The Card Apprentice

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The ghost-faced flower shrouding Zara's face hid her expression, but tears welled up in her eyes. The land before her was familiar to her. The West Mountain King Tribe had lived here for generations. This was her home.

She gazed blankly at the land, turning a deaf ear to the killing sounds around her. Without saying a single word, she pursed her lips tightly as her eyes turned misty. Eventually, she could not hold back her tears. Chen Mu sighed, not knowing how to console her.

Mose's troops attacked them like a tidal wave. It was almost as if they were doped. Nearby, Mose was surrounded by guards and gloating over his victory. From now onward, the House of a Hundred Depths would be his. He even defeated the Dark Tribe, so who else could stop him?

Nobody could believe that he stormed the territory of the Dark Tribe. Even to him, it felt surreal.

The Dark Tribe was left with 500 flexsters while Mose's troops expanded greatly in a short period of time due to his victory. Mose was devious. The unintegrated forces were sent to the frontline. The joined flexsters had never experienced the fearsome courage of the Dark Tribe, so they swiftly suffered great casualties. Just as they were about to fall apart, Mose would send elite flexsters to help them out. When the situation had stabilized, those elites would be asked to retreat while another group of newly joined flexsters would take over.

After a couple of rounds, the newly joined flexsters suffered heavy losses. But, there also weren't many Dark Tribe flexsters left.

Mose did not even look at the dead bodies littering the ground. His face was unnaturally red due to him being overly excited. With a swing of his arm, he commanded at the top of his voice, "Kill!"

Suddenly, a silhouette flew out from the back of the Dark Tribe. Mose's elite flexsters responded immediately by launching an attack to block the silhouette.

Arrows rained down, and light beams flashed past. The sound of arrows whistling through air was endless.

The silhouette moved at the speed of lightning. Arrows bounced off the silhouette with great speed. He was not affected by them at all.

Chen Mu's pupils constricted as he realized that he was the silhouette's target. So quick!

In the blink of an eye, the silhouette had gotten in front of Chen Mu. Without time for hesitation, he moved his hands. Ten energy lines shot out from the Power Gloves.

Ping!

With a loud piercing sound, blood roiled in Chen Mu's chest. Since he was struck by lightning, he almost couldn't recover his breath. Surprised, he immediately pulled back.

Ten indestructible thin energy lines were shattered by a single blow.

"Hedrat!" Chen Mu blurted out even though he did not get to see his appearance clearly.

A sudden thought crossed his mind. This was the strength of the King of the World?

The thin energy lines did not hinder Hedrat at all. He swayed but continued attacking Chen Mu like an unstoppable force.

Ding!

An explosive sound rang out that pierced into Chen Mu's heart like a hammer. From the corner of his eyes, a vine flew past and crashed into Hedrat. It was Zara's Painted Graphistemma. He knew who had blocked the attack for him without even having to think about it.

Chen Mu was surprisingly calm. Without prompting, under unprecedented stimulation, State Zero achieved unprecedented apex. Everything around him seemed to slow down. Within his field of vision, countless thin lines were morphing at an astounding pace. The cold, mechanic but meticulous world was now showing tremendous change.

Finally, he could capture Hedrat's movements. Hedrat was no longer an indistinguishable silhouette. This was the first time Chen Mu looked clearly at the invincible powerhouse feared by the entire House of a Hundred Depths.

He was small, short, and had a hunchback. He looked like he had suffered a lot of hardships. No one would have thought that that slight old man was the greatest flexster of Hundred Depths who had led the Dark Tribe in the massacre of the West Mountain King Tribe. Only his stone cold eyes and overwhelming murderous aura gave away his true identity.

Hedrat's scrawny hands held a black spear. His moves were not fancy. Compared to Wesley, his technique was plain and dull. However, his every move was speedy and powerful. His speed was beyond comparison.

Chen Mu barely managed to capture his movements even though State Zero was used to its full capacity. With such terrifying speeds, every movement contained an apocalyptic force. With a strike, Chen Mu's indestructible thin energy lines were crushed while Zara was severely injured.

Chen Mu felt as if he was meeting another Wei-ah. The combat instincts gained from countless battles were very useful at that moment.

He was calm. There was no fear. Hedrat's speed meant Chen Mu had no time to be scared, so he immediately entered into battle mode. Everything around him was so clear that he could even capture the rebounding trail of the Painted Graphistemma. In addition, his eyes captured Zara's pale face and the instant her muscles were struck by the recoil of the Painted Graphistemma. Zara was injured, severely injured.

