novelraw Chapter 490 - 489 - Lost
Chapter 490 - 489 - Lost
Lian stood quietly while another commander was eviscerated on black stone table. His screams were ongoing while his organs were carefully set aside in jade bowls. His black blood was pouring like a river into several vats below.
It simply made less mess but Lian and learned long ago her current ruler was unforgiving of mistakes.
A Raptor had gone missing. The issue the commander had, however, was he simply assumed they were exploring some cavern or other area for more tasty cultivators. Beasts could work for them and certainly had higher quality but were not as effective as cultivators.
Still, he did not report it for over a month before he decided to go looking. Nothing was found and no idea where in their patrol they had gone missing. Any Qi traces of battle or accident were long gone.
If wreckage had been found, he might have avoided his current predicament but the complete lack of even a sliver of damage proved the Raptor was taken somewhere.
Further, the life candles of each Fiend were still flickering until 4 of them went out then the rest.
At the time they died, the commander had been hip deep in some kind of orgy he indulged in and gave orders not to be disturbed.
It also meant the Raptor had not simply gone missing.
Since no new island or other submerged landmass had any sign of it, it was taken by something to somewhere distant.
It was beyond the current range of the Raptors also. Only one other being had fit that possibility! Lind Frey!
Hence, the commander was not being taken apart alive. His cultivation was left intact and would not allow him to die so easily. Celeste's face was devoid of any pleasure or rage during the entire process.
Her hands were soaked in blood but she carefully removed each organ one at a time where the commander could see it. His struggle was getting weaker. His heart was still beating but only because Celeste had not cut it out yet for him to endure the process.
Theoretically, a heart, mind, and dantian could live for centuries with nothing else but such a being could do very little.
"P-please have mercy!" The command dredged up the strength to plead once more but Celeste just calmly removed his lungs so he could no longer draw breath. The terrified eyes saw the dark gray organs shining under the light of the Qi crystals.
Lian was cold and vengeful but Celeste was on another level. She was invigorated by her leader!
"I think I will pause here. It is so much work to do this right. I will be back in a day or 2. Don't go anywhere." Celeste suddenly spoke cheerily but her eyes were like ice daggers. The commander wanted to wail but he had no breath to do so!
Lian looked fevered as she followed her out. They went down several corridors before heading back up to the main complex. Compared to before, there was rigid discipline and the livestock was much healthier looking.
They were still dull eyed dolls, but the meat was much tastier.
Lian cared little as she only had one goal. To find Lind Frey! He had humiliated her and the more she learned about him the more she and her new Overseer became in sync. In just a few short years, Lian had risen to the peak of tier 3 Sky Realm.
It was the highest she could reach in the current realm, but if she was able to kill Lind Frey, she would be promoted to the Heaven Army!
The Heaven Army was the fodder for the war but the chance to become a Heaven Realm was obvious. Lian was sure her desire to survive would serve her well.
"We lost a good lead due to that fool!" Celeste was truly angry. If the patrol had been investigated quickly, traces could have been found to give a direction. Still, it was the southern patrol that went missing.
It only narrowed the search slightly but without bases to recover, the Raptors had a severely limited range over water. Even if packed to the brim, they could only go so far before having to return.
A tier 5 Fiend would be no better either. They could only fly so far before needing to cultivate again.
Still, it proved something was out there that could capture a Raptor and its crew. That gave her some leverage and time.
Celeste entered her office to find her adjutant working swiftly on his reports.
"I believe not all is lost." His words brought both women to a halt. It was then that they noticed the life candles next to him. They were without any flame but even Lian felt they looked odd.
Normally, the dark candles were lit with gray flames to show the Fiend was alive but most of them seemed to be discolored for some reason. One of them also had a streak of white in the candle!
"What happened to these life candles?" Celeste was honestly curious. She had only known they were snuffed out, not about their changes.
"I am unsure, but there was enough Qi left in them to get a direction. I simply had a few of our more sensitive members exert their best and they confirmed our people died in that direction." He pointed to a map of the continent and how far they had explored the endless oceans.
