Chapter 121 - Oblivion

Chapter 121: Oblivion

The moment Gawain sensed the abrupt increase in magic energy from the slave, he realized the situation wasn’t good. He rushed out and activated the Knight Charge skill while warning the recorder loudly as he had not realized it. “Danger! Get down!”

The recorder reacted slowly, and that slave’s body had already swelled up drastically. An ominous red light was emitted from his flesh that was splitting open. Countless primal and malicious runes swiftly covered his skin. This pitiful person who had already lost his consciousness finally let out a painful yell, but just before his body turned into a bomb and exploded, Gawain finally made it.

The metal glove that was glowing with white light suddenly swung in from the side, pushing this live bomb away from people. Immediately after, a blurry shadow flashed beside Gawain. Amber appeared from the shadow and pulled that utterly stunned recorder to the ground violently.

Meanwhile, the slave that was sent flying had swelled up to the limit and exploded like a balloon. All the flesh and bones were turned into lethal pellets that scattered in all directions. Even though the slave was already far away from people, some of the solid bones still smashed onto the wooden table of the registration entrance and left behind deep pits. If Amber hadn’t pulled that recorder to the ground in time, this unlucky fellow would have at least been disfigured even if he didn’t die.

Only now, the others had finally reacted, and the soldiers on sentry duty a distance away ran towards this place. Heidi immediately put up a magic barrier while activating the ‘Detection’ spell to check if there was any other danger. The recorder who had escaped disaster finally climbed out from under the table while trembling. His face was imprinted with an extremely clear shoe print.

“Lock down the site. Forbid any unrelated personnel from entering or exiting.” Gawain took a glance back where the charred pit was left behind by the explosion and gave his orders with a loud voice. “Guards at the dock, stop those ships and seize the slave traffickers… Also, bring those newly registered slaves back! Quickly!”

With the clear and precise orders, everyone acted swiftly. Heidi ran rapidly to Gawain and examined his body anxiously and asked, “Ancestor, are you alright?!”

“I’m fine. An explosion of that caliber isn’t enough to injure me.” Gawain shook his hand and asked, “Is there any remaining presence at the scene?”

Heidi shook her head, and just as she wanted to say something, another voice traveled over from the nearby vicinity. “What is going on? Are you people testing the art here?!”

Gawain looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw it was Pittman running over. This druid was responsible for the inspection of the newly arrived slaves to see if they were healthy. He and his newly recruited medical apprentices were just at the other side of the dock, and after hearing the commotion, they immediately ran over.

Amber was still in a panicked state and shouted, “I don’t know what is going on! Someone just suddenly exploded over here! Lucky I didn’t die from fright!”

“What a pitiful slave. I suspect that someone used sorcery to create a living bomb.” Heidi explained with a gloomy face. She then gave a rough explanation for the incident earlier. “…It is very similar to the spell Corpse Explosion. But that person was obviously alive before he exploded. He was actually able to move around.”

After hearing Heidi’s description, Pittman’s face immediately turned dark. His eyes were filled with a certain complexity and deep restraining fear. He didn’t say much and quickly walked towards the center of the explosion.

Even though it was the scene of a human explosion, there wasn’t much flesh and blood. The sorcery’s activation had generated an extremely high temperature; furthermore, the temperature increased from inside to outside. All of the exploded remains had already been turned into carbon. In the vicinity of the charred pit, there were large quantities of black, solid shards.

Pittman then squatted beside those carbonized remains. The wrinkles on his face were crunching much tighter than ever before. His expression was so serious that it was terrifying. The druid that was normally all smiles and always having an improper attitude had never behaved like this before. Even Amber had been frightened by his expression, but immediately after, the half-elf young lady’s attention fell onto the remains of the body that was beyond recognition.

She turned her face away. “It is truly… deranged.”

“It seems like you know something.” Gawain walked in front of Pittman and squatted down while asking, “Have you seen such sorcery before?”

Pittman picked up a piece of the charred remains that was a fragment of distorted bone. He removed the black carbon substance on the surface of the bone and chanted a few short and simple incantations. The bone immediately glowed with a green luster, but it only lasted for an instant before dissipating.

Gawain looked at the remaining magical reaction from the bone and was astonished. “Druid spell?!”

Pittman nodded gently and said, “Oblivion Association, also known as Judgment Day Association. Have you heard of them?”

Gawain frowned and had a faint impression of the name, but he couldn’t remember clearly. After working hard to recall, he finally responded, “The fallen druid faction? The predecessor of ‘Holy Spirit School’?”

“As expected, you know them.” Pittman tossed the bone and said, “This is their technique.”

Amber looked at Gawain before looking at Pittman. Her mind was filled with question marks as she asked, “What does the Oblivion Association do? Are they an evil cult?”

“They are indeed an evil cult.” Heidi had already walked over and overheard the trio’s conversation. “They were originally one of the druid factions and were named Holy Spirit School. They advocate that the God of Nature still cares for the world, continuing to fulfill the covenant and that the druids should restore harmony between all living things in nature. They were originally the druid faction with the most orthodox inheritance and the faction with the most complete knowledge of the ancient druid religion. Seven hundred years ago, this faction had suddenly broken off relations with the various orthodox factions. Nearly half of the members rushed into the Gondor Wastelands crazily and destroyed themselves. The remaining members had changed their name to ‘Oblivion Association’ and degraded into an evil cult. They were then evicted by the druid community…”

Gawain knew this section of history better than Heidi. “Strictly speaking, they had turned into a dark sect after the Sacred Alliance had been set up. Back then, there were plenty of religions, and many of them were in a hostile state. But the Sacred Alliance made all the religions renounce the hatred and swear that they would never fight one another. Naturally, many of the religions couldn’t accept this, and those were the religions that turned into the so-called dark sects. But the Oblivion Association is very special. It was originally a druid faction, one of many. No one had expected a dark sect to actually appear from an organization of extraordinary figures that had transformed from an organization with divine rights… At that time, a lot of people were shocked.

“The Holy Spirit School was the closest to the druids’ original beliefs among all the druid factions. Even after White Starfall, they still maintained the original church structure and standard of conduct from 3,000 years ago. Even though there was no more theurgy, they were still an orthodox divine sect. Before the establishment of the Sacred Alliance, when the various religious leaders were trying to communicate with their god at Ancestral Peak, the Holy Spirit School’s leader had also been present.”

Pittman supplemented Gawain’s words. “Therefore, it was rather surprising when they degraded like other dark sets.”

“When I died previously, the Oblivion Association was still a small organization.” Gawain’s brows locked tightly as he said, “I originally thought they would vanish after the massacre and suppression from seven hundred years ago…”

“The truth happened to be the opposite. They didn’t just survive. They had turned into one of the most powerful dark sects,” Heidi spoke with a solemn and deep voice. “Druids as a profession are very good at surviving in harsh conditions. Furthermore, the Oblivion Association is an extremely mysterious organization. Their method of inheritance is very obscure and strictly concealed. They seldom reveal themselves to the eyes of the world, but if they made a move, it would be an extremely horrific and mind-numbing attack…”

Gawain’s eyes flickered as he asked, “Like throwing a living bomb into the newly constructed Cecil territory?” Gawain couldn’t help but look at the carbonized shards on the ground while anger and sorrow surged in his heart at the same time.

This was simply inhumane.

Pittman stood up and looked at the surrounding wary soldiers who looked like they were waiting for an impending enemy. He shook his head and said, “No, if it was really the Oblivion Association, it wouldn’t be such a small-scale operation without an objective. They always had clear objectives, and their attacks would come in waves…”

Amber pulled her hair forcefully and asked, “Why are all of you so familiar with the Oblivion Association except me?”

Pittman looked at the half-elf while in an unpleasant mood and said, “Because when you were young, you would always sleep when listening to history!”

“Nonsense! I’m able to listen even when I’m sleeping. You and my father definitely didn’t talk to me about these things!”

Gawain pushed Amber away before looking at Pittman with a stern expression. “You’re able to identify the magical reaction from the Oblivion Association, right?”

“Strictly speaking, I am able to identify the traces of druid spells.” Pittman nodded and said, “You’re worried that there are more living bombs hidden in those newly arrived slaves?”

Gawain nodded. “I cannot help but worry.”

“Such precaution is correct.”

Soon enough, all the slaves that had already gone through health inspection and registration had all been brought back to undergo Pittman’s magical reaction test. Those ships that finished unloading the ‘goods’ and were preparing to return had all been stopped. The slave traffickers on the ships were all made to stay for investigation. They had quickly located the original owner of the ‘live bomb’.

Gawain immediately settled this matter at the wooden fence by the dock. Firstly, he asked Heidi to look through the documents on the origin of the serfs and slave workers delivered this time.

The slave who exploded was a mining slave worker from Tanzan Town, and his name was Sam.

Heidi explained the situation, “This batch of slaves was bought from various places, including Viscount Leslie’s territory, the northern Viscount Kant’s territory, and Viscount Carol’s territory. They were all gathered at Tanzan Town first. Sir Byron organized a collection point, and when enough slaves were gathered to fill a few ships, they were all led by the slave traffickers to board the ships and delivered to this place. The deceased is a native slave worker from Tanzan Town, and his original owner was a slave trafficker with the nickname ‘Golden-Eyed Piegel’. He has been seized.”

At this moment, Pittman walked to Gawain by the fence. “I have inspected all of them. The rest of the slaves don’t have any trace of sorcery. They’re safe.”

“All of them are safe?” Gawain confirmed as he wasn’t at ease.

“Yes,” Pittman replied with conviction, “I am rather confident in my magical reaction perception.”

Gawain rubbed the center of his brows and said, “The Oblivion Association is an organization that wouldn’t easily make a move… They specially delivered a live bomb to my territory. What do their guys look like?”

Gawain then lifted his head. “Bring that ‘Golden-Eyed’ Whatever over. Also, check if the dead serf had any close friends or acquaintances and bring them over too. I want to understand the situation.”

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