The Grandwake City

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--- Chapter 71 ---

Hayate, Xia Qingyue, and Chu Yueli escorted Su Ling'er to the Grandwake Clan.

They met a few people along the way there who wanted to take Su Ling'er away, transforming into werewolves abruptly to fight them.

Even though crude, Hayate can confirm these people were human with the Werewolf King's influence. It's weird because the Werewolf King was from Heaven Basin Secret Realm.

There is no sign of the Werewolf King ever going to the Azure Cloud continent.

"Um, big brother..." Su Ling'er slightly pulled Hayate's coat.

"I'm sorry for earlier."

"Thank you for helping me."

"No problem." Hayate smiled and gently patted Su Ling'er on the head.

After walking for several hours, they arrived in a mountain range and saw a man in his late thirties.

Even though this man was old by appearances, his face remained virtuous with a calm pair of black eyes.

Well, he looks somewhat worried.

"Father!" Su Ling'er ran toward the man.

Hayate watched the little Su Ling'er the man and cried in happiness.

"Ling'er." The man was surprised and immediately hugged his daughter back. He had been searching for hours but couldn't find any result.

It's a miracle Su Ling'er could go home by herself.

'Or not?' Su Hengshan noticed three people approaching from afar.

It's a young man with two beautiful women. They are wearing unfamiliar clothes, not from this continent, which caused Su Hengshan to frown in suspicion.

"They are not bad guys." Su Ling'er said while adorably shaking her head.

"That big brother, he helped me from being chased by bad werewolves."

Su Hengshan's expression loosened a little when hearing her words, and he replied, "Is that so?"

"Mhm." Su Ling'er nodded her head like a squirrel.

"Thank you for helping my daughter." He let out a sigh of relief and bowed to Hayate.

"We were ambushed by Dark Moon Palace's soldiers when trying to communicate with the outer mountain range."

"You're welcome," Hayate responded naturally.

"What happened to this place?"

"According to my teacher, there is chaos on this continent."

Su Hengshan put on a sad expression and said, "Follow me."

"We can't talk here."

"Very well." Hayate followed Su Hengshan into a hidden cave near a waterfall.

Chu Yueli and Xia Qingyue noticed the awkward low temperature around the waterfall, seeing some spores floating around the air.

Su Hengshan placed his hand on a rock, which caused an invisible barrier to shift and open a path for them.

As they entered the cave, Hayate saw a decent-sized city with people walking on a straight path.

Hayate also noticed every building here was connected to cave walls with several pillars to support the ceiling. A bright golden crystal was placed in the sky, illuminating the city like a sun.

"Welcome to Grandwake City." Su Hengshan welcomed them with a warm smile. "This place is the last city for us, humans."

"As everything outside the Silver Mountain Range completely was conquered by Dark Moon's Palace."

Hayate frowned and questioned, "Is it okay to invite us here?"

"You're not 100% sure we are not from Dark Moon's Palace, no?"

Su Hengshan laughed wryly and replied, "Haha, If my daughter trusts you, it means you're not one of them."

"Su Ling'er might be young, but her unique intuition led to our survival here."

"City Master!" A shout suddenly approached them.

Hayate moved his gaze to a certain distance, and his golden eyes twitched in disbelief because he recognized this person.

"Ah, Mr. Smith." Su Hengshan responded while looking at the short middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man wore a thick tunic with matched brown boots and gloves. He has a refined white beard and mustache, but his height is only a few inches higher than Su Ling'er.

However, the most iconic part of this middle-aged man's appearance is a comically large hammer on his back.

"Junior Hayate, let me introduce you to one of our most skilled warriors and craftsmen in the Grandwake City."

"Mr. Gernis Smith."

Gernis Smith gradually raised his gaze and was surprised by what he saw. His tiny body yet muscle-filled body trembled in shock.

Hayate looked down on Golden Smith and met with his eyes, but none of them opened their mouths.

"Y-You're Alive..." Gernis said while releasing tears from his eyes.

Hayate threw a handkerchief at Gernis's face and reacted calmly, "Dwarf, Let's talk about it later."

"Hmm, you know each other?" Su Hengshan didn't expect such a reaction from Mr. Gernis Smith. After all, this short middle-aged man was known for being cold to others.

"It would be a long story, but let's talk about this continent's problem first, senior," Hayate replied with a small smile.

"City Master, Follow his words," Gernis added respectfully, which left Su Hengshan speechless.

.

.

On the street, everyone was looking at Hayate, Xia Qingyue, and Chu Yueli because they were new faces in Grandwake City. And coupled with their bizarre-style clothes, they basically become public attention.

They arrived at a Su Clan's Mansion, though it was basically a compound filled with several houses.

Su Hengshan opened the gate, and a few people greeted him politely. They gave Hayate and his companions some glances but didn't dare to ask.

