Chapter 1287: Chapter 1287: The Unexpected Meeting

After being enlightened by the Dipamkara Buddha, Jeffery had only one thing in his mind right now — to find a place where he could put his newly discovered wisdom and knowledge into practice.

It had become his top priority — even more important than obtaining Illusion Points.

“I guess it's also time for me to leave. I'll see you around!” Hailey bid the others goodbye. Judging by the tone of her voice, she had no plans of staying in the main city anymore and she was ready to leave any moment with no intention to look back.

With all the words said, they all knew that it was the end of this so-called team. Shortlived as it might be, but they were all grateful for whatever friendship they had made. Indeed, all good things must come to an end.

While everyone was saying their goodbyes, Janet just stood there, silently petting the little flame kitten in her arms. When she noticed the sudden silence around her, she looked up and saw everyone looking at her. She then turned to Zen and saw the look on the latter's face as if asking her about her plans. She tilted her head, smiled, and said to him, “I'll just follow you around!”

“Why would you do that?” Zen asked. Zen was no master of concealing his feelings. It was obvious just by looking at his face that he was baffled by Janet's plan.

“Nothing fancy. I just want to watch how you will defeat other warriors, that's all!” Janet replied with a sweeter smile.

Although he was used to being alone, Zen also wouldn't mind some company. He figured that the Illusion Battlefield would soon change significantly so before that happened, he would keep on challenging other warriors. So instead of arguing with Janet about her decision, he would just let her tag along.

Besides, he intended to save all his energy for his end game. Despite having a very high ranking, it wasn't good enough for Zen.

His final goal was to complete the Illusion Battlefield. Looking back, Zen had already obtained interesting rewards in the Hall of Causality. So, he figured that the final event would be bigger and would mean more marvelous rewards. Of course, he didn't know for sure. But since he was already here, there was no harm in completing the Illusion Battlefield.

Meanwhile, several warriors could be seen from a distance. They were casually walking towards the direction of Zen's group. Each was from a different race, and the one leading them was a male member of the Demon Night race which was quite an unusual sight to see. As the group of warriors finally approached them, their leader said in a frivolous voice, “Hey, look who we have here! What a coincidence! I didn't expect to see you here, Hailey!”

The man who greeted Hailey stood out among his companions with his undeniably rare features — green curly hair, a dark red mole on his forehead, and most especially his pair of narrow demonic eyes.

Hailey was about to leave when she suddenly heard the man's voice. Her body trembled as she slowly turned around to see him and her face darkened at the same time.

From the look on Hailey's face, Janet, Jeffrey, and the others already knew — this man was no friend and had ill-intentions towards Hailey.

“Mmm-Ma... Malachi...” Hailey said. Her voice trembled and she couldn't almost speak. Of all people, Hailey didn't expect to meet Malachi — to think that the Illusion Battlefield was so massive that the chances of them bumping to each other was little! Fate must have brought them here!

Hailey's performance in the Hall of Causality was quite exemplary. Although she rarely spoke to others, she had impressed them all with her calmness and alertness. But it seemed that the Hailey they knew suddenly disappeared. It was surprising to see Hailey so anxious and restless in front of this Demon Night male. Her face looked like she had seen her worst nightmare.

While the others were stunned, Zen remained calm and composed. He quietly stood on the side, rubbing his nose as he observed everyone's action and anticipated the turn of events.

Malachi nonchalantly strode towards Hailey. He examined her with his malicious eyes, licking his upper lip like a mad dog. Then, to everyone's surprise, he reached out his hand to her chest.

Demon Night females were naturally attractive and had alluring figure. And so, with Hailey's tight and fitted leather armor, these features were highlighted even more.

Everyone could not believe what Malachi was doing to Hailey. He was casually teasing her bosom with his hands like a child playing with a toy. Hailey was disgusted with what Malachi was doing to her, but she couldn't resist. Her fear overpowered her disgust.

“I can't believe it. It's been months since I last saw you! But those breasts haven't grown. You disappointed me. You know that, don't you?” Malachi said as he shook his head. He lifted Hailey's chin and saw the killing intent glimmering in her eyes, but he didn't even bother. He continued, “Now, what's with that look, my sweet Hailey! I thought you loved it when I play with your body like this? Don't you remember the feeling of us enjoying in each other's arms? You don't need to pretend in front of your friends, do you?”

“Jerk!”

Hailey shouted. She finally had gathered the courage to resist Malachi's harassment.

Zen and the others knew the introverted and short-spoken Hailey. Although they had fought side by side with her in the Hall of Causality, they had little knowledge of where she came from. They didn't even bother asking because they respected her decision to keep that side of her to herself.

But today, they had finally discovered something about her background.

They figured that Malachi had something on her, otherwise, she wouldn't have tolerated his outrageous behavior.

But that part was still unknown to them. Would they ever find out? No one knew for sure…

Zen wasn't interested in knowing such things. He already considered Hailey as a friend because she was once there to cooperate and help him. Now, in her time of need, it was only fitting that he returned the favor. Ꞧ𝐀₦Ο𐌱Εs

He was about to move when suddenly, to his surprise, Jeffrey and Janet moved to Hailey's side. Even Coleman and Ansel, who were the timidest among the group, came to Hailey's rescue.

