《Soul Magician at The Apocalypse》


 The beginning (1)

    CH: 1


    Looking around, the body of water stretched endlessly along the horizon, in all directions.


    The gently blowing wind, the serene blue-colored water, the almost cloudless sky along with the hypnotizing sound of waves¡­ all of that formed a calming sea-song that drew away all the worldly worries.


    All of these elements combined, induced tranquility in the soul along with a warm sense of comfort that has a certain irresistible, breath taking magic to it.


    In this endlessly stretching sea, a fishing boat floated still on the body of water.


    At the rear side of the boats'' body, a youth was sitting relaxed on a chair. He was wearing a t-shirt and short pants that extended a bit below his knees. Attached to the chairs'' arm set he was sitting on, was a semi-translucent umbrella that shielded him from most of the yellow sun''s rays.


    He was leisurely reading a book while allowing the gentle, fresh breeze to blow against the exposed skin of his arms, legs and face. Some wind would occasionally slip inside his wide t shirt carrying away the sweat vapor and inducing a comforting, cooling sensation.


    Flapping the book pages, he reached out to a small table beside him, grabbing a small bottle of juice to take sip. However, upon lifting up the bottle, a sigh escaped his lips.


    Its light weight seemed to remind him that less than ten minutes ago, he had already drunk its entire content.


    With another sigh, he put the book aside and got up to bring another bottle.


    The moment he stood up, a sudden gust of cool breeze blew over, collided against his body, and permeating through his thin fiber, fluttering clothes and taking along all the remaining traces of worldly concerns, and bringing about a magical sensation, that one would wish for it to last forever.


    He immediately shut his eyes closed and spread his arms, welcoming the billow of cool wind, wanting to perceive it with all of his body.


    After few magical moments, the sudden wind went away, bringing an end to the serene moment.


    He opened his eyes, casting his sight over to the sea, allowing the breath taking scenery to settle in his memory. He briefly closed his eyes again and took a very deep breath, wanting to enhance the marvelous scene with smell and to capture the magic of this moment so that he would never forget it.


    To him, this was the first time he had seen the sea in his 22 years of life. In a few days, he would enter the jungle of life to struggle for survival. So, this was probably the last chance to relax and boast up his spirit.


    Although the impression this trip had left in him would definitely bring him back here again¡­ but, he had no idea when he would get the chance to do so, or even if ever.


    So, he wanted to imprint this wonderful painting in his memories, to recall it whenever life goes hard on him, to remind himself; that good things also exists in this life, that he shouldn''t allow the current of life to overwhelm him, and drain away his youthful spirit.


    Opening his eyes, he moved to the cabin. Another youth of similar age to him was laying sleep on the captains'' chair. Seeing this youth, he smiled, as a feeling of gratitude surged in his heart. This whole trip was thanks to this sleeping youth, both in idea and execution.


    They had graduated from college less than a week ago. And in no time, they would part ways, each following his own path.


    To Ramie, after over a decade of painstaking efforts, struggle, stress, and endless nights of studies¡­ this was the one time chance to catch a breath.


    Although his all out hellish efforts throughout his school life had eventually fallen short of his ambitions and dreams, he had done all that he could, but this was life¡­ one simply can''t get all what he wants... or deserves.


    And now, in a few days, he''s going to enter the struggle of life, to continue the fight.


    So this trip was something he direly needed but didn''t know he did, not until the sleeping youth had forced him to come along. For that, he was deeply grateful.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    He took out a bottle of juice from an ice box and walked back to his chair.


    Mid way however, he paused in his track¡­


    An abrupt a sense of chilling coldness spread through his body. His hair stood to end, his skin goose bumped all over his body, sending signals crazily to his mind, as though a ghost had just passed through him¡­


    ''What is this feeling¡­?''


    All of sudden, frightening sense of foreboding erupted in his heart, throwing his thoughts in disarray, and sending him in a state of bewilderment.


    ''This¡­?''


    Perplexed, he started looking around in confusion, looking for any sign of trouble that might have caused him such a feeling¡­ yet there was nothing out of usual.


    The sea was calm, the wind moderate and the boat was fine¡­ everything was¡­ Yet his heart did not calm down in the least, but instead, Palpating even harder.


    It was a sort of inexplicable feeling that has no basis for it. This was the first time this kind of feeling accrues to him, which made him feel great discomfort and frustration.


    The way he saw it, everything happens for a reason¡­ so, why did he had such bizarre premonition.


    Before he could think any further¡­ suddenly, his body shook violently as though he had been struck heavily from all directions at once. His vision blurred and an abrupt feeling of sharp pain drilled its way through to the core of his brain, making him feel as though thin needles were being stabbed into his head.


    "Urgh¡­!"


    Thud!


    A sound rang, but he was in no condition to care for it, he wanted to breathe the pain away. It had caught him unprepared. Even though it wasn''t the worst pain he had ever felt, but it was simply too sudden, catching him completely off guard.


    As he tried to regulate his breath, the pain started fading away, quickly¡­ before finally disappearing, just as inexplicably as it had arrived.


    Opening his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor. Apparently, this sudden occurrence had caused him to lose his balance, falling to the floor.


    However, at this moment, he started feeling coldness in specific spot at the back of his left hand, like a continuous surge of pulsating numbing sensation that was moving under his skin, like countless cold ants.


    He checked his hand by moving his fingers, making a fist and opening and closing it. yet, aside from this cold weird sensation there was nothing wrong with its functionality. He rubbed it with his right arm, but couldn''t feel the coldness with his right arm at all.


    ''What the heck just happened?''


    ''Is this a heart attack¡­? Not possible, I don''t have any heart problems!''


    ''Besides, this feeling is only limited to the back of my hand, not spreading to my whole arm.''


    ''But, if this isn''t heart attack, what else could it be¡­?''


    ''And what was that feeling of coldness? And the head pain¡­?''


    He rose up to his feet, using his hand to propel himself off the side rail. The entire thing left him in a state of confusion. He turned to walk to the cabin to ask his friend if this feeling was some sort of sea sickness or some other rare sea phenomenon, even though that he himself did not believe such a thing. But he needed to talk to someone right now.


    At this point, he really wanted to just go back to the mainland to go to hospital and have himself checked; this was serious and he was deeply creeped out by it. More ever, he had no idea what just happened to him? There were still traces of lingering fear in his heart.


    However, the moment his sight fell on the cabin, he saw the pale face of his friend looking back at him, devoid of any color; beads of sweat were all over his forehead, making his face shine with sunlight, his lips were trembling and a vivid trace of fear was obvious on his face.


    "Ramie¡­ did you heard it too¡­?" the now awakened youth in the cabin asked.


    Hearing that, Ramie felt a sense of dread stirs up in his heart. He was already in fear due to the earlier experience. And now, his friend seemed to have also been through something weird himself.


    ''Wait, hear it!? Heard what?''


    He was taken first, but then, he stared at the youth, wanting to capture every minute change in his expression, looking for any trace that indicates a prank or trick of some sort that his friend was playing on him. But there was none of such, his friend was genuinely scared. The feeling of fear started escalating in his heart, something was off! Something was definitely off!


    More ever, they were three days away from the mainland. Right now, they were alone in the sea; this made him feel unease.


    "Eric did you put something in the juice?"


    Although, he asked such question ¨C he already knew the answer for it; his friend was not the kind of person who jokes in such extreme ways. His friend most likely didn''t do it. But he still asked, hoping that this would be the case, so he''d at least get a clue of what was happening.


    Eric however shook his head, denying. Then, he noticed Ramie''s expression, before saying: "you¡­ what happened?"


    "I just felt coldness in my body and sharp pain in my head, then, I felled down on the floor¡­ Wait¡­ what happened to you?"


    Eric replied, still in fright: "I don''t exactly know. I had the worst, most realistic dream in my life¡­ am not sure it''s even dream or reality¡­ I heard this voice, talking about weird stuff! Damn, they were merely words¡­ but they made me scared like a frightened child."


    As Eric said so, Ramie could see that he was not lying, or playing tricks. It was obvious from his tone that he was genuinely terrified.


    Ramie felt chills in his spine¡­ what were the odds of both him and Eric going through something strange at the same time?


    "Eric! You spent few weeks in a fishing boat with your uncle. So, Could this be some sort of rare sea phenomenon or something?" Ramie asked expectantly, even though he didn''t believe it to be the case.


    "I don''t think so¡­ I never heard of such a thing."


    Ramie fell in deep though, pondering, ''could it be food poisoning? But we ate nothing but canned food and dried food so far, could it be¡­''


    "Eric! When you bought the food, have you checked the expiration date?"


    "Of course! There is no problem in that regard. I stored it well, and it could even last us a month: "Eric answered as a matter of fact, obviously certain on the matter.


    "Is it possible that the food was spoiled in the company before it was canned, or poorly stored from the shop you bought it from or something¡­?"


    "I don''t know, it''s a possibility¡­" Eric answered in hesitation, because if this was not the case, then, what was it¡­.


    Ramie gulped down, feeling worry in his heart. They were three days away from the land. In truth, although this was not the first time he suffers food poisoning, he had never heard of a case of food poisoning causing this kind of symptoms. Besides, shouldn''t food poisoning cases cause problems in the digestive system as well...?


    They had to wait three days before going to the hospital, due to the slow boat they had rented. So, ramie couldn''t help thinking that if this was the initial symptoms of the poisoning, assuming this was a food poisoning at all, then, for how far would their condition escalates in three days from now.


    He looked at Eric to make the obvious suggestion, but looking at him, it seemed that he had already reached a similar conclusion.


    Without a hesitation, Eric turned around and started the engine, wishing that he could order the sea to carry them back to the land this very moment.


    As the engine roared, the fishing boat started cutting its way through the water, at a rapid pace. At the moment, all traces of relaxation vanished away, and the vacation atmosphere vanished into smoke.


    At this time, none of them tried to initiate a conversation or small talk, each of them starting to recall and reprocess the earlier strange experience they had went through.


    ''I hope this is nothing¡­'' Ramie thought to himself, hoping.


    ¡­

 The beginning (2)

    Chapter 2: The beginning (2)


    After an entire day of sail, ramie was on the edge the entire time, expecting his health condition to complicate at any given moment.


    In this whole day, he spoke little to nothing to Eric, Spending all the time in silence, and only saying one word or two occasionally to check on Eric''s health condition for any change.


    Spending all the time in anticipation, and knowing that their condition might deteriorate in any moment, had left their mood in the bottom. But what else could they do? Except for hoping for the best¡­


    And when the second day arrived, with no change in their condition, no new symptoms, they finally breathed out a sigh of relief, Feeling that things might not be as serious as they had initially thought it was.


    However, they did not stop, and kept sailing.


    They still had no idea what had happened back there, and really wanted to have themselves checked, the sooner the better. Besides, they still had not a clue or guess as to why that happened to them in the first place, or the cause of it. And seeing a doctor might provide some answers.


    ¡­


    As time went by, with no change in his health condition, ramie finally relaxed a bit. Since his condition did not complicate during this period, then chances were that whatever had happened, it might not be as severe as he initially thought it was. At least for now, he knew that he could safely reach the hospital for a diagnosis without collapsing in the way.


    There were only few hours till they reach the land; Eric was in the cabin steering the boat, as for ramie, he was sitting at the back of the boat, spacing out, while looking at the sky and the sea merging together far in the horizon.


    At this moment, Ramie heard Eric talking on the transceiver with someone.


    After few minutes, Eric walked out of the cabin, a pondering look on his face.


    "Who was it?" Ramie asked.


    "The military! They want all the boats to head to the harbor!"


    "The military!?" Ramie was taken by this unexpected piece of information.


    "They said they are." Eric replied, also baffled himself.


    "Why?" Ramie asked.


    "I don''t know." Eric shrugged his shoulder, having no idea himself.


    Ramie thought to himself; these days were very weird; first, was the inexplicable, strange experience that he and Eric had went through at the sea, and now, the military was suddenly calling for all the boats to head for this harbor.


    At once, Ramie''s line of thoughts headed toward a certain direction.


    ''Was there another street riot happening, like the last time¡­? Not possible, even in the last time when the protesters went violent, smashing everything in their way, the police was still more than enough to handle the situation. So, even if the violent protests broke out again, this time, the police is sure to be well prepared for them, not taken by surprise like the last time¡­ So, why is the army involved now? Damn...! if it was the protests that caused the army''s intervention, then how far have things escalated to? Will curfew be imposed, if so, will we be able to reach the hospital?''


    Upon these kinds of thoughts, his mood turned gloomy.


    For the past decade, the political situation in the country was far from being stable, with one failing government coming after another. With no light in sight, all facts pointed toward a dismal future, especially in the last few months. Riots and protests were not a rarity anymore. It was no longer something to be seen in the news happening elsewhere, commenting on it and taking sides as ones like.


    This time around, it wasn''t only in the capital, but extending to few another cities, his city included. Though it wasn''t on a large scale, still, it started affecting his everyday life.


    But if things had escalated to the point where even the army was involved, then it means that the situation had gotten out of control.


    This was unexpected turn of event!


    Closing his eyes and leaning back on his chair, he blew out a breath, sighing deeply, and fearing what the future might be holding in the upcoming days¡­


    ¡­


    Far in the distance, the familiar, majestic sight of the city was unmistakable to the eye. If one was to look carefully into it, one could definitely see a forest of both semantic and metal made buildings that stood proudly, piercing through the sky in unyielding stubbornness.


    And now, finally, after a relentless sail for three days, they had at last reached the city. Now, they could finally go to the hospital to solve the mystery. They could also learn of the exact situation in the city and why was the army involved? And what was the reason for it, as well as the overall situation.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    However, even though the city had already entered his line of sight, there was no joy, no glee and no feeling of comfort on his expression, not even a trace.


    Staring at the city direction, ramie had a thunderstruck expression, his face pale as paper; a feeling of overwhelming trepidation filled his heart. as for Eric, he stared with eyes half stupefied- half dazed, as if not believing that this was reality, but a mere nightmare.


    Far in the distant, pillars of smoke could be seen rising from the city into the sky, echoes of rumbling sounds of explosions were carried to his hearing, at the same time, the burning smell of smoke wafted by his nose, carried by the breeze, even despite the long distance.


    Above the city, and upon careful examination, few helicopters could be seen, hovering back and forth, releasing continuous streams of high-speed moving laser-like projectiles¡­


    "This..."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Ramie''s though process jammed, overwhelmed by the ominous possibilities that was flashing across his dazed mind nonstop. Each one was worse than the latter. This was not a scene he expected to witness in his lifetime, and in his very city!!! Not even in his dreams.


    Rebellion!


    Infighting!


    War with another country¡­.!


    ...


    Countless possibilities flickered across his mind in a quick succession.


    "Not good¡­"


    Beads of cold sweat dripped down all over his back, his fear-grabbed heart, raced, and his frozen mind snapped awake from its reverie, spinning with all kinds of explanations as to what was going on.


    He was away for only about a week by now, but things seemed to have escalated beyond possible logic.


    Although, the protests had become normality by the time he went for the vacation, it was only on a limited scale, and was still far off from being a serious threat to the existence of the new government. Besides even the most extreme demands that the protesters had come up with, fell short from asking for the government to resign. And that was because everyone knew that these protests were nothing more than exerting a pressure on the newly established government to make some compromises on some long time demanded subjects. Since this new government''s existence was good for everyone, and there was really no alternative for it, even despite its flaws.


    So, even the craziest protesters did not want the government to fall, nor they had the ability to shake its foundation, since it had came to existence to soothe the dissatisfied, raging public as a form of compromise on the two biggest leading political party''s part.


    So rebellion seemed highly unlikely, besides, even if this was indeed the case, neither the army nor any other entity in the country would attack the people. Also, his country wasn''t currently in any dispute with the neighboring countries, least not one that causes a war!


    So, what was happening¡­?


    A sense of urgency rose in ramie''s heart.


    At this time, the engine sound of a boat came to his hearing, turning to look to the side, a military boat raising the country national flag was rushing toward them, and one of the soldiers on board ordered them to turn off the engine using a loudspeaker.


    Ramie''s heart tightened; at last, he was going to learn what has on earth happened in these few days¡­


    ¡­


    After checking their ID''s, and searching the boat, two soldiers had them sit in the back of the boat that they had rented, watching them, and waving them to sit still without making any movement, as if they were prisoners, while another soldier steered the boat, following the military boat to the harbor.


    The two soldiers were obviously in a very agitated state, refusing to answer any question, or even to speak any word, making Ramie feel very restless and nervous regarding what kind of catastrophe had struck this his country, or his city.


    When they finally reached the harbor, boats could be seen everywhere, with all sizes and types, floating on the body of water, docked, alongside the harbor. Their types and colors indicated that all of these boats were private boats.


    The vigilant two soldiers had them disembarked off the boat, handed them to two new soldiers, and ordering them to send them off to the refugees'' zone.


    Refugee¡­ zone¡­??


    Ramie and Eric were in daze the entire time, unable to comprehend the situation. The words refugee zone sounded very ominous to them, as if indicating a crisis had befallen the country, and forced people to relocate at a considerable scale.


    Both he and Eric remained silent, because whenever they as much as moved their lips, asking anything at all, the solders would bark at them repressively, making ramie''s thought process even more agitated and disturbed of what was really happening.


    The moment he had stepped off the boat however, his mind fell in disarray; the unceasing rumbles of intense explosions and firearms, the heavy smell of smoke that causes tears to flow out of eyes involuntarily, the number of the fully equipped soldiers moving about hastily with savage expressions, the military gears, vehicles, tanks, the occasionally passing helicopters on dangerously low altitudes, to the point that even the pilot could be clearly made out, and that''s not even mentioning the ear-piercing booming sounds of aircraft''s shattering through the sound barrier high up in the distance.


    The entire atmosphere was fright inducing, far beyond what the average person''s mentality could cope with; it was as if the entire world around him came down crushing, falling into a deep pit of hell.


    THIS WAS WAR!


    There was no other explanation¡­


    Ramie felt as though his entire existence has become exceedingly insignificant in front of the tremendous implication that the sight around was suggesting. He had seen too many documentary war movies in his life, and what was the fuel of war in each and every of them? Off course, what else it could have been other than the powerless, weak civilians!


    But if this was war¡­ then who was the aggressor!!!


    Though he had already heard the sound of explosions back when he was on the boat, but now that he was here, the reverberating thunderous booms of explosions just few kilometers away, was simply too shocking, causing the buildings in the vicinity to vibrate intensely, which made his heart miss a beat every time, and made him flinch, hard, after every explosion.


    But he kept walking, in response to the barks of the two soldiers behind him and Eric, every time one of them lagged a bit. He moved forth obediently with blank expression on his face. Passing by them, were the speeding war machines that were loaded with ''armed to the teeth'' solders to their limits.


    Solders that were standing up as guards could be seen in front of several building he had went by, turning the place into a military base.


    At this point, his stressed mind, started reeling at its max performance, shoving all the gloomy, useless thoughts to the side, struggling to break free from the loop of dark thoughts that swarmed his mind nonstop, sending him into a trance. So that at least he''ll have a room to know where to begin processing the situation.


    At once, he concluded that without knowing more about the situation, any further speculation would be useless, not unless someone explains the circumstances to him.


    His eyes regained some of its clarity and his mind started recovering its reason. His senses were boosted, surveying his surroundings, trying to catch any hint that might indicate the situation.


    However at this moment, just as Ramie started regaining his wits, trying to take the initiative, an imposing convoy of military vehicles passed by, on these vehicles, some soldiers were wailing like little children, some had dazed expressions on their faces, some wore a mask of hatred and anger as the stared at the back of the convoy, while others had frightened visage, making him agitated once more.


    After few military vehicles went by, a loading truck followed.


    However, when his line of sight fell on the truck, his heart almost jumped out of his chest, beating like a war drum, and trembling from the shocking sight that his eyes just perceived.


    It was simply too shocking, inconceivable by common sense.


    "This¡­"


    "..."


    Atop the load truck; laid, an unbelievably huge, blooded, and tattered corpse of creature that he had never seen, not in reality or in any form of media in his entire lifetime.


    The size of the thing was approaching the size of the truck that carried it; its thick tail was longer than a small car, the base of the tail was even thicker than some small cars, only slightly thinner than the body. Its large mouth was filled with rows and rows of long, pointed, savage looking teeth that could probably tear apart a car. It also had a wide and strong looking lower jaw, making it look like a mythical creature.


    The entirety of body was covered with chain-mail of interconnected gray-colored, pointy-ended scales that have a metallic glimmer to its edges.


    The overall appearance of the creature was more than enough to scare the adults witless, traumatizing them for life, and becoming the leading subject of their nightmares. It was the very definition of monstrosity. Especially with those small red eyes that had no whiteness in them, adding a full notch of indescribable atrocity to its appearance.


    Then, as ramie stared stupefied, another loading truck followed after, then another, and another, all of them, carrying a varying different types of abominable corpses no less horrifying the first truck''s load.


    At this moment, a question popped up from among the disarrayed, countless, flashing thoughts that streaked across his bewildered mind¡­


    "Just¡­ what in god''s name is happening here¡­?"


    ...

 The beginning (3)

    Chapter 3: The beginning (3)


    Under the angry roars of the two soldiers, ramie started walking again, like a mummy, utterly bewildered.


    Presently, Ramie''s mind went blank, finally giving up under the sheer pressure of the incomprehensible sequence of events that transpired in relatively short time, leaving him no chance to even process the situation.


    Feeling a hand grabbing on his shoulder, his mind suddenly snapped back to his senses, remembering that Eric was moving alongside him all along.


    He turned to look at Eric, only to see the ghost face of his friend. There was no trace of the liveliness that he was known for, only a rigid forced smile on an abnormally pale face.


    "¡­"


    "Eric¡­ you¡­"


    So far, it hasn''t been more than 15 minutes since they had stepped off the boat, but the anxiety and stress they had experienced in this short while of time was simply too overwhelming, making these minute seem like a very, very long time.


    Ramie didn''t ask Eric if he had seen the corpses on the load trucks, since it was really not possible to miss that.


    "¡­" opening his mouth, Ramie tried to say something to Eric, but couldn''t.


    Weakly, he could only nod to Eric, and letting out a breath when receiving the node back from him.


    Throughout these minutes, the movements of soldiers and all kinds of armored vehicles and tanks, never ceased on the streets they had walked through and at other branch streets along their path. The smoke from these war machines'' roaring engines filled the air, lingering in the nose, creating an imposing, live war scene that can cause ones heart to tremble with excitement, if one was ignorant of the situation and the implications of such a sight.


    After several minutes of walking, and taking few detours, the two soldiers lead them through a series of narrow branch streets, away from the grand sigh, and the noise of war machines, until they reached a very narrow short alleyway between two buildings.


    At the other side of the narrow alleyway, a stream of large mass of people could be seen moving toward one direction, just like the protestors did, no more than a week ago.


    Gulp!


    Ramie gulped down nervously upon the sight, and started feeling even more unease.


    This time around, unlike the previous protests, which were mainly comprised of raging and dissatisfied college students that wanted the whole world to learn of their just cause, this time around; crying children¡­ old men¡­ women carrying infants and toddlers¡­ people of all ages, were amassed together, marching, as fear and despair loomed above them like dark, gloomy clouds.


    They were just like the people seen in news evicting out of sites of natural disasters, or wars.


    There was a lingering air of anxiety and hopelessness about them, as they followed the direction the soldiers that were standing on both sides of the street were pointing at.


    None of the frightened civilians was lagging behind or trying to talk to the obviously distressed soldiers that were waving their hands to urge the people to speed up while occasionally shouting at the slow ones.


    Ramie felt heavy in his heart, as he moved forth with Eric, while the two solders followed behind.


    Reaching the end of the alleyway, the two soldiers sent him and Eric into the moving mass of people, before turning and retreating through the path they came from.


    Along with Eric, ramie merged with the masses, walking with them in the same direction.


    Ramie started looking around to find someone to ask, meanwhile, the wails of crying children were coming from the back and the front.


    Ramie sight immediately fell on a middle aged man who was walking next to him. He tapped on the man''s shoulder, anxiously asking: "What''s happening? Who''s the army bombing? What on earth has happened in past few days? Please, tell me¡­!"


    The man however did not respond, he didn''t even turn to look at him. He only pushed away his hand, and kept walking his way with an expression that was a mask of despair¡­


    "You! Can you tell me what''s happening¡­?" Ramie however did not bother about him, looking at another 30s something old man and asking.


    The second man however, also didn''t answer, appearing to be in daze.


    At this moment, Ramie felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning back, he saw Eric waving his hand toward a youth about their age, who was walking four peoples away to their left.


    Without delay, both of them squeezed their way through the crowd walking towards the man.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Can you tell me what''s happening¡­? Please! We have just arrived from a sea trip and have no idea of the situation¡­" Ramie asked anxiously.


    The youth looked at them, startled, for a moment, before arranging his thoughts, and saying in frantic tone, while waving his hands: "Vicious, nasty creatures¡­ man¡­!"


    The youth spoke in trembling voice, his tone emitting unconcealed fear, and his expression dismayed. Terror was vivid in his face, as he continued: "They''re invading everywhere¡­! And eating people like they''re nothing¡­! Even the police couldn''t stop them, and were eaten too¡­!" talking to this point, his trembling voice faded, trailing off, as a gruesome scene from his memory drifted back to his focus.


    Bang!


    Ramie felt as though a bomb exploded in his mind, as dread welled up in him like a tidal wave, chilling his heart into almost stopping.


    A myriad of thoughts flicker through his mind momentarily.


    However, before he or Eric could collect their thoughts, the youth recovered from his reverie, continuing his story.


    Soon, a bloody scene of a horror movie was vividly drawn in Ramie''s mind. It was completely unbelievable¡­ if it weren''t for the trembling hands of the youth and the terror-stricken faces of the people around. It really left him with no way around but to consider that this man''s story was nothing more than a nonsensical absurdity.


    Recalling the abominable, the huge corpses that the load trucks were carrying! It left his resisting mind with no way to dismiss this story.


    But still, this was way too much to take in, he and Eric didn''t settle for this man''s story, and kept asking around, wanting to dispel the horrifying, unbelievable image that the youth''s story had drawn in their imagination.


    Unfortunately, the answers they received only served to shock them nonstop.


    Soon, the answers from many people connected in his mind, forming a sequence of event that confirmed the youth''s story. Alongside the weird corpses he had seen, and the weird event he and Eric went through back in the sea, finally left him with no choice but to believe.


    It wasn''t possible that all of these people were playing tricks on him! Not in these circumstances! And not when the army was bombing his city!


    According to the people around, almost a week ago, and out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever; the people all across the country, and in other countries as well, suddenly had an inexplicable, abrupt pain in the head that caused them to lose their focus, resulting in horrible accidents everywhere with massive number of casualties falling due to this phenomenon.


    Location, age, gender¡­ none of that mattered, as long as you were awake; you''d suffer this abrupt pain.


    As for those who were sleep at the time of the weird occurrence; also all of them, and without any sort of distinction, heard a weird voice in their sleep, saying the very same thing, word by word.


    "¡­?!"


    An abrupt pain in the head that struck everyone who was awake! In the entire world¡­!


    A voice speaking the same words to everyone who was in sleep! Also, in the entire world¡­!


    What kind of occurrence was this¡­!?


    Could it be even explained¡­!?


    However this wasn''t even the worst part.


    Not long afterwards, vicious monster-like creatures of all types and sizes started invading the nearby cities, pouring in like unstoppable tide, trembling on everything, and assaulting any living thing on sight, be it humans or animals! All were targets¡­ All were preys¡­


    At that day, hell broke loose everywhere, with a variety of creatures, roaming around, assaulting anything that moves!


    People had to lock themselves in, wherever they were, houses, offices, shops and places of work. But even then, they were not completely safe, as when the streets were completely cleared out of people, the creatures started searching for preys everywhere.


    Not a place was completely secured, no one was safe.


    It was only when the military was deployed did the situation turned around a bit.


    The military started a campaign of search and destroy, slaughtering the creatures indiscriminately at sight, finally stabilizing the situation, and giving the people a chance to process the situation, reuniting with their loved ones, and licking their wounds.


    However, that did not last long. And in no time, a new variable come into play.


    A new type of creatures emerged, assaulting the military forces, and quickly throwing them into a disadvantage.


    At this point, the stories Ramie and Eric heard from the people became increasingly absurd and unbelievable, challenging his mind, and even simple logic.


    They spoke of creatures that were so immensely powerful, agile, and armored so heavily that they could receive direct hits from tank''s cannons, rocket launchers, missiles and aircraft bombardment! And comes out alive! Not just alive¡­ But according to some stories¡­ they came out unscathed! Without shedding not even a drop of blood!


    This shocked ramie speechless¡­


    This was completely unbelievable! How could a living thing made of flesh and blood survive these kinds of destructive explosions?


    Aircrafts bombardments were known for having the destructive power to level up entire blocks, killing every living thing, and blasting apart even buildings into smithereens.


    Even a tank¡­ no! Even a group of the most advanced tanks would turn into molten scrap under this kind of assault!


    Was he supposed to just believe that living creatures of flesh and bones could resist that!


    But the problem was that some of the people he had asked claimed that they had witnessed this kind of occurrence taking place with their own eyes, speaking of even more unbelievable feats these creatures had pulled!!


    A guy for an example said that he had seen a flying creature larger than a house bringing down an entire building with a single breath of fire!!


    Someone else said that he witnessed a creature tearing apart a tank, biting it into scrap!!


    How could ramie blindly believe these crazy stories¡­?


    Were such feats even possible!


    This was beyond his imagination.


    The issue was however, these people were in no condition to make up stories, they didn''t look crazy, and they were completely serious, absolutely sure of what they were saying. More ever, they genuinely looked terrified¡­


    And the problem was that Ramie did not hear this kind of talk from just one person, but from many! One of them was a police officer. More ever, they were not conveying a rumor they had heard, but something they had witnessed with their own eyes.


    Did everyone just go crazy? Were they exposed to some chemical attack that made them see illusions?


    That was what he wanted to believe! The problem however, the army was indeed here, bombarding something. Also he did see abnormal corpses.


    So, was he supposed to throw these stories aside, ignoring them? Was there any need for these people to lie to him?


    But if these stories were really true, then calling these creatures ''vicious'' was a misleading understatement.


    These things were the very definition of the word ''monsters!''


    But still, even despite his reluctant mind, he had no choice but to consider that this was the reality! And act accordingly.


    Afterward, and according to the stories of people; the soldiers kept fighting and retreating from city to city, while evacuating what they could of civilians at the same time, until they reached here.


    At this point, the army was not fighting to regain lands, but was fighting to keep its on footing, because if this situation was to continuous, then the army forces alongside the retreating people would be pushed to the sea.


    Leading to how this current situation had come to be.


    Realizing the severity of the situation, his heart was picture of gloom; heavy atmosphere soon dominated his soul, shrouding him like a mist, making him really blend in with the people around him.


    Now he knew why those people appeared to be in such despair.


    A lot of these people had come from another nearby cities, occupying the empty buildings that the original residents had left for the refugee camp in the east side of the city when the army established it first. And now that the army was retreating, the army started evicting them from these buildings, sending them to the east side too.


