Chapter 398: The Explosion

Chapter 398: The Explosion

That afternoon, Rain returned to the Swordmaster Headquarters.

"Sir Rain, your airship is ready and can depart at any time. Ladies Claire and Bianca are already waiting for you at the headquarters' airship docking point," reported Alena as she hurried out of the office.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lady Alena," Rain nodded with a smile.

The Swordmaster Headquarters had its own airship docking point, which was extremely convenient, especially in this situation.

Transporting the ten-ton Hellfire Golem over long distances would be much easier; it could be directly placed in the lower cabin of the airship.

If they had chosen to transport it by carriage, it would have taken at least half a month to reach the vicinity of Blade Volcano in Moselle Province.

The efficiency difference was simply astounding!

"It's my honor to serve you, Sir Rain," Alena said with a giggle, covering her mouth.

Soon, the two arrived at the airship docking point located north of the headquarters' training ground.

"Captain!" Claire, dressed in a blue wizard robe, greeted Rain with a joyful expression and immediately saluted.

"Captain Rain!" Bianca, a fiery-looking woman in leather armor standing next to Claire, brightened at the sight of Rain and respectfully bowed.

As a Near-Legendary level ranger, Bianca's strength surpassed Claire's.

She could clearly sense that her captain Rain's aura had become even more robust than before.

And it had been less than a month!

Captain Rain's strength had increased significantly.

Was this the growth rate of the Empire's top geniuses?

It was truly terrifying.

"Claire, Bianca, it's good to see you both," Rain nodded with a smile.

"Hmm, Claire, it seems like you're about to break through?"

Rain took a closer look at the two women and noticed that Claire, originally at the Peak of Tier 1 Wizard, had a more rounded spirit force, seemingly on the verge of breaking through to the Second Tier Liquidization.

"Hehe, Captain, your insight is truly remarkable," Claire laughed.

"I think I'll attempt the breakthrough after returning from this mission with you," Claire added.

"Mhm, if you're unsure, you can come to me," Rain nodded.

"Thank you, Captain! Captain, shall we depart now?" Claire asked.

"Wait, something is about to arrive, it's already on its way," Rain said, looking ahead with a smile.

"Hmm?" The two women looked around but didn't see anyone approaching them, causing them to exchange puzzled glances.

"Look up," Rain smiled.

"Huh? It seems like a Wizard School's airship!" Claire realized what Rain meant and looked up.

Indeed, a Wizard School's airship was approaching the Swordmaster Headquarters.

It was no wonder they hadn't noticed it earlier.

After all, this was the Imperial City of Tamriel, where the skies were constantly bustling with air traffic.

With large airship docking points in all four directions, plus those of special agencies and top families, the skies were almost always filled with at least a dozen airships at any given moment.

This also piqued the curiosity of the two women.

What could possibly require an airship delivery?

Soon, as the Wizard School's airship landed, Alena quickly stepped forward and coordinated the situation.

A massive object, covered by a tarp, was carried onto the Swordmaster Headquarters' airship by over twenty robust guards, grunting with effort.

"Is that a puppet?!" Claire exclaimed, her eyes widening at the partially exposed components.

Bianca, standing beside her, was also surprised by the sight.

After all, in her opinion, their captain's strength was already formidable.

She couldn't recall them using a puppet during their previous mission to eliminate the Venomous Dragon.

"Then let's depart, Lady Alena. Farewell."

"Sir Rain, farewell to you both," Alena bowed slightly with a smile.

Rain chose this departure time, aiming to arrive at Blade County in Moselle Province around eight or nine in the morning the next day.

The timing was perfect.

About three hours after Rain's departure.

In a valley estate on the outskirts of the Imperial City of Tamriel, adjacent to Louvard Town.

Several middle-aged men in robes looked anxious as evening approached.

"It's almost evening, and Sir Staven still hasn't arrived at the ambush point," one of them said.

"We need someone who can smoothly complete the mission. Let's give him enough time," the leader of the group said after a moment of thought.

"As for other difficulties, we'll find a way."

Hearing the leader's words, the others nodded in agreement.

It made sense, but missing the planned ambush point would lead to complications in coordination and preparation.

The ambush point couldn't be near the Imperial City of Tamriel, and intercepting an airship once it gained speed would be extremely challenging.

The ambush point chosen by Staven was located at the foot of Blade Volcano in Mosel Province.

Typically, an ambush would be set up when the target is exhausted or injured after completing a task. However, Staven specifically requested that the target be intercepted upon their arrival, when their mental state is at its best.

