After a few days of familiarization between Gandalf and Scorpion, the energy blocker finally confirmed that this was the same mystic warrior that he fought alongside and engaged in wild adventures with some time ago.
The mystic world was a dangerous world, there were no lack of mystic warriors, including those who could change appearance to imitate others.
Gandalf had to be absolutely sure before deciding to help his old friend with all sincerity, and once he did, he no longer kept them in the dark.
Throughout their whole time of familiarization again, they roamed the Red Zone searching for more information about the Berserk Gang and their 3 leaders.
In these few weeks, they literally already dissected the Berserk Gang to its basest form. They knew the shift of guards in the gang, the number of warriors in the gang, even to the tiniest details about the gang.
Also, they already knew that Rex was no longer inside the gang mansion. What they weren't sure of was the destination of their main target.
With Gandalf's connection, they were also able to get detailed information about the 3 gang leaders that spanned to their time before the Gundam Shelter.
Arthur knew more information about Rex than anything that could be researched by them, so it was not needed. Aragorn was the one whose real identity was dissected as they confirmed that he was once a Great Shelter dweller.
They were able to know so much about Rex and Aragorn, but the female Elf was the only one who eluded them. It was like Elanor originated from the wind.
There was no information about her family, about her heritage, literally no information about her. It felt like, Elanor was a ghost.
The fact of Elanor's real identity as an Elf alone already cast a veil of mystery over her, now this just added a thicker veil to the already thick veil.
Of the 3 gang leaders, Elanor was the one they originally underestimated the most since both Rex and Aragorn already proved their strength, experience, and leadership but after this, the veil of mystery around Elanor grew thicker.
If Princess Elanor was like a brown pot to them previously, now this pot just suddenly became stained with charcoal that blackened and deepened its mystery.
This time, Arthur was determined to fully research, understand everything about his enemies, and cut off any loose points before he engaged them in battle.
For the next few days, Arthur put all his resources into researching about this mystic warrior and despite all the effort, they did not get anywhere.
Despite all the failures, Arthur was reluctant to give up.
This was when Gandalf decided to intervene, he was finally ready to open up to them but first, he wanted to have a talk with his old friend.
Over the past few weeks, Gandalf already recognized that the young warrior was the leader of this team. Aragorn asked him for help which was something he rarely did, and with this kid as the leader, he was left with a lot of questions.
He was only able to force himself from not asking since, and now that he finally wanted to open up, he reasoned it right to get his answers first.
Gandalf called Scorpion out as they left their secret hideout to go on their regular old friends' walk, that was where he brought up the conversation. "You know, I lied, I'm not an insignificant nobody here as a portrayed".
"I know". Scorpion was calm. "What I didn't know was how much power you had here, I always knew that you had ambitions for staying in the Gundam Shelter".
Gandalf smiled and rubbed his beard. "Like Rex, I'm a gang leader too, and my gang is located in the Snake territory".
Scorpion turned to look at his friend with raised eyebrows. "So why did you keep the truth from me previously?"
Gandalf smiled. "I wanted to confirm that you are you, also, I wanted to know the real reason why you asked me for a favor".
Gandalf turned to face him, this time with a serious expression on his face. "I know you, you're an adventurer, a lone wolf, you work for nobody, that's why you named yourself Scorpion, tell me the real reason why you work for that kid".
Scorpion scoffed before answering normally, clearly, he already expected the question. "I do it for the money, they pay a lot, are you interested?"
Gandalf smirked. "Money made you break 2 of your core warriors codes. Your number 1 code of working for no one, your number 2 code of never asking for a favor, you think I'm that easy to fool?"
"How much has your knowledge of me degraded over the years Scorpion?"
Scorpion sighed and didn't speak for the next 4 minutes as they just kept on walking, then he finally spoke. "You're really making this hard for me".
"No offense, I just want to know the truth".
The next moment, Gandalf experienced a part of his friend that he never knew before despite their decade of partnership, Scorpion shed a tear as he spoke. "They took her".
On hearing that, Gandalf felt the atmosphere turning colder, something that he was accustomed to as he sighed and whispered. "The life of a mystic warrior, always filled with heartbreaks, deaths, and heartbreaks…"
"Maximin, the greatest Energy Blocker said it".
Then, he asked. "Is it her or her?"
"They killed her, then they took Sophia. They took the only treasure that I have left in this world, they took the beating part of my body, I can't live without her, I can't die and leave her, I'm stuck in this quagmire like a zombie!"
"For years, I have worked for them as the Sting Assassin, fighting, killing, assassinating, and what was I rewarded with for all these? More missions!"
"They've made use of my for years but for Sophia, I keep on going".
"I've felt like a fool for over a decade, but for my baby, I can endure it all".
"Gandalf, you have no idea of the pain that I've been through all these years, I've been through hell and back thinking of the things happening to my baby".
"Hahaha, what an irresponsible father I've been, I'm the worst dad in the world. I'm strong, I can take life but I can't protect my daughter's life, pathetic!"
"Sometimes, I feel like if Thanos was real, I want to be in his position and just do the thing to wipe away half of the world, the world is too evil".
"Gosh, I hate this life…"
For straight 30 minutes, Scorpion kept on venting pent up emotions that he had hidden at the back of his mind for over a decade.
Emotions that were threatening to swallow him up, emotions that were threatening to eat his brain and mentality up, emotions that were about to drive him insane, emotions that were killing him.
When his outburst finally came to an end, Scorpion felt no other strength in his body as he collapsed only for his old-time friend to support him.
Throughout the outburst, Gandalf never intervened, he knew how his friend felt having passed through the same when his wife and only son died.
He had words of comfort but he kept them to himself, after finally getting to vent, he knew that Scorpion was strong enough to recover and bounce back.
Instead of words of comfort, he asked only 1 question. "Do you have any evidence to determine that Sophia is still alive?"
"Not really, but I get to speak with her every 2 years through a virtual projection. That is the only thing that had kept me going".
"This time, they promised that if we succeed in killing the kid, my daughter and I will finally be released".
Gandalf gave his old friend a long-focused look, then he patted him on the back. "Rest, when you wake up, you'll be in the Snake Territory".
With his energy blocking skills, he put Scorpion to sleep.
The next moment, Gandalf returned to their hideout where he spoke with Arthur, revealing the means that were in his disposal.
Of course, Arthur's spoilt brat personality reared its head as he accused him for not revealing the truth since but Gandalf simply laughed it off before leading them away.
With his authority, their journey to the Snake territory was uninterrupted. After 2 days, they finally arrived at the dreaded Snake territory, Gandalf's turf.
The Gandalf Gang was among the top 20 strongest gangs in the whole territory, Gandalf was their sole leader for over a decade already.
On arriving before the massive expanse of land and mansions that were part of Gandalf's Gang, Arthur was humbled.
Gandalf turned to face them. "Welcome to my domain!"
"With my help, killing Rex is just a matter of time".
…
"Sh*t, am I cursed or something?"
It took entering the Great River of Gold for Rex to confirm that his luck was at an all-time low. During his journey here, he was ambushed by marauders and lone warriors because of their greed to get his transformed beasts.
Well, here in the River of Gold, after just his first 2 days spent here, he confirmed that beasts were still the greater nuisance compared to mystic warriors.
Beasts of all types and forms that lived in the Great Desert seemed to hold a grudge against him as they came at him from all sides with the intent to kill.
"Did I offend their god or something?"
Rex was confused but he had no choice, he had to continue his journey and that was exactly what he did, he still wanted to meet his deadline.
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