Along with the voice came an immense and unbelievable pressure, sweeping out through the screen like a raging torrent, completely engulfing Ribery who was about to make his move.
"This is..." Ribery suddenly felt as if he were in a swamp, and his movements became difficult.
There's an expert here!
An absolute master!
With just aura, Ribery, a Five-Star Class Peak fighter, was completely suppressed, instantly losing all ability to resist. His situation was even worse than when his Dou Qi Star Vortex was destroyed and his Dou Qi channel was shattered. After being locked by this aura, Ribery felt like a puppet on strings, unable to control any of his actions, completely controlled by the unseen expert.
"Bring him here..."
The sound reappeared, sharp and piercing, like two rusty kitchen knives rubbing against each other. The sound was so strange that it made one's teeth ache and evoked a feeling of extreme terror.
Immediately, two fully armed soldiers stepped forward, escorted Ribery, and led him past the quiet maids in white dresses behind the screen.
Locked firmly in place by the aura of that mysterious powerful figure, Ribery was terrified but unable to struggle in any way.
After bypassing the screen and passing through a thin layer of magical shield and magical waves, a strong Bloody immediately hit me.
Behind the main hall lay an incredibly strange place. Most striking was a massive map in the very center, made of some unknown material. The map's texture was soft, smooth, extremely fine, and incredibly durable, gleaming with a faint white sheen. It was clearly made of top-quality leather, worth its weight in gold. The map was densely covered with annotations and markings of place names such as mountains, rivers, forests, and grasslands. Each red marker represented a city or military fortress.
Ribery, being a military commander, immediately recognized that the mountains and rivers depicted on the map represented the territories of the Zenit Empire, the Spartak Empire, and the Eindhoven Empire, and that the cities were the most important metropolises and military fortresses of these three empires.
This is an extremely detailed military map.
In front of this military map, a man stood with his back to the viewer, wearing a loose, blood-red robe, with long, thick black hair cascading down to his waist like a waterfall. He was barefoot and stood on a thick, soft carpet, intently gazing at the military map before him, as if admiring a rare treasure.
Ribery's pupils contracted.
He sensed a strong aura of bloodlust emanating from the red-clad, black-haired man. Of course, the terrifying aura that had locked onto him also originated from this man. Ribery was certain that the red-clad man before him was an absolute powerhouse at least at the Moon Class realm, and moreover, a terrifying assassin who had killed countless people.
"Look, isn't this map perfect?" The red-clad, black-haired powerhouse turned around and asked Ribery.
Only then did Ribery get a clear look at the man's face.
This is an extremely ugly face.
It was covered with deep red, pitted spots, uneven and bumpy, as if it had been burned. Its features were somewhat blurred; it wasn't a nose, ears, or mouth. Only its eyes were relatively normal, extremely bright, and flashing with a dangerous and crazy light. Upon closer inspection, it was extremely frightening.
Even though Ribery was calm, he was still startled at first glance.
"What? Did I scare you? Then I really should apologize... Take a look at this map, what do you think?" The red-clad, ugly-faced man noticed Ribery's expression but didn't seem to care. He pointed to the military map hanging in front of him and asked softly.
"Indeed... it's perfect." Ribery nodded. This wasn't flattery; the map was truly perfect in both its materials and the artist's skill—a masterpiece.
"It's just a pity that this picture isn't completely finished yet; it's still missing a corner..." the red-clad, ugly-faced man murmured.
Ribery looked closely and, sure enough, in the very center of the map, where the Zenit Empire's capital, Saint Petersburg, was located, there was a 40-centimeter square section missing, as if someone had deliberately cut it out. This emptiness made the entire map less than perfect.
"I summoned General Frank because I need your help to complete this map." The red-clad, ugly-faced man suddenly fixed his gaze on Ribery, his eyes gleaming with madness.
"How can I help you?" Ribery asked, quite puzzled.
"Hahaha, I can help, I definitely can help, it just depends on whether you're willing to help. I spent three whole days gathering the materials for this map, and then I drew it myself. Now there's only one last step left. I need something from you to complete this map for me, ahahaha..." The ugly man in red laughed maniacally.
Ribery was at a loss when he suddenly heard a very low, hoarse sound coming from not far away, like the howling of a wounded beast, which sent chills down his spine and made him feel as if he had fallen into Hell.
He turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.
Upon closer inspection, they were immediately taken aback.
But then they saw a bloody, mangled mess curled up on the carpet in the distance, trembling and struggling. Blood kept gushing out, staining a large area of the carpet red. And the chilling sound from earlier had come from this very thing.
Ribery immediately felt a very bad feeling.
Upon closer inspection, he suddenly noticed something, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably. Two streams of hot tears instantly welled up in the eyes of this steely man who had never uttered a sound even after enduring inhuman torture.
" Arthur, is that you? Is it you, Arthur..." Ribery asked in a trembling voice, feeling as if his own soul was about to collapse and shatter.
This bloody, mangled mess was none other than the young bodyguard who had been taken from that gloomy dungeon between the two disappearances. The nineteen-year-old bodyguard, who, in his final moments, did not forget his Glory and entrusted his medal to Ribery for safekeeping, promising to retrieve it after they were released, was named Arthur.
