Chapter 308 - The Great Expedition (10)
“This is...”
The scenery had changed. The members of the expedition looked around at their new surroundings, realizing that they were no longer in the valley where they had killed Ayla. To make matters worse, each of them realized that they were no longer together.
With a dumbfounded expression at what had just happened, McDowell broke the silence.
“It seems like... the tables have turned, haven't they?”
The members of the expedition had been separated in an instant, their plan of teaming up against the rest of the apostles no longer feasible. It seemed like the apostles had done something so that Henry’s allies couldn’t have it their way.
Finding himself alone, McDowell scratched the back of his head, completely at a loss. Even though they had discussed this possibility during their preliminary meetings, he hadn’t actually thought it would come to this.
But then...
Swoosh!
“...!”
Something suddenly flew at McDowell like a murderous arrow. He instinctively twisted to one side to dodge it. A tremendous gust of wind followed, barely missing McDowell but still cutting him on the collar.
He tumbled and drew his sword.
“Who is it?!”
His demand was met with an eerie silence; it somehow seemed even quieter than before.
McDowell ignited himself with his blue Aura as he heightened his senses, bracing for any subsequent attacks.
‘Left.’
Swoosh!
McDowell turned to the opposite side of where he felt the attack coming from, and just as he had thought, a gust of wind followed from the left side.
‘Bottom right.’
It was just like earlier. McDowell held his breath and instantly dodged the invisible attack by sensing where it came from and its trajectory. After several rounds of this cat and mouse game, McDowell finally spoke up.
“It's you!”
The entity was staring at McDowell with murderous eyes. This master of sneak attacks was currently invisible, lingering around like a specter. He was the one McDowell had faced in Vivaldi.
“Gluttony!”
“Ding, ding, ding!”
When McDowell called out his name, Gluttony gradually revealed himself from about ten steps away, as though someone were painting him out of thin air.
The apostle greeted McDowell with a wide, childish grin.
“Pretty impressive, eh? Seems like you’ve gotten stronger since our last encounter,” Gluttony commented as though he were McDowell’s middle-aged neighbor.
But to McDowell, that just seemed like a mocking, sardonic comment. His heart was racing as he found himself face-to-face with the one who had humiliated and almost killed him.
Gluttony’s face had been haunting him for the past month, making him go through countless sleepless nights. He would replay the humiliating fight in his mind over and over again, training to make sure that the rematch would go differently.
Gluttony casually ran his hand through his gray hair and said, “Humans are truly remarkable creatures, don’t you think so? I left you lying there half dead, and yet here you are again, alive and kicking! Your life force is truly astonishing. Perhaps you humans... Have you merged with cockroaches or something?”
The way in which Gluttony spoke about humans was most bizarre; he spoke like a true Chimera. He probably thought that he was genuinely praising humans, but evidently, any human who listened to him would feel uncomfortable because his choice of words wasn’t exactly flattering, to say the least.
Hearing this, McDowell chuckled.
“Funny to hear this from a monstrosity that would probably survive against dozens of other creatures attacking at the same time. I think you guys are more similar to cockroaches than us, wouldn’t you agree?”
McDowell made a good point. After all, Chimeras were a combination of many different creatures.
At this, Gluttony nodded and replied bluntly, “No, you’re right.”
“What?”
“You humans probably won’t understand. If we can have the best trait of a particular creature, we won’t hesitate to take it for ourselves. So yes, we’ll accept the peak life force out there even if it comes from cockroaches.”
Gluttony truly was a Chimera. Even though Dracan had bestowed him with the common knowledge of humans, and he himself had consumed other humans to gain more knowledge, that was all just secondary reference information to Gluttony. Human knowledge and emotions didn’t affect his fundamental Chimera mindset.
McDowell couldn’t help frowning at that revolting explanation, and in response, Gluttony couldn’t help smiling.
“Anyway, will you be okay? I mean, I wiped the floor with you last time, so how do you plan to take me on this time with just one of those divine rings?”
Gluttony knew exactly what position McDowell was in, but the knight wasn’t intimidated by this. Instead, he chuckled and said, “I’m well aware of my limitations. And yes, I only have one ring at my disposal."
“I knew it. I remember laughing when you first made that proposal to Sir Arthus. You were so confident, ready to take on all of us, even though you people could barely manage one apostle as a group. I just can’t understand... How can you be so arrogant and naive?”
Gluttony could feel from McDowell’s murderous aura how humiliated and angry he had felt after their first fight. And that was exactly why Gluttony continued to mock him, hoping to agitate and make him more rash in the upcoming fight.
However, McDowell maintained his composure. With a calm expression, he looked at Gluttony and flashed him a sly smile.
“Arrogant, huh... You’re one to talk. We're not as clueless as you think.”
“Huh?”
Gluttony was confused by that last statement. Shortly after, the invisible space behind McDowell seemed to distort, revealing a familiar face.
He was none other than the former deputy of the Magical Spire, Stan Hardiradi. As he appeared, he placed his hand on McDowell’s shoulder and said, “Sir McDowell, I am here to take you back.”