Activating State Zero frantically, Chen Mu made a precise judgment. A decision that normally would have made him go berserk surprisingly did not affect his emotions. He was still calm and indifferent like a robot. At that moment, nothing could affect his battle.

Zara had struck with all her might. Hedrat paused for the first time. It was an incredibly brief pause. For Chen Mu, this pause, even less than 0.1 seconds, was enough.

He started to organize a counterattack. "The Fiend's Eye!"

Out of the void, a monstrous red eye suddenly emerged eerily between him and Hedrat. The blood-red eye suddenly opened and shot out a red light beam as thick as a thumb. Apart from its creepy blood red color, there was nothing remarkable about it. However, this unremarkable red light beam caused Hedrat to pause for the second time.

Hedrat turned his body eerily in a manner that went against the law of physics. In a split second, he appeared next to Chen Mu. He raised his black spear.

In a blur, the lusterless spear suddenly appeared before Chen Mu. His eyes stung. He could barely open due to the blast pressure caused by the high speed travel of the spear.

He was facing a crisis, but he did not panic. He was indifferent. It was as if the person who faced imminent death was not him.

Just as Hedrat dodged, without anybody noticing, the red eye, which had been emitting a red light beam closed silently. The eye reopened when the tip of the spear was about to touch Chen Mu's eyelashes. A mini golden eye emerged inside the pupil of the blood red eye.

Suddenly, the mini golden eye emitted numerous hairlike light beams. Even more surprisingly, these light beams intertwined and formed a shield of golden threads that enveloped the other party.

"The Fiend's Eye: Wavering Golden Eye!"

It was Chen Mu's first time using this in an actual battle. Being the pinnacle among light beam cards, The Fiend's Eye was extremely powerful. He did not have many opportunities to use it, so this masterstroke had never been used.

Hedrat's eyes widened. He swiftly withdrew his spear. His black spear was now shining brightly like a metal spear that had been burnt to a bright red. He stood there sternly, looking like the God of Heaven had descended to the mortal world.

Chen Mu had sensed Hedrat's rising aura. He instantly knew Hedrat wanted to defeat him with this move. He lost control over his emotions, which could no longer be repressed.

The most primitive and naked battle auras of the two powerhouses collided. Something exploded within Chen Mu's barren and icy cold eyes. His repressed battle aura erupted like a volcano. Even the sky was burning.

The blood-red eye expanded rapidly, standing in front of Chen Mu like a massive shield. The golden eye in its pupil only reflected Hedrat.

The bright red spear collided brutally against the interwoven golden light beam. The frontal collision between the two greatest powerhouses was out of everyone's expectations.

Heaven and earth was an endless white. Time seemed to have suddenly stopped.

Nobody knew what had happened. Combatting flexsters were completely bewildered. They ceased fire since they could not see a thing except whiteness. They stood there stupidly like their spirits were removed. Some of them still maintained their battle posture. The whole thing looked bizarre.

After some time, they came back to their senses. A loud booming sound reverberated. The impact swept across the war zone like a tornado. It was as if they had been dropped into the middle of a hurricane and spun and pulled by the wild air currents. This collision completely disrupted the war zone.

Chen Mu's clothes were torn, leaving only the meter on his wrist unharmed. Despite the blood at the corner of his mouth, he disregarded the pain covering his body and gazed into the distance with a complicated expression.

Mose was penetrated by a broken spear. His eyes were wide open like he was unwilling to believe everything that happened. Next to him, Hedrat was lying in a pool of blood. Fresh blood was slowly seeping into the ground. The guards surrounding them were stupefied.

Looking at the chaotic battlefield, Chen Mu sighed. Terrifying Hedrat! He had sacrificed his life to save the Dark Tribe.

Mose's troops were at a great advantage. Merely killing Mose would not change the destiny of the Dark Tribe. That was why he was included as part of Hedrat's plan. The collision between their forces created a terrifying power. Hedrat seized the momentum to increase his speed to an unimaginable level. With such shocking speed, he could break through Mose's defensive circle.

Chen Mu's masterstroke had destroyed Hedrat's spirit. He was holding onto his last breath.

Mose's death and the destruction of the entire battlefield from the impact meant that while the Dark Tribe could not turn the tables, they could escape. This would ensure the survival of their tribe.

Clearly, Hedrat had not recovered from his previous injury. While there was such a rumor before, now Chen Mu was certain. If he had recovered from his injury, Hedrat probably would have been able to turn the tables. He only chose this strategy of sacrificing himself because he was injured.

If Hedrat was so powerful even when injured, how powerful would he be at his best? Aside from shock, Chen Mu held the highest respect for the scrawny old man.