Mage And Wolf
Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Chapter 165

The rest of the cooking contestants judging goes fairly smoothly, with a number of fancy dishes attracting attention from the crowd and impressed reactions from the judges. Perhaps even using my mystic cooking technique this could be a very tough competition to win.

By the schedule, it’s now a lunch break and intermission between competitions, so I decide to go socialize a little. There are a lot of friendly people in the cooking competition, and having food as a default topic to talk about makes things much less awkward than expected of a group of strangers.

I’m just walking between two shops along the edge of the grounds, heading for the spot where Elder Song is sitting in anticipation of the Inscription contest beginning, when I feel a hand grab my mouth and something poke my neck.

Is someone seriously trying to kidnap me? I swear on the Goddess, if they’ve mistaken me for a child they’re going to suffer a horrible and slow death.

I circulate energy quickly, isolating and burning away the toxin in seconds, but keeping my body limp as if I’m still unconscious.

"I told you we could get her, now hurry and bring her to the boss. At Early Core Formation she won’t be out for more than an hour, tops." A nasally voice comes from above me.

"Got it." a deep voice answers and I can feel myself being carried at a jogging pace. Does he actually think nobody will notice him running with someone over his shoulder? My arms are flopping against his chest and I’m a bit concerned about my skirt length. Being carried like this wasn’t in the plans when Karl selected my wardrobe for the day.

[I felt your alarm, and your anger. Is that you that the big cultivator is running off with?] Karl sends to me.

[It is, he thinks I’m unconscious and he’s taking me to his boss, have Elder Song follow so you don’t miss your competition, this is likely to get messy]

[Just be safe, his boss might be powerful.] Karl sends back, and I begin to feel Elder Song’s power move, before vanishing as he hides his cultivation.

The run is long, but the noise of alerted civilians quickly faded, we must have moved into a deserted neighborhood. Maybe an industrial area, as everything is closed to watch the competition?

When we stop there is a set of knocks at a door. Three then five then two.

"Get in here you idiot. Couldn’t you at least try to hide her? What if someone tells her Sect Elder what you looked like?" The gate guard complains and we walk in.

We’re ushered into a room, I can feel it’s warmer than where we were before, so maybe an office?

"What do we do with her, boss?" The incompetent kidnapper asks.

"Toss her in the basement prison. It’s shielded against an immortal’s senses and a couple weeks in the hole should be sufficient to convince this spoilt child to make enough pills for our Sect to become the richest in the province.

That’s their plan? Wow did they miscalculate. I send Karl what’s going on, including their idiocy and the fact I can feel no more than three early level immortals here. He assures me he can sense my location, but the inscription competition is about to start so he will contact me after.

"You know what, hand her here. I think she’s waking up early." The one called boss says. I’m passed over and he puts his hands under my arms to lift me.

This is the perfect opportunity, I extend a single death energy Claw and drive a fist into his belly, pushing every bit of power I can into the point where I can feel his cultivation core. It shatters under my surprise attack and I can hear him scream like a hungry infant, just a mindless wail of pure agony.

Outside, Elder Song was about to enter, sensing dozens of cultivators, including a few immortals inside. Young Miss might be in actual trouble with this upstart Sect operating out of an old warehouse.

But before he can make his move, he feels one of the Immortal cultivation bases disappear with an explosion of energy as if their core had been shattered. Then the screaming starts. Beginning deep in the warehouse and spreading rapidly through the building.

Perhaps she’s fine after all. He will go look in a moment, it’s better if she works her anger off on someone else first.

Inside the building, The one called Boss crumples into a heap of blubbering agony and I remove my energy Claw from his dantian, drawing a pair of scimitar from my storage rings and cutting all 5 limbs off the hapless kidnapper, who died without a sound.

Kidnap me to work as a slave for their Sect? I don’t think so. I cut down everyone I see, moving rapidly from room to room. Another Immortal level cultivator who seems to have just advanced, going by their shaky foundation, exits a side room to see what the commotion is, and I drive a sword into their belly, surging energy to destroy their core.

They’re a bit more collected than the one called Boss and save their cultivation, but the pain puts them off balance and I chop an arm off before being forced to leap away by a series of incoming attacks from the Sect members in the hallway.

I’ll give them this much credit, their blade skills aren’t bad. Not quite up to Shadowed Blade Sect Standards, but better than average.

I drive the two out into the main area of the warehouse to give me room to fight, my attack sending the Dragons to wrap the torso and bite the arms from one while I fight the other with swords. The sound of blades on scales is followed by a sickening crunch and a wet tearing sound, my attack with the Dragons, barely in my line of sight as I fight, but directly in front of my opponent, must have succeeded.

The remaining disciple drops his sword with a pale expression and I quickly put him out of his misery as the warehouse goes silent. I should see who they’ve got hidden in the basement prison. Maybe I can make a new friend today? There should be one more Immortal here somewhere maybe two, but I can’t sense them now.