Chapter 306: Theft atop the Battlefield
"What else can it be? Little Yellow must have found something good again. Look, its practically drooling," Stingham said as he dispirited looked at Ayrin and the little yellow dragon.
"Then we…" Ayrin lowered his head and looked at the little yellow dragon with a pouch around its neck. It indeed seemed to be greatly salivating. Ayrin was extremely curious as to what could cause the little yellow dragon to feel this way, but at the same time, he was hesitant as they were currently not in a great condition to move; Stingham and Rinloran had both exhausted the vast majority of their arcane particles.
"Let's go take a look first. Perhaps Little Yellow will be able to just steal it like it did with the Fractal Crystal." Stingham combed his hair and said, "You two can hide in my thicket with me."
Upon hearing Stingham's suggestion, Rinloran felt somewhat speechless.
Meanwhile, the little yellow dragon began nodding fiercely as it looked at Stingham in a new light.
"But let me say this now. If we help you steal things, then you must be willing to lend these things to us when we ask. Understand?!" Stingham said treacherously.
The little yellow dragon nodded without any hesitation.
"This little guy is even more shameless than me. It was so fierce earlier, and now look at it," Stingham said.
"Idiot!" Rinloran couldn't help but curse, "You know that you have no shame?"
……
……
A large and dense thicket quickly moved across the ground in a sneaky manner towards an area from which violent arcane energy explosions erupted.
Two arcane masters embroiled in a bitter struggle appeared before them.
One was a slender, seemingly middle-aged man with a fair complexion wearing the dark purple robes of the Evil Dragon Followers. For some unknown reason, perhaps it was a bloodline ability or arcane skill, dots of gold light sparkled atop his forehead as if it had been painted with a layer of gold dust.
But the most eyecatching part of this man was his hair, which was at least half a meter long and all pointing up towards the sky, making him look like a large broom.
At the current moment, a ring-sized gem was floating in midair over his opened left hand. Ayrin's group was too far away to clearly see the shape of the gem, but they could discern that it was releasing the black light which had enveloped the Evil Dragon Follower's left hand.
Opposite the Evil Dragon Follower, a four meter tall zombie was violently attacking a young arcane master wearing the robes of the Office of Special Affairs.
The massive zombie was extremely terrifying to look at. Its body was pitch black and its belly inexplicably bulged outwards in a cubical fashion.
The Office of Special Affairs arcane master facing this zombie seemed to be trying to break free from it so that he could directly attack the black gem wielding Evil Dragon Follower. However, he were unable to do so as the massive zombie shadowed his every move whilst spewing black gas and throwing punches and kicks.
All of a sudden, the young Office of Special Affairs arcane master withdrew ten or so meters. A white light flickered around him as three clusters of bright white light simultaneously appeared around him like little moons.
At the same time, he raised his head and vigilantly looked towards a large stone beside him.
The massive four meter tall black zombie also stopped in its tracks at this moment.
The black gem wielding Evil Dragon Follower narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the top of the same massive stone and coldly shouted, "Who is it?"
"Ah? You guys discovered us?" A surprised voice replied from atop the stone.
"There wasn't a single blade of grass atop that rock, yet a large thicket has suddenly appeared atop it. Do you take me for a fool?" the Evil Dragon Follower shouted. Atop a battlefield, he had made sure to remain vigilant even while directing his zombie. He coldly said, "Are you with us or with them?"
"We've been discovered…"
"You idiot! Did you think we wouldn't be discovered atop this giant rock?!"
Within the thicket atop the massive rock, Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran peered out between the gaps at the Evil Dragon Follower and the Office of Special Affairs arcane master surrounded by three clusters of white light. Rinloran quietly berated Stingham in frustration as he wondered if being with Stingham had caused his own IQ to decrease.
"What do we do? Should try to trick him and say we are Evil Dragon Followers? Or maybe, Lotton can you use some arcane skill to confuse them?" Stingham stammered as he looked around.
Although he couldn't see Lotton around them, he knew Lotton had to be nearby.
"Okay," Lotton's voice rang out.
At the same time, a stream of pale white particles abruptly surged up within the thicket.
"Evil Dragon particles!"
Upon seeing the pale white particles emerging from the thicket, the Evil Dragon Follower's caution disappeared as he looked at the Office of Special Affairs arcane master opposite him as if they were already a corpse.
"He's fallen for it! This genius is truly wise, talented, and handsome! Little Yellow must have its eye on the gem in his hand! I wonder what it is? Look, Little Yellow has already started drooling again!" Stingham quietly whispered within the thicket.
"……" Ayrin remained silent as he looked down and saw that the little yellow dragon situated within his chest pocket was indeed drooling, its eyes fixated on the black gem.
