The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 208 - 151 Book of the Past

Chapter 208: Chapter 151 Book of the Past

The East City Gate wasn’t too far, and Rod soon arrived.

This was also a result of the special training; previously, he would have chosen to take a Spirit Car.

From a distance, Rod saw Iron Wolf Wade and his two companions waiting at the city gate.

"Good,"

Iron Wolf glanced at his pocket watch.

"Punctuality is a quality every Hunter must possess," he said.

He extended his hand.

"Let me introduce you, this is Big Cat, a five-star Hunter, Seventh Level combatant, Fifth Level in Spiritual Energy, from the Spirit Fire Series, with a Soul Trait of rending, excelling in tactical positions such as forward assault, vanguard attack, and vanguard reconnaissance," he explained.

Big Cat was a tall, dark-skinned male with a simple and honest appearance.

He shook Rod’s hand amiably and said sincerely, "I hope our cooperation will go very smoothly."

"This is Sweet Tea, a six-star Hunter, Seventh Level combatant, Fifth Level in Spiritual Energy, from the Starfire Series, who has ignited six Fire Sparks, five of which are related to enhancing strength, while the last allows her to condense Wind Spears from the air. Her usual tactical position is in the middle, like mid-range fire support and firepower output," Iron Wolf continued.

Sweet Tea was a middle-aged woman with a beautiful face and not too many wrinkles, but her graying temples made her seem somewhat aged.

She nodded slightly to Rod, "I’m pleased to meet you."

Iron Wolf turned around.

"And this is Mr. Dawn Blade, whom I’ve told you about. His star level isn’t high, but his strength is decent; he completed thirty-four sewer missions in seven clock hours, so he should be trustworthy," he said.

Rod suddenly had a bad premonition; wouldn’t this sewer mission become his trademark? Wherever he went, people would point and say,

"Look, that’s the Hunter who did thirty-four sewer missions in seven hours."

This was simply terrible.

However, the other two didn’t seem to think so; they showed exaggerated smiles and hugged him.

"Welcome to join us."

Afterwards, Iron Wolf checked the lanterns and Fuel Elements on the three of them, then declared it was time to depart.

To Rod’s surprise, Iron Wolf drove over in a rectangular-shaped vehicle.

It looked a bit like a bus, but it had a thick shell and was fitted with metal grilles that bore strange patterns.

The strangest thing was that this wasn’t a Spirit Car or a motor vehicle but a human-powered vehicle.

Every seat on the vehicle had a lever, and only by turning the levers could power be supplied to the vehicle.

This seemed way too primitive. What about their Spiritual Technology?

After boarding, Rod casually asked, "Why don’t we use a Spirit Car?"

Iron Wolf glanced at him.

"Things with spirituality are easily eroded and corrupted by the Black Fog; tools powered by Spiritual Energy generally do not leave the range of the fire unless they have special protection, while purely mechanical structures have no such issues," he explained.

Big Cat laughed, "This is the latest model Hunter vehicle developed by the Mechanical Research Institute. It has far fewer frequent jamming problems than before."

Sweet Tea spoke in a subdued tone, "Special protection or Spiritual Seed Horses are too expensive. We can’t afford them."

Rod didn’t ask why they didn’t just walk; he started turning the levers like the others, suddenly feeling that they looked less like Hunters and more like laborers.

Iron Wolf was in charge of driving. Exiting the city went smoothly; the city gate guards let them go immediately after seeing the Hunters’ Licenses.

Thus, the odd human-powered vehicle joined the not-too-busy traffic and left the Royal City.

The nearby caravans were also quite strange, with horseless carts, people-pulled carts, mechanical pedal cars, buses, and even a few Floating Cars.

The span of their civilization was at least over two thousand years.

Perhaps this was characteristic of the Royal City, Rod thought.

After leaving the Royal City, the traffic thinned out quickly, and the human-powered vehicle plunged into the endless darkness.

This was the second time Rod had left the Royal City officially. This time, without the Guardian Fire, each person’s leftover light could only illuminate their surroundings.

Outside the vehicle’s windows was boundless darkness, with the thick Black Fog rolling right outside.

The desolate sense of horror came rushing in again as the human-powered vehicle sped along at about a hundred yards a minute, as if charging straight into the abyss of darkness.

The three of them had solemn expressions. Sweet Tea said in a low voice, "No matter how many times, leaving the Royal City always fills me with dread."

Big Cat offered reassurance, "Don’t worry, we’ll soon have peaceful days. Trolian under the lead of the King will surely grow stronger."

Iron Wolf gripped the steering wheel tightly, pinching the Star Disk with one hand, constantly determining the direction. His Spiritual Vision extended less than thirty yards, so his reactions had to be very quick, or else a collision with a rock, a fall into a big hole, or a crash with another caravan would spell disaster.

Although Hunters also have their obligations and honor, their main purpose is to earn money for a more secure life.

Avoiding unnecessary losses was their guideline for action.

Along the way, Iron Wolf meticulously explained the details of the mission.

Green Grass Town, the location of their mission, was about two hundred miles from the Royal City, a medium-sized settlement, with around a hundred thousand people living there long-term. Their specialty was a variety of green grasses, ranging from teas to Spiritual Medicine ingredients.

