bâtiment

Chapitre 7

"Give it a try..."

Cage thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, so he put a small handful of Baball Hikka worms into Hye-in's breakfast. Hye-in ate them without noticing.

At dusk, Anthony found Cage again.

"How about it……"

“It’s not working, it seems like it’s all out of control.” Cage told him helplessly, “It seems like the parasites have been influenced, they don’t want to go back into my body.”

"Okay, let's pretend nothing happened..." Anthony said embarrassedly to Cage not to make a fuss, and never dared to have such a crooked idea again.

Two days and two nights passed, and at dawn, the moment Anthony had been eagerly awaiting finally arrived. Hui Ren, who had been sitting silently, recovered and immediately wanted to see Anthony, saying that she had something important to tell him.

"You need to help me find someone."

"Who is it?" Anthony asked, noticing Hui Ren's serious expression, which seemed different from what he had seen a few days ago.

"A boy, a boy with the character for Buddha on his forehead."

"Why do we need him..." Anthony asked, puzzled. "Where should we look for him?"

“He should be in the ancient city,” Huiren said thoughtfully. “Now only he can save the Golden Bull Kingdom.”

"A teenager? Are you sure?" Anthony asked.

Hui Ren nodded and continued, "Find him and bring him here. Also, please tell Cage to tell the villagers that they must protect this poplar tree; everything depends on this."

"Understood." Anthony, having learned all this, immediately got up and found Cage, relaying Huiren's words to every villager. Dara, pounding her chest with confidence, and her crooked "army" assured her they would protect the poplar tree.

That night, Cage had a very strange dream. The voice that had been calling him grew clearer and clearer, leading him step by step towards the other side of the dream. Gradually, the voice grew louder and louder, as if the ground was shaking. He kept shaking and shaking...

Suddenly, a violent shaking jolted him awake from his dream. He realized he had rolled off the bed and onto the floor. This wasn't a dream; the earth was really shaking, and it was getting stronger and stronger, as if a thousand horses were galloping overhead—no, even stronger than that, as if it were a real earthquake.

Dara stumbled in and, upon seeing Cage, began gesturing wildly.

"What's going on?" Cage saw Dara constantly imitating, sometimes pulling hard on her nose, sometimes pulling on her ears, and even sticking her fingers out of her mouth, panting heavily as if she were exhausted.

“An elephant?” Cage asked.

Dala nodded repeatedly.

“So many…” she said, pointing outside. Cage knew something was wrong as soon as he heard this and rushed outside, but Dara pulled him back, staring at him in horror, seemingly unwilling for him to go out.

"Let go! My friend is outside!" Cage frantically shook his hands, trying to break free, but Dara refused to let go, gripping even tighter. Finally, she simply hugged Cage tightly, refusing to let him leave.

"Let go!" Seeing that he couldn't break free no matter what he did, Cage suddenly remembered something in his anxiety, "Dara promised me that she would protect the poplar trees, didn't she?"

“Yes!” Dara immediately let go, as if reminded by Cage and suddenly remembered something. She kept patting her head, “Protect the poplar trees, protect the poplar trees, protect the poplar trees…” She muttered to herself, glancing at Cage every now and then, as if weighing which was more important to her. Finally, she thumped her chest and shouted to Cage:

"Dara promised Cage that she would definitely protect the poplar trees!"

After saying that, she ran towards the door, but turned back as soon as she reached it. She returned to Cage, rummaged through her small bag for a long time, and finally pulled out a small flower wreath, woven from withered grass and wildflowers. It looked crumpled and worn, as if it had been tucked away in the bag for who knows how long. She placed the wreath in Cage's hand, then looked into his eyes, gave a silly smile, and ran towards the door again. But she stopped at the door, turned around, and stared into Cage's eyes once more.

“Cage promised Dara that he would protect himself.”

Only after seeing Cage nod solemnly did she turn and run away.

Cage rushed out after her, only to find that everyone had been waiting for him outside for a long time. Thank goodness Orlando wasn't there, otherwise he would have seen him laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight.

"Charge out! Master Huiren said the boy we're looking for is in the west!" Anthony, fully armed, shouted to Cage who had just come out. Everywhere, there was the deafening sound of elephants trampling the ground and their earth-shattering roars.

“What do we do here?” Cage asked loudly.

"Leave it to Dara and the others!" Just as Anthony spoke, Orlando commanded Pefeffer to charge forward. Pefeffer seemed much larger and stronger than an elephant, charging left and right through the herd, constantly knocking the huge beasts to the ground, while Orlando sat on Pefeffer's back, shouting with joy, as if he had never encountered anything so exciting.

