Chapter 827: Response from the Land of Chaos

Even though Rhode had successfully corrected Lapis's mindset, it apparently wasn't enough to count on her fully. Thereafter, he got Marlene to guide Lapis along. Unlike Lapis, Marlene understood the potential dangers of this research and agreed immediately. Rhode wasn't concerned about how she would go about doing it. As the heir of the Senia Family, she definitely knew the production process of the Final Pike. Of course, Rhode wasn't worried that she would tell them about the modifications. In fact, it also wouldn't matter even if she told them. At least for now, Lapis was the only one with enough skills to modify the Final Pike. To say the least, a large project like the Final Pike was the beginning of the Senia Family's rising. As a transmigrator, Rhode knew that basics were always the hardest to master. The Senia Family spent a whole lot of resources and finally created this product sample. Although it was rather flashy, yet not substantial, the theoretical effect had still been reached. Just like a man-made aircraft—costly, but at least it proved that humans could fly without a pair of wings, which was the most important result.

If it weren't for the foundation that the Senia Family built, perhaps Rhode wouldn't know how much capital he needed to come up with such a thing. Judging from this point, he didn't mind letting the Senia Family know of Lapis's modifications. But... He didn't think that the Senia Family was innocent. He believed that their patriarch might have already known about his relationship with Marlene. Initially, Rhode had prepared himself to be interrogated anytime, but he didn't expect that they didn't take any actions. Marlene had returned to the fortress for a long time and apart from seeing her writing daily updates to her family, he had never seen any representative from the Senia Family visiting her.

But Rhode knew that the Senia Family wasn't only odd about this... Yes. They definitely knew something about him, judging from Marlene's behavior. However, he didn't raise any questions. He believed that she would tell him the truth when the time was ripe. Right now, he had more important things on his hands.

"Here it is, Master."

Rhode came to a halt and gazed ahead at the six-meters-tall stela erected on the hill, with burning flames on its peak. But they weren't ordinary flames. After taking a closer look, one could see that a thin straight line winding around the flames, coalescing and merging into it, shining in a white radiance.

Order Flame Column.

The Order Flame Column was a simple presence used to maintain the stable Order space. When Rhode first accepted the Land of Atonement, the Order space in this territory was strangely unstable as it was close to the Chaos borders. Not only were the seasons undistinguishable, but the sun also rise and set irregularly. Moreover, dangerous creatures often emerged from the Chaos borders. After Rhode summoned Canary and Mini Bubble Gum in the fortress, they led the mercenaries in sweeping the entire Land of Atonement to eliminate the distorted Chaos locations, and placed the Order Flame Column thereafter. This way, it guaranteed the stabilization of Order, so Chaos couldn't infiltrate the territory again. All in all, the Order Flame Column was like a plaster over a wound and would only be effective until the Order that was corrupted by Chaos restored its original state.

But this time, Rhode's purpose in setting up the Order Flame Column near the border wasn't to stabilize Order.

"Boss, what are we gonna do here..."

Joey muttered hesitantly and scanned the place. Just ahead was the Land of Chaos and the scenery was entirely different there.

Although it was only a dozen meters away from them, it appeared like a totally different world. The sky was dusky like a sheet of paper stained by spreading ink and oddly-shaped holes emerged from time to time, emanating strange colors. Not only that, but the weather was also incomparably weird. Joey was sure that he witnessed winter and summer interchanging before him twice in just 10 minutes. Lush greenery grew over the land, but instantly turned into an endless desert as soon as strong gales blew...

What a strange place!

Rhode realized that everyone looked uncomfortable. Although it sounded as though the view was magical, in fact, the transforming scenes actually left them nauseous. It wasn't only a sense of discomfort, but also the instinctive hatred and disgust that the people of Order held toward Chaos.

Marlene and Lize didn't look better. As spell casters, they were much more closely related to Order, so they felt the effects of the Chaos presence more intensely than others. Lize gazed curiously at Rhode as she couldn't figure out why he brought them here. Besides...

Lize turned to the two chariots behind the group stacked with all sorts of goods—mainly food supplies, clothing, and weapons. Could it be that Rhode had a business deal with someone? What about that strange-looking, circular pattern at the feet of the Order Flame Column laid out by stones?

Boom... Boom...

At this moment, loud footsteps were heard.

Everyone was scared stiff and looked around in panic. The footsteps sounded so strange—they were so close, yet so far. Not only that, but they also seemed to be everywhere around them. Most of the people hadn't experienced such a situation before. Joey unsheathed his dagger while Marlene and Lize leaned towards Rhode subconsciously. They had never been this close to the Chaos border because they had heard about legends where people who approached Chaos out of curiosity had their souls extracted and never turned back as they headed into Chaos.

Then, several tall figures emerged from the indistinct Chaos.

"That is..."

Marlene widened her eyes in astonishment. There were around three to four burly humans with wild, barbaric appearances. Their style of dress was also unevenly sized. Lize witnessed one strong, muscular man clad in chain mail that couldn't even cover his stomach. She was sure that the chain mail definitely wasn't for him! Not only that, but they also carried enormous weapons and a torch burning with Order flames.

"..."

After they stepped out of the Land of Chaos, the strange, loud footsteps instantly returned to their usual volume. Rhode shook his head at the sight of everyone staring in disbelief. The Land of Chaos was truly a mysterious place.

It seems like it's necessary for them to familiarize themselves with that place.

Rhode was aware that in the near future, he had to lead this group into the depths of the Land of Chaos. Judging from their current state, they would surely be doomed.

"Did you light up the column?"

The mysterious figures arrived before them and their leader asked.

"Yes."

Rhode gestured for everyone to stay calm and nodded in agreement.

"Good."

The leader gazed in astonishment and nodded without speaking a word. Then, he lifted a large sack from behind and dropped it before him. Two of the men behind him drew their weapons and pointed forward, to which Rhode's group instantly tensed up. The group didn't know who these people were, but they seemed intimidating. The group readied their weapons and gazed at the mysterious men in uncertainty. Up until this moment, they still couldn't understand why Rhode came to this place. However... judging from Rhode's behavior, it seems like he knew those people.

The leader ignored their reactions. He simply pointed at the stuff on the ground and looked at Rhode.

"Deal."