Malachi noticed the warriors that formed behind Hailey. He indifferently swept his gaze over each one. His disdainful eyes looked at them as if he could see through their souls. He looked at Hailey once again, locked his eyes with hers trying to intimidate, then his eyes moved to her chest once more. “So,” he continued as he glanced sideways to Hailey. “They're your companions who passed through the Hall of Causality with you, aren't they?”

Before Hailey could answer, she felt a hand touched her left shoulder. When she turned to look, she saw the expressionless Zen staring at Malachi. Then, Zen looked at her and motioned her to move back before he stepped forward to confront the disrespectful man. He answered Malachi's question, “Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

“I see. So, this… what does this mean? Are you all going to help her?” Malachi's eyes widened, and he didn't try to hide the contempt on his face as if taunting Zen.

“Not all. Just me,” Zen said coldly. “And it's not because of her. I just personally don't like you. You're too talkative and annoying. I figured I need to shut you up.”

Zen's expression didn't change. He looked and sounded calm, but one could feel his arrogance through his words. He wasn't naturally arrogant, but he would never let anyone speak to his comrade that way. He thought of giving this person a taste of his bitter pill.

Malachi was left dumbfounded by Zen's words. He had never met anyone who would speak up to him like that. Moreover, he didn't expect that any of Hailey's companions would have the courage to do that after what they had seen. Either Zen was stupid or showy for doing so.

“Shut me up? Do you hear yourself? You're a funny guy!” Malachi said and then burst into wild laughter.

The warriors in Malachi's group also found it funny. They laughed like maniacs who escaped the asylum. Malachi's group was a mix of different races — the human race, Demon Night race, and the Night Group. Like Zen's group, they had also formed a temporary team with Malachi in the Hall of Causality.

It was a quite common practice, and the team with the best warriors would usually outdo others. The main city was the exit to the Hall of Causality where fiercest battles between warriors were expected to happen, and where the transferring of large number of Illusion Points would normally follow.

A warrior who got killed would lose his Illusion Points and they would be transferred to the warriors who killed them. In other cities, there were usually only one or two who had already obtained several million Illusion Points. Hence, the warriors would normally only obtain Illusion Points ranging from hundreds to several hundreds of thousands.

But in this main city, warriors could easily obtain tens of millions of Illusion Points just by defeating one opponent.

Because of this, the warriors with a large number of Illusion Points would tend to be vigilant as they passed through the Hall of Causality. Some warriors would stay with their companions who had fought side by side with them, while some would choose to hide within the city refusing to leave in the fear of losing their Illusion Points.

In the Hall of Causality, the warriors had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with one another by cooperating to complete a task. After this, some warriors would agree to stay together as a group in preparation for the main city.

Currently, there were already three teams that had almost dominated the entire main city. They were composed of the best warriors that had entered the city and other warriors had no chance against them.

These teams would stay near the Hall of Causality to wait for their favorite target — those who just passed through the Hall of Causality.

The warriors who could pass through the Hall of Causality were quite strong, and the number of Illusion Points they obtained far exceeded those of ordinary warriors.

Malachi's team was one of these three teams.

They had guarded the west gate of the main city and had plundered countless Illusion Points from other warriors. They were invincible that even an ace talent had been defeated by them.

As Malachi's group continued to mock Zen's words with their laughter, Coleman could not help himself and laughed with them.

Ogres naturally had loud voices especially when they laughed helplessly. His laughter was so loud that it instantly overwhelmed Malachi's and his companions'.

When Malachi heard this, he abruptly stopped laughing and furrowed his eyebrows in dismay. He stared at Coleman and asked, “What's funny, ogre?”

“Nothing. Your laugh is just contagious, that's all,” Coleman said, trying hard to stop himself from laughing but to no avail.

Zen saw the look on Malachi's face and a faint smile appeared on his face. Somehow, he enjoyed seeing Malachi being caught off guard by Coleman's sudden laugh.

Malachi sneered as he turned to Hailey and ordered, “I wouldn't want your friends to see me kill you. So, meet me outside the city. I'll give you a decent death and I'll get all the Illusion Points that you have obtained.” After that, he turned back to Zen and asked, “Do you think you have what it takes to fight me? If you want to see Death, dare to go outside the city so I can kill you. Don't worry, I will take my time on you.”

“I don't think there's an ace talent in this group,” one of his companions snorted.

“Ha-ha! That's right! They will not stand a chance. These are a bunch of weak and coward warriors!”

“Malachi! Don't set your expectations too high. I bet they won't even step outside the city. They will spend every waking day in hiding. I know cowards when I see one.”

Malachi's group laughed once more as they gave their share of mockery towards Zen's group.

Janet and Jeffrey had enough of the other group's boasting and shallow mockery. Cold killing intent started to show in their eyes. Jeffrey took a step forward and was about to say when Hailey stopped him.

“Don't bother yourselves, please. I can deal with him by myself, and you should leave me alone. Malachi is an ace talent from our race. His strength is unfathomable, and he's the son of Supreme Lord Gunter,” Hailey said in a low voice. She pursed her lips and forced a smile to console them. Although she wasn't open to them, she considered them as her friends and didn't want to involve them in her troubles.