As The Wolf opened his eyes, the edge of Zef's sword was nearly touching his mask. His arm frozen in mid-air as if someone or something was holding his arm back.
"What the f-"
Slowly but surely Zef was being pushed back. No. It would be more accurate to say he was being pulled back.
A black sphere formed in the center of the encampment.
However, nothing happened. It didn't even make a sound. In fact, if it wasn't so out of place, it might have gone unnoticed.
But suddenly, they started flying. Straight into the sphere, each knight was being picked off the ground and flung towards it. Hearing the troops colliding into the sphere answered a question.
((((It's hard?))))
The whole surface of the sphere was covered in people. But it didn't stop there.
More and more people were being flung towards it. Crashing into their comrades which were already there. It didn't feel dangerous at first but with tens of hundreds of soldiers being sucked in, those who were first to be attached to the sphere were being brutally crushed by their allies.
Muffled screams could be heard as knights and mages were being completely crushed. Blood started dying the dirt below a dark red.
Zef was being dragged against his pure strength towards the sphere as well. Leaving a trail where he tried to dig his feet into the earth.
Grabbing the hilt of his sword with both hands he stabbed the ground with all his strength to stop himself from being pulled in any further.
By now the human sphere was extremely large. Already trapping hundreds of soldiers within its almost gravitational like field.
Then, the pulling force stopped.
Turning his head to look at what was going on, Zef couldn't help but stare at what happened next.
(It stopped pulling us in but, why are they still stuck to the sphere?)
As Zef was trying to think of a reason, it happened.
The sphere gradually lifted up into the sky. Hovering a few body lengths above the head of Zef. Then the sphere started getting smaller.
Loud screams could be heard coming through the center of the sphere as a waterfall of blood began to rain down on the remaining battalion.
---
Melv, who stood next to the unconscious Ava after healing her wounds, couldn't look away. Magic that was supposed to have disappeared along with the age of Gods. Despite countless cases of there being reports of other groups being able to perform such magic, it wasn't supposed to be possible alone.
Even Melv, who boasted to be the best mage within the kingdom and would rank fairly high compared to adventurers as well, could not cast such a thing alone.
A few years ago, a drought occurred in Yvnahal's agricultural land just south of the kingdom. Using an age of God magic as a reference, Melv and twenty other mages invented the magic [Aqua Pluvia]. By using the river water near a conquered dungeon, they manipulated the atmosphere over the agricultural land to be able to retain moisture. With that, [Aqua Pluvia] was able to form clouds that would periodically rain when enough moisture was built up. Saving the kingdom and it's citizens from possible famine.
Despite Melv coming up with the concept of the magic and creating it himself, [Aqua Pluvia] is what's considered as sub-magic. Sub-magic is magic created by referencing or incorporating other magic. [Aqua Pluvia] actually came from a spell called [Aqua Indun]. [Aqua Indun] was a high tier magic that was capable of washing away an entire kingdom as though it were a house in the path of a enormous raging river.
(To use such magic... shouldn't be possible...)
The reason why magic from the age of Gods were nearly nonexistent was due to the amount of mana it took to cast them.
There are currently two ways to use mana. Creation and enhancement. Creation magic takes considerably more mana than enhancement magic. The reason is simple. Enhancement magic has a constant source of mana. When enhancing a weapon or body with mana, the constant contact with the source body provides enough mana to maintain the enhancement. Creation on the other hand is a bit more confusing.
When casting [Fireball], one could maintain the ball of fire in close proximity to their body. However, once the spell leaves a certain range, as if power being cut, the intensity of [Fireball] drastically drops.
The only known ways of overcoming such a deficit is first, having a larger inherent pool of mana and second, refinement of mana. To put a numerical value on the two, if a hundred unrefined mana was needed to cast [Fireball], only twenty or so would be needed with refined mana. But, how does one refine their mana? Years and years of repetitive training.
As Melv was struck with awe and fear at the unique magic he's never even seen or heard of before, it happened.
