Chapter 910: The Predicament

West Africa, somewhere in a primeval forest.

Optimus Prime reached out and flicked away a venomous snake that was crawling up his chassis, continuing to head deep into the dense forest.

This primeval forest, located in the West Africa region and rarely visited by humans, was indeed a dangerous place for mankind.

Venomous snakes and fierce beasts ran rampant, along with countless swamps and poisonous plants.

But Optimus Prime was a Cybertronian, and a powerful Autobot Leader at that.

Jackals, cheetahs, venomous snakes, and insects were all mere ants before him; the only things that could make him pay even the slightest bit of attention were those old rivals he had been struggling against for millions of years.

"You have followed me for so long; are you still planning to keep following?"

Arriving deep in the forest, he waved his hand and used the weapon in his grasp to hack through several large trees no less than twenty meters tall.

Optimus Prime suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on a patch of dense forest to his left, his tone already carrying some impatience, "I am no longer the Leader of the Autobots. Decepticons, are you sure you still want to fight?"

Answering him was a sharp roar that suddenly erupted from the dense forest.

Then, eight ferocious-looking Decepticons came rapidly rushing out from the dense forest on his left, roaring.

Their goal was very clear; some brandished energy cannons, firing at Optimus Prime from over a hundred meters away, aiming solely through the gaps between the trees.

Others brandished sharp blades, maces, and similar weapons, destroying the surrounding trees and shrubs without restraint as they charged toward him.

Optimus Prime's face turned cold, and he immediately gripped his weapon and charged forward without fear.

He first encountered the fastest Decepticon to charge, easily blocking the sickle thrown by the opponent with his weapon, while simultaneously flipping his left hand to transform it into an energy cannon, firing a shot directly at that ferocious head.

"Boom!"

An Advanced Decepticon Warrior fell instantly, his head blown away.

The death of their companion did not make these ferocious Decepticons feel fear.

They did not fear death; they were the most cruel replica warriors cultivated by Starscream, each one prototyped from the most fearless and brutal Decepticons of the Cybertronian civil war era, each one having made the Autobots pay a painful price.

And after confirming the identities of his opponents, Optimus Prime had no intention of holding back at all.

Three Decepticons charged at him simultaneously; he raised his hand and fired a shot, blasting one away, then fiercely kicked another one flying.

At the same time, the weapon in his hand precisely blocked the mace smashing down toward his right shoulder.

His rich combat experience and Leader Class strength allowed Optimus Prime to handle the situation with great composure, even though he was alone.

However, he was also somewhat weary.

Because this was not the first time Optimus Prime had been hunted by Decepticons; since leaving New Iacon, this was already the sixth time he had encountered an attack.

If not for the fact that Optimus Prime's strength was sufficient, and the number and strength of the Decepticons hunting him were not enough to threaten him, the outcome would be hard to say.

But even so, powerful as Optimus Prime was now, he felt some fatigue.

"Screech!"

A long sword slashed into his body the moment Optimus Prime was distracted.

Following that was an energy cannon blast; the energy bullet slammed into his chest armor, the massive impact not only forcing Optimus Prime to retreat several steps in succession, but the explosion also caused cracks to appear in the armor on his chest.

"Annoying pests!"

He hurriedly pulled back his scattered focus, the energy cannon raised by his left hand aiming fiercely at the chest of the Decepticon holding the long sword, piercing through his chest with a single shot.

Subsequently, Optimus Prime threw the weapon gripped in his right hand, immediately piercing the body of the slowest Decepticon with the long sword.

Throwing a punch with force, his great strength concentrated on the Decepticon who had fired at him again, sending him flying backward.

He then immediately raised his energy cannon and took him out with one shot.

Watching the last two remaining Decepticons still charging at him without fear of death, Optimus Prime sighed, shook his head, and then raised the energy cannon in his hand.

"Boom... boom..."

After two successive explosions, two more corpses were added to the forest.

After ending the battle, some azure light emerged from the wounds on Optimus Prime's body.

That was the Matrix of Leadership, rapidly repairing his body.

Walking to a corpse, he retrieved the long sword he had just thrown and sheathed it on his back.

Optimus Prime looked around at the forest destroyed by their battle, the blue light in his eyes dimming slightly.

"Teacher, I have already voluntarily left New Iacon and given up power... why are you still unwilling to let me go..."

From a long time ago, he had learned from the Decepticon Frenzy that his teacher, Sentinel Prime, had likely betrayed the Autobots and reached some sort of tacit understanding with Megatron.

At first, Optimus Prime did not believe this intelligence at all.

But as the Leader of a race, he still cautiously launched an investigation.

As it turned out, Bumblebee, after his promotion to Jiazhong, not only had stronger combat power than before, but his ability to gather intelligence had also become increasingly powerful.

As massive amounts of intelligence were continuously gathered from everywhere, at the same time, some Autobots newly arrived on Earth from Cybertron also provided a lot of important information that Optimus Prime had previously overlooked.

As the Military Commander of the Autobot faction during the second Cybertronian civil war, and having been entrusted with the task of succeeding as the Autobot Leader during the final stages, Optimus Prime himself also knew many inside stories from the middle and late periods of the civil war.

After combining all these things, a dark secret that even he found hard to believe gradually revealed a corner to him.

Optimus Prime simply could not believe that his teacher—Sentinel Prime, the former Leader of the Autobots and the former King of Primus of Cybertron—had actually done many things detrimental to the Autobots, and could even be said to have betrayed the Autobots.

After confirming the intelligence from the Decepticon Frenzy, besides disbelief, Optimus Prime felt more disappointment and despondency.

After his teacher Sentinel Prime was re-Awakened, although Optimus Prime took the initiative to ask to return power to him and even offered to transfer the Matrix of Leadership, he was refused by Sentinel Prime.

But in private, Jiazhong and the Autobots loyal to him discovered more and more that Sentinel Prime was inciting those who supported him to seize power, launching parades against Optimus Prime, manufacturing various rumors detrimental to him, and spreading the hearsay that Optimus Prime had betrayed the Autobots and, by cooperating with Frenzy, had defected to the Decepticon Legion.

He might be kind, but having experienced so much, Optimus Prime had long since become a qualified Autobot Leader.

The wisdom of a Leader and the respect for his teacher allowed him to be willful one last time.

Optimus Prime did not listen to the persuasion of his lover, friends, and subordinates; he took the initiative to find Sentinel Prime again, unilaterally announced his resignation from the position of Autobot Leader, and went into self-imposed exile.

But what he did not expect was that from the moment he left New Iacon, there began to be a steady stream of Decepticons arriving, attempting to kill him.

Combining this with the intelligence he had investigated in the past, with Optimus Prime's wisdom, how could he not know the reason?

His teacher had completely treated him as a thorn in his side and, seemingly to get rid of him, had reached some sort of agreement with the Decepticons.

Thinking of this, the expression on Optimus Prime's face became even more dejected.