Pillar of Yita

”He’s over there, I just saw him!”

”Damn it, is this guy a Combat Artisan or a Thief? How does he hide so well?”

”Of course, he’s a Combat Artisan. There are Clockwork Fairies watching from the sky. How could we possibly find him?”

”The problem is Qi Li, aren’t you a Combat Artisan too? How come you’re no use at all?”

The Combat Artisan named Qi Li was running so hard that he almost spat out his tongue, gasping like a bull. He gave the former a middle finger: ”If you can, then you do it. If not, stop bitching. That bastard must be some kind of monster from who knows where. He seems to know exactly where my Clockwork Fairy is going to fly. I’d be damned if I could find him!”

”A Combat Artisan of this age and level, you can’t find many in the entire Rainbow Alliance. The other party might not be from Tabopolis, I think it’s likely Wu Di from the Silver Forest Spear.”

”Shit,” the man spat: ”Silver Forest Spear, Tabopolis Oak Knights, and a Rose Cross Army, those bastards in the alliance just love to stick together. It’s so annoying!”

”In any case, let’s just follow him first.”

At that moment, a whistle suddenly came from ahead.

Everyone looked in that direction. Someone’s face changed: ”Over there. A Dragon Worshipper has spotted him!”

”Hurry over. I heard that the Dragon’s Golden Eyes are in that kid’s hands. We can’t let it fall into the hands of Dragon Worshippers,” the man said as he was pulling out a water bottle. He hastily stuffed the water bottle back on himself: ”Be quick, otherwise we’ll be on the defensive.”

”Damn it,” Qi Li complained: ”None of them are any good.”

The voices of the crowd faded in the distance.

Fang Hong then slowly emerged from the shadows, looking somewhat puzzled in that direction. From what these people said, it seemed they didn’t get along with the Rainbow Alliance, but there was clearly something unusual about this situation.

According to Red Leaf, the Dragonfire Guild was just a medium-sized guild, and their activity area was even within the territory of the Rainbow Alliance. Yet these people not only disliked the Rainbow Alliance but also didn’t take the Tabopolis Oak Knights under its wing seriously.

This situation could only mean one thing: these people had backing, otherwise, how could they dare to act so arrogantly?

Fang Hong felt that he was already reckless enough. Before he was completely certain, he definitely wouldn’t take the risk of troubling the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team.

So, unless these people from the Dragonfire Guild were collectively hallucinating, it was impossible for them to feel so overly confident when facing a nearly top-tier guild—the top tier being the ten major guilds.

But where in the world was there such a thing as a collective hallucination? Fang Hong faintly smelled a conspiracy.

He vaguely felt that this matter was either related to the Descendants of Flor or driven by someone in the real world. In fact, the only possibilities for harboring ideas against the Rainbow Alliance were these two.

He felt it necessary to warn Red Leaf, but that was for later. After all, those people said a Dragon Worshipper had spotted him in another direction, but that was obviously not possible since he was clearly right here. There must be someone else in the ruins who had been found by Dragon Worshippers.

A possibility immediately flashed through Fang Hong’s mind—it was Hilveld.

He started to retract his Clockwork Fairy a bit and then walked in that direction. After passing through a few blocks, Fang Hong suddenly looked alarmed. Through his Clockwork Fairy, he saw people from the Dragonfire Guild and Dragon Worshippers converging from all around.

He quickly ordered the Clockwork Fairy to lower its altitude and hide in the ruins to avoid being detected by the opponent’s Combat Artisans—though the likelihood was slim. This sort of skill was one of the high-end skills in the Second World. So far, he had only seen it on a few people, including that Combat Artisan from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team in the Elf Ruins.

But to be safe, Fang Hong did not let down his guard.

Moreover, since the Clockwork Fairy’s operating range was limited, even without much concrete experience, the enemy could roughly guess the Combat Artisan’s proximity based on the direction the Clockwork Fairy appeared.

In a situation where the enemy outnumbered us, being spotted often meant being found.

And this was a mistake many rookie Combat Artisans made—upon realizing there are enemies nearby, they liked to raise the height of the Clockwork Fairy to evade vision and observe the battlefield. Little did they know, this was actually one of the easiest actions to be spotted, as there are hardly any obstructions in the sky.

In the eyes of rangers and Nightingale-like characters with higher scouting skills, the Clockwork Fairy, even thousands of meters in the air, was as conspicuous as a Floating Island Whale.

However, after setting up the Clockwork Fairy’s patrol route, Fang Hong’s complexion had not improved much because through these hidden ’eyes,’ he discovered that after he had changed his route, these people had changed their path and followed him.

Had they been spotted?

He was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. The most terrifying situation for a Combat Artisan scout was not knowing how he had been spotted.

Because it meant that there might be opponents on the battlefield with higher craftsmanship than him, and in such cases, the situation is often one-sided.

But Fang Hong had no time to think more; he saw that a group of Dragon Worshippers had actually arrived in the next block. They turned into an alley and charged toward his direction.

Fang Hong could only grit his teeth and dart into a nearby building, secretly praying that the opponents had not truly found him. He was somewhat puzzled; he hadn’t done anything wrong along the way, and before entering this block, it didn’t seem like they had noticed him—how had they suddenly targeted him?

Was the previous scene a trap designed to lure him in?

But if the people from Dragonfire Guild knew he was hiding nearby, was there any need for such an elaborate ruse?

He carefully hid in a crevice between the debris of a corridor. It was a good hiding spot, with a broken corridor above that could shield him from any eyes from the sky. There were exits both in front and behind, so as long as they are not encircled, he could easily escape from any direction once found.

But just after Fang Hong hid, he saw through the observation window of the Clockwork Fairy that the Dragon Worshippers walked straight in his direction.

He was so scared that he almost ran away immediately, but the Dragon Worshippers appeared faster than he had expected. He had just decided to move when he saw someone inside the building.

Fang Hong involuntarily swallowed his saliva.

Something was wrong. He speculated that there might be Combat Artisans of higher level and standard targeting him. However, the hiding spot he chose was an absolute blind spot for Clockwork Fairy observation; even if they could guess this location, their reaction shouldn’t be so swift.

Fang Hong almost thought that the Combat Artisans’ control skills had developed too quickly. He hadn’t logged into the community for a few months since coming to Stargate, and someone on the community might have explored new observation methods.

But just then, several little stones slid down from above his head, clattering on the floor.

This was truly when it rains, it pours; Fang Hong was so frightened that his hair nearly stood on end, thinking what terrible luck this was to encounter such misfortune.

He gasped cold air and was about to run when the Dragon Worshipper inside the building turned around and looked this way.

His gaze had just met Fang Hong’s when suddenly a burst of blood exploded from his neck, and he collapsed sideways. At the same time, Fang Hong heard a deafening gunshot from above.

He looked up in shock, just in time to see Miss Hilveld’s face, delicate like a doll’s girl, holding a smoking rifle, looking at him with a surprised, but smiling expression.

”Damn!”

Fang Hong’s mind was instantly filled with ten thousand racing wild beasts; he finally understood why he kept running into Dragon Worshippers.

Because, unfortunately, he had just chosen the same route and hiding spot as the noble young lady upstairs.

”Captain?” Hilveld’s voice was as clear and pleasant as a Nightingale singing, her eyes shaped like crescents: ”I guess you’re looking for me?”

”Where had you guys been earlier?”

Fang Hong asked a bit irritably.

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