The sphere of his comrades started to compress and shrink in size.
"!"
(That's! That's a variation of [Black Hole] isn't it!)
[Black Hole]. An incredibly high tier spell back in the age of Gods. It was written that the spell could consume mountains, devour lands, and swallow nations. The original spell was described as creating a black vacuum in an area where anything and everything would be sucked in and vanish. As time went by, variations of this spell were created. One of the more common variations was the black sphere. Instead of objects vanishing within the sphere, the sphere would collect it's surroundings and slowly shrink into nothingness.
Melv, seeing the sphere slowly start to shrink was certain it was of that variation. Still, he had never read or seen any evidence showing the possibility of [Black Hole] being able to specifically target objects. To have only dragged in his comrades and not the terrain around them... the creativity and control was terrifying.
(How do we win...)
He was on his knees. Looking at the sight of his comrades being crushed as the sphere continued to slowly shrink, he had given up.
(It's impossible...)
As Melv fell into despair, one man slowly stood up. His name was Zef. An A-Rank adventurer, renowned throughout the kingdom, strong enough to take a Lord on his own. He stood in front of [Cataclysm]. Lifting his eyesight from the ground towards The Wolf, the sight would petrify anyone.
His eyes did not show fear, the light did not go out. In fact, it was burning. The passion in his eyes were not of someone cornered into desperation but that of a wild animal finding a worthy prey.
A smile slowly growing as the corners of his mouth were rising higher and higher. The canines almost seeming to gleam in the sunlight.
Crazy.
A word to describe how Zef looked.
With a ball of corpses floating in back of him, a sea of red forming at his feet, and a look of hunger on his face. This man looked crazy.
"[Higher Speed]"
"[Higher Strength]"
"[High Defense]"
"[Heightened Vision]"
"[Fury]"
Zef began to glow. Surrounding him was an aura of multiple colors. But he wasn't finished.
"[Mid-Flame Aura]"
"[High Poison Aura]"
"[Reinforce]"
"[Enhance]"
Zef's sword began to hum as a beautiful glow enveloped it. An unbelievable amount of power surged forth.
He took a step forward. As his right foot touched the ground, a crack formed. The strength of his step alone was enough to create a small crater.
A thunder clap echoed through the canyon. The source of the sound coming from a crater where the ground caved in.
---
The Wolf regained his senses. Feeling a little light headed from casting [Cataclysm] he felt relieved at seeing how effective it was. Not only how strong the spell was but the mental effects it had to those witnessing its power.
"That would've been too easy huh..."
Seeing Zef slowly stand up he couldn't help but click his tongue. This man was tenacious. While everyone else was looking at The Wolf as if he was a demon, the look Zef gave him made him freeze.
"You think he'd let me take a ten minu-"
Before he could even finish, it started.
A thunderclap echoed as if to signal the start of the fight.
Without even thinking, The Wolf unsheathed the short sword at his waist and swung it in front of his face. The giant sword of Zef appeared before him, swinging down right towards his short sword.
Noticing the glow of the sword, The Wolf immediately let go of his sword. Using the momentum of his swing, he spun to the left as Zef's sword blew up the ground. The short sword completely obliterated.
His mind was foggy before from casting magic but it was clear now. The raw strength and speed that Zef possessed would kill him if he were directly hit.
Without giving him time to think, Zef appeared next to The Wolf again, once more, doing an overhead swing.
Years of training showed in this moment. The Wolf's body acted on it's own.
Pivoting his right shoulder forward, as Zef's blade came down, he used [Reinforce] on his right fist, hitting the blade making Zef lose his footing for a split second. In that moment, The Wolf grabbed Zef's right arm, pulled himself up and wrapped his free arm around Zef's neck.
Summoning a dagger in his right hand as he choked Zef, he jabbed the dagger into Zef's neck.
Or so he thought.
The poison aura around Zef's sword was too effective. Had The Wolf known it was poison used on the sword, he wouldn't have done something so reckless as hitting the blade. His right hand was bleeding like crazy with his skin burnt off and flesh showing. It looked more like the effects of placing his hand in a vat of acid rather than poison.
