The most shameless alchemist in history

"The timeframe is roughly five years ago. Think back carefully. Did you encounter Siegel five years ago? He was a boy around ten years old. Also, did you ever come to Spring Breeze Town?" Du Lei asked again, this time narrowing down the possibilities.

"I already said I don't know any Siegel at all, and as for Spring Breeze Town, I've never been there before. What, now even someone like you has the right to question me?" Leopard Tail had long harbored prejudice against Dure, and now it finally erupted.

"Shut up! Do you know how much trouble you've caused us these past two days? And now the problem lies with you. You need to get this straight!" Kotetsu glared at Hyobi, who seemed completely oblivious to his current situation.

"Alright, Captain Kotetsu, please don't blame Leopard Tail. He doesn't know anything and has only just come to his senses." Beestaff came over to speak up for Leopard Tail. Actually, she was right. Leopard Tail was completely confused at the moment, and he had no reason to lie to Kotetsu and the others.

“Yes, we can’t entirely blame Mr. Leopard Tail for this. And now that he’s awake, it’s a good thing.” Wen Li also chimed in, saying that if Kotetsu got angry, Leopard Tail would definitely get a good beating.

"Where are we now?" Just as Kotetsu and Hyobi were arguing, Dure suddenly asked.

"Of course it's inside the belly of the Blazing Sun Mountains, what's wrong?" Bee Sting asked in confusion.

They followed the railway tracks to bypass the blocked mountain road, a suggestion made by Dure himself.

"Look down at your feet," Du Lei reminded everyone.

"What's wrong with my feet? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Leopard Tail stared blankly at his feet.

Beneath his feet lay soft ground, and there was nothing amiss. In fact, he still couldn't figure out how he had suddenly ended up here, or what had happened in the past two days. He was the most bewildered member of the guard team.

"The railway tracks, where are they?" Bailing was the first to realize the problem Du Lei had pointed out.

“That’s right, it’s the railway track. We should be following the track, but it’s gone now.” Dure nodded.

"We must have gone the wrong way in our panic just now. Let's go back now," Bailing realized.

"Look, what's that over there?" Wen Li suddenly exclaimed, pointing ahead. Everyone heard her.

“Something… is approaching.” Dure’s ears twitched, and he frowned as he looked ahead.

"Could it be those terrifying creatures again? Have they caught up with us?" Recalling the experience, even someone as worldly as Bee Sting felt a chill run down his spine.

"No, it's not those skeletons from before, it's not going in the same direction, and their speed... is much faster than the skeletons!" Du Lei recognized the speed of the thing rushing towards him from the shadows by the sound, and his face grew increasingly grim.

"What? What could possibly scare you like this? Watch me, I'll take care of all that stuff." Leopard Tail hadn't experienced the horror of the Skull Sea earlier because he had been knocked unconscious by Tiger Che. He was always a fearless and impulsive vanguard.

Now that he was being scrutinized by suspicious eyes, he felt extremely uncomfortable. He was eager to find an outlet to vent his frustrations and show off his abilities.

"Leopard Tail, those things are terrifying, you must be careful, let's retreat..." Bee Sting whispered a reminder to Leopard Tail from the side.

After all, they had suffered losses together and were almost trapped in the sea of ​​skeletons. Now, they were facing another unexpected situation. Leopard Tail alone could not possibly handle it.

"Terrible? What could I possibly be afraid of? Bring it on... What is this thing?" Leopard Tail was prepared to wreak havoc, but in that brief moment, the noisy sounds drew closer, and he heard a rumbling sound like a tidal wave.

With the help of the dim light, he could clearly see a dense swarm of dark green creatures rushing over. There were so many of these creatures that they crowded together from the ground, the walls, and even the top of the rock formations. They waved their claws and pounced on the leopard's tail, which made the latter cry out in alarm!

"Oh my, what are these monsters?" Winry was also frightened after seeing what the monsters looked like.

They were so densely packed that they couldn't see clearly. They could only be roughly identified as creatures about the size of ordinary hunting dogs, except that they were dark green all over, had sharp teeth and claws, and had ferocious faces. They were very scary. They moved very fast on all fours and closed in an instant, covering a distance of tens of meters!