    Since these people had come from other cities, they must have been in contact with these horrifying existences, witnessing the whole thing.


    No wonder they were so terror-stricken!


    The situation was really unsalvageable.


    If everything the people that he asked said was true, and if these frightening creatures kept their current pace of attacks, then they would really run out of ground to retreat to.


    At this moment he understood why the military wanted the boats so bad.


    Apparently the military was preparing for the worst case scenario.


    Didn''t that mean that the military wasn''t sure of winning this battle? And if the army really lost, and decided to retreat using these boats, then what would happen to him and the people around¡­?


    Because, even when the military forces that were fighting few kilometers away from them had disregarded everything, using their entire arsenal of destructive weapons to bring down an entire building blocks on these creatures , they were still unable to even hold their own ground, continuously retreating back.


    Then¡­ what was he, a civilian, supposed to do...!?


    Was there even away out¡­!


    As he fell in deep silent, contemplating his situation, the cold sensation at the back of his left hand suddenly intensified, reminding him of an unbelievable fact, a one that was pushed to the back of his mind under the dire implications that the current situation was moving toward.


    It was the voice in the dream, that Eric, and apparently everyone sleep at the time of the event had heard.


    More specifically; it was the words that have been spoken¡­! The way they were spoken¡­! And the intense emotions behind them¡­!


    ...

 Chapter 4: The voice

    Chapter 4: The voice


    [ Sight!


    "Is this destiny¡­?"


    "No¡­! It doesn''t matter¡­ I can''t just give up¡­"


    "Everyone, listen up¡­! The gate was torn open!"


    "There is nothing I can do now¡­"


    "I''ll lift the restrictions off the life energy on your bodies!"


    "I''ll unseal the array and distribute the magic artifacts, to those who have magic talent"


    "Use your life energy, strengthen yourselves!"


    "Use your magic artifacts, comprehend their spells!"


    "Use life energy, use the magic artifacts, use them to fight back!"


    "Fight! Kill these damned beasts!"


    "Seize their cores, ignite your life energy!"


    "Seize their magic cores, level up your artifacts and unseal the spells!"


    "Use the modern day weapons!"


    "Use whatever you can!"


    "Defend yourselves!"


    "Survive!


    Survi¡­


    s¡­


    ¡­


    . ]


    "This¡­"


    When Ramie had heard these words from the people he asked, he immediate confirmed it with Eric; turns out, these were the exact words Eric had heard.


    Ramie didn''t even know what to think at this point anymore¡­


    What sort of occurrence is this¡­?


    For that many of people to dream of hearing the exact same thing¡­? Across the distances? And in the same time?


    It was unprecedented!


    It was something the common sense that he was raised up into had no answer for¡­


    His mind really stood helpless, unable to come up with any reasonable explanation.


    Apparently, whoever had heard this voice¡­ had also felt the emotions behind these words, vividly!


    The sadness, the helplessness and the remorse this voice had carried¡­ also, the anger¡­ People had felt it all, as if these emotions were transmitted to them along the words, directly into their hearts, making anyone who had heard the voice feel a vivid fear and a horrifying foreboding sense of doom, that the speaker of these words had felt, as if something beyond what words could describe had stepped into this world, eyeing their very souls with insatiable greed.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    This left Ramie flabbergasted.


    There was no way for him not to make the obvious connection.


    The voice in the dream, which obviously belonged to an adult male, had mentioned beasts, and hours later, out of nowhere ¨C these creatures appear!


    More ever, the voice, spoke these words in a warning tone! Foreseeing the aggressive nature of these creatures, saying words like; fight! Survive! Defend yourselves!


    It was obvious at this point that whoever spoke these words, had definitely knew this would happen!


    So, who was this man that spoke these words? More ever, how did he even know this would happen!


    And if the speaker knew this much¡­ could he also knew what these creatures were? Where did they come from? And how on earth could they possess this kind of terrifying strength?


    Also, the voice had spoken of other things, like; life energy, unsealing arrays¡­ magic artifacts¡­ what did he meant by that¡­?


    However, it was undeniable that the speaker was right about the creatures. So, wouldn''t that mean that he is right about the other things he mentioned?


    He additionally spoke of some kind of gate being torn open!


    So, were these events related to this gate¡­? And if so, then how exactly?


    Also, how in the world did this fellow managed to get his voice to the people and through dreams nonetheless?


    Ramie was sure that there was no current technology capable of pulling off such a feat.


    As he walking on, his mind reeled with thoughts, question upon question flickered across his mind nonstop.


    He knew that no matter how hard he thinks now, the situation would remain the same¡­ Not to mention that a monster-like creatures¡­ real monsters! That not even the army could stop! Were probably heading this way¡­


    But he couldn''t just stop his mind from spinning with these thoughts.


    Slowly, the pure negativity of the situation started overwhelming him a bit by bit, throwing him into despair like most of the people around.


    Looking at Eric next to him, it was apparent that he was not faring too well, probably thinking of his parents; which lived in one of the nearby cities that were first to be attacked.


    Now that there was no phone signal, there was no way for him to check on them, to see if they managed to evacuate to this city alongside the army or had remained stuck there, or even if they were among the unlucky lives that was lost during the initial creatures ''s onslaught.


    Thinking to this point, Ramie''s mood plunged even further.


    His aunt, the only family he had, was living in this city. And although this place had not been assaulted by these creatures at first, but now that these ferocious creatures were advancing this direction, there was no way of telling that this place too won''t be overrun by them any moment now.


    Beside, the military didn''t want the civilians to obstruct their operations, as such; they gathered all the people of this city as well as the evacuated civilians from the nearby cities and move them to the east side of the city, where it had turned into a large refugee camp.


    Right now, all the original inhabitants of this city had been relocated there.


    As for those around him, all of them were evacuated from the other nearby cities.


    So the problem was, with such large concentration of people in relatively small area, how in the world would he locate his aunt? Especially that there was no phone signal right now.


    Slap!


    Feeling overwhelmed with negative thoughts, Ramie slapped himself to regain focus. But even though he did so in public, no one even paid attention to him.


    Right now, everyone was lost in his own matters to care for him.


    Ramie tapped Eric on the shoulder, as a form of support. However Eric only gave back a hollow smile then resumed back into his trance.


    Ramie could only smile bitterly in response.


    Eric was the sort that took life way to lightly; he was the only child to his parents, so they poured their all into him, making him have a very easy life.


    His life was paved on to him before he even get to high school, and he didn''t have to struggle for anything, spending his days in a very carefree manner as he happily followed the path drawn to him by his parents.


    His entire life revolved around his parents, so if anything was to happen to them, he would probably not even know what to do with his life.


    So, the impact of this event was especially hard on him.


    Seeing his complexion, Ramie knew that there is nothing he could say to Eric at the moment that can alleviate his mood.


    Right now, it has been only a bit over 40 minutes since they disembarked off the boat. However, due to the many shocks he had gone through, Ramie felt very exhausted at the moment.


    But he could only grit his teeth and keep walking forward.


    Currently, the evacuated people were walking on the middle of the street, which was one of the widest main streets in the city. On both the right and left side of the street, soldiers were standing in a long two line that extended along the street, with a distance of 15 to 20 meters between every two soldiers, while people move between the two lines of soldiers.


    Some of the people that were too tired to continue were allowed to move out of the line, and sit at the side road to pick up their breath.


    However only elders or those with children got such privilege, as for everyone else, they could only endure and keep walking. As even if they tried to say or ask anything from the soldiers, the only responses they''d get were a loud shouts of: "go back in line!" or"keep walking!"


    Through the branch streets and alleyways, military vehicles could be seen parked at the other end with armed soldiers, standing alertly, and making sure that nothing sneaks past them into the main street.


    Right now, other than few specific areas, there was no safe place within the city.


    As the military was engaged in a savage battle against the strong types of creatures to maintain its footing, there was no room to secure the entire city and face these creatures at the same time.


    So, since the military pushed the majority of its forces into the battle, the rest of soldiers were concentrated only in the key places to maintain order, and to protect the civilians.


    Thus, instead of securing the entire city, the army had opted to secure specific controlled areas and gather the survivors there.


    As for the rest of the city, there was no telling what was lurking in its dark corners, as there was many weak and small types of creatures that could easily sneak in, hiding in the city. There was also flying types that could simply bypass the lines of defense by flying and sneaking in from other less protected directions.


    The military didn''t have the luxury of defending against all possibilities, they couldn''t protect everyone.


    This was the cruel reality of the situation.


    Being raised in this city, Ramie was familiar with its streets and routes. He estimated that it would take less than an hour before he reaches the east side where his aunt was, along with the other city inhabitants and refugees.


    Looking up to the sky, the sun was falling toward the horizon. Only two hours were left before the sun departs, letting the night descends.


    Ramie''s unease started growing further and further.


    Even though he estimated that he''d arrive at the temporary camp before night falls, but the horror stories that he had heard really got to him.


    The scenes of people being torn apart alive was not something easy to be forgotten. And it that was reflected vividly on the faces of the people who had witnessed these scenes, bringing a deep fear into his heart, even though he hadn''t seen it himself. But the descent of the night served to further enhance the fear in his heart!


    But what is there to be done!


    Letting out a heavy burdened sigh, he could only grit his teeth and keep walking.


    Time went on, minutes ticked by slowly, with only a little less than 20 minutes left before he reaches the camp.


    At this moment however, a sudden successive sounds of screams rang from behind, in the distance.


    His heart palpating, Ramie immediately turned back to look!


    And his heart skipped a beat¡­


    An unbelievable scene entered his eyes!


    "This¡­ can''t be happening¡­"


    ...

 Chapter 5: The flying beasts attack

    Chapter 5: The flying beasts attack


    What welcomed his eyes - was the sight of thousands of dark silhouettes flapping their wings crazily, and heading toward this direction, as though they were starved predators, rushing after seeing their preys.


    Seeing this sight and understanding the implication behind it, Ramie''s heart instantly fall into the bottom of abyss, as his face became completely ashen.


    His mind didn''t even hesitate a moment in dismissing the fact that these flaying figures were birds!


    For what led these things ¨C was a gargantuan flying silhouette with a size, way beyond what any living creature on earth should have! Also, small figures followed the large thing, and they came in a very large numbers!


    And worst! These creatures did not dive down and go for the military forces; but flew right above them, coming directly for the large concentration of people


    At once, cries of fear and alarm rose everywhere like a tide, causing a chaotic scene to break out at once.


    Almost all of these people were evacuated from nearby cities, witnessing the initial onslaught of the creatures and the atrocities with their own eyes, the horrifying scenes were still fresh in their minds!


    "WE''RE GONNA DIE!!! WE''RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"


    "AHHHHHHH!!!"


    "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"


    "SAVE YOURSELVES!!!"


    "WE''LL ALL BE EATEN!!!"


    Immediately, the situation exploded with chaos, and witless fear soon overwhelmed the hearts.


    At once, all the people in the street started running in the camp direction; discarding everything they carried, wanting to leave this place as soon as possible.


    With so many people, frightened out of their minds, and charging at one direction, soon, a human wave was formed.


    The frenzied human wave momentum skyrocketed in a moment, inducing a tsunami of running people that wanted nothing more than to get away from here, as everyone here had either seen or heard of the tragic fate that befalls whoever gets caught by the clutches of these things.


    The wave started swallowing the weak, the young, the old, and tramples them to death. Whoever trips, or is pushed down, will be trampled to death by the hysterically running people, thus lose his life even before these things gets here.


    The soldiers responsible for protecting and maintaining order couldn''t do anything towards this huge mass of running people. In fact they themselves started running toward the camp.


    The horrible situation at the military defensive line was no secret to the civilians, let alone these soldiers. And the collapse of the defense line was only a matter of time. As such, these soldiers were not stupid enough to stick around.


    The military field commanders stationed a bit behind the defense line, also saw the flying beasts.


    But, instead of attacking, they gritted their teeth, and ordered the soldiers no to shoot at the flying creatures, and let them pass over.


    They themselves were already in way over their heads, having to deal with abnormally strong beasts.


    At this point, if they were to shot at these beasts, and attract them to attack the defense line, then, they''d be involving themselves in inescapable situation, as they were already in way over their heads. This rout of action that was nothing short of bringing their own doom upon themselves.


    The flying beasts also sensed the pressure of battle at the front line, sensing that these preys were hard ones, they didn''t dive down, choosing instead to go after the easier, larger concentrated preys further ahead.


    Ramie didn''t hesitate not even for a moment, charging for the camp direction with his maximum running speed. Eric was even faster, overtaking him in moments, and running at speed that left ramie startled.


    Only seconds later; a soul shattering, miserable cries started coming from behind in quick succession!


    Incalculable sounds of inhuman, high pitched, excited screeches started coming from behind.


    "Screech!"


    "Screeeech!"


    "Screeech!!!!!"


    Ramie didn''t even need to look back to know what was happening.


    The desperate, mournful screams volume kept getting louder and louder, getting closer and closer.


    The large flying figure landed on a large building, and issued an ear-piercing screech that caused the running people''s ears to whistle in daze. Then it started overseeing the massacre committed by its kin bellow.


    At this point, ramie''s panic stricken heart was pumping more and more fear with every further beat, shooting up his Adrenalin level insanely.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "RUN! RUN! RUN!"


    His current running speed reached a completely new level, making him overtake the people ahead of him.


    The more he feared death, the faster he ran.


    In these moments, his imagination started running wild, promising him a gruesome, despicable death, if got caught by these things, making him run even faster.


    "Help!!"


    "Help me!!"


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"


    The massacre soon reached him, and the sorrowful cries of despair exploded all around him.


    Suddenly, a creature like nothing he''d ever seen, appeared in his field of vision. The creature was covered with a black-red colored feather, long snout with very short bone at the tip of the upper jaw, like a tip of spear, as well as a mouth filled with savage looking, outwardly protruding teeth.


    it dived down, grabbed a youth appearing to be at his early teen who was running few meters ahead of Ramie, sinking its sharp and bended claws into the youth''s shoulders in a grabbing motion, then with a flap of its wings, it soared back into the sky once more.


    "Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!"


    "HEEEEEEELP!!!"


    The youth issued a horror filled scream, with a childish tone that seeped deep into the souls of the people around, like stabbing needles, giving them an urge that welled up from the very foundation of their souls to risk their lives to protect, to save him from the inevitable gruesome death.


    Ramie was frightened by the scene, his heart almost seizing on the spot, making him forget how to breathe.


    Unfortunately, before anyone could react, the flaying beast was already tearing apart the teen''s neck, killing on the spot.


    Blood splashed down, as the beast carried away the corpse to the top of nearby building, and started his feast!


    The scene caused the hearts of the nearby people to shudder, losing their senses to a dominating, utter fright!


    As the high pitched screeches kept ringing nonstop from multiple sources behind, Ramie snapped back to his sense.


    In seconds, a storm of thoughts flashed across Ramie''s mind processing the situation, and leading him to a frightening conclusion!


    There was no way to reach the camp in time!!


    Not alive!!


    Even though the remaining distance could be traversed in less than 30 minute, if he kept sprinting at his current speed, but there was no way to get there on time. Not with these things picking people up at this speed. Not at this pace!


    Immediately, ramie acted upon these thoughts, decisively rushing to the side.


    He struck Eric on the back, exerting a considerable force in the blow, and shouting atop his lungs: "ERIC! THE ALLEYWAYS! HEAD TO THE ALLEYWAY!! WE WON"T MAKE IT IN TIME TO THE CAMP! WE HAVE TO HIDE! NOW!!"


    Ramie didn''t charge directly to the side, or else, if he was to collide with someone and fall to the ground, he would be trampled to death right there and then.


    Thus, after seeing that Eric responded to him, he kept running forward while moving closer to the side, a bit by bit.


    All The While, the mixed sounds of the screeches issued by the excited beasts, as they picked up their helpless preys, unhindered. And the frightened humans, as they ran frantically for their lives; created a symphony of death and despair that made people wish they were long dead, over witnessing this hellish sight! And living through these horrifying moments!


    As ramie inched closer to the right side of the street, a sudden wave of people came between him and Eric, pushing him to the left side, and separating him from his friend.


    The pushing force was irresistible, and Ramie couldn''t force his way against.


    He tried shouting, but the chaotic noise around was too loud, swallowing all other sounds.


    Gritting his teeth, ramie knew that he could only go with the wave.


    After reducing his running speed a bit, and after colliding with few people, he finally managed to dash out of the human mass.


    But, by this point, Eric was running over ten meters ahead of him, entering the alleyway.


    However, just as ramie headed for the alleyway,


    "SCREEEEETCH!"


    "SCREEEEETCH!!!"


    "SCREEEEETCH!!"


    Abruptly, five flying creatures descended at the right side of the street, on the sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the alleyway that Eric had just ran into, pinning few people to the ground, and starting their feast while screeching excitedly, not even bothering to kill them first.


    "AHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHH!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    A hellish, blood curdling screams of pain and sorrow rang nonstop, overflowing from all directions.


    At this point, the flaying creatures no longer cared to kill and carry the prey to safe places then start the feast, instead, and upon seeing the abundance and the weakness of these easy preys, they started hunting and feeding on the spot, not even bothering to finish the whole thing, but only going for the delicious parts of these soft prey before moving to another targets.


    Right now, between Ramie and Eric, stood five beasts, feasting.


    The people that were running ahead of Ramie, stopped in their track. Upon seeing the five beasts tearing apart the still alive humans under their claws, they went insane with fear, turned around, and charged to the other direction frantically.


    Seeing these people running toward him in frenzies, Ramie''s heart almost seized.


    Eric kept sprinting further and further, madly, not even turning to look back! Ramie gritted his teeth to the point of making clattering sounds, and clenched his fists!


    He knew that this was the right call in this situation, but he couldn''t shake away the bitterness he felt!


    There was no way to Eric not to hear the commotion right behind him; he also knew that Ramie was running behind, right where these beasts descended and attacked, but he still didn''t look back!


    Having no other choice, Ramie turned and dashed to the other side, with a very bad taste in his mouth.


    At this point, flying beasts descended everywhere, killing indiscriminately!


    Everyone at this moment reached the same conclusion! Reaching the camp a live at this rate was an impossible dream!


    Thus, people scattered everywhere, and ran to the buildings, shops, and to anything with a ceiling and walls that can hide them.


    Ramie managed to enter a branch street; tenths of people were running in the street in frenzies. Trying to get into buildings and shops, basically, any enclosed space would do at the moment.


    However, as people went, so did the beasts, that covered the sky.


    Death kept descending from above, wantonly harvesting lives!


    The problem was that most these building were closed, as for the stores; they had a glassy front that couldn''t even keep a man from entering, let alone these creatures!


    As Ramie was running toward a building, a flying beast descended at a woman running few meters ahead of him, picking up yet another poor soul!


    Ramie responded rapidly, turning to the side, toward a narrow alleyway.


    At this moment, a shrill inhuman cry sounded behind him, not too far away!


    He increased his running speed to the point that he could hear nothing but his explosively beating heart that was thumping so hard that it was a hair width away from rupturing inside his chest! As for his lungs, they were absorbing the air is short rapid gasps as if they were a thirsty man on the brink of death and had just discovered water.


    At this moment, he located in the alleyway two policemen trying to fully open a door to get inside, while few hands were extending from the inside, trying to pull it shut!


    Screech! Screech! Screech!


    The heart gripping screech sounded again, closer this time!


    A sudden feeling of unease exploded momentary inside his mind! Like a premonition of imminent doom!


    This was unquestionably the most intense feeling of imminent danger he had ever sensed in his live, to the point of almost seeing the dreadful face of death staring at him, anticipating harvesting his soul at any moment.


    Without any further thought, like lightning, he charged for the two policemen''s direction, grabbed the edge of the door with them, and pulled with all his might!


    "MOOOOOVE!!!!!!"


    He thundered like a wild beast, fueled with fright, his muscles exploding with the whatever left of his strength, straining his muscles beyond their limit, for every little bit of power he could muster.


    The two policemen also roared with anger;


    "Low lives!!! Open the DOOR!!!"


    "If we die, YOU WILL DIE TOO!!"


    Pulling at the same time, the three of them finally overpowered those who wanted to close the door shut, and the door was finally forced open.


    Ramie jumped in like a cheetah, crushing against someone who was standing behind the door, to the ground.


    The two policemen followed in. And just as the door was closed by someone, a fierce sound of collision came from behind, making the door vibrates violently due to the violent force!


    Bang!!!


    SCREEEEECH!!! Screech!! Screeeeech!!!


    The inhuman, high pitched screech of the irritated beast kept resounding outside the door.


    It lasted few moments, before disappearing.


    The creature had probably located and was going after some other unlucky souls.


    Ramie was at this moment gasping madly, inhaling massive amounts of oxygen in rapid, short breaths, as though this was the first time he discovers air!


    He was at his physical limits, his head buzzing with waves of pain, all his muscles sending crazy signals of ache.


    Collapsing to the ground, his lungs struggled to pull as much air as possible with every breath.


    Regaining his focus, he lifted his head, to see if there was another entrance that might allow these things to get in.


    Thud!


    The man he had crushed into, pushed him to the side, got up, and charged toward the stairs in frenzy. Other two men that were with this guy followed him.


    Those three were the ones trying to close the door shut.


    The screams outside kept ranging nonstop.


    At this moment ramie realized that he had gotten into a residential building from the side service door.


    "Follow us!"


    Just as ramie was getting up, one of the two policemen shouted to him in haste before following his colleague to the stairs.


    Ramie jumped up, and charged after them, as they made their way to the second floor, running like madmen. Even overtaking the man that ramie had crushed into, the one that started charging up the stairs before them.


    Run! Run! Run!


    Despite his exhaustion, Ramie folded the stairs in few jumps. Fear was a very strong motive after all.


    Right now, only one thought dominating Ramie''s mind.


    ''Will I live beyond this day¡­?''


    ...

 Chapter 6: New reality

    Chapter 6: New reality


    "This door is open!"


    Running into the second floor, the two policemen went into the first unlocked door they come by.


    Ramie followed with haste.


    "Help me barricade the door!"


    The moment they got in, one of the policeman locked the door, spoke urgently, and then ran toward the living room.


    Ramie and the other policeman followed.


    They started lifting the furniture and placed it behind the door. The couch, chairs, tables, they used anything that had a considerable weight in it, placing it behind the door.


    Finishing barricading the door, ramie and the two policemen went silent; listening nervously for any sound coming from behind the door, that might indicates a creature had managed to get into the building.


    Luckily, after few slow passing, agonizing moments, nothing happened.


    They finally got to breath in relief.


    Ramie and the two policemen looked at each other, only to see fear reflected in each other''s face.


    The brutal onslaught was ongoing outside. Cries of horror and despair were clamoring nonstop.


    At once, the three of them hurried to the window.


    "Don''t move the curtain too much! If these things spot us, they might come through the window!" one of the policemen spoke, in distress.


    Ramie pushed the corner of the curtain slightly, creating a small opening, then, he started looking outside.


    The scene was chaotic beyond description, frightening beyond words.


    screeech!


    Screeeeeeech!!


    SCREEEECH!!!


    Now, there were more creatures outside. Descending and hunting wantonly, and feeding on the spot with great excitement, almost not believing the softness and abundance of these weak preys.


    Ramie''s heart was grabbed with witless fear, as he witnessed these creatures running amok between people, like wolves among helpless sheeps.


    Aside from running around in frenzies, looking for an open door to jump into, the people couldn''t do anything, except for waiting to be picked by the claws of death.


    It was as if these creatures were the natural predators of humans!


    Ramie let the curtain slide back, covering the opening.


    He leaned with his back against the wall, and slide down to the ground slowly. His mind utterly dazed.


    He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, his thought and emotions were in utter chaos.


    Breathing heavily, he tried to recover his focus, and adjust his emotional and mental state!


    This was not something he expected to live through, not even in his darkest nightmares.


    He knew this was happening, and his eyes were the witness for it, his heart however, couldn''t accept it!


    Just few hours ago, he was worried about a protests going violent, and the inconvenience it might cause to him. Now however... he wasn''t sure that he could live to see the sun of tomorrow!


    This turn of event was simply too radical! Occurring too fast!


    The drastic change was beyond what he could cope up with!


    His mind was in turmoil.


    These scenes were tenths of times more intense than his entire lifetime worth of tough days, hardships and sufferings, combined!


    It was on a completely different league!Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Even though he had gone through the experience himself... but he still found it too overwhelming to accept!


    When did he ever see so much blood in his life!


    So much death, gruesome and brutal deaths, he who didn''t even kill a chicken!


    It was beyond his most extreme definition of hell!


    But this was not dream! It was reality!


    His reality!!


    ¡­


    As the night descended, it swallowed the light of the day.


    A strong wind bellowed madly through the dark, gloomy and desolates city streets, sounding as if it was howling and weeping for the tragic fate that awaited humanity.


    Unlike before, there was no sign of human activity, no moving cars, nothing¡­


    The atmosphere was exceedingly heavy, oppressive and suffocating.


    The thick smell of blood filled the place!


    The remaining of corpses were littered everywhere.


    Inside a dim apartment, sat three men in a heavy and bleak atmosphere.


    They were precisely ramie and the two policemen.


    Howl!


    Howl!


    screech!


    The occasional sounds of the creatures were coming from different places outside!


    The hellish massacre noises outside had ceased to sound hours ago.


    As for now, other types of creatures had come for the abundant meat lying in the streets, and started feasting in greed.


    The military forces at the front line had retreated shortly after the descended of the flaying creatures.


    But by that time, there wasn''t much left to save.


    They had retreated through the wide street that the people were being evacuated through, which was few streets away from this building.


    Despite their unwillingness, ramie and the two policemen were not impulsive enough to leave the apartment to the monster infested streets. Thus, they missed the chance to join the retreating forces.


    Although initially, they had tried to leave the building¡­ but the sight of the few anxious people attempting to sprint their way to the retreating force, only to end up as meals to the large number of creatures that were constantly assaulting the convoy, was of great deterrence to them.


    Thus, they returned back to the apartment, and barricaded themselves again.


    Now it was past midnight, and the only sound coming from outside other than the howling wind, was the occasional inhuman cries every once awhile.


    Neither Ramie nor the two policemen said a thing during the night. Each one of them was lost in his own thoughts.


    The apartment was dark and gloomy as the power went off days ago. The only source of light was coming from a lighter''s led flashlight that one of the policemen had found in one of the counters drawer in the kitchen.


    The light however was very dim, almost negligible.


    But the three of them were staring at it as if it was a lifeline, just like the security blanket children have. None of them dared to divert his eyes from it, for the fear that dark might devour them!


    As the terrifying, soul-shaking howls kept coming from outside in this abnormally bleak night, as the desolate, gray wind blew, and as the gloomy darkness swallowed the entire room, all of these factors created a dreadful, suffocating atmosphere of fear that caused Ramie''s old childish fears to creep back to his distressed heart, threatening to peel off his waning composer and throwing him into a state witless fear.


    Ramie had never felt this horrible in his life before this day.


    Howl!!!


    A sudden cry of a creature that sounded very close to the building blared.


    Ramie flinched hard, jumping up anxiously, his heart almost leaping off his chest. The other two policemen reacted in the same manner.


    Howl!!!!


    Howl!!!


    Howl!


    The howling sound went further and further away, until it completely disappeared, fading within the weeping wind.


    Ramie finally breathed.


    The creature didn''t break into the building, but went away¡­


    Today... might not be the day he dies...


    Time went on slowly¡­


    The dim flashlight went off¡­


    Fear, anxiousness, distress¡­ all of these negative thoughts were magnified...


    It was now pitch black inside the apartment.


    The three of them sat closer to each other.


    This night felt especially long...


    As the dawn approached, the monster roars became less and less frequent.


    Time passed on¡­


    Finally¡­ the first ray of light shone through the edges of the curtains, illuminating the apartment a bit, along with their hearts, and chasing away the dreadful dark atmosphere that had reigned throughout the night¡­


    Ramie''s heart finally loosened a bit, making him fall asleep almost immediately on the ground, or losing consciousness, he could not tell...


    He was exhausted both mentally and physically beyond his limits. And if it wasn''t for the intense fear in his heart, he might have lost his conscious long ago.


    ...


    Opening his eyes, ramie got up in daze.


    Instead of his warm, soft bed; he woke up on a hard, cold and somewhat dusty floor.


    Even though he had just waked up, his body was still tired, and the muscles all over his body ached. He was still feeling a bit weary.


    Slowly, the events of yesterday surfaced back in his mind, in a heartbeat, reminding him of the precarious, dire situation he was in the middle of.


    "So¡­. It wasn''t a dream¡­"


    He felt bitter.


    But what could he do!


    Ramie didn''t get up immediately.


    A while went by¡­


    The middle-aged policeman woke up first. And seeing that ramie was awake, he sat up, saying: "are you... OK?"


    Ramie nodded his head, then said; "... and you?"


    The policeman gave an empty smile in response. Then said; "you can call me lance!"


    "Ramie!" Ramie replied in a tired voice.


    The policeman wiped his face with his hand, saying; "you live in this city?"


    "Yes."


    "Oh! Good!" the policeman was surprised, for as far as he was concerned; all the inhabitants of the city had been relocated to the east side early on.


    "So you know your way around?"


    Ramie nodded in acknowledgment.


    They fell in silence for few minutes.


    Ramie felt gloomy at the moment.


    He knew that the only way to live through this was to go to the camp! Where the military forces had retreat to.


    But this also meant that they had to go ''out'' of the building and ''into'' the streets, where the creatures were!


    And judging by the terrifying howls and roars he had heard throughout the night, he didn''t need anyone to tell him how grave the situation outside was! He didn''t wish to see what kind of monstrosities could unleash these kinds of terrorizing sounds.


    And now, to reach the camp he had to get through these streets!


    And that''s wasn''t even the worst thing¡­


    Because it was known by now that these creatures seem to always go after places with the highest population concentration.


    And by now, almost a million of souls were stationed in the evacuation camp in the east side of the city.


    Meaning that he had to move on foot through these streets not knowing when and from where something might jump up on him! And go the place most likely to be surrounded by areas infested by the creatures that even the army couldn''t handle!


    Ramie felt heavy in his heart.


    Without turning his gaze to him, he asked the policeman: "are you thinking of going to the camp?"


    "...no!" the policeman answered after some hesitation.


    Ramie was taken by the unexpected answer: "why?"


    "As you have probably heard by the rumors, these things always go after the areas with the largest population. And when overrun the place, they moved to the next area, then the next, up until the next city!"


    The policeman paused for a while, then spoke in a weary tone: "so, by now, most of these things must have already gone to the east side where the people are." he looked directly at ramie. "So, tell me. Who in the right mind would go there? And even if you want to! Is it even possible...?"


    Ramie fell silent at these words, he had already figured this much!


    Going to the camp in this timing...? It wasn''t short of suicide.


    But now he was trapped in this apartment! And these creatures were roaming the outside unhindered!


    He couldn''t go to the camp at the moment! But also couldn''t just wait here as the threat of a creature barging in on them was more than possible.


