Chapter 566: Deployment and the Troll

Olive Town, a small town in the east of the Celestial Flower Kingdom.

It was remote enough, and the distance to any major city was what you'd call a long and winding road.

The roads were bad, so the word that summed it up was "poor."

But even so—

Because of the Celestial Flower Kingdom's exorbitant taxes and forced conscription of able-bodied men, the place had been reduced to nine empty houses out of ten.

The war quagmire between the Celestial Flower Kingdom and the Kingdom of Etheron dragged everyone in both nations down with it, sinking step by step.

The most presentable tamped-earth road in the center of town had been untraveled for a long time now.

Weeds.

Wheelbarrows and luggage tossed aside haphazardly.

A fresh layer of dust settling over them.

Suddenly, from the end of the road came the stiff, creaking sound of wooden wheels turning.

Two brand-new cart tracks were pressed into the town's central avenue.

On the wooden cart—

Three women's corpses, stripped of their trousers, lay quietly on top.

Their faces still bore tear tracks and expressions of despair and terror.

Fatal wounds on their necks and chests bled in an endless stream, seeping into the cart bed and pattering down onto the earth.

Pushed by two men, one tall, one short.

The two men wore crude, ill-fitting leather, and the weapons on their persons were slightly battered.

Curses spilled from their mouths.

One look and you could tell they were the bottom-of-the-barrel grunts of an adventurer party, the ones who did the dirty work.

Before long.

They stopped beside an abandoned brick-and-stone house with half its roof caved in.

"Dammit."

The tall man wiped a hand across his sweat. "No share in the women, but the dirty work comes one after another."

The short man, meanwhile, twisted his hips and swept a lecherous gaze over the three corpses on the cart:

"They were still warm a moment ago and you didn't want any—what a waste."

"Disgusting. I couldn't bring myself to. I still prefer them alive."

"What's the difference? Besides, live women around here are way too scarce right now. Good thing us brothers are sharp-eyed and spotted that opened cellar in town—where else would we have gotten three women to break our fast on?"

The tall man sneered. "You knew women were scarce and still killed them off in one go? That bunch really—"

"Can't blame them, brothers. Been pent up for two months now. You think that labyrinth entrance is easy to find?"

As he spoke—

The short man walked toward the abandoned brick-and-stone house beside them.

Just as he was about to push open the half-broken wooden door.

The clank-clank of armor in motion rang out.

Mixed in were two sets of footsteps.

On one side, the steady, heavy thud of full plate; on the other, the clear, natural rhythm of hooves.

He turned his head in confusion to look.

The cool spring breeze swept through, the dust it kicked up hanging in a hazy veil.

There, on the only road in the town center that could still be called presentable, a spirited woman in silver spear and silver armor stepped out at an unhurried pace, followed by a half-deer girl whose face showed reluctance and sorrow.

The flying dust veiled the spirited woman's expression.

One could faintly tell she had turned toward the three female corpses on the cart; her hands trembled, and then were shrouded once more in a ring of dark, heavy hue.

"Women!"

The short man cried out in delighted surprise.

He instinctively drew the battered short blade at his waist.

"Are you mad?! A half-deer walking beside her—you don't know what that means?! That's a Hero Candidate! You think you can take her?"

His companion beside him warned in a shout.

"Fair point. But don't you want a taste of a Hero Candidate?"

Greed and excitement blazed in the man's eyes, his pupils blown wide.

A flash of pink chaotic energy flickered through his gaze.

Up ahead.

The half-deer Kira said in a low voice, "Lady Grey, just as you guessed—there are signs of chaotic energy contamination here too."

"Mm. It's very slight. Does mutation happen at this level too? Let's observe a moment."

"But why? Their spiritual ranks are so low—they shouldn't and couldn't possibly draw the Otherworld's gaze."

The Otherworld's 【Ke Yin】 and gaze don't fall without cause.

Only when a target possesses and releases a great deal of negative emotion, and is a prodigy of extraordinary talent, might they draw attention.

The two men clearly don't fit that rule.

Grey swung her heavy, domineering silver steel spear, breaking the air overhead with a humming ring.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Perhaps… it was planted by someone."

As she spoke—

The tall adventurer froze in confusion.

Under the influence of the pink light.

For some reason, the image of his teammates besieging three women flashed through his mind.

It was clearly filthy and cruel.

Yet he somehow felt that it concealed the enjoyment of supreme sensual desire.

After all, the corruption was quite slight.

He struggled, a sliver of sanity arising from the reality of the situation.

"I want! I want to fuck them! But we can't beat them!"

But the short man didn't care about any of that.

"What are you afraid of! We have a Tier 7 Troll!"

He shouted while laughing wildly.

Then he rushed toward a nearby abandoned brick house, banging on the door with force: bang, bang, bang.

"Hey! Time to eat, Zack! Wake up, Zack!"

The tall man instantly broke out in cold sweat and hurriedly tried to pull him back:

"Are you crazy! That Troll is an idiot! No one but the captain can control him! He'll eat us all!"

However, he clearly failed to notice his companion's abnormal state.

While he was still trying to reason, he saw a worn short blade strike his shoulder from above.

"Ah!! Are you insane!"

The tall man fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

"I'm not insane! Hahaha! I'm going to screw that Hero and the half-centaur, even if I die doing it!"

The half-centaur Kira looked at the scene before her and felt uneasy.

She looked at her Hero.

"Trolls possess the strongest flesh regeneration ability among nearly all races, my lord."

It is a perfect counter to warriors like my lord.

She did not voice this thought.

Of course.

If we speak of the ultimate counter.

Kira recalled the man she had encountered earlier in the Kingdom of Kava.

And that earth-shattering Bronze Dragon War Soul.

Grea shook her head: "Something is off; I sense no threat."

As she spoke.

She saw the short man, noticing the Troll inside showed no reaction at all, begin to impatiently ram the door.

With a boom.

The heavy, rusted, brown iron-plated wooden door was smashed open.

But almost at the same instant.

A flash of golden sword light swept past, slicing through the short man's neck like a hurricane in an instant.

Leaving him frozen stiff in place.

Grea sensed the spiritual energy on the sword light; her heart pounded inexplicably.

There was no time to think.

She sprang forward in a single stride, her massive steel spear sweeping the frozen short man aside.

The man fell straight to the ground, his head detaching like a doll's.

At that moment.

Grea finally saw the scene inside the abandoned brick house.

Dim sunlight filtered down through the missing half of the roof.

It illuminated a small mountain of brown-skinned flesh chunks, neatly cut into squares.

The muscles of those flesh chunks were still writhing, attempting to reconnect to the correct body parts.

Blood covered the floor, splashing across half the room.

And in the half of the darkness that the sunlight could not reach.

A tall man could be vaguely seen facing the corner, holding an exquisite gradient-gold long sword.

Blood flowed down the blade, cruel and cold.

"Splash, splash—"

Yet right in the corner where the man faced.

A squatting girl, neatly dressed with graceful curves, could be vaguely seen; she was clutching the man's thighs tightly.

Her head buried, doing who knows what...

"Hmm? You aren't with him? Just a moment, it'll be done soon, just wait a bit... hiss—"

"Sister Yin~~ don't watch~~ look at Tally~~"

In the darkness, the man spoke while half-turning his head.

And the girl in front mumbled indistinctly, saying something unintelligible.

"..."

(End of this chapter)