"No, they're even more terrifying than the previous sea of ​​skeletons! Run! This way! Leopard Tail, I'm counting on you to cover the rear!" Du Lei pointed to the left, signaling everyone to run. At the same time, he didn't forget to give the eager Leopard Tail a chance to show off.

"I'll cover your retreat, my ass! So many monsters, are you trying to kill me?" Leopard Tail felt his scalp tingle. He had never seen such a sight before. He immediately turned and ran, quickly catching up with Du Lei.

"Wasn't it you, Leopard Tail, who was going to show off first? Isn't this your chance?" Du Lei ran as fast as he could. He didn't want these monsters to catch up with him. With so many of them, if they caught up with him, he would probably be torn to shreds in an instant.

"I'll pass on this opportunity to you. What are these things? How come there are so many?" Leopard Tail didn't want to risk his life.

"Ouch!" Just then, Wenli, who was running ahead, suddenly twisted her ankle and fell down.

"Miss Winry, are you alright? Oh no, they're catching up!" Bee Sting and Lark immediately stopped and helped Winry up.

But in that brief gap, the large swarm of dark green creatures caught up from behind.

"Holy water! Sprinkle the holy water quickly!" Du Lei knew there was no chance of winning against these monsters, so he shouted loudly.

The only thing that can save them right now is the holy water that just drove back the sea of ​​skeletons!

“The holy water has already been poured out, there’s not a drop left,” Wenli replied, her voice trembling with tears.

This left Dure utterly hopeless. The most shameless alchemist in history.

Chapter 436 I'll Leave You to Cover the Rear

Dure had originally hoped that the holy water from Winry would clear a bloody path for them. This bottle of holy water, given to them by the old woman, had played a very good role in dealing with the sea of ​​skeletons. Dure had every reason to believe that the old woman knew they would be in trouble, which was why she gave them the holy water.

But Dure didn't expect that Winry would pour it out so decisively. A whole bottle of holy water could only drip out one or two drops at most. This was nothing, let alone a drop in the ocean. It was like a little bit of mud under a fingernail. The dark green monster quickly approached them.

"We're doomed!" Du Lei thought to himself. He knew that with just the strength of a few of them, they wouldn't be able to hold out and would soon be devoured by the monster.

Although he was very unwilling, he was a rational person. A rational person would not have unrealistic fantasies. The only thing he could do was to fight with all his might before he fell, and never let these monsters win too easily. Kotetsu and the others had the same idea.

"Hey, what are you guys doing over there? Get over here right now!" A shout came from behind Du Lei and the others, which made them freeze in surprise, because the voice shouldn't have come from there. Several pairs of eyes turned to the back at the same time.

"You are... Granny Ghost? What brings you here?" Wendy recognized the old woman who had recently broken up with them as the one shouting at them from behind.

"Old woman, I knew something terrible must have happened here. I hope I'm not too late. Come over here!" The old woman waved her cane. She looked thin and weak, her body extremely emaciated, like dry firewood, but every time she swung her cane, it caused large numbers of monsters to howl in agony.

Compared to the strong and powerful Hu Che and Du Lei, she was not only not at a disadvantage, but even more ferocious. In a short time, she fought her way through, and the monsters that were the only ones behind Du Lei and his group were smashed and howled. In an instant, a path was cleared.

"Understood. Follow the old woman quickly. Leopard Tail, you cover the rear." Kotetsu gave the order decisively. He punched the monster that was charging towards him and smashed it to pieces. The dark green viscous liquid splattered all over him and emitted a foul stench.

"What? Why am I the one bringing up the rear?" Leopard Tail had only recently regained consciousness when he witnessed this scene, which truly gave him the creeps.

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up, or it will be too late!" Kotetsu roared, not allowing Leopard Tail to have any doubts.

"Okay, okay, what's with the fierceness? I'll cover the rear, fine." Leopard Tail grumbled for a while, but could only turn his head to face the surging monster. Just then, Du Lei ran past him.

"So you'd better make the most of this opportunity to show off. I'll be going now." Du Lei waved and was about to catch up with Wen Li and the others.

"Stop right there!" Leopard Tail grabbed Du Lei's arm. The latter was caught off guard and was pulled back.

