Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?-Chapter 887 - 588: Gael Fortress
"You—"
At this critical moment, Uffie hurled her long spear toward the old man, attempting to stop the suddenly appearing Teleportation Array.
But before the spear could hit its target, her entire figure was fully enveloped by the radiant light of the Teleportation Array.
In the next second, everyone’s presence vanished from the scene.
It was unclear to where they were teleported.
Meanwhile, Uffie’s long spear, infused with an outburst of Fighting Qi in her urgency, pierced through all obstacles and reached the old man.
The old man, the City Lord of Red Lion City, Jie Lian, did not evade but instead reached out to grasp the spear.
The mere collision of his hand with the spear generated intense turbulence in the air.
"Boom—"
The spear came to a steady halt, stopping less than five centimeters away from Jie Lian’s head.
Though Jie Lian appeared unscathed, upon closer inspection, it could be seen that his sleeve was torn by the overwhelming impact, revealing muscles that bore signs of abrasion.
"Adequate strength."
Jie Lian’s voice matched his elderly appearance, seemingly acknowledging Uffie’s prowess, but he then changed his tone:
"However, if you wish to participate in General Latan’s festival, you still need to undergo a trial."
————————————
The Teleportation initiated by Jie Lian was quite rough, so much so that those being teleported felt like they were parcels being violently tossed around on a conveyor belt.
"Ugh!"
Once the teleport was finished, Fanen immediately fell to his knees and vomited, his senses spinning wildly, as though his entire insides were about to be expelled.
After expelling a sufficient amount, his face turned slightly pale, and he finally regained his composure, looking around in confusion.
"Where is this place?"
Amidst strange music, a few large words suddenly appeared before him.
[Gael Fortress]
"What?"
Fanen couldn’t help but frown. Wasn’t he just in Red Lion City? How did he suddenly end up in such an unknown place?
And where were the others? Why was he the only one left?
"Who’s behind this?"
He leaned against the wall, got up, quickly regained his condition, and examined this so-called Gael Fortress.
Honestly, compared to Red Lion City, this place was much smaller, visible at a glance, unlikely to accommodate many people, and he seemed to be standing on the city wall, with no soldiers guarding it.
As Fanen observed, he suddenly twitched his nose, catching a whiff of a beastly odor.
The wild roars erupted instantly from below, accompanied by human screams.
He swiftly ran to the edge of the wall, looking toward the source of the noise. When he finally saw the scenes clearly, his throat involuntarily moved.
In the only open space of Gael Fortress.
A gigantic white-furred lion was slaughtering a few oddly dressed individuals, its roars and their wails echoing from there.
Those people were already heavily wounded, completely powerless against the White Lion, and they perished before Fanen could even form a thought to help them.
And the deceased on the scene were not just those people; numerous other corpses piled up on the open ground like hills, some long dead, others freshly deceased, the bodies pressing against each other like sacks, emitting a stench.
The White Lion trampled over their bodies, roaring mightily into the sky.
Soon after, its wild eyes fixated on him, issuing a challenging noise.
"You want me to go down?"
Fanen did not impulsively jump down in a rush of blood.
From this position, the opponent couldn’t jump up, so he could safely explore.
"So is this the defensive mechanism of Red Lion City? Specifically teleporting trespassers like us here?" he muttered to himself.
That White Lion was very strong, and being a beast-type foe, it was likely much more troublesome than a humanoid enemy of the same strength.
Fanen felt unsure about his chances of victory.
Just then, he suddenly noticed a shriveled white Spiritual Body squatting in a corner behind him. Scholars explain these bodies as souls of the dead reluctant to leave, capable of providing some information.
[Oh, Jie Lian, why won’t you allow me to join the Battle Festival...]
The Spiritual Body emitted an extremely resentful voice, its attire suggesting it was a warrior.
[Is it because my strength doesn’t meet your standards, and that White Lion is your trial?]
[I’ll kill it to show you, then witness the Legend of Shattered Star...]
[I must participate in the Battle Festival...]
"It’s a pity, being here suggests you’re already dead, and there’s no way to attend the festival."
Fanen mourned for this unknown warrior for a second, then stood up, walked to the edge of the city wall, and stared at the White Lion below. He roughly knew what he had to do.
