After leaving the team, the adventurer ladies regretted it deeply

Chapter 438: 340. Rescue Monica, delve into the Heretic’s Lair_2
 

Inside was a colorful, twisted space, much like throwing various dyes together into a vat and stirring them all around.

No one knew where the other side of the Teleportation Array led to.

“We are ready on this side,”

the speaker was a male elf, unfamiliar to them.

His ears were pointed, and he was dressed in a scholarly blue robe, with white gloves and glasses.

Next to the elf stood the much shorter cat girl Bailuo, and the much taller President Velen.

Velen introduced him, “Lin Da, this is the scholar from Proclamation Wind City responsible for escorting the Wave Detection Instrument, a Moon rank adventurer named Wenqi.”

“Mr. Wenqi, thank you for bringing the instrument over so late at night,” Lin Da bowed.

“It’s only right, how could we at Proclamation Wind City stand by and do nothing when White Dove City is in trouble?”

Wenqi said, expressionless, with a slight nod of his head.

Had Bailuo not spoken up, Proclamation Wind City likely wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic to send a Moon rank overnight.

Lin Da inwardly sighed, ‘An adventurer’s background is indeed important; if I were a native-born adventurer from the Royal Capital, Wenqi’s attitude would surely take a complete turnaround.’

Exceptional cities receive imperial support.

Every adventurer’s dream destination is the Royal Capital.

Only in the Royal Capital does the Holy Tree reach above the 40th layer.

In small places like White Dove City, the World Tree’s limit is only at the 20th layer, which does not attract outstanding adventure teams. To raise the level cap of the World Tree, one requires the Goddess’s blessing, the “World Tree Dew.”

But small places lack resources, making it difficult to cultivate high-level adventurers… creating an unsolvable vicious cycle.

The strong cities get stronger, and the weak get weaker.

All human and material resources are concentrated in the upper layers.

Though Proclamation Wind City ranks 56th in Cangqing Province, in the grand scheme of the continent, it is just so-so.

Truly top-tier adventurer cities in Cangqing Province number only three.

Lin Da pulled himself back from his thoughts, slapped his cheeks, and walked to the front of the teleportation portal.

Lulu said, “Be careful.”

Lin Da nodded, looked at everyone, and announced, “I’m heading out.”

The expressions on Bailuo and the others were solemn.

“Junior, you must come back alive,” Bailuo told him.

“Hmm.”

Lin Da stepped into the teleportation portal.

Instantly, the ground buzzed and vibrated.

Everyone nearby felt a slight dizziness.

The elf Wenqi, with a serious expression, operated the Wave Detection Instrument.

There was a screen displaying a chaos of magical numbers that burst forth.

Wenqi’s fingers moved over the buttons with a speed that dazzled onlookers.

The instrument emitted “beep beep beep” sounds.

A moment later, both the teleportation portal and Lin Da disappeared.

Leaving behind a small pit.

Lulu and the others nervously crowded behind Wenqi.

The quicker they could detect the exact location of the other side of the teleportation portal, the safer Lin Da would be.

Boom!

Just then, thunder boomed in the night sky.

Seconds later, rain poured down in torrents.

The bushes on the Barren Plains were pelted noisily, and the dry soil quickly turned dark brown.

More and more Water Series Slimes peeked their heads out from underground, cheerfully welcoming the downpour.

Bailuo frowned, waved her hand slightly, and a blue Water Battle Qi formed a large umbrella, covering everyone’s heads.

“How is it looking?” she asked Wenqi.

Wenqi wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly said, “It’s not looking good…”

Because of the Thunderstorm, the Wave Detection Instrument was affected.

Minutes passed, and the detection progress on it only displayed 1%.

If it continued like this, wouldn’t it take over an hour to pinpoint the location on the other side of the teleportation portal?

Bailuo’s face changed, “Stupid instrument, why is it so slow!”

She was so annoyed that she punched the device.@@novelbin@@

All of them felt uneasy in their hearts.

Lulu felt so weak she could barely stand.

Tasya was the most composed, “I believe in my master, he will definitely bring Monica back safely!”

Velen sighed, “All we can do now is pray.”

…

…

Inside the teleportation portal, a swirl of multicolored light poured into Lin Da’s eyes.

