SWNOVELXO Chapter 387: The Battle Begins
"Mom, the flowers here are so beautiful! They look amazing! You have to take some nice pictures of me later."
"Don't worry, sweetie. Mom will take great photos. After we get back, I'll print them out for you to show your friends."
"Great! Thanks, Mom! Oh, and don't forget about the grandpas and grandmas at the nursing home. I haven't visited them in a long time. Please take some pictures for them too!"
"No problem, my daughter is the best!"
The soft voice of the little girl echoed in Charles's ears. A mother and her child were standing in his way, taking pictures amidst the blooming flowers by the roadside.
Their smiles were exceptionally bright, even outshining the vibrant flowers around them.
Charles took a deep breath. As he gazed at the innocent smile of the little girl, memories flooded his mind: the white room in the underground abandoned factory in Genosha Calivia, filled with the bodies of countless children.
Those dried, decayed, and twisted forms, faces etched with endless pain and despair, whispered in his ears:
"Save me, older brother, please save me!"
"I don't want to die! I want to take pictures here with my mom too!"
"It hurts, it hurts so much! I want to go home!"
The most innocent voices cried out the most unbearable truths. Charles shook his head. When he reached the little girl's side, he suddenly crouched down and said to her:
"Make sure to stay close to your mom."
"Excuse me, sir, is there something you need?" The little girl's mother looked at him with suspicion, glancing around as if seeking help from others.
This was because Charles's appearance was quite unusual, he wore a baseball cap and a mask, revealing only his eyes.
The little girl seemed to sense some unease and instinctively moved closer to her mother, clutching the hem of her mother's shirt.
Charles stood up and looked at the little girl's mother, advising, "You should find a safe place to stay. Something might happen soon, and it could be dangerous."
After saying that, he didn't linger any longer and continued straight toward the visitor center.
If everything went according to plan, when Nathaniel arrived, this situation might just come to an end without causing more casualties.
"If I truly had no way to help, I would choose to stay out of it. But since I have the ability to save them, I can't just watch more people die." Charles thought to himself.
He never considered himself a good person, that was too easy to be morally bound. He simply wanted to do what he felt was right.
Just like now, he wanted to save these innocent tourists who knew nothing, just wanting to enjoy the beauty of Flower Falls Gorge with their family and friends, and relax for a moment.
As he moved forward, trying not to draw attention, he took out his phone and clearly relayed the three locations he had just discovered to Wesley.
The plan had changed, Wesley would make the first move and sabotage the [Constellation] organization's arrangements at those three locations.
That way, some of the people the [Constellation] organization had stationed at the visitor center would be drawn away, significantly reducing his pressure.
When Charles reached the vicinity of the visitor center, he didn't rush inside. Instead, he pulled out his phone like an unsuspecting tourist and began taking pictures of the blooming flowers around him.
"The first-floor lobby is already off-limits to visitors. It seems the [Constellation] organization must have something important set up inside. The surrounding defenses are quite considerable, and many are pretending to be ordinary tourists, lurking about."
Charles continued to analyze the situation. His main goal was to disrupt the [Constellation] organization's setup in order to buy time.
So he began to think about his course of action. The scenes around him, the buildings, the crowd all flashed in Charles's mind, and he quickly found the best route for his attack.
"Now all that's left is to wait for Wesley to make his move!"
Charles stood quietly among the tourists, showing no signs of abnormality.
The surrounding tourists were completely oblivious, still snapping photos, chatting, and happily enjoying the beautiful scenery around them.
Charles's gaze wandered, eventually landing a short distance away. For some reason, the mother and daughter from earlier seemed to feel that the visitor center was safer and were slowly making their way over.
Charles frowned. Just as he was about to take action, a sudden massive explosion erupted within Flower Falls Gorge, and a burst of fire lit up the dazed tourists' eyes.
"Wow, Mom, look! They have fireworks here too!" The little girl craned her neck, standing on her tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd to catch a glimpse of the fireworks.
When she looked up, however, she noticed her mother's face had gone pale, and her whole body began to tremble.