The moment the dagger in his hand was dropped, a whistling could be heard in the air. In that moment, an arrow cleanly pierced The Wolf's left arm.
Released from the grip, Zef exploded free turning around with a diagonal slash downwards towards The Wolf.
The Wolf made a mistake. He didn't think that Zef would be able to withstand the force [Cataclysm] would produce and lost focus from the drain in mana. If he prepared a few steps ahead, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Time slowed. The blade engrossed within it's colorful aura slowly approached him.
The Wolf closed his eyes. Taking a deep calm breath, he opened them once more.
Pitch black.
The color of his eyes were pitch black.
A dark aura swirled around him as he whispered
"[Paralysis]"
Zef's sword fell to the ground. Then, Zef himself fell.
What had just happened? Right before he was about to slay The Wolf, his whole body became unresponsive. The only things he was able to do was breathe and move his eyes.
He looked at the figure of The Wolf, the prey before him. He was so close. (Am I dead here?) He began to think along those lines. As he was getting ready to accept fate, an ominous feeling erupted next to him.
An explosion of black erupted from The Wolf. If one looked close enough, they could see blood beginning to drip down his neck.
Thinking that his time was up Zef closed his eyes. He was content. Living the lavish life of a high ranking adventurer, Zef was convinced he lived a good life.
("But to think I let such a strong opponent out of my hands...")
Regret. Who cares about living a good life? Money? Women? Fame? He doesn't need any of it. Zef became an adventurer for one purpose. To test his limits. To fight strong opponents. Slowly but surely he began to rise to the top of humanity. Some would say even surpassing it.
(One more chance. Just give me one more chance. Give me one more minute- no. Thirty seconds is all I need. Not. Like. This.)
Zef put forth everything he had into moving. He will not die yet.
So desperate to get control of his unresponsive body, Zef was screaming inside. If only he had realized.
The Wolf was gone.
In the middle of a dense forest, The Wolf sat at the bottom of a tree. He leaned his back against the trunk and took off his mask.
Streaks of blood were running down his cheeks. Dripping to the ground from his chin.
"The rebound… never again."
He looked upwards and closed his eyes as he recalled the events that just happened.
Zef was less than a second from cleanly cutting him in two. Sacrificing his life essence for power, he was able to cast [Paralysis] as well as [Teleport] in order to escape the situation.
"I probably could've killed him after [Paralysis]..."
After casting the spell, The Wolf hesitated for a second and decided to escape instead. Feeling the pressure of magic being built up again on top of the canyon as well as the presence of more adventurers running over, he may have taken out Zef, but he wouldn't be able to get out afterwards.
He sighed once more as he slowly got up. The place he teleported to was a forest near the edge of the continent. It was a fairly popular forest due to the amount of high ranking monsters and beasts residing within. However, with such living creatures within the forest, much of it was still undiscovered.
Deep within the forest is where he found it. A small dungeon that completely blended into its surroundings. When he started off on his own, he stumbled across the dungeon on accident. Living inside were a peculiar race of demons. He never came across them before. He was ready to fight with the intention to die at any moment and yet, though it was hard, it was much easier than he thought. The Lord residing in the dungeon had very little monsters under his control. With mostly those of the demon race in the dungeon, it surprised him that they were also quite weak. Demons he encountered before hand put up quite the fight, but not these.
As he was recalling the first time he encountered the dungeon, he already arrived at the entrance. The type of dungeon he found was an underground one. Having a staircase that led below, he started making his way down. But suddenly, he felt a strange presence.
(It's been over three years since I've been here so it wouldn't be strange for other monsters to have wandered in but…)
Something felt off. He couldn't pinpoint what the presence he felt exactly was which made him a bit concerned. In his current state, he was positive that he would be able to at least run but, there being a chance it would overwhelm him, he had to be cautious.
As he continued down the stairs he saw it. Corpses of monsters and beasts lay on the ground. Evidence of a fight. However, the corpses couldn't have been more than a few days old.
