Hostage Wanted? Then Pay the Ransom! Extra Chapter 1
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Tagore's eyes held a hint of mockery. Since leaving the Oul Star Region, his cultivation resources had been almost uninterrupted. He seemed to spend his days eating and sleeping, but his strength had been steadily increasing; in fact, it could be said that his growth rate was the fastest in the Gu Ding Team.
Back in the Oul Star Region, his cultivation had only just reached the level of One-Star Low-rank God; now, he had reached the level of Four-Star Low-rank God. Strangely, however, he hadn't attracted any Heavenly Tribulation, so Gu Ding were unaware of his significant improvement, only knowing that he had become considerably stronger. Even the Sea Emperor couldn't detect his Body Cultivation level, only judging from the intensity of his life aura. But Tagore's life aura was very subtle, so the Sea Emperor estimated his cultivation to be around Three-Star Low-rank God, which was actually an underestimation.
After reaching the Four-Star Low-rank God, Tagore's Combat Strength was also elevated to the level of a four-star deity without transforming. He would be even stronger after transforming. That claw attack just now was launched while his opponent was stunned, and his opponent had no time to defend. Tagore also knew that the short man's strength was actually no weaker than his own.
The two burly men blocking Xiao Te's way were of the same cultivation level as Xiao Te, both being three-star deities. They were the two strongest fighters in the mercenary group besides the vice-leader.
Tagore faced three three-star deities alone without showing any fear, which surprised Fa Te, who was watching the video projection. He couldn't help but ask a question that had been bothering him for days, "What breed of cat is Tagore?"
"I don't know what breed he is," Liliath said with a smile and a shake of her head. "But one thing we can be sure of is that he's definitely not a cat."
Sea Emperor had searched through all the information in the database within his authority, but found no creature similar to Tagore, so naturally no one else could know about it.
Facing three powerful opponents, Tagore did not transform. He moved swiftly among them, occasionally extending a claw. Each claw strike was a powerful spatial energy slash, forcing the three to dodge quickly.
"Vice-Captain. That cat seems to be the pet of a newly risen Pirate Crew," a young man behind Tuo Er recognized Tagore and projected an image of the Gu Ding Team. On the projection, a tabby kitten sat on Gu Ding's shoulder. Beside Gu Ding, Liliath and the rest of the crew were present, except for the chubby Fa Te. "This new Pirate Crew is called the Gu Ding Pirate Crew. They're the team that just achieved five Eighty Consecutive Wins in the War God Arena a few days ago, War God Arena to the thousandth floor. This cat and that big robot didn't participate."
"It's the Gu Ding Team?!" Tuo Er was also surprised. The Gu Ding Pirate Crew had been incredibly powerful lately. They had been operating on both sides of the Reverse Dragon River Channel for a long time, so it was hard not to know them. As for the War God Arena, although it was said that only those below the level of gods could participate, those who reached the 800th floor of the War God Arena and obtained the qualification to directly enter the Universe Sea had basically risen at a comet-like speed in the few years they entered the Universe Sea. They were all Prodigy Experts of five stars or above, and could be said to be the most talented group in the Universe Sea. Those who reached the 1000th floor or above before entering the Universe Sea were very few and far between, but the Gu Ding Team had added five more slots.
Tuo Er isn't afraid of the current Gu Ding Team; what he fears is the future of the Gu Ding Team. If the Gu Ding Team doesn't perish in the Universe Sea, given enough time, they will eventually grow into a dominant force in the Universe Sea.
"All ships, aim all cannons at the enemy ships!" Tuo Er made the immediate decision. Their interception of the Gu Ding Team had already offended them. If Gu Ding and his Gu Ding Team were allowed to grow stronger in the Universe Sea, the entire mercenary group would be doomed. Therefore, the only solution was to completely annihilate the Gu Ding Team, nipping them in the bud. As for the mission objective, their deaths were irrelevant; everyone's lives were more important.
Gu Ding noticed their change, and after a moment's thought, Gu Ding guessed Tuo Er's intentions. He immediately contacted Tagore via communicator, "Tagore, stop playing around, end the battle quickly, and capture their commander alive!"
Gu Ding was initially unaware that Tagore had become so powerful, but Tagore's performance just now convinced him of his strength, and Gu Ding immediately gave instructions.
Tagore found it somewhat boring. A Golden Light flashed in his eyes, and then his thin body began to swell rapidly. In just a moment, it grew into a blood-red behemoth hundreds of meters long, with its tail stretching freely in the void and golden flames shooting from its eyes.
Inside the Titan Battleship, Fa Te stared wide-eyed at Tagore's transformation, muttering after a long pause, "Is that Divine Beast Tail?! No, it seems a little different..."