    So, what was he supposed to do?


    More ever there was something else more urgent than going to the camp¡­ which was food and water!


    Growl!!


    Thinking of food, his stomach immediately voiced its protest, loudly.


    Right now, he was hungry, very hungry! The events of yesterday had taken its toll on his energy.


    He also felt dehydrated, and was in an urgent need of water!


    The last time he ate or drank was yesterday in the boat. Other than that, he was in no condition to pay attention to this matter, as he was occupied being shocked nonstop by the sequence of events yesterday.


    But now that he had gotten some sleep, and wasn''t in immediate danger, the need for food and water moved up his list of priorities.


    Besides, he had realized that the lack of food was the most likable reason for the weariness and headache that he was currently feeling, maybe. As such, he needed to get his hands on something to eat as soon as possible, to regain some of his energy.


    Ramie got up with some difficulty, and started walking to the kitchen.


    Right now, he wished for nothing but to get some food and water.


    ...

 Chapter 7: Imminent danger

    Chapter 7: Imminent danger


    As Ramie walked to the kitchen, the policeman gave him glance, and then resumed staring at the ground, lost in his own thoughts.


    The other policeman woke up at this moment, and started looking around absentmindedly. Obviously, still half awake, half asleep.


    Ramie sighed, and walked into the kitchen. He headed straight to the refrigerator.


    Yesterday, he and the two policemen weren''t sure that they''d live past the night. So food and water wasn''t high up in their lists of concerns.


    Now however, with no immediate danger on their lives, there was no room to ignore the issue anymore, as their own physical and mental functions were dependent on it. And obviously, staying at optimum condition was very necessary, considering their gloomy situation.


    As Ramie opened the refrigerator, he wasn''t welcomed by the expected cold, fresh air. Instead, it was the rancid smell of rotten food.


    It wasn''t weird, considering that the power went off days ago.


    Ramie felt disappointed. He started searching the counter drawers, and shelves for a while, hoping to find something to eat.


    To his dismay however¡­nothing was found.


    He felt bitter, and started regretting all the times that he thrown a good food in his life. Not only that, but he started remembering them all.


    Shaking his head, he walked back to the living room with lowered shoulders.


    "There is no food or water in here¡­" he spoke in a weary tone before sitting back in his spot.


    The now awake policeman displayed a bitter expression on his face.


    He waved in Ramie''s direction, to draw his attention, before saying: "nothing? Nothing at all¡­?"


    "Nothing!" Ramie replied, wryly.


    "Am Neil by the way." the policeman said to Ramie in dispirited tone, after a while of sighing nonstop.


    "Ramie!" Ramie answered.


    "Did you look everywhere?" Neil, the policeman asked again, unwilling to accept this fact.


    Ramie shook his head in dejection.


    Sigh!


    The middle aged policeman, Lance, issued a long, heavy sigh: "we have to get food and water first! As for what to do afterward¡­ we can think of that later."


    Ramie felt heavy in his heart, the inevitable has come. As to get food, there was no choice but to go out of the apartment.


    If they were to find food in other apartments, it would be the best scenario. But if there wasn''t, or if it was already spoiled, then it means that they''ll have to go out to nearby stores to get supplies.


    Meaning that... they''ll have to go into the streets, out in the open!


    ''But what other choice is there¡­''Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Taking a deep breath, Ramie asked: "there are few sharp tools in the counter drawer that we can use in case anything happens! I think we should look first in the other apartments before going to outside."


    Speaking to this point, Ramie remembered that before he or the two policemen goes into this building, others had, before them. He had seen three men himself, the ones that were trying to pull the building door shut on them. But, it didn''t mean that others hadn''t got in here before them.


    He couldn''t forget how those three had tried to close the door on them, and leave them outside. He could understand the reason behind that action, as they were trying to prevent anything from getting into the building that can threaten their lives. But he still couldn''t accept it, as they were letting others die to save themselves. And in this situation, he was the others!


    He thought to himself, if they were willing to go this far to themselves, would they share the food they find!


    At this moment, the middle aged policeman, Lance, stood up, and looked at both Ramie and Neil: "we should go search in this floor''s apartments. If we can''t find a thing, then we''ll to go to other floors. But keep in mind, there are others here. So, try not to startle them. And try not make any sound."


    Lance continued: "the problem is that we don''t have not even one bullet! So we should arm ourselves first with the knifes you''ve mentioned, and anything else that could be used as a weapon."


    Both Ramie and Neil nodded, agreeing with him.


    Then, the three of them went to the kitchen to pick up whatever that could be used as a weapon.


    ¡­


    After few moments, they quietly left the apartment, tip-toeing their steps to the other apartments in the same floor.


    Unfortunately, all the doors were locked, except for one apartment. So, they went in and searched for food and water. But in the end it was still the same, and they didn''t find anything at all.


    At this point, there was no choice but to try other floors.


    Standing next to the stairs; Ramie stood holding a relatively large sized screw driver.


    After Lance took the meat knife with the thick blade, and Neil took the other good knife, Ramie was left with the salad knife, which was utterly useless with its long handle and short, thin blade, which he wouldn''t trust against a chicken, much less a beast.


    Luckily, Ramie had seen the long screwdriver when he searched the kitchen for food the first time. And now he ended up with the best stabbing weapon among them.


    Standing next to him, was Neil. Both of them were holding the rail in alert, waiting for the signal from Lance that was ahead of them, scouting the third floor.


    Ramie had learned from Neil that Lance was an elite former soldier, while Neil was a newbie policeman, who had joined the force only months ago.


    And that was the reason why Lance took the lead to scout the third floor first ahead of them, while they stayed at the stairway, waiting for his signal.


    After making sure that everything was fine, Lance waved them to follow.


    Making his way to Lance with Neil walking alongside him, cautiously, Ramie noticed that there were two open doors, which stirred up his hopes again.


    At first, they decided to go down to the first floor, but Lance changed his mind at the last minute. His reasoning was that if a creature was to infiltrate the building, then the first floor would be the most likable place for it, as they didn''t have the time to scan if there was another open door or a window in there when they got to the building in the first place.


    That was more than enough of a reason to convince them. Besides, it was Lance who was doing the scouting anyway, and he was the expert among them, so his opinion held a considerable weight.


    Following the guide of Lance, Ramie stepped into the first open door quietly, Neil followed behind.


    They moved as a unit, not separating to search the place, but staying together. They moved as silently as possible. The kitchen was naturally the first target for the search.


    After quick search, two small sacs of noodles, and seven bottles of water turned up, two of them were half empty. But that was more than enough to bring delight to their anxious hearts.


    Ramie had never thought that such simple things would bring him so much relief.


    After the disaster broke out, and cities fell one after another, the original inhabitants of this city were relocated to the east side. And when the refugees were brought here from the other cities, few them at first had settled in some of the buildings, and used whatever they could find of resources, albeit for only a day or two before being evacuated to the east side too, hence the reason why some of these apartment''s doors were left open.


    So there was a high chance that all of the food and water was consumed.


    Besides, even if some of these apartments had food and water, they were closed. And none of the three of them was willing to break in and make noise that might attract sudden death to them, especially with the deathly silence inside and outside the building.


    Ramie was already feeling weakened. And the prospect of not being in top condition, while at any second something might jump at him, had left him quiet restless.


    Luckily, this problem would soon be pushed down the list of concerns. And the three of them rejoiced at once.


    Ramie let out a sigh of relief: "should we search the rest of the place for useful things or go for the other apartments?"


    Saying so, Ramie picked up a flashlight from the counter drawer, and a long sharp knife. He had made this suggestion as the food was too little for the three of them.


    "Pick what you find useful! But don''t carry too many things! You have to maintain your mobility." Lance spoke after some thought.


    After going over the drawer and shelves, they didn''t find anything else useful aside from few batteries for the flash light.


    Just as they were making their way to leave the apartment to the other apartment with opened door, Ramie felt the faint sense of coldness in his hand intensifies, all of sudden.


    This feeling did not go away from when he was back in the boat to this very moment, but, due to the dangers around, Ramie pushed this matter to the back of his mind.


    Now however, and with no apparent explanation, the coldness started intensifying, and pulsating, spreading to all of his left hand.


    Ramie felt a sudden overwhelming sense of danger explode in his heart!


    He felt an intense feeling of imminent death looming over him, causing his skin to goose pump all over his body.


    Unconsciously, he turned to look at the bedroom to the side¡­ And the moment his eyes fell there, his complexion frozen.


    Lance took notice of the sudden change. Feeling alarmed, he turned to look where Ramie was looking, holding up the knife in his hand high! Preparing to explode into action at any moment!


    Thud!


    At this moment, the sound of something in the nearby bedroom fell!


    Through the bedroom door which was half open, Ramie could vaguely make out the shadow of something crawling through the dim lighted bedroom, toward their direction, slowly¡­


    The figure started growling in low voice, and stared at them with shining eyes in the darkness of the room!


    Lance and Neil saw the same¡­ And at once, the three of them subconsciously knew¡­


    These moments¡­ will be the deciding moments between life and death¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 8: The magic artifact (1)

    Chapter 8: The magic artifact (1)


    In a heartbeat, the crawling creature exploded into motion!


    In a blink of an eye, it had crawled out of the bed room in frenzied zigzag movements and leapt at Ramie with open jaws, wanting to devour him as a whole!


    It moved so fast that Ramie couldn''t even react.


    Ramie was shocked at the speed of the thing, and his heart sank. With this kind of speed, he had no time to evade.


    Suddenly, he felt a force pulling him backward by his shoulder!


    Staggering to the back, he saw with the corner of his eyes that it was Lance that had pulled him backward.


    In the same time, Lance got in motion.


    With focused eyes, he stepped forth, and used his right leg to kick a small table that was beside Ramie toward the creatures.


    The hurled table flew off, rotating, toward the leaping creature!


    Bang!


    The table smashed against the creature, and broke into two pieces!


    The creature fell to the ground alongside the two pieces of the table.


    Hiss!


    Letting out an angry hiss that sounded close to the voice of a cat, the creature stared at the three, furious.


    After almost falling to the ground, Ramie stabilized himself,


    It was only now that he could clearly see the appearance of the creature.


    The creature''s figure was almost three meters long, and had the scaly body of a snake with three pairs of short, thin legs that seemed barely able to support the body. The thing also had a flat, triangular, fish-like head with three small horns protruding on its forehead. It also had a wide mouth that stretched back to the neck, almost splitting the head apart.


    Its body was as thick as an adult man''s waist; with a mouth that was filled with numerous thin teeth.


    With its red eyes, it gazed steadily and intently at them, wiggling its thick, short tale while hissing nonstop, to express its excitement for finding preys.


    The creature''s eyes contained a savage killing intent, while its mouth was trembling in excitement, barely resisting the overwhelming primal urges to jump at them, tear them apart, and taste their flesh.


    Ramie''s heart trembled in fear; his back was filled with cold sweat, and his composer was hanging by thread. The pressure and fear for having to fight for his life against such monstrous creature was too much for someone like him. He had never faced a situation where the stake was his life before.


    He felt death stares at him, as an overwhelming killing intent surged in his direction from the creature.


    He didn''t know how, but he could feel the creature''s indescribable killing intent sweeping at them. He could sense that among the three, the creature had its intent on him the most.


    Feeling that the creature was targeting him especially, he started recalling the looks of despair, fear, and sorrow the people had yesterday, as the flying creatures descended on them, pined them to the ground, and started tearing them apart in front of hundreds of people around them with not even one of them stepping forth to help.


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    He didn''t want to suffer the same fate!


    His blood surged, and a strong will to live started welling up inside him, raging, and swallowing the fear.


    In few seconds, and feeling the threat of death looming over him, a myriad of unspeakable emotions flickered across his mind, but he shoved them aside all.


    These moments were separating him between life and death!


    As the great desire to live erupted, his adrenaline level soared up in his blood, sending him in a hyper focused state, and pushing his physical performance to its peak.


    His mind abandoned ''saving the remaining energy'' strategy, and ordered the body to pump its all, putting him in a peak physical condition.


    Hiss!


    The creature let out a hiss. Then, unable to contain his growing urge to attack, the creature lost its patience, and shifted his posture, preparing to explode in motion and launch its attack at any given moments.


    Seeing that, Ramie, held up the knife in one hand, and the screwdriver in the other, and he lowered his body a bit, preparing to respond to any move the creature might make.


    Lance looked as focused as ever, bringing up both of his hands, and preparing to respond at any moments.


    Neil on the other hand, looked terrible, his complexion not looking good at all. It was apparent that he was in state of a crippling fear.


    Upon seeing the creature shift his position, preparing to attack again, Neil could no longer take the pressure, and as he took a step backward, his leg tripped with the carpet, making him stagger to the side, away from Ramie and Lance.


    Realizing the fatal mistake he committed, he looked at the creature to see if the creature was taking advantage of his mistake.


    Seeing that one of the three preys left the formation, the creature''s primal urges surged, and took over immediately. It immediately gazed at Neil intently; its eyes shining momentarily like a flash lights in the dark before dimming back to normal.


    Neil froze in his posture, like a corpse. Then, he fell to the floor, backward, like a statue.


    Ramie and Lance both witnessed the strange occurrence, and they were caught off guard.


    Upon seeing its attack working, and unable to hold itself back anymore, the creature leapt up in excitement at Neil, with all of its might, wanting to devour him before the other two catches up, or before its attack wears off.


    In a moment, the creature was atop the non-moving Neil!


    Witnessing the creature opening its large mouth, and wanting to bite at the motionless Neil, Ramie broke free from his shock, and spurted in action!


    He knew he wouldn''t make it in time before the creatures bites Neil. So, he threw the knife toward the creature with all his might, in attempt to scare the thing away from Neil.


    He knew his aiming was bad, and that he might hit Neil, but if he didn''t do anything, the creature would definitely bite Neil''s neck. And if that was to happen, there will be no saving him anymore.


    It was a risky gamble!


    Luckily, it paid off!


    Sensing the threat of the flaying, shiny object; the creature fled to the side, and away from Neil, to avoid the flaying knife.


    The knife flew few centimeters above Neil, striking the wall across the room with its handle.


    The creature hissed again in agitation before bouncing back at Neil to finish him off, before these two annoying preys interfere again.


    Its movement was fast¡­ faster than what Ramie could react to.


    Ramie watched with bloodshot eyes, as the creature was moments away from ripping apart Neil''s exposed neck, as he lay still, helpless on floor.


    In these critical moments, Lance who was beside Ramie, charged to the side, toward the creature with a great momentum!


    When Neil fell to the ground, immobile, neither Ramie nor Lance were able to reach Neil in time.


    But the knife throw Ramie did, bought Lance time enough to recover his senses and charge toward Neil, reaching him in a blink of eye.


    Lance''s sudden burst of action caused Ramie to be startled at first, thinking that Lance was another creature rushing from behind, due to his extreme speed!


    Ramie himself was closer to Neil than Lance, but wasn''t quick enough to move toward Neil, before the creature kills him.


    But, Lance not only moved, but he reached Neil in inhuman speed.


    Taking advantage of his sudden inexplicable burst of speed and momentum, Lance kicked with all his might toward the creature''s head, wanting to kill it before it he even touches Neil''s neck.


    The creature was startled the most by this scene!


    It bestial instincts kicked in before it could even make sense of the sudden turn of events!


    The creature leapt to the side, and burst in motion, moving away in wiggling movements. It crushed against the furniture, but didn''t care. It wanted nothing more than to widen the distance from Lance.


    Ramie was shocked by this sight, not expecting Lance to have such abnormal physical capabilities.


    But regardless, he felt great relief. This new variable had given him hope, as the creature was really fast. It was to the point that it was able to leap in a second, reach Neil, and almost killing him, while Ramie was close to him, but still couldn''t react in time.


    It caused Ramie to feel that the situation was unsalvageable.


    Now however, Lance forced the creature away, giving him a ray of hope that today might not be his last day in this life.


    As Ramie moved to the motionless Neil''s side, to guard him in case the creature assaults again, something unexpected happened!


    Lance didn''t try to guard Neil as expected, instead, he charged like a mad rhino toward the retreating creature with the knife held high, preparing to stab it!


    Ramie was shocked once more, as Lance was moving at such great speed and momentum that caused the pieces of furniture he collided with to be thrown out of his way, as if had been smashed away by great force.


    The creature tried to retreat back to the bedroom in frantic zigzag movements, wanting to get away from Lance.


    In this moment, something happened that caused Ramie to be stunned speechless!


    As the creature retreated in frenzy, a piece of furniture that Lance had picked and thrown smashed against its body, causing it to hiss in pain.


    Hiss!!!! Hiss!!


    The creature wiggled its body about in agony!


    Making use of the chance, Lance actually managed to catch up to the creature and stabbed down at its neck with all of his strength!


    HISSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    Feeling the sharp pain of the knife penetrating its neck, the creature wiggled its body in agony, with a violent writhes, like a fish out of water. Then, the creature charged to the side in frenzy, escaping Lances grip. Afterward, it turned and charged toward Ramie''s direction, to exact its vengeance on the weaker preys behind.


    Seeing the creature charge in his direction, with such madness, Ramie''s heart shuddered, and his countenance became deathly pale.


    The savageness in the creature''s eyes was surging like a tide. It knew that it was going to die.


    And the creature''s pride as a predator demanded a heavy price as a pay, it wasn''t going down alone, it had to make them suffer for their audacity!


    In a heartbeat, and sensing the imminent danger, Ramie''s body exploded with strength!


    He tightened his grip at the screwdriver handle, and prepared himself for the deadliest, inescapable confrontation in his lifetime!


    This was the most dangerous situation that he ever falls into! And he was not going down without putting up a fight¡­!


    ¡­

 Chapter 9: The magic artifact (2)

    Chapter 9: The magic artifact (2)


    As Ramie stood his ground, to defend his life, Lance''s expression changed.


    He charged back, chasing the creature, and wanting to catch it before it reaches Ramie and the immobile Neil.


    In these critical moments, Ramie knew that Lance won''t make it back in time.


    This was the creature''s last outburst of action before its inevitable demise, so it went all out, disregarding everything else!


    Ramie knew that he would die if he tried to escape, as the creature was simply very fast for him to outrun.


    ''You wanna take my life¡­? I''ll take yours first!''


    Thus, as the creature unleashed its last outburst of remaining strength, and leapt toward him¡­ Ramie steeled his heart, and stabbed forward using the screwdriver, toward the leaping figure.


    Time slowed down¡­ Ramie felt his entire life flashes before his bloodshot eyes.


    It was strange¡­ as he wondered in his heart on how was it possible for him remember two decades worth of memories in such short while¡­


    He saw it all¡­ felt it all¡­


    It was as if these moments were stretched out to a very long¡­ long time¡­


    He even started wondering at some point on when the sharp teeth would arrive at him.


    He however did not have to wonder anymore, as finally, it came¡­


    But it wasn''t the sharp teeth.


    He felt his hand hit something hard. On the same time, a massive force struck his left shoulder¡­


    Bang!


    Ramie felt as though he was hit by a speeding truck, feeling the raw kinetic energy spreading to the rest of his body, and sending him off the ground.


    His field of vision changed, and started rotating, making him feel as though he was a weak leaf being tossed around by a violent wind.


    Then, he felt himself smash against something hard, before seeing the ground approach his eyes quickly.


    Finally, the movement stopped. And his vision stopped rotating¡­


    He blacked out for a moment, before recovering back.


    His thoughts were in disarray, his vision blurry, and his ears were buzzing.


    For a few seconds, he didn''t remember anything, not even why he was in such condition on the floor.


    Slowly, his senses started coming back to him.


    He felt a terrible pain in his left shoulder, as for his left arm, he couldn''t feel a thing in it, except numbness.


    He found that he was on the ground two meters away from his original position.


    He pushed the ground with his right arm, trying to sit, and he looked at the creature.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    The creature was writhing about on the ground in great agony, like a fish out of water. A screwdriver could be seen protruding off its head side.


    Just as Ramie lifted his head up, Lance brought the knife that Ramie had throw it at the creature to force it away from the motionless Neil.


    He held it, pointing downward, and using it like a dagger, wanting to finish off the creature. But he decided against it in the last second, as the creature started losing it strength. It was apparently going to die.


    Seconds afterward, the creature gave one last violent wriggle, and gave Ramie an intense, hateful glare that was oozing with savageness and fury, before going still¡­ dead!


    "It actually ended¡­! And¡­! I lived through it¡­?!"This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Ramie could not believe it! ¡­ He was not dead¡­!


    Turned out¡­ he had actually stabbed the creature on the head¡­ delivering a crippling injury to the creature, which probably stopped it from claiming his life.


    But on the same time, the creature had smashed against his shoulder with a momentum enough to throw him two meters away¡­ which spoke of the strength of this thing!


    Seeing the corpse of the creature laying still, the fact that he had survived this ordeal finally settled in.


    He had survived¡­!!!


    He leaned with his back against the wall, looking at Neil to see his condition, as Lance made his way to him.


    It was simply too bizarre¡­


    The creature''s eyes shone momentarily, like a blinking flashlight, and the next thing¡­ Neil was on the ground, petrified! Not moving a muscle¡­ for no apparent reason whatsoever! Not even when the creature tried to finish him off!


    However, just as Ramie was looking over toward Neil, the intense feeling of coldness in his hand intensified even further!


    It spread to all of his hand, and then started crawling up his left arm, all the way to the shoulder!


    "What is happening??!!"


    Unable to make sense of the unnatural occurrence, Ramie felt flabbergasted.


    The coldness started spreading to all of his body, his head included.


    Then, the moment the coldness reached his head, an intense feeling of pain similar to what had happened to him back on the boat kicked in again, causing him to growl in agony.


    This feeling lasted few seconds, before disappearing, completely! As if it didn''t exist at all!


    "What is wrong with me¡­???"


    Then....!


    Before Ramie could recover from it!


    He felt a faint stream of coldness, originate from his left hand and move in great speed to his head, flashing across his mind.


    Then, he felt a slight vibration around his left wrist!


    On the same time, lines of information appeared in his mind out of nowhere¡­


    < You have killed a magical beast! You have encountered magic! >


    < Magic artifact has been activated! >


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (16%)


    < Activating path! >


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    < Activating class! >


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    < Estimating the user''s magic energy units¡­ >


    - Magic energy: 9 units


    < Identifying the user''s innate spell¡­ >


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    < Unlocking the first spell¡­ >


    - Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive


    < Reassessing stats¡­ >


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (16%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 9


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent) /inactive


    "What the¡­?!"


    Ramie fell in daze¡­ he didn''t know what to make out of this unexpected development¡­?


    Suddenly, a certain thought sparked in his mind: "Magic artifact¡­!!! Wait a second! Didn''t the voice say¡­?"


    However, before he could pursue this thought, he felt a sudden, momentary vibration in his left wrist again!


    Looking at his wrist, his mind went blank¡­


    Out of nowhere, a bracelet appeared, wrapped around his left wrist!!


    "How in the¡­"


    "¡­"


    The bracelet gave off an ancient aura, like a rare antique. It was silver in color, with a gem embedded in it. There was also three other smaller gems that were studded around the big one.


    Ramie was taken, staring at the bracelet, stupefied.


    However the weird sequence of events wasn''t stopping just yet!


    The bracelet vibrated for a moment. And Ramie felt an abrupt, inexplicable feeling¡­ as if an invisible connection was established between the bracelet and him.


    Then, without a warning, the corpse''s head of the creature that was lying still in its place, shock slightly, before something shoots out of it, causing a hole to appear at the forehead.


    The thing came flaying toward Ramie!


    Ramie was still lost as he was staring at his wrist.


    However, in the corner of his eye, he noticed the sudden occurrence happening to the creature!


    Without thinking, he held his hand up in front of his face in a quick in defensive motion, to protect himself!


    The thing flew directly toward his hand, landing in his hand without resistant!


    "WHAT THE¡­!!!"


    Ramie was shocked, terribly; he flinched hard, jumping, and then swung his hand, throwing the thing away!


    This sudden, development had completely caught him off guard.


    He was already trying to process the strange sequence of events. Then, he felt something flew toward him from the supposedly ''dead creature!''


    It had be said, That the terror the creature had caused him was yet to wear off from his heart, and now something came flying at him from the ''corpse!''


    This made him think that creature was playing dead all along, and now it took the chance to finish him off!


    Jumping up, standing, he staggered away, toward Lance and Neil.


    Lance did not miss this development, holding a nearby chair; he stood before the still immobile Neil, ready to react in a heartbeat.


    Ramie moved close to him and turned to look at the creature in high alarm.


    Moments passed¡­ the creature however, still didn''t make any other movement, lying in its place.


    At this point both Ramie and Lance noticed the small hole in the creature''s forehead.


    But none of them wanted to move closer to creature.


    Lance threw the chair toward the creature to see if would react or it was really dead.


    Bang!


    The chair smashed on the creature''s head, then rolled away¡­


    The creature''s head caved in on one side, but it was still not responding¡­


    "This damn thing¡­"


    Only now did Ramie let out a sigh of relief, this time around, the creature was definitely dead!


    However to make sure, Lance moved toward it, and stabbed its head to make sure.


    The knife pierced the head all the way toward the handle!


    "Finally¡­!" seeing the non-responsive creature, Lance muttered under his breath.


    Ramie sat on the ground to pick up his breath.


    From the moment they he saw the creature lurking in the shadow inside the bedroom to attacking them till now, only few minutes had passed!


    These minutes were unquestionably the most intense minutes in his lifetime!


    He then lay on the ground and closed his eyes, to calm down his disarrayed thoughts.


    His heart was pounding like a war drum, as if he had just sprinted for hours, nonstop.


    The intensity of the experience was too overwhelming. And he needed time to process it.


    Unfortunately, time was not something he had right now. Just after few seconds of closing his eyes, he opened them abruptly!


    They were still in the room!


    It had to be said that the commotion caused by the confrontation was loud! The creatures screeches, the breaking of the furniture, and all the tossing!


    A lot of noise was issued from this apartment.


    And if there was another creature in the same floor, building or even close by, and picked up on the noise; then they might not be lucky enough to come out alive again.


    Especially if the noise attracted one of the really, really strong creatures that caused even the military to suffer greatly!


    Realizing the severity of the situation, Ramie turned to Lance.


    "Mr. Lance! The previous fight caused a lot of commotion! And am afraid¡­" Ramie spoke to Lance in urgent tone.


    "I know..."


    Saying so, Lance picked up the immobile Neil, and moved toward the apartment door.


    Ramie picked up the water bottles, and the noodles back from the ground; which was smashed into small pieces inside the sac due to the earlier fight.


    His eyes then fell on a small shiny object across the room. And for some inexplicable reason, he felt attracted toward the thing.


    He walked over, squatted, and started inspecting the object.


    It was an oval shaped, colorless, translucent gemstone, the size of a large grape. There were still traces of blood on it.


    Having seeing the blood, Ramie was a bit taken. Apparently, this small ruby was the very same thing that flew toward him from the head of the creature!


    Ramie decided to take it with him, to inspect it further later on.


    At first, he had though that this object was the final attack of the beast, but seeing it with his eyes, and knowing that the beast was dead all along, he decided to take it with him, to inspect it.


    He tore off a piece of clothes from the furniture sheets, and folded it several times, before using it to pick the oval ruby up, wrap it with the clothe and put it in his pocket.


    Following Lance out, Ramie silently closed the outer door, in case something sneaked from outside the building through the windows, and tried to get out from the apartment into the building.


    He was utterly exhausted, and Neil was still not moving.


    They weren''t in a condition for another life and death confrontation, not now at least!


    Ramie hoped that no creature heard the earlier commotion¡­ he didn''t want to think what would happen if that was the case¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 10: Insight into the gloomy future

    Chapter 10: Insight into the gloomy future


    As Ramie followed Lance back to the second floor, his expression was unnatural.


    Just moments ago, as Lance held the unmoving Neil on his shoulder, Ramie noticed a bracelet around his wrist, similar to the one he had. It was like an exact replica!


    He however kept quiet, not saying anything, as they were still in a critical situation.


    He kept moving behind Lance, while questions upon questions crowded in his mind. Silently, they moved hurriedly back the apartment in the second floor.


    ¡­


    After closing the apartment door and placing the petrified Neil on the rug in the living room; they finally breathed out in relief.


    However, just in case something had heard the noise of the fight, they kept still for a while, listening to any noise that might indicate something getting into the building or this floor.


    After a while, and without hearing anything, both of them let out a sigh of relief, finally picking up their breaths.


    "How''s his condition?" Ramie asked Lance.


    "He''s breathing! So, he''d be fine for now!" Lance answered, while a thoughtful look lingered on his face.


    "Do you have an idea on what had happened with him? Could he have some sort of health condition¡­?"


    Ramie asked the question that baffled him the most.


    In the earlier confrontation with the creature, the eyes of the creature shone momentarily as it stared at Neil, and he was petrified ever since!


    Ramie had a faint guess in his mind, but it was simply too absurd.


    Thus, he wanted to know if Neil had some kind of a health problem or a rare condition that caused his current state before perusing that abnormal thought.


    Although he wanted to believe that Neil had simply fell unconscious due to extreme fear or shock, however, Neil''s still wide opened eyes rolled out this thought. After all, Ramie had never heard of someone losing conscious with his eyes wide open.


    So, since Neil was with Lance when he first met them and remembering Lance''s outburst to save him when the creature went after him, it was apparent that they knew each other well. So, he decided to inquire on the matter.


    Ramie guessed that they were relatives or something. So, right now, if Neil had some sort of unique health problem, then Lanced was the one to ask.


    Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to be the case, as Lance shook his head in response, denying the idea immediately: "no! He''s as healthy as one can get. His health isn''t the problem here!"


    Ramie fell in thoughtful silence, feeling gloomy in his heart. It was as he expected, as there was no other explanation.


    ''It had to be the creature''s doing!!''


    Ramie felt terrible at this thought.


    The creature was already very dangerous. And now, adding this possibility; the situation became even worse.


    A predator with such speed, as well as the ability to immobile its preys!


    This was more than enough to claim sovereignty over the food chain among all the land animals!


    To immobilize its preys with a simple stare?


    What kind of concept was that!


    It could simply petrify its preys and eat them with ease!


    How could anyone resist such enemy!


    If the creature had attacked one of them individually, or assaulted any of them before the others notice its presence, then death would be unavoidable!


    So, what if there were other similar creatures lurking outside¡­ or worse, inside the building?


    His mood went bleak upon these thoughts.


    Reaching this point of thoughts, he looked at Lance, thoughtfully.


    His sudden burst of strength was unforeseen. And it had startled Ramie greatly.


    Although he had heard of people pulling off amazing deeds in critical times; he did not believe that this was the case here.


    The creature was strong, very strong¡­ because when it ran away from Lance; it knocked any piece of furniture that was in its path away, as if their weights meant nothing. Also this creature was also very fast, inhumanly fast.


    But Lance matched those aspects, both!


    In fact he was actually even stronger than the creature, as when he chased after the thing; he smashed everything that was in his way in a manner far more exaggerated than what the creature did.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    He had moved like a rampaging bull, smashing everything in his path. And even the terrifying creature was horrified by him!