"What are you doing?" Du Lei was being held by Leopard Tail and couldn't break free, which made him very unhappy.

"You stay here and cover our retreat!" Leopard Tail declared confidently.

"Huh? Are you kidding me? I'm staying behind to cover your retreat?" Dure thought he had misheard.

"Of course I'm not mistaken. I told you to stay, so stay. What are you babbling about?" Leopard Tail released Du Lei's hand. It wasn't that he was being magnanimous and letting Du Lei escape, but rather that the monsters had all gathered around, and the two of them were completely surrounded.

"But Kotetsu told you to cover the rear alone, I heard it all. Why do you have to drag me down to be your scapegoat?" Du Lei brought up Kotetsu. He knew that if it was the normal Leopard Tail, not the abnormal one, he would still be very afraid of Kotetsu.

"Why do you have so many questions? Instead of talking, why don't you kill a few more monsters? You deserve to die!" Leopard Tail chuckled, looking smug. At that moment, a large number of monsters pounced, almost completely engulfing the two of them!

Originally in dire straits, Winry and her companions found a new lease on life with the appearance of the old woman. With the old woman leading the way, they successfully broke through the encirclement. Although the old woman looked very thin, the monsters were terrified of her, or more precisely, of her staff.

Whenever the staff flashed with white light, a large number of monsters let out mournful cries. Such an outstanding effect was many times stronger than Kotetsu's fist.

"We're safe here for now; they won't come this way." After running for about ten minutes, Wenli and the others stopped again. By this time, Wenli's face was pale, and her chest was heaving violently. She couldn't run anymore; those ten minutes had exhausted her.

Now that this has happened again, if she keeps running, even if she doesn't get caught by the monster, she'll probably exhaust herself to death first.

"Is it finally safe? I'm so tired... I need to catch my breath now. I won't run away no matter what... Wait, where are Mr. Leopard Tail and Mr. Dure? I don't see them." Wenli took a breath and looked around, noticing that two people were missing.

“I had Leopard Tail cover our retreat, as for Du Lei…” Kotetsu frowned. In his memory, Du Lei should have run with them.

"Hey, you bastard, even if you're determined to die, don't drag me down with you, okay? You almost killed me just now. How were you guarding your side?" Just then, a complaining voice came from ahead, which made Wen Li pause for a moment, and then finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Because she had just heard what Kotetsu said, she thought something had happened to Du Lei, which was why she hadn't seen him. But now that Du Lei's voice had come out, it meant that he was safe and sound.

"How can you blame me? It's clearly your own fault for not watching properly, how can you blame me?" Leopard Tail's voice rang out, and soon Leopard Tail and Du Lei arrived one after the other, both panting heavily and pale-faced, clearly having just gone through a fierce battle.

"Let me tell you, this is just a shameless attempt to shirk responsibility, okay? Besides, covering the rear was clearly your responsibility alone, how could you drag me into it?" Du Lei was particularly bothered by this, as covering the rear was originally none of his business, it was Leopard Tail who dragged him over.

"This is for everyone's safety, how can it be just my responsibility? If I fail to hold them off, will everyone suffer?" Leopard Tail argued vehemently, he had his reasons, and the two argued back and forth without stopping. The most shameless alchemist in history

Chapter 437 Trapped in the Tunnel

If no external force intervened, Du Lei and Leopard Tail could probably argue for three days and three nights without taking a breath. From the beginning, Leopard Tail looked down on Du Lei and made a lot of sarcastic remarks to him along the way. It was only after coming down from Nightmare Mountain that he quieted down for two days and didn't say much.

Now that Leopard Tail has returned to normal, it seems he's making up for all the things he didn't say in the past two days. If he had met someone else, they might have given in and stopped arguing with Leopard Tail. But he happened to run into Du Lei, and both of them are stubborn and determined to get to the bottom of things.

In this situation, Kotetsu could only act as the external force that intervened. He forcibly separated Durei and Hyobi, and gave each of them a roasted chestnut. The two of them covered their heads and cried out in pain. It was only because it was Kotetsu who hit them; if it were anyone else, wouldn't they have exploded in anger?