Sea Emperor had actually compared the information on Tagore and the Divine Beast Tail long ago. Although both have tail forms, Tagore's transformation form and Tail's descriptions differed greatly. Apart from having the same number of tails, they had almost nothing in common. Moreover, Tail's normal form was a fox, not a cat. Furthermore, Tail belonged to one of the top ten most powerful races among the Divine Beasts, possessing the cultivation of a True God from birth. When Tagore first Gu Ding Team, it had already passed the initial stage and entered the juvenile stage, at which point its cultivation was not even at the Demigod Realm, only around the Tenth-Order Gene Body of a human.
Liliath had read some information about mythical beasts when she was young. After all, her family was the most well-informed in the entire universe, so she knew many things that outsiders didn't. Hearing Fa Te's judgment, she shook her head and said, "Tagore can't be a Tailed Beast. Tailed Beasts don't need to go through the Godly Barrier at all; they're born with something mentioned in Chapter 444. I can't be sure about other things, but the Tailed Beast definitely doesn't have the Black Crystal on its forehead like Tagore did." Fa Te. He also liked reading these kinds of supernatural tales when he was young and had read many related texts. Although he had never seen the legendary Tailed Beast with his own eyes, none of the texts mentioned the crystal on its forehead. If such a physical characteristic really existed, it would definitely be mentioned. Even if one or two books missed it, there would definitely be other books that would mention it. All the texts' descriptions of the Tailed Beast were almost consistent, but they didn't mention this point at all, which meant that the Tailed Beast actually didn't have such a crystal on its forehead.
Meanwhile, outside the spaceship, the three were visibly shocked to see the kitten suddenly transform into a terrifying behemoth. However, being powerful individuals, they quickly regained their composure.
A burly man grabbed Xiao Te's wrist and tossed him toward the spaceship, trying to get him back to it. Unexpectedly, Tagore suddenly appeared, opened his gaping maw, caught Short, and swallowed him whole.
Yi Deng and Ba Ke Man charged towards Tagore like madmen, eager to rescue their leader as quickly as possible. However, the moment they moved, two black chains appeared out of nowhere in the void, binding them. They instantly felt their Combat Strength drop to about one-tenth of its original value, and the chains severely hampered their movements.
"Damn it!" Tuo Er staggered out of the spaceship. At this moment, he couldn't care less about the overall situation; rescuing Xiao Te was the most important thing.
After bursting out of the spaceship, he flashed and appeared in front of Tagore, holding a Three-Star Divine Object artifact staff in both hands, and a stream of white frost gushed out towards Tagore.
Seeing this, Gu Ding also somewhat surprised. Tuo Er was actually a water-attribute mutant with ice-attribute abilities; such ability users were usually monstrous-level powerhouses. Tuo Er had the cultivation of a four-star god, at least the Combat Strength of a seven-star god, and might even have reached the level of One-Star High-rank God.
Tagore seemed to sense the opponent's strength and ceased fighting. He flashed away several times, then suddenly shrank back to his original cat form and darted back into the spaceship.
Tuo Er's frost attack struck the ship's shield directly. Ripples spread across the shield, taking a long time to dissipate, but the ship remained unaffected. Clearly, while Tuo Er's attack was slightly more effective than Xiao Te's, the difference was still limited.
Tuo Er tried to attack a few more times, but to no avail. He then turned around and pulled the other two back onto the spaceship.
"Gu Ding, you killed our captain! From this day forward, our Copper Fist Mercenary Group will fight you, the Gu Ding Pirate Crew, to the death!" Tuo Er shouted at Gu Ding through the communicator.
"You've got one thing wrong," Gu Ding corrected. "Your commander isn't dead. We just captured him alive."
As Gu Ding spoke, he instructed Sea Emperor to project the video feed from inside the Titan Warship, and then had Tagore release Xiao Te from the Special Space. Before Xiao Te could react, Gu Ding placed a hand on Xiao Te, sealing him completely.
"What did you do to me?" Xiao Te realized that he had instantly become an ordinary person.
"Since you know my identity, it shouldn't be difficult for you to find out that I have a Sealing Taboo Ability," Gu Ding said calmly.
"Release our captain, and we'll leave immediately. We'll abandon this mission and never cause your team any more trouble in the future." Seeing that Xiao Te was still alive, Tuo Er finally calmed down and immediately made his demands.
"Tuo Er, don't you think that's too naive?" Gu Ding wasn't about to let it go. "Don't forget we're Interstellar Pirate. You think you can get away unscathed after provoking us? Of course not. Now we have hostages in our hands. Getting them back is simple. Just follow our Interstellar Pirate rules and pay the ransom!"