"Let's go! We need to get to the visitor center! That strange man was right! There really is danger here!" The little girl's mother immediately scooped her up and hurried toward the visitor center.
The surrounding tourists also began to react. Some were shouting, "This is caused by a high-level Beast Master battle! People are fighting in Flower Falls Gorge!"
"Where are the security personnel? Where are the staff from Flower Falls Gorge?"
"Look! They're coming out of the visitor center!"
Several staff members in Flower Falls Gorge uniforms violently pushed through the crowd, rushing toward the site of the explosion.
As they passed by the little girl and her mother, the crowd was so thick that they couldn't move quickly enough to get out of the way, blocking the path of the rushing workers.
The uniformed staff showed no signs of slowing down. Instead, several hexagram arrays lit up around them, clearly indicating they were about to summon mystical beasts!
"Move aside!" A shout rang out right into the little girl's mother's ear, and both of them were knocked over. Unfortunately, they were about to fall onto a broken ceramic flowerpot that had been smashed during the chaos.
The sharp shards were aimed directly at the little girl's clear yet terrified eyes.
The little girl's mother realized the imminent danger, but she was just an ordinary person and had no way to shift her falling body. She could only watch helplessly as the pieces of the flowerpot drew closer to her daughter.
Despair!
Thinking of what might happen, the little girl's mother closed her eyes in hopelessness.
"Are you all right?" At that moment, a calm voice rang out.
Then the little girl's mother felt a warm and strong pair of hands steadying her body from behind.
With no time to say much, the little girl's mother hurriedly opened her eyes and anxiously checked to see if her daughter was hurt.
The little girl could hardly bear it, the sharp shard of the flowerpot had come to a stop just inches from her face, less than two centimeters away, and she burst into tears.
"You scared me! Thank goodness you were here to help." the little girl's mother said, turning to thank the person who had just rescued them. It was only then that she realized the one who had come to their aid was the strange man who had warned them about the danger.
"Go somewhere else and hide. This will likely pass soon." Charles said calmly.
His gaze did not linger, he kept looking toward the visitor center. It seemed that not many of the [Constellation] organization's members had come out yet.
Sure enough, when the second explosion rang out, a middle-aged man rushed out of the visitor center with several others.
Charles's pupils constricted, this middle-aged man was the same one who had been following Duffy, the son of Flower Falls City's lord, back at the Blacksmith's Forge.
As they passed by Charles, quickly heading toward the source of the explosion, he knew it was time for him to take action.
At that moment, the little girl's mother suddenly called out to Charles, saying, "Thank you so much for earlier. I don't even know your name. Since there's danger here, why don't you leave with us?"
Charles turned around, walking toward the visitor center while waving his hand, and replied:
"No thanks, I have things to do."
In the next instant, Charles took out the miracle drug that Colton had given him and downed it in one gulp.
[Body Limit Release Miracle Drug]
[Grade]: Orange-quality
[Description]: This is a special potion that, when consumed, can temporarily lift physical restrictions, enhancing strength by 1.5 to 3 times for a short period. It can be used by Beast Masters of level six and below. After the effect wears off, the user will enter a state of exhaustion for three hours.
At the same time, four hexagram arrays appeared around Charles. With each step he took forward, a mystical beast emerged. Once Max, Mousie, Mia, and Little Gold had all appeared, they transformed into a radiant Teddy and entered Charles's body.
[Beast Mastery Attachment] activated!
[Moon Riding Wind] used!
A tremendous aura erupted from Charles, causing the surrounding flowers to sway incessantly.
The little girl and her mother stared wide-eyed, the mystical beasts had appeared for such a brief moment, but they had both seen them.
"It's Charles! Mom, that older brother over there is Charles!" the little girl exclaimed excitedly, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Her mother gritted her teeth and immediately ran with the little girl toward a less crowded area.
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In the next instant, Charles's figure vanished from sight, moving like a ghost, swiftly passing by one dazed tourist after another as he closed in on the visitor center.
Before Charles could reach the visitor center, he pulled out the [[black gold long knife]] from his storage space. With unparalleled speed and power, waves of [[black gold knife glow]] slashed directly toward the still-dazed members of the [Constellation] organization.