"Sir Staven."

Suddenly, the old man's eyes light up, he stood up and looked at the door, exclaiming.

"We can set off now." Staven said calmly, nodding slightly.

Instantly, everyone was overjoyed!

Soon, Staven boarded a specially modified airship with his numerous undead followers.

"Sir Staven, this airship is named 'Swift Swallow.' It's equipped with new technology from the Federation, boasting exceptional power and speed, surpassing that of ordinary airships by fifty percent."

"Currently, you should be able to arrive at the designated location about two hours ahead of your target." The elder introduced.

"Good, I understand."

Soon, the airship quickly disappeared into the distant horizon.

The next morning, Rain's airship arrived at the docking point of Blade City.

At this time, several fully armed guards and a Mithril Squad from the Mosel Province Swordbearer Branch were already waiting at the docking point.

The squad leader was a Peak Knight, wielding a sword and shield.

As he saw Rain and his two companions descending the gangplank, he quickly approached, bowed slightly, and said, "Sir Rain, and esteemed guests, welcome to Mosel Province."

"I am Dick, and it's my honor to accompany you to Blade Volcano."

"Thank you, Sir Dick." Rain smiled and nodded.

"There's also a puppet in the cargo hold of the airship that needs to be moved, so I'll trouble you to arrange for its transportation."

"Of course, rest assured. I've already prepared a reinforced cart." Dick pointed to a large cart pulled by four horses beside him.

He also took the opportunity to quickly glance at the three adults from the Imperial Swordbearer Headquarters, and his eyes widened.

Aside from the young woman in the blue wizard's robe, whose power he could vaguely sense beyond the limits of his perception, even the curvy woman in leather armor didn't reveal the full extent of her strength.

Not to mention the one in the middle, the renowned Elite Swordsman Captain Rain from the Imperial Swordbearer System.

If it were any other Elite Swordsman Captain, to be honest, he wouldn't be optimistic about the outcome of the mission. The Lava Dragon 'Hemados' isn't that easy to deal with.

But in the case of the person before him, it's a different story.

Soon, Rain and his two companions, along with Dick, boarded a luxurious carriage with its door open. The Hellfire Golem, covered with a tarp, was also loaded onto the cart by several guards.

The group of over ten people left the city gates and headed towards Blade Volcano.

"Sir Dick, how has the situation in Mosel Province been recently?"

"Alas, Sir Rain, various cults have been sprouting like mushrooms after the rain. On top of that, strange occurrences keep popping up in different places, leaving us, the Mosel Province Swordbearer Branch, overwhelmed."

As he spoke of this, Dick couldn't help but sigh.

After some casual conversation, the carriage fell silent again.

About two hours later, a towering active volcano, still spewing plumes of black smoke, appeared before the group.

The volcano looked quite majestic and steep, standing out in the middle of the plain. It was as if a towering sword had been thrust into the ground, hence the name 'Blade Volcano.'

At this moment, Rain suddenly opened his eyes and spoke to the two women beside him, "Claire, Bianca, be cautious. Rely on your strength and be prepared to tear open the defense scroll to ensure your safety if needed."

Rain's words made the two women's hearts skip a beat.

"Captain, what do you mean?" Bianca asked, her face turning serious.

They knew that even the legendary 'Sculptor' Harold had fallen to his own captain, so who would dare to launch another attack?

It was hard to imagine.

Rain's heart sensed a fleeting threat, but it quickly vanished.

As he manipulated the Blood Feathers in the sky for observation, he didn't detect anything unusual, as if the enemy was extremely well-hidden.

"Okay, Captain Rain!" The two women exchanged glances, their faces turning serious.

Dick, on the other hand, thought Rain was reminding his teammates in preparation for the upcoming battle with the Lava Dragon.

Indeed, such young, beautiful, and unique women would naturally receive special care from Rain.

At this moment, the team advanced a few hundred meters, and Rain's face suddenly broke into a smile.

There was indeed something ahead.

"Sir Dick, it seems we have visitors." Rain said, observing the micro-mini skirt to her outfit.

"What?!" Dick's pupils constricted as he saw Rain's expression, knowing he wasn't joking.

"Everyone, be on alert!" Dick quickly jumped off the carriage.

"Captain, this is Sir Dick," Claire said, having experienced Mia's incident before. She wanted to say more but held back.

"It's probably not an enemy infiltrator." Rain shook his head.

With his perception as a near-legendary Tier 2 Wizard, Rain could assist his judgment by sensing the target's blood flow, heartbeat, and other factors.

