Zhang Mengyao rushed toward the portal room, heading straight to Belem Guild's portal. She stood there while waiting for Origin's confirmation about the contract. The Guild Leader and the two Vice Guild Leaders had taken an oath; the chance of the Belem Guild betraying the Tang Empire was small as long as the three important figures were alive.
[I can't find their contracts, Ma'am.]
"What does it mean?" Zhang Mengyao frowned, "Does someone take the contract from our archive? There's a traitor working for us?"
[It could mean two things. One, the person who signed the contract died. Second, they have found a way to cancel the contract.]
"I thought the contract would just lose its power if the person who signed the contract died? We have killed the traitors, and their contract did not disappear," She remembered the traitors, and she remembered the contract that turned red and returned to normal scroll afterward. The contract did not disappear, she especially took note of that specific information.
"Does that mean it's safe to assume that they betray us?" Lu An looked into the portal. He just needed the words, and he would enter the portal and send the punishment for the traitors.
[There's a special case where the contract disappears if the person who signed the contract dies. There's a special item like that.]
The possibility was that the Belem Guild was destroyed and the Guild Leader along with the two Vice Leaders were killed. Or maybe the three leaders were killed and replaced with new ones. In conclusion, this is not a good with the fact the Belem Guild did not report if they had a new guild leader.
"What's the plan now? Should I sneak into the portal and check the situation?" Lu An asked for instructions. If it was him alone, he would jump into the portal already.
"We need a team. I am afraid this is a trap. If we enter the portal, they might try to destroy the portal so we can't return. We have to be more careful as I am afraid the World Government might get involved in this matter," Zhang Mengyao wanted to take care of everything cautiously. The Belem Guild was in Lisbon, Portugal. At the corner of Europe, and if they were trapped there, there would be no reinforcement unless Tang Shaoyang came to help him, and maybe Li Na.
It did not take long to assemble the elite of the elite team, Zhang Mengyao, Lu An, Rosalie, Marshal Alton, Legion Commander Moonsong, The Elven King Virion, Viona, Yeon Hee, Kang Xue, and Wei Xi. That might be the strongest lineup they had right now. Lu An, Viona, and Yeon Hee hid in Zhang Mengyao's shadow, so only seven of them went through the portal physically.
Zhang Mengyao was on alert as soon as her vision returned, inside the hall where the Belem Guild put the portal. Her eyes immediately moved, observing the surroundings. There were four people guarding the portal, and the four guards immediately bowed their heads at them. The guard wore full plate armor with a helmet, covering their faces.
"Where's your guild leader?"
The four guards looked surprised at the question, or maybe not expecting Zhang Mengyao to ask them about their guild leader right after coming out of the portal. Instead of answering Zhang Mengyao, the four guards lifted up their helmets, "It seems the World Union is quite right about their judgment about you all. You are a bunch of arrogant backwoods, coming here knowing this is a trap."
As the helmet fell to the ground, people burst out of the door, entering the big hall, surrounding the seven people. There were around a hundred people in this room.
"Where's...." Zhang Mengyao tapped her forehead with her palm. She forgot something important, it was the fact that the Belem Guild was also a member of the Tang Empire. She could check whether they were alive or not by checking the member list. Opening the member lists, she typed three names, and their names disappeared. Checking the guild log, no one quit the faction, meaning the three people she checked were indeed dead.
"Ten Primordial Ranks, Twenty-two Myth Ranks, Thirty Ancient Ranks, and thirty-eight Epic Ranks. It will be a hard fight without destroying the portal, Supreme Commander. Should we retreat?" Marshal Alton was not scared of their ranks and number, but the impact might destroy the portal.
Before Zhang Mengyao could respond the hall was engulfed with shadow as everyone heard Lu An's excited voice, "They are mine!"
The shadow could not differentiate between friends and enemies. Everyone, including Zhang Mengyao, lost her vision. She took three steps back, staying as close to the portal as possible. Not because she wanted to escape but to protect the portal from being destroyed, "You guys can fight them. I will protect their portal."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Everyone was on the move while Zhang Mengyao stayed at the portal with Rosalie, "I have formed a barrier around the portal." The Flame Empress informed Zhang Mengyao. Of course, they came up with a plan before entering the portal. Rosalie would protect the portal if it came for the worst, and it had come for the worst.
Zhang Mengyao had her lance in her right hand and a shield in her left hand, closing her eyes, relying on her talent to judge the situation around her. Insight was the most useful talent when she lost her vision as she could know where the enemy would come from even though he could not see them.
Time passed, but Rosalie and Zhang Mengyao could not hear anything or see what happened around them. The shadow not just took their visions, but also their hearings. Rosalie and Zhang Mengyao could talk because they were standing next to each other, and their shoulders were touching. That was why they could talk. If Rosalie was half a meter away from Zhang Mengyao, she could not have this conversation, "I don't like this. We need to talk to Lu An after this is over, though he won't listen to me."
"I will talk to him later.... Someone is coming, to your left," Zhang Mengyao and Rosalie switched positions as the former thrust the lance to the left. She pulled the lance, and sure enough, there was a person dangling on the lance. The lance pierced through the chest. It was a man in his transformation, similar to a furry creature with a spiral horn. The horn and fur started to disappear as the man breathed out his last breath. The man also lost a chunk of meat on his neck and also an arrow to the thigh and shoulder.
Rosalie could not really use her fire as she did not want to hurt her friend in this blind fight. She really could do nothing with her fire or Gravity field as it might hurt her friends instead of killing her enemies. This was why she did not like being in this shadow.
minutes, he could not kill all the enemy, he should recall the shadow so his friends could fight optimally. In the following five Ten minutes passed, and the fight still continued with the shadow remaining in place, "Lu An! Pull off your shadow! You are wasting our time here!" Zhang Mengyao had given the time, and if in ten minutes, he could not kill all the enemy, he should recall the shadow so his friends could fight optimally. In the following five seconds, the shadow was pulled off as Lu An stood next to Zhang Mengyao.
The first thing Zhang Mengyao did was to check on her friends, and all ten are alive. Then she checked on her enemy, more than half were dead. Marshal Alton shook the blood off his sword while Virion nocked another arrow on his bow. Kang Xue held the big scythe on her shoulder, blood dripped out of the blade. Moonsong licked the blood on his claw, Wei Xi was still in his stance, looking nervous. Lu An shook off the blood on his sword while Viona and Yeon Hee remained in Zhang Mengyao's shadow.
"There are still five more Primordial Ranks," Marshal Alton informed.
Of a hundred people, only thirty-seven people were still standing with their weapons. All of them were in Bloodline Transformation while none from the Tang Empire used the Bloodline Transformation. They took advantage of the shadow to kill more than half.
Zhang Mengyao glanced at Rosalie, nodding at her. Rosalie smiled at the signal as she activated Gravity Field to the max. All thirty-seven people were not expecting the Gravity Field, which caught them off guard. The thirty-seven people fell flat on the floor. What followed was even crazier as golden fire shot up from the floor. The fire filled the hall, leaving enough space around the portal. The screams could be heard from the fire.
Zhang Mengyao was about to say to leave a few alive for an interrogation, but she was too late. Not expecting how fast Rosalie burned them all, "I was about to say to leave a few of them alive for questioning...."
"Ah...." Rosalie immediately pulled off the fire. The golden fire completely disappeared afterward, and fortunately, there were still a few alive, running around in pain, "There you go, four people are still alive."
Zhang Mengyao glanced at Kang Xue, signaling her to heal the people who were still alive. Kang Xue's light attribute could be used to heal.
The Supreme Commander looked Rosalie in the eyes, "I will also talk with you later, Rosalie. We will talk later after I finish with Lu An." The Flame Empress avoided Zhang Mengyao's eyes, pretending to look somewhere else.
"Take them back with us," Zhang Mengyao turned toward Lu An, "You will be in charge of questioning them. We need to know all the information from them. They must be the people from the Federation of Allurion if they are in Europe."
Moonsong, Alton, Lu An, and Viona each held the prisoner who just got healed by Kang Xue. Then They left Belem Guild, and that was the first clash and also the start of the war between the World Government & The Uprising Guild against the Tang Empire.