Su Ling'er ran around the main path and pulled Hayate to the nearest garden.

"Let's go, big brother~!" Her excitement is as pure as her laugh.

Hayate sat on a bench and sensed the area around them, finding no one in a 100-meter radius.

He looked at Su Hengshan and said, "Well, let's start our conversation."

"First, let me introduce myself and my companions."

"My name is Kurogami Hayate."

"They are my fiancee, Xia Qingyue and Chu Yueli."

Xia Qingyue blushed a little when hearing Hayate's introduction of herself. Well, She expected him to cover their identities.

Meanwhile, Chu Yueli opened her mouth in surprise. She looked at Hayate and sensed a warm sensation within her chest like a thousand butterflies fluttering around it.

It's a different sensation compared to her usual happiness when Hayate abused her M tendency, but surprisingly pleasing for some reason.

"Fiancee..." She muttered while rubbing her fingers against each other.

"Bis sisters' faces are so red!" Su Ling'er looked at Xia Qingyue and Chu Yueli.

Su Hengshan cleared his throat and returned, "Likewise, My name is Su Hengshan."

"This is my daughter, Su Ling'er."

"And lastly, this is my second in command, Mr. Gernis Smith."

"He's a foreigner from the west sea."

"Heh." Hayate smiled a little. "That's quite fascinating."

"Right." Su Hengshan nodded in affirmation because no one ever traveled off the far sea.

Gernis stared at Hayate with a complicated expression. He sighed and said, "Just go straight to the point."

Hayate shrugged and stated, "I'll be honest and tell you guys that someone sent me here to help you."

"Werewolf must be hard to fight, especially when they could influence cultivators here."

"Even with Silver Weapons, their regeneration followed by strong cultivation of those people is tough to beat."

Gernis nodded and sighed, "Dark Moon's Palace is under control of the Werewolf King."

"That annoying wolf already gained human-like consciousness but only wanted to kill and dominate people here for some reason."

"Almost every human settlement on this continent has been conquered by the Werewolf King in the past four years, leaving only four bases, including the Grandwake City."

"I've created thousands of silver weapons to fight Werewolves, but the Werewolf King somehow gained immunity to it."

"That's weird," Hayate commented with a weird expression. "I was fighting the Werewolf King on the way here."

"Impossible!" Su Hengshan suddenly shouted.

"From our intelligence, the Werewolf King never leaves his palace."

"Unless..." Gernis and Hayate realized something at the same time.

"Clone."

Gernis's face stiffened a little because [Clone] is one of the most irritating Kaiju abilities, and the Werewolf King shouldn't have such an ability because he was only a B-Grade Kaiju.

The problem is, does Werewolf King possess [Lesser Clone] or [Mutation Clone] ability?

There is a distinct difference between Lesser Clone and Mutation Clone.

When a Kaiju uses Lesser Clone's ability, a perfect body similar to the former will get created. As the [Clone] finished, their power will be 50% of the real one and cannot grow more than that.

However, Mutation Clone's ability fundamentally was defined as creating a new vessel, so the former will transfer its consciousness into it.

In a way, Mutation Clone has a 0.1% chance of increasing the user's strength, but the success rate becomes lower and lower every time this ability successfully was applied.

(An: Gacha Player: High Enough!)

After fighting the Werewolf King in the Heaven Basin Secret Realm, Hayate could conclude what kind of clone ability that annoying Kaiju had.

"It's a mutation," Hayate abruptly confirmed, which left Gernis unsure.

Gernis wanted to refute Hayate's remarks because they needed more information to confirm the Werewolf King's ability, but the Kaiju User shook his hand.

"I know Clone's ability better than you." Hayate's golden eyes shone coldly. "Who do you think Am I?"

"Aih, You're still the same, Master..." Gernis whispered with a defeated tone.

The young man in front of him is definitely Kurogami Hayate. Even though the current Hayate is somewhat younger, his mannerism and strong-headedness are still the same.

Gernis glanced at Xia Qingyue and Chu Yueli, noticing how close they were with Hayate. 'Maybe not?' He thought to himself.

Hayate rubbed his chin and asked, "Does the Werewolf King have another motive?"

Su Hengshan shook his head, but Gernis immediately slapped his hand onto the table.

PA!

"THAT'S IT!" Gernis seemed to know something.

"Werewolf King wanted to reach S Grade."

Hayate covered his mouth slowly with his hand and began to laugh indifferently.

"I see, how simple." He caught what Gernis meant.

"Werewolf King enjoyed dominating humans because I, human, was his former master, and doing so trampled his oppressive past."

"And lastly, He wanted to reach S Grade because his limit was only B-Grade in the past."

Gernis looked at Hayate's cold grin and instinctively shivered as this only happened when a Kaiju messed with him.

"Gernis, prepare your anvil," Hayate ordered while clenching his fist. "We have a wild dog to tame."