Novel Full Chapter 227: Badland Hunt
Chapter 227: Badland Hunt
In the midst of a field that spread as far as the eyes could see, two men stood. Arian and Godfrey, both wearing suppressors.
Arian flexed his muscular arms before assuming a boxing stance.
This made Godfrey lift an eyebrow. “You learned boxing?”
“Learnt? I was called the boxing king back in my days. You’re not a pro, you would have known.”
“Boxing king?” Godfrey squinted, his memory taking him back to when Victoria spoke about a clip they usually showed them during her camp days. The legendary boxing king was said to reveal his talent at a staggering young age of six. At ten, he was already terrifying.
At eighteen, he had conquered globally, rising to become the first eighteen-year-old champion, but his legend began when no one could defeat him until he vanished in his early twenties. His streak was unbeatable, his feats miraculous, but most footage of him had been brought down.
Victoria couldn’t show him the face of this boxing king, but now Godfrey realized why Arian vanished mysteriously.
“I might be forty-one, but I haven’t lost it.” Arian massaged his shoulders before throwing swift punches while gliding like a mirage from left to right.
Godfrey swore those fists left afterimages.
Arian closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “This is the last thing I’ll be teaching you. How to refine your boxing. Ancient martial arts still have their place even until today, so…”
His eyes snapped open. “… Are you ready?”
Godfrey threw his jacket to the ground and assumed a boxing stance. In the next moment, both of them moved.
***
BAM!
A rock formation in the shape of an upside-down U slammed an invisible metallic being atop a modified truck which popped out of a purple gate.
Ballista couldn’t even react as he was slammed off, crashing heavily on the golden-red sand while the truck continued downward, racing down the slope of a badland.
An arid, heavily eroded terrain characterized by steep slopes, minimal vegetation, and soft sedimentary rock formations like ravines, gullies, and hoodoos.
The driver slammed the brakes hard, forcing the vehicle to a stop right at the end of the slope. Everyone took in the sight of endless rock formations of different shapes and sizes, scanty shrubs here and there, with quite a good amount of sand.
It was like the rock version of a desert.
Just then, giant armoured crabs scuttled out of rock caves. Their pincers were massive and heavily armoured. Their stingers had crimson vein patterns.
Dax could sense it. These monsters were King/Queen Tiers, and there were almost a dozen of them!
Instantly, the driver accelerated. The truck’s back tires kicked up sand and dust before zooming into the badlands while being chased by hungry scorpions.
’Repeat after me. We pledge our service to the unknown king.’
’We pledge our service to the unknown king—!’
A sharp gasp rang as Ballista woke up. He sat up, shook his head, picked up his bow, and rose to his feet.
The hot wind blew against his cloak as the golden knight stared at the environment. A badland, and the mother of the crown prince whom he was supposed to protect was lost in it.
He remembered the glimpse of the purple gate before it swallowed them. Something slammed its head, and by all reasonable standards, that rock shouldn’t have been able to knock him out.
It just struck a chord that made a memory flash. It could be because he had been pondering a little bit too much lately.
Ballista tried contacting Godfrey but was blocked off.
“No… I cannot fail the Prince.” He attached the giant bow horizontally to his back and dashed forward. Dust burst out of the earth as a golden knight traversed through the badland.
He saw two rock pillars in his way. Instead of moving around, Ballista bulldozed past it, leaped almost forty feet into the air, and landed roughly on a rock cliff.
He slid to a halt. He had already noticed the tracks which led him to where he stood now. Upon stretching his vision in one area, Ballista was able to spot the truck still racing away from his position.
It was almost two kilometres away, with several giant scorpions chasing after it.
Ballista took his bow, summoned an arrow, and nocked the giant bow before aiming at the sky. The sound of the bowstring being stretched filled his eardrums, the sun gleamed off his golden armour right before it turned pure crimson as it stained heavily with blood.
Right after that, it turned black.
Ballista’s Tier was 8.3. It rose to 8.8 in Black Out since he was at the limit of his potential and exploded to 9.8 in Overload State.
Lightning crackled through the arrow, humming intensely before he released it.
The wind blasted outwardly, sending cracks through the rock Ballista stood on as the arrow tore into the air. Mid-air, it split into three arrows.
All three of them traversed two kilometres in an instant, piercing the heads of three giant king-tier scorpions. The moment they struck, three more arrows, following closely behind, split through the first arrows, took advantage of the wounds made by the first arrows, and tore deep into the skulls of the scorpions.
Three of them fell. They stumbled and crashed into rock formations due to their previous speed.
“What’s going on?!” Someone in the truck shouted through the fortified back window.
“What happened?” Dax asked.
“Three scorpions just fell. Something struck them. I think they’re dead.”
Dax looked at Valentina. “I think he’s still here.” Ballista had always maintained his invisibility state to an extent even Valentina forgot that a knight was always by her side.
“Since Ballista is aware, Godfrey should be here soon. We just have to survive until then.” Dax said as he opened the roof lid and went to the top of the truck.
His summon came out from a portal above a scorpion and swung its massive hammer downward. It crushed the scorpion’s head and blew up a lot of rocks and sand.
The red-haired summon used that to its advantage, flying out of the sand wave and slamming another scorpion away. It tumbled several times before lying unconscious a hundred meters away.
“There’s a town up ahead!”
Dax heard a loud voice that made him turn to where the vehicle was heading for. A dilapidated town made of wooden structures.
“Go there!” Dax bellowed.
Unknown to him, rows of individuals in black robes walked out of a purple gate right into the town. The man leading them had a black full moon tattooed to his forehead.
And gleaming eyes.