Plague Doctor - Chapter 495

The Enchanted Forest opened to Ulthar’s countryside. It was an idyllic place. There was a mud road far away and scattered alongside it were simple houses. The 12 members of MP Unit followed the black cat and Lucky down the plain. The sight of Ulthar still did not appear down the horizon. They knew it was already too late. The Zoogs knew how to transmit information using sound, which was much faster than actual travelling. Therefore, Yu Chi suggested that they summon Byakee and utilize its power of flight. The use of spells was risky, even more so since they were at Dreamlands. Furthermore, their destination was Ulthar, a place that banned the use of magic. But the situation was unique. With the black cat as their vouch, Gu Jun agreed to it.

Even though the Phecda members had read the Nine Mysterium Arts, they did not master it as much as Yu Chi’s group. People like Bell Grant who did not participate in the frontline war finally witnessed the actual power of their friends from Mysterium World. Soon 6 large Byakees appeared and the smell of decay overwhelmed them.

“This is impressive.” Peacock sighed. The land’s nomads required several warriors like Malachite and herself just to summon a projection of Byakee and that would drain them greatly… In contrast, Yu Chi and Feng Peiqian were unaffected by the summoning, they could have even summoned a few more.

“Captain Gu, get up!” Yu Chi extended his hands towards Gu Jun. Feng Peiqian initially wanted to give her own ride to Gu Jun and Wu Siyu so that she could share her captain’s Byakee… But the Byakee flapped its wings and Yu Chi and Gu Jun already flew into the sky. They had with them the black cat. Yu Chi’s voice came from above. “Hurry up!”

“I get you, sister.” Wu Siyu patted Feng Peiqian’s shoulder. “One’s Byakee, the other’s a Nokia.” But Feng Peiqian did not get her. In the end, both girls took a Byakee with Lucky while the other 8 shared the remaining 4. The view was clearer from the sky. Those who had not been to other landmarks at Dreamlands could easily mistake this place as paradise. The land was more peaceful and quieter than Earth’s Shangri-la. After they crossed the plain, a small town finally appeared in their sight.

The buildings at the town layered over each other. From the second floor onwards, the buildings were connected via some kind of unique channel. That made it hard for them to see down into the streets clearly but they managed to notice shadows of cats moving towards the same location, the Ulthar Temple. Initially, the cats were cautious of the strangers from the sky but once they heard a familiar meow, they turned their attention away. Since the cats did not pay the flying creatures much attention, the stunned citizens also calmed down. They returned to their work. At this place, the cats were the guardians. Since the cats had no problem with them, then they had to be on their sides.

Chaos though was happening around the temple premises at the top of the hill. Cat’s growls echoed everywhere as cats jumped out from rooftops and trees. There were many different species of cats, like the tabby cats, Persian cats and some other species that were unique to Dreamlands. They were all moving with extreme grace.

Gu Jun sighed in relief, at least they did not arrive at a sea of fire. In fact strangely enough, there was not even a trace of spark at the temple. There were several pillars of smoke but they came from the kitchen. They smelt delicious and not at all like explosives. Outside the hill where the main temple tower was situated, there were crowds of cats and Zoogs. The army of Zoogs was surrounded in the middle. They hissed and waved their claws but none of them dared to jump at the cats. The cats did not launch any attack either. They merely surrounded the Zoogs, layer upon layer. The Zoogs had no way of escaping. Among them, the elderly Zoogs were already panicking.

“What is going on?!” When the evil Zoog saw this from the sky, he patted anxiously on the Byakee’s back. “Where’s the fire? Burn them all! What are we waiting for…”

The 6 Byakees hovered low. When they were about 1 metre from the ground, they jumped from the air and almost trampled on some of the Zoogs and cats. The Byakees who had completed their mission returned to the sky. They circulated the temple as per their summoners’ instruction.

For humans, every Zoog looked about the same but Gu Jun could recognize one of the Zoogs huddled in the crowd. The fur, the beard, the expression and size, he was the Elder Zoog, the leader of the Zoogs.

“Fight, why aren’t we fighting?” The evil Zoog groused. This was far from what he imagined would have happened by now. In any case, he got what he wished because several cats did pounce on him and give him a fight. The Zoog’s ears were torn apart and his claws cracked. His fur coat lost a few patches. His screams turned from instigation to pleas. “Please help me… Pull them away… Help, help… I don’t want to fight anymore…”

Lucky had once again disappeared. His mission was done. He had brought the humans here so what happened next was none of his business. Seeing the Zoog had learned his lesson, Gu Jun stepped forth to say, “That’s enough.”

At the same time, many cats surrounded Wu Siyu. Some looked up at her, others leaped onto her shoulders. What smells so nice?

Wu Siyu waved the catnip and the cats all stopped. The dying evil Zoog crawled to the side and did not dare to make a sound again….

“Aiz.” The Elder Zoog sighed. “Surrender, we surrender.”

Actually the humans were confused. Why did the Zoog’s plan fail? What happened to their explosives?

Then they found out the Zoogs had been scammed by the Black Merchant. During the first trade, the Black Merchant did bring along the real powerful explosive for goods inspection but the actual stock that they sold to the Zoogs were the expired goods. The Zoogs were too cowardly to inspect the goods again, afraid that they might burn in the fire due to accidents. They wouldn’t want to die when good days were ahead of them. After all the cats were burned in the fire, they wouldn’t need to pay tribute anymore. How many hens and chickens awaited them…

Just thinking about that, the Zoogs couldn’t care less about the authenticity of the explosives…

They did place all the explosives around the temple, and after the humans exposed their plans, some of the older Zoogs volunteered as bait to lure the cats into the temple, but when they lit up the explosives, all they did was to fizzle and then puff out. The ‘explosives’ were less impressive than fireworks. It could not even burn down a single paper much less a stone tower like the Ulthar Temple.