his best to keep calm, all of them present can tell that he was still petrified by whatever he saw in hindsight, but the best they can do for him is to be there for him.
"The opponent that is preventing us from leaving is at the middle stage of the Great saint realm and is one that possesses extraordinary strength that far surpasses his cultivation realm, he might be a being whose cultivation is suppressed and if that's the case, it means that his strength is unfathomable. In the… The future I saw… He killed all of us with a swing of his arm, the wind crushed us."
Shivers creeped down the spine of all eight commanders as they worried not only for themselves, but how they're going to break this piece of news to their soldiers and devise a strategy to leave this place alive...
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