    Ramie couldn''t just believe that this was natural!


    As he gazed at Lance intently, something unexpected happen!


    Lv.1 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 15%


    As the bracelet around on his wrist vibrated slightly, lines of information flashed in his mind, sending him in daze.


    "This¡­"


    "Wait¡­ life energy!!!"


    Like a bolt of lightning, a sudden thought thundered in his mind!


    "The voice¡­!"


    He remembered the voice saying something about ''magic artifact'' and ''life energy,'' and also on using these two things to fight the creatures!


    And now! Out of nowhere! He received a bracelet that displays information directly to his mind. Not to mention Lance who displayed overwhelming, unnatural strength when he fought the creature!


    And now, information appeared in mind out of nowhere!


    Thinking to this point, He subconsciously looked at the bracelet on his wrist.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (16%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 9


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive


    Information appeared again after a slight vibration of the bracelet.


    It was the same information as the one that appeared when the bracelet first showed up around his wrist out of nowhere.


    More ever, it had the word ''magic artifact'' in it.


    Slowly, Ramie started making a connection in his mind.


    He recalled the people saying that the voice mentioned something about unsealing or activating both magic artifacts and life energy, and that the people could use them to fight these creatures.


    Reaching this point in thought, he looked at Lance again to make sure.


    Lv.1 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 15%


    It appeared again in his mind.


    ''The strength Lance had displayed in the earlier fight¡­ could it be the mentioned life energy¡­? It should be¡­! Otherwise, what other explanation there is¡­?''


    ''The voice was right about the creatures¡­ and he already mentioned the magical artifacts and the life energy¡­''


    ''And now, this bracelet appeared out of nowhere around my wrist¡­''


    He felt that things started connecting together under one umbrella; and that was the voice!


    Thinking to this point, he remembered Neil having a similar bracelet on his wrist.


    He looked over at him.


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (12%)


    - Path: Elemental Magician


    - Class: Fire Magician (Common)


    As expected, another reading popped up in his mind after the vibration of his bracelet, albeit a bit different from the reading he got when looking at his own bracelet.


    ''It also says magic artifacts¡­!''


    ''It seems that these bracelets are really what the voice had called magic artifact''


    Ramie felt things getting a bit clearer, finally starting to add up.


    Feeling that some things started to make some sense, he felt a bit better, even though all what he had was a mere speculations.


    So far, he had countless unanswered questions regarding everything that had happened lately.


    But if these things could really be used to preserve their life, then it was more than worthy to figure out how to use them.


    ''The voice also said that these magic artifacts can be used to fight the creatures¡­''


    ''¡­If the strength and the speed Lance had displayed were really because of the life energy¡­? Then, what do these magic artifacts give?''


    ''So far, it only gives readings¡­''


    Thinking up to this point, his curiosity was aroused.


    He looked over at his wrist again, intently. Trying to use how can he use the thing.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (16%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 9


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive


    Information flowed to his mind, naturally. And he focused on these readings, processing them.


    ''lv.1¡­ this is a game term! 16 percent¡­? What does this number stand for?''


    ''Magic energy: 9¡­? What does it mean?''


    He went through the other pieces of information, but couldn''t understand what they meant. Then, as he thought of the last paragraph, another line of information flashed across his mind.


    < Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive >


    < Effect: gaining the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree! >


    < Cast: yes/no >


    "Spell...?! And I can cast it¡­?! "


    Having the magic artifact react to him, he felt overjoyed.


    He immediately wanted to say yes to see what would happen!


    But he didn''t. He calmed down, and started thinking things over.


    He started having suspicions. If the voice was right, and this ''miraculous'' bracelet can really enable him to survive, then it would be fine, and obtaining this bracelet was his good luck!


    But¡­ what if the voice was lying¡­?


    It had to be said, that when he learned of the creature''s assault after coming to the city; he was utterly shocked.


    It wasn''t something that one would normally think of, or consider.


    To have savage creatures invade everywhere and annihilate everything?


    Who had expected such a thing!


    So, the idea that this was some sort of divine punishment for the human race had crossed his mind many times.


    He even though that this was the end of the human race.


    But now, Lance displayed amazing strength, and he acquired this magic artifact.


    And if the voice was right about the fact that these things could be used to give the people a chance to survive; then, what was really happening?


    Because, if this was a divine punishment, then what was the point of giving people means to resist it?


    More ever, what are these magic artifacts exactly? How can they use magic? And who made them¡­?


    As Ramie was occupied, lost in his thoughts, his thought process was broken by a sudden monstrous roar thundering outside.


    ROARRR!!!


    It was so intense that it even caused the windows to vibrate intensely.


    Ramie froze in his place, not even blinking his eyes.


    ROAAAAAAAARR!!!


    It thundered again outside, and the windows vibrated even more intensely now.


    Apparently, the source was moving closer and closer.


    Ramie and Lance''s eyes met, fear was reflected on both sides.


    Neither of them wished to meet the thing capable of issuing this kind of rumbling sound.


    SCREEEEETCH!!


    A high pitch, piercing cry sounder outside, causing the two of them to cover their ears in pain.


    Wooov! Wooooov!! Wooooovvv!


    A loud, vibrating sound of flapping wings came from the outside!


    It was as if the legendary roc bird was descending close by.


    Ramie moved to the window, and pushed the curtain to the side slightly to create a small opening.


    He peered outside, nervously. Lance too, came, and started looking outside the window through the opening Ramie made.


    As Ramie peered outside, his complexion froze and his heart skipped a beat, as a paralyzing, frosting chill ran down his spine.


    Till now, he always wondered on how could the well armed military lose to a creatures made of flesh and bone?


    This thought however, vanished onto smoke at the moment!


    For what he saw outside, redefined his most extreme imagination on what a monster should look like!


    It was a titanic monstrosity! Far more terrifying than even the creature''s corpses he witness on the load trucks back when he came to the city yesterday.


    The creature was 5 meters high, 15 long, and 6 meters wide body!


    It had a thick proportioned, armored body, with defensive, triangular-shaped bone plates covering its back, head, and its short legs. Its thick tail was filled with protruding, sharp spikes.


    It looked like a living tank! A living war machine, designed for the sole purpose of destruction!


    Staring at the creature, the magic artifact in his hand vibrated slightly, and information appeared in his mind.


    Tier-4 Beast


    Name: Earth Lizard


    Innate Spells: Earth Tremor, Shock Wave


    Special notes: A heavily armored creature that can use earth-type spells.


    Ramie however was so terribly shocked that he didn''t pay attention to it. He was too horribly overwhelmed by the sight ahead.


    ROAAAAARRR!!


    Standing at the end of the street, the creature roared furiously toward a certain direction.


    SCREEEECH!!


    The high pitched screech sounded again. Apparently, the armored creature was in a faceoff with another creature!


    ROAAAAR!!


    As Ramie and Lance stared, utterly shocked, the creature roared again, and then charged like a tank, disappearing behind the building at the end of the street.


    RUMBLE!!


    Rumble!!


    Rumble!!!


    Thunderous rumbles of the battle between the two creatures boomed again and again! Like a high-grade explosions!


    All of the windows in the building and nearby buildings vibrated intensely, at the verge of shattering!


    Objects started falling in the apartment one after another.


    The entire building shock violently, as massive tremors rumbled successively, quacking the building nonstop.


    The oppressive atmosphere generated by this intense, gargantuan confrontation gave Ramie the sense that the world was coming down on him.


    Still looking outside, he couldn''t see the creatures. But the flaying cars, dirt and the road pavement thrown from the corner of the street was enough to draw the picture of the frightening battle ongoing there!


    Ramie also couldn''t see the other creature. But the impact of the battle between the two titans implied an equally freighting creature to the one he saw.


    The intensity of the battle was beyond imagination! The entire residential block quacked nonstop!


    It was a clash of titans indeed!


    ROAAAAR!!!!


    SCREEECH!!!!


    Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!


    The battle went on for further few minutes before coming to an end, even though it seemed to have lasted hours and hours.


    Unable to determine a winner, the two creatures parted ways, each taking a direction.


    Ramie felt extremely bitter after seeing that sight.


    The voice had said to use the life energy and the magic artifact to battle the creatures.


    But seeing the scale of this fight, Ramie couldn''t help but to wonder on how in the world could anyone resist that kind of destructive power, or even escape from it for that matter?


    It was no wonder that the military failed to push these things back! Because, how could they?!


    With such strength that could even bring down large portions of buildings to the ground, how was anyone supposed to survive facing such titanic monstrosities?


    It made him feel endlessly insignificant¡­


    Probably, any random fart from such creature could reduce him to dust.


    ¡­

 Chapter 11: The humanoid creature (1)

    Chapter 11: The humanoid creature (1)


    It wasn''t only Ramie who felt bitter, but so did Lance, who had an ugly complexion on him at the moment!


    A day ago, Lance started feeling weird sensation in his body, or to be more exact; in the area around his stomach.


    It was a faint feeling at first, but then, it started intensifying slowly and steadily, turning into a weird sensation of flowing warmth.


    Anyway, as he knew that the only still functioning hospital was in the refugee camp in the east side of this city, he kept it to himself.


    It went on till the earlier battle with the creature.


    When he saw that his son in law was about to be killed, he shed all the hesitation in his heart away, deciding to take in the rein once more.


    And it happened in that exact moment!


    It started in his gut area, then, spread to all over his body.


    These few moments as the creature jumped toward Neil, seemed to have stretched out endlessly, and even the time seems to come to a standstill.


    Lance felt massive volumes of invigorating warm energy coursing madly within his body, making him feel an indescribably overflowing energy of life encompasses him and make him stronger, faster¡­ livelier¡­.


    He felt as though he was at his prime, as his body throbbed with vigor and strength. He had never felt this way, not in his entire lifetime, the feeling was simply too wondrous!


    But this was not the time to marvel.


    As the creature landed on the immobile Neil, he exploded forth with a surging power and escalating momentum that gave him the feeling that this creature was not his match! That he could thrash him about effortlessly!


    Luckily, this feeling was not an illusion, but a genuine sense of real changes occurring within his body. Thus, he surged toward Neil to kill the creature.


    At that moment, he saw the creature runs away from him. And with that, his confidence rose like a tide. And he decided to pursue and finish off the damn thing.


    As he rushed toward the creature again, he didn''t feel the need to dodge the pieces of heavy furniture lying in his path, it felt necessary.


    So, he burst forth like unstoppable train, as the sense of the new power overflowed madly in his body, shooting up his momentum even further.


    It was at this moment that he made the mistake¡­


    This new raging power surged madly within him, giving him an overwhelming sense of supremacy and dominance, making him feel as though there was nothing he couldn''t handle. And that if he wanted, he could even smash a part anything standing in his way, and take on the entire world.


    He had let this feeling get into his head, and get the better of him! He had misjudged his priorities, going after the creature instead of protecting the two, Thus, giving the creature an opening to go after them.


    Luckily, the other youth with them reacted in time. And with some stroke of luck, it went without accidents, with no one losing his life.


    So, as he carried Neil, and moved with Ramie back to the apartment in the second floor, he felt it in his heart!


    He didn''t know how, but he did. This new found energy in him¡­ Was the life energy the voice had spoken of!


    As for the reason why he thought so; it was because if he had to describe how this energy felt like or how did it make him feel, in one word¡­ Then, it would unquestionably be the word ''life!''


    Besides, he remembered the voice saying something about using this life energy to resist the creature and to survive.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    And that was exactly what this energy enabled him to do!


    Without it, they would have died no matter what they did, especially with the creature''s strength and speed that normal people had no way to resist.


    Not only did this energy made him feel to in optimal vigorous physical condition, but it also gave him hope.


    At the moment, he was thinking of one thing! And that was hoping that this feeling of the energy coursing through his body was not an illusion! That it wouldn''t wear off and disappear like the Adrenalin rushes he used to have back on his job in the elites.


    Fortunately, even after they came back to the apartment, and with the passage of time, it didn''t.


    But he still focused on this warm stream of energy in his body, fearing that it would go away if he shifted his focus to anything else.


    Luckily it didn''t, making him feel a strong sense of security and control of his situation.


    That sense however did not last long, shattering with one thunderous roar.


    As the two massive creatures outside confronted each other, all the confidence he had mustered vanished away into smoke.


    He felt as though not even a thousand of him would be enough to even scratch that pure indestructible monstrosity.


    It made him feel helpless!


    He felt as though he was insignificant low form of life staring at an invincible titan! It made him feel sick; it made lose the will to resist!


    He sat down near Neil, and leaning on the wall, a bitter look on his face.


    A he was lost in his own thoughts, Ramie who sat beside him spoke.


    "Mr. Lance! That was ''something'' outside¡­ right?"


    Ramie couldn''t help but to say, dejectedly. His expression was terrible.


    Although they both had witnessed the out of the world confrontation just now, considering everything, it could be still said that things progressed rather well, as the two giant things went their own ways, away from here.


    So, for the mean time, they would be fine.


    But right now, Lance had a bleak aura of despair lingering around him, as if he had given up.


    Although on the long run, the situation seemed exceedingly gloomy, but if he allowed this kind of thinking to take over his mentality, then he''d die even faster.


    So, Ramie resisted falling into such line of thought by busying himself in thinking of other things.


    Being asked by Ramie, Lance forced out two words in response. He didn''t even look at him.


    "¡­am¡­ fine¡­"


    Seeing him barely responsive, Ramie wanted to initiate a conversation with him to divert his own thoughts and this policeman''s into how to survive through this for now, instead of what might happen in the long run.


    Thus, trying to busy himself and Lance out of the dark circle of thoughts, he spoke to him.


    "Mr. Lance! I think I know what the voice had meant by the words magic artifact and life energy!"


    "Oh¡­ You do?"


    Hearing these words, Lance raised his head; his interest was piqued by these words.


    His face was weary, and his eyes were a bit sunken, making him look older than his age.


    Rising up his left arm, Ramie showed Lance his bracelet.


    "I think this is what the voice had meant by the words magic artifact¡­"


    Afterward, Ramie went on explaining what had transpired before, during, and after the confrontation with the creature.


    Lance too on the other hand told him of what happened at his end. And Ramie was completely shocked at his words.


    Before, it was not conformed, but now after hearing it from Lance, it made him feel a bit of regret for having the artifact instead of the life energy.


    Strength!


    Speed!


    Who wouldn''t want that?


    Anyway, it was the artifact that he got! Examining it, it seemed to project readings in his mind every time he looks intently at his artifact or at Lance or Neil.


    And the manner in which these readings were projected was very similar to games interfaces; which was very weird.


    It made him a bit uncomfortable, as another question just joined the endless lines of questions yet to be answered in his mind¡­


    But looking at it from another perspective, this particularity did make using these artifacts easier to understand.


    However, right now, he was in a bit of dilemma.


    The last line in the projected information was a real problem. As every time he processes it, certain information is projected in his mind, displaying the option to cast the spell.


    Although terms such as magic and spells were something that only existed in stories, games, etc¡­


    But considering everything that had happened so far, these terms weren''t really enough to invoke his disbelieve anymore, as things far more unbelievable were ongoing right outside.


    If what the voice had said was really true, then it meant that these things were here for their own sake, to help the people survive through these dark times.


    The way the artifact displayed these information made it clear to him that if he said yes, then a spell would be casted.


    However, this was exactly where the problem lied. As it contained two words that made him feel quite alerted.


    The first one was the word ''morphing!''


    As to what did it mean; it is basically to change something from one form to another.


    But what did that exactly implied?


    Would the spell change something he chooses, an object or something? Or would the change occur in him?


    And if that was not enough! Then the next word made him even more alarmed!


    Permanent!!


    How could he not be alarmed? If the change was to occur to him, and is irreversible! Then, there would be no one to be blamed other than himself!


    This was a spell! And that means magic!


    What did he know about magic¡­? Simply, nothing!


    As till now, all of his understanding about this artifact was originating from games!


    But this was real life!


    What it this morphing thing changes something in his body, Instead of another object? And if so, would it be in a certain part of his body, or his entire body?


    And if that was indeed the case! Then what is the nature of this change?


    The word class contained the words subterranean, tree, and ghost, which made him feel a bad premonition!


    Would his entire body turn to tree or ghost, or just a part of it?


    And what about the words subterranean, what did it mean in this context?


    Questions and questions crowded his mind.


    To answer them, he waited for Neil to wake up; as he too had an artifact similar to his own!


    He wanted to see what Neil''s artifact can do, to get a better understanding of his own artifact.


    Luckily, he didn''t have to wait long.


    Less than an hour later, Neil began to recover from his frozen state.


    First, he was able to move his eyes. Then, slowly, he started moving his limps and after 15 minutes he was able to stand up and walk.


    Ramie and Lance then proceeded to ask him of what had happened to him. And as expected, his answer confirmed Ramie''s speculation!


    It was indeed the creature''s doing! Causing him to freeze with a glance!


    This confirmation made all of them feel very uncomfortable, as they had no idea on whether other creatures of this type had also sneaked into the building or not.


    Anyway, they decided to eat and energies themselves first, before making other considerations.


    Afterward, they finally drank water and ate the noodles that they had found.


    And though the two small sacs of noodles were far from completely sating their hunger, at least it alleviated some of it, making them finally feel comfortable again.


    Then, Ramie and Neil proceeded to inspect their magic artifacts to learn on how to use them.


    ¡­

 Chapter 12: The humanoid creature (2)

    Chapter 12: The humanoid creature (2)


    "This¡­!"


    Ramie and Lance stared wide eyed at Neil.


    Even Neil himself had an expression of disbelieve on his face.


    "Can you do it again?"


    Ramie couldn''t help but ask the question.


    "¡­OK. I''ll try." Neil recovered from his shock.


    Stretching his right hand open, he lit up the lighter that he held in his left hand and held it close, above his opened palm.


    The small flame on the lighter then moved away from the lighter to the center of his palm, hovering just about two centimeters above his opened palm!


    "This is¡­"


    Ramie still found it hard to accept this sight.


    After Neil woke up, they first explained things to him. Then Ramie inquired about his artifact.


    Following which, it turned out that the information that Ramie got when looking at Neil''s artifact was incomplete. As when he looked at Neil, the following information appeared in his mind:


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (12%)


    - Path: Elemental Magician


    - Class: Fire Magician (Common)


    But what Neil got when he looked at his own artifact was actually:


    - Name: Neil


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (12%)


    - Path: Elemental Magician


    - Class: Fire Magician (Common)


    - Magic Energy: 5


    - Innate Spell: Fire Manipulation


    - Spell: Fire Burst


    Apparently, not all the information will be displayed to him when he checks Neil''s artifact.


    Ramie also learned another fact.


    And it was that while he can get a reading from Neil, albeit not the complete information. But Neil on the other hand couldn''t get the same! As he didn''t get any reading at all when he checked Ramie.


    Ramie didn''t know why that is. But he had a doubt that it had something to do with the word ''special'' on his own interface. Or probably because of the difference between their artifacts


    Ramie had played RPG gamed before, so, he guessed that if this interface was the same as these games interfaces. Then, probably every single word in these readings had to indicate something.


    But so far, nothing was sure, as these were still mere speculations.


    "How can you do that?" Lance who was sitting on the side, murmured in a low voice.


    "I don''t know! I just can¡­!" Neil responded, confused himself.


    As he stretched his hand open, the small flame danced silently above his palm.


    Neil manipulated the flame freely above his palm to any direction he wished¡­


    "Oh¡­"


    Suddenly, Neil''s expression changed in surprise.


    "What?" Ramie asked from the side.


    Neil looked at his artifact, then, closed his palm. And the small flame died out immediately.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Shifting his gaze to Ramie, he spoke: "The magic energy value went down by one! It was five before, and now it''s four!"


    "I think that playing with this small flame used up that one point."


    Ramie''s eyes lit up at one, this was a critical piece of information.


    It was also as he had guessed!


    This artifact interface and values were really just like RPG games, with some differences; as it didn''t display the physical states that the RPG games were known for.


    And if this was truly the case, then just like the RPG games, this magic energy number would serve as the fuel for casting the spells.


    Wanting to know more, he asked Neil.


    "What does the information regarding this skill say?"


    Neil however showed a confused expression: "What do you mean?"


    "I mean when you focus on the spell part of the information, the artifact would display specific information regarding these skills" Ramie said back.


    Neil however was still baffled.


    Seeing that he didn''t understand him, Ramie spoke, elaborating: "when I focused on the last part of the information; the one regarding the spells, it gave me information regarding the effect of the spell I had, as well as whether I wanted to cast it or not"


    Then, as if realizing something, Ramie asked: "wait! If you didn''t understand the effect from the artifact, then how did you know that you can manipulate fire in this manner?"


    At this question, even Lance turned his head toward Neil waiting for his answer.


    However, in response, Neil only gave a hollow laugh, saying: "when I saw the line ''fire manipulation,'' I figured that this was an easy one! So, I lit up the lighter and did what you saw¡­ "


    "It just seemed natural to me at the time¡­"


    Ramie was a bit taken by Neil''s response: "so, this is not you using the spell fire burst?"


    "Maybe¡­ I don''t know!"


    "Ok! Then, can you focus on the spell part now."


    "Wait¡­let me try." Neil said then focused on the artifact.


    Moment later, his eyes shot open, wide.


    "You''re right!! It did give me another piece of information."


    Hearing so, Ramie was excited: "Can you tell us what it says?"


    "It says:"


    < Spell: Fire Burst (Active) >


    < Effect: discharge a piercing arrow-head shaped fire projectile in straight path! >


    < Cost: 2 magic energy units >


    Hearing Neil''s response, Ramie was surprised by the answer, as it was different from the explanation he got.


    First; this spell was capable of firing a bullet like projectile according to its description.


    Second; it didn''t give the option of yes/no to cast. And it also cost magic energy units to be used, unlike his spell.


    The question however now; was how much damage this fire burst spell can do?


    Although Ramie wished to see Neil cast it, so he could at least get an idea on how these spells could be casted.


    However, right now, there were in a dangerous area filled with creatures.


    Besides, they had no idea on how much damage can it do, or if casting it can cause a noise or not.


    After a while of a back and forth conversation between the three, they concluded that unless they fell in a precarious situation, they would refrain from casting their spells, and depend on Lance for safety!


    Lance''s current physical capabilities were proven, whilst their spells were untested, and they had no idea of their effects. In other word, these spells were infeasible, until they get a chance of testing them out.


    On one hand, Neil was actually very excited to cast his spell, to see what it can do.


    Now, it had to be said that when the creature immobile him with glance, he was beyond terrified.


    Not being able to even turn his eyes, as vicious creature jumping on him and trying to tear him apart?


    It was the most frightening thing that had ever happened to him throughout his life!


    And after falling to the ground at the onset of the confrontation, he was laying on his back with his eyes fixed at the ceiling!


    He had no idea of what was happening.


    And seconds stretched out and out.


    Helplessness, despair, witless fear! He had felt that all and more.


    And as time moves as slow as snail, he kept wondering if the creature had already finished them off and was saving him for last.


    He imagined the creature crawls at him, and tear him apart one piece after another, as he is trapped, and unable to even scream out his unwillingness!


    It was only after forever did he saw Lance show up, and picks him up back to the apartment.


    He didn''t want to go through that situation again; he would rather to die a miserable death on having to feel that way again!


    And now that he learned that Lance could actually kill these things, and that even he could use this artifact to fight these things!


    How could he not feel relieved?


    While on the other hand, Ramie was skeptical, and even alarmed of the change that his spell would impose on him.


    He was especially worried of the word ''permanent!'' As such, he decided that unless they fall in a completely hopeless situation, with no other way around; he wouldn''t resort to use this morphing spell.


    Lost in his own thoughts, Ramie felt Lance tap him on the shoulder, lightly, to draw his attention.


    "We have to discuss on what to do next!" solemnly, Lance brought up the matter that could no longer be avoided.


    Hearing so, Ramie''s feelings intensified upon these words. And Neil was the same.


    "Ramie, Remember when I told you earlier that going to the camp is considered suicide?"


    "Actually¡­ I only told you that so you don''t go there impulsively, and throw away your life pointlessly. because in that time, I saw it in your eyes that you have someone you care for there. Well, my entire family is probably there too. And my intention is to go there anyway! Off course, am not suicidal, nor crazy! And I have no intention of throwing my life away, as doing so will do my family no good. I''m also not ignorant of the fact that the chances of getting into the camp through the creatures siege are slim to none. But I have plan, and am confident that it can get me there alive. Off course, if at any time I feel that my life is in danger, I''ll retreat back here, or even to a further place, as long as it safe, and then come up on another way to get there!"


    Saying so, Lance turned to Neil, wanting to say something.


    However, before he could even open his mouth, Neil spoke firmly: "Mr. Lance! Don''t say anything, am going with you no matter what. After all, my future wife is there waiting for me."


    Lance nodded to him with smile, not surprised by his firm response at all.


    Then, both of them turned to look at Ramie.


    Actually, when Lance had said to Ramie earlier that going to the camp at that timing was nothing short of suicide; Ramie had already reached that conclusion.


    He had learned yesterday from the people he had asked that these creatures always moves to the areas with the heights population, as if knowing that their preys were gathered there.


    However in his heart, he always had the thought of going there. As the only person he cared for in his life; his aunt¡­ was there.


    But how could he get there?


    Was that even possible in the first place?


    There was also Lance and Neil.


    It had to be said that not even mentioning the idea of going to the camp to find his aunt, without these two with him, he wouldn''t even survive alone.


    It wasn''t a question of if, but when!


    And the incident with the creature back in the apartment was the prime example of this fact.


    If he had went in there alone, then that creature and instead of being dead, would be having a great meal by now.


    So, when Lance had told him that going there was considered suicide, he thought that his chance of going there was no more, as separating from the two and going to the camp alone was a certain death.


    Beside, getting himself killed would do his aunt no good.


    So, he had decided to stick with the two and try to survive until he finds a way of slipping to the camp without getting himself killed.


    But now, Lance was actually telling him that they were going there!!


    Ramie didn''t know if Lance had harbored this thought right from the beginning, or if it was because of the power up he received from the life energy, and the appearance of the magic artifacts.


    But, that didn''t matter.


    Ramie didn''t expect that his chance of going to the camp would come this fast.


    Beside, judging by the way Lance introduces his plan, and emphasizing on the part of placing safety first, not risking his life, and not doing anything reckless; it was obvious as the sun in the day that he was hoping that Ramie would join him in this quest.


    Ramie nodded to Lance, and said: "can you tell me your plan first!"


    ¡­

 Chapter 13: The humanoid creature (3)

    Chapter 13: The humanoid creature (3)


    Listening to Lance''s plan, Ramie was impressed.


    "This might actually work!"


    It was really a well thought out plan, giving him a pleasant surprise.


    It was very simple plan; basically, they sneak their way to the harbor and then find a boat or anything that can float, and use it to go to the east side of the city via the sea. Off course, they wouldn''t do that in one go, as they had no idea what kind of creatures was lurking outside. Instead, they would scout the area first, and move to another place. Then scout¡­ and move. And repeat the process as many times as it needs until they reach the harbor.


    Also, there was no set time line for this plan.


    However, it wasn''t exactly risk free plan, as they had to make their way to the harbor through the city streets safely. And then find something to carry them to the east side, via the sea.


    So, even though this plan involved getting out of the building into the streets, Ramie still agreed to it. As after weighting the pros and cons, he concluded that this was the best available course of action for him, considering the situation. After all, they can''t just stay in this apartment for ever, especially when considering that a beast could sneak on them at any time.


    Ramie had many reasons to agree to join them. And the prime one among them was food and water!


    It had been proven in the earlier confrontation with the creature; this building was not as safe as he believed it to be, and not mention later on, he was hungry already. As the small meal he had was far from satisfying his hunger.


    So, whether it is now or later, he would have no choice but to leave this apartment looking for these two necessities.


    And considering that, was there any way to guarantee that he wouldn''t run into one of these things?


    Of course not!


    And even if was lucky enough and didn''t. Sooner or later, the remaining food would be used up and he''ll find no alternative other than leaving this building, and search for food in the nearby stores!


    So, how is this any different from what they are suggesting to him right now?


    At least with them, he wouldn''t be alone.


    As if he was unlucky enough to run into one of these things by himself, then death really is a sure thing. At least, with these two policemen, he''d have a fighting chance.


    Besides, he still didn''t know what his artifacts could do, as opposite to the real power that Lance could use anytime, or the potential that Neil''s spell might have according to its description.


    Also, if the earlier fight with the creature taught him something, then, it would be; with numbers comes safety, or at least, a better surviving chance!


    It also taught him that being with Lance is a hell lot better than being without him!


    Because, when Neil was in critical moment, he dashed to face that fearsome creature all by himself!


    And that action spoke a lot of his character, depicting him as man willing to put himself in a danger for the sake of others.


    So, even if Lance wouldn''t necessarily do the same for him, but considering that he might be in this situation with the likes of the fellows that wanted to shut the building door on them, leaving them to the ferocious creature outside; ending up with these two policemen was a world apart better.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    So, considering all of these factors, he probably would have gone along with them even if he didn''t have anyone he knew in the camp!


    Beside, even if going for the camp wasn''t risk free, but it sure seemed a lot better to take that chance rather than to stay here starving and surrounded by man-eating predators.


    After discussing things for a while, the direction of the discussion moved to another crucial mater.


    "We have to find more food!" Lance spoke grimly.


    The earlier two sacks of noodles were nowhere near being enough to sate their hunger.


    At the mention of food, the atmosphere intensified in the living room where they were sitting right now, and became heavy.


    They knew that solving this issue means another possible encounter with a ferocious creature!


    Though there is a chance that they wouldn''t encounter anything at all. But after the earlier live and death struggle, they weren''t feeling very optimistic in this regard.


    There was also a chance that they might even face a worse creature, or even multiple ones.


    Ramie''s heart turned heavy at this line of thought.


    But he knew that there was no evading this.


    Food was an absolute necessity, and they had to do this today, as they had some energy, rather than tomorrow, when they are weaker.


    Before making sense of the situation outside in the streets, and whether it is safe for them to leave the building, they would have to spend some time staying in this building for now.


    This meant that for this while, they''d have to acquire their food from inside the building, as they take their time to understand the situation outside, and determine the best route for leaving.


    Taking a deep breath, and steeling his heart, Ramie made up his mind.


    At least this time, they weren''t as hungry and weak as before.


    ¡­


    They prepared themselves to go out and search for food on other apartments.


    The wave of refugees that had come from other cities had probably stayed in this building for a while after the original inhabitants were moved to the east side of the city, thus, their current chances of founding food or water were very slim.


    But, before they go out to the nearby stories out in the streets, they had at least to make sure that there is no food in the entire building, and only go out as a last resort.


    After all, as dangerous as the interior of the building might be, it was still safer from out in these streets.


    At the moment, Neil was busy fixing a knife with broken handle that he found in the kitchens drawer on a wooden stick. Without the handle, it was only blade, but that what made it ideal to turn it into a short spear.


    As for Lance, he was trying to get used to the life energy that was vigorously coursing through his body.