Dick, the captain, was most likely not an enemy spy, as far as he could tell.

"Let's get down too, they won't be able to handle the enemies ahead," Rain said as he dismounted from the carriage.

The two women naturally followed and alighted from the carriage as well.

At this moment, if one were to look down from the sky, they would clearly see seven or eight gray lines in the dense forest on both sides, converging from all directions towards the convoy.

After a few seconds, the trees in the forest on both sides of the convoy began to sway violently and quickly fell like mowed grass, as if a cutting machine was pushing through.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

The sound of blades slicing through the air grew louder.

"Whoosh, whoosh!"

Several tall, gray shadows darted out from the dense forest on both sides of the convoy at incredible speed, accompanied by a strong stench of decay.

"Watch out on both sides!" Dick shouted.

His squad members and the guards under his command quickly formed a defensive formation, with Rain's carriage at the center.

"Hiss!"

At this moment, a warhorse at the front of the convoy seemed to block the gray shadow's path, only to be gutted and sliced into several pieces.

The other directions weren't as fortunate.

In a matter of seconds, the guards were shredded into thin slices by the near half-meter-long claws of the Clawed Ghouls.

Even Dick could only barely hold off one of them, but there were at least several Clawed Ghouls attacking from multiple directions.

This caused everyone present to look at Rain, who had just gotten off the carriage, with anxious expressions.

"Clawed Ghouls!" As the gray shadows paused, Claire, being a knowledgeable wizard, was able to clearly see their appearance and exclaimed in surprise.

"And there are six of them at once!"

These special ghouls were extremely rare and possessed formidable strength.

In terms of combat power, they were roughly at the peak of the Knight tier.

However, the problem was that the presence of these ghouls indicated a high likelihood of a controller behind them, such as a high-level wizard specializing in Necromancy.

"Captain, these are Clawed Ghouls. The enemy is most likely a high-level Necromancer," Claire said with a solemn expression.

"Oh? A Necromancer?" Rain's eyebrows rose in surprise.

Facing the expectant gazes of the crowd, Rain didn't hesitate. He quickly chanted an activation spell.

With a light touch of his finger, a thumb-sized column of yellowish-brown light shot towards the Hellfire Golem covered by the tarp.

A deep mechanical roar emanated from beneath the tarp.

The tall Hellfire Golem began to rise.

"Huh? This is a golem!" Claire, while casting fire spells, heard the noise from the cart and glanced over.

Initially puzzled, she quickly confirmed that this was not an ordinary puppet but a golem. The small furnace powering it was enough for Claire to determine that the massive creature was indeed a golem.

"A golem?" Bianca, who was in the midst of shooting, was also surprised.

Although she wasn't a wizard like Claire and couldn't identify the creature as quickly, she had heard of golems. She was amazed that their captain had brought such a powerful entity with him.

However, she wondered if this seemingly bulky and clumsy golem could effectively combat the agile Clawed Ghouls.

With a 'crack,' the Hellfire Golem's chest cavities opened, revealing two pitch-black holes. Instantly, it unleashed a Gatling gun-like barrage of red and black light.

"Boom! Boom!"

A dense barrage of red fireballs and black shadow arrows, trailing long tails of flame, rained down on a Clawed Ghoul in front like a hailstorm.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Although each fireball could only inflict minor damage to the ghoul's body, the rapid consecutive shots were relentless.

After enduring three seconds and six fireball and shadow arrow spells, the ghoul was torn in half at the waist.

"Careful, Captain, behind you!"

Seeing their companion's demise, the other Clawed Ghouls attacked from behind and the left side of the Hellfire Golem, seemingly attempting to destroy it with close-range assaults.

"Sizzle!"

Sparks flew as a ghoul's ferocious claw strike left only a half-inch scratch on the golem's arm, protected by hardened mithril.

"Boom!"

The ghoul was immediately punched by the same Hellfire Golem and sent flying into the air, nearly four to five meters high.

The Hellfire Golem then unleashed another Gatling-style barrage of fireballs and shadow arrows.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The airborne ghoul had nowhere to dodge and was blown to pieces.

A third Clawed Ghoul leaped onto the Hellfire Golem's head with incredible agility but was grabbed by a metal hand and slammed into the ground.

"Boom!"

The Hellfire Golem's metal tower legs, driven by the mini-furnace, repeatedly stomped on the ghoul, turning it into a bloody mess.

For a moment, the Hellfire Golem's might was unparalleled.

