Chapter 1150 - 35: Surprised or Not?
Chapter 1150 - 35: Surprised or Not?
Five kilometers east of the Royal Palace, within ancient ruins that are three hundred years old.
The ruins are full of crumbling walls, and traces of daily life are barely visible. This is a scenic spot in the country of East Guotuo.
These ruins were developed by a relic hunter and later became a tourist attraction. While the ruins above ground aren’t much to look at, the labyrinthine passages below make for a cool retreat and possess a sense of mystery.
Currently, there’s no one in the ruins; after the Mosaic Ant incident became known, only a fool would visit the Royal Capital, or rather, come to the country of East Guotuo at all.
Thud.
A low, muffled sound echoed from underground, where several men and women were frantically fleeing through the intricate passages.
"Wao, where’s the cat now? Give me an exact location."
"About 400 meters behind us."
"Bean pocket, can you still teleport us?"
"I can’t go on any longer. I’m about to collapse, and I’ve teleported us four times in a row. If I do it again, I’ll definitely die."
"Damn it."
"The cat’s speed has recovered."
"Is she just toying with us? Felines have a tendency to do that."
"No way. The Royal Palace is in chaos. If we hadn’t looted the palace’s treasure house, she wouldn’t be pursuing us."
At the forefront, a blonde female Contractor held a metal box in her arms, embedded with gemstones. This was a reward from a special mission, and until they completely lost their pursuers, she couldn’t store the metal treasure chest in her storage space.
"What should we do? Should we abandon it?"
"Nonsense, we’ve completed so many chain tasks to trigger the final mission. Once we own the treasure chest, its contents will be certified by Reincarnation Paradise. Just the soul crystals inside alone make it impossible for me to give up now. No risk, no reward."
"Life is more important than these things!"
The leading female Contractor named Winnessa, a half-blood girl, was the leader of this small adventure group of six. They had already given up on their main task after realizing that the Ant King’s heart was too difficult to seize.
When Winnessa formed this small adventure group, their assessment was quite high, reaching A+ level. Thus, the adventure group had an A-Level team ability to exempt them from one forced execution (team type). This immunity disappears after avoiding a forced execution penalty, which is the advantage of being in a team.
Armed with this kind of "get out of death free" card, Winnessa’s plan was to reap massive rewards in the Hunter World to offset the losses from failing the main task.
Boom!
The tunnel behind Winnessa’s group exploded with debris. A white-haired girl with cat ears burst out of the rubble. Typically, girls with this appearance would seem cute, but unfortunately, this cat woman didn’t exude that feeling. Her fingertips were sharp, leg muscles bulged, and her round eyes were full of murderous intent.
"Found you, meow."
The cat woman wagged her slender tail; her cat ears perked up. Her name was Nefertiti, one of the three guards directly under the Ant King. Her hobby was studying the structure of other creatures or hunting prey, just like now.
The cat woman didn’t care about looks or figure. While her upper body was shapely, her thick and muscular lower legs ruined this beauty, making them appear very ’Sparta’.
To the cat woman, strong combat strength was all that mattered. She didn’t care about aesthetics.
"We’re done for."
A male Contractor took a few steps back. The only reason he dared infiltrate the Royal Palace was because their team had a space series support, which boosted his confidence.
Alas, a kilometer’s teleportation couldn’t shake off the cat woman’s trail. Initially, they were naively hoping that the cat woman wouldn’t leave the Royal Palace, given the chaos in the courtyard.
Unfortunately, neither the Ant King nor the cat woman had ever encountered exceptionally powerful humans, considering humans weak and thus insignificant.
"Miss Nefertiti, the Ant King is in grave danger now. We can exchange a piece of crucial information for our lives, and we’re willing to return this treasure chest to its owner."
"The King is in danger now?"
The smile disappeared from the cat woman’s face. She wouldn’t let go of anything that could threaten the King, even if there’s only a one in ten thousand chance.
"That’s right, the Hunter Association’s Chairman Netero is about to arrive. He’s the strongest human. If the Ant King falls to him..."
"Nonsense, the King would never be harmed by a human."
Purple aura surged from the cat woman’s body; she became aggressive and ruthless.
"However... anything that could threaten the King mustn’t be underestimated. Tell me what you know. If it’s crucial information, I might let you go. As for the wealth you stole, if your information is valuable enough, I can reward you with it."
The cat woman’s offer was tempting. She wouldn’t dismiss anything that could threaten the Ant King. As for sparing these Contractors, that was impossible; she had already planned to quickly extract general information from them, then leave one alive, unseal their skull, and use telekinesis ability to manipulate their brain to verify the information’s authenticity.
As for these Contractors, they didn’t believe the cat woman would let them go. They were buying time for their team’s space series Contractor. If that auxiliary’s ability recovered, they could teleport 3 to 4 times consecutively.
"Alright, here’s roughly what happened..."
Winnessa organized her thoughts. She knew very well the current situation; a direct confrontation with the cat woman would be their doom.
Just as Winnessa was about to inform the cat woman that the Chairman had already gone to find the Ant King, the entire tunnel suddenly shook.
Boom!
Dust fell from the ceiling. Winnessa and her team looked above.
"What is it this time?"
The team’s space series girl asked with a quavering voice.
Boom, boom, boom!
The ground shook, and the tunnel seemed about to collapse. The cat woman’s eyes fixed on the ceiling above.
A few seconds after the tremors stopped, a louder rumble sounded.
With a crash, rubble fell from above, and a massive figure landed, blocking Winnessa and her team’s other side.
Bang!
The massive figure hit the ground, its glowing red eyes barely visible in the dim passage.
When Winnessa and her team finally saw the figure clearly, they all swallowed hard.
"Minotaur...?"
Winnessa ignored her teammate’s ridiculous label. She watched the Minotaur-like creature closely, getting a sense that it was nothing to mess with.
Whoosh~
Another figure jumped into the tunnel from above, exuding a faint red aura.
Upon seeing this figure, Winnessa immediately judged them as human, no, a Contractor, and a very formidable one at that.
With the cat woman blocking the way forward and an unstoppable Contractor cutting off retreat, Winnessa felt even more despair in her current predicament.
"Hey, the lady over there, the box in your hand... seems pretty interesting."
Hearing the newcomer’s words, Winnessa groaned, and the metal treasure chest in her arms clattered to the ground. She could hoodwink the cat woman for a moment, but not this enigmatic ’Contractor’.
PFC