As he made his way to the opening room, a different corpse lay below him.
"Demon huh…"
The corpse of a male demon with half his face ripped apart lay before him. Looking at how the corpses in the room were all scattered about, the way they were facing, and what they were doing, he was pretty confident.
"Looks like the demons were not expecting this place to be the home of beasts. Were they maybe survivors of when I cleared this place out...no. They look to be of a different tribe from back then… survivors of other dungeons perhaps?"
The Wolf concluded that the only reasonable answer would be that these demons were survivors of the dungeon raids and ran here for shelter.
"Maybe that's why there was more information here about dungeons than in other ones. This was more of a shelter than a dungeon."
(Also explains why they didn't put up much of a fight)
The dungeon The Wolf found turned out to be a place where all Lords would gather to share information. It was also a place for them to fall back to should, in an unlikely event, they were pushed back. But that's something he'll find out later.
"Oh? That strange presence.. Keeps changing?"
As he continued through the dungeon, more and more bodies were laying dead. Men, women, and children of the demon race lay ripped apart and some even partially eaten. Less and less beasts were found as he went deeper and deeper.
"To think they lost so many. They couldn't have fought anything too strong.. though these demons aren't really fighters…"
Despite the demon race being known for its fierce warriors, it didn't mean that they all were. Looking at the builds of the demons who were still recognizable, he could tell that they were not of the fighting force. Yet, even despite that, each one would be stronger than the average human.
As he finally continued to the last area within the dungeon, he saw it.
Standing near the corner of the room, a wolf twice his size had it's back facing towards him. He seemed to be distracted by something in the corner where he was facing.
What a cruel joke.
A Ferox Wolf. It was no wonder he couldn't make out the presence he was feeling. A Ferox Wolf is part of the unique category of monsters and beasts within the adventurer guilds. Things in the unique category have unpredictable traits. One of the most common trait in this category is what is known as Survivors.
Survivors have one known trait, growth. These monsters and beasts get stronger through killing other things. Should the hunt of Survivors be done correctly, they will never become a real threat to the public. However, should one manage to slip by and continue to grow… the damage could be devastating.
Ferox Wolves were Survivors. Starting off as young cubs, they would average a range between D-Rank and B-Rank. The highest ranked Ferox Wolf recorded by the guild was A-Rank. It was noted that it worked together with another pack of wolves to attack a small village on the far outskirts of the Kingdom of Khajel. As soon as the attack over the village finished, it wiped out the pack it was in. It then proceeded to kill every monster, every beast, every living thing in its path growing rapidly.
It was recommended that in order to defeat a Ferox Wolf, to hunt in as small a party as possible or to have very competent members. If anyone were to get careless and die, the growth would be instantaneous. As it's easier to move in a smaller party, unless you're trying to completely overwhelm it, it's better to control the pace and slow the fight.
The A-Rank Ferox Wolf was brought down by an S-Rank adventurers party. With one S-Rank, two A-Ranks, and a B-Rank, they were able to defeat the wolf. Though that was quite the overkill, it wouldn't have been necessary for them to do such if it weren't for the fact that the Khajel Kingdom sent in their own forces to deal with the wolf only to lose over 30 men.
Backing the wolf into the corner, all it took was a mistake from one knight to die to instantly turn the tides of the fight. One knight turned into five. Eventually turning into the entire unit of 30.
Feeling the aura of the wolf before him, he knew it was higher than rank A. But to say it would cross into rank S… he wasn't sure. The mix of auras of everything he's killed made it even harder to tell.
"He probably killed the beasts living in here as well as the demons… it usually doesn't get this bad considering they don't grow much from killing humans or low ranking beasts but killing demons…"
The aura emanating from the wolf was terrifying. If one were to encounter the wolf for the first time, they would without a doubt be killed. Luckily, a Ferox Wolf's fighting ability wasn't actually that terrifying. It was the pure strength and speed they got. The most dangerous thing to do against a Ferox Wolf is to underestimate it's strength and speed and not give it your all. It's truly a battle of all or nothing. But, if it's a battle of strength…
"I guess this won't be too bad. It's not even looking at me let alone, has it even noticed me? What is in that corner?"