"That is the Gem of the Zombie Lord," Lotton's voice rang out within the thicket once more. "The Evil Dragon Follower standing before you is Zombie Master Blanc. The gem originates from the Undead Crown possessed by one of the houses within Black Dragon Hell during the Era of the War with Dragons. As you can see, the crown was destroyed but the gem was not. The gem allows the user to summon a massive zombie like the one before us."
"This is Zombie Master Blanc? The same person who massacred the little town of Siflin?" Rinloran's eyes abruptly turned cold and became filled with the fires of vengeance.
Zombie Master Blanc was an infamous mass murderer. In the past, he had murdered an entire town just to obtain the contents of a gnome store.
"Hey! Blanc!" Stingham abruptly shouted, "That famous Zombie Lord Gem in your hand is such a powerful artifact. Isn't it very easy to lose it or have it stolen if you just let it float like that above your hand though? Why don't you be a bit more cautious and put it in your pocket?!"
Stingham's shout caused Rinloran and Ayrin to feel a sudden urge to faint.
Wasn't this a little to straightforward?
Even if they wished to steal the gem, wasn't it a little too much for him to say it directly.
A trace of suspicion flickered through Blanc's eyes.
Stingham's words caused him to feel as if the 'Evil Dragon Follower' hidden within the thicket was trying to take this opportunity to steal his gem.
He immediately decided to not continue fighting the Office of Special Affairs arcane master and to flee as quickly as possible.
"You are correct. I should be more careful with it."
His gaze flickered between the thicket and the Office of Special Affairs arcane master as he retracted the gem floating in the palm of his left hand and put it in a bag.
"Wow! He did just as Stingham said."
Ayrin and Rinloran exchanged glances. Afterwards, their eyes widened in disbelief.
Because they simultaneously realized that the little yellow dragon had disappeared from Ayrin's chest pocket!
In the following moment, Blanc abruptly said, "I've exhausted almost all of my arcane particles. I shall leave this Office of Special Affairs arcane master to you!"
"Pop!"
The sharp sound of space being torn rang out as a massive black skull enveloped Blanc and quickly disappeared.
"He ran away just like that? Did Little Yellow manage to steal it?" A dumbfounded look emerged over Stingham's face.
A dense cluster of black light abruptly burst into the thicket.
"It actually…!"
Ayrin, Rinloran, and Stingham gulped heavily.
The little yellow dragon abruptly reappeared within Ayrin's chest pocket in the process of rehanging the pouch given to it by Ayrin over its neck. Its mouth was firmly clasped around a black gem. Reminiscent of the miserly merchants in Eichemalar, the little dragon took the black gem and quickly stuffed it into the pouch in an animated fashion.
The glowing black gem was, without a doubt, Blanc's Zombie Lord Gem!
In such a short instant, it had actually managed to fish the gem out of Blanc's pocket!
While the three of them were still in a daze, the Office of Special Affairs arcane master whom they did not recognize began fleeing in the opposite direction.
The three clusters of white light shot in three different directions. At the moment, they were unable to discern which cluster of light contained the arcane master's real body.
"This is Eclipse of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. It's a skill known only by Hawkmoon Academy," Rinloran said as he watched the three clusters of light move rapidly away from them.
Ayrin replied, "He must have thought that we were an Evil Dragon Follower who was even stronger than Blanc."
"Where is my Zombie Lord Gem?!"
At this moment, a shockingly miserable scream rang out in the distance.
"I told you to be careful," Stingham gloated as he broke out into laughter. Afterwards, a strange expression emerged on his face as he said, "Let's hurry up and run. He might come back for us right away."
Whoosh!
Stingham burst out of the thicket and began desperately running towards the area with the least number of arcane energy fluctuations. Ayrin and Rinloran quickly followed. They made sure to not use any arcane energy while running.
Several minutes later, a heavily breathing Stingham, Ayrin, and Rinloran stopped under the shadows cast by a large rock. "He will probably never guess that we were the ones who stole his Zombie Lord Gem."
"Little Yellow, wait a moment for us to replenish our arcane particles and then let's go steal more good things, alright?" Stingham excitedly said as he gasped for air.
The little yellow dragon's eyes brightened as it vigorously nodded its head, causing the gems and crystals in the pouch around its neck to clatter. It gave off the sensation of an upstart.
After calming their breathing, Stingham and Rinloran immediately began to condense arcane particles.
As for Ayrin, his reserves were basically full already so he vigilantly stood guard in case an Evil Dragon Follower tried to sneak attack them.
Time slowly flowed on and the battle continued to rage.
Vicious winds containing fragments of arcane energy constantly howled, driving a storm of sand and dust.
Under the shadows of another large rock not far from Ayrin's group stood Lotton.
As pale white particles emanated from his body and onto the stone behind him, the stone seemed to erode. He fell backwards into the stone. Afterwards, his pale white particles enveloping him began slowly changing color to match the stone until he completely disappeared.
Meanwhile, far away in the center of the battlefield within the Abyss of Evil, a bluish yellow mist slowly rose.