Chapter 166: Drow Priest

With his Perception increased to 135 points, the vague sensations he had previously perceived immediately became much clearer, mixed together into a cacophony of croaking and chattering, sounding like many people talking at once.

"Reroute!"

He decisively pointed to the right.

Although the mercenary captain did not understand, he was obedient and quickly signaled his men to follow them as they turned.

After walking for a little over a kilometer, they resumed their forward journey.

This time, sensing nothing amiss, they safely crossed the area.

In the distorted Nether Realm where vision was severely suppressed, perception was far more useful than eyes.

Roughly ten hours later, the massive silhouette of a realm fragment loomed in the distance ahead.

"Skirt around the edge and pass through."

Receiving the order, the two elite shield-bearing soldiers stepped into the realm.

In the next second, a deafening roar erupted ahead, accompanied by a wave of intensely foul-smelling air. The overwhelming pressure allowed Chu Cheng to instantly gauge the creature's strength. He decisively grabbed Fang Xi's hand and shouted,

"Run!"

Her reaction was also swift, immediately casting a group speed-buff on the entire team.

"Bang!"

A miserable scream was abruptly cut short, followed by earth-shaking tremors behind them.

Chu Cheng looked back and saw the colossal silhouette of the realm reflecting a massive beast lunging into the distorted Nether Realm.

It was too far away to see clearly, but judging by its size, it was a behemoth of at least level fifty or higher. From the pressure it emanated, it was stronger than the two tyrannosaurs seen earlier with the Autumn Leaf Caravan or the shadow behemoths they had encountered.

"We can't fight this!"

He decisively took off.

Fortunately, this was the distorted Nether Realm. That monster was not a shadow behemoth; the omnipresent shadows also affected it, and it did not give chase for long.

After sprinting breathlessly for who knows how many kilometers, they stopped to regroup. Counting heads, they found that the ten-person squad had shrunk to seven—one shield-bearer and two spearmen were missing.

One of the shield-bearers was confirmed dead, while the other two were either caught up or lost in the chaos of the flight.

Chu Cheng led the survivors back to retrace their steps, making large and small circles for over two hours, and eventually managed to find one of the archers, but the other spearman was nowhere to be found.

He had presumably lost his way in the darkness and wandered off into the unknown.

Being lost in the distorted Nether Realm meant a predictable fate.

There was nothing they could do about it, and the mercenary team said nothing.

Making a living this way—risking one's life for money—meant they had anticipated such outcomes long ago.

Next, they changed direction, giving the realm fragment a wide berth, while Chu Cheng made a marker on his map.

Two days later, the team arrived at a new realm fragment.

Stepping cautiously into the realm, their vision suddenly brightened as vivid colors blossomed before their eyes. This was a realm fragment that had not been eroded by the distorted Nether Realm.

The trees at the edge remained twisted and gray-black, but less than ten meters inside, the greenery gradually returned.

Quite a few beasts lived within this realm fragment. Not long after entering, they encountered a pair of level 40-plus elite ferocious apes. After spending a little effort to kill them, Chu Cheng ordered them to resume skirting the edge, walking along the perimeter of the realm.

The edge of the realm was not entirely safe either, as shadow beasts wandering the periphery of realm fragments were occasionally encountered.

Their levels ranged between thirty and forty, but their numbers were small and posed no significant threat to the group.

A day later, the team re-entered the perilous distorted Nether Realm.

After that, their luck was not as good as before. No matter how cautious he was, they inevitably ran into various nether monsters in the gloom, occasionally stumbling upon packs of shadow-transformed aborigines.

The worst stroke of luck occurred when they ran into a nether-orc tribe accompanied by two shadow behemoths.

Chu Cheng reacted with extreme speed, decisively ordering the others to flee while activating "Steadfast" and charging straight into the tribe to draw the enemy's attention.

He placed a spatial marker on Fang Xi, allowing him to sense her location as long as they remained within ten kilometers of each other.

After dragging the shadow orcs on a wild, directionless chase for over ten minutes, he used the spatial marker as his target and activated "Berserker Charge" to charge toward Fang Xi.

Berserker Charge LV1 (Max Level): Fixate on a target within the field of vision to enter a charging state, increasing movement speed by 500 points and knocking aside...

Having placed the spatial marker on Fang Xi, he could sense her presence at any time, effectively gaining her field of vision constantly and using her as a target to cast combat skills.

By the time they reunited, the team had lost two more members.

Ten days later, when the team appeared before a specially marked realm fragment on the map, the mercenary squad had been reduced to just five people—half of them were dead.

According to the special markings on the map provided by his mentor, this was a super-large realm fragment, and moreover one that possessed an underground world. Its resources were extremely abundant, and many senior students from the Starry Towers had established cities here to become lords. As fellow senior students, they could use this place as a supply and rest station.

The team stepped into the realm, which was a piece of primeval jungle.

The mercenary captain picked up a machete and hacked through the trees and vines. Chu Cheng immediately opened the map to check their bearings and pointed in a specific direction:

"That way."

Turning to the visibly exhausted mercenaries, he said:

"Let's rest here for a moment. Within this realm, we can head over there to recuperate for a few days."

The weary soldiers let out cheers and quickly cleared out a small area.

Some took up guard duty while others started a fire.

Chu Cheng used his sword to chop a withered tree into several sections, ignited the branches, and sliced the trunk into pieces, flattening them. He sat down with Fang Xi, took a sip of water, and asked with a smile:

"Are you tired?"

She shook her head and replied:

"Not tired, just a bit mentally exhausted from staying on high alert the whole time."

"There's no help for it; the environment is too harsh."

"Just hold on a little longer. In about twelve days or so, we'll reach the Nest of Destiny realm fragment."

"Mhm!"

"I want to rest for a bit."

"Lean on me."

She gave a soft murmur and rested her head on his lap.

Chu Cheng took out a blanket, covered her with it, patted her gently, and then took out the map to study it closely.

Along this journey, battles had been constant and attrition severe.

It was also fortunate that his Perception was high enough. A Perception of 135 was quite formidable, allowing him to detect danger in advance and avoid a portion of it, otherwise, the losses would have been even greater.

Furthermore, the route they took was relatively safe; once every year or two, powerful figures from the Starry Towers would walk this path to purge or expel powerful monsters and large gatherings of shadow monsters.

Had they taken any other perilous route, not to mention this mercenary squad, even they themselves would have been in mortal danger.

"Mr. Chu, the food is ready."

Five minutes later, Chu Cheng closed the map, accepted the food handed over by the mercenary captain, gently patted Fang Xi awake, and handed her a portion of the food.

After a brief one-hour rest, the team set off once more.

An hour later, the team emerged from the lush jungle and arrived at the bank of a vast river. Across the river lay a plain, already cultivated into patches of farmland. The rice seedlings in the fields were golden, and the heavy grains weighed the stalks down low.

Half of these ripened paddies had already been harvested, while the other half remained unaped. Yet, glaringly, no people were to be seen in the rice fields during the day.

Chu Cheng raised his head and saw a town encircled by city walls far in the distance among the continuous golden fields, with a castle standing at its center.

At that moment, columns of smoke were rising from within the town.

"Wait, that castle is under attack!"