Novel Full Chapter 500 500: Mission Accomplished, Return to the Camp
“This is tough! We nearly died because of these Dragon King’s lackeys back at that abandoned manor,” Lucas remarked as he looked at the blood dragon lying motionless on the ground.
“All the monsters in the manor should be dead by now. Let’s hurry back! I have a feeling something bad will happen if we stay here any longer,” he urged Luca, his tone impatient.
In his mind, the mission was essentially completed, and there was no reason to linger in such a strange and eerie place.
Luca slowly nodded in agreement.
He had originally hoped to stay a little longer in the manor. He wanted to use the time to search for any items or clues related to the Goddess of the Night that might still be hidden there. However, after Sophia’s reminder, he quickly realized that there were probably no more such items left in the manor.
Both the Dragon King and Crimson King factions had always been extremely diligent about gathering any information related to the Goddess of the Night. Despite not openly acknowledging it, they both valued these searches deeply. With the Black Forest camp being so close to the abandoned manor, it had undoubtedly been searched multiple times before. Any relevant items would have already been taken in prior searches. Only the underground hall, hidden and secretive as it was, had remained undiscovered until Luca and the others found it.
With that in mind, Luca and Lucas returned to the Black Forest camp as quickly as possible. Lucas dropped Luca off at the camp’s quarters before heading to meet with the other officers.
“Do you think we’ll be punished?” Luca asked quietly, once he was alone.
Of course, he was asking Sophia.
Though their mission was technically completed, the majority of their team had died during the mission—only he and Lucas had survived. The officers at Black Forest camp probably wouldn’t be too happy about that. After all, from the events that had unfolded, every soldier was considered highly valuable to the Crimson King faction.
“I don’t know for sure,” Sophia replied. “But it’s hard to say.”
Although she was a native of the Eternal Continent, Sophia had lived most of her life in the Kingdom of Clinton, so she wasn’t too familiar with the All-Beings Empire.
“Whether or not you’re punished entirely depends on Lucas’s ability to adapt to the situation. If he can convince others that you did everything you could during the mission, then you definitely won’t be punished,” she replied.
Sophia’s answer made Luca smile bitterly.
Luca didn’t have much faith in Lucas’s intelligence.
“Looks like we’re definitely going to be punished then. He’s not exactly the type to think on his feet.”
In the deepest underground area of the Black Forest camp, Lucas stood with a serious expression, awaiting a summons from his direct superior.
It was quite a while before he was finally allowed to enter his superior’s office.
His direct superior was Bales, a former Crimson King bodyguard who had once held the position of a Berserker. Bales had long abandoned his surname, and he was widely known as “Dragon Slayer Bales” due to a battle in which he had single-handedly fought off five dragons, killing one and successfully retreating from the battlefield.
When Lucas entered Bales’s office, he found the man deeply focused, his eyes fixed on a map spread across his desk. Without lifting his head, Bales asked,
“Mission completed, right? All the monsters in the abandoned manor have been dealt with?”
Lucas quickly responded, “Yes, the mission is complete. All the monsters have been confirmed eliminated.”
“Good. You and your team should rest up. I’ll have a new mission for you in two days,” Bales said as he prepared to stand up and leave.
Just then, Lucas stopped him.
“Something else, sir?”
“Sir, I have completed the mission you gave me. However, during the mission, my team suffered significant losses. In the end, only I and one other teammate survived; the rest are dead.”
Lucas steeled himself and spoke the truth.
Bales remained standing, his gaze fixed on him without saying a word. The silence was heavy, and the pressure on Lucas grew with each passing second.
After a few minutes, Bales finally broke the silence.
“What kind of monsters did you encounter in the abandoned manor?”
“We didn’t encounter particularly strong monsters. The heavy losses my team suffered were entirely due to an attack by Dragon King’s lackeys during the mission,” Lucas quickly replied.
He felt a slight sense of relief now.
Under normal circumstances, as long as Bales was willing to ask for specific details, it meant Bales wasn’t too angry about the situation.
Bales scrutinized Lucas carefully.
“Are you sure the ones who attacked you were Dragon King’s lackeys?”
“I’m absolutely certain! The leader was a blood dragon. It can turn blood into its own strength, and it can also transform into a dragon form. So I’m completely sure they were Dragon King’s lackeys,” Lucas answered quickly.
He was very worried that Bales might think he was just making up excuses.
Bales’s expression became slightly strange. He seemed to be struggling with something in his mind.
After a long silence, Bales returned to his previous position.
“Tell me everything that happened during the mission,” Bales said, his tone much gentler as he sat back down.
At that moment, Lucas completely relaxed.
As a well-known Berserker, Bales’s shift to a gentle tone meant there was no need for Lucas to be overly tense when speaking to him.
Lucas then carefully recounted everything that happened during the mission.
As soon as he finished, Bales immediately stood up.
“Come with me right now. We need to meet with Lord Anwar!”
Without waiting for Lucas to respond, Bales grabbed him and began dragging him toward Anwar.
The appearance of the blood dragon so close to the Black Forest camp was, of course, a very worrying development. Bales felt they needed to act immediately.
However, he wasn’t the highest-ranking officer in the Black Forest camp—Lord Anwar, the Bloody Knight, was. Only Anwar could make the final decisions.
Luca waited in his quarters well into the night, but Lucas still hadn’t returned. This made Luca feel a little worried.
“What’s going on? Even if they’re going to punish us, there’s no need to keep Lucas until now, right?” he muttered to himself, pacing back and forth.
“I think the senior officers at Black Forest camp are probably discussing something related to the blood dragon right now. Lucas being taken there was probably just to provide details about the situation,” came Sophia’s voice.
She still sounded relatively relaxed.
In her view, if the higher-ups at Black Forest camp had intended to punish Luca, they would have already announced their decision by now. There was no reason to wait until this late. So, Luca and Lucas were most likely not going to be punished. It was quite possible that they would be asked to lead others back to the abandoned manor soon.
“We did encounter a lot of things during the mission, but it shouldn’t take this long to explain everything in detail, right?” Luca replied, his tone filled with concern.
“Maybe others still need some advice from Lucas. Though I know you don’t think highly of his intelligence, maybe others do? Not everyone is as smart as you. I think you need to be more forgiving toward others,” Sophia remarked.
She thought Luca was taking things a little too seriously.
Not everyone, after all, had Luca’s sharp intuition, strong sense of action, and the ability to make quick, correct decisions.
Luca nodded gravely.
He had to admit that everyone was different, and it wasn’t right to expect others to meet the same standards he set for himself. But it was precisely because of these differences that he was more worried.
What if Lucas had said something he shouldn’t have?
What if, when describing the events at the abandoned manor, the senior officers at Black Forest camp caught on to something?
During the mission, Luca had given everything in the final moments. In such a situation, there was no way he could hide his battle style.
What if Lucas, in describing the final battle, had made his combat style too clear? It was possible that some of the senior officers at Black Forest camp could then figure out his true identity.
Such worries couldn’t be easily dismissed. However, Luca knew that overthinking the situation wouldn’t do him any good. Right now, all he could do was wait for Lucas to return.
Once Lucas came back, everything would be clarified.
“I hope he brings back some good news. We’ve been in the Eternal World for quite some time now, and our enemies must have taken corresponding actions during this period. The situation in both the Eternal World and the real world might have changed significantly. We need to find the Crimson King as soon as possible and get the final prophecy of the Goddess of the Night from him,” Luca said, his tone heavy as he stared out at the pitch-black night.