Hill’s Adventures II

Watching the dark elf woman and the white-haired swordsman, Hill remained exceedingly cautious, hiding behind the water spiders. He could already sense how formidable these two were. The dark elf radiated a wild, violent aura from the inside out, as if she might erupt into a frenzy at any moment. Behind her, the white-haired swordsman’s face was tinged with a purplish hue, his eyes laced with terrifying bloodshot lines. Hill knew that both were ninth-level powerhouses.

The dark elf counted aloud as she stared at the water spider clan: “One, two, three… fifteen, sixteen… Hm, darling, there’s one more than before.” The swordsman licked his black lips, twisted his neck, and said with a crazed edge, “Oh, kill them… kill them all… oh no, no… Tracy, you decide, you always decide better than I do.”

The married water spiders at the seventh tier were on the verge of collapse. The male spider shrieked, “We… we have no grudge against you! All our possessions, we gave them to you, our goods too. Why, why must you drive us to extinction? Please, leave us a way out… leave us a way out…”

The female spider struck the male’s head in a panic, beating him until blood spurted from his wounds. She roared, “Husband, calm down, calm down…”

Suddenly, the swordsman’s face twisted in agony. He clutched his head, trembling, and rasped to Tracy, “I’ve decided. Kill them, kill them all… They’re just too noisy.” Tracy supported him, asking, “Is the poison acting up again? If I’d known it was this severe, I’d never have tried to purge it so recklessly back then.” The swordsman gasped, “Stop your damned talking and kill them. Now… hurry…”

Tracy’s body flickered, vanishing in an instant. The seventh-tier spider couple saw a shadow coalesce into a humanoid shape before them—Tracy had teleported directly in front of them. The couple shrieked and threw themselves to the ground, begging for mercy. Tracy seemed surprised at their cowardice, then noticed Hill standing tall behind the water spiders.

Hill grinned and called out, “Hey there, beautiful.”

Tracy’s heart skipped a beat—her instincts screamed that this stranger was extremely dangerous. Before her mind could process it, her body acted on its own, and she reflexively teleported back to the swordsman’s side. Narrowing her eyes at Hill, she demanded, “Who are you?”

Hill sighed, scratching the stubble on his chin, “I’m just a lost traveler. If you have any grievances to settle among yourselves, I won’t interfere. I don’t want trouble; I already have too much. I certainly don’t wish to make enemies of you. But I have a small request—I need a guide to leave this damned, damned Misty Lake. So, could you spare someone alive…? Oh, come on, you two, don’t glare at me like that… all right, all right, I get it; you’ll kill them all, no survivors. But in that case, could you… take me out of here yourselves?”

The swordsman trembled violently, panting, “Tracy, I hate this guy. He’s so annoying.”

Tracy scrutinized Hill, then said to the swordsman, “Husband, maybe he’s a direct subordinate of Florentino. If we capture him alive, perhaps we could trade him for your antidote.”

“Never heard… never heard of Florentino having such a man,” the swordsman muttered, frowning.

“Hey, hey, heavens, what are you thinking? I have nothing to do with Florentino. In fact, I don’t even know him. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Tracy unstrapped her bow. “Husband, I don’t trust this guy.”

“Then let’s kill him,” the swordsman said, fixing his gaze on Hill.

“Hey, listen, anything can be negotiated; let’s use wisdom to resolve this and avoid bloodshed—damn it, I hate violence.”

Tracy ignored Hill’s rambling. She nocked an arrow and let fly with a swish. The arrow’s path was shrouded in black mist, and the air it pierced gave off a thunderous roar. On the lake’s surface, the arrow whipped up a monstrous wave, as if a river from the heavens had descended, a black bolt of lightning surging straight for Hill. His expression grew grave. Though he was a peak ninth-tier, facing two ninth-level powerhouses at once, he had little advantage.

The lake churned with towering waves, battering the water spider clan and scattering them. The spider couple clung to each other, screaming for help. Such cowardly poison smugglers were a rare sight indeed…

In a flash, the arrow fired by the Dark Night Archer was upon him. Hill squinted, raising his hand to deflect it. Suddenly, a sense of dread struck him. He shouted, “Three feet of ice!”

Water elements in the air instantly condensed in vast quantities. At the same time, the oncoming arrow exploded, splitting into hundreds of thousands of divine arrows—dark as a storm, whirling down upon Hill. The rain of arrows blotted out the sky, obscuring everyone’s vision. For three whole minutes, the arrows rained down where Hill stood, until the spot bristled with arrows like a giant porcupine.

The water spiders stared, dumbfounded. Tracy and the swordsman watched the spot bristling with arrows. The swordsman frowned, his sword suddenly twitching in its sheath as if it possessed a soul. Then, from within the “porcupine” of arrows, Hill’s voice rang out: “Ice—dissolve!”