Intense dizziness ensued; his brain felt as though it was being thoroughly stirred.

Then came suffocation, the urge to vomit.

Lin Da bit down hard on his tongue, knowing that he was about to face danger and must not relax.

About ten seconds passed.

The sensation of weightlessness from entering the portal gradually faded, and his feet firmly touched the ground.

The whirlpool of colors disappeared, replaced by flickering, dim yellow light.

The air was moist, as if near the sea or underground.

Was there a similar place within a hundred miles around White Dove City?

Lin Da thought to himself.

Looking around, he found himself on a vast, circular stone platform, surrounded by a ring of ancient columns with torches stuck on top.

Below the platform was a group of figures in black robes, all wearing white ghost masks revealing only their eyes, which looked at him mockingly.

A quick count revealed there were about fifty people.

Lin Da extended his magic power to sense his surroundings, and after a quick scan, concluded that among those heretics, there were 10 Star Rank and the rest around level 20.

‘Troublesome.’

Lin Da shook his head inwardly. Despite the hassle, he wasn’t very afraid; his mission was to hold out until reinforcements arrived, not to wipe out the heretics singlehandedly.

“Clap, clap.”

A crisp clapping sound came from ahead.

At about twenty meters up, the stone wall was hollowed out to form a viewing platform.

A figure in a black robe was lounging in a chair, legs crossed.

He didn’t wear a mask and was leisurely cracking open sunflower seeds, with a cup of steaming hot tea on the stone table.

Lin Da gazed into the distance, making out the black-robed man’s features.

“Hulus!” he bellowed with eyes reddening.

“Didn’t expect Captain Lin Da to welcome me so warmly. Just in time, I have something to show you that you’ll definitely like,” said Hulus as his voice trailed off. As he spoke, a hole opened in the ceiling above the circular stone platform.

Accompanied by the ‘clank clank clank’ of chain links, a dark and heavy iron cage was slowly lowered, hanging about twenty meters in the air.

Being Star Rank, Lin Da had sharp vision, and he took in everything inside the cage.

There was a small girl with brown hair huddled up inside, clutching her knees. Her dress was filthy, and the exposed skin of her arms was full of needle holes, her eyes hollow and lifeless.

When their eyes met, the girl seemed stunned for a moment, then showed a frightened expression, her voice hoarse, “Cap-, Captain, get out of here!”

The instant Lin Da saw the girl, he felt disoriented and almost didn’t recognize her.

It was only when she spoke that it suddenly dawned on him: the filthy-looking, barely breathing girl was his team member Monica!

She was starkly different from the Monica he remembered—whose doe eyes often looked timorously from beneath her bowed head.

Lin Da could hardly imagine what kind of torture his teammate had been subjected to in the past month.

Monica’s aura felt alien, tainted with a wickedness on top of her pure earth system elements.

What were those needle holes in her arm about? Could she have been injected with poison?

The recovery magic power within Lin Da instinctively repelled Monica as if she were a child covered in filth, turned bad.

“You’ve injected Monica with a magic potion!”

A moment later, Lin Da came to his senses and glared at Hulus in shock.

“As expected of Captain Lin Da, so bright. Yes, I did inject Monica with a magic potion, and did so daily, with each dose being three times that of other test subjects,” said Hulus, stroking his Little Beard with a smile.

“Monica is such an obedient child, never complaining even in pain. You know, other test subjects often killed themselves against the cage because they couldn’t handle the pain. It’s kids like Monica who are inherently perfect for my experiments, hahaha,” Hulus guffawed, his joy evident as he spoke of Monica’s exemplary performance during experiments.

“Lao Deng, die!”

Enraged, Lin Da raised his hand and released the Dark Whip towards Hulus on the platform.

Boom!

Just then, a majestic figure leapt from the ground.

Iron-like palms caught the Dark Whip, nullifying the attack with might.

“Hmm, not bad.”

Hulus nodded in satisfaction and said nonchalantly, “Rhode, kill that boy, and I might forgive you for betraying me.”

The figure who blocked the Dark Whip and landed on the platform with a thunderous crash was none other than the leader of the Solid Rock Adventure Group, Rhode!