Just two hours ago, he was a vibrant person full of hope and yearning for Glory.
Now, he had become like a wild beast, curled up on the carpet, his body a bloody mess, drops of blood seeping from his body. Only his eyes showed a familiar yet painful gaze, looking at him with an expression that Ribery would never forget, making Ribery finally recognize him.
Because every inch of the young soldier's skin had been brutally peeled off while he was still alive.
He was skinned alive.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ribery had never cried before, but at this moment, his tears flowed uncontrollably. What he saw before him was so painful that he roared like a wild beast, his eyes instantly turning blood red, and his whole body seemed to be enveloped in magma from the inside out, about to explode.
"Beast, bastard..." Ribery felt he had never been so angry, cursing furiously, but the power of his words was so pale.
Suddenly, he understood everything.
All evil!
Human skin!
It turns out that the magnificent and seemingly perfect military map of the three empires was actually made entirely of tanned human skin. The source of the human skin... naturally, was his twelve personal guards. One by one, every two hours, they were brought here and forcibly skinned alive, then tanned to become the raw material for the map.
Absolutely... unforgivable!
Ribery struggled frantically, trying to break free, wanting to kill, wanting to destroy everything in front of him... He also wanted to go over and help the young bodyguard who was still enduring extreme pain, to end his suffering... But he couldn't do any of it.
The powerful, ugly-faced man in red robes before him had his aura firmly locked onto him, and the vast difference in strength made it impossible for him to put up any resistance.
"It's a pity you have a scar on your face, so this part can't be used. However, we've already collected twenty human skins, so it won't make a difference if we use one more from your face. Congratulations, thanks to this scar, you can still keep a complete face!" The red-robed, black-haired, ugly-faced man looked at Ribery's entire body from head to toe as if he were looking at a pig waiting to be slaughtered. His eyes were like knives.
"Why? Why so vicious? They are the empire's most loyal warriors. Why torture them in such a cruel way?" Ribery stared at the red-robed, ugly-faced man, his eyes blazing with fury, and demanded angrily.
"Hahaha, only a samurai's skin is taut and tough enough to create the perfect human skin map. Hahaha, you don't know, when you're being skinned alive, your body tenses up due to the pain and fear of distance. Only then will the skin be shiny enough. So, skinning is also an art; it has to be peeled off bit by bit from a living person, very carefully, to avoid any damage..."
The ugly man in the red robe was engrossed in his own world, muttering to himself and completely ignoring Ribery's questions.
"Why? Why did you do this? Why make this lousy map?" Ribery continued to press, his anger burning with a fury that could melt anything.
"Hehe, once we collect all twenty-one maps of martial artists, we can create a military map of the three great empires. Hehe, we can present it to the great God of War, Prince Arshavin, as a gift for his succession to the throne. Hahaha, I think he'll definitely love this gift..."
The ugly man in the red robe continued talking to himself, appearing completely absorbed.
This person is in an extremely manic and abnormal state.
"Who are you? Tell me, who are you? I swear, I will kill you, I swear on my soul, my Glory, my bloodline, my family, even if I fall into the dead, I will kill you, I will absolutely kill you, kill you!!!!!!!!!" Ribery had also completely entered a state of madness.
"Oh? My name is Delixi, one of the guardians of the Imperial Senate. I'm waiting for you to take your revenge, hehe!" The red-robed, ugly-faced man seemed to finally sense Ribery's earth-shattering roar. After a slight change in expression, he laughed, "However, before that, let me let you experience my skills first."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed, and a streak of cyan sword light shot out.
Ribery's shoulder was cut with a neat, shallow line from left to right, barely severing the skin. Beads of blood oozed from the wound.
It's time to start peeling.
Ribery's expression remained unchanged, his gaze still fixed on the red-robed, ugly-faced Delixi with a sharp, piercing look, as if he wanted to forever remember his face. He spoke slowly and deliberately, " King of Chambord, once he knows all this, he will surely avenge us. I'm certain you're dead. Lord Alexander will skin you alive, inch by inch, and inflict upon you everything you've done!!!!"
"Is that so?" Delixi locked onto Ribery with his aura, raised his hand and unleashed another cyan sword aura, meticulously leaving another wound on Ribery's body. Only then did he slowly say, "I couldn't be happier. Even if King of Chambord were here, I could easily skin him alive. Haha, a King's skin would certainly be wonderful..."
Before the words were even finished, a sudden change occurred—
"Is that so? You neurotic scum, I'm here! Try skinning me!"
A voice filled with boundless rage and killing intent suddenly boomed like thunder from outside the mansion. It was incredibly fast, initially far away, but quickly approached the mansion. Then came a chorus of exclamations, followed by a deafening, earth-shaking tremor. An extremely powerful aura arrived outside the main hall in the blink of an eye.
In that instant, a burning light shone in Ribery's eyes.
The expression on Delixi's face changed.
Meanwhile, the city lord Soroyev, cried out in utter shock and terror, "It's... it's King of Chambord?!"
Third update.
It's almost four thousand words.
I'm so sleepy, looks like I won't have time to sleep tonight. I'll start talking about football in a bit.
<b. Thank you to the great authors Anfen Chenmi, Zongheng, youdaing, and Ye Fuchen for their continuous donations.