"You two stop arguing. It's great that everyone is safe and sound. Thanks to Granny Ghost for your help. By the way, Granny Ghost, how did you catch up with us?" Wen Li was trying to comfort Du Lei and Leopard Tail, hoping they could stop arguing.

At the same time, she looked at the old woman with a puzzled expression. They had already said goodbye before and thought they would never see each other again, but she did not expect that not long after they met again, and it just so happened that they were in danger. If it weren't for the old woman's appearance, they would have been in grave danger.

"Shortly after you left, I noticed something unusual about the monsters. They were usually dormant, but suddenly they all woke up and started moving around in large numbers. I thought you might be in trouble, so I came to see what was going on," the old woman replied truthfully.

"The monster's unusual behavior? Does this kind of thing happen often?" Du Lei originally wanted to say a few words to Leopard Tail, but now that they were talking about serious matters, he put aside his thoughts of getting entangled with Leopard Tail. He thought carefully and seemed to find some unusual meaning in it.

"Although there are monsters in the mine, their numbers are not large. The vast majority of them are dormant deep within the caves, and this has been going on for a long time. But for some reason, today they seemed to have heard some kind of summons, and they all woke up in an instant..."

The old woman's expression grew increasingly worried as she spoke. "I sensed something was wrong, so I rushed over to see what was happening in the cave. That's when I ran into you. Luckily, you're all alright, or the consequences would have been unimaginable."

The old woman recalled the ferocious horde of monsters from earlier, and she was also puzzled, because such a thing should not happen under normal circumstances.

“Hearing a call or something…” Dure repeated the phrase, trying to find out where the discordant element lay.

"It's just an analogy, it's not like someone is actually summoning them, but the sheer number of monsters in this cave... that's quite astonishing." Bee Sting pondered carefully. Since they entered the mine, they had already encountered danger twice in such a short time.

"Even if monsters block our way, we have no other choice but to keep going." After a long silence, Kotetsu sighed softly. If he had any other choice, he would not want to take such a big risk to move forward. The slightest mistake would mean their annihilation.

“Old woman, I know you have important business to attend to and must move forward… but it seems there’s some commotion inside the mine. We can’t go any further. If we continue like this, you’ll all die. And as you can see, the road ahead is full of monsters; it’s completely blocked.”

The old woman gave Du Lei and his group another earnest piece of advice. Before, she had been advising them from outside, and her words might not have been very persuasive, and they might have sounded a bit alarmist. But now, Du Lei and his group were experiencing firsthand the ferocity and danger inside the mine.

"Is the road blocked? This question..." Kotetsu frowned and didn't continue. He himself hadn't expected so many obstacles along the way. Normally, things wouldn't be smooth sailing, nor would they be the worst-case scenario.

However, given their current predicament of being stuck at every step they take, they have encountered the worst possible situation.

“It seems something must have happened in the mine to awaken all the sleeping monsters. If we don’t solve this problem, we’ll be trapped here and unable to move an inch.” Du Lei found the key to the problem, which was a very tricky one.

“I know this without you telling me, but the most urgent thing is not to find the problem, but to solve it. Unless you can come up with an effective solution, you should just shut up, okay?” Leopard Tail said impatiently.

"So, have you found a solution to the problem?" Du Lei asked him in return.

"Well..." Leopard Tail naturally couldn't give an answer.

"Then you'd better shut your mouth properly." Du Lei returned the exact words that Leopard Tail had just said to him.

"You..." Leopard Tail was furious and pointed at Du Lei, wanting to rush over.

"Alright, stop arguing, old hag. You've lived in town all your life, is there any other way you can help us? We really have something very important to do and we have to get through here." Wendy knew they had entered a dead end.

Unable to solve the problem herself, she had no choice but to seek help from the old woman.

"If you want to get through here, the road ahead is the only way. But it's blocked by hundreds or thousands of monsters. Unless you kill them all, you won't be able to get through. But killing them all is impossible."

The old woman gently shook her head. She was well aware of the difficult situation Wenli and the others were in; otherwise, she wouldn't have rushed over. But even if she arrived here, she could only alleviate Dure's immediate crisis. She herself was not sure if she could completely solve the problem.

"So even you, Granny Ghost, can't do anything about it? It seems we're really trapped here." Wenli said, somewhat disappointed.