Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master novel Chapter 132

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's run! That fella will live forever in our hearts," Zander crawled out of mud and shouted. He then took a direction and ran like his life depended on it. Watching, Thor and the rest thought that Rocky was dead already so they followed Zander's lead.

At this moment, Rocky appeared besides that pool of mud, a devilish smile on his face.

Zander, leading the sixth squad to find other remaining spirit manipulators, ran for the better part of the night, until they were too tired to continue anymore.

"Do you think Rocky could be still alive? We should not have left him behind. I mean, after all, he is the one that saved us," Joss said with grief.

"He gave his life so that our entire squad could live. He finally did something good back there." Zander nonchalantly answered his colleagues. For a long time, he had wished Rocky dead.

That very moment, light popped on, catching Zander and his men by surprise. A group of spirit manipulators from the northeast military camp had come searching for them.

Immediately Zander identified them, and called them over.

Those soldiers and a couple of spirit manipulators came immediately. They were a little shocked to see Zander and his men were stark naked and baked in mud.

When all the three squads assigned to the Maze Forest had failed to report in since last night, the Commander led a search party, looking for them all around. These soldiers along with the spirit manipulator from the second squad had gone out to search for their missing colleagues.

Soon after Zander and the rest of the sixth squad were brought to a tent outside of the Maze Forest.

The portiere was drawn up and then a woman in a silver armor appeared in front of everyone.

"Commander Ma!" Everyone, including the spirit manipulators, soldiers and the rescued sixth squad, shouted in surprise.

If Rocky were here, he would have been astonished too as this was Marin Ma, twenty-three years old, the same lady he had met at the beast stall. It had not occurred to Rocky that she was the Commander of the northeast military camp, let alone a royal spirit manipulator at the first grade of the Heavenly Stage. She was born and raised in a family with generations of military service. A few years back, she lost her parents and all siblings and close relatives in the war. Marin bore the dying will of her father. And thanks to her charisma, she had quickly risen through military ranks to become a royal spirit manipulator. Her dedication to military services for her country was exemplary. Although she was very young and a lady, she was a competent leader who readily earned the respect of everyone under her, both men and women alike. So she had been promoted. Within three years, she had become a leader of a small military camp. Her future was promising, and there was no limit to what she could achieve.

The second the spirit manipulators of the sixth squad appeared before her, all muddy and half-naked, she turned away and demanded to know what had happened. "Why didn't you return to base last night, only to show up here looking like this?"

Zander stepped forward to report exactly what happened, but he intentionally left out the part where Rocky had come to their rescue. The incident shocked everyone including Marin. They had never anticipated that the mere three squads dispatched would attract the wrath of a formidable spirit-manipulated beast.

But they were relieved to hear that any of their squads had made it out safe and sound, except for one missing member. A spirit-manipulated beast of the Earthly Stage was far beyond the capability of their dispatched squads. However, from the sixth squad that had been found already, all members had escaped unscathed except for one missing. They must have escaped by sheer luck.

However, Zander claimed the credit for such low causalities. Although Thor and the rest of the team were very unhappy with it as they knew that Zander was lying, they dared not say anything. If indeed Rocky was dead, no one would dare call Zander out for falsely claiming credit. Challenging Zander would definitely make him retaliate. Zander was a vindictive person who easily held grudges. He would not make it easy for anyone that challenged him.

"Commander, we have found the third and the fifth squad. Unfortunately, the two groups suffered heavy causalities." One spirit manipulator reported to Marin, dampening the mood, even before Zander was done with his boasting.

Soon after what was left of the third and the fifth squads were escorted out of the Maze Forest. Out of seven members of the third squad, only three were left, with two badly injured. At least the fifth squad fared slightly better as they only lost three members of the team. But all their surviving members were wounded, except for the squad leader.

In comparison, the sixth squad was nothing short of a miracle.

"Is it the same beast that you all fought against? How come the sixth squad sustained only one casualty while you two squads took such a heavy loss?" Marin questioned the leaders of the third and the fifth squad.

The two leaders exchanged a look and lowered their head in shame, feeling jealous of Zander. They wondered how he could be so lucky to escape with almost all his entire team.