Nobilis of War novel Chapter 139

At this moment, the competition was more than the magic spring and Belle's destiny. It was a matter of the rise or fall of the Lotus Holy Land and three Ancient Families!

By rights, the chiefs of the Ancient Families and the Holy Lord of the Holy Land were sophisticated figures that had lived above past generations, so impulsiveness shouldn't be their choice.

But human beings from all walks of life were all driven by greed. Who could be disinterested when faced with life-changing temptation? Especially if they had seen the great temptation before their very eyes, within their grasp to follow?

Under such tempting circumstances, an insignificant competition became a huge gamble implying a risk no one could avoid.

"I would like to announce that the second round of the competition, hunting, will commence now!

Each of our well-trained participants will be teleported to the demonic monster's territory. They will hunt in that arena for six hours. To compensate for your bravery and skill, you will be given credit to every monster you hunt. One credit for the supreme diabolic beast, who will probably take you by its cunning nature; 10 credits for a level one demonic monster, who will not hesitate to attack you in sight; and 20 credits for a level two demonic monster, the more intimidating and cleverer ones.

Anyone with the most credits will have the opportunity to change your opponent from the three given options in the next level of the competition!"

In a split-second, everyone internalized that the hunting was of great significance!

Having three options meant changing a stronger opponent with a weaker one in order to maintain strength and ensure confidence in battle until the final rivalry!

'This hunting competition is really favorable to me. I can take advantage of the duration of this competition to improve my talent, ' Darren smirked as he talked to himself.

To his secret delight, he knew he could barely spot a demonic monster under normal circumstances. Assimilating diabolic beasts would be quite hard to improve Darren's current level of talent, except for the hunting of the fearless demonic monsters. Moreover, he could have three options to hide his real strength until the final rivalry so as to increase the odds of winning considerably if he could surpass the others in the hunting competition!

'I must win over this hunting competition! Or else, I fear that I must exert eighty or ninety percent of my real strength to incessantly fight with one of the promising warriors of those three Ancient Families!' Darren pondered as he looked above.

"You have to remember one important thing. It's forbidden to kill each other or exchange blows among yourselves in the demonic monster's territory as this is not the battle for that, or else I will invite the witness of the bet--the Holy Lord Landon to kill any violator in person! Do you agree?" Colin asked three chiefs of the Ancient Families.

All three chiefs of the Ancient Families agreed after Colin finished the declaration of the rules everyone should abide by.

Then, the Holy Lord Landon left a special mark to each disciple who was going to be teleported to the demonic monster's territory. With this he would sense if any of them attacked other disciples.

Abruptly, a small unique transmission array was carried to the site. It could teleport anyone to the demonic monster's territory where endless danger lurked all around. The original purpose of the transmission array was to sense the activities of the frightening demonic monsters but now it was put to such use.

"Again, a reminder. The demonic monster's territory is full of danger, even the Holy Lords dare not to come in and out at will. You can lurk at the edge of the territory for six hours. Anyway you will be teleported back after such time regardless of what you have accomplished. Anyone who goes further into the cursed territory with greed will have the risk of being killed by monsters. No one is to blame for your senseless death!"

As Colin finished his speech, the disciples from all sides entered the transmission array in succession.

All disciples from all Ancient Families and the Lotus Holy Land had entered the transmission array. Only Yu Ancient Family had one participant.

Though some disciples' strength was not as promising as the others, they could sense and drain the opponent of it. No one could really avoid talking about the fact that only Yu Ancient Family was too conceited to send one participant.

When everything was ready, the transmission array was lit up. Darren and the other disciples vanished in a flash of light.

"Mr. Li, will my elder brother be safe from danger?" Having the chance to meet his brother after separation, Belle was anxious for his safety. Sadly, they still hadn't exchanged a word with each other.

"Please feel assured, Holy Maiden. Your brother's talent and strength is far beyond our imagination. There will be no danger to him even if he is not able to be the winner of the hunting competition. As for the next competition, it's hard to say." Watching the direction where Darren had disappeared, Colin couldn't help but be anxious about the next fight. He hoped that Darren hadn't overestimated his so-called Omnipotent Talent Skill as no one ever had a chance to actually witness.