There were several notations on the south east side. Oddly, that same direction was where the mountain was supposed to be long ago.
It could not be a coincidence!
"I believe the mountain is a transition point of this realm. If that is so, then it definitely would not touch the surface. Why it moved is immaterial, it is out there." Celeste nodded at his words. It was natural for low to high mortal realms to have natural areas Sky Realms could advance.
Barren Realms normally had no such mechanism in place, thus the mortals were stuck there. Still, they had often encountered odd arrangements of what they thought to be barren realms.
This realm would be part of that odd group. Strangely strong beasts that should not be in a mortal realm and now a mountain that clearly moved and not just floated.
"When was the last confirmed report of that mountain?" Celeste looked at her right hand man and he smiled as a crumbling scroll was carefully laid out. It was similar to the jade slip information from before but the mountain was much farther away.
Also, clouds had begun to hide it!
"Nearly 60,000 years ago. It was already obscure and too far to be worth going after for anyone. I think, however, the regular storms reported in the same patrol region are the mountain!" The excitement in all 3 of their eyes was clear.
If they could see it, it meant it was within reach!
"Lian, go and set up new bases in that direction. I want to be able to get there before the next decade is out!" Celeste was anxious but not a fool. Rushing to their enemy was a sure death sentence.
He was able to capture an entire Raptor with almost no damage they could prove and take it away. Such power was not small. The last she knew he had been a tier 5 Sky Realm, it would not be unreasonable to expect he was tier 7.
While powerful, he did not have much means to rely on. Whatever he brought with him and could scrape together would serve him well but if caught on the surface again, he would be theirs!
The mountain was simply a safe place from which he hid and now attacked. Still, she knew there had to be more to it.
Thus, Lian would go forth and lay out the foundation for their assault.
Plans began to swirl until a large jade stone glowed on her desk. Lian was already gone but both Celeste and her adjutant were frozen staring at that jade stone.
It was connected to the Heaven Realm and would not normally be used to reach out to them. It was generally used for an Overseer to reach out for assistance instead.
"Answer it." Celeste trusted her instincts. They told her not to answer that call.
He bowed and activated the device. A face was projected that was deadly but beautiful. Like all Fiends, the Major of Celeste's unit was beyond any mortal realm of beauty.
"Where is she?" The cold voice was hard to define as a man or a woman but she was definitely a woman. Celeste made no move as her right hand man saluted fist to his heart before bowing.
"Currently finishing up several issues we discovered here. I submitted the reports?" The adjutant was being honest there. Even if the person responsible was killed, he had left a massive mess in the realm.
"Don't lie to me. She arrives, kills, and leaves. You take over and catch up. She is still there, why?" A slight sheen of sweat covered his brow as now he had to stretch the truth a bit.
"I am afraid the stock was worse than reported. She had some ideas and is, um, trying them out to some success." Again, not entirely wrong but not remotely true either. Celeste had resolved the quality issue in less than 3 months.
A sneer covered the floating face but the adjutant never blinked.
"You are wasted material on her. So long as the realm is brought up to standards I do not care but if this involves her insane obsession…" The look in the Major's eyes was clear.
"Leader, just to be clear, what should we do if we ever find that man?" The sudden change in question caught both Celeste and the Major off guard. A stern look came from the image.
"Ask him how Hell is and then join him! He is dead! His realm is lost to us because of him so he is quite fortunate but his family is not so lucky. They will never see him again once we are through with them!" The higher ups may not take a Sky Realm seriously but anyone that crosses them would pay.
Celeste had requested numerous times to head up such an endeavor but they had to wait. They were all safe in their mortal realm for the moment but soon they would advance!
Her knuckles cracked but that was all. The image then dispersed as if the Major left in a huff. The adjutant deflated slightly but then smiled.
The question did what he desired, it deflected the Major and informed Celeste that more vengeance was to come! They could leave Lind Frey trapped here because if he tried to advance, he would simply be in Fiend controlled lands!
Death was certain! Still, he saw her face and knew death was not enough. Celeste had to take it all from him. Lind Frey had to lose everything just like she had and live long enough to see it!