Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong gripped the railing, standing atop the platform.

Watching the four Type II Walkers beside him, their gun barrels spinning and continuously firing out flashes of light, bullets swept through the forest like an invisible giant scythe across twenty to thirty skeletons, slicing them in half, sending them tumbling through the air.

A series of damage numbers flashed across his retina.

Not until the last skeleton fell did he issue a command, ”Beasts of Burden, advance!”

”Understood, Brother Ade, the Beasts of Burden are moving forward!” Tianlan replied loudly on purpose.

The Gey Ridge Burden Beast let out a long moo and continued moving forward, its heavy steps causing water to splash, and Chris was the first to rise from the mud, looking back in confusion at their biggest nightmare—now nothing but shattered bones of the defeated Undead Creatures.

The others, noticing his actions, scrambled to their feet, their faces still showing signs of terror.

”Chris, what on earth happened?”

”Where’s the Chief Protector?”

”Who are those great persons who saved us?” everyone asked.

”It’s the professional craftsmen, definitely the professional craftsmen, people from the Elpaxin Artisan Association are here,” Chris, still somewhat clear-headed, said with an incredulous expression as he looked at the giant creatures in the Linden Forest, his voice trembling slightly, ”He can control so many Constructs, he must be a full-time Combat Artisan from the Elpaxin Artisan Association. No mistake.”

”We’re saved, but we need to find them to help rescue Chief Protector, Lord Diket is still behind!” he turned back and said to the others.

”The team of professional craftsmen must be led by a Grand Artificer, right? Is it Lord Merrifin?” someone asked, ”Did Lord Merrifin come to rescue us personally?”

”It doesn’t seem like it,” Chris shook his head, slightly confused, ”The person I saw earlier wasn’t a Dwarf, it must not be Lord Merrifin.”

”Chris,” people said, ”We don’t understand what you’re talking about, but you have the sharpest mind here, and weren’t you once an apprentice? Why don’t you ask those great people for help?”

”Yes, isn’t the Chief Protector also an Elpaxin noble, surely they must know him?” people discussed, but Chris shook his head.

Unlike these villagers with limited experience, Chris had been to Elpaxin and naturally knew how big that city was. Relationships between people there were not as simple as merely knowing each other in one village.

But he also understood that now was not the time to think about these things. Clenching his teeth, he nodded at everyone, not minding the mud all over him, and rushed towards that direction.

Atop the platform, Fang Hong saw the young man in ragged clothes, slightly frail, chasing after them in the dark.

From below, he shouted up at them, ”Madam, sir, the Chief Protector is still behind, he’s a good man, please, I beg you to help him, he must be alright, please!”

The other was practically sprinting in the heavy rain, falling several times, but immediately getting up and continuing the relentless chase.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but feel a softness in his heart, and just as he turned around, Atira had already caught on to his intentions. The Elf Girl rushed to the other side of the platform, leaned against the back railing, and tossed down a rope ladder.

”Can you make it up?”

Feeling a burst of excitement, Chris hadn’t expected the great folk to be so approachable and quickly nodded his head. Although he was an Alchemy apprentice, everyone at the logging site did physical work, so he still had the strength, he ran to the swaying rope ladder and climbed up.

Atira lent him a hand, helping him climb over the railing and up onto the platform.

”Thank you, thank you,” Chris blushed a bit, having never seen a Forest Elf in his life—this lady who was much taller than him. Then he saw Fang Hong approaching and was suddenly astounded, his mouth agape: ”Ah, madam, sir, it’s you—”

Fang Hong looked at Atira, feeling a sense of accord and satisfaction, as though their thoughts and paths aligned. He had no sister, but sometimes he truly wished he had one like the Elf Girl who would look after him.

”Do you know me?” he then looked at the somewhat nervous young man, curious. The other seemed to recognize him, but that shouldn’t be the case, as he had never been to this place before.

”Madam, sir, I, I know you!” Chris appeared very excited. ”It’s the Continental League, I’ve seen your matches, you helped Kapuka Artisan Association defeat those despicable folks from the Ancient Tower Artisan Guild.”

There weren’t many entertainment activities in the logging site, but watching the live broadcasts of the Continental League through the Projection Crystal was definitely one of the most important. Even though that old crystal hadn’t been replaced in many years and had extremely poor projection quality, everyone enjoyed watching it hugely.

This year’s matches were much duller than in past years, which is why Chris had such a vivid memory of this young Alchemist in front of him—besides, a young official Alchemist from Elpaxin as one of the Chosen was rare indeed.

Fang Hong’s face turned red.

He looked up, just in time to see Atira trying to hold back her laughter; his glorious deeds naturally couldn’t be hidden from the pair who had participated in the match with him that day and spread by Parker’s big mouth. Now, it was well known within the team.

Tianlan called this ’Our Captain’s Glorious Deeds.’ However, the awkward part was that nobody had actually seen how glorious their Captain was—reportedly, only the noble ladies who had viewed the match that day knew.