With a crash, thousands of divine arrows fell away, sinking into the water. Around Hill, a shell of ice three feet thick began to crack and melt with the arrows’ departure. Hill, furious, shouted, “Fine! I don’t want a guide anymore! I’m out—damn it, are you ever going to stop?”

It turned out that as soon as Hill’s protective ice shell melted, the swordsman struck at him with a headlong slash. Hill was caught off guard and had to tumble clumsily across the water’s surface. Suddenly, he felt himself dropping—astonishingly, the swordsman’s blow had cleaved a rift in Misty Lake thirty meters long, four meters wide, and so deep the bottom could be seen. Hill fell into the rift—was this the power of a ninth-level Sword Saint?

While falling, Hill glimpsed the swordsman and Tracy standing atop the water, clearly waiting to ambush him the moment he resurfaced. Sensing the peril, Hill stretched his arms and murmured, “Glacial Era.”

The water rift cleaved by the swordsman froze solid in an instant, transforming in moments into an icy canyon. Standing below, Hill cursed aloud, “I told you, I’m not with them, and I’m definitely not Florentino’s subordinate—damn it, how could I possibly be his man? Are you two as dense as boar-beasts? Don’t you understand plain speech?”

Tracy shook with fury. “Husband, I’m done trying to capture him alive. I’ll kill him myself!” In her rage, she leapt into the ice canyon, the swordsman following close behind, intent on flanking Hill.

Hill chuckled darkly. When the pair were still more than ten meters above him, he shouted, “Melt—away!” Instantly, the frozen canyon melted back into water. Before the swordsman and Tracy could react, they were engulfed by gigantic waves from both sides. Water alone could not hold ninth-level powerhouses for long, and as the couple prepared to burst free, Hill was already chanting, “Century of Ice!”

The so-called Century of Ice sealed the water into a glacier that would not melt for a hundred years, no matter the sun’s heat or raging fires. Though Hill, as an ice-type beast, could not create a true domain, he could manipulate ice, snow, and mist at will. He had judged that he could not defeat the couple simultaneously on the water’s surface; to escape, cunning was his best hope. The instant he fell into the water rift, he set this trap in his mind.

Hill leapt out of the water, watching as a massive iceberg slowly surfaced, its diameter a full kilometer. Tracy and her husband glared at him, frozen in place. Hill shook his head. “I told you, a fight takes brains. Well, now look at you—serves you right…”

The water spider couple were beside themselves with joy. The female spider pummeled the male’s head so hard blood spattered. “Husband, husband, we’re saved… we’re saved!” The male spider wiped his bloody face, threw himself before Hill, and cried, “Big brother, you’re my savior! We’ll be sure to guide you out of Misty Lake. To show our gratitude, I’ll reduce the guiding fee by thirty coins!” The female spider leapt over and pummeled him again, splitting his skull. “Husband, your decision is brilliant, just perfect!”

As the iceberg drifted away, Hill knew it wouldn’t contain the couple for long. He had to get away before they broke free.

At the border of the Kaiser Kingdom, Hill parted ways with the water spiders. He abandoned plans to head to the great marsh, deciding instead to buy a boat at the eastern port of the Kaiser Kingdom and set out to sea, where human presence was scarce and safety more likely.

After a journey of over ten days, Hill finally reached a small coastal town called Orlando. The terrain was remote and sparsely populated, with a half-abandoned port. Hill found a few shipwrights and, for just over forty gold coins, hired them to build a sailboat. Construction would take half a month, and he spent the time gathering all necessary supplies for the voyage.

Before departing, Hill intended to withdraw all the gold coins from his green crystal card—who knew when he might return from overseas? Carrying the gold brought peace of mind. There was only one exchange office in Orlando, and their gold reserves were far from sufficient for his withdrawal. The staff had to collect funds from all the nearby cities—hundreds of millions of gold coins, a staggering sum for any city or even a nation. After four or five days, all the gold was finally gathered, and Hill stored it in his spatial ring.

Half a month passed quickly, and the harbor shipwrights had finished building the sailboat. With a heavy heart, Hill approached the bay. Leaving the continent was never his wish. After taking possession of the boat and hiring men to load his supplies, he prepared to depart.

Yes, it was time to go. No one came to see him off, no one would miss him—such was life. Setting out alone across the sea, Hill couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow. Damn it, before betraying Florentino, he’d had a few friends who shared his tastes. But after selling Florentino out, not a single friend remained. Oh well, perhaps in a few thousand years…

Hill cast one last glance at the bay, turned to board the boat—and suddenly, his hair stood on end as the chill of death swept over him. A tall figure blocked his path—it was none other than His Majesty, the Beast Emperor Wutz.

Wutz looked at Hill, his face twisted in a mockery of a smile, and said, “Hill, you really have guts—selling out even my own brother.”