Chapter 282 - Journey of Despair: Hope

"Argh!! My arm!" The mage groaned in pain on the ground. His blood kept flowing out of his wounds.

Ramie and the healer were about to stand up and help him when they saw countless black spikes burst out of the ground.

The two of them carried two people in each other's hands before they jumped away. They closed their eyes as the spikes spread out and pierced the body of some of their comrades.

This was the only thing they could do. They only have two hands so they couldn't help everyone.

"Argh!!"

The mage groaned as some of the spikes hit his body but then he realized that it couldn't pierce deeply.

This was only a level 1 tier 1 spell [Shadow Spike] so it could hardly damage a powerful B-rank.

"I need to do this..."

Flames appeared in the mage's hand and he grabbed his arm to stop the blood flow by burning it. He could attached his hand later as long as one day hasn't passed.

ARGGGHHHH!!

He gritted his teeth as he burned his wounds. Then, he saw a black ball floating in front of him.

"W-What's this...?"

Swoosh!

Souta appeared in front of the mage while using [Shadow Cloak]. He grabbed the neck of the mage before he pulled out his tongue.

"You don't need this."

After saying those words, Souta threw the tongue on the ground and stomped on it.

The mage looked at Souta with fear and hatred. He didn't think that this man would cut his tongue. He then saw Souta moved his left hand and placed it on his left eye.

"You also don't need this one," Souta said in a cold voice as he plucked the left eye of the mage.

The mage realized one thing. And that's Souta wouldn't kill him. He will torture him like this. He wanted to beg but there were no words that were coming out of his mouth.

Slowly his hatred disappeared and despair replaced it. It was slowly seeking into the depths of his body.

Without him realizing it, tears flow out of his eye. He was crying.

The man in front of him showed his brutal side to their party and everyone will experience it.

Souta's hand moved towards his right eye. At this point, his mind was already blank. He loses himself to despair.

Putchi!

Souta threw the mage on the ground after gouging both of his eyes. He then placed his eyes closed to him.

"Infinite shadows dancing in the darkness." He muttered before he disappeared and black tentacles once again rose from the ground.

...

Hays!

Lumilia sighed as she turned in the direction where Souta was fighting with a concerned look.

She didn't know what will happen but she could only place her trust in him.

Everything was moving smoothly according to their plan. They already destroyed sixty percent of their enemy's bases. It was only a matter of time before the Adventurers Guild stepped forward and stopped this war.

"Just like what Souta said, this battle will show everyone in the kingdom the power of our Dark Oculus Legion," Lumilia muttered while looking at the map in front of her.

This was the result of everyone's training. They could defeat and match some of the B-ranks in this kingdom. This placed the power of their Dark Oculus in mid-tier.

With this much power, they could even invade small dukedoms without any affiliation to a large country like Fersch Dukedom.

"After this war, our legion will gain fame. I think that Souta will expand the legion into rank 2 after this. That way, we could accept members once again." Lumilia said before she sighed. "Tons of paperwork will come to me after this... I should hire an assistant."

She thought that this was not bad compared to her situation before.

"I just have to work harder so that Souta will not be bothered by the legion's affair."

...

Frankie, Ramie, the healer, the rest were shocked when they saw the mage. They held their breath as the mage laughed to himself like a crazy person.

His eyes were gouged out and his arms were gone. He was lying in the pool of blood.

"What happened to you?!" Frankie shouted as he shook the body of the mage.

The mage ignored him as he smiled tirelessly. Blood kept pouring out of his mouth.

"...horrible," The healer said as she covered her mouth.

Ramie placed her hand on Frankie's shoulder. "Let's go, Frankie. We couldn't do anything."

"I'll close his wounds." The healer said as she sat beside the mage. She had a painful look as she watched the state of their respectable mage.

"Just what did you experience..."

They couldn't imagine what the mage experience that caused him to become like this.

She could heal his wounds but she couldn't do anything about his mental state.

"Damn it!!" Frankie roared loudly. He was frustrated. If he only followed the mage's words then this wouldn't happen.

"Shhh! Don't shout. It's your hope."

Frankie, Ramie, and the healer heard an unfamiliar voice. They quickly raised their guards and saw a crimson-colored slash heading towards the direction of the mage.

"Arghh!" Frankie tightly grabbed his sword and stood in front of the mage. After charging his mana in his sword he swung it towards the slash.

[Counter Wind Slash]!

Both skills collided causing a shockwaves to be swept out in the surrounding area.

"Damn you!!" Frankie managed to destroy the red slash with his skills.

But before he could turn to his friends, several black tentacles once again emerged from the ground.

While he was busy with [Shadow Bind], Souta appeared beside the healer.

"Your hands... I don't need it." He grabbed the collar of the healer and swiftly sliced her hands using the vajra sword.

"You!" Ramie quickly pulled out her dagger and pounced at Souta.

Swoosh!

Souta threw the healer away and clashed with Ramie.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

They exchanged high-speed blows. It's no wonder that they could handle [Shadow Bind] spell. They were skilled fighters.

After a few seconds of exchanging blows, Ramie managed to cause small cuts around his body.

'You should retreat now. If that swordsman come here then you would suffer heavy injuries.' Saya said to him.

'I know.' Souta replied to her. That's why he was doing this because he knew that he wouldn't last in a head-on battle against them.

Knowing that he couldn't finish Ramie, Souta disappeared using the [Shadow Ball] that he scattered around the field.

"Fall and accept your fate... Mwahaha!" His voice echoed as he vanished into thin air.

She quickly turned to her remaining comrades only to find that all of them were gone including the healer. Their painful scream reverberated in her ears like a curse.

She slumped on the ground with a blank expression. She was losing her hope.

"Ramie!" Frankie went beside her and asked if she was fine. He was holding the mage in his arms.

"No... What should we do, Frankie?" Ramie looked at him.

"Don't give up. We can do this." Frankie said to her with a firm expression. His eyes were brimming with determination to defeat Souta.

"I hope so..." Ramie said in a low voice.

...

The shielder and his group didn't know what happened to Frankie's group. They have no idea that their whole group was on the verge of breaking down.

In the past few minutes, black tentacles kept appeared and they have managed to defend themselves from it.

A spell like this wasn't enough for B-ranks like them. It would take more to defeat them.

The shielder and his comrades were slowly advancing forward while paying attention to their surroundings. They don't know when the black tentacles will appear so they could only look around.

Suddenly, their body felt heavy as the gravity increased by twenty times. It was trying to push them on the ground.

Boom!

"What now?!" The shielder shouted as he looked left and right.

Swoosh!

A huge figure crashed on the center of their formation from above. It caused an explosion that blows everyone away.

"Argh! What happened?"

The rogue and other B-rank pushed themselves out of the ground. The impact of the explosion scattered their group. They don't even know where the C-rank members.

"Shit!"

The shielder stood up and saw a huge figure of a bear in the middle of a crater.

The bear was emitting a fierce aura that rivaled the third evolution monster they faced in the past.

The aura was so dense and thick that it looks like it was distorting the space when in fact it was only pushing away the weaker energy.

"The hell!!"

"Where did this monster comes from?!"

The shielder and his comrades looked at the bear with fear in their eyes. With their current situation, they don't have a chance to win against a third evolution monster.

The energy in her body gathered in both of her hands.

"Oi! Oi! This is no ordinary monster! This monster knows how to control its energy!" The shielder said when he saw the pure energy formed on the bear's arms.

ROAR!!

Yuko roared as she activated [Cat's Speed] and [Triple Muscle Strengthening] before she pounced towards the shielder.

She was going to show them the despair of fighting absolute strength.

Souta who was observing everything in the mid-air grinned.

"Crush their hope and smile. Leave only despair, Yuko."