Chapter 36: Damage.

Ryan quickly cleaned up the remaining robed men, but the damage dealt to the mercenaries was extensive. More than half of the hired mercenaries were dead, and if not for Raymond, there would probably be even more casualties. After recollecting himself for a while, Raymond started looking around the battlefield, looking for a familiar figure. Looking around, Raymond wasn't able to find who he was looking for, and a bad premonition quickly brought him back down to earth.

Within a few seconds, Raymond had arrived at the battlefield, and he anxiously looked around until he found a sorry figure. Walking over, Raymond looked at the older man lying on the ground in front of him. With a sword piercing his heart, the man had a terrified expression on his face. No matter who you asked, they would tell you that this guy had definitely not passed away in peace, if anything, his death looked quite dreadful.

"Old man Owen..."

As he stared at the blood-stained face of Owen in front of him, Raymond was at a loss. He didn't really know Owen well, they had only met a few times after all. But the old man had still looked out for him, and Raymond had warmed up to him a little. To think someone he had taken a liking to had just passed away in the blink of an eye. Raymond felt an array of emotions brewing deep in his heart. More than anything, he was angry. He was angry at his own incompetence. If only he was stronger, he could've prevented this whole thing without anyone having to die.

As he was sinking into dangerous thoughts, his sword force activated on its own, permeating into the surroundings. The sword force seemed agitated and a little different. Compared to his usual sword force, the sword force that Raymond was currently emitting was filled with a murderous aura. This was the birth of Raymond's killing intent, something Raymond had never felt before. The thought of slaughtering all of the robed men that had been captured briefly crossed his mind.

As the thought crossed his mind, Raymond soon realised his naivety. He wasn't incompetent at all. Considering the time he had cultivated, he had been doing quite well, it was just an unfortunate situation. Being angry at himself wouldn't help, instead, he redirected his anger to the people who had caused this whole thing in the first place. If he ever came across any of them in the future, he would kill them on sight! Killing all of the robed men they had captured would have the opposite effect of what Raymond wanted. If they interrogated these robed men, maybe they could get some information on the organisation behind them.

Not far away, Ryan was watching Raymond with interest. The situation was unfortunate, but Ryan didn't console Raymond or try and comfort him, he had been through similar things in the past, it was better to just leave Raymond be. Although he was impressed with Raymond's strength and sword force, he was still trying to keep it together. Maybe his young master could recruit Raymond into the family, if that was the case, then there was no need for him to be too eager.

After a while when everyone had recollected themselves, it was time to leave. It wasn't like they could take the bodies of the deceased with them, so they had to give them a quick burial. Although it wasn't a proper burial, it was better than leaving their bodies out to be eaten by beasts. With heavy hearts, they started their travels again, hoping to get to Bluemont as fast as possible. They didn't travel far before night arrived and they set up camp again.

Because of what had happened earlier, the mood was sombre, and the atmosphere was quite awkward. Raymond was especially affected, as he didn't really talk with anyone at all. Christopher had originally wanted to invite him to talk, but after being informed of the situation from Ryan, he decided against it. Raymond needed space, he could talk with him after they had arrived at Bluemont and he had settled down a little.

Something that no one seemed to notice, Raymond included, was that the air around him was beginning to slowly change. Raymond's sword force was essentially a power that came from his soul, and since it was slowly undergoing change, it naturally meant that Raymond himself was going through a change as well. If anything, the reason his sword force was undergoing change was because of the change to Raymond himself.

Before, his sword force had been swift and sharp, but in a sense, it had also been rather soft. Raymond himself was still new to cultivation after all. He had neither battle experience nor profound cultivation, so his state of mind was easily influenced by new experiences, such as loss and anger. His sword force was becoming sharper and more powerful by the second. It was essentially being transformed by Raymond's killing intent.

As night arrived, most went to sleep, whilst others had to be on watch duty. Raymond himself wasn't in the mood to sleep or cultivate, so he simply sat down on a small hill, and watched the stars. It was a beautiful night, the perfect antithesis to such a horrible day. If there was one thing positive about this new world he found himself in, Raymond thought it had to be the beautiful nature that was practically untouched. Compared to his previous world, where seeing the stars in the sky could almost be considered a luxury, this world had a lot more to offer.

With that being said, this world was far from perfect. Because of the nature of this world, a lot of horrible things happened all the time. A single demonic cultivator could obliterate a city on his own, massacring countless people. As he watched the stars in the sky shining, the dark thoughts in Raymond's mind slowly went away. A newfound thirst and passion for strength replaced them. In the future, he wanted to be strong to the point where something like this could never happen to him again.

This tightness and pain he felt in his chest was something he never wanted to feel again. With determination to get stronger than ever before, Raymond started cultivating. He didn't care about where he was at all, he simply started cultivating. He couldn't be bothered to hide in some tent just to cultivate. His senses were greatly enhanced whilst cultivating anyway, so if he felt someone approaching, he could just stop immediately.

After around an hour of cultivating, Raymond felt someone approaching him. Feeling a little surprised, Raymond promptly stopped cultivating and waited for whoever it was to arrive. A few moments later, Raymond could see the graceful figure of Chloe Baxter walking towards him, and he became even more surprised. Out of all the people he had expected, she was probably on the bottom of the list, since her brother had stated just the day before that she disliked men after all.

Even if he was supposedly blind, he was still a man, right? Raymond didn't know how to feel, but he didn't have much time to think before Chloe arrived.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Tyrone_Bedoire

I can only apologise for the long wait. I've sorted my life out to the best of my ability now, so I feel like I can start writing again. My life just took a bit of a weird turn out of nowhere.

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