Chapter 201 - Return (4)

9

For a brief moment, it was as if the whole world was burning.

It lasted only 3 seconds as the light descended from the heavens.  However, its destructive ability was beyond imagination.  The blast created from the center of the bombed area extended out for a radius of several kilometers.  Everything within its range was burned.  Moreover, the heat wave affected a much larger area as it shook the forest.

The sound, vibration and heat wave probably reached the Western Border fortress.  

From the moment Azell confronted the tree G.o.d, his party members had run away, but they weren’t able to escape the aftereffect of the explosion.  What would have happened if Laura hadn’t put a Dimensional Distortion field around them?

“My G.o.d…….”

Laura became overwhelmed at what she had just done.

The weapon of destruction was the chalice holding the tear of the heavens.

If their initial plan hadn’t worked, Laura had been tasked to buy some time, so she had prepared the Heaven’s Tear beforehand.

After she started being tracked down by her enemies, she started experimenting with this technique.  She had used it in small scale to increase her proficiency.  The technique worked best in the day when the sky was clear.  This was the first time she had used ample power through this technique.

The result made her blood run cold.

“…I see why Azell said that we can’t hand over the Vitan’s Chalice to our enemies.  This really explains a lot.”

Kairen spoke with a trembling voice.

It wasn’t just Laura.  Her comrades turned pale when they saw the great destruction caused by Laura.  If such an attack was used against a large army, a single blast could kill several thousand troops.  If such an attack fell in middle of a city……  They didn’t want to imagine such a scenario.

The more scary part was the fact that Laura hadn’t used the Heaven’s Tear at full power.

If she waited a little bit more, she wouldn’t have needed to focus her attack in one place.  She could have destroyed everything on a grand scale.  It would have been several times stronger than the current attack.

Ooooooooooooooh!

Light shot into the air from within the boiling heat.  Several fragments of light created by the Heaven’s Tear gathered in one place, and they split into countless streaks of light.  

It was Azell.  He was trying to manifest the Sun Lightsaber using the Sky Splitter.

“He was able to easily withstand that attack using the Unyielding Fortress?”

Leticia expressed her surprise.

When the party started running away, Azell remained.  He stayed behind to find out the true nature of the tree G.o.d.  When the attack started, he had left behind only his clones.  He had used the Storm Dragon’s Wings to fly into the sky.  The sky was safer than the ground, but he couldn’t avoid the aftereffects of the explosion.  However, the Dragon weapon called Unyielding Fortress had kept him completely unharmed.

Leticia spoke.

“We should move closer now.  I’ll lead.”

Shweeeeeeeeeek!

Her Dragon Soul twitched as cold air was emitted into her surrounding.  The heat, which had been boiling like magma, cooled in an instant.  The party charged forward.

It happened at that moment.  Suddenly, Yuren’s eyes turned round.

“Uh?”

“What’s wrong?”

Kairen was puzzled as he turned around.  His confusion deepened when he saw Yuren’s expression.

“Yuren?”

Yuren’s face had turned pale.

It was strange.  The whole party was on high alert, yet they couldn’t feel any danger.  Azell was preparing the Sun Lightsaber, and he caught sight of the tree G.o.d, who had taken critical damage from the Heaven’s Tear.  Since the location of the regenerating tree G.o.d was located, he had to use the Extreme Extinction before the tree G.o.d recovered.  The business here would come to an end.

So why was Yuren making such an expression?  Yuren looked anxious, but it was something more.  He looked afraid.

“Ah.  No…..”

“Yuren? Please explain what is going on.”

“Azell!  Run away!”

Kairen asked in a calm voice, but his voice didn’t reach Yuren.  Since the moment Yuren had joined up with their party, Yuren had never shown panic before.

“Azell!”

Yuren was desperate as he tried to contact Azell with his magic.  However, his actions were fruitless.  The aftereffects of the Heaven’s Tear had completely messed up the nearby flow of magic.

Yuren looked like he was about to pa.s.s out.  Laura grabbed his shoulder.  A desperate voice leaked out of him.

“Laura!  You have to immediately use your Dimensional Distortion!  You have to save Azell!  Or you can send me towards him!”

“Wait a moment.  Let’s calmly….”

Laura was taken aback, but she couldn’t finish her words.

In that moment, the light that had been streaking across the sky stopped.

Gwgwah-gwah-gawhng!

Thunder exploded, and the sound of thunder shook the nearby region.

Then….

“Azell!”

From within the dispersing light, a smoking Azell fell from the sky.

