[Vol. 8] Chapter 123: Stampede of Beasts, Shadows of Ghosts
[Six-Line Array Palace] – [Gate of Beasts]
“Ow!”
As light flashed around her, a girl suddenly appeared in the middle of a strange space. Then fell straight from the sky and landed hard on her bottom.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch… What the heck? I'm already strong enough, can’t they give me a softer landing or something? This goddess is really not very considerate…”
Rubbing her sore backside and wincing in pain, Miss Le Qiaoqiao stood up and began complaining out loud, not showing the slightest respect to the goddess who supposedly created this whole divine trial. But right after she finished speaking, she suddenly paused and looked nervously up at the bright, cloudless blue sky above her. She mumbled softly.
“Um… those church followers always say the goddess knows everything and nothing can be hidden from her… Could she have heard that just now? If she gets mad and decides to make things harder for me, that’d be bad…”
“Sigh, whatever. She’s a goddess, right? She shouldn’t be that petty. Anyway, where did I get sent this time…”
Quickly convincing herself and feeling a bit better after coming up with that excuse, the slightly clueless thief girl finally started looking around.
It looked like a wide, open grassland.
To be honest, when she first found out that she had been chosen by the [Gate of Beasts], unlike Hongyan and the little girl they had just met, Le Qiaoqiao had felt pretty nervous. After all, the Redemption Saintess had specifically said this trial would be more dangerous. Without that super-strong sword girl by her side, a little thief like her could get wiped out at any moment…
But now, it didn’t seem as bad as she’d imagined. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and the soft smell of grass drifted gently on the breeze. From the looks of it, this place actually felt more like a vacation spot.
Except… it was a bit too empty.
Just as Le Qiaoqiao was mumbling to herself and thinking of walking around to check the place out, a low, rumbling noise started echoing from the far distance, like rolling thunder.
“Rumble rumble rumble…”
The sound grew louder and louder, and the ground beneath her feet began to shake. The thief girl, who had always been very sensitive to her surroundings, immediately felt something was wrong.
“H-Hey… No way, right?”
This was way too much! Could it really be punishment for badmouthing the goddess? Was it coming this fast!?
Le Qiaoqiao squinted into the distance, and her face turned pale as she instinctively took a few steps back.
She saw a stampede of wild beasts.
Across the vast, endless grassland, the earth was shaking with the sound of countless hooves thundering across it. Dust and sand filled the sky in what looked like a wave crashing toward her. Somehow, even though the beast stampede had just started moments ago, it was already less than a few hundred meters away!
“What a petty goddess! This is cheating! It’s totally cheating!!!”
There was no time to think. Her legs moved on their own, ignoring the part of her brain still busy yelling curses. She turned and ran as fast as she could.
It didn’t take a genius to know, these weren’t just ordinary animals. Faced with a never-ending wave of magical beasts, there was no way she, or even that recently super-powered Hongyan, could take them on alone and survive.
Earlier, the Saintess only told them to enter and take the trial, but she didn’t explain how to actually pass it. Le Qiaoqiao didn’t even know if the other candidates who also entered the [Gate of Beasts] were facing the same never-ending beast stampede like her. But…
No matter what happens later, the most important thing right now is to run and stay alive!
However, the grassy plains stretched out as far as the eye could see. There wasn’t even a single big rock to hide behind, let alone any real cover. The thief’s best skills, hiding and sneaking, were nearly useless in a place like this. Le Qiaoqiao was good at moving quickly and dodging, but she wasn’t built for straight sprints or long-distance running.
Trying to outrun these strange wild beasts with just her legs? That was simply wishful thinking.
It didn’t take long before—“Aahhh!”—the poor thief girl was swallowed by the massive wave of beasts and disappeared from sight.
In short… let’s hope she’s okay.
…………………………………………
[Six-Line Array Palace] – [Gate of Ghosts]
In a dark forest, a slim young person in black clothes moved slowly. No matter where she went, she always carried two thin swords, one long and one short, on her back, and her face was hidden with a cloth wrap.
The forest… felt very strange.
So strange that even she, the captain of the Shadow Guards who served the queen of the Human United Kingdom, couldn’t figure out what exactly was hiding in the darkness all around her. But her sharp instincts constantly warned her that this place was extremely dangerous, so dangerous that one small mistake could cost her life.
She had to stay fully alert, with all her focus turned up to the highest level.
It had been exactly 1 hour and 27 minutes since she entered this trial space known as the [Gate of Ghosts].
Knowing the exact passage of time is a basic skill for any shadow guard. As one of the top agents of the Shadow Guards, she could measure time down to the second without using any clock or hourglass, just her body’s internal rhythm. This careful self-control helped her stay calm and make the best decisions no matter the situation.
Just like now.
Swish!
Without warning, the slim figure suddenly stopped mid-step. A ghostly, wave-like blade sliced right past her face. Her eyes stayed calm. She didn’t even look toward where the strange attack came from. Instead, she smoothly pulled out her long, thin sword and stabbed it behind her in one clean motion!
Slash!
With a sharp sound like cutting through thick jelly, a strange enemy that had been hidden just a foot behind her was hit. It looked like a ghost or maybe a large, half-transparent slime made of blue mist. The creature froze in midair, then crumbled into drifting gray dust and vanished.
That was the seventh one.
Without changing her expression, the shadow guard added one more mark in her mind to keep count.
That made seven of these strange attackers defeated, and seven ambushes she had survived, in just under an hour and a half.
She gave them a name, Shadow Ghosts.
She didn’t know where exactly this trial space was, or where the Shadow Ghosts came from, or what they really were. But from the moment she entered, these things kept appearing out of nowhere, again and again.
Their behavior was always the same and very simple.
They just try to kill her.