On the other side, a herd of elephants had easily broken through the villagers' defenses and was charging towards the poplar tree in the center of the village. But the villagers didn't give up. Dala led them to hide in the trees, and whenever an elephant approached, they would quickly jump down, trying to block it with their bodies. But they were no match for the elephants. This kept Lishang very busy; she evacuated the villagers to safety while simultaneously treating the injured.

“Clari!” Li Shang shouted, “Hurry up and use your mist.”

Clara jumped around the elephants, yelling, "This is impossible! My mist won't work on these low-intelligence elephants. To paralyze their nerves, you'd need a wizard with spells a hundred times stronger than mine!"

Countless frenzied elephants charged toward this place, trampling everything in their path, whether it was trees, houses, or living villagers.

+: The Corpse King, the Feudal King

- Mystery Tribe

Section 15, A Homeland Devastated

"Cage, can you stop them?" Anthony shouted to Cage as he flew across the elephant's trunk.

“I’ll give it a try!” Cage said, forcing the Bajūshika parasite out of his body. “Kruzen, help me!”

Cage tossed the expelled worms into the air, while Krusen unleashed a massive whirlwind that scattered the Baballish worms in all directions. Once these worms landed on the elephants, they would enter their bodies and control their central nervous systems.

"It's Wisdom!" Cage shouted to the crowd after receiving the message from the parasites. "He's controlled the elephant!"

"Can this be reversed?" Anthony roared, now almost completely surrounded by the frenzied elephants. The others were in no better shape, darting around the elephants' feet, constantly in danger of being trampled underfoot. The situation was growing increasingly dire; the elephants relentlessly charged at the poplar tree, threatening to topple it, but Dara and her villagers were still making a last-ditch effort.

Cage hurriedly focused his attention amidst the countless elephants, trying to control his parasite and completely eliminate Wisdom's influence on the elephants.

"Watch out, Cage!" Clary shouted a warning as she saw a mad elephant charging toward the pensive Cage, but it was too late. By the time Cage looked up and saw the elephant, it was less than a hundred paces away. He had nowhere to hide and could only await his fate of being trampled flat.

Just then, a thin figure leaped down from the poplar tree—it was Dara! She rushed frantically towards the terrified Cage. She ran, seemingly forgetting the elephants trampling around her; her eyes were now only on Cage, her Cage. She ran faster than ever before, and she had never been so aware of what she was about to do.

She wants to save her Cage.

She was so fast, faster than an elephant.

She succeeded.

She finally reached Cage before the elephant could trample him and shoved him away.

But she couldn't escape the mad elephant. With a piercing scream, the elephant's tusks pierced her frail body, tossing her high into the air. The mist of death immediately clouded her dazed eyes.

And so Dara left, leaving behind her Cage and her world. Although she protected the poplar trees and Cage, she tragically forgot to protect herself.

The body falling from mid-air overturned all of Cage's rationality. His eyes shone with an eerie light of anger, and even the dull-witted elephant could feel this anger. The parasites inside the elephant were violently devouring, tearing, and pushing out, venting all their hatred on the lingering shadow of wisdom.

This must be the kind of evil towards "evil" that Huiren was talking about!

Then the world calmed down. The elephant, having regained its senses, wandered aimlessly through the village, while the villagers stared in shock at their ravaged homeland. Peace returned, but at a price that was far too high.

Cage lifted Dara's broken body. No longer worried about Orlando's mockery, he planted a deep, passionate kiss on Dara's lips.

My Talla, Cage held her tightly in his arms.

Cage promised Dara that he would definitely protect himself...

+: The Corpse King, the Feudal King

- Mystery Tribe

Section 16, Is it really because you're incompetent?

"My lord..." The atmosphere inside the ancient city's palace was more somber than ever before. The guards had all left, leaving only the palace's chief guard, Yu Ke, and the imperial advisor, Huizhi, in the vast hall.

"General Yu," Huizhi said, his back to Yu Ke who was kneeling on the ground, "did you know there are rats in the ancient city?"

"Your subordinate understands," Yu Ke said, kneeling on the ground without raising his head.

"Have you managed to wipe out all these rats?"

"Not yet... It's because your subordinate is incompetent..."

"Is it your incompetence?" Huizhi suddenly turned around and stared at the samurai on the ground. "Is it really your incompetence?"