10

Laura didn’t hesitate as she used all her power to use the Dimensional Distortion.  In a flash, she jumped a distance of one kilometer.  She didn’t rest as she used the Dimensional Distortion again.  When she approached Azell, she pulled Azell towards her using the Dimensional Distortion.  Then she used another technique.

-Vitan’s Maze!

s.p.a.ce rippled, and a strange sight was seen.  It was as if a s.p.a.ce was isolated by piecing together countless tiles of gla.s.s.  As the user of the Vitan’s Chalice, the technique allowed her to create a stage where she held an absolute edge.

Zzuhng!

However, when she was about to finish making this s.p.a.ce, she heard a sound.  It was a clear sound.  It was as if a gla.s.s had been broken.

Laura’s eyes widened.  The Vitan’s Maze was unraveling.

‘How?’

This had never happened before.  Azell had broken the Vitan’s Chalice, but it was done through the special property of the Sky Splitter.  However, he hadn’t destroyed the Dimensional Distortion itself.  

Currently, someone had used magic to interfere with the Vitan’s Chalice dominion over s.p.a.ce.  Moreover, someone had been successful in canceling the Vitan’s Maze before it could be completed.

‘Another Dimensional Distortion was placed in the same place to cancel both Dimensional Distortion.’

Laura’s Vitan’s Maze hadn’t been meddled with.  However, someone had read the when and where her Vitan’s Maze would be completed.  Another Dimensional Distortion was placed in the same location to block her from finis.h.i.+ng her technique.

‘We have to run away.’

Larua immediately came to that decision.

In the past, she couldn’t use Dimensional Distortion while she was using the Vitan’s Maze.  However, her skill had improved markedly.  She was able to use the countless Dimensional Distortion related techniques imbued within the Vitan’s Chalice.  She was able to use them at the same time.   

Laura used the Endless Plains as she tried to retreat.

Zzuhng!

Once again, someone interfered with her technique.  The Endless Plain was broken.

‘What a ridiculous ability!  Who’s doing this?’

Laura despaired.

Laura was probably one of the best magicians of this era.

After joining Azell’s party, her abilities had rapidly progressed.  Her increase in skill mainly dealt with the techniques used with the Vitan’s Chalice, but she had exchanged many information with the magicians within the Albatan Forest.  She had received Carlos’ magic tome.  She had grown as a magician.

Even if one put aside her battle capabilities, her abilities as a magician exceeded the skills of the survivors of the Dragon Demon war, who resided within the Plain of Darkness.  She was sure of this.  Azell was of the same opinion.

However, her skin crawled when she witnessed this unknown being’s skill.  Her Dimensional Distortion had been dismissed.

It was such a sophisticated way to use to use one’s magical energy.  As a magician, she wanted to someday be able to use magic like that.  There wasn’t a single waste of magical energy.  It was the pinnacle of efficiency.

‘I’m being watched.’

The Endless Plain was broken, but she was successful in leaping across s.p.a.ce.  She had moved a distance of 1 kilometer, and she immediately sensed the gaze of her opponents on her.

Laura went cold all over when she witnessed what occurred next.  She couldn’t block it.  Her opponent had identified where she would appear, and he had prepared an attack. 

It didn't matter how fast her reaction was.  She couldn’t respond.

‘At the very least, I have to……!’

She had to protect Azell, who was in her arms.  With such thought in mind, she was about to use her magic.

She remembered that voice.

“Sir Reygus?”

Reygus was descending from a far away distance.  He must have jumped from a high elevation.

Koooooooong!

When he landed on the ground, an explosive sound rang out as the ground shook.  He sauntered out of the hole he had created.  He hadn’t taken any damage from the fall.

Afterwards, two more figures descended from the sky.  Unlike Reygus, they descended in a controlled manner.

“Sir Almarick…….”

Laura mumbled her words as if she was groaning.

One of them was Almarick.   His one remaining red eye was looking at her.

There was an unknown figure next to him.

He wore a black coat, and a hood was placed over his head.  A magical power created a curtain of darkness, so one couldn’t see his face.  Laura’s eyes couldn’t penetrate that darkness.

A voice flowed out from beyond the darkness.

“I don’t plan on killing him.”

‘What the h.e.l.l is it?’

Laura was taken aback.  

She couldn’t tell the gender of the voice.  When she heard the voice for the first time, she noticed the calmness of the voice.  However, she became confused afterwards.  She couldn’t tell if it was a voice of a male or a female.  She couldn’t tell if the voice was high or low.  

