Chapter 157: Chapter157- Absolute Obedience
"Hmm... let me see who's next. It's you, Eden!"
"What?!"
"What do you mean 'what'? As his roommate, you share the responsibility for his tardiness. Get over here quickly, unless you want me to come over!"
Hearing this, Eden felt a sense of despair. He knew there was no convincing John otherwise. Instead of throwing a fit, it was better to accept it calmly. With this thought, Eden swallowed hard and walked forward slowly.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready for wha—!!"
Before Eden could finish his sentence, John repeated the same trick, sending Eden up into the clouds as well.
This process was repeated a total of fifteen times. John kept his word and sent each person up into the sky one by one, even the girls were not exempt.
In no time, a wave of resentment spread among the group. After all, the one responsible for them having to endure this ordeal was none other than Babylon, who had now come to his senses and remained silent. Everyone was filled with resentment towards him.
Babylon knew this, and of course, John knew it too. In fact, it could be said that John did it intentionally. For someone like Babylon, who was overly arrogant, his pride needed to be thoroughly shattered to transform him into someone worthy of trust.
After all, John really saw potential in him.
With this thought, John took a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone, line up in front of me within thirty seconds. If even one person is missing, I'll make you all experience another round of flying!"
This time, Babylon didn't dare to delay and obediently stood in line.
"Very good, it seems you are gradually learning how to interact with me, which is absolute obedience.
Actually, I'm very easygoing. As long as you fulfill all my requirements, I won't interfere with whatever you do. But on the contrary, if you fail to meet my demands, I'm sorry, but no matter how good our personal relationship is, you will still have to face punishment.
Don't think of me as some kind of confidant. I'm only in my twenties. Our relationship is very simple: I give orders, and your job is to complete them no matter what difficulties you encounter. Trust me, I won't treat you unfairly.
John said as he slowly approached Babylon, looking at his still trembling legs and smiled, "Especially you, remember what I said?"
"Yes, yes, I remember."
"That's good. Let me make one thing clear in advance, and I don't mind telling you. Starting tomorrow, I will be leaving because I have my journey to continue. I can't spend all my energy on you incompetent people.
But don't think that you can do whatever you want after I leave. During this time, all your mistakes will be meticulously recorded by Elowen. When I have time to come back, I will make up for every overdue punishment according to Elowen's records.
So, you'd better not have any wishful thinking because it will harm you. I hope you remember my advice.
Now, everyone, get ready. We are moving out to the maze where we will conduct today's test. You have ten minutes to prepare. Once the preparation time is over, we set off immediately. Elowen will lead the team."
"Understood, Master John."
Seeing the respectful attitude of the Elf King in front of John, everyone looked at each other and dared not say anything more. They had to obey.
This is the result John wanted to see.
In a limited time, cultivating a reliable team to depend on is most important, and that relies on obedience.
The ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. From standing up to standing firmly on the steps and clearing his throat, John took less than ten seconds. In those ten seconds, the previously lax crowd instantly got into the right state, not daring to slack off any longer.
"Hahaha! It seems you've all learned your lesson. This is a good change. Alright, Elowen, let's move out."
John naturally wouldn't be accompanying them. Instead, he planned to go ahead. The habitat was now less than an hour's journey from the maze. If they sped up, forty-five minutes would suffice. John intended to set a few small surprises on their way to the maze.
With wings spreading behind him, John soared into the sky, turning into a fleeting shadow across the horizon. Seeing this, Elowen clicked her tongue in envy.
"Alright, stop daydreaming. If you think I'll be more lenient than Master John, you'll be disappointed. I have my principles too. Master John was right: harboring a hopeful mindset will only harm you."
At the very back of the group, Babylon frowned, moving forward with the crowd but looking concerned about something. Noticing Babylon's expression, Eden immediately walked up to him and said in a low voice, "Whatever you're planning, I advise you to give it up. The collective punishment means if you make a mistake, it affects all of us. That's not fair to us.
Thanks to you, today we all saw the scenery above the clouds, beautiful to the point of unreality. But if possible, I don't want to experience it again."
"…Foolish and unaware."
Babylon merely glanced at Eden and said nothing more, just kept up with the group. Hearing this, Eden felt a surge of anger but, with Elowen at the front of the team, any small disturbance here would likely be recorded by her. He didn't want to provoke that seemingly harmless human any further.
"To think someone who always smiles could say such things without changing his expression... it really is a skill..."
Recalling John's expression, Eden couldn't help but shiver.
"Forget it, better catch up."
Shaking off the chaotic emotions in his mind, Eden quickly caught up with the team.
Due to the constant expansion of the habitat, the distance between its edge and the maze has been continuously shortening. To prevent monsters from the maze from causing trouble for the elves, this area naturally became heavily guarded. Elowen even dispatched three hundred people to take turns guarding the maze, to nip any danger in the bud.
"However... there shouldn't be any excessive danger in the maze now."
Since [Lust] died, many powerful monsters have appeared in the maze, but their overall levels do not exceed 35. After all, this is an early-stage dungeon, and the difficulty couldn't be set too high.
"But the problem is, with so many people guarding it, the nearby monsters have probably been wiped out. That's not good..."
John slowly descended and walked towards the heavily guarded maze. The squad leader at the forefront gasped upon recognizing John and quickly approached, respectfully saying, "Lord John! What brings you here? Have you finished your journey?"
"You are... oh, I remember, the kid who got his shoulder pierced by Helena's arrow. I just finished a part of my journey, so I came back to check things out. By the way, is there any monster gathering area around here?"
"Lord John, we can't guarantee other things, but you can rest assured about this. We've thoroughly cleared the nearby monsters, almost turning over every inch of the ground. There is absolutely no monster left!"
"…Well done."
John sighed softly, patting the squad leader's shoulder in encouragement, causing the squad leader to blush with excitement. This was praise from Lord John, the savior of the elves! Some people might never have this chance in their lifetime, but now he had been praised. What an honor!
Of course, John didn't know what was going on in the squad leader's mind. After a moment of silence, he continued, "What about the monster corpses? There should be monster corpses, right?"
"Some monster corpses retain toxins and can emit poisonous gases if left too long, so we've taken all the monster corpses into the maze for disposal. Lord John, why are you asking about this all of a sudden?"
"Nothing, keep up the good work."
With no monsters and the corpses disposed of, there was no reason for John to stay here. But he still needed some monsters for the assessment. If they were fully prepared by the time they reached the maze, the test would lose its meaning.
"Maybe... I could use the monster corpses Elowen collected for me?" source-at-NovelFire
Since monster corpses rot when left outside, John kept those corpses with him. However, these monsters were of higher levels, and naturally, the summoned monsters would also be at higher levels.
"I originally planned to arrange for fifteen low-level monsters, but now... three should be enough, right?"
Thinking this, John casually waved his hand, and a pile of corpses suddenly appeared in front of him. Immediately, a blue hexagram array emerged beneath his feet. If one looked closely, they could see some twisted and bizarre things hidden within the array, slowly wriggling!
The next moment, countless tentacles shot out from the array, instantly devouring all the monster corpses!
"Now, the offerings have been made. Respond to my summons!"
...
Ten minutes later, at the edge of the habitat.
Elowen seemed to sense something, her brows furrowing tightly, but she quickly relaxed, gradually slowing her pace and no longer walking at the front of the group.
Seeing this, Babylon narrowed his eyes slightly and then felt a sudden jolt in his heart. He scanned the crowd continuously until he finally spotted Meryl beside Alice. He quickly rushed forward and grabbed Meryl's wrist.
"You, step back immediately, close your eyes, and cover your ears!"
Babylon's sudden action was clearly unexpected by everyone. Alice, standing beside them, even perceived it as a form of harassment and immediately stepped in front of Meryl protectively.
"Babylon, let go of her hand!"