After speaking, Huizhi closed his eyes, muttered incantations, and waved his hands in the air. The air in front of him gradually condensed, and soon formed a black curtain, on which the image appeared.

Yu Ke looked up and was shocked to see a battle unfolding in the forest. He was fiercely fighting Clari, wielding his twin swords, and Clari was being pushed back. He knew these moves all too well: parrying with both swords, then thrusting down with his right sword, piercing her thigh; then twisting his left wrist to slash her neck; a nimble hook; both swords in hand… victory was within reach. But then, his swords stopped. The girl stood in his way, and he couldn't bring himself to strike.

Richard then rescued Claris, and Anthony rushed in...

The scene then distorted, changing to another: Yu Ke was locked in combat with Anthony, while on the other side, the group was fiercely fighting the Giant Rakshasa. Richard was knocked aside by the Giant Rakshasa, and the girl rushed forward again to shield him. At this moment, Yu Ke, disregarding his opponent's aggressive attacks, actually stopped his twin swords and loudly ordered the Rakshasa to cease her assault. If Anthony hadn't also stopped his attack, he would surely have been killed by the sword…

"Well, General Yu, is this still your incompetence?" Huizhi said. "That girl seems to like you quite a bit, so let me show you some other things."

After Huizhi finished speaking, he began muttering incantations again. Then, the scene on the black screen changed once more. Under the cover of night, the girl sat on the lawn, glancing around anxiously, seemingly waiting for something. After a long while, another figure finally appeared—it was Anthony…

"Enough!" Yu Ke couldn't stand it any longer. He convulsed and roared loudly, and the screen disappeared immediately.

"You saw everything?" Huizhi said, turning around, sitting cross-legged, and closing her eyes. "Now go catch the mice for me..."

Yu Ke stood up, his dark eyes still seeming to flash with anger. He drew his twin swords, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood there, as if he had something to say.

"Is there anything else?"

“There’s one more thing,” Yu Ke replied, seemingly hesitant. Finally, he made up his mind and voiced all his doubts. “Last night, I went to the ancient pagoda of the Jade Buddha Temple and found this…” As he spoke, he pulled something out of his pocket—the rib of a victim.

"How does the Imperial Advisor explain this matter?"

"You still went after all..." Huizhi's tone was so calm that Yu Ke couldn't help but feel a little scared. "Since you want to know, then I'll let you see it clearly all at once."

After he finished speaking, the dark curtain reappeared in front of Yu Ke, and the scene from ten years ago appeared on it.

A group of workers, guarded by soldiers, carried the now-tarnished jade Buddha into the ancient pagoda. Huizhi, watching their every move, was also present. They quickly reached the top of the pagoda, placed the jade Buddha in its place, and Huizhi paid the workers their wages. Everything seemed normal. Just as the workers received their wages and were happily preparing to leave, white poisonous gas suddenly spewed from the cracks in the brickwork of the pagoda's inner walls. Before the poor workers could even understand what was happening, they collapsed to the ground one by one.

At this point, the only person left who knew anything about the jade Buddha statue was Huizhi…

"How is it?" Huizhi said with a sneer, "Is it flawless?"

“Indeed, flawless…” Yu Ke said through gritted teeth, his grip on the twin swords tightening. For the first time in a long time, he realized he had been the one fooled. The tragedy seemed vivid in his mind, the cries of the victims still echoing in his ears. Now, he had only one goal…

“Come on, kill me with your anger,” Huizhi said calmly.

"Restore the jade Buddha to its original state immediately, and then get out of my country!"

"Oh?" Huizhi sneered, "Then how do you plan to put your words into practice?"

"With my life!" Yu Ke said earnestly, word by word.

Huizhi remained silent for a moment, seemingly considering the weight of Yu Ke's words, before bursting into laughter as if Yu Ke were joking.

Yu Ke was not joking. Hui Zhi was still quite a distance away, so he couldn't cast the spell immediately. However, given Yu Ke's astonishing speed, that distance wasn't that far.

He pushed off with his back leg, brandishing his twin swords, and shot out in an instant, his muscles taut in a perfect arc.

Just then, a powerful bolt of lightning shot from Huizhi's fingertips, accompanied by a deafening roar, scorching the leather armor on the officer's chest. But to stop this enraged warrior, what was needed was a force even stronger than lightning. Without hesitation, he ducked and charged at the enemy, sword and all.

The twin blades pierced Huizhi's body in an instant, but it was just an illusion!