‘He is  messing with my senses.  How can this be?’

It wasn’t just his face.  He was somehow stopping her from identifying his voice.  How could he do that when Laura was a high rank magician?

Reygus spoke.

“I’m sorry.  It couldn’t be helped since the situation was dire.”

“I could stop him, so I did.  If I didn’t, wouldn’t that have been more foolish?”

Reygus expressed his annoyance.  The other being sounded embarra.s.sed.

“I’m sorry for not respecting your aesthetic.  I’m pretty sure I did something similar in the past.  I’ll be careful in the future.  Will you forgive me?”

Reygus grumbled as he kicked a nearby boulder.  A loud sound rang out as the boulder was broken into pieces.

Afterwards, the other members of Azell’s party arrived.  Everyone had a stiff expression as they surveyed their three enemies.  Amongst them, Yuren had a pale face, and his body was shaking a little bit.

The hooded being showed interest in the Dragon Souls of Kairen and Leticia.

“What are those?”

“Laura?  How’s Azell?”

Kairen ignored the question as he asked Laura a question.  Laura, who had been frozen, became alert.

“He is still alive.”

She quickly a.s.sessed Azell’s situation.

Something had penetrated his body.  It was smaller than a finger.

Fortunately, it had missed the heart.  Also, the damage caused by the thunder was comparably minor.

However, this didn’t mean he was in a good state.

‘It didn’t simply penetrate his body.’

The item, which had pa.s.sed through Azell’s body, had been infused with a powerful curse.  At the same time as it penetrated Azell’s body, the curse had invaded Azell’s Energy Pulse.  It made it so that Azell couldn’t properly regulate his magical energy.

It was dangerous.  

As a high rank Spirit Order pract.i.tioner, Azell was able to get through life threatening wounds by intricately controlling his body.  However, this technique relied on magical energy.  In Azell’s current situation, any more shock might end his life.

The hooded being spoke.

“I didn’t plan on killing him, so I avoided hitting any vital organs.  If you are worried, I’ll allow you to perform first aid on him.  I’ll allow that.”

“Who the h.e.l.l are you?”

Kairen glared at the being as he asked the question.

The being’s words sounded arrogant.  His att.i.tude indicated that the life of Azell’s party was within the palm of his hand.

‘Azell had been focused on completing the Sun Lightsaber.  This was why he was taken unawares by the attack.  However, Azell should have noticed someone trying to snipe him from afar even if he had been distracted.  What method did this guy use?’

Kairen was trying very hard to a.s.sess the situation with a cool head.  At the same time, he called for the Guardian Shadows using the staff given to him by Carlos.  Already, several thousand Guardian Shadows were moving towards this location.

‘It’ll take them 10 minutes to arrive here.  s.h.i.+t.  I have to buy some time…....’

They had planned on exiting this place as soon as possible.  Moreover, they had planned on occupying the attention of the their enemies by attacking the waypoints of the Road of Emptiness.  This was why he hadn’t stationed any Guardian Shadows nearby.  Basically, he had been caught with his pants down.

“I know who you are.”

At that moment, Yuren suddenly opened his mouth.  Kairen turned to look at the source of the trembing voice.

The hooded being tilted his head.

“Mmmm?  You know me?  Who are you?”

“Yuren Rizester.”

“You are Azell Karzark’s comrade, and you are a traitor to the wors.h.i.+ppers of the Dragon Demon king.  When one takes in your upbringing into account, you possess an unusually high amount of magical energy.  You also possess an unconventional technique that allows you to merge with a Demon…..”

“…….”

Yuren flinched when the hooded being started to list information about him. The hooded being asked him a question.

“Am I right?”

“You are right, but…….”

“You were truly able to merge with a Demon.  How surprising.  Moreover, you are a young human….  Was your teacher someone exceptional?”

“…….”

“Hmm.  This isn’t the time to ask such questions.  First, let’s finish our conversation.  You know me?”

“Yes.”

Yuren was letting out cold sweat as he nodded his head.

His party members became puzzled as they looked at him.  

Of course, it was a tense and terrifying situation.  Azell had fallen under a surprise attack, and he was in a critical situation.  Reygus and Almarick was in one place.  The unknown being possessed a presence that was on par with them.

However, Yuren’s fear seemed to originate from a different place.  It wasn’t about their current situation.

The hooded being was amused as he asked the question.

“Who am I? Speak.”

“You are…..”

Yuren took a deep breathe then he spoke.

“You are the Dragon Demon king Atein.”