He pulled a dagger out of the air next to him. Including the hilt, the dagger was about one and a half kels long or the length of his forearm. The blade had a unique curve as well as being surrounded by a powerful magic aura. At the end of the hilt, a small wolf head was attached. It was quite eccentric.
The Wolf lowered himself closer to the ground as he slowly began to move towards the wolf in front of him.
It still didn't even turn around.
As he arrived at the hind legs of the wolf, he quickly lunged forward. With no hesitation he plunged the dagger into the side of the wolf's neck, twisted, and ran it across to pull the blade out.
Without even making any sound or movement, the wolf just collapsed to the ground.
"That… what just happened? Why didn't it do anything?"
The wolf lay dead, blood continuing to pour out of the wound on it's neck.
WIth the threat of the wolf confusingly dealt with, The Wolf looked at the corner of the room.
At the place the wolf was looking at before it was killed was a barrier. Completely covered in a black aura, the barrier was still holding strong.
"Atera magic including enchantments.. No wonder the Ferox Wolf wasn't moving… [Restrain]."
The barrier was covered in an aura of [Restrain]. If one were to carelessly touch it, the effect would be instant and brutal. Especially with the use of atera, they may not come out of the stasis for weeks even months.
Applying [Resistance] to himself, he placed his hand atop the barrier. It wouldn't be good for him to be locked into place on accident until either the magic ran it's course or he died. Closing his eyes, he took deep breaths to control his breathing. In order to break the barrier without accidentally destroying whatever it was protecting, it was safest to guide the atera into the atmosphere and have the barrier slowly thin out.
Atera could not be absorbed. In fact, if he were to absorb it, he would go through excruciating pain that may kill him. Atera was completely unique to every living thing. They all had it, but each one was different.
After about thirty minutes, the barrier finally disappeared.
Inside the barrier was a demon woman. She had long silver hair and a beautiful face. Her pale skin nearly glowing in the dim dungeon. Her clothes were torn in certain places and claw marks gouged out her flesh. Yet even despite all that, it was clear she was beautiful.
"To use atera, and looking at her condition, she was backed into a corner huh… quite literally too."
The demon woman was curled up with her back facing the outside.
"She must've been really scared."
Checking to see if there were any signs of life in her, he crouched down and reached his hand out. Right before he touched her, two small hands jumped out from underneath the demon. Grabbing onto his outreached hand, a small demon looked at him.
Looking straight into the demon's eyes, it was clouded with killing intent. The Wolf paused for a second. Then slowly tried to pull his hand back. The demon let go of his hand continuing to glare at him.
"She was desperate to protect this little girl I guess.."
The small demon was a young girl. With silver hair similar to the woman's, it was likely that she was the daughter of the demon woman. The only difference was one thing, her horns. She didn't have any.
(A Demon Val…)
Demon Vals were a race of Demons. While there were many different races of demons, ranging between draconic, vampiric, and many others, Vals were those with similar features as humans.
She kept glaring at him, watching his every movement. She looked to be no older than an 8 year old human girl. Maybe even younger. Her hair was messy, skin dirty, and clothes ragged. But the light in her eyes were shining with power. The look of preparing herself to throw her life away to protect her mother.
(Being a Val she should at least know human language I suppose. They're trained to blend in with human societies after all..)
"Hey, what's your name?"
Her eyes didn't waver. Continuing to glare at him as if to look directly at his soul, her dry, cracked lips moved slowly.
"Kaija…"
"Kaija… what happened here. Are you okay?"
"...Name."
"?"
"What is your name?"
A soft yet powerful voice. Gentle yet direct. One shouldn't be fooled by appearances. Even if it is that of a small child.
(My name huh?)
With a slight pause, he responded.
"Akylus. Akylus Fall."
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT