CHAPTER 601: IS HE REALLY FROM FAIRY TAIL?

Inside the camp.

Rhodes and Mira had already settled the injured Freed and Bickslow, providing them with simple bandages, and were preparing to set off to find their other companions.

But Rhodes suddenly stopped. "Hades?"

Rhodes instantly recognized the long-bearded, one-eyed old man who appeared in the crab’s field of vision; he had an extraordinary aura.

His second glance made him feel familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, at least in a photograph.

His third glance... he saw a magical chain pierce through.

Then the vision cut off.

Clearly, the crab was gone.

Rhodes thought carefully, his face filled with shock. "No way?"

Mira asked, "What’s wrong? Did you find an enemy?"

"I saw an old man with the Grimoire Heart emblem on his clothes, who might be Hades. But", Rhodes said incredulously, "he looks a bit like Precht, our guild’s Second Master."

"What?" Mira was startled. "Really?"

"Hmm, I’ve seen photos of the guild founders in the library. Although his aura looks a bit different, it should be him."

The photo of the Second Master in his old age looked very kind, but this one now felt somewhat gloomy.

Moreover, Fairy Tail was founded 98 years ago, and Precht looked at least 20 at that time. By now...

Over 130 years old?

The more Rhodes thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. "It’s best to confirm with the Master."

"Then shall we leave now?"

"Let’s go."

A one-on-one fight was out of the question. For an old man who clearly looked so strong, they should, of course, call upon all the strongest fighters in the guild to "care" for him together.

However, seeing that he seemed to be looking for something just now, Rhodes summoned three Voidgrubs and instructed them to concentrate the worms in that direction.

"Erza, how are you?"

After her magic recovered, Cana was worried about Erza, so she took Gildarts to find her.

Halfway there, they met Erza, who was wearing a chest wrap on her upper body and red trousers on her lower body.

"I’m fine, and you guys..." Erza glanced at Gildarts and smiled. "It seems the enemy is dealt with."

Gildarts saw Erza in this state and felt it was his fault. "Sorry, I was a bit slow."

"That was my battle. After all, I’m an S-class wizard." Erza didn’t mind; she had always been prepared to stand alone. "What about Zeref?"

"Not sure." Cana said, "He was already gone when I was fighting that little girl."

"Are you sure that was really Zeref?" Gildarts had heard Cana say it on the way here, but he still couldn’t quite believe it.

Erza said, "The Grimoire Heart members were very certain of his identity, even starting a war with us without hesitation. It should be correct."

There was some movement in the bushes. The three of them looked over together and saw a wolf leap out, howling up at the sky.

Gildarts was about to make a move but was stopped by Cana. "It’s Rhodes’s wolf. He should be looking for us."

Sure enough, Rhodes swooped down from the sky a moment later. "Found you!"

As soon as he landed, he immediately began to buff Erza and Cana without thinking, conjuring red, blue, and purple buffs all at once, which momentarily stunned the three of them.

At the same time, another wolf howl sounded nearby.

Not long after, a group of people walked over together.

Elfman was carrying Gajeel, Lucy was carrying a reluctant Juvia, Evergreen was carrying Lisanna,

Mira was supporting Wendy, and Gray, with a sour face, was supporting Natsu, who was holding Happy.

Rhodes, Erza, and Cana immediately saw the person who shouldn’t have been there: "Laxus?"

Laxus tightened his face, unnaturally trying to look away, but controlling himself not to turn too much. After several seconds of silence, he finally squeezed out, "Hello, everyone."

Erza looked at the scars on Laxus’s face and his torn clothes, guessing that he had also fought hard, and smiled with relief.

"Hahaha..." Gildarts boisterously put an arm around Laxus’s shoulder, then patted his back, laughing as he said, "I heard you got kicked out of the guild, kid? That’s lame, hahaha."

Laxus’s face flushed, and he glared, complaining, "You’re too noisy, old man."

"Oh, I haven’t introduced you yet." Gildarts pulled Cana over, showing off, "Look, my daughter!"

"Huh?" This was indeed information Laxus hadn’t had time to learn.

"Ah haha, what kind of expression is that!" Gildarts pulled at his own face, imitating Laxus, "Huh? Huh? Ah hahaha. So you can make such a cute expression, huh?"

Laxus had no way of dealing with this improper old man and could only sigh: "This guild is so annoying."

Everyone briefly exchanged information. Counting carefully, Rhodes had three, Mira one, Erza one,

Natsu one, Cana and Gildarts one. It seemed all the Seven Kin of Purgatory were dealt with.

Adding the Vice Master defeated by Laxus, and the chicken and dog dealt with by Juvia and Elfman, it was possible that now, apart from Master Hades, everyone else left in Grimoire Heart were mere cannon fodder.

Rhodes said, "Then it’s easy to handle. Those with serious injuries will return to the camp to recover, with a few people to look after them. The rest of us will go with me to find the Master, and then, we’ll settle things with Grimoire Heart."

Natsu rubbed his fists, saying, "Is that necessary? Can’t everyone just go together? No need to find the old man."

Rhodes shook his head: "If it were anyone else, we would just go, but this Hades is very likely to be Precht, our guild’s Second Master."

Except for Mira, everyone showed an incredulous expression: "Huh?"

In their surprise, a familiar voice came from the side: "It’s not ’likely,’ that is him."

Everyone looked over and saw a Two-Headed Wolf carrying Makarov and Carla running towards them.

Makarov repeated, "That is Precht, our guild’s Second Master."

"Master!"

"Old man!"

Makarov quietly hummed, then turned his head to look at Laxus.

Laxus avoided his gaze: "I came to pay respects to the First Master."

Makarov’s head suddenly grew large, and he roared loudly into Laxus’s ear: "Who allowed you to come to the island without permission?!"

Laxus helplessly looked up at the sky.

The others quickly pulled Makarov back:

"Laxus saved us, Master."

"Isn’t it good that he’s back?"

Rhodes also advised, "Now’s not the time to talk about this. There are still enemies on the island. If it’s really necessary, you can punish him after we return to the guild."

At this moment, a passing Voidmite jumped up and bit Laxus on the head.

It didn’t break his defense, but its wiggling was very amusing.

Laxus looked at Rhodes: "Is this a punishment?"

"Pfft... Sorry, they attack people without a guild mark on them."

...

Precht recognized the big crab. Rustyrose and Zancrow had previously shared information about Rhodes.

Although he thought it was useless, with his mind, a casual glance was enough to remember it.

"A reconnaissance summon... Does that mean I’ve been discovered?" Precht didn’t rush to continue his journey after casually destroying the crab

Based on his understanding of Fairy Tail, as soon as he was discovered, he should quickly meet the owner of that summon.

However, a few minutes later, Precht looked at the blue and purple Worms surrounding him from all directions, front, back, left, and right, and fell into contemplation.

That guy, is he really from Fairy Tail?