Pillar of Yita

”What did you say, they aren’t from the Red Cloak Team?”

Fang Hong was quite surprised to hear this sentence.

After the combat ended, the first to find him was that round-faced adorable foreign girl—specifically, a French young lady, with an ID casually named ”Tianlan’s Fantasy,” resembling her dreamy deep blue eyes, her long eyelashes blinking.

She curiously looked at Fang Hong—

Her gaze was so bold and direct that it greatly embarrassed Fang Hong, who didn’t know where to look.

”Pfft—” The young lady, seeing his embarrassed look, couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

She was wearing a bubble-sleeved white blouse, her waist cinched tightly with a shiny leather corset, her ample bosom nearly bursting out, below that was a brown-red checkered skirt and high boots. She wasn’t very old, with a face that was not typically beautiful but very charming, dotted with a few light freckles, her cheeks flushed red like apples.

After the previous Summoner fled, the Brown-Red Elephant Beetles under her contract control also vanished shortly after due to exceeding the maximum distance. Without the influence of the Crushed Red Crystals, the remaining Brown-Red Elephant Beetles went mad for a while before dispersing on their own.

But a few remained stubbornly.

The others were still cleaning up the aftermath, so they let this lady come over to express thanks first—after all, if it weren’t for Fang Hong’s intervention, these few trainees would have undoubtedly died there today.

Of course, the young lady was also very curious about the Combat Artisan, but when she was the first to climb down the giant rock, part the bushes, and see Fang Hong, she still couldn’t help but be startled.

Even Fang Hong himself felt a little embarrassed, touching his cheek.

Calling his clothes ragged at this point was an understatement, his alchemist robe dyed a dark green with plant juices was shredded into strips hanging off him like a ceremonial robe. If he had a longbow on his back, someone who didn’t know might think he was a fourth-tier Forest Ranger.

Fortunately, he still had clothes underneath, not completely indecent, preserving the last of an alchemist’s dignity.

”Wait a minute,” Fang Hong checked again: ”Miss Tianlan, those people really weren’t from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team?”

Tianlan nodded her head.

”But they were clearly wearing the uniforms of the Red Cloak Team...”

”Those people are quite infamous around Elpaxin, Mr. Combat Artisan, if you ask anyone, they’ll know them.”

”Because they’re impersonating the Red Cloak Team?”

”No, because of their notorious reputation,” Tianlan replied, ”They often attack passersby. If it weren’t for Mr. Combat Artisan bravely stepping in today, we would have been swindled too, and it was terrifying—”

She dramatically patted her chest, creating a wave that frightened Fang Hong into quickly looking away.

Fang Hong remembered something. He walked over to the corpse of the female swordsman, which was dissolving into twinkling bits of light, becoming intangible. He bent down to check her left arm and noticed something unusual.

Although the female swordsman was wearing a Jiefulite Red Cloak, her left arm lacked the Copper Badge.

This badge, crafted by alchemists, could reveal the crafter’s ID with a simple system scan. These crafters were core members of the Grand Guilds, hence almost impossible to counterfeit.

Fang Hong was now somewhat inclined to believe Tianlan’s words.

Tianlan, also curious, came over and, seeing the woman turning into light, exclaimed dramatically: ”Heavens, Mr. Combat Artisan, you actually killed their Big Sister, no wonder they ran away.”

”Miss Tianlan, did you know her?” Fang Hong asked, turning to her.

Tianlan shook her head. ”I only knew that the others called her ’Big Sister’; nobody knows her real ID, but she was the most formidable among them.”

Fang Hong finally understood; he had initially thought the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team had fallen to such lows that official members performed worse than external ones.

He felt a bit regretful looking at the majority of the video he had filmed and casually shut it off.

Of course, he could have pretended to be unaware and smeared the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team a bit. However, Fang Hong believed Mr. Kroid definitely would not support him in doing so.

Of course, as for Miss Sicape... that was another matter.

Tianlan, watching the female swordsman’s body completely disappear, then remembered something else and told him: those people also had a very formidable assassin, ID called ”Twenty.” She hinted subtly that these people hold grudges—the opponent might seek revenge.

An assassin? Fang Hong scratched his head; this was a bit too exciting. Who could guard against a formidable assassin? He recalled that among the five he saw earlier, there had been no sign of the Assassin Summoner, and it seemed the opponent wasn’t present; if she had been, his first stealth attack might not have been successful.

But Fang Hong soon realized he was scaring himself; Elpaxin was so vast, it was unlikely the adversary could find him, especially since those earlier hadn’t seen him in person.

He couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckled to himself.

”But you really are amazing, Mr. Combat Artisan,” Tianlan then said aloud, ”Their ’Big Sister’ is quite famous around Elpaxin—a level seven, second-tier Swift Swordsman. In fact, even without those Brown-Red Elephant Beetles, Miss Atira facing her directly might not have been certain to win, yet you managed to handle her so quickly, just like that, ’Pip, pip—!’”

She exaggeratedly mimicked the actions twice, imitating a Walker’s sound, which was frankly ridiculous.