In spite of his brother's auspicious will, Belle was still worried about her brother's capabilities. 'Will he be able to beat the talents from those Ancient Families?' she asked herself. .

The territory was a lonely sight -- the canopy dark as midnight, the peat was swallowing drift wood, lifelessness reflected the vast expanse of the territory.

As the disciples from the Holy Land descended on the territory with Darren, the disciples of Ancient Families were teleported to some other spots not far from them in Darren's estimation.

Looking around, Darren could not contain his unexplainable emotions. Skeletons of humungous creatures he could not even identify were scattered everywhere and the stink from the corpses perished not long before permeated in the air and greeted his sensitive nostrils.

The scene made those outer disciples of the Lotus Holy Land shiver as if they had felt the bloodiness and seen before their eyes the cruelty of this land.

"Darren, with all these happening around, what should we do next? We will try our best to assist your command,"

one of the disciples from the Holy Land uttered. The other disciples exclaimed their support by agreeing to what had been said. They knew the hope of the huge bet was laid on Darren, no doubt he must be a man of powerful strength.

Darren observed for a little moment and said, "Keep your hands clear. I can feel from the corpses that those creatures were very powerful before they died. There must be more powerful creatures living here, so keep our heads above the ground is the top priority for us. Remember not to trespass forcibly.

Now, follow me closely. We will go to the deadwood forest to recon."

Relying on his intuition, Darren released his spiritual sense and found an open stretch of moor ahead of them. He also sensed the breathing of a diabolic beast in the deadwood forest.

"Everyone, follow me closely." Those disciples from the Holy Land followed their leader, yet their fear translated into slow paced steps.

"Eh? Watch out!"

Out of shock, Darren snapped and swept his sword in a downward motion, attacking an unidentified creature underneath the black bog. Blood oozed from the seemingly muddy, now crimson puddle and two parts of a corpse floated on the surface of the mud. To their surprise, it was a diabolic beast!

"It's a level nine diabolic beast, mud crocodile!" the disciple that recognized the corpse exclaimed.

"What a close call! We didn't sense it at all. Thank you very much, Darren." All the disciples were dazed as their limbs were trembling with fear.

"How come you know the name of the diabolic beast?" Darren, in spite of a great expectation from many, had no knowledge of the diabolic beasts. Out of curiosity, he asked the disciple who recognized the beast.

"My name is Sven Zhou. I have been fond of reading picture books of variant beasts since childhood, so I know a little about them," Sven responded humbly and respectfully.

"Yes, Darren. Sven may have a strength of mediocrity, but he is erudite in terms of diabolic beasts and demonic monsters. He knows much more than anyone," another disciple said with a smile.

"It's a good thing, then! Sven will be very helpful to our survival." Darren realized Sven was an unexpected but an important gain for him.

"Thanks a lot for your compliment, Darren," Sven replied, his face lit up with pride and happiness.

"Well, store away the cardiac core of that diabolic beast and keep on moving," Darren called the shots and led them to move ahead slowly and instinctively on the surface of the peat.

Even the disciples with the most unpromising strength had reached the seventh stage of the Mysterious Realm so they were confident that it would be quite easy for them to fly over the bog. However, in order for them to fly in the air, they needed to release their breath, which would attract attention from the creatures they were avoiding to encounter. To survive, they decided to hide their breath as they floated slowly on the surface of the bog after figuring out how to aerially balance in the most unnoticeable way possible.

In such a dangerous realm, caution was the parent of safety.

As they carefully traversed, some air bubbles popped out of the black bog. They realized that they were not alone, as a tremendous breath made them feel that something was looming over them.

A huge bloody mouth gradually emerged from the bog and bit the unlucky disciples with a lightning speed.

"What bad luck! It's the king of the mud crocodile. It must be a demonic monster!" Sven cried in surprise and warned the others to draw back.

Only Darren maintained his figure above the bog and was not willing to display anything that translated into retreat.

"Run for your life, Darren! A demonic monster's strength is equivalent to a human warrior at the top level of the Mysterious Realm!"

The disciples were shocked at the sight of the monster and Darren's unwavering courage. Everyone feared for Darren's safety.