ATAPOW Chapter 68
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Chapter 68: The Erupting Illness
“Can you stop calling me for everything? Don’t you have a mouth as well, maggot?” Ji Bai turned his body and said impatiently as he pulled his long sword out of a troll foot soldier’s corpse.
“These guys’ minds have been imprisoned by the tin can on their head, just like you. I can’t explain it.” While Lin was talking, she swung the scimitar in her hand, sending two troll foot soldiers that were planning to climb up the city wall into the air.
“…You’re a knight?” Although Ji Bai picked up a helmet from the ground and wore it on his head earlier, it didn’t hinder Landi from making him out to be a human.
“I guess.” Even if he appeared to be very impatient, Ji Bai didn’t verbally shirk away from his assignment of being the explainer. After kicking away a troll foot soldier’s corpse that was thoroughly dead in body and soul, he walked towards Landi.
Landi’s guard lowered considerably after finding someone of his kin. From his demeanor, he had no intention of stopping Ji Bai from coming close.
“You two should head to Uncle Lin Tuo and the chanting pugilistic priest. I need to have a chat with this gentleman.” Ji Bai rubbed Ke’er’s head through his gauntlets.
“Mmhmm~! =v=”
“Tch, I got it.”
After sending away the two kittens spectating in the corner, Ji Bai turned his eyes over to Landi.
“So… why are you mingling with demons??… Don’t tell me that you’re a traitor??” Landi couldn’t help but knit his eyebrows as he moved a step back.
‘Could it be that this underhanded and deceptive conspiracy also had a traitor participating in it? If that’s truly the case, can the border town even be saved…?’
Landi gritted his teeth while the hand that was pinching the pendant trembled slightly.
‘Venerable Radiant Knight… What should I do now??’
“…” Ji Bai didn’t answer him. His gaze shot out through the gap in his helmet and firmly landed on Landi’s body. Suddenly, he drew out his long sword.
“?!” Landi unconsciously used his arm to cover his face. However, when he slowly opened his eyes, he saw that a molybdenum long sword was deeply pierced into a troll foot soldier beside him.
‘One sword strike was able to piece a troll foot soldier to death? This is actually something that even a temple knight is unable to accomplish!’
Landi dazedly looked at the back silhouette beside him.
“Knight, I understand you really want to know what exactly transpired. But, I can’t explain it very well even if I want to talk about it. You just need to know…” Ji Bai turned his body towards him.
“I… No, we are on the same side as you do. That’s all you need to know. If that isn’t the case… where do you think these troll corpses come from?”
It was only after Ji Bai’s indication did Landi realize the countless broken limbs and shattered meat pieces below his feet, this mess was clearly not something left by humans.
“Same side…?” Landi sluggishly scratched his head. “You’re saying that demons attacked demons to help humans?? I… I don’t understand…”
“Hey! Hey~! You, uncle! Can you start acknowledging the good intentions of others, alright~? It’s a cold day! If it wasn’t absolutely essential, we didn’t want to come out as well, alright? Who wouldn’t want to wrap quilts all around their body and catch up on shows they missed?” Lil Sha pouted her lips as she complained in discontent. It was unknown when she walked up to them.
“I don’t understand that very well either…” While he looked at Lil‘ Sha on the side and at a certain somebody who was currently raising a lamppost and playing whack-a-mole, Ji Bai slowly heaved a sigh and went silent momentarily.
“Are you the knights the branch sent out for reinforcements? Your response time is extremely slow…” Ji Bai carried an inquisitive gaze in his eyes as he sized up Landi.
“However, your abilities still have space for improvement… You have quite the vigor in you, I like that.” Ji Bai patted Landi’s shoulder.
Landi didn’t know whether he interpreted it wrongly, but the tone this mysterious knight had towards himself bore quite a likely resemblance of a senior instructing his junior.
“…No, we didn’t follow proper procedures and came here…”
“So, you kept your superiors in the dark and disobeyed orders purely based on your personal will?” Ji Bai raised his brows.
