Chapter 369: Skirmish: Part 1
Shafreddy was born to a family of Carta Blanche diplomats. Her father, mother, grandfather, great grandfather were all in the foreign office holding high posts.
So she was exposed to the world from young, and with her natural talents, aside from the local language, she could speak five main foreign languages, and while she may be a proud person, she was highly perceptive.
And the moment she looked at Lin Sheng and Kasumi, she already had a rough idea of what was going on.
“Both of you don’t look like reinforcements from the Suncrown?” She asked cautiously.
“The Suncrown?” Lin Sheng was taken aback. “The Suncrown had already been alerted by the problem here? That fast?”
“Yes, what happened here, was no usual Blacktide incident.
In most cases, there will be one to three beings maintaining the afflictions, and once vanquished, the problem will be resolved.” Shafreddy totally ignored the fight going on beside here and explained.
As the group had been hiding underground for a long while now, compounded by the lack of food, drinks and rest, even when they fight with the dark powers they were flaccid at best.
But the numbers game prevailed as at least eighty percent of the group’s Darksiders were attacking Olba and Ian.
The two were strong, and as they defended themselves, they took down their attackers one at a time, while they may look sorry, and their wounds heavily, they were actually turning the tide, slowly but surely.
“My apologies, Ian is being a little rash, but he means no harm.”
Shafreddy could not help but to take a glance at Ian. He had been fighting for her safety all this while, so she could not leave him to his fate.
“May I ask, how can I get you to let him go?” She directly verbalized her request.
BAM!
Olba was at his limits, and after another sneak attack, he was crashing onto the ground, and tumbled away. He had blood on his mouth, and even his ears were damaged as blood slowly flowed out of it, not knowing who struck that blow on him.
Lin Sheng looked at Tenko Kasumi, and the latter was yawning, clearly in no mind to bother with what was happening before her.
“Want me to let him go, simple.” He pondered. “Tell me, why is he protecting you, and what secret is with you.”
“Absolutely not!” Ian yelled. “You cannot tell him! If the Sevenlocks Tower finds out, we will all be dead!
Not just us; our family and friends will die as well!” His expression was twisted, as he felt compelled to yell at Lin Sheng even as he had to block two blasts of dark power flames head on.
“Kill me if you can then! Shafreddy, never, ever tell him that!”
“But if all of you are dead, my chances to bring this secret back is zero.” Shafreddy said calmly.
“You know… that thing will not let me go.” She was calm, and that was not faked, rather, it was an aura of someone who had a fatalistic view of life.
Lin Sheng could not help but to take another glance at the lady.
As they spoke, Ian and Olba, due to the distraction, were finally taken down as they lay on the ground flat.
The eagle and cheetah created by their dark powers had been smashed apart outright, and their defensive aura around their body were so battered they were barely visible.
BAM!
A black man who was powerfully build smashed his fist onto Olba’s head, and knocking him senseless.
He then gave a provocative look to a few of the military men that had not joined in the beating.
“Heh, I’d been sick of these two tossers for a long while now! A good time to teach them a lesson.”
The PIC of the military too was a black man, as he looked at the person as if he wanted to swallow him alive.
“No matter what secret you have, just spit it out. My patience is limited and I don’t intend to waste any more of it here.” Lin Sheng had gotten a little impatient, and said bluntly.
Shafreddy spoke no more and instead just stepped forward as she opened her mouth. A flash of green light appeared on her body as her head slowly transformed into a python form. Then a purple potion inside a perfume bottle slowly writhed out from her throat.
The purple potion was only the size of a finger, and about as wide as a thumb.
At this very moment, the purple liquid in Shafreddy’s hand seemed to have plenty of phosphorescent in it as it sparkled bright.
The moment the potion was taken out, the entire surrounding turn gloomy as if something from the void around them were converging towards this place.
“What is that?” Lin Sheng’s carefree expression gave way to caution as he looked around with the edge of his eyes.
The shadow around the wall writhed and expanded like a living being the moment the potion was taken out as a form on untold terror emanated out of it.
Shafreddy quickly grabbed the potion tight as she looked up at Lin Sheng.
“This is the key that I have mastered. It is called the Entrance.”
“The Entrance?” Lin Sheng looked at that potion, and felt that it was a living thing, that was sealed inside the bottle.
“Yes, the Entrance, if it gets opened, the liquid inside will seep out and will very quickly transform into a brand new Entrance into the Ashen World!” Shafreddy said grimly.
What she said was beyond the understanding of most people, and only a few people at the upper echelons understood what the Ashen World entails.
And the moment these few people heard it, their face turned pale as they slowly took a step back.
“This thing is a genocidal weapon. If it leaks into the world, it’ll kill anyone and everyone! If not for the fact these people had not been able to send word, it would be impossible for them to be guarded by so few!”
Lin Sheng’s expression changed as well. The Entrance to the Ashen World would normally need a hidden realm to suppress it, and now the only force in the world capable of achieving such feat was the three hidden realms.
He did not need to think much to understand how terrifying the Entrance was. But before him was an Entrance in the form of a potion.
“This is the will of god, opening the gate of hope is the finale of destiny.”
A few robed figures appeared out of the elevator, and the one speaking was a weathered, thin old man. One of his eyes were white, seemingly blind, while another had a terrifying glint in it as he stared at Lin Sheng and Shafreddy.
“For the hope, kill them!” The old man waved his hand and pointed at Lin Sheng at the rest.
Four robed figures behind him charged forward and discarded their robes, revealing powerful bodies in rotting black tone.
“KILL THEM!!” The four of them were black all over, and only their eyes were blood red, black mist quickly formed around their hands and formed into a half-meter long blade.
The four were exceedingly quick, and in a blink of an eye, they had charged towards Shafreddy in the middle of the group.
Her expression did not change as she had seemed to foresee that happening, so she instead just tossed the potion towards Lin Sheng.
“I’ll leave you to decide.” She no longer resisted as she closed her eyes, and awaited her doom.
Neither the army troops, the academy Darksiders nor the wandering Darksiders could react in time to help her, as they could only looked with wide eyes at the potion flying in the air.
If the potion were to smash on the ground, no one here would be able to survive. No one knew that a new Entrance potion had appeared in this locked down city, and now everyone understood why Ian was so agitated.
If anyone were to know what Shafreddy had on her, they would volunteer their lives to keep her safe.
But sadly, it was too late.
Four blades came at bizarre angles towards the potion flying in the air. Their goal was clearly to shatter the bottle, and open an Entrance to the Ashen World here.
Sadly, a powerful arm had extended itself over and gently held the potion in the palm. The four blades followed the black mist and struck the arm on four sides.
CLANG!!!
Four distinct clashing sound rang out as the blades rebounded, and two strands of hair fell down, indicating that a blade had just slashed at that part of the arm.