Chapter 124 The Patrol
The announcement of this news brought about all kinds of spection and suspicion, especially among
the royals.
The incident of Rocky wreaking havoc at the Witch Pce had been kept a secret from dissemination
under the order of the emperor. Anyone who disobeyed him would have his or her entire family
executed. So, themoners would never find out anything in spite of spection.
However, Ximen n could not stay calm anymore. The wedding was just around the corner when the
royals suddenly announced its postponement. They were worried about what themoners would
make of this.
Xiamen n soon had everyone''s attention in the country and became a hot topic for gossip.
Even Bryant could not figure out the emperor''s true intentions behind this. However, he did know that
the wedding being postponed was not beneficial for his n. Instead, it put his n under scrutiny.
Keeping everything in mind, he decided to march to the Pce City himself to gain a better
understanding of the situation. Excusing himself with health issues, the emperor sent Bryant home
without seeing him.
At the dawn of the following day, the emperor dispatched the Azure Dragon Group to the most
important stronghold at the Holy Dragon Empire. This also included the Sky Army which was
incidentally led by Bryant.
The moment he received this order, he instantly knew something was wrong. Otherwise, the emperor
would not have transferred him away from the Imperial City. Irrespective of his personal ideas and
opinions, an order was an order that must be obeyed.
Shirley never really wanted to marry Rocky and felt an enormous relief when she heard that the
wedding had been postponed indefinitely. She knew in her heart that she would never forgive him for
forcing himself on her. Later when she learnt that Rocky was fatally wounded during the practice of
martial arts, Shirley felt avenged. It gave her that pleasure and satisfaction she was seeking. She
honestly believed that Rocky got what he deserved for his ungentlemanly and disrespectful behavior.
With the wedding out of the picture, she volunteered to tag along with his grandfather when she knew
about his transfer. She wanted to spend more time with him and gather some life experience on the
way.
With Bryant gone for his new post, the emperor cleverly relieved himself from worrying about Ximen
n finding the truth. Also, by the time all of this got settled, Rocky would be long forgotten.
At the same time, it had been around five days since Rocky''s arrival at the military camp guarding the
Gehenna Border. Besides being on multiple patrols for the past two days and wandering in the vicinity
of the military camp, it had been pretty mellow.
Rocky spent most of his time practicing martial arts in the house. Thor and Joss came to visit him from
time to time but Rocky wouldn''t indulge. That didn''t stop them from harassing him. They kepting
back regrly. Rocky, unaffected by their mockery, was getting used to this treatment.
Today, during the assembly, the sixth squad received a reconnaissance mission as a response to the
rumors about the presence of a ferocious spirit-manipted beast in the jurisdiction of the northeast
military camp that had allegedly attacked the merchant men and innocent civilians in the surrounding
viges. So, the sixth squad along with two others were ordered to investigate the site for this killer
beast and fight it off.
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One of them was the fifth squad, whose leader was a first grade spirit maniptor of the Earthly Stage.
The other one was the third squad. Although there was no spirit maniptor of the Earthly Stage in this
team, their strengths were still impregnable with an average level above the six grade of the Mortal
Stage. Generally speaking, the sixth squad was no match for these two.
After getting their gears ready, Matthew prepped his men and led them out the military camp along with
the other two squads for the area of operation. Besides Rocky, every other spirit maniptor brought
their own spirit-manipted beasts, which were crucial to the mission.
"Now, that is what I am talking about!"
"You said it! Finally, a chance for us to use our strength."
"But I heard that the beast was kind of ferocious."
"What are you afraid of? There are so many of us and there is only one of it."
"That''s right. If we repel it sessfully, we shall have our reward."
Last in line, Rocky heard Thor and a couple of other spirit maniptors foolishly chatting in excitement
soon after their departure. They sounded like immature boy scouts, who had never had anybat
experience before.
The reason for this amateur behavior was that the sixth squad was ustomed to their usual missions
involving patrols around the camp. Any missions that came with a certain degree of danger had nothing
to do with them on ount of them being too weak. Getting themselves killed on a mildly dangerous
mission would also be an easy task for them.
If the other three squads weren''t upied with important recon missions elsewhere, the sixth squad
would''ve been kept out of this one as well.
If one wanted to make a living at this military camp, decoration of valor during important missions was
the only way, which basically had no rtion with the sixth squad. The best they were able to do was to
avoid getting reprimanded by their superiors, let alone decoration.
"If we can beat the other two squads at locating and repelling that troublesome spirit-manipted
beast, we will have the decoration we have always longed for. So get your shit together! And don''t
screw it up for all of us!" Zander gave them a pep-talk and took charge of the situation. In fact, his
ulterior motive was to selfishly get the job done himself so that he could apply for transfer to another
squad. He could live with being a foot soldier in other squads than being a squad leader here.
After all, all squads besides the sixth squad were always assigned important missions, and that was
the only way out.
After crossing a t wastnd, all three squads entered a flourishing wild forest. The dense foliage
filtered the light reaching the ground, making their surroundings dark and hazy. The vigers had
named this forest the "Maze Forest" because it was almost impossible to tell direction after entering.
Those who were not familiar with it would often get lost very easily.
This was the area of operation for the three squads.
There was a trade route at the end of this forest where the attack on merchantmen took ce two days
ago. This led them to believe that the spirit-manipted beast most likely took refuge in this forest.
With their respective ns of action in ce, the other two squads took off in different directions as
soon as they entered the forest.
"Sir, what direction do we take?" Thor turned to Zander hastily.
"Nonsense. We will naturally take..... ...follow one of the two squads. We will stay close behind and wait
for the right moment to act." Zander rolled his eyes, hoping to sound smart and cunning. The truth was
that he was not familiar with the route of the Maze Forest at all. It would be truly embarrassing if they
got lost without any sign of the beast under his leadership.
Thor and others exchanged a knowing look. The crew could see through Zander''s tactics now. He was
famous in the northeast military camp for his cowardice. He got his position as squad leader purely by
being the superiors'' pet.
Rocky, who had been silent all this while walking at the end of line, suddenly sensed something. He
immediately turned around to see what was behind him.
"Rocky! Hurry up!" Seeing that other spirit maniptors led by Zander already followed the fifth squad
with their spirit-manipted beasts, Thor and Joss both shouted at Rocky, telling him to pick up his
pace.
Hearing his crew, Rocky then turned back and caught up with them.
Just at this moment, a cool breeze passed by behind Rocky and a pair of giant red eyes appeared from
amidst the haze, glowing in the dark.