Green Grass Town had dual Guardian Fires, a small Holy White Tree, and the route they were taking had thirty-two caravans passing through. The annual output, converted into silver coins, was at least over a hundred million, making it a relatively prosperous production place.

Therefore, any threat that appears nearby must be swiftly resolved, or it will affect the stability of the Safe Zone and the safety of the routes.

By now, Rod knew that the so-called Safe Zone was the large area on the Red Soil Plain.

Looking at the map, the northern part of the Red Soil Plain is the Dead Ash Mountain Range, and to the east is the Desolate Mountains, a branch of the Dead Ash Mountain Range. Between these two mountain ranges lies the heartland of Trolian, the Red Soil Plain.

Therefore, by setting up a defensive line in the west and south, this area would be secure.

The three-tiered defense circles of Trolian were all located there.

Of course, the top of the mountain ranges was not entirely safe; Trolian had constructed a long wall along the peaks to fend off threats coming from the Dark Great Plain in the north and Dead Hill in the east.

The Night Watcher Legion, a name well known, guarded this wall.

Surrounded by such defense layers, the area was known as the Safe Zone.

The level of defense within the Safe Zone is extremely high, and any threats must be dealt with as quickly as possible. They must not be allowed to linger long, or else they would grow into deadly threats in the Black Fog, affecting the lifeline of the Trolian humans.

These threats usually originate from the stray monsters that leak through the defenses, unknown beings lurking underground, and monsters that appear here through methods such as the Spirit Realm.

Once they are detected, the Investigation Legion will quickly assess their threat level, and depending on the level of threat, decide whether to dispatch the defense forces from the settlements or to form a hunting or clearing squad on the spot.

The monsters near Green Grass Town were judged to be a significant threat. Due to the monsters’ stealthiness, the Military War Department decided to issue a mission to the headquarters of the Hunters, which was also due to a lack of manpower influenced by the Black Tide.

The hunters of the Hunter Group, a majority of whom possess strong individual abilities, excel in tracking and hunting, and are well-suited for team combat, making them most suitable for such tasks.

Also, very suitable for Rod to hunt for souls.

The rickshaw was running fast on the plain. Only the Fire Holders could drive such vehicles, perfectly achieving the conversion of Spiritual Energy into power, which also provided Rod an opportunity to practice his control of Spiritual Energy.

About three clock hours later, they arrived smoothly at Green Grass Town.

This was a town surrounded by blue and green, rendering a stark visual impact amidst the boundless darkness.

At the sight of it, all four of them couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The rickshaw stopped at the edge of the town, and after Iron Wolf’s group showed their Hunter’s License to the town’s Defenders, they were warmly welcomed. A large crowd of townspeople came out to escort them to the Mayor’s Hall.

Rod looked around the not-so-small human settlement, where blue and green plants were planted everywhere. Every house was surrounded by green grass, and many townspeople were busy bending over and working on the grassland.

In the bright light, it was clear to see a pure white tree at the center of the town.

Its surface was as clear as crystal - like white jade, like crystal - with faint mist falling from the lush branches.

Is this the legendary Holy White Tree?

Rod wondered.

They all say this is the Tree of Life; perhaps it really possesses some magical properties.

Moments later, they arrived at the Mayor’s Hall.

The Mayor was an old man with a white beard, and with a worried expression, he explained to Iron Wolf and the others the details of the attack they suffered.

Iron Wolf, Big Cat, and Sweet Tea were listening extremely attentively, keenly asking for any possible details, speculating on the possible types, habits, and behavioral patterns of the monsters.

Rod, on the other hand, closed his eyes to organize his methods; he didn’t need to enter the Dream Realm directly now to observe much of the information within dreams.

Iron Wolf was silent but quite dissatisfied in his heart. Those who do not pay attention to details are not qualified hunters.

He had decided to let him join because Aduo said he possessed excellent qualities such as a cool head, keen observation skills, and outstanding reasoning abilities.

A little while later, the Mayor took them to the site of the attack.

It was a corner on the outskirts of Green Grass Town, composed of relatively robust stone houses, but now a part of them had collapsed, and the protected grass inside was also damaged.

Iron Wolf, Big Cat, and Sweet Tea listened to the details of the attack while carefully examining the destroyed site.

"Strong physical abilities; it must be monster-class."

Big Cat judged upon seeing the broken surface of the specially crafted stone.

"It might be a Blood Cougher, a Crawler, or something like that."

"No, that’s not right," Sweet Tea denied his theory. "There are scorch marks here, and monsters usually don’t have high temperatures. It could be a Ghost Spirit with physical destruction abilities."

Seeing Rod still in a trance, Iron Wolf said discontentedly, "Mr. Dawn Blade, with powerful deduction and reasoning abilities, what is your judgment?"

"Oh."

Rod suddenly snapped to attention.

"What did you say?"

Iron Wolf’s expression grew darker, and he said in a displeased tone, "I asked you, what monster attacked this place?"

The Mayor and several townspeople shifted their gaze towarsd Rod, sensing that the atmosphere seemed a bit off.

Not far away, a few flower-picking girls huddled together anxiously—the hunters who came to save them appeared to have internal discord, which wasn’t a good sign.

"Oh."

Rod didn’t seem to feel anything and replied.

"Alright, I’ll tell you right away."

Crouching down, he placed one hand on the ground, closed his eyes, and in his mind connected with the Book of the Past.

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