The remaining few Clawed Ghouls did not dare to surround and kill again within a short time, but instead began to quickly run around in circles.

"So strong!" Dick was amazed and couldn't help but exclaim.

Claire, as a wizard, could better understand the exaggerated combat power of the Golem under her captain.

Although the combat power of a golem is usually comparable to a legendary, the flexibility of a golem's magic is always slightly inferior, so it is only comparable, and in fact, most of them are a little bit off.

But the golem under their captain, whether it is the frequency of magic attacks or defense, greatly exceeds Claire's cognition.

She believes that even a generally legendary powerhouse would not be the opponent of the golem under their captain.

Just as the two women were slightly relieved, Rain's gaze remained fixed in one direction.

"Here it comes!"

Hmm?

What's coming?

Just as the two women showed confusion, suddenly the ground shook slightly, and the trees in the woods were even more 'cracking' and breaking, as if some kind of huge beast was rushing towards them.

"Be careful!"

"Oh my! What is this?"

A male with a height of about 3.5 meters, with a muscular upper body and a giant scorpion as the lower body, rushed towards the golem.

A powerful and brutal aura immediately filled the entire field!

"Bang!"

The opponent's speed was extremely fast, and the power was even more terrifying. He actually directly knocked over a ten-ton Hellfire Golem and threw it away.

But the next second, an even more astonishing scene occurred.

The Hellfire Golem's thick metal arm was actually tightly held by the opponent's two hands, plus a spin, and was torn off hard!

"It seems that your golem is not going to make it." At this moment, a low voice sounded, and a middle-aged wizard wearing a black wizard robe with three skull heads on his chest walked out of the woods.

"I heard that your combat power can be greatly enhanced after transformation, or you might be able to save your golem." Staven's eyes flashed with a hint of excitement, and he spoke.

"Oh? That's not necessarily the case." Rain looked at the Hellfire Golem, whose arm had already been torn off, and said calmly.

"Although the time for the test transformation was a bit short, it was still completed."

"Hmm?" Staven heard Rain's words and couldn't quite understand for a moment.

But before he could figure it out, his eyes suddenly widened, looking at the two huge objects fighting in the middle.

This energy is...

The energy fluctuations of the scorpion man, who was pressing down on the golem, suddenly expanded several times!

The next second, a bright green light that was ten times more intense than the sun flashed!

Immediately following was a semi-spherical transparent shockwave that spread at an extremely fast speed.

After a while, a deafening booming sound, like an arsenal explosion, was heard!

Dick and the others, although hundreds of meters away from the center of the explosion, were still swept away by the air wave, and all the trees around them also fell like wheat; even the reinforced carriages were mostly knocked over.

"You!" Although Staven immediately released the Tier 3 Defense Spell, blocking the damage from the shockwave and sound waves, his eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and in his mind, he felt as if a small knife had been inserted.

Because there is a spiritual link between Scorpion Man, as his most important undead, and Staven.

The sudden death of Scorpion Man made Staven, who was caught off guard, suffer a strong backlash mentally.

"Bang!"

Only a water barrel-sized lump of charred remains, which happened to hit Rain and Staven in between.

On the surface of this half-burned remains, one could still vaguely see a piece of dark metal chest armor with intricate patterns.

"It seems I don't need to transform anymore." Rain looked at Staven and smiled.

Although Rain had spent a lot of rare metals on this Hellfire Golem, he didn't feel bad about losing it to a golem that directly killed a legendary peak-level undead.

What's more, he felt more sorry for the other party than for himself.

"Damn it!"

"Do you know what you've done!" Staven looked at the charred remains, and his eyes instantly turned red.

The scorpion man, on whom he had placed great hopes, plus the Iron Spine Necromancer Chestplate, was directly self-destructed by the opponent!

Along with it, his efforts to advance through the orthodox necromancer wizard and enter the Dawn Wizard were also ruined!

In this case, he had no choice but to advance through the unorthodox way.

Dozens of miles away, beneath the Blade Volcano, nearly a thousand meters below the scorching lava, there was a huge object, seemingly soaking in it and sleeping soundly.

Suddenly, the originally tightly closed giant eyes of the opponent suddenly opened, and its huge vertical pupils looked towards the just-exploded Hellfire Golem.

Only then did it seem to sense something and began to stand up.

"Roar!"

Following its opening of the huge meat wings covered in red scales, a beast resembling the red dragon beast Rain had seen before roared loudly and then vigorously flapped its giant wings, leaping out of the lava and rushing straight towards the fire mountain mouth above!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end