McDowell turned around and said his final words as he saw Gluttony look at him with a surprised face.
“Goodbye, you damn gluttonous bastard!”
“Shit!”
Gluttony tried to react before the two could disappear into the teleportation gate, but it was too late. With a flash of light, Stan and McDowell disappeared in front of his eyes.
***
When the light flashed again, McDowell found himself surrounded by those who had arrived earlier. The group included Valhald, Allen and his adjutant Walker, Herarion, and several Sages.
“Is this everyone? What about the rest?” asked McDowell as he looked around.
“It seems that they haven't arrived yet.”
“Hmm, I’m assuming they’ll find their way here soon enough. But that piece of shit Arthus... I can’t believe he was just playing along to take us by surprise and separate us like this. I really thought he was going to listen to our request. Anyway, it’s his mistake to think that we’ll go down like this.”
McDowell recalled the face Gluttony had made as he teleported away with Stan and felt extreme satisfaction, a sense of triumph. He had executed the plan perfectly. The others were also happy that everything had worked according to the plan.
During the preliminary meeting before starting the expedition, the Union members had established that if Arthus were to somehow split them apart, they would all reassemble with a designated partner at a specific location.
And just like Henry had predicted, Arthus had indeed separated them, and thankfully every pair was coming back one by one.
Lore, one of the Sages, said, “I will say this once again, but everyone must keep the Log Stones we provided you so we can locate you.”
“Of course. These Log Stones are our lifeline, so losing them would be a considerable setback."
As Lore explained the importance of the Log Stones again, Allen took out his Log Stone from his pocket and shook it. Log Stones were artifacts made at the Magical Spire and their purpose was straightforward.
The Log Stones were made in pairs, so no matter where their possessors were, the two Log Stones would send their respective coordinates to each other.
Thus, Henry had distributed the Log Stones to everyone so that each of the seven Sages had someone’s pair and could bring them back in case something happened.
But at that moment...
Flash! Flash!
Consecutive flashes of light illuminated the area. The other Sages had finally come to the meeting place. However, everyone was puzzled by their appearance.
Lore, who had been among the first to arrive, questioned the latecomers.
“Why are you by yourselves?”
“Uh... The thing is... They refused to come back with us.”
“What?”
“The members we got paired with decided to stay behind and fight the apostles."
“W-what are you saying?! The plan was to regroup here and tackle the apostles together!”
“They insisted on handling it themselves, saying that they didn’t need any help.”
“And who are they?”
After asking that, Lore quickly went through the present members to see who was missing. He then nodded at what the other Sage had said.
“Ah, of course. But since they’re the only ones who can make decisions outside the plan, we need to get them back here immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Lore issued orders, some of the Sages teleported again to retrieve their partners.
Seeing them go one by one, McDowell asked, “Sir Lore, should we start moving as well?”
“Yes. Since I have Log Stone with the commander, he’ll join us later. Then... who shall we go after first?”
Henry had based this contingency plan on a simple slogan.
“United we stand, divided we fall.”
Now that almost everyone was back together, they could take on at least one apostle. They would take this opportunity to go apostle hunting while they were still confused as to what was happening.
Then, as if someone was waiting for Lore to ask the question, someone shouted, “Of course, we’ll have to go after that bastard first!”
There were no objections; they unanimously decided on the first target.
***
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Gluttony was seething over McDowell's unexpected escape. His face was as red as a tomato, about to burst at any moment
“How...! How did they know where to find him?”
He knew that all members of the expedition had been scattered across the continent by Arthus’ authority and Dracan’s magic. However, they had somehow managed to find the location of that McDowell vermin and send a wizard to teleport him away.
“AAAHHH! You piece of shit!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gluttony trashed his surroundings to vent his anger. He had purposely brought McDowell here to dispose of him personally, and now his treat was gone.
He considered that he had all the reasons to be furious. He shouted at the skies, hoping that Arthus would heed his grievances.
“Sir Arthus! What is this?! What should I do?!”
Gluttony knew that the almighty Arthus was seeing everything and was aware of what had happened. And so, he tried his best to act like he hadn’t done anything wrong and that he wasn’t getting what he deserved.
Arthus, observing from afar, couldn't help but laugh at Gluttony’s exasperation. He thought that the way in which Gluttony had been tricked, and his subsequent tantrum were absolutely hilarious.
Of course, he also knew that he had to do something about this.
‘Hmm... What to do... Hmm...’
Arthus pondered over the unexpected turn of events. He had split Henry’s team because he didn’t like what they were doing, but he hadn’t expected them to work around his trick. What infuriated him the most was their usage of Teleportation, which he had strictly prohibited.
However, he had technically prohibited them from using the spell to get to Lizark Hill, where he was located, so they hadn’t actually broken his rule. Thus, Arthus was forced to come up with something else.
Flash!
But at that moment, a flash of brilliance suddenly appeared before Gluttony, who was still raging. The light quickly faded away, and a familiar voice caught Gluttony’s attention.
“There we go.”
McDowell was standing in front of him with his sword in hand, ready for battle.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel