The Heavenly Road: God Hunters

Chapter 018 Explosion Battle (revision)

It had been five days since Asta had managed to enter the cave and lost his consciousness. When he finally woke up, he felt confused by the surroundings.

"Where is this...?" he murmured slowly, trying to figure out the circumstances around him.

Asta came out of the cave to enjoy the view he had previously missed. The cave was on top of a not-so-high gorge, and there was only a small path connecting it. About a hundred meters in front of him, there was a huge and swift waterfall, as well as another cave below.

The valley looked calm, with the sound of leaves being blown by the wind and the gurgling of a rushing waterfall. Everything looked very peaceful and calm, much different from Asta's expectations of the Valley of Hell.

"This place is so peaceful and quiet, but why is it called the Valley of Hell? Even animals and birds are invisible?" tanyanya.

As she examines her teacher's ring necklace, Asta realizes that her teacher is not there at the moment. Flares were nowhere near him.

"Akhc!! Why does my head hurt so much!" Asta suddenly felt pain in his head. He almost fell into the river below because he was too focused on the beautiful scenery in front of him.

He immediately sat down cross-legged and tried to focus on curing the headache. A little while later, the pain began to lessen and eventually healed completely.

"Where are you going, you bad boy...?" suddenly, Ace emerges from inside the cave and surprises him.

Asta turned his head and saw Ace not far from where he was sitting. Ace pointed towards the bottom of the gorge where the waterfall and river meet.

"I just want to go down there. Know what? There's something more important than anything right now and I need to get it done right away" he said.

Without asking much, Ace let him go downstairs. Asta began to descend the path that led down. After he took a closer look, he saw another cave, and the three seemed to be connected by a path.

"Where's the boy?" asked Flares who had just come from the direction of the exit of the valley. Ace points towards the river below to show Asta.

"Teacher! What do you want to do?!" asta shouted from below, realizing that her teacher was peeping at her. Flares only chuckled softly after seeing the results from the use of the mind jade that he had done.

Half an hour later, Asta returned with a fresh face. As soon as he arrived at the mouth of the cave, Flares showed the image he had managed to get before.

"Based on God damn and shameless teacher!" Shouted Asta furiously while hitting the two madmen who had taken his picture were throwing human gold into the river. In order to prevent bad things from happening, he snatched the thought jade and stored it well inside the ring.

"You're finally back, too. I was about to throw a rock at you so you could come back" Flares said.

"Who do you think that's because of, huh?!" Shouted Asta again, angry at Ace who actually let his teacher do the embarrassing thing.

"Black! Shack!" there was the sound of boiling water.

Asta turned his head to look for the origin of the sound and found a large pot filled with liquid on top of the furnace of fire. Intrigued by the content, he tried to take a closer look.

"What are you boiling?" Ask Asta while approaching the pot. "Hhh...!!! What are you boiling to create such a pungent smell!" He shouted while retreating away from the pot.

Ace laughed hearing him talk like that about his boil. Flares immediately hit Asta in response to his disrespectful comments. Then Flares tasted the liquid in the pot.

"mmm... It feels right" said Flares with a big smile on his face, stating that the stew was ripe.

Asta only got a bad feeling from the gaze of his teacher, "Teacher, what exactly are you boiling this much pepper and coriander for? I'm sure it won't be good to serve as a side dish" Asta said curiously.

"Who said this was for side dishes?" timpal Ace laughing.

"Why are you still standing there? Didn't you ask that? Come quickly," call Flares.

Asta took a step back with the excuse, "Ahh... Teacher, it seems like I still need to rest. My head still hurts,"

"It's precisely because of that, that you should come here" Flares called again.

Asta gulped with a horrified feeling. The premonition continued to convey an uncomfortable feeling at his every step, as if something unwanted was about to happen.

"You know what this is?" Ace asked, pointing at the large pot in front of him.

"I know the name of the pot of medicine, right? Just so you know, I'm not that stupid, Ace, to the point of not recognizing the medicinal pot," Asta replied as he walked over.

"Ehh... Wait a minute," Asta stopped at the spot looking at Ace and his Master. "Isn't this too big to hide? Where'd you get a pot this big, Master?" Confused ask.

"Do you really think that you're the only one who has a storage artifact here?" Ace asked back. Flares whispered something to her before going to rest back inside the ring that Asta was wearing.

"My disciple, you must obey what he commands you" Flares said before falling asleep. Asta smiled happily inwardly as his teacher was now sleeping, so he just needed to figure out a way for Ace to forget about the medicinal pot and stew inside.

"I didn't ask about the storage artifact, I asked where did this big pot come from?" Ask Asta.

"Where did you think I was going when I told you to wait in Zao's shop that time? I went to buy it" he said, pointing at the pot.

"Aw... So you hired the services of a delivery man?" Asta asked once more while circulating his gaze around. "It's also impossible that you carry it while hiding it behind your little tail. Don't think I'm so easily fooled, Ace," Asta's fishing rod.

"Don't I tell you, you're not the only one with the storage artifacts here..." Said Ace with a growl.

Ace raised one of his legs, revealing a bluish bracelet that coiled around his leg. The bluish color emitted by the bracelet looked like it belonged to royalty and was extremely luxurious. Not only that, he also took out a set of body armor which he then wore. His wolf body armor exuded an intimidating aura of nobility. Ace was completely different from before when he wasn't wearing it.

Proudly, Ace shook his bracelet as if he was showing it off to this brat. Not just one, he has two pairs of bracelets on each leg. Asta did not understand what was special about the bracelet other than just a noble jewelry.

"What's that?" Asta tried to touch him. "From its color is almost similar to the Ocean Jade Ring. Is this another version of the Ocean Jade?" Ask curiously.

"Haha.... You right! This is the Ocean Jade version bracelet. How, doesn't this suit me..?" He said while showing off the bracelet.

"How is it different from my ring? Is not the same as a storage device. Why are you so arrogant about showing it off?" said Asta.

Ace laughed and said both are the same. "Although both are storage devices, you are wrong to call them the same. The bracelet has greater storage area and time-spinning, five times that of the ring version. That's the advantage," he explained with an arrogant laugh. He also mentioned that his eight bracelets each have a rating of 50.

The Storage Artifact level was not the same as a Heavenly Artifact. Storage Artifact Levels are calculated based on the number per box. For example, a rank 4 storage artifact was the same as a storage artifact that contained 4 boxes. Storage Artifact Rating could be increased with the required resources.

Storage artifacts were divided into two classes, Ordinary Class and Nobility Class.

Ordinary grade storage artifacts had an area per box of 100 square meters with a 1 year turnaround time inside the ring, equivalent to 100 years in the outside world. Ordinary grade storage artifacts had the shape of a ring.

Noble-class storage artifacts had an area per box of 500 square meters with a 1-year turnaround in the ring, equivalent to 500 years in the outside world. Noble-class storage artifacts had the shape of bracelets.

Asta tries to calculate the area of the bracelet Ace has if each bracelet is a rank of 50. He mumbled slowly, counting carefully.

He took a surprised breath after he finished calculating everything well, "This is all right?!" He shouted, not believing the number of counts.

One of its bracelets had at least 25 square kilometers of space, and if multiplied by 8, it reached a figure of 200 square kilometers of storage space equivalent to the area of one Province in the Arkhan Empire.

Not to mention the bag of storage rings that Ace took out while Asta was still shocked at his storage bracelet.

"This is the war booty ring I got. The number is 40, and each is ranked 35" he said again made him even more surprised.

"Actually who are you in that proud Palace of the Gods? Even one Ocean Jade ring alone is already very expensive, and you have it in excess of dozens. In addition, bracelets as well, there was no way the price was not high. Actually, where'd you get all that?" asta asked, surprised by the wealth possessed by the wolf.

He really did not think that a wolf seemed to have abundant wealth. Not to mention with what was stored in it, it was impossible if all of it was empty. Looking at the medicinal pot before him alone, Asta could faintly sense that the pot was a top grade artifact.

"Of course, because my position is very important and high in the Palace of the Gods. My Divine Palace is one of the 11 Palaces of the Ancient Unseen Beast Race in this Heavenly Realm Continent. It's natural that this great me has things that no one else has," he said arrogantly.

"Know! Already know! Rather than that, I'm more curious than where can you have the treasure?" ask Asta while pointing at the bracelet.

"Ohh... Of course, this is a gift from my office. Isn't this very suitable for a mighty and powerful figure like myself? Ahhaha..." He said arrogantly.

"Can I contribute to your God's Palace so that I can get it too?" Plain asking.

Ace laughed at him until he coughed, "Foolish base. Didn't I ever tell you about upgrading the storage artifacts? Storage artifacts can be upgraded, whether they are class or rank. If you want something like this, it's enough to raise the grade of your storage artifact as well, if you have the ingredients," he explained.

"What are the ingredients needed to make it?" Ask Asta.

Ace raised his leg showing his five fingers, "5 pieces of ordinary grade 10 storage artifacts for one noble grade storage artifact," he said lightly.

Asta gawked at it, not believing it. A single rank 10 ring alone was twice as wide as a rank 1 bracelet. But after hearing Ace's explanation of the slower-moving law of his time, Asta was able to accept it.

"Then can you give me those 5 rings of yours? Don't you have a lot" he said asking.

"Just kid! Go to the battlefield and get your own booty ring. You thought I'd give it to you that easily," he said, then kept it all back. Now he looks almost like a common wolf, except for a slightly different bluish pattern on his forehead.

"Basin' bad boy! You're still too fast to fool me. I almost forgot," he said, almost forgetting the boil.

A few moments Ace circulated his gaze between Asta and the pot before then smiling faintly. Those few quiet moments had disappeared and returned to an excited bad premonition.

"The longer your brain turns out to be smarter. Next time I will be more careful in addressing that poisonous mouth of yours," he said, squinting.

"Huh? Meanin?" Ask her back, pretending not to understand what she is saying.

"Ouch! Looks like my head's relapsing. I'll go first" he continued, reasoned.

Ace narrowed his eyes, "Don't twitch, you little brat! You think I'll be fooled again. Come here!" Call him in a annoyed tone. Previously Asta managed to trick him when they should have practiced the technique of releasing spirit animals, but because the questions are that the time that should be used to practice is wasted. It was because Asta was luring him to boast.

"You don't think I know that. The reason you suddenly discussed this pot must be because you wanted me to forget something, like when I forced you to practice spirit beast release. You managed to trick me until finally my time was wasted,"

"Why do you blame me? I'm just amazed by the ability of your people, but you yourself are even exaggerated to show it off so much as the thrill of listening, I forget it, too," he said evasively and then went running out of the cave.

"Want to run where you bad boy is! Did you forget something?" said slowly.

He had not been able to run away, something heavy felt on his back. He fell to the ground without being able to do anything. It was not that Ace threw the pot at him, but rather that he pulled back protection for him in order to survive the pressure in the venue.

"Damn it! How could I forget something that made me unconscious," his mind groaned.

Ace laughed to see Asta lying on the ground without being able to do anything about it, "Are you still unconscious? You can stand upright all this time because of my strength. So, even if you want to escape, I can simply withdraw my protection, and then, of course, you won't be able to do anything. Especially with this much pressure," Ace stepped closer to him.

"I hope he won't tie me up and boil me along with that stinging stew" he muttered expectantly.

Asta resigned when Ace pulled him near the pot. In addition to being grounded, Asta is also prepared if he has to inhale the aroma or even drink it, he will try to accept his destiny.

As is often said, speech is prayer. Ace took out a rope from Asta's storage ring and tied it to both his legs and hands. Asta took a deep breath, his premonition getting worse.

The sound of boiling water was clearly heard from the decoction, signifying how high the temperature inside was. His premonition had completely deteriorated to the point that he felt that Ace was going to throw him into the pot.

"Hey! Why should my hands and feet be tied? You're not planning on throwing me in this pot, are you, Ace...?" Ask worried.

Ace only smiled faintly without saying anything. Seeing his attitude like that, Asta immediately begged for mercy so that he would not be boiled in the boiling pot of medicine.

"Ace, come on, do you really want to.." It wasn't finished yet, Ace suddenly threw him into the pot.

".... Threw me..."

"Byurrs!" A momentary sound appeared when Asta fell into the pot.

"Akhc!! The heat! The heat! The heat! I'm sorry, Ace, I promise I won't trick you again!" Asta screams in heat. The Ace actually throws him into the pot with his hands and feet tied.

"Yes! I forgave you. But unfortunately you have to stay there. Until you absorb all the properties until it runs out," said Ace while leaving, leaving him who was still screaming the heat.

Ace then took out a book and began to read it, ignoring Asta who was clamoring to call out to him.

---

Elsewhere, precisely at the Temporary Defense Fortress in the Western Border of Huo Province of the Holy Land of Fire and the Shan Province of the Demon Mountains, a great battle was taking place.

The large forces of the True Fire Flame Lightning Sect, the Eternity Land Sect, and the Blue Crescent Sect, which were the three Great Sects in Arkhan Empire, were, join the other four Great Sects and other medium to small sects. Creating a great alliance led by the seven Great Sect Chiefs, who were named the God Faction.

Although it had created a powerful grand alliance, it seemed that it was still not enough to subdue the enemy army commanded by the seven figures called 7 Sinners.

The presence of the 7 Great Sect Chiefs did provide great help, but the presence of the 7 Sinners who were equally great made the end of the battle difficult to predict. The alliance formed by the Shan Province of the Demon Mountains, along with the middle sects of the Gitou Plains as well as the Cursed Valley Country, creating an army that was precisely larger than the alliance of the 7 Great Sects and other lower sects.

"Hey! Oi! Oi! What the hell is going on with you? If a genius cultivator like you is unable to defeat a lowly Demon like me, everyone will laugh at you, you know! The khe! The khe! He!" Said one of the higher-ups of the Sinner Faction, Tian Lan, who had the title of the Tamak Fighter. Currently, he was dealing with Arai Ken.

Arai Ken seemed overwhelmed by it. A little more, he almost fell down if he did not make his sword his focus to stand on. His breath hunted, and sweat poured out all over his body.

"Haha... Good joke, Tian Lan. After all, it's still too soon to determine who the winner is" he said confidently. Arai Ken also had a distinctive title as the Blue Flame Sword Master.

"Heehh... Well then, let's just end this fight for our friendship all along. Then, let me and my colleagues find out if you're really unrelated to him. This is an offer from an old colleague, Arai Ken," he said, playing with his long-clawed weapon.

"Then, I will appreciate the offer by making the same offer. How about you stop and pull your troops back? If you believe me, let me find it myself. However, if you want to fight, then why talk so much" replied Arai Ken, raising his sword again.

"You're so arrogant, Arai Ken. Yah... After all, I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time. Since you won't budge, then I'll just say sorry if this claw of mine were to tear your body apart" he said, preparing to fight again.

In a single breath, the sword used by Arai Ken emitted a burning blue flame, while the claws worn by Tian Lan emitted a poisonous red smoke. One blow caused a sizable surge of energy around him.

Tian Lan swung her claws blindly, on the other hand, Arai Ken was seen just continuing to hold back his attacks. Although without a cue, everyone immediately gave them space to avoid stray attacks from the two.

"Somehow your reasons have only lasted this long, I don't understand. But you really live up to your reputation," praised Tian Lan.

"Then, why don't you stop and wait. I can make sure in a moment you'll know why I've only been holding you this long" she replied with a smile.

"Relief? In that case, I should no longer stop anymore," Tian Lan said with determination.