“Erm…” Landi was refuted to the point of silence from Ji Bai’s straightforward and fatal reply. The presence of this knight in front of him had overpowered him by a notch.
“…Although the enemies are at the gates, headquarters has been dragging its feet and is really slow to act. We were afraid that we might lose this favorable opportunity in battle, so…”
“So you braved the risk of being caught, in order to secure some battle feats for yourself?”
“No! It’s not about stealing battle feats! How can a knight’s affairs be considered such?!” Landi’s face instantly turned red as his emotions became extremely agitated.
“Oh, why did you all come here then? You must know that operating independently in extraordinary times is equivalent to insubordination. All of you would be detained and be held up for a tribunal. You can forget about claiming any feats in battle too… You don’t seem to know how to appease your superiors, am I right? One must be aware of the ways of the world, whether you’re a human or a knight,” Ji Bai’s tone carried a slight trace of ridicule as he said so.
“…Is that your idea of a knight? I guess there’s no need for us to talk anymore. I’m just doing the things I’m obligated to and capable of. As for sweet-fawning words, it’s best to save them after my death.” After being silent for a moment, Landi picked up his sword and rushed up to the troll foot soldiers that were rushing in tides. However, he was forcefully held down by Ji Bai behind him.
“What are you doing?” Within his puzzlement, traces of wrath could be heard in Landi’s voice.
“You passed.” Ji Bai patted Landi’s shoulder and casually threw his long sword, embedding it into a troll foot soldier’s face.
“But I believe that the thing you need to do now is to rendezvous with those large forces of yours, no?” Ji Bai pointed at the sea of monotone-colored molybdenum armored knights below the city walls.
“Reinforcements… has arrived??” Landi stared blankly at the troops carrying fluttering silk banners below him.
“Oh, it’s not too late either. It’s time for us to leave as well.” Lin Tuo heaved a sigh. After calling over Huo Lei who was happily slaughtering to his heart’s content, he dragged Pian Zi, who had been doing nothing but sitting on the floor chanting. Ke’er, who similarly had been doing nothing as well, walked towards his direction as well
“Hello? Is this Milan? The mission is complete. You should come over and pick us up!” Just when the voice of Lin Tuo, who was indecently making a big fuss on the phone landed, an expressionless loli descended from the skies and smashed onto his body.
“Ouch!”
“Here whenever you call.” Milan stepped on Lin Tuo. After that, she swept her eyes across everyone at the scene, she nodded her head and her beautiful fingers drew a circle on the ground.
A series of distortions and undulations appeared in the surroundings. With a flash of light and shadow, everyone suddenly disappeared.
“Thank you… eh?” Just when Landi wanted to express his thanks, he turned his head and looked. There were no silhouettes present behind him anymore.
…………….
In a certain anonymous Hope Elementary School.
“Cough, cough! Little friend Milan, you get up first. It’s very impolite to step on your teacher’s face like that!”
“Teacher, Milan has already left,” Lin reminded him.
“Oh? Oh… since that’s the case. This is… you should have said so earlier.” Lin Tuo stood up while covering his waist. He just happened to witness Ji Bai, who was pulling at Ke’er, ready to leave.
“Eh? Don’t be in such a hurry, little friend Ji Bai.”
“Is there something up?” Ji Bai turned his head.
“Even if nothing is going on, can’t we just blindly banter for a while? So how is it? What do you feel about our organization now?” Lin Tuo heartily laughed as he walked upward, and held onto Ji Bai’s shoulder.
“…It’s okay, I guess.” While saying this, Ji Bai disdainfully broke away from Lin Tuo’s hands that were stretching towards him. Just when he was about to say something else, the complexion on his face suddenly turned white and his body swayed for a moment.
‘Little Cutie~ You need to nourish yourself now!’
‘No… I don’t want…’
‘No, you really do~ Come and abide by your instincts~ Such a long time has already passed, how long are you intending to act like a knight?~’
‘It’s no good… Did I excessively use my primordial magic and caused my illness to relapse in advance…?’