Chapter 429

Chapter 341: Return

After the explosion destroyed the Soul Cage, Wood Hoof’s large bull spirit body slowly emerged from the dust. Countless essences wandered around, and once freed from their bindings, all the spirits within were released.

At this moment, Wood Hoof was glaring at Larina with a hateful gaze. Although his eyes were filled with hatred, he did not immediately attack. His spirit body appeared more transparent and dim compared to its usual state in the arena.

The Wilderness Spirit is an environmental land spirit. When they leave their environment, they become much weaker. Although Wood Hoof was full of anger after regaining freedom, he did not attack immediately due to his weakness. Seeing this, Larina took out a pre-prepared straw figure shaped like a bull from her clothes.

“Don’t think you can escape, beast! With this, you won’t be able to get away from me!”

Holding the cursed doll aimed at Wood Hoof, Larina threatened his spirit body. She had methods to deal with the escape of these Wilderness Spirits and essences.

Once the Wilderness Spirits left their environment, they became very weak. Using a pre-prepared cursed doll could relatively easily suppress them. To prevent damage to the Soul Cage in the hands of thieves, they brought a spare one when they came. Now, all they needed to do was subdue Wood Hoof and reseal him.

Larina stared intently at the dust-covered Wood Hoof, ready to cast another curse to subdue him. However, at that moment, a faint glow emanated from Wood Hoof’s body. His entire spirit body flickered in the light.

“What…”

Seeing this change in Wood Hoof’s spirit body, Larina widened her eyes. At this moment, she felt that Wood Hoof’s spirit connection was rapidly fading, and his form was gradually blurring in the light. In just two or three seconds, the massive bull spirit body suddenly vanished from its original location, and Larina’s curse missed its target.

“This is… Channeling!”

Larina looked at the scene before her, then clenched her teeth and said angrily after a brief moment of shock. She then crushed the straw doll in her hand and threw it heavily on the ground.

“d*mn it! That thief actually conspired with those natives too!!”

Angry, Larina felt extremely furious. Ever since the loss of goods at the port, she had suffered a series of losses at the hands of the thief. Her curse backfired, and the remaining goods were blown up. Now, when she wanted to capture Wood Hoof, he escaped again due to channeling!

Along with her anger, Larina also felt a hint of fear. She realized that almost all of her actions had fallen into the thief’s calculations. As a White Chalk Tier Extraordinary Being and a middle-ranking official of the Underworld Coffin Cult, she had been toyed with by someone else.

Facing such an opponent, even the usually confident Larina couldn’t help but feel fear.

‘Phew… Phew… What a terrifying guy. But don’t get too cocky. I’ll find a way to get my revenge… Those who oppose the Underworld Coffin will have no good end!’

Thinking this, seeing that resealing Wood Hoof was hopeless, she decided to immediately abandon her injured companions on the hill and retreat. Just as she took her first step, a sudden gale swept across the hill, and Larina couldn’t open her eyes because of the wind.

“Mmm…”

After the storm, Larina removed her hand from her face. Stunned, she looked around and felt deep despair.

In the sky above the hill, countless figures dressed in black uniforms floated. They circled around Larina in the air, their faces obscured by masks, staring coldly at the woman below in shock.

Among the floating Hunters, Edmond held a lens to his eye, looking down at the numerous wandering ghosts, and muttered silently.

“It’s… the Underworld Coffin people?”

After saying this, he looked at his colleagues around him and continued.

“Capture alive.”

Then, the Hunters all moved towards Larina below. The gusty wind blew again amidst the chaos on the hill.

…

Several kilometers away in a distant forest, Dorothy’s carriage slowly moved towards the city along the road through the woods.

Dorothy sat inside the carriage, holding a pocket watch in her hand. Just now, she was counting down slowly on the watch until she heard the loud sound coming from afar, which stopped her countdown. A slight smile appeared on her lips.

“Twelve fifty-three and four seconds… Subtracting the time for the sound to travel, the detonation time matches perfectly with the preset time. Looks like I’m quite talented in mechanics too~”

Listening to the distant explosion, Dorothy muttered with a smile. Indeed, the timed bomb hidden between the layers of the wooden box was made by her personally. She applied the mechanical engineering knowledge she learned from the Crown University Library and sought advice from Beverly, spending a little tuition. Under such high-quality teaching resources, making a timed bomb was a breeze for Dorothy.

Since Larina was planning to rob her, why shouldn’t Dorothy do the same? She never intended to trade Wood Hoof to the other side. Therefore, she tampered with the cargo long before the transaction.

To facilitate transportation and avoid drawing attention, the Soul Cages containing Wood Hoof and the essences were placed in cargo wooden boxes. Since the Soul Cages couldn’t be opened, Dorothy shifted her focus to tampering with the wooden boxes.

First, Dorothy spent some money to procure explosives from the black market in Tivyán. Then, she bought parts from Beverly and made a mechanical timed detonator. Afterward, she paid for Beverly’s help to modify the wooden boxes, adding intricate layers.

Beverly’s craftsmanship was impeccable. Under her modifications, many wooden boxes were fitted with nearly undetectable layers. For her, it was just a routine woodworking job. Dorothy then added the explosives herself. From Beverly’s perspective, she didn’t make weapons to attack any society.

Dorothy’s timed detonator was mainly installed in the layer of the wooden box containing Wood Hoof’s iron coffin. Other wooden boxes also contained hidden explosives. Only highly skilled individuals could detect the layers, and the explosives and detonators weren’t extraordinary items, so they couldn’t be detected by Radiance Lamp’s inspection. Thus, the Underworld Coffin Cult’s minions didn’t notice the tampering on the wooden boxes. As an extraordinary society, they focused on finding traces of the extraordinary.

These explosives would detonate upon reaching the preset time. During the explosion, all the Soul Cages could be easily destroyed. Since the spirits inside, including Wood Hoof, were pure spirit bodies, they wouldn’t be harmed by the blast and would be released.

Meanwhile, in the New World, Dorothy had already arranged for Kapak. After the explosion, his teacher would immediately start a channeling ritual to bring Wood Hoof back, preventing him from being captured by Larina and her group again. The explosion would also alert the Anonymity Headquarters far away, who would definitely send people over.

Considering the current situation, everything went smoothly according to plan. Dorothy received her reward, and Wood Hoof returned safely. All her objectives were achieved.

“So, black-on-black transactions are also an art…”

Holding the Saint Emblem of the King of the Underworld she traded, Dorothy muttered. Then, she looked out the window towards the direction of the explosion.

“I hope you enjoy your stay in the bureau, members of the Underworld Coffin.”