    Ramie on the other hand was standing next to the window, peering through a small opening and observing the streets below.


    As he stood looking, he was feeling terribly uncomfortable. Just a week ago, these streets were vibrant and priming with liveliness and activity. And almost all the time, a continuous stream of passing cars could be seen pacing back and forth¡­ people going about their businesses¡­ children noises¡­ But now, these streets were desolate and devoid of any trace of life and movement, which brought about a chilly atmosphere that could render anyone anxious and fearful.


    the blowing wind and the deathly silent made it as though this city was ghosts haven.


    As Ramie looked down to the street below, the voice of Lance snapped him back to his senses.


    "We''re moving now!"


    ¡­


    Walking up the stairs, the three reached the third floor, but they did not stop, as they had already faced creature in this floor. Thus, this floor became forbidden land for them from then on.


    Besides, the had no idea if there was another creature sneaking into that apartment or not.


    Thus, they opted to search in the rest of the floors and forsake this entire floor.


    As they reached another floor, as usual, Lance signaled them to stay still at the entrance, while he moved to check things first.


    He moved silently, holding a large sized knife, alertly, and preparing to respond to anything that might happen.


    He walked along the corridor, rotating the handles of the doors, to see which is unlocked among them.


    He tried the first apartment, second, third¡­


    But so far, all of them were locked.


    At the entrance of the floor, Ramie stood alert, as he watched Lance reach out to the handle of the forth door. Neil too was standing beside him.


    Suddenly, a terrible outburst of frosty chill ran down his spine like a shock electricity, as an imminent sense of crisis exploded in his heart.


    He felt indescribably sense of alarm flickering violently in his soul!


    It was as if a malicious shadow had locked onto him, wanting to devour him.


    RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!


    At once, and even before he could react, his survival instinct that he didn''t even know he had, took over, instantly, prompting him to explode in motion!!


    In a heartbeat, the muscles in his legs burst with strength, propelling him forth, toward Lance that was few meters away inside the corridor of the floor!


    Grabbing Neil''s hand, he charged ahead with all of his might.


    His mind wasn''t even given the chance to process the situation!


    In fact, even he himself didn''t exactly know what made him react in such intense and violent manner.


    However, he had a strong sense that if he didn''t get away from the stairway as fast as possible, then something extremely terrifying would befall him!


    Thud!


    Ramie heard the sound of something heavy lands on the ground behind, at the spot where he was standing. But he didn''t stop, and kept pulling the staggering Neil with him.


    Lance who was about to check the forth door, heard the noise, and looked back at Ramie''s direction.


    His expression changed immediately.


    In no time, he processed the situation, and charged toward the two in haste.


    Seeing Lance ran toward them with intense look on his face, Ramie immediately understood the situation!


    His heart skipped a beat.


    They had just left the apartment, and now they were already in another life or death confrontation!


    However this time, Ramie didn''t allow panic to overwhelm his heart.


    Gritting his teeth, he kept running toward Lance.


    Neil too, seemed to understand the situation, as he picked up the pace and ran toward Lance, just few steps behind Ramie.


    Like a speeding car, Lance reached them. He then forced himself to stop, and faced the direction of the stairway!


    After meeting Lance halfway, Ramie and Neil also stopped, moved behind Lance, and brandished their sharp weapons toward the floor entrance. Ready for the confrontation!


    Unlike before, this time around, they were ready for the fight that will decide their life from death!


    ¡­

 Chapter 14: The humanoid creature (4)

    Chapter 14: The humanoid creature (4)


    It was only now did Ramie got to see the creature that had almost claimed his life.


    And he was beyond shocked, almost losing his composer!


    In fact, all of them stared at the creature with terror in their hearts!


    At a height of 2 meters, stood a humanoid-shaped creature at the entrance of the floor, where Ramie and Neil used to stand.


    Its upper body was hunched forward, with arms that were very long, as they dangled downward, almost reaching the ground. Its groin area was covered with animal or beast fur that was wrapped around its waist.


    The body of the creature was in thin proportions, with relatively large human shaped hands that had long fingers.


    The creature stared at them with amber-colored, scrutinizing eyes that rested on its snake-like head.


    Its body was covered with scales, like crocodile. A short tale was swinging in agitation behind the creature.


    But it wasn''t its human like body that terrified them!


    It was instead the intelligence that shone in its eyes, cunningly, and the long, pointed bone that the creature held in its hand, pointing it toward them in a challenging provocation!


    What did that mean??


    It meant that now, they were facing a creature with high intelligence...!


    How could they not be frightened?


    At the moment, more and more questions appeared in Ramie''s mind, adding to the mystery of what was really happening in the world, and complicating things even further.


    But this was no time for contemplation.


    Standing together, Ramie, Lance and Neil tightened their grips on their weapon, as they sensed that this confrontation was even worse than the one back in the apartment in the third floor.


    That creature was basically acting impulsively on its basic instinct, but this creature was different.


    If this creature was smart enough to cover itself, use weapons, and provoke them into a fight¡­ Then chances are that it also was capable of fighting according to a strategy.


    Ramie felt a great sense of crisis wells up in his heart, as the pressure this creature was exuding was even greater than the previous creature that they had fought.


    Thus, he steeled his mind, and tried to maintain his composer, as to not lose his cool and make a similar mistake to the one that Neil had made, which had almost cost him his life!


    Staring at the creature, suddenly, the artifact around his wrist vibrated slightly.


    Following which, information flowed to his mind:


    Tier-1 Beast


    Name: Forest Snakeman


    Innate Spells: none


    Special notes: Descendant of the snake ruler! Adept at hunting its preys through ambushes!


    Ramie was taken by this sudden reading!Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He had speculated that this artifact only displays readings of those who had life energy or other artifacts!


    But now, it seems that it also includes the creatures


    ''Forest snakeman¡­wait! Tier-1 beast!''


    ''It should be its level¡­ But¡­ what does it exactly mean¡­?''


    At this moment however, he remembered that the reading he got from Lance said Lv.1 warrior!


    ''Does it mean that this thing is at the same level as Mr. Lance¡­?''


    ''WAIT¡­! If I got the reading, then¡­''


    Realizing something, Ramie turned his gaze to Neil who was standing close to him.


    He saw that Neil was just turning, and looking at him as if wanting to say something.


    Ramie immediately understood that Neil''s too seemed to have gotten the reading.


    Thus, after nodding to Neil in understanding, he turned his gaze back to the creature, watching alertly, while saying: "Neil! Speak up the readings you''ve got!"


    Ramie said so because he wanted Lance to hear it, and he also wanted to hear it himself.


    He wanted Neil to report the reading he got, because there seem to be a bit of a difference between his artifact and Neil''s.


    As when they checked their artifacts, he got a reading from Neil while Neil didn''t get any reading from him.


    So, he wanted Neil to speak up the readings he got for Lance to hear, and also to see if there was any difference between the reading he got and the one that Neil got.


    Neil immediately spoke up: "it says; Tier-1 Beast, Name: forest snakeman, Innate Spells: none, Special notes: Descendant of the snake ruler! Adept at hunting its preys through ambushes!"


    Lance expression changed a bit, surprised by this revelation.


    But he didn''t say a thing, as it wasn''t the time or the place for discussion.


    ''So, we both got the same reading.'' Ramie thought, while observing the creature, vigilantly.


    Seconds ticked by slowly¡­


    But neither of the two parties moved.


    The creature was scanning them with its intelligent eyes, while standing motionlessly, like a statue.


    Then¡­


    Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!


    The creature let out a ratting sound similar to snakes as its forked tongue flickered in and out. Its snake eyes flashed with a dangerous glint of killing intent.


    As just as they were assessing the creature, it too was scrutinizing them!


    At these sounds, the trio''s hearts tightened, as the intensity of the atmosphere multiplied several times.


    Among the three, the creature''s eyes rested on Lance, then¡­


    Bang!


    Suddenly, the creature dashed toward them with a terrible speed!


    In a mere moment, the creature had already traversed the distance between them, and was now in front of Lance, stabbing at him with the pointed bone!


    Almost in the same time that the creature launched itself, Lance rotated the life energy inside his body, and immediately, his physical capabilities soared.


    Then, as he stepped forth toward the creature, with an equivalent speed, he grabbed at the creatures hand that was holding the bone and in swift movement, and then pushed it away, while simultaneously stabbing at the creature''s chest, with his other hand that was holding the knife.


    In no time, Lance had neutralized the creature''s attack, and counter attacked at the same time!


    This creature was moving in a manner similar to humans, which meant that the fighting skills that Lance had learned in the military were applicable this time.


    Thus, he made a full use of this fact.


    As he stabbed at the chest region, the creature shrieked and twisted its body in unnatural angle, resulting in the knife only making a flesh cut.


    Then, as the creature twisted its body, successfully evading the lethal attack, on the same time, it rotated its body and made use of the momentum of the evasive movement to swing its other hand at Lance''s head, wanting to finish off this confrontation in the next attack!


    By now, the creature realized that even despite the fact that the aura this enemy was exuding was weaker than his; but its abilities were too terrifying.


    His prey was simply too dangerous, thus, it had to use its craftiness to end him as soon as possible!


    Shocked by the unexpected counter attack, Lance twisted his body to the side, violently¡­


    Unfortunately, it was too late to dodge¡­


    Thud!


    The heavy smash landed at his head, slamming him to the ground, fiercely, like a bug!


    In no time, the battle started, attacks exchanged, and concluded with Lance smashed to the ground with a heavy strike.


    Just like that... the winner was decided.


    "¡­"


    Ramie was stupefied.


    Just a moment ago, they were in a standoff, and now¡­ Lance was squashed violently to the ground with a violent thud!


    While on the other hand, the creature only had a flesh wound on its chest which was dripping blood.


    Hisss!!!


    Recovering its stance, and swiping the blood on its chest with its long fingers, the creature looked at his bloody fingers, and then hissed furiously at the fallen Lance.


    The creature''s instincts kicked in, as a deep wrath rose in its heart due to this humiliation.


    Its pride didn''t allow it to accept the fact that it was injured by an inferior, weak enemy.


    Thus, it took a step toward Lance, whom at the moment was lying on the ground, dazed.


    The earlier attack of the creature had crushed him to the ground violently, and he received the ground, head first.


    If someone without life energy was subjugated to this kind of attack; then they would have joined the world of the dead by now, regardless of their strength!


    The creature had more developed upper body with thin, long arms and large hands.


    This made the creature''s hand look like a sledgehammer when he makes a fist.


    Thus, when the creature smashed with its large hand at Lance, the power in that hit was too much for the fragile human body to take, even despite the fact that Lance had used the life energy to withstand the blow!


    And that''s resulted in Lance ending up in his current state!


    However, in truth, the real factor that brought about this kind of outcome - was the fact that this creature had more flexible body than the humans! Which is why it was able to move its body in that impossible angel, which allowed it to evade Lance''s lethal attack and counter attack in unforeseen manner, thus bringing about this result.


    So, it could be said that Lance losing this battle was attributed to one single fact - he lost because he didn''t know that the creature could twist its body in such impossible angel at the last moment; which allowed it to both evade Lance''s attack and counter attack at the same time.


    Although judging by the aura alone, the creature was stronger than Lance!


    However, when considering the battle capabilities and skills, Lances was an experienced soldier who knows how to fight in close quarter combat, as opposite to the creature''s crude, direct manner of fighting that was far from being comparable to the refined martial art skills that Lance had mastered!


    And this fact, didn''t escape the creature, which is why he wanted to finish Lance off right now.


    As the creature took another step toward Lance with blazing fury, intending to finish him off... Lance on the other hand was on the verge of losing his consciousness, as he struggled on the ground to regain his focus, fully aware of the fact that if he blacked out now, then, he won''t get to wake up¡­ ever again¡­!


    ¡­

 Chapter 15: Bloodline (1)

    Chapter 15: Bloodline (1)


    Seeing the creature moves closer to the fallen Lance, Ramie was in daze!


    He didn''t expect things to deteriorate so unexpectedly¡­ so quickly!


    However, his daze only lasted for a moment, before recovering.


    In a heartbeat, his mind reeled at max speed, reassessing the situation. Countless thoughts flashed by his alarmed mind like lightening, as he tried to come up with a solution.


    In a moment, he processed the situation, and concluded one simple fact¡­


    If Lance dies¡­ they all die!


    Because, if even Lance with his boasted strength couldn''t last few seconds¡­then, what could he and Neil do¡­?


    Ramie started realizing that if the situation was to progress toward its natural conclusion; then there was nothing but death waiting for him!


    Fear¡­!


    Anger¡­!


    Great unwillingness¡­!


    All of these feelings surged in his heart consecutively¡­one after the other¡­


    First; it was the fear of death!


    Then, followed a deep anger, as he realized that all of his aspirations and dreams were about to shatter and come to a pathetic end, right in front of him¡­


    What came afterward was a great sense of unwillingness to accept that result¡­ which gave birth to a terrible fury in his heart.


    The raging fury was directed toward this abominable creature that was trying to take his life away, wantonly!


    Shedding all traces of hesitation in his heart, determination soon prevailed.


    Ramie mentally commanded with intent:


    "Morphing!!!"


    Immediately, information appeared in his mind.


    < Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive >


    < Effect: gaining the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree! >


    < Cast: yes/no >


    Without hesitation, he shouted: "YES!!"


    Then, with slight vibration in the artifact, a sense of coldness spread to all over his body in a moment!


    It was nothing like the coldness he felt before, as this time, the sense of coldness was intense to the point of inducing an involuntary physical reaction in the form of a violent shiver that caused him to tremble intensely!


    The coldness seeped down to his bones, causing a searing pain in his marrow!


    Ramie''s face started contorting with pain, as he mustered all his will to stop himself from shouting atop his lungs. On the same time, his strength started draining away, causing him to fall to the ground weakly.


    "¡­"


    Ramie received the floor with his hands, as he fell down, not believing what was happening!Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    When the voice said that the life energy and magic artifice could be used to fight the creatures, he didn''t pay much of attention to it first, as he was in a dangerous situation and couldn''t afford to contemplate on this matter.


    But then, the confrontation with the creature took place. And the life energy that Lance had awakened actually saved their lives.


    After witch, he no longer took this matter lightly, finally understanding why the voice had emphasized on these two things that much.


    He accepted the fact that the artifact might actually be of great use to preserve his life¡­ if he gets around to learn how to use it that is!


    So, even despite his suspensions of what might the morphing spell to do him, and its effect, he started thinking that he might fall in a situation where he''ll have no choice but to use it someday.


    But, it still made him uncomfortable not knowing what this spell would exactly do.


    After all, who would jump into using something that might change his body in a permanent manner without first figuring out what this supposed change is, and whether it is harmful or not?


    And if the change is indeed in his body, then what are its specifics and to what extent would the change go?


    But now¡­ he felt his strength drains away, disappearing¡­ at the worst moments possible.


    Suddenly, a thought struck him like a bolt of lightning!


    "NEIL!!"


    Without a further moment of hesitation, and from between gritted teeth, he squeezed out a shout at Neil, as he remembered that Neil had a spell that was different from his. And if its description was precise, then it should be usable this situation.


    Although they didn''t dare to use it before, as they had no idea what kind of noise would it bring about? But considering the current situation, it no longer mattered.


    Turning his gaze toward Neil, ramie shouted at him¡­


    However, just as he turned his eyes to Neil, he saw him lift his open hand, aiming it at the creature, as if he had a hidden weapon concealed in his palm.


    Unbeknownst to Ramie, Neil had already commanded his artifact almost as the same time that he commanded his.


    Afterward, a flash on knowledge surfaced from the artifact to Neil''s mind...


    Then, a second later, Neil gained an inspiration from the artifact on the practical manner of casting his spell.


    Then¡­


    Fire Burst!


    As Ramie looked at Neil, he heard two words. Then, a flashy sparks of fire flickered outward from his palm¡­


    And the next thing he saw¡­ was a finger-sized projectile of fire streaking toward the creature from Neil''s palm, in high speed, leaving a short trail of fire behind.


    It was as if this projectile was small missile, propelled by fire, and streaking in high speed toward its target.


    The already furious creature was startled greatly by the unexpected development.


    It was about to finish off the most threatening enemy among the three, then taking its time to deal with the other weaker enemies.


    The moment the strong enemy fell down, this battle''s outcome should have already been set in stone¡­


    But now, one of the preys was using a weird attack that none of the other similar preys that it had hunted ever used.


    Taken by the unexpected development, the creature had no time to react.


    In no time, the projectile reached the creature¡­ disappearing into its chest!


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Startled for a moment, the creature finally recovered.


    Hiss!


    It hissed with anger toward Neil, then¡­ in a moment, the creature''s expression changed!


    Sensing something wrong, the creature looked at its chest¡­


    It saw thumb sized hole¡­


    But, there was no blood coming from it¡­


    It didn''t realize that the attack just now had burned its way in, thus cauterizing the wound, which is why no blood was coming out!


    The creature was petrified¡­ not believing its own eyes!


    Raising its head slowly and taking another look at that weak life form that had attacked, the creature couldn''t believe that this weak thing was able to inflict such injury to him.


    In a second, the anger in its heart surged like a tide.


    HISSSSSS!!!


    Letting out its own war cry, the creature intended to rip apart this low thing!


    But then¡­!


    Fire blast!


    Before it could even move, another fire projectile flashed at it¡­


    But it didn''t land on its chest as the last one did; instead¡­ this one went for the head!


    And then¡­ everything went dark¡­


    ¡­


    Ramie stared wide eyed at the sight, not believing his eyes¡­


    The creature that knocked Lances to the ground helpless ¨C was actually killed by that spell!


    He found it hard to believe¡­


    They had won¡­!!!


    At this time, Lance rose up to his feat, staring with disbelief at the corpse of the creature next to him.


    When Neil attacked the second time, Lance saw the sight¡­ And he was beyond shocked!


    This creature was a great threat to their lives. And he wasn''t sure that he could defeat it at all.


    But what other choice was there, as only one party was going to get to walk away from this scene alive!


    It was either this creature, or them.


    Thus he had intended to fight with all he got!


    The earlier exchange taught him the difference between them.


    This creature was stronger than him; there was no doubt in this fact.


    But its speed was the same as his.


    Besides, he was good at close quarter combat, as he had learned it in the army. So, he was intending to use that to make up for the difference in strength between them.


    But now, this creature was a motionless corpse on the ground!


    At the moment, one thought crossed his mind: ''the artifact can actually do that¡­!!??''


    Lance was beyond amazed¡­ But he also felt happy!


    His son in law now had a great weapon, a one that he could use to protect his daughter. And even to increase the chance of surviving this ordeal and make it to the camp!


    It wasn''t only him. Even Neil himself was stunned, not believing that he had actually killed this thing!


    As to Ramie, he had no time to remain shocked; as he could sense something wrong¡­ very wrong was brewing inside his body!


    He felt as though thousands and thousands of ants were crawling all over his body, under the skin!


    Ramie struggled not to freak out as the feeling intensified.


    These spells were real! And if he had a speck of suspicion before, then he had zero doubts for sure now.


    After all, the creature was just put down by a spell.


    In a way, it made him feel a bit relieved, as after seeing that his spell has done nothing but dropping him to the ground powerless, he was to some extent, expecting Neil''s spell to fail as well, and then the creature would kill them all.


    Luckily, this horrifying scenario didn''t come to pass¡­!


    Right now, the coldness in his body started disappearing, and with it, the pain. Instead, heat started spreading to every single part and corner of his body!


    Ramie started feeling a weird sensation in his body; it was as though his cells were pulsating with heat and energy, making him feel both comfortable and sick, all in the same time.


    He was unable to make sense of what was happening to him


    However, just as he was bewildered on his own condition¡­


    Roar!!!!!!


    Roar!!!!


    Suddenly, two savage roars thundered consecutively from the first floor below!


    Ramie''s expression immediately turned terrible.


    It was as if today¡­ blood was bound to be shed¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 16: Bloodline (2)

    Chapter 16: Bloodline (2)


    Hearing the creature''s savage roars coming from downstairs, Lance charged like a bouncing lion toward the last apartment in the corridor.


    He had realized that there was no time to return back to the apartment in the second floor, as these two creatures had probably heard the commotion from the earlier confrontation. Right now, chances were that these two things were coming here through the stairs.


    Lance didn''t want to go back using the stairs, fearing that they might come across these things on the way.


    Thus, he decided that they should hide here in one of the apartments, and pray that this ordeal passes by peacefully.


    Standing before the door, Lance posed his open palm at the door lock!


    He then circulated his life energy through his body to boast his muscles output.


    Bam!


    He pushed with all of his power at the lock, and the door swung open as the door lock was flung to the inside of the apartment with a small chunk of wood from the wooden door frame still attached to it!


    Seeing this action of Lance, Ramie wanted to stand up and run to the apartment, but found it very difficult, as he was feeling very weak right now.


    "This damn artifact¡­."


    At the moment, he was feeling betrayed by his artifact!


    As unlike Neil''s extraordinary spell, which had saved their lives, and finished off that seemingly unbeatable creature, his spell on the other hand was about to cost him his life, as his strength was continuously seeping away from his body, even at this moment.


    Gritting his teeth, he used the wall to support himself up.


    Lance was standing at the entrance of the apartment while waving him to come over in an urgent and somewhat pleading look on his face, wanting him to get up quickly and follow him inside the apartment.


    Neil was already half way through to Lance.


    Ramie felt a great urgency in his heart, as he tried to push himself to his limits, to at least just stand up.


    When Ramie casted his spell, nothing happened. So, neither Lance nor Neil knew what was happening with him, as there was no outer manifestation, or an indicator for what was happening inside him, thus, Lance mistaken him for being sloppy due to the shock from the earlier confrontation.


    All what Lance saw; was Ramie not getting up and wasting a precious time.


    Roar!!


    Roar!


    The two different roars boomed again, coming from the stairs, much closer this time.


    Apparently, the two creatures were coming up!


    Hearing so, Ramie felt a deep sense of crisis booms in his heart, Feeling that if he doesn''t get up right away, then in the incoming few seconds, he''d be torn apart alive and perish in a fashion similar to the people that he had seen yesterday in the streets.


    Ramie wanted to scream out his frustration, but he didn''t dare to. He wanted to cry, but there was no time for tears.


    Knowing that the very same artifact that was supposed to give him a fighting chance; was going to become the reason for his demise, a volcanic fury was ignited in his heart.


    "MOOOOOOOOOVE!!!!!"


    Howling inwardly with all of his might, the madness of his anger slowed down the pace at which he was losing his strength, giving him space to move.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    He supported himself up using the wall, and charged toward Lance with everything he got.


    Sensing the escalating urgency of the situation, he summoned every bit of strength in his body to move forward.


    Unfortunately¡­ his all didn''t amount to much¡­ and it only enabled him to move in a small child''s walking speed¡­


    Seeing this sight, it was only now did Lance realized that there was something wrong with him. Thus, he immediately ran over to him, picked him up like a small child, and then ran back to the apartment.


    As fast as lightening, the moment they got inside, Neil closed the door, trying not to make loud a noise.


    Putting him down on the ground, Lance gestured to Neil to follow him. Then both of them carried the couch in the living room and quietly placed it behind the apartment door, which had no lock on it at the moment.


    Roar! Roar!


    Roar!


    The two creatures roared loudly outside as they stepped into this floor, and noticed the humanoid''s creatures corpse.


    Ramie, Lance and Neil fell in utter silence inside the apartment, not daring to even breathe, as they listened quietly to any sound that might indicates the two creature''s intention of attacking this apartment.


    They were sitting and listening in the locked up bedroom, as they didn''t dare to stay in the living room, since there was no lock on the apartment door.


    Seconds ticked by very slowly¡­


    Roar! Roar!


    The two creatures kept roaring occasionally outside!


    An agonizing seconds ticked by slowly¡­


    After a while, and seeing that the creatures were yet to smash their way in¡­ the three finally started breathing, as the hope in their hearts started shining.


    As Ramie sat on the ground, Lance and Neil were standing and facing the door in preparation to the possible attack, while he on the other hand was struggling to keep up his consciousness, as the feeling of weakness was growing inside him unceasingly.


    The weird sense was still brimming in his body.


    Meanwhile, Lance spoke to Neil in a low, hushed voice: "can you use that attack again in case these things come inside?"


    Neil replied in the same quiet manner: "no! When I tried to use that attack on snake headed creature for the third time, it said insufficient magic energy, and then nothing happened."


    "Right now, I have one magic energy unit left, and apparently to cast that attack, I need two!"


    As Lance and Neil talked in suppressed voices with each other, Lance was on the ground, in awful situation.


    "This¡­?"


    "What is happening to me exactly¡­?"


    Scanning his body, Ramie saw the veins in his arms and legs were turning darker and darker in color!


    In no time, a spider web pattern was spreading on his skin at a visible rate!


    He was terrified!


    His body was starting to look like a map!


    And worse, his conscious was fading away¡­


    ''Am I dying¡­? Or this is the spell taking effect¡­?''


    He stared at his skin, dazed¡­


    Getting a disappointing answer from Neil, Lance turned to look at Ramie, to ask him about what was happening with him, and also to ask him to see if he was willing to use his spell if things come to worse.


    However, as Lance''s gaze fell on him, he was startled by the visible changes that were happening to him. At the moment, Ramie was looking like a living map!


    It wasn''t only his skin¡­ Lance saw the whiteness in Ramie''s eyes turn to black, and his irises changing their color¡­


    Opening his mouth, Lance wanted to say something, but¡­


    At this moment, Ramie felt his conscious slips away¡­ as the darkness crawled to his vision¡­


    The last thing he saw¡­


    Was the flustered face of Lance, as he was opening his mouth, trying to say something to him¡­


    ¡­


    Opening his eyes, there was still light in the room, which meant that it wasn''t night time just yet.


    He felt muddle headed, and his thoughts were disarrayed. Even his memories were in chaos.


    Looking around, he located Lance whom was standing beside the window, looking outside, down at the street below, from the corner of the window frame.


    Lance was obviously trying to avoid being seen by any creature from outside.


    As for Neil, he was lying on the bed, in a deep sleep, judging by the snorting.


    As Ramie sat up, Lance turned his head and looking at him. A complicated, and somewhat flustered look could be seen on his face.


    Lance then walked over, and sat beside him, a look of hesitation could be easily discerned on his eyes. After a long sigh, Lance finally spoke, saying: "Ramie¡­ there is something you should know¡­"


    Hearing the manner in which Lance spoke his words, Ramie felt unease creeps to him. But since Lance had that kind of look at his face, whatever he was going to say, was apparently very important. So, Ramie listened¡­


    ¡­


    As the sun fell behind the horizon, the last ray of light retracted itself from the world, allowing the night to claim everything, swallowing everything within its ethereal body.


    Luckily, the moon rose up, shining its rays, and alleviating some of the darkness outside.


    In a certain building, and inside a specific apartment in the fourth floor, sat three men together.


    A meager amount of moon light was shining through the window into the room, dispelling some of the darkness, and partially lighting up the bedroom, where three men were sitting.


    With a mere glance, one could tell that there was something amiss about their situation.


    Two of them were having a complicated looks on their faces, as they stole an occasional glances at the third one, whom was sitting a bit further from the two.


    These two men were precisely Lance and Neil, with the third one being Ramie.


    Right now, he had no idea what to exactly feel¡­


    Few hours ago, he had regained his consciousness to a certain reality¡­ a one that he had never ever considered before.


    His spell¡­ like Neil''s spell, was working!


    His artifact wasn''t defective, and was working fine. And also, the two creatures outside went their way while he was unconscious, which meant that they weren''t in any immediate danger¡­


    So, according to these facts; he should be feeling relieved by now.


    But in reality, relieved could in no way be used to describe what he was feeling right now¡­


    ''Am I¡­am I going to look like this my entire remaining lifetime¡­?''


    ''After all¡­ the spell description did say permanent¡­''


    Letting out a heavy, burdened sigh, Ramie closed his eyes, trying to recollect his scattered, chaotic thoughts.


    Ever since he had woke up, the feeling of hunger in his stomach was so overwhelming that it had turned into pain. It was like there was a black hole in his body that was demanding to be filled with anything or else it might start devour him from the inside.


    But even despite that, the need to fill his stomach was currently occupying less than 1% of his thoughts, even despite the crazy signals that his stomach was sending in frenzy to his mind the entire time.


    The sheer shock of what the spell had done to him ¨C was so overwhelming, that it had even overshadowed the seemingly bleak situation outside.


    Recalling the reflection he had seen in the mirror, he felt terribly miserable again.


    And how could he not¡­?


    Not even bothering to imagine the intense reaction that people would have to his current appearance, he himself still couldn''t process the fact that from now onward, that is how he is going to look like for the rest of his miserable life¡­


    Following this line of thought, for the hundredth time, he fell in a crippling dejection again.


    As for Lance and Neil, whom were sitting beside him, they really felt sorry for him.


    The change that his spell has induced in him, was something they wouldn''t even wish to their enemies, not to mention Ramie.


    But what was there to be done¡­


    Just like that, time went on, as the silent persisted¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 17: Bloodline (3)

    Chapter 17: Bloodline (3)


    As the night went on, the occasional roars, howls, screeches, barks, and different sounding inhuman cries kept on resounding non-stop outside.


    These savage cries induced a very oppressive atmosphere of fear and anxiety that turned this city into a living hell for the humans that were still alive and hiding in the buildings.


    It was as if these vicious creatures were announcing that this city was now theirs. Of course, these cries might also mean that these creatures were simply fighting each other to mark their own new territories, or trying to intimidate their preys in attempt to flush them out.


    Anyway, it could be any number of reasons. But regardless of what the reason is, it was still bad news for Ramie and the two with him.


    At this moment, Ramie slowly opened his eyes, as he reached a certain conclusion.


    It had been few hours since he saw the result of casting the ''morphing spell,'' but still, he couldn''t believe that this is how he''s going to look like from now on.


    He felt, bitterness, anxiousness, restlessness¡­ and many other feelings welling up inside him for the past few hours. But till now, it had led to nowhere¡­ as he was still found it hard to stomach the change.


    At one point, certain thought clicked in his mind, allowing him to break free from the negative cycle of thoughts that had dominated his mind till now.


    The idea was; regardless of whether he accepts this change or not¡­ the grim situation outside would still be the same.


    He was hungry and trapped in a hostile environment filled with hostile predators that would tear him apart on sight! He wasn''t even sure that he could live through this crisis even with Lance''s life energy and Neil''s artifact.


    So, even though he needed time to process this shocking change, the severity of the situation was too pressing to allow such luxury. And even if he needed to brood a bit, now was definitely not the time for it.


    Thus, starting to clear his mind up, he threw all the useless thought to the side, while deciding inwardly to do all he can to live through this calamity.


    ¡­


    Time went on¡­


    Although the cries of the creatures never ceases throughout the night, Ramie couldn''t resist the mental fatigue anymore, and fell asleep.


    Today was simply too eventful, and he went through two life and death confrontations, and barely escaped the third one, all of that in less than 24 hours.


    Not to mention that he was also hungry, as whatever little energy the small meal of noodles had given him, was already spent, and more.


    Thus, he slept to save whatever little energy he still had.


    Of course, it wasn''t only him who couldn''t resist the tiredness, as Lance and Neil fall asleep shortly afterward.


    ¡­


    Opening his eyes, the sight of the well lit bedroom welcomed his vision.


    Judging by the light, it seemed to be day time outside. And a single glance at the cat shaped clock hanging at the wall confirmed his guess.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Looking around, he saw that both Lance and Neil were submerged in a very deep sleep.


    He didn''t blame them for it, as yesterday was beyond exhausting. Instead, he wondered on why he was the one to wake up first¡­


    Standing up, he walked to the curtained window, and looked through the corner of the window frame, scanning the street bellow.


    Luckily, nothing could be seen¡­ which made him sigh in relief.


    However, after further thoughts, he started inspecting this particularity from a different aspect: ''Are these creatures active only in night time, or¡­ they''re just lurking and waiting for the hiding people to come out¡­?''


    Feeling his skin Goosebumps at the latter possibility, Ramie chose to believe the former¡­. Since the alternative, was too horrifying¡­


    Because if these things were deliberately hiding and waiting for someone to step into the streets to hunt him down¡­ Then that meant that his chances of leaving this place alive were none.


    Seeing that there was nothing on sight outside, he started walking to the bedroom door, to see if there was anything that could be eaten in the kitchen¡­


    However, after taking few steps, he saw his reflection in the mirror, and couldn''t resist stopping and staring at this thing that stared back¡­


    As Ramie looked at the mirror, a face that not even a mother could love stared back at him. This reflection reminded him of the shock he had received yesterday after seeing himself in the mirror for the first time after casting that ''cursed'' morphing spell.


    The reflection in the mirror projected a man/thing that he did not recognize¡­ in fact; the reflection did not seem to belong to a human at all!


    Ramie felt the bitterness crawls back on him.


    The thing in the mirror had a dark-green skin with wooden pattern on it. The whiteness in his eyes had turned pitch black, and his irises become golden yellow in color, making him look like a text book monster¡­


    And that wasn''t all¡­


    Looking at his head in the mirror, his hair was no longer there, and instead, there was a large, ugly flower on the top of his head, with large, black-colored petals sliding down his head, making him look as though he was wearing a weird hat.


    If this was all, then he wouldn''t probably feel this bitter¡­ but there was something else¡­


    His nose¡­ was not there!


    It wasn''t that his nose had become flatter, and thus was hard to make out due to his dark-green skin color¡­


    It was that his nose was completely erased! And in its place, there was nothing¡­ nothing at all¡­! Just flat area!


    Ramie had no idea how he was still alive, as he was not even breathing anymore!


    His chest area wasn''t moving at all!


    But he didn''t feel discomfort, nor was he suffocated¡­


    More ever, he could still speak and make sounds¡­ which meant that he has air inside him. So, where does this air come from¡­?


    He didn''t even know what to think of this anymore¡­


    His nose-less face, the weird flower on his head, and also, his dark-green, wooden patterned skin, not to mention his terrifying, blood-freezing eyes¡­ All of these together would be more than enough for him to be considered a monster!


    He felt bitter because he had no idea if his aunts would even recognize him at all.


    He was also worried of the people''s reaction, and more than anything¡­ the military''s reaction!


    He didn''t want to be shot down on sight¡­


    Feeling helpless, he thought: ''I should conceal my skin with clothes. As for my head and face, probably a hoodie and scarf would do the trick. A shade glass would do to cover my eyes!''


    Afterward, ramie shifted his focus to the artifact. Taking a deep breath, and calming himself, he mentally commanded!


    Instantly, the readings surfaced in his mind without a moment delay. He had discovered yesterday that he didn''t have to look at the artifact on his wrist to summon the readings. Instead, he could simply will it, and the artifact would display his readings.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (86%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 9


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spell: Morphing (permanent)


    The information looked a bit different from the one he had prior to casting the spell.


    Mentally, Ramie started going through these stats, to see what he could understand of them.


    The first thing he noticed; was the percent change of the magic artifact. It used to be 16%, while now it''s 86%.


    Thus, he focused on it, wishing that this artifact would elaborate it for him, just as it did with the spell part.


    When he yesterday focused on spell part, the artifact offered him a brief explanation on it. So, he hoped that it would offer him elaboration similar to what Neil''s artifact did. As in Neil''s case, his artifact gave him a detailed information on what his spell could do, its effect, its cost and so on.


    So, Ramie was hoping that his artifact might offer him the same explanation on the meaning of percent value¡­


    Unfortunately it didn''t¡­


    Helpless, he moved to the other values, hoping that some elaborations might pop up on to him¡­


    Focusing on the spell part, he noticed a bit of change, as the word inactive had disappeared.


    < Spell: Morphing (permanent) >


    < Effect: gaining the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree! >


    The same information appeared, with the casting ''yes/no'' part missing.


    Ramie couldn''t help but to feel greatly disappointed in his artifact!


    The spell that Neil got was simply too good, it was very powerful, and although Neil only had 5 points in his magic energy, half of what he has... which is 9, but Neil could still cast his spell twice¡­


    And considering that it had put down the creature that even Lance had lost to¡­ it was crystal clear how much useful it was!


    As for Himself, all what he got was turning into a monster!


    His artifact didn''t even give him a clear explanation on his spell before disfiguring him,


    only telling him that he had gained the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree!


    Subterranean ghost tree!!


    Just how ominous this name was!


    It was no wonder that he turned out to be this frightening¡­!


    Following this line of thoughts, Ramie felt even worse.


    Casting one final look at the mirror, and smiling bitterly, the human-like monster in the mirror grinned back at him, devilishly, making him look even more atrocious, as if he had just came out of a horror movie.


    ''It seems that i shouldn''t smile in front of other people any more...'' he added a mental note.


    Sighing deeply in his heart, ramie shoved the unnecessary thoughts aside, and moved to the kitchen, to find some food.


    ¡­

 Chapter 18: Escaping the building

    Chapter 18: Escaping the building


    Unfortunately, after searching the entire kitchen, not even a speck of food was found, only rotten remains in the refrigerator.


    However, Ramie did manage to find two bottles of water, one of which was half full¡­


    As for the tap water, there was none of it.


    "The water station¡­"


    He guessed that something must have happened in the water station that was supplying this city with its water.


    Feeling the increasing pressure of the situation, Ramie sighed deeply, and went back to the bedroom, waiting for Lance and Neil to wake up to decide their next course of action.


    Time went on¡­ one hour¡­ two hours¡­


    However, neither Lance nor Neil woke up. Thus, Ramie decided to search the rest of the apartment for anything that might be of any use to them, especially sharp objects. After all, there was no telling of what kind of creature they might face on the short term.


    However, after around half hour of search, aside from one really long knife with thick blade that is used to cut meat, not much else was found.


    Then, just as Ramie intended to go back to the bedroom and wait, to save up his remaining energy¡­ Suddenly, he felt a powerful aura approaches this place slowly.


    At once, an electrifying sense of warning rose in his heart, sending him into state of alarm. It was as if he knew that something extremely dangerous was getting closer and closer!


    Subconsciously, he squatted to the ground, intending not to move or make any noise.


    Not that he was making any before¡­ but the danger he felt from the terrifying entity that was moving closer to this place made him unsettled.


    His frightening yellow irises started shining with an eerie glint of faint yellow light, which expressed his rising battle intent.


    Ramie was taken aback by the battle urge!


    The last two times he fought, he did it to maintain his life! To survive! And he was scared witless in both of the occasions.


    But now, instead of fear¡­ he could feel a rising urge to battle and fend for his life!


    The battle intent in his heart was rising. And even the fear he had was melting into this impulse.


    Ramie could faintly feel his bloodline throbbing with battle excitement.


    In a moment, a sudden thought came to Ramie.


    ''It''s the morphing spell¡­!''


    Hurr! Huuuuurrrrrr!


    At this moment, Ramie could hear a loud sound of heavy breathing coming from the corridor outside, interrupting his thoughts.


    It signified that the inexplicable intense reaction he just had was actually on point!


    Gazing at the apartment door that was barricaded with a heavy couch, his eyes shone with an intense yellow glint.


    He prepared his heart for the incoming life and death battle.


    At the moment, Ramie started sensing that the powerful entity outside was moving slowly.


    The radiating power he sensed was like a heat signature, moving through the corridor! And he could perceive it, even though there was a wall between him and the creature.


    Although he did not know how, but Ramie could perceive the power of the creature clearly.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    He had no idea how he could know that? But¡­ he somehow did!


    But this was not time to ponder on this matter right now.


    Refocusing on the current situation, Ramie decided to inform Lance and Neil of the imminent danger they were in.


    Reaching this conclusion, he didn''t waste time, immediately moving to the room as quietly as possible.


    As he went to wake up the two, he was surprised for a moment¡­


    Looking at the two, he felt a certain aura of power was coming from them¡­


    It was of different nature from the creature''s radiating power that he just felt.


    It was even different between the two.


    Comparing to the creature, the aura their bodies were radiating felt less threatening¡­ less oppressive¡­


    Looking at them, assessingly, he estimated that the aura Neil was radiating was of a similar nature to his own aura, albeit weaker.


    As for the aura that Lance gave off, it was different from his aura. And Ramie could feel that it was weaker than the creature outside.


    Grrrrrrrrrr!!


    Hearing the creature''s low growl, Ramie snapped back to present. And decided to wake the two up in case worse comes to worst.


    He feared however that one of them might make noise when waking up to his face, thus alerting the creature to their presence.


    And even if that happened, he couldn''t blame them for it. As, even though they had witnesses the change in him yesterday, there was no way to get use to such sight, especially considering the precarious environment they are in.


    Simply¡­ that how terrifying looking he was right now!


    Which is why he went to wake up Lance first, as he was much more steel minded, as someone who had served in the elite force in the army.


    So, Ramie figured that Lance had the highest chance of managing to keep his mouth shut after waking up to his horror face and not scream out their position to the creature.


    Luckily, after waking him up, Lance measured up to his expectations and did not disappoint.


    He actually almost managed to keep a straight face when he opened his eyes to Ramie''s terrifying face, and his expression fluttered for only about two second before he managed to recover to straight face.


    Ramie didn''t give him time to apologies, before hinting toward the apartment door direction with a piercing look.


    After realizing the situation, Lance in turn went to wake Neil up, to avoid an overreaction to Ramie''s looks.


    The crisis lasted few moments before coming to an end.


    After hearing some low growls from the corridor, the heavy steps started getting away.


    And on the same time, Ramie felt the aura source moves away, and the feeling of crisis followed suit.


    Ramie breathed out in relief, as for now, they were safe. But that was only for the time being¡­


    Ramie could feel that the strong aura was still nearby, meaning that this creature was still in the building.


    Lance and Neil tried to act normally around him, but only Lance managed to do so, as for Neil, his expression was fluttering every time he made an eye contact with Ramie.


    Ramie tried not to pay attention to this matter, as even though it bothered him, there was nothing he could about it.


    So, he decided to change his vacation clothes to something more ''concealing.''


    Luckily, he wasn''t disappointed. After few minutes of searching, he found what he had in mind.


    He wore clothes that covered every bit of his skin; he even covered his hands with cloves, his neck and almost all of his face with a scarf. As for his eyes, he wore sunglasses.


    He also wore a hoodie to cover the black flower on his head, and he pulled it down to cover his forehead''s skin.


    After finishing, not even a glimpse of his skin could be seen. And although it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, at least he won''t be shot down by the military on sight when he goes to the camp.


    Seeing him change his clothes, Lance and Neil too, changed their clothes to whatever they could found in the bedroom.


    Unfortunately, the clothes they found were a bit tighter on their bodies'', as their build was sturdier, and larger than Ramie. Apparently, whom ever inhabited this apartment; had the same frail build as Ramie.


    But they had no choice, as their clothes were too dirty, ragged, and even had traces of blood on them.


    After a while¡­


    Even though the creature was no longer on the corridor outside, but Ramie could still feel an aura of power reeks from within the building.


    It made him feel intense discomfort and unease. He decided to urge Lance to leave the building as soon possible, as he was still capable of sensing the danger source roaming the building, intensifying once, and weakening another.


    Apparently, the creature was discovering its new territory or¡­ it was looking for preys¡­


    Whatever the reason was, Ramie felt an urge to leave the building as soon as possible.


    Approaching Lance, Ramie spoke in a hushed tone that was barely audible:"Mr. Lance, I think we should leave this building as soon as possible. I can feel¡­"


    "I agree." Lance responded without hesitation. Not even letting him finish his sentence.


    Hearing the immediate answer, Ramie was taken a bit.


    He had expected Lance to suggest fighting the creature and taking their time before leaving¡­ so as not to put themselves in inescapable danger due to acting rashly, or to wait for some time before leaving the building.


    To that response, Ramie was prepared to tell him that he could somehow now feel the power that was coming from them, and the creature. And that according to which, the creature was stronger than them, even stronger than Lance.


    He would also add that his senses were alarming him to an increasing danger coming from this building.


    However, Lance agreed right away, making him think that Lance too might be getting the same vibes of danger.


    At this moment, Neil interjected in a low voice:"you mean we go to another place for food, or go for the harbor?"


    Neil asked Lance in concerned tone.


    "No! The way to the harbor takes a lot of time, which means that we will be on the streets for a long time. It''s a bad idea to do it now, at least not before we have a proximal idea on what is lurking there first. So, the less we spend on the streets the better. We''ll go for the nearest place that has food in it!"


    Ramie approved of this thinking, as indeed, the streets were very dangerous, especially when considering the creature''s cries that they heard during the early night yesterday, which probably continued throughout the night even after they slept.


    Thus, the less time they spend on the streets the better.


    After agreeing to this matter, Ramie proceeded to inform them of the effects of his morphing spell to sense the creature''s power and to estimate it, and of how he can sense their own auras and compare it to the creature.


    He thought that this ability would be of great help for them to avoid the creature''s they can''t win against, and also to estimate their chances of defeating the threats that they can''t escape from.


    "You''re serious? You actually sensed the thing before you could hear it?"


    "Yes." Ramie nodded in response.


    At his confirmation, both Lance and Neil were pleasantly surprised to learn that his morphing spell had such great use.


    This would definitely increase their chances of avoiding deadly confrontations¡­


    "This is very good! We might actually reach the camp without a fight!" Lance said, smiling.


    ¡­


    5 minutes later, they were prepared to leave this building¡­


    The way downstairs was off consideration, as Ramie''s sense of the threat kept fluctuating close and far, they also started hearing the sounds of breaking doors¡­


    Apparently, the new landlord disliked the fact that it didn''t have full access to its new hideout, or it was simply looking for them, as since the snake headed creature was smart enough to use bone as a weapon, they couldn''t rule out the possibility that this new creature was smart enough to figure out that the snake headed creature was killed by someone, and that someone might still be hiding here in its newly claimed lair.


    So, since going though the stairs was not an option, they decided that they should leave through the fire escape ladder from outside.


    "Are you ready?" Lance asked, as he stood in front of the window, ready to go out and climb down the fire escape route.


    "Go!"


    Ramie answered firmly, and beneath the sunglasses, his yellow eyes shone with an intense yellow glint of determination.


    With this perceptive ability of his, he could finally see a trace of hope to live through this crisis...


    ¡­

 Chapter 19: Humans vs humans (1)

    Chapter 19: Humans vs humans (1)


    Lance opened the window, slowly, and made sure not to make any excessive noise.


    Getting out through the window, he cautiously got down on the fire escape ladder, and then started descending slowly and quietly. Ramie and Lance followed suit.


    The sound of the howling wind as it blew through the lifeless streets below induced feelings of fear and unease in their hearts.


    The streets below felt desolate¡­ alienating¡­


    The entire city felt a world apart different from the bustling, sleepless city that Ramie was familiar with¡­


    It was as if no life other than the three of them were there¡­


    But Ramie knew better than to think as such!


    The reverberating creature''s cries that he heard yesterday told a very different story.


    This place was no longer populated by humans¡­ but by something else. And he really didn''t want to meet the creatures that were capable of issuing such horrifying sounds.


    He knew that these things were in the hide, probably lurking in the dark.


    Ramie hoped that the sun had a harmful effect on these creatures or something, So that they wouldn''t come across any of them. As even though Lance was with them, it wasn''t as if he was invincible. After all, the snake-headed creature from yesterday had almost claimed his life, even despite him using his life energy.


    There was also Neil''s Fire Burst, which after using up four magic energy points to cast it twice yesterday, he was left with only one point, which wasn''t sufficient to cast this spell again. Luckily, the magic energy units had recovered back to five points after Neil got some sleep.


    This was very good news, as it told Ramie that these points can recover after being used, meaning one less major problem to worry about!


    However, there was still an issue with this fire burst spell; and that was it could only be casted twice, before Neil runs out of magic energy.


    This restriction meant that if they came across multiple creatures, then the two fire projectiles won''t be enough to salvage the situation.


    There was also the issue with the two massive creatures that fought each other not far away from here¡­! It was needlessly to say that stumbling across such creatures means the end of the road for them.


    There was a lot to worry about¡­


    But merely worrying wouldn''t change the situation¡­ as such, Ramie kept these thoughts in the background of his mind as he followed Lance and descended to the street with high alerted mind.


    ¡­


    After getting down to the street, the three moved very cautiously, so as not attract any unwanted attention.


    They moved from one building to another.


    First, they scan around, and when making sure that the view is clear, with nothing in sight, they''d run to the next building, and hide behind the corner, then repeat the process again.


    In such manner, they kept moving, slowly, but steadily.


    The goal was to leave this residential area, as most of the creatures cries originated from here yesterday, which was probably because this area provided a lot of places to hide.


    Luckily, the building they stayed at was close to the perimeter of the residential area. So, to completely leave this area, they''d have to only move a bit over 200 meter.


    Fortunately, they made it!


    As the three finally ran beyond the last building block in the residential area, they heaved a heavy sigh of relief.


    Ramie casted a final look behind¡­ he was feeling sorry for the three that were probably still hiding in the building¡­


    Although the trio tried to close the building door on him and the two policemen, they were acting so not out of personal vendetta, but only to save themselves, by preventing any creature from getting into the building.


    Ironically, that was exactly what happened, even though the door was close shut. And now, they were alone there with the creatures¡­


    Although Ramie did not like that action of theirs, but they were still humans¡­ and he didn''t like the idea that they were going to turn into a feast for the creatures, not after seeing the anguished faces of the people as the flying creatures torn them apart two days ago.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    But what could he do¡­.?


    Letting out a heavy sigh, he silently continued on, alongside the two policemen.


    ¡­


    In one of the silent, desolate streets of the city, there was a bakery store.


    Although there were other stores in this particular street, this store however was the only one that had its front glass covered with newspapers to block the view inside, leaving only small openings that were not enough to get a glimpse inside the store.


    Through one of these small openings, a pair of vigilant eyes was actively scanning the street, alertly.


    Suddenly, the pair of eyes glinted, as they picked up the sight of three figures moving carefully upfront, from one building to the other, while scanning their surroundings carefully.


    At once, a muffled voice of a male sounded in the silent bakery store:"quickly! Alert the boss! Three men had just entered this street! I think one of them might have a bracelet on his wrist, but they are still far, so am not too certain."


    In response to him, another man who was sitting across the room while leaning on the wall, got up and ran to the back of the store with a hasty light steps, to convey this information.


    The man who spoke, didn''t move his eyes from the three figures even as he issued the instruction.


    He scanned two of the three figures with his scrutinizing gaze, before settling his sight on the third, specifically, on his wrist. He was trying to make out whether that figure had one of these special bracelets or not.


    ¡­


    As he moved carefully from one building to another, Ramie suddenly felt as though something had locked its sight on him, for a moment, before disappearing.


    Instantly, the thought that they were noticed by some creature crossed his mind, which spiked his alarm¡­ as beside Lance and Neil, nothing else was in his field of vision¡­


    If it was before, he would have brushed it off as paranoia, but now, and after the two confrontation with beasts, he knew better than to ignore his senses. As such, he slowed down a bit, and started scanning around, carefully.


    Noticing his behavior, Lance and Neil grew wary, wanting to see if Ramie''s keen senses had picked up on something...


    However, after scanning his surroundings, Ramie saw nothing strange. And he didn''t want to waste precious seconds, as every extra moment they spent outside, the chances of them being spotted and attacked would increase. Thus, having no other choice, he waved them to progress on their way.


    ¡­


    Inside the bakery store; a hurried, light footsteps sounded faintly, as a middle aged man walked to the store''s glassy front and looked outside, through the small openings between the newspapers.


    Apparently, he was the one that was called the ''boss!''


    He appeared to be in his mid 40s, with medium build, bold head, and intimidating look on his face.


    Squinting his eyes at a particular figure among the three, his lips crooked to form a cold smile, as a glint of anticipation streaked through his eyes.


    "He does indeed have one of those artifacts¡­!" he said with a husky voice, as a calculative thoughts span in his mind.


    "Boss, I think you should let these three men in¡­" the man who had located the three men in the first place spoke, meaningfully¡­


    "Yes boss! I think you should do that. After all, how much of good can you do with that artifact in your hands¡­!" another man added with a cunning look on his face.


    "I agree with them too boss! If that bracelet was as good as that youth''s bracelet back in the hotel, then just think of how powerful you can become!! You could probably even get us out of this hellish city safely!" yet another one spoke, persuasively.


    "Boss, I too thing that¡­"


    Right now, other than the middle-aged man that was called the boss, six others stood behind him. They were talking to him in persuasive and praising words.


    The boss was gloating on the fact that a nobody like him was being addressed in such flattering words, and in such respectful manner¡­ he however didn''t let such empty words get to him.


    He knew that these low lives were only acting so subserviently because of the sudden energy he had, granting him an abnormal strength! Without that, they wouldn''t probably even cast him a second glance.


    However, he couldn''t deny it; it felt really good being treated in such respect. It made him feel like he was somebody. As before, this was the way he usually treated others, from a lower standing, but now that he was on the other hand of such treatment, he felt extremely elated.


    In any case, he didn''t let such thing blind him from the obvious. He realized it¡­ he was only treated as such because of his strength.


    Back on the hotel, when he first felt this warm energy invades his body¡­ he thought that he had caught some strange disease or something, and that he might die¡­


    This thought of his however couldn''t have been any further from the truth¡­


    It wasn''t a disease! But in fact a bliss! Because afterward, as a dozen of rat-like creatures attacked the people inside the hotel, where he was hiding, he came to learn the real effects of this energy¡­


    It had enabled him to stand up to the creatures and even kill all of them!


    At first, he couldn''t believe it, but as all the people around started looking at him in a different light, a certain reality finally sank in¡­


    The voice¡­ was right!


    From that moment onward¡­ he realized that things would change¡­ the world would change¡­!


    The very same people that wouldn''t normally even bother to glance his way a second time, acting as if he was invisible; were now looking at him the same way he was used to look at them!


    He saw it in their eyes¡­ respect¡­ high regard¡­ it wasn''t the normal impassive looks anymore¡­


    And this wasn''t due to him, but because of his strength!


    Before this catastrophe, he belonged to the lowest tier of society, destined to be nothing for the entirety of his life.


    He was strong, with a muscular frame, and vigorous body. If he was born in another era, he would have become something¡­ someone that everyone wants to form a connection with.


    But unfortunately, the era he was born in, didn''t belong to the strong¡­ it belonged to the rich!


    So, he accepted the fate that he would never amount to anything¡­ that he would spend his entire life struggling on the margins of society to just barely live his days by, till death comes¡­


    The world did not belong to the likes of him, but to those with fancy, expensive clothes.


    However, at the hotel, he realized it for the first time¡­ he realized that this deeply rooted way of society was turning upside down, and that maybe¡­ this new era might be dominated by the strong!


    It had hit them back then¡­ there was no police¡­ no law¡­ no boundaries¡­ nothing to restrict him anymore.


    At that time, his imagination started going wild with the endless prospect that was opened for him due to this catastrophe!


    Money was no longer the deciding factor, but strength¡­ And strength he had!


    At that day, creatures assaulted the hotel again. But they weren''t as weak as the ones that had attacked before; they were stronger!


    That was his first real struggle against of life and death after the catastrophe.


    It was then that he saw it¡­


    A youth that couldn''t be older than 20 years old stepped up. He started discharging strange lightening-like projectiles from his hand and easily eliminated the threat that he was certain that he himself couldn''t triumph against!


    After that, he came to learn about this ''amazing artifact'' from the youth. And it was at that time that he got this idea¡­


    How much would his survival chances be boosted if he got his hand on a similar weapon.


    Afterward, and acting upon this thought of his; he assembled few other individuals with a similar mindset and background to himself. He gathered them for the one purpose of getting his hands on that youth''s artifact and then lead them to the camp safely.


    Unfortunately, that plan of his didn''t come to pass¡­ As later that day, they were attacked by a strong creature that caused the people in the hotel to run away, dispersing in all directions.


    This was the reason why he and this group of his ended up in this bakery store in the first place, which made him regret not taking action earlier and missing the chance of getting that artifact.


    Now however, the chance was here, presenting itself to him on a silver plate.


    How could he pass on that?


    With his eyes glued at that bracelet, he issued his instructions: "When they get in here, the moment the door is closed, we''ll jump at them, and apprehend them! Remember, the priority is the bracelet, so don''t kill the man who has it, at least not before he tells me of how to use it first! Also, keep in mind, there might be creatures outside close by, so remember to not let them make any sound."


    He then turned his head to scan the six of them, saying:"Who surrenders right away, there is no need to kill him, but if any of the other two resists, then don''t hesitate."


    "Remember, the most important thing is to do it as silently as possible. If any of them tries to make a sound, then kill him on the spot, as our lives depends on it." scanning the six with his gaze again, he warned.


    Upon seeing the somewhat fearful looks on their faces as they engraved his words in their minds, he felt satisfied.


    Turning to look outside through the window, he thought: ''Strength is indeed everything in these kinds of times¡­''


    ''Just wait, the moment I get that artifact¡­ I will never be a nobody again¡­''


    Fixating his gaze on the last figure among the three, a sinister smile crept to his face as a glint of determination flashed past his eyes.


    ¡­

 Chapter 20: Humans vs humans (2)

    Chapter 20: Humans vs humans (2)


    Moving from corner to corner, the three made their way silently along a certain street.


    According to Ramie''s memory, in this street, there were a lot of stores, and various commodities were available here. So, he had pointed them to this street as it was the closest, considering the direction they came from.


    Here, they could find several food stores, as well as stores that sell electronics, which was something that Lance suggested.


    He had said that he might be able to communicate with the military forces stationed in the camp if he was to get his hand on a transceiver device. So, Ramie guided them here.


    They didn''t want to go to large or mid-sized stores, but to small ones. As it would be much harder to any creature to sneak on them unnoticed in such small spaces, unlike what happened to them back in the building. But on the same time, they would lose the advantage of being able to hide in such small places. And if a creature discovered them and attacked, they''d have no choice but to fight.


    In short, in large places, they''d have many choices; to fight, to hide, or to escape¡­ But in small places, the moment they get discovered, then there would have no choice other than to fight¡­ However, on the same time; if anything tries to sneak on them, they''d be aware of its presence long before it jumps them.


    So, considering the pros and cons¡­ They decided to go to a small store!


    ¡­


    As they made their way carefully along the street, Lance suddenly signaled them to stop, while gazing at a certain direction¡­


    Following his gaze, Ramie saw the door of a certain store across the street opens up slowly¡­


    Ramie''s grip tightened on the handle of his knife, preparing to react at any given moment.


    He also felt the power radiating from Lance intensifies. Apparently, he was using his life energy to boast his physic.


    As the door was slowly opening¡­ it suddenly stopped, mid way, and a man emerged. He looked at Lance and started waving them to come in, in a rather urgent manner. He appeared to be quiet anxious.


    Seeing that, Ramie immediately thought of the weird feeling of being watched not long ago.


    ''It seems that the weird feeling of being watched was because of this man¡­!''


    The apparent urgency in the man''s face made Ramie think that there might be a creature nearby and the man was warning them from it. So, he didn''t object as Lance signaled them to follow him to get inside the bakery store.


    Off course, there was a chance that the man was simply afraid and wanted some companions to maximize his chances of survival. But it wasn''t as if there was no logic in this line of thought. After all, strength was indeed in numbers, and it worked both ways.


    Besides, if Lance got life energy, and he and Neil got the artifacts¡­ Then, there was great chance that other people too acquired the same. So, having others join them would not be the worst idea.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    There was a great chance that there are a lot of people trapped here in the city. And although he can''t help them all, it didn''t mean that he wouldn''t help those he comes across, as long as it within his ability. Beside, this man is in the same dangerous situation as he is, and helping him was the normal thing to do.


    Thus, Ramie didn''t voice any objection, and silently followed Lance as he crossed the empty street to the store on the other side.


    ¡­


    Scanning the men in the store, the boss emphasized: "remember! Be quick! And don''t allow them to make loud noise." He then asked: "Do you all know your turns?"


    The men decisively nodded to him in response.


    "Good! Now prepare yourselves. And remember! No mistakes!"


    Saying this much, he turned to look at the open door. A glint of anticipation flashed across his eyes, as he could barely contain the sparking thrill and excitement in his heart.


    This was happening! And in moments, that amazing artifact would become his!


    Although this wasn''t his first time committing a crime, but it was the first time that he intends to go as far as to kill someone.


    It wasn''t personal! It was just their bad luck for having what he needed, and for coming this way! He was only doing this to increase his chances of surviving!


    Harboring these kinds of thoughts to justify his actions, he rotated his life energy in preparation for the imminent confrontation.


    ¡­


    As the three of them approached the door, the man went in while urging them to follow after him.


    Lance got in first after the man, and then Neil followed. As for Ramie, he was going to get in last.


    With no electricity and with the newspapers covering the store-front glass, coupled with the fact that they had come from outside, the store seemed very dim lit to Lance''s and Neil''s sight.


    ¡­


    As the first man walked in, the boss and another one of his underlings moved closer to him, planning to take him down, as soon as the door closes, while putting up a concerned expression on their faces. They held a piece of bread and a bottle of water and extended them to him, to give him an impression that they were bringing them for him to lower his guard before striking out. They did so because when the boss saw the other two following this middle-aged man''s lead, he suspected that they did so because he was the strongest among them. As such, he wanted to take care of this man by himself with another underling to finish the fight as fast as possible. And when the fellow with the artifact goes in; three men would walk closer to him, to pin him down until the fight is finished.


    To the boss, only the guy with the artifact mattered, which is why he had assigned three men to him, to pin him down without killing him, or giving him the chance to use his artifact on them. Because, if this artifact was anywhere near as good as that youth''s artifact, then this man can probably turn the tide on them if given time, which is why he had ordered these three to pin him down first.


    As for the last one among the three, the boss had arranged for two of his men on him, one was to get closer to him the moment he walks inside, and the other would close the door first, and then collide with the other man to deal with him.


    ¡­


    And last, it was Ramie''s turn¡­


    Seeing Lance and Neil go inside, Ramie followed¡­


    What welcomed his eyes; was a dim lighted inside. But strangely, he didn''t find any problem in perceiving everything clearly.


    He saw that two men were standing next to Lance, handing him something. With one of them radiating an aura of power that was similar to Lance.


    Sensing this power coming from the man, Ramie fixated on him, and as expected, information flowed to his mind.


    Lv.1 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 38%


    ''So¡­ he''s like Lance¡­!''


    Ramie felt that this was a pleasant surprise, as with this fellow addition, their chances of survival would increase by a lot. After all, who would not like someone with formidable power beside him in this creature-infested city?


    Ramie also noticed that his life energy ignition value was higher than Lance, which implied that he might be stronger than Lance. He also saw three men moving toward Neil, while talking to him.


    Just as he walked in, another man fixated his gaze on him, and started walking toward him, trying to say something¡­


    However, the very moment this man''s sight fell on Ramie¡­


    Ramie felt as though a sudden gush of a threatening, ethereal bloody wind, surges toward him from this man! Even though there was no wind inside the store.


    It wasn''t something he saw with his eyes, but felt¡­ with his senses.


    As Ramie''s scalp tingled from the inexplicable sense of crisis that had struck him, he turned to look at the man with an intense sense of alarm in his heart¡­


    The man was walking toward him with a harmless smile, wanting to say something... But what Ramie felt; was an extremely intense murderous intent directed toward him. He felt as though this man was a snake, hiding his malicious intent behind a friendly front.


    ''¡­This man wants to kill me¡­''


    A thought surfaced in his mind, throwing him in a state of high alarm.


    This was the second time he gets this kind of feeling.


    The first time was when he went into the apartment in the third floor with Lance and Neil. At that time, he had felt a sense of danger coming from the bedroom. And it was the only reason why they managed to react to the creature before it takes them by surprise, thus, they survived without losing anyone.


    The second time was with the snake-headed, humanoid creature¡­ And now, the same feeling was coming from this man¡­


    This was the third time he feels as such. And if he was to put this kind of feeling in words, then ''killing intent'' would be his choice.


    This kind of feeling had saved him before, twice. So, he was not going to ignore now.


    Facing the man, and holding up his knife in a defensive posture, he quickly shouted:" Lance! Neil! Be careful!!"


    Bang!


    The door was slammed shut after his warning¡­


    And with that, a chaotic scene broke out in the store.


    ¡­

 Chapter 21: Humans vs humans (3)

    Chapter 21: Humans vs humans (3)


    The moment Ramie shouted, Neil turned to look in alarm. His initial thought was a creature attack. Thus, he raised his hand, preparing to cast Fire Blast.


    However, the moment he done so, one of the three men that were standing near him, sucker punched him with a heavy strike, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.


    As for Lance, the moment he heard the shout, He reacted almost immediately, as he had never let his guard down, not even when he walked into the safe store.


    At first, when the man waved them to come in, Lance had thought that this guy might be alone or with his family. Hence, he wanted more people to join them, to maximize his chances of survival.


    However, when Lance got into the store, and saw 6 men inside, he was indeed surprised, but he didn''t think much of it. As the reason for this man to call the three of them inside was probably the same; to increase the chances of survival with a larger number, which was common sense.


    On the same time, he didn''t feel quite comfortable for the quick look that these people exchanged among them as he went in.


    However, considering the abnormal situation outside, it might be that some of them didn''t want others to join them in their safe place, or something similar. As such, this action of theirs didn''t seem completely out of place.


    But¡­ the moment he heard Ramie''s shout, the first action he did, was to raise his cautiousness toward these men, instead of a possible creature attack. Hence, he avoided the fate of being sucker punched, like Neil had.


    Surging in motion, Lance rotated his life energy, sending large volumes of throbbing power toward every muscle fiber inside his body, which caused his muscles to bulge with strength.


    In a moment, his physical abilities soared, and he prepared to block the kick that one of the two men that were nearest him had sent at his abdomen.


    However, at that particular moment¡­ The other man that was near him, the bald one, suddenly dashed with explosive speed, cutting the distance between them in no time. His speed was even faster than both of the creatures that Lance had faced thus far!


    In a split second, the bald man was already next to him, and he sent out a powerful punch at Lance''s head, wanting to put him down in one attack.


    Lance was shocked by this startling development; he didn''t consider the possibility that other people too might have gotten this life energy. As such, he was caught off guard by this attack.


    Luckily, even though Lance was stunned, but the years of hellish training that he had gone through did not go to waste, even despite the passage of time. As such, and out of pure reflex, his muscle memory prompted him to raise his right hand to intercept the destructive punch that was heading toward his head.


    Thud!


    The power conveyed in the punch was enough to send Lance staggering, back at the wall behind him.


    His hand was numb from the attack force, and the knife in his hand was thrown away. However, he did not allow panic to dominate his thinking, and regained his balance immediately, preparing to react for the follow up attack.


    Luckily¡­ the bald man was not smart enough to follow up with an instant finishing blow, and was actually staring at him with shocked expression¡­


    Apparently¡­ the bald man had fallen for the same trap that he fell for... which was not considered that other people too might have acquired life energy.


    This particularity saved Lance from an instant defeat situation.


    The bald man then recovered, and dashed at him with full momentum, wanting to finish the job. His crude manner of attack showed that he didn''t receive any type of professional martial art training, which gave Lance a sort of comfort.


    This time around, Lance was prepared for the assault, and displayed his ample experience.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    He kicked off the wall behind him, and using the momentum, he dodged the bald man''s charge.


    He didn''t use the chance to counteract, instead, he charged at the other man.


    Seeing the bald man''s speed and strength, he concluded that this man had life energy too, like himself. As such, he wanted to take out the other man first, to avoid distracting himself during the fight with the bald man. As this fellow''s attack showed Lance that he was stronger than him and even a bit faster.


    Also, Neil was unconscious on the ground, and there were 3 men next to him. So, Lance didn''t want those three to use Neil to threaten him during the fight. As such, he wanted to take them out first. In addition, there were two large men on Ramie''s side, and since Ramie wasn''t some sort of a martial art champion, he would definitely lose to the two, which is why Lance intended to neutralize their threat as well.


    Processing the entire situation in a moment, Lance determined his course of action, and then jumped to it.


    Activating his life energy, Lance went after the closest man to him, wanting to neutralize him first, to prevent this man from pincer attacking him by colliding with the bald man.


    Thus, Lance sent an open palm toward him, instead of a normal punch. As for the reason, it was because his current strength was beyond normal, so, he didn''t want to kill this man before learning the reason behind this hostile action. Thus, he wanted to take him out of the equation for now, to focus his attention on the other men.


    However, although this idea of his was on point¡­ but unfortunately for that man, the execution was not.


    The moment Lance''s palm met that man''s chest; an enormous amount of kinetic energy transmits to his body from that unstoppable palm, pushing him backward as if his weight meant nothing.


    Thud!


    With a look of disbelieve in his face, the man was sent flaying toward the other end of the store like a rag doll, smashing against the wooden shelves, and falling to the ground in a sorry state.


    Lance''s eye twitched at the sight, fearing that he might have ended that man''s life with that strike of his¡­


    Apparently, even though he acted reservedly, he had still underestimated his current strength¡­


    It wasn''t really his fault, as he had only ignited this life energy recently, and he was yet to get used to it.


    Luckily, the moment the man fell to the ground, he started groaning in pain, while clutching his chest area where Lance''s palm smashed.


    Lance felt relief at the sight, taking comfort in the fact that the man was still alive, before turning to charge toward the other men, as he continued his attack.


    With Lance''s fighting experience and boosted physical abilities, the three men were not his match. And with three punches, the three were sent flaying and landed unconscious.


    Just like that, their threat was nullified.


    Then, as Lance was about to finish the two men that were surrounding Ramie, the bald man charged at him and resumed his assault, thus putting a premature end to his plan.


    With that, Ramie was now left to face two brute men with larger physical build than himself.


    So far, the idea of having to fight other humans only crossed his mind once or twice. But ultimately, he brushed it off, as with the creature''s threat outside; he had assumed that no one was stupid enough to start a fight in such timing. Maybe later on, this thing would become a trend, probably in case of a scares resource, or prolonged absence of the law enforcement, but not now¡­


    However, that theory was apparently incorrect¡­


    Ramie had no idea as to why on earth would these men choose to attack them in such ferocity, and inside a creature''s infested city, with dangers lurking everywhere? But it didn''t mean that he wouldn''t defend himself, and let them do as they please.


    In response to the two men surrounding him, Ramie took step backward, putting his back against the wall, to place both of these men in his field of vision. He did so in order to avoid a surprise attack from a blind spot.


    While doing so, he casted a quick glance around, to check on Lance and Neil¡­


    What he saw¡­ was a man, flying to the other end of the store, and mercilessly smashing against the wooden shelves!


    At the sight, Ramie realized that with Lance''s strength, these people plan was definitely going south, and there was a good chance that lance could defeat that bald man!


    But there was a problem¡­ he wasn''t absolutely sure that lance could win this fight. Because that bald guy was the same as Lance, he had life energy! More ever, its percent seemed to be higher than Lance''s value...! And even his aura was stronger than Lance''s.


    Although Ramie wasn''t exactly sure on what did that particularity meant¡­ he still speculated that it might mean that the man had more energy, or stronger energy than Lance had, or something¡­


    And if any of that was true! Then this situation was tricky to resolve¡­ And he didn''t want to place his life in uncertainty.


    Worse, Neil was now unconscious, denying them from two finishing blows that could have ended this confrontation a lot sooner.


    Sensing the pressure from this predicament, Ramie gritted his teeth, and prepared to fight the two strong men. He was now pointing his knife at the two, threateningly, to maintain a safe distance.


    So far, the shock of seeing Lance''s strength kept the two men hesitating, and also the knife in Ramie''s hand. But now, they seem to have made up their minds, as they started moving toward him provocatively, wanting to divide his attention and then attack.


    Seeing that these two men intending to attack him, with one of them picking up a nearby chair, and the other one picking up a small table... Ramie knew¡­ That with his zero experience in fights, his chances of winning was slim to none¡­


    But it didn''t mean that he''d give up¡­ that he''d just surrender his life¡­


    Besides, with one man standing between him and the door, and another within a close range, there was no way for him to run outside¡­ Which meant¡­ this battle was unavoidable¡­


    ''I have to find a way to pick Neil up and escape from this store! I don''t believe they''d follow us out. If I succeed in that, Lance would definitely be able to escape from that baldy if he didn''t have Neil to worry about.'' Ramie made up his mind.


    With his yellow irises shining intensely with a savage yellow glint under the sun classes! He held up his knife, and his fighting spirit rose, not intending to let his enemy''s have their way easily!


    The two men that were assigned on him exchanged a tacit look, and then attacked.


    Both of them charged at Ramie and smashed the table and the chair at him.


    Crush! Crush!


    With the sound of breaking wood, the chair was smashed at Ramie''s hand, making the knife flew away and slide on the floor, before disappearing beneath the service counter. As for the table, it smashed at his shoulder, which made him fall to the ground with a heavy thud.


    ''Damn!!''


    The inevitable has happened¡­


    Ramie''s grounded his teeth, as he had just lost the only advantage he had in this fight. Then, and seeing the two men came at him with ruthless expressions, he knew that with his lack of fighting experience, his inferior strength, and his smaller build, there was no way for him to win this fight.


    He realized it¡­ the best chance for him now was not to attack, but to defend, and wait to find a chance to escape outside through the store''s front glass.


    The two men attacked him with utmost ferocity, throwing all kinds of kicks and punches at him; while he did everything he could to resist the attacks, and to protect his vital points.


    And just like that, a chaotic, gang-style confrontation broke out inside the bakery store!


    It wasn''t between men and creatures¡­ But between humans themselves!


    ...

 Chapter 22: Humans vs humans (4)

    Chapter 22: Humans vs humans (4)


    His name was mal, and he was a thug.


    Before the disaster strikes, he belonged to the lowest tier of society, spending his life from one crime to another.


    He inwardly knew¡­ that someday, the prison would be his final destination. As such, he did whatever he wanted, took whatever he wanted, and did that without a care or fear of the consequences¡­


    But, he still had one red line, a one that he did not want to cross. And that was; to not take a life!


    He had figured that since ending up in prison was unavoidable, considering his line of work, then, he might as well avoid committing anything that might send him to the death robe! As such, he spent his days like that¡­


    Then, the disaster descended!


    Before the disaster, he always held the notion that his life couldn''t possibly get any worse¡­ However, and after the descent of the disaster¡­ he was proven to be wrong, completely wrong.


    He had witnessed firsthand, people from different society classes, whether they were men, women, children, and elders, get torn apart alive indiscriminately, and eaten in a manner similar to the scenes in wild life documentaries, or horror movies.


    Not even the dogs and cats in the streets were spared¡­ It was an eye opener; awakening him to how nightmarish things could be. And now, this was his reality. A one that he had no escape from¡­


    These creatures were simply the embodiment of horror. They didn''t talk, didn''t communicate, didn''t reason, didn''t spare¡­


    Simply put, they attacked every living thing in their line of sight, ripping it apart with unparalleled savagery and cruelty.


    Luckily, the military intervened in time, before he ends up in a fate more frightening than death itself.


    Afterward, he ended up among those lucky enough to get saved by the timely intervention of the military, and was brought to this city. However, when he thought that things might get resolved, it didn''t¡­ and instead, hell followed him here.


    It was at that time that he saw it¡­


    A man with power and might that normal people can''t possibly hope to match appeared. He saw the man slaughter the creatures that cornered them and started tearing them apart in the hotel that he and other people had escaped to. It was at then that he dared to hope again, believing that extraordinary figures do indeed emerge in times of disasters.


    Later on, his delight reached an unprecedented level, as that same man actually taken the initiative to approach him and invite him to be part of his group.


    For someone in his position, and even before the disaster, he was aware of the importance of belonging to a group. As in these groups, one would cover up for the other, and protect each other''s backs. Unfortunately, no group deemed him worthy of joining their ranks even despite his efforts. But now that hell broke loose, and when being part of a group was countless times more necessary than prior to the disaster; a man of this great tier had actually taken the initiative to him to be part of his group.


    Needlessly to mention, mal was beyond ecstatic.


    Later on, his joy rose to a new level when his strong boss shared his plans with him and the others members of the group.


    The boss''s plan was genius, and if everything went well, then when the boss gets his hands on the artifact that the youth was possessing, then he would help them to survive through this ordeal, and even acquire some of these artifacts for them later on.


    Unfortunately, the hotel was attacked by a very strong creature. And to survive, they had to run for their lives.


    However, just as that chance was lost, another one came by, resenting itself to them! And so, they baited their prey into this store, to acquire the miraculous bracelet.


    His part in the plan was to collide with another member to subdue the overly dressed man among the three targets, which was the easiest job, as that particular man had the smallest build among the three. Now, although the boss said to resort for the kill as a last resort, Mal had no intention to follow that order. As he didn''t want to risk to give that man a chance to make a loud noise and attract some abomination to their location! As such, he intended to get close to him enough to deliver the killing blow by targeting his neck, crushing it with a single strike, which would deny him the chance to make any noise.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    And so, as per the plan, he locked his sight on the target, intending to act on his thought. But what happened after that¡­ caught him completely off guard¡­


    Just as he took the first step toward the target¡­ the man turned to face him with a knife, as though he had read his mind. At the same time, this masked man shouted, warning the other two, thus throwing their plan out of control from that point onward...


    But still, they proceeded anyway, intending to acquire that bracelet no matter what, as to a large extent, their own survival depended on it.


    So, along with another member of their group, he surrounded this weird man, who didn''t have a bit of his skin exposed, not even his face. He intended to kill him as fast as possible.


    And so, without wasting any more time, the two of them attacked using a chair and a table to avoid being injured or stabbed by this masked man. Mal expected the battle to conclude the moment they disarm him from the knife, which should take about few seconds considering the size of the target¡­


    However, what happened afterward¡­ had made him doubt even common sense.


    The two of them had proceeded to beat him up black and blue, as though he was the killer of their parents. They had gone completely crazy on him, as if they were a pair of frustrated martial artist that were venting up their long built up hatred on a hateful punching bag.


    They bombarded him with a barrage of punches, kicks, as well as every kind of attack they could think of. And they didn''t do that in a single outburst, but went on and on for minutes and minutes with a relentless assault.


    However, no matter how hard and how many times they beat him, the man just wouldn''t die¡­!


    It wasn''t only that¡­ but he actually kept on fighting them back the entire time, and even caused them injuries! This guy''s energy seemed limitless, and he kept on attacking them with the same pace the entire time! It was as if he had no concept of tiredness¡­!


    After a while, exhaustion took its toll on them. And they started finding it hard to maintain their attacking pace.


    At that time, something completely ridiculous happened!


    The masked man, whom should have been more than dead by then, considering the ruthless beat up that he had received¡­ actually started to have the advantage in the fight!!


    This man actually started to hit back, kick back, and slowly¡­ he started to fight them on an equal footing!


    And it went on until he managed to land back one hit for every one that he receives, and started inflicting some heavy damage on the two of them.


    From being completely in control, they slide to fall in a tragic dog fight. A one that they could tell they were losing, gradually, and steadily.


    As the fight progressed, their exhaustion grew heavier and heavier. And they started losing their strength, and along with it, their momentum.


    While on this freaks end, he was still fighting them as vigorously as when this whole fight began. It appeared as though he had an endless vitality, as if the inflicted damage meant absolutely nothing to him.


    ''This guy is not human¡­'' it was a thought that had crossed Mal''s mind several times during the fight.


    He had beaten up people so many times in the past that he couldn''t even remember. And in all of these times, he had never encountered such inexplicable case. Even though he had attacked men that were stronger and larger than himself.


    But this freak¡­ he was something else!


    He didn''t even shout in pain, or shown any sign that might suggest that the beating was taken effect on him, or even slowing him down. The man was ignoring their attacks as if they were beating him with pillows.


    He simply kept on attacking and attacking, tirelessly, like a bug that keeps on coming and coming, relentlessly, no matter how many times one shoos it away.


    As the fight continued, the advantage was favoring that fellow more and more over them, and his momentum was rising steadily.


    Still, this wasn''t even the most aggravating matter in this confrontation.


    But no! More importantly, how could on earth that this man was still standing on his feet, and not turned into a blooded corpse on the floor after all this beating¡­??


    They had a better fighting experience than him, were stronger than him, and more importantly, there were two of them! And only one of him¡­! Then, how could things on earth turn out this way¡­??


    At first, the two of them had exerted all of their power to overpower him as quick as possible, to finish the fight in the quickest manner possible. But as time went on¡­ the three of them fell in a heated battle; where instead of the two of them trying to take him out¡­ gradually, they instead started falling in a struggle to repel his relentless attacks, to defend their own lives!


    How could things turn this way¡­?


    The sight was exceedingly ridiculous! It was as if two muscular bulldogs were struggling to repel a cat.


    And just when Mal couldn''t imagine things going worst¡­ they actually did...


    As the fight went on, the sun classes that the wrapped up man was wearing had shattered, and the scarf that he had used to cover his face fell off.


    Now, it had to mention that throughout the fight, the two of them were trying to finish him off. So, they mostly tried to concentrate on his face and head. As such, this man had done all he can to protect that area. And they actually let him do that, as in their professional opinion, this strategy of his had left a lot of openings unguarded in his body. Which suited them perfectly, allowing them to inflict more damage on him, or so they had thought¡­


    What mal saw at then, had completely and utterly shattered his remaining will to fight. He now understood why this man¡­ no¡­ why did this thing covered itself up.


    So far, a lot of inexplicable thing seemed to just happen around in the world¡­ with no explanations. So, Mal didn''t rule out the possibility that this thing was actually a creature, disguising himself as a man, wanting to toy around with his food before tearing him apart mercilessly?


    However, upon recalling the fact that this thing shouted to warn the other two men with him, Mal discarded this likelihood.


    Probably, this was a man that had suffered some creature attack or something, which caused him to look like this.


    Looking at this terrifying anomaly of a man, the worst thing about him was the eyes¡­ those monstrous, yellow irises that shone in a stark contrast to the black sclera and black pupils¡­ it made one feel as though an aberration from the depth of hell was staring deeply at him.


    At this point, mal no longer wished to fight¡­ he was simply too badly frightened to do so. As after seeing this man''s face, all the remaining energy had seeped away like frightened kitten, as if refusing to stand up to this monstrosity.


    Mal fall to the ground and started gasping for breath. At this point, he could only hope these three men had good hearts, and weren''t as ruthless as their group was.


    However, just then¡­


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"


    A high pitched screech that was akin to a woman giving birth exploded in the bakery store.


    Mal''s response to ramie''s face was to give up on the fight and surrender. However, the other man with him was so deeply frightened by Ramie''s face that he cried out atop his lungs, without holding back in the least.


    At this moment, Mal was so furious, that he wanted to smash the idiot''s head to a pulp. To him, the idea of one of these creatures attacking him was hundredths of times worse than the group of those three torturing him and then killing him tenths of times.


    That''s how frightened he was from these creatures.


    ¡­

 Chapter 23: Terrifying threat (1)

    Chapter 23: Terrifying threat (1)


    At first, when the two brute men came at him with ruthless expressions, Ramie had thought that this might be the end. However, as they proceeded to hit him in an all out attacks, something astounding happened¡­


    As the two men unleashed their ferocious attacks on him, he thought that they were playing a trick on him or something¡­ Because, when their punches and kicks landed on him, he felt as though these two men were wearing spongy cloves¡­! He was not hurt by their attacks at all!


    As such, he started fighting back with all of his might. However, then, yet another surprise revealed itself for him.


    His energy ¨C was like a bottomless pit! Even after minutes of engaging in a heated fight against two superior opponents, he did not feel tired at all.


    Now, it had to be said that he was not the type of person who liked sport. In fact, he didn''t even like watching it. And normally, even running for a short while would leave him gasping for breath. But now¡­ he felt his body throbbing with energy the whole duration of the fight. And even after his opponents started struggling for breath, he was still in his peak condition, with not even a hint of exhaustion or even discomfort.


    With time, the advantage started falling toward his side a bit by bit. By then, he had realized it¡­


    Apparently, his vitality was now so exaggerated, that not even the superior strength of his opponents were effective on him, which was an incredible advantage!


    It had to be said, that the savage beating he had received, was much more than enough to turn him into a mutilated, unrecognizable corpse by now.


    But it didn''t¡­ in fact; it didn''t even hurt him¡­ He wasn''t even feeling tired¡­!


    ''It appears that I have underestimated this morphing spell! Apparently, this bloodline gave me very strong vitality.''


    It had saved his life!


    He didn''t want to think of how miserable his fate would be if he hadn''t casted this spell before encountering these people.


    Although, he had initially felt a bit envious of how powerful and useful Neil''s spell was¡­ Unlike his own spell that had possibly mutilated him for the rest of his life!


    But looking at the result now¡­ Neil was knocked out with one hit, while had had withstood a merciless beating by two thugs that were both larger and stronger than himself!


    Anyway, with time, the brute men seemed to be completely out of their breaths. As such, he pressed at them even harder, wanting to drive them into a point where they can''t pose threat on his life anymore.


    As such, he kept throwing kicks and punches at them with his full power.


    At this point, it was more than obvious that he had won this fight. All what he had to do now, was to keep pressing with attacks to drive these two into complete exhaustion, to finalize this pointless confrontation.


    Anyway, his abnormally strong vitality told him that the morphing spell had not only forced morphological changes on him, but also, physiological. Which was why he had lost not only his nose, but he also seem to no longer breathe through his respiratory system, but through some other mechanism. He guessed that he was probably now breathing through his skin or something¡­ just like plants breathe through their leaves.


    However on the other hand, this spell did give him strong vitality and good defense.


    Right now, he was having complicated feelings. As on one hand, this spell had turned him into an aberration of human! With a form that was as or even more horrifying than the creatures!


    But! On the other hand¡­ the spell had saved his live, and judging by how ugly the situation currently is, and can possibly be in the future, he started thinking that this might actually be for the best.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Staying alive was more important than how he looked after all!


    But there was still the problem of how others would react if they saw him. He feared that someone might act impulsively and shots him down on sight.


    This was a possibility that couldn''t be ruled out, as just yesterday; Neil had killed a creature that had humanoid shape. Which meant; that others too might have encountered similar creatures. And if these people ever sees him, then it would be only common sense for them to assume that he''s one of these creatures as well, and shoot him dead.


    Anyhow, there was no point in considering these matters now. First, he decided to defeat these two, and end this confrontation. As for the military''s reaction to his change, he decided to ponder on it afterward, when he reaches a safer place.


    To Ramie''s relief, the two men seemed on the verge of reaching their limits, which was good news.


    However¡­ before Ramie completely defeats the two¡­ one of them burst out his last remaining energy, and threw out a desperate punch at ramie''s face. This hit shattered his sun glasses, and revealing his face as a result.


    After seeing his face, the two men''s reaction gave Ramie a glimpse into the sort of expressions that he''d have to expect from other people when they see his face from now onward.


    Horror, shock, alarm, repulsion, and other similar expressions seemed to just mix together on the pale faces of the two men.


    One of the men fell backward, instantly admitting his defeat, which actually suited Ramie''s purpose.


    But the other man was different¡­ he completely gave up to his fear, and witlessly shrieked atop his lungs without holding back, like a panicking little girl. His cry was high pitched and piercing.


    ¡­


    After failing to finish off the middle-aged man in the surprise attack, the boss fell in a tragic fight afterward.


    His frenzied attacks were all evaded in systematic, precise, and short movements that enabled this damned middle-aged man to perfectly dodging all of his strikes by unbelievably narrow margins.


    It was as if every movement this middle aged man made was accurately calculated, timely performed, without any excessive, unnecessary shifts and without wasting any energy.


    It was as if this middle-aged man was seeing through his moves before he even makes them.


    He wasn''t aware that Lance was not only dodging his attacks¡­ but he was also observing his fighting style, which is why he was able to predict his moves through the minute shift in his body posture and small movements.


    After only few minutes of fighting, he was like an open book to Lance. Anyway, the boss was not aware of this particularity.


    "How could this be?"


    The boss was feeling very aggravated!


    He could tell that he was a bit faster than his opponent, and that this guy was struggling to keep up with him. But¡­ he still couldn''t land a hit on this man¡­


    At this point, the boss realized that this middle aged man wasn''t a nobody, as his fighting experience was in completely different league above his own.


    Opposite to his crude and simple attacks, this middle-aged man was definitely a specialist in martial arts or something¡­ which was probably why he managed to avoid being driven into the corner again, again, and again, throughout the fight.


    As such, the boss was completely suppressed afterward, as his opponent seemed to have completely grasped his fighting style, and never gave him any chance, even though he was the stronger party.


    To break the pace of his opponent, the boss resorted to the frenzied barrage of attacks that he had begun the fight with, albeit being unsustainable option. Because attacking in that manner would cause his life energy to be depleted at a faster rate.


    However his opponent did not give him any opportunity to land a significant hit. Afterward, and as a result of his frenzied manner of attack, he fell in unsolvable dilemma.


    When he goes all out in attacking, using the maximum output of his life energy, his cunning opponent would then refrains from attacking, and only dodges the bombardment of attacks, like a monkey.


    And when he tries to slow down the pace of his attacks, to reduce the consumption of his life energy, then, this sly man would then start his own barrage of attacks, which unlike his own, all landed on the intended destinations.


    Now, it had to be said that the battle between them was different from the fight of those who didn''t have life energy. As in a fight between none life energy users, landing a hit on a weak spot would usually concludes the confrontation instantly.


    But the fight between life energy users ¨C was different. As the life energy don''t just boast the physical abilities of the user¡­ but also the defense! And it can help the users to withstand strikes to their weak spots, and it enables them to absorb the damage, or even completely nullify it, given that it doesn''t exceed certain limit.


    So, as long as the life energy inside them isn''t completely used up, then the users can also use it to shield themselves from inflected damage, aside from using it to boast their muscular output.


    So, in the confrontation between the two, it was a battle of attrition. Whoever uses up his life energy first, as long as his opponent is still capable of movement, then he''d end up as the loser.


    As such, a tragic struggle followed, with him being the suppressed side. At one point, he even tried to seize the unconscious man with the bracelet, and escape away.


    However, the middle aged man gave him no chance, beating him to his current sorry state.


    Right now, he could tell that he was on the verge of completely losing. As such, he decided to use the remaining life energy to escape from the store.


    However, at that particular moment¡­ he heard a shrill cry of fear, resounding within the store.


    Turning to look, a fiendish face met his eyes.


    His though process was petrified at the sight and his heart sank.


    And before he could recover, a destructive combo of attacks swallowed him like a hurricane, leaving him no room to even find a footing. He couldn''t even see where the attacks were coming from.


    Apparently, the middle-aged man did not let this chance slip away, and he made full use of this moment of distraction to finish him.


    After a short while, the boss was on the ground, gasping for a breath.


    Finally, this fight came to an end.


    "Mr. Lance, we must leave this place right away! The earlier scream was too loud!" before Lance could pick up his breath, Ramie urged from the other side of the store.


    Warning lance, Ramie ignored the aching men that were sprawled on the ground, and he moved toward the unconscious Neil. He started slapping him on the face, to wake him up.


    "¡­there is half empty¡­ bottle of water¡­ behind the counter¡­ for your friend." struggling to get up, one of the men on the ground managed to squeeze out these words, while panting heavily.


    Ramie casted a brief look at the man, before bringing the bottle of water, and pouring half of the content on Neil''s face.


    Seeing that Neil regained his consciousness, Ramie urged: "Neil! Get up. We have to leave this place at onc¡­"


    Before Ramie could finish his sentence, suddenly¡­ he sensed a strong, oppressive aura approaches the store from the outside with great speed!


    Feeling an intense sense of crisis, he wanted to warn the others, when¡­


    Boom!!


    A dark silhouette smashed it way into the store, through the glassy front!


    In a moment, every ones hearts ceased¡­


    What they all had feared¡­ has come to pass!


    ¡­

 Chapter 24: Terrifying threat (2)

    Chapter 24: Terrifying threat (2)


    As the black figure landed on the ground, it immediately bit down at one of the men that had ambushed Ramie and the other two.


    "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"


    The man was lying on the ground, unconscious. However, the moment the creature sank its long, razor-sharp teeth in his abdomen, the man snapped awake, and uttered a piercing shrill cry, a one that conveyed the unbearably pain that was assaulting him as the creature was tearing apart his flesh.


    Having sensed the attack, albeit only a moment before the creature comes in crashing, Ramie was the first to recover from the shock.


    "Neil! Don''t attack him! We can''t beat it!"


    Locating Lance and Neil, he warned Neil not to attack, as he saw him pointing his open palm at the creature, wanting to cast his offensive Fire burst spell on it.


    Judging by the aura radiating from this creature, he estimated that this was not a fight they could win. As the power this thing was currently emitting; was many times that of Lance! And if Neil''s attack doesn''t succeed, then the beast might change his target to him.


    Gazing intently at the creature, lines of information popped in Ramie''s mind.


