Chapter 573 Breakthrough Illusion Array
In the jungle surrounding the Five Mountains Shrine mountain range, dense trees obscured the sky, and the interweaving branches and leaves cast dappled light and shadow. The air was filled with the scent of damp earth, and the occasional bird song sounded particularly distant. Vines coiled around tree trunks, forming a vast net that enveloped the forest in a mysterious atmosphere. A small, slender green snake slithered silently through the grass, its scales gleaming faintly in the dim light. Its forked tongue flicked in and out, sensing the surrounding aura. Its movements were light and agile, as if it had become one with the forest, undetected by any living creature.
The little snake crawled through a patch of short bushes and over a few moss-covered rocks, finally stopping before an ancient, giant tree. Its forked tongue flicked continuously, and then its eyes looked around its surroundings with a surprising intelligence. After confirming that no one was out of the ordinary, its mouth, which was only half a finger’s width, suddenly widened, as if defying logic, rapidly expanding to the size of a person. Inside the snake’s maw was not flesh and blood, but a pitch-black space, as if leading to another world. Following this, three figures slowly emerged from the snake’s mouth—Kazumi Fujiwara and Masashi Sakuraba.
“The array formation of the Five Mountains mountain range?” Masashi Sakuraba straightened his body, his heterochromatic eyes scanning the surroundings. A faint trace of sorrow appeared in the depths of his eyes. The green snake that had brought them here didn’t stop its actions either. Its gaping mouth continued to expand until its slender body stretched into a thin, snake-like skin. The originally green scales also began to change color, blending in with the surrounding environment and transforming into a camouflage skin that concealed all three of them.
“Lord Sakuraba, over there.” Kazumi followed behind the two, emerging from the snake’s belly. Although the feeling of being inside the snake hadn’t been pleasant, it seemed that the transmission methods used by these guys from the [Dark] organization were all peculiar, and she had grown accustomed to it after so many times. Her jet-black eyes glanced at the sky, then she pointed her finger towards the red meteor streaking across the sky and said, “Mm, it’s Crimson Flame. That guy is quite troublesome too, but as long as we don’t confront him directly, it’ll be fine.”
Masashi Sakuraba, who had spent a considerable amount of time in Kyoto, instantly recognized theidentity of the person patrolling the sky. His originally lazy gaze turned solemn. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his heterochromatic eyes fixed on the red meteor in the sky.
Masashi Sakuraba had indeed fought Crimson Flame before. Compared to Fujiwara’s more defensive fighting style with cold weapons, Crimson Flame’s abilities were truly more troublesome for him. His powerful spiritual fire abilities and excellent combat skills were all things Masashi Sakuraba was not good at countering. However, Crimson Flame still had a significant weakness: his combat intelligence, or rather, his combat thinking ability, was a bit too weak. This was precisely why his hero ranking was only twenty-ninth. In terms of pure combat ability, Masashi Sakuraba felt he could easily rank in the top two.
“Lord Sakuraba, there are still half a day until the time agreed upon with the organization. Should we take a rest first, or go ahead and make preparations?” Fujiwara, adhering to her principles, looked at the timer in her hand and reported the current time and the organization’s scheduled time to Masashi Sakuraba, bowing her head.
“There’s no need to act according to the agreed time. Our actions are bound to be exposed. Otherwise, the Association wouldn’t have arrived here so quickly. Since it’s their arrangement, we’ll act openly.” Masashi Sakuraba waved his hand, unconcerned about the so-called agreed-upon time. He was certain that there was an insider within the Association. After all, with such a large organization, it was impossible to screen everyone thoroughly. Moreover, their plan this time was a perfect strategy, designed to disperse the Association’s hero forces to achieve their goals. Therefore, there was no need to start at the same time. The support that could arrive in a short period of time was very limited. After all, those who could come would arrive in advance like Crimson Flame, who was currently in the sky, to set up defensive measures.
“A head-on assault is also unrealistic. The inner layer of defense relies on the power of the mountain range. Even I cannot break through without alerting them. Moreover, that guy Crimson Flame has placed energy crystals at various key points, and if we touch them, he will discover it immediately.” Masashi Sakuraba crouched down. The scout group he had released earlier had now brought him the information he had received. Masashi Sakuraba narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing within them. He gently stroked the small black snake coiled around his wrist, which was transmitting information, and said, “We choose to use Fujiwara’s ability to directly break through the final seal?”
“Lord Sakuraba, what if there are powerful heroes guarding the core? Our combat power is insufficient for a swift assault,” Kazumi said at this moment. The girl seemed to be wary of Crimson Flame. Having learned about Crimson Flame’s combat style from the hero handbook, Kazumi also knew that such a person was someone Masashi Sakuraba would prefer to avoid. She shook her head. “Enemies of this level cannot be killed quickly. If we choose to bypass Crimson Flame and head directly to the core of the formation, even with the combined abilities of Fujiwara and myself, we might be able to bypass the seal. However, if the other defenders are also heroes of Crimson Flame’s caliber, we might not even have a chance to break the seal.”
“Then what do we do? That guy…” Kazumi’s hypothetical scenario made Masashi Sakuraba couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He shrugged and said to Kazumi, “If I were to fight Crimson Flame, it would definitely take a long time. If there were another hero like him, plus the Five Mountains Shrine’s master who has the advantage of terrain, my suggestion is that we directly abandon the mission and just go through the motions when the time comes.”
Kazumi had not expected Masashi Sakuraba’s answer. Although it seemed to make sense, his casual attitude left Kazumi speechless.
“Hahaha, just kidding. Relax, relax. Little Aqua, you worry too much. Heroes with such high rankings nationwide are not that many. The Hero Association is not useless. They can arrange two heroes in the top ten here.” A playful, mischievous smile spread across his face. Masashi Sakuraba patted the girl’s shoulder with a laugh. Seemingly seeing Kazumi’s expression, he found it quite amusing. He then raised his hand and pointed at the red meteor circling in the sky, a charming smile curving his lips, his tone laced with a hint of teasing. “What we need to do now is to get a good rest, as breaking through requires quite a bit of mental energy. Besides, we have to wait for that guy to fly away first.”