Defeating this White Lion would prove he had the strength to participate in the Warrior Festival and truly enter the Red Lion City without being teleported out again.
With this thought, he leapt down, unveiling his pistol and Saw Meat Blade towards the White Lion that was reveling in carnage.
Since he needed to demonstrate his qualifications for the festival, he wanted to showcase the qualities of a warrior. Facing the White Lion from the city wall with a pistol felt too cowardly, and he didn’t like that.
But what was the Legend of Shattered Star?
He didn’t quite understand this phrase, but there was no time to ponder. The White Lion charged at him the moment he landed, its limb-bound blades mercilessly slashing down.
Fanen sidestepped and retreated to dodge. It was the graceful stepping of a Hunter, the proof of his tutelage under Father Gascoin.
The White Lion’s eyes showed a hint of surprise, seemingly shocked that this slender human could dodge, but the storm-like attacks continued to fall.
Fanen continuously evaded; for someone who had previously defeated the Omen Demon, dodging the attacks of the White Lion was not too difficult a task. The Hunter’s unique drifting steps even made him appear somewhat dashing.
The faster the White Lion’s attacks, the calmer he became to evade them meticulously, remaining unscathed up to now.
"Bang!"
The shot rang out at that moment, visibly halting the Lion’s massive form. At this time, Fanen rushed up like a phantom, deeply carving an X-shaped wound into its soft abdomen with the Saw Meat Blade, causing blood to gush like a fountain.
The injured White Lion went berserk, suddenly accelerating with a heavy paw striking Fanen’s shoulder, visibly collapsing it, indicating the bones must have been shattered beyond recognition.
Yet Fanen didn’t even blink, delivering several consecutive slashes to deepen the White Lion’s wounds, bathing his own injuries in the enemy’s blood, which hastened his recovery.
A bloody slaughter between Hunter and Beast unfurled in this place littered with corpses.
Soon after, both sides were covered with wounds.
"Stronger than I imagined."
Fanen splashed himself with Healing Potion, his injuries slowly recovering, while the White Lion, stained red by blood, was panting heavily, appearing like a spent force.
Even now, Fanen hadn’t transformed into a Wolfman, insisting on using weapons for combat.
After the painful lesson from being beaten up by Red Lion soldiers, Fanen resolved not to abuse the power of beast transformation.
A Hunter should look like a Hunter; transforming into a beast at every turn didn’t resemble a Hunter!
Moreover, he remembered his father.
He often pondered why his father would leverage Magic to transform himself into a human, abandoning a Monster’s body. Is being human really so good?
Although he still hadn’t thought out the answer to this question, he realized that since his father yearned to be human, it might be inappropriate for him to transform into a Wolfman on a whim.
With such thoughts, he lastly decided not to easily use beast powers again and to forge a future with his own weapons.
"Come on."
Dragging his exhausted body, Fanen voluntarily charged towards the White Lion.
The White Lion roared angrily; the enraged beast launched its final attack.
"Roar——"
After a few minutes following the White Lion’s roar faded.
The face of Fanen appeared atop the only high tower of Gael Fortress.
He wiped the blood splattered on his face, his essence, and spirit looking quite good.
The blood-drinking Hunter looked up at the scarlet sky, then cast his gaze upon the slowly lighting Teleportation Gate and Treasure Chest atop the high tower.
"The Teleportation Gate is lighting up, does this mean I now qualify for the Battle Festival?"
Fanen didn’t hurry to touch the Teleportation Gate but first opened the Treasure Chest.
Inside the Treasure Chest appeared dazzling golden light.
Because the golden light appeared so suddenly, Fanen couldn’t react in time; without hesitation, he grabbed it directly.
The golden light dissipated, revealing a small protective talisman in his palm.
[Legend of Shattered Star]
[A protective talisman engraved with the legend of a hero, the wearer receives the blessing of the legend, enhancing strength]
[The hero Latan, acclaimed as the strongest Demigod, single-handedly challenged and shattered the falling stars. It is said that since then, the fate of stars was sealed]
"It’s Latan’s story..."
Fanen murmured just that, when the talisman in his hand suddenly shone, unobstructedly drilling into his pupils.
The next moment, a brand-new image appeared before his eyes.
He saw the sky where meteors fell.