    Tier-2 Beast


    Name: Wicked Dog


    Innate Spells: none


    Special notes: Territorial beast. Loves hunting and eating his preys alive!


    Seeing the words ''tier-2 beast'' Ramie''s expression sank, as cold sweat broke on his back.


    How could he not be frightened by it¡­?


    The snake-headed, humanoid creature was only tier-1, but it had slammed Lance to the ground in one exchange! Neil had to use his spell twice, which was his limit, to put that thing down.


    And now, this was actually tier-2 creature! And worst, it seemed to prefer eating its preys alive!


    Ramie didn''t even want to think of the tragedy that would unfold if this thing went after them.


    Right now, Lance had already gone through a bitter fight, and was in no shape for this kind of face off. Not against such odds.


    Right now, the question here was not on what strategy they should employ to fight this creature? But, how many of them would make it out alive from this precarious situation?


    As Ramie warned Neil, Lance turned his head toward him. Apparently, he hadn''t forgotten that Ramie could sense the power of the creatures, as he had told them before they set off from the building. Beside, the creature was now busy in devouring his prey, and wasn''t paying much of attention to the rest of them.


    This fact seemed to make Lance feeling quiet anxious. Because this creature dared to ignore the rest of them, acting as thought they weren''t much of threat to him. Even though he himself couldn''t sense the power of this creature, but this behavior of the creature implied that this creature was far stronger than him! As such, he turned to Ramie, wanting his estimation of the creature''s power.


    Responding to him, Ramie pointed urgently toward the exit, before turning, then dashing toward the door.


    Through this action, he conveyed to Lance that escape was the only option here.


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    Right now, the creature was in the middle of the store, tearing apart his victim with great excitement.


    Standing on four limbs; the creature was two meters high, covered with black fur, with bones protruding off its head, and along its spine.


    Its mouth was filled with long, thin, and numerous rows of teeth. Over all, the creature looked like an oversized hybrid of a dog and wolf! The protruding bones on its back gave it an extremely savage appearance, making it look like a monster out of mythical story.


    Growl!!!


    The creature was making growling sounds, as it ripped apart the rich abdominal flesh. It was as if this thing was trying to express how delicious this prey is.


    "HAAAAA!!"


    "HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"


    The man was screaming with all of his might. He was punching and kicking at the creature''s large snout, wanting to push it away and stop the excruciating, unbearable pain that was burning his nerves!


    Unfortunately for him, the creature paid him no mind, as it proceeded to tear apart what it perceived as a richly flavored meat.


    "stoopppppp!!!!"


    "Let me goooo!!!"


    "haaaaaa!!!! Help! Help!! Help!!!!!"


    The man''s struggle did nothing to stop the excited creature! Instead, it seems to excite it even more!


    The creature then stepped with one claw at his left femur, and with another claw at his shoulder, pinning him down, and putting an end to his struggle. Afterward, it proceeded to tear apart his body wantonly.


    The scene was extremely gory! Beyond imagination!


    At this point, Ramie was already running out of the store. And he caught this scene of horror with the corner of his eyes.


    This sight fueled his urge to get away from here, a fast as possible, making him run at speed he didn''t know he had!


    Dashing to the other side across the street, he could sense that the powerful aura of the creature was not moving, which gave him a sense of relief. As if that thing came at him, then only oblivion would await.


    He then threw a quick glance behind him, while running, to see if any of the other men had left the store.


    In this short glance, he noticed that only two men were running out of the store. As for the others, they might have decided to escape using the back door in the store.


    Inwardly, he felt sorry for the man in the store. After all, the unlucky fellow was being devoured alive in the most gruesome way Ramie had ever witnessed!


    Ramie didn''t wish to anyone to die in that miserable and painful manner¡­ not even to his enemies.


    As for the other men, it was unknown whether they escaped through the back door¡­ or were still unconscious¡­ or unable to move.


    But what he could he do for them?


    It was their own fault in the first place for ambushing the three of them! And the killing intent in the eyes of the two that had targeted him was quiet clear. If not by what he had sensed from their gazes, then it was their action of attempting to beat him up to death that conveyed their killing intent.


    He and Lance had to fight back to defend their own lives. In the end, reaching this kind of outcome was these men''s fault.


    But, he still felt sorry for them, as no one deserved to die in this savage and cruel manner.


    Running at his top speed, he dashed toward the closest alleyway to him, not wanting to stay in this street anymore.


    Behind, another cry of pain and unwillingness came drifting. Apparently, another one had fallen into a tragic fate.


    This cry pushed him to run even faster. As fear was a very strong motive after all.


    "You two are too slow! Run faster!"


    As Ramie ran into the alleyway, he heard Lance''s anxious voice drifts back to him from ahead.


    With Lances speed, he had already overtaken him only few seconds after he ran out of the store.


    As for Neil, he was running just few meters behind Ramie.


    Seconds afterward, Ramie reached the end of the alleyway. He didn''t stop. And the moment he entered the street, he saw Lance standing at the corner of another alleyway. Apparently, he didn''t seem to think that it was safe enough to get just one street away from the bakery store, but wanted to go even further away.


    At the moment, Ramie was no longer sensing the aura. Apparently, his perception had distance limits.


    As he ran across the street, toward Lance, something caught his attention.


    Leaning on the wall, beside the entrance door of a certain building, was a large sign. It had large handwriting words on it.


    [WE HAVE FOOD AND WATER! WE CAN PROTECT YOU FROM THE MONSTERS! ]


    [??/??/2019 ]


    At this development, Ramie''s eyes lit up.


    The date on the sign was clearly today''s date, which suggested that it was written today, meaning that there was someone inside!


    In a moment, Ramie made up his mind.


    Although getting as far as possible from the bakery store was certainly the logical thing to do... unfortunately, this entire city had turned into the creature''s playground! Doing whatever they liked, hunting whatever they like, and roaming it unhindered!


    Right now, every second they spent out in the open streets, running at such speed, was just like dancing at the sharp edge of blade.


    If any of the creatures that he had heard yesterday at night, notices them now¡­ then their fates might not be any less tragic than the poor man back at the bakery store.


    Besides, putting a sign outside with today''s date on it; meant that there were people inside, which implied that this place was secured. Hence it was best to choose this place. At least¡­ that was much safer than trying to hide in other places that might have creatures hiding inside them.


    Making up his mind, he waved to Lance, signaling toward the sign, before sprinting toward the particular building.


    Having seeing him run toward the building with the sign, Lance hesitated for a moment, before following suit.


    So far, Ramie had proved to him that he has some extraordinary senses, even before he casts that morphing spell of his.


    Back in the apartment, he was the first to notice the creature, thus saving them from being caught off guard. And with the humanoid, snake-headed creature; Neil had told him that it was Ramie who noticed that they were being targeted by a sneak attack, even before they see the creature. And he even took action, thus ending up saving both of them.


    Not to mention, that after casting that morphing spell of his, he could even sense the aura of the creatures, which would practically prevent any creature from sneaking up on them again. And that''s not even mentioning that he could also judge the power of the creatures from their aura, albeit, this particularity has yet to be tested.


    Ramie''s ability to sense the auras alone was like a life line extended from the sky to them, especially considering the unknown creatures that were lurking in the city. It was more than just essential, and with it, their chances of reaching the camp and avoiding deadly dangers would be boosted by hundreds of times.


    As such, in Lance''s eyes, Ramie''s hunch was highly regarded. Thus, after only brief hesitation, he opted to follow Ramie''s judgment.


    With that, the three of them went into the building.


    ¡­

 Chapter 25: The two survivors

    Chapter 25: The two survivors


    Minutes after going into the building and closing the entrance door, Ramie started feeling an aura descends down the building from the floors above, toward them. This aura was similar in nature to his own aura and to Neil''s.


    ''A human who possesses artifact is coming down!'' He concluded.


    The sign outside didn''t write and place itself there, which meant the presence of people inside


    Raising their guards up, the three of them prepared themselves to meet another artifact holder with a possibility of hostile attitude, similar to the earlier group in the bakery store.


    Locking his alarmed gaze toward the stairway, Ramie could sense the aura getting closer and closer. He felt that it was stronger than Neil''s aura, and even a bit stronger than his! And judging by their experience with the earlier group, he did not rule out the possibility that this group too might hold hostile intentions toward them.


    In preparation to such scenario, and considering the stronger aura of this individual; Lance hid himself behind the stairs, preparing to react in a moment notice upon Ramie''s signal. As for Ramie and Neil¡­ they too hid behind a corner, while watching the stairway in alarm.


    At this point, Ramie had told them a minute ago that he could somewhat perceive the hostility of humans too. He told them that this was the reason why he had warned them back in the bakery store. He told them so the moment he felt the aura in this building, so they''d use it to their advantage.


    Lance''s response toward that was calm, nodding in acknowledgment and accepting his words without questioning. Only Neil was taken a bit by this revelation, but he soon connected the dots afterward. As so far, Ramie proved to have very sharp perception, even before he acquires his artifact.


    As such, if this individual was to harbor any malicious intention toward them, then Ramie would signal Lance to beat him up before he gets the chance to make a move against them. And if Lance was to fall in a dangerous situation, or is unable to beat the opponent, then Neil would interfere, and resort to using Fire Burst to restrain the target.


    The earlier experience had taught Ramie that shouting out would not only alarm his friends, but also the aggressor, which would lead to a fight that might not necessarily end up in their favor.


    So, he devised this strategy to make the best use of his perception by neutralizing the threat before it proceeds to make a move on them.


    Locking his focus on the stairway, he saw a man walks down, slowly, while holding a rifle, and pointing it around, alertly.


    He was a middle aged man with a light beard, and sharp eyes. And judging by his uniform, he appeared to be a soldier.


    "Is there anyone here?" the middle aged man spoke in a low, deep voice.


    Seeing him, Ramie answered from behind the corner: "Yea, there are two of us here!" Ramie didn''t want to reveal Lance just yet.


    "Oh! Thank god!"


    Hearing the answer and contrary to Ramie''s expectations; the soldier expression took 180 degree change, from a wary expression to joyful in a moment.


    Lowering his rifle, he walked down the stairs with a warm, enthusiastic smile on his face.


    "Come out! Come out! Don''t worry, this building is safe!"


    As the soldier said so, a girl who appeared to be 17, emerged from the stair way. She was looking at the corner where Ramie''s sound came from. And she appeared to be excited to see other survivors.


    Ramie emerged from behind the corner first. As with his monstrous vitality, even if he was attacked right away, he''d have the best chance of surviving among the three of them.


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    But he didn''t fear such scenario, as judging by how fast he discovered the intention of his opponent back in the bakery store, he was certain that he''d have enough time to avoid the attack.


    Naturally, as he shown himself to the soldier and the girl, nothing of his face could be seen.


    He had raised the collar of the t-shirt he wore below the hoodie to cover half of his face, up to his eyes, while lowering the hood to cover the other half, only leaving a very narrow slit for him to see.


    As both the soldier and the girl''s eyes fell on him, he was on high alert, with His entire focus on the girl, instead of the soldier. Since the aura he felt, was not coming from the soldier, but the girl!


    Ignoring the look of joy on the soldier, and the curious, somewhat relieved look on the girl''s face, he stared at the soldier first, briefly, and then shifted his gaze toward the girl, paying an extra attention to her. He tried to discern any maliciousness emanating from the two.


    Gazing intently at the two, a status reading appeared in his mind when his gaze landed on the girl.


    - Lv.3 Magic Artifact (4%)


    - Path: Summoning Magic


    - Class: Beast''s Summoner (Rare)


    "What¡­?! Lv.3 artifact¡­?!"


    Ramie was greatly alarmed by this revelation.


    Although he had no idea what do these levels represent¡­ But he couldn''t forget the bold man in the earlier group of survivors, where his higher percent of life energy ignition which was 38%, made him stronger than Lance that had a life energy ignition of 15%...!


    So, since this girl has a higher level of artifact, which was Lv.3; it was only logical to assume that her artifact was better in some way than his low leveled one, which was still at Lv.1.


    Sensing the danger in this situation, he maintained his guard up, while seizing the girl up, wanting to discern any malicious intent coming from her¡­


    However, and unlike the earlier group of survivors in the bakery store, he couldn''t sense not even a shred of the murderous intent that he had perceived back in the earlier encounter. In fact, he could not sense the slightest ill intention¡­ which was a far cry from the previous group.


    Apparently, unlike the other group, these two expressions completely matched their intentions. They were genuinely happy to see other survivors in this creature infested city.


    Ramie felt relieved. And he waved Lance and Neil to come out. He added a mental note to ask this girl on how she had leveled up? And on what kind advantages did she gain from it?


    ¡­


    After eating and drinking to their full, as well as taking some rest, Ramie and the other two recovered to their prime conditions for the first time ever since the flying creatures attack.


    The promise on the sign was fulfilled, even the one regarding the safety. As apparently, this building was really free from any creature. And those two were the only inhabitant at the moment.


    This seemed really inconceivable? As in the building that Ramie and his two companions had came from; they confronted two creatures directly, and barely evaded third confrontation. As for these two, they moved in this building freely? And for some reason, they seemed quite certain that nothing will sneak here?


    Ramie intended to inquire about it, and also about this girl''s artifact. He wanted to know if her artifact was similar to his or to Neil''s, or was different.


    However, before he could do so, Lance took the initiative to inquire with his own questions.


    "Mr. Jeffry¡­ can I call you Jeffry?" Lance spoke, addressing the soldier.


    As they served the three of them with food and water, they had exchanged few words with them. And from that, the three of them learned that this soldier was called Jeffry, and the girl was his daughter, Reem!


    "Of course, of course! Whatever makes you comfortable!" The solder responded with smile, appearing to be in a cheerful mood.


    From the moment that he and his daughter hid here, this was the first time they meet other people. As for the past two days, this city had become playground for the creatures, and death ground for the humans. It had given him and his daughter an overwhelming sense of loneliness and desolation¡­ it made them feel as though they were the last two remaining humans in this world.


    Which was why receiving those three made him and his daughter so elated, and brought them a lot of warm feelings, as though these guests had descended from heaven.


    "Jeffry! Let me thank you two again for your extreme generosity, and apologies for imposing on you, and for consuming your supplies! Thank you!" Lance spoke in respectful, apologizing tone, while showing a very humble attitude toward the two.


    "No harm! No harm! Let me tell you. It is I who should thank you for being here. After all, if you three hadn''t showed up, then I really had no idea on how long we''d survive this loneliness here?"


    Saying so, he stole quick glance at Neil''s artifact, and appeared to be extra relieved.


    As for Ramie, his artifact was hidden beneath the hoddie''s sleeve. So, it couldn''t be seen.


    "Can I ask you something, Jeffry?" Lance expression became stern as he proceeded to ask.


    "Ask away" Jeffry responded, in a carefree manner.


    "Did you participate in the battle against the creatures?"


    "Yes." Jeffry answered.


    "So far, we had fought and defeated two creatures. Although, I can testify that these things are very strong, and hard to kill. But the military had a variant arsenal of deadly weapons that can even level up an entire city. So, how in god''s name did the military suffered such crushing defeat? And lose so badly? Unable to even hold his own! Can you tell me the reason?" Lance asked the question that weighted hard on his chest.


    Although he had heard some stories, but having served in the elite unit in the army, he was very clear on how devastating the heavy tier weapons can be. He found it hard to believe that all of that power fell helpless against creatures made of flesh and blood.


    With a bitter expression on his face, Jeffry responded in helpless tone: "You think the military lost to these creatures?? You''re wrong! The military lost to only a handful of creatures!"


    Saying that, Jeffry smiled bitterly, before continuing: "At first, when we joined the fray inside the city; we annihilated the creatures in a terrifying rate. And if we were to continue at that pace, then the situation wouldn''t have necessarily ended this bad! And we might have actually killed all of these creatures before they came here. Unfortunately, at the time, four creatures emerged, and came at us attacking. Then, just like that¡­ the table was turned. Afterward, it was simply one sided massacre! A tragic battle by all standards!


    Their speed, their strength, their defense, and their weird attacks¡­ nothing about these things was logical! And regardless of how many times we hit them, how hard, and which weapon we used, it didn''t matter. It was as if we were using firecracker and not destructive bombs! So, you better believe it! It only took four creatures to completely demolish the modern military might in the city! Don''t try to imagine the scene. You wouldn''t even get close! If I told you that we even fought a fire spitting dragon¡­ a lightening shooting giant ape¡­ an oversized crocodile¡­ would you believe me?"


    As Jeffry said that, a long silence followed.


    His words made the atmosphere very heavy.


    Not a week ago, Ramie was on a vacation on the sea, enjoying his time. At that time, the heaviest thing that was on his mind; was the political situation of the country and finding a job¡­ But now, he was trapped in a city infested with man-eating creatures that even the military couldn''t defeat!


    He wasn''t even sure he''d ever get to leave this city alive!


    Odds were¡­ this city was highly likely to end up as his grave.


    ¡­

 Chapter 26: Information about the camp

    Chapter 26: Information about the camp


    "What! You have a transceiver!"


    Suddenly, Ramie heard Lance''s exclamation, which really startled him, along with Neil.


    He saw that Lance was looking at a certain direction. Then following where Lance was looking, Ramie saw a hand-held transceiver resting on a small table across the living room.


    This was a pleasant surprise, as one of their goals when they escaped from the previous building aside from finding food; was to obtain a transceiver! So that Lance could communicate with the military forces in the camp. In order to find the best way to get in there without encountering deadly creatures or to see if it was possible to send a rescue team here.


    Albeit the latter possibility was very unlikely, as the military couldn''t even hold his own, let alone sparing forces to save ordinary, unimportant citizens like them, but it didn''t mean that they shouldn''t at least try.


    Anyway¡­ as the camp was their destination, it would still be very helpful to learn about the situation there from the soldiers.


    Not giving Jeffry time to respond, Lance quickly added, anxiously: "have you tried to contact the camp?"


    "Of course I did!" seeing him so anxious, Jeffry answered without delay.


    "Do you know about the situation there?"


    "Yes! Of course."


    "Then please, can you tell me everything you know?"


    "Sure, sure¡­!"


    Having heard that, Ramie''s eyes lit up at once. Finally, he was going to learn about the situation in the camp.


    For the past two days, there was a matter that had confused him to no end, and weighted hard on him. It was why couldn''t he hear any sound of explosions outside, or any indication of a battle between the military and the creatures from the camp direction¡­??


    It had to be said, that when he was back on the boat, and came to this city through the sea; he had heard the sound of explosions and bombing sounds from long distance away!


    But for the past two days, more specifically, from the moment he woke up in the building that he had escaped to while running from the flying creatures¡­ he didn''t hear any sound of such? No explosions¡­ no firearms¡­ nothing¡­?


    It was already known to him by now that the creatures always go after the place with the highest human population¡­ which in this case; was the camp in the eastern side of the city.


    The camp was already protected by the military force that was stationed there. And after the flaying beasts attack, the defensive line forces also retreated there, along with the forces that were stationed at the harbor. Thus, the size of the forces there in the camp should be quite considerable¡­ And for the past few days, they should have been making their last stand at the camp, forming the strongest defensive perimeter to repel the creatures away from the camp!


    Considering that, the raging battle there should have been very intense throughout the past few days¡­ So, why was the city so quiet¡­?


    Was the camp over run already? Or the creatures had yet to attack the camp? What was really happening there?


    Focusing all of his attention on Jeffry, Ramie anxiously awaited the answer¡­


    Taking a heavy, long breath, Jeffry opened his mouth, proceeding to explain all that he knows in regard to the situation in the camp.


    "The situation is¡­"


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    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    As Jeffry spoke on and on, telling them all he know about the camp, Ramie came to learn a shocking fact, a one that caused the tension in his heart to resurface back again, dominating his mood, and throwing his heart in turmoil.


    Apparently, the camp was no longer there¡­! More specifically, the refugees were no longer in the east side of the city!


    Jeffry had kept his hand-held transceiver on, listening to the communication on the military channel in the camp, which wasn''t far away. Hence, he was able to pick up their transmission vividly. And through that, he came to learn what he knew about the situation.


    Apparently, around the same time that the flying creatures flew above the defensive line and attacked the civilians that were retreating to the camp, a large military force came through the main highway that linked this city to the capital. This road coincidently passed through the far eastern part of this city, which meant it passed through the camp.


    From there, and instead of enforcing the already existing military forces to repel the creatures and take back the city, the large military force came with strict orders to evacuate all they can, as fast as possible¡­


    And they did!


    Meaning, all of those that had failed to reach the camp in time were now abandoned!


    As for the creatures, it went as expected. The strong ones followed the retreating masses outside the city, leaving the weaker ones to inhabit the city.


    "This¡­!"


    Hearing these words, Ramie''s heart sank. These words fell on him like a clap of thunder.


    What did it mean that the military forces had retreated¡­?


    Doesn''t it imply that they were left¡­ no! They were abandoned here under the mercy of the bloodthirsty creatures?


    Only now did he understand why Jeffry and his daughter Reem were so happy to see them. Turns out, the situation was much gloomier than he had expected¡­!


    Before, their best chance of survival was to get to the camp where the military was stationed to seek shelter.


    But now¡­! There was not a safe place in this entire city!


    Reaching this point in conclusion, anxiety started creeping on him, and started causing immense unrest in his heart.


    The situation was terribly grave, far worse than he had in mind.


    How could he not feel this way? They were trapped in a city dominated by horribly, vicious man-eating creatures that would attack them on sight. Although against tier-1 creatures they would still have a chance. But what if they were attacked by more than just one¡­? And what about Tier-2, 3¡­4??!!


    Worst, what were they suppose to do now? Stay hidden¡­?! If so, then for how long? What about supplies? And what if a powerful creature stumbles across them?! What is the alternative by then? To escape¡­?!


    And if they wanted to run away from the city, then how??? By foot?! Was it even possible to assume that they could run out of the city, and spend all that much of time out in the open streets running without any creature noticing them??! Was that even possible?


    But what is the alternative? To use a car and make a dash for it, hoping that all that much of noise wouldn''t attract anything¡­?! How''s that any different from announcing their presence to the creatures, and how was it any different from throwing away their lives?!


    The more Ramie thought about the current situation¡­ the uglier his expression became. He started feeling to be at his wit end.


    Although leaving this city alive would be very, very difficult objective to achieve¡­ but it wasn''t completely beyond the realm of possibility. After all, they did have Lance''s life energy and three artifacts¡­ if counting Reem with them.


    However, even if they did manage by some miraculous stroke of luck to actually pull it off! Then what about next? If this Jeffry guy words were true, then wouldn''t that mean that the closest military gathering was now in the capital! So, how were they supposed to get there? Especially considering that every land the creature''s passes by is considered a ''Red Zone!'' A term that means; lands that was outside the control of the military, where it is highly likely to encounter creatures everywhere!


    Sensing the great pressure from this severe situation, Ramie''s yellow irises glinted with an eerie yellow flash as his sight shifted to his left sleeve, where the bracelet was hidden beneath.


    If there was anything within his reaches that would give him a chance to salvage himself from this dilemma¡­? Then it would unquestionably be this mysterious artifact around his wrist!


    So far, and although he was completely uncomfortable with his severe case of disfiguration¡­ it was still hard to deny the great advantages this morphing spell brought about.


    So, despite his unspeakable unrest to the morphological and physiological changes that seemed to make him look like a creature more than a human¡­ but he couldn''t deny that it had saved his life back in the fight with that survivors group! Additionally, his perception seemed to have been increased by an unimaginable extent. And now, not only can he sense the aura of the creatures and the humans with life energy and artifacts¡­ but seems to also be able of sensing the killing intent directed toward himself!


    This would be enormously helpful to boost his chances of leaving this city alive!


    Thinking of the advantages of his artifact, Ramie actually started feeling lucky to have this artifact, even though it had turned him to this form.


    Right now, Lance had aghast expression on his face, as he grabbed the transceiver and browsed through the channels with great anxiety, trying to communicate with the military. Apparently, he wanted a confirmation of Jeffry''s story.


    As such, and knowing that this transceiver had a limited range, he browsed through the channels, trying to pick up any signal from the military. The premise behind his action was; if Jeffry''s story was true, then he shouldn''t be able to pick any signal from the military forces in the camp. As if they really had left, then with this hand-held transceiver short coverage area, he shouldn''t be able to pick any signal up.


    After some time, Lance''s expression turned terrible, with his face alternating between colors. He wasn''t able to pick any signal, at all. Apparently, Jeffry''s words were true.


    As for Neil, he sat with a pale face, nervously fiddling his fingers. Obviously, he didn''t take this news very well.


    Jeffry on the other hand appeared to be in relief, as evident by his relaxing expression. Apparently, he took comfort in the fact that it wasn''t just him and his daughter anymore. But now, there were three men with him, and one of which even have a similar miraculous bracelet to the one that his daughter had.


    After a while of indulging himself in a cycle of negative thoughts, Ramie let out a burdened sigh, and started massaging his temple, as he struggled to think of what to do next¡­


    After continuously sighing for a while, he shifted his gaze toward the girl, which spent the entire time staring at him curiously. It wasn''t out of place. As it was definitely weird to see someone going to this extent to cover his body, not even leaving his face revealed.


    Right now, not even a speck of his skin could be seen. He even raised his collar to cover his neck and the lower part of his face, with hood lowered down to cover the upper part of his face, leaving an exceedingly small slit between for him to look through.


    If anyone sees him this way, then one would definitely wonder on how he could see anything at all.


    Ramie wanted to inquire about this girl''s artifact, to see on how different it was from his, or Neil''s, and on why her aura was stronger than both of them? Also, he wanted to know what kind of spell did she have, and what effect does it produce?


    He wanted to ask her so, to see if her spell could be used to improve their currently grim odds of survival.


    ¡­

 Chapter 27: Leveling up (1)

    Chapter 27: Leveling up (1)


    As Ramie initiated a conversation with the girl, she appeared to be a bit nervous when talking to him. The timidity evident in her face was hard to conceal.


    Through this short interaction, Ramie though of her to be the type of person who acts reserved with those they''re not familiar with and only open up to those they knew. Thus, to lighten the atmosphere between them, he threw in few jokes, to break the ice.


    Unfortunately, this approach of his was still considered too forced to her, as it backfired, making the girl even more nervous.


    It was only when he showed his artifact to the girl, did he manage to find a common ground to converse about. And it worked, as afterward, the girl''s attitude toward him turned 180 degree. Only then did he get to chat a bit with her to lighten the mood before proceeding to ask her what he really wanted to learn.


    "What¡­! Your 23 years old!" As he chatted with her a bit, he came to learn a startling fact, a one that really caught him by surprise.


    At first, he judged Reem by her appearance to be around 17 to 19 years old. But now¡­ turns out that she was actually 23 years old! An entire year older than him!


    He was very surprise at this particularity, and couldn''t help but to cast another assessing glance at her.


    The brown hair that was cut in a long pixie styled haircut, the large, bright and watery eyes that brimmed with high spirit, and the small nose, not to mention the heart shaped face¡­ all of these features together had given her a younger appearance. Not to mention her shorter than average, petite physical structure that coupled with her adorable features; made her look exceedingly cute.


    Although her outstandingly refined features were more than enough to earn her the title of pretty woman, but the radiating cuteness that she exuded had completely dominated that beauty, overshadowing it to a large extent, and making her look cuter at the expense of appearing beautiful.


    Actually, now that he took a careful look at her, while knowing her true age; he felt that it wasn''t highly unlikely for her to be 23. After all, some people would just have ageless features that would make it very hard to judge their age by outer looks alone.


    Seeing that she was talking to him freely, with her previous nervousness melting away, he steered the conversation toward the crux of the matter ¨C the artifact!''


    "So, Reem, Can you tell me how did you level up¡­?"


    Finally, he asked the question that he was dying to hear the answer to right from the moment he saw the Lv.3 term in her stats.


    The voice had clearly stated that the life energy and the artifacts could be used to fight the creatures and to survive. Besides, even if there was no voice at all¡­ the fact that he was still alive till far was only thanks to his artifact, not to mention Lance''s life energy.


    Simply put, the importance of his artifact to stay alive in these exceedingly dark times¡­ was more than just priority¡­ it was a lifeline, a one that he''d die in no time without!


    As such, he eagerly wanted to know on how these artifacts could be leveled? And also, what kind of effects would the leveling brings about?


    In the earlier battle with the survivors group, the bold man had a life energy ignition of higher percent than Lance, which in turn, had made him stronger. In the end, Lance had won solely because of his fighting experience, as he had served in the elites, while that bold man fought using the gangsters, crude style of fighting.


    So, Ramie couldn''t help but to wonder about the type of improvement that he''d get when leveling up his artifact?!


    Luckily, with Reem around, there was no need to wonder any more.


    "Oh, leveling up¡­. That''s easy! All you have to do is to¡­ um¡­ absorb magic cores." She answered in a soft voice. More ever, she answered with certainty, as if stating common sense.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Magic cores¡­?" Ramie was confused by her answer for a moment. Then, his eyes widened in realization, as if recalling something.


    He had remembered the people telling him about the words spoken by the voice; which mentioned these two words ''magic cores!'' he also remembered the voice saying something about using these magic cores to level up the artifacts.


    Although these words were already engraved in his memory, but so far, he had spent this entire period running from one perilous situation to another, he didn''t have enough time or safe environment to ponder on these words, and on where to acquire these magic cores. But now that he had heard it from someone who had already leveled up twice, he immediately made the connection in his mind.


    But¡­ there was one problem¡­ where to find these cores?


    "Since you leveled up¡­ you must have obtained those cores, right?! Then, can you tell me what do these cores look like, and where to find them?"


    "Magic cores look like small, colorless, oval shaped and shiny gemstones. As where to get them¡­"


    Having heard the first segment of her answer, Ramie was shocked for a moment, before his eyes lights up in realization. Opening his mouth, he finished her sentence for her: "¡­ From the creatures!"


    Saying so, he put his hand at his pocket to feel the ruby that had flown toward him from the head of the creature they had confronted in the third floor apartment back in the building.


    "En?... yes, yes¡­ exactly¡­ you can get them from magical beasts corpses! If you deliver the finishing blow yourself, then the artifact will extract the core remotely and brings it to your hand. But if the magical beast dies by non-artifact holder, or by other reasons, then you have to extract the magical core on your own!" she said everything in one breath.


    "Wait! You said magical beasts? Do you mean that we can find these magic cores in all the creatures outside?"


    Reem had said a lot of critical information in one go. He needed to take his time in inquiring about everything she just said, one information at a time. But for now, the term magical beast was news to him. Beside, from her words, these creatures had magic cores in them, which was what he needed now. Also, if all of these creatures had these magic cores, then obtaining some of these cores wouldn''t be impossible, as then, they''d just have to find some weak ones, and kill them for their cores.


    "Hm¡­ Well¡­ not all of the creatures outside are magical beasts! Only small numbers of them are considered magical beasts! As for the rest¡­ they are called vicious beasts."


    Ramie was disappointed at this answer, because if these magical beasts were in low numbers, then finding those magic cores and leveling up wouldn''t be an easy job.


    "Oh! What''s the difference?" Having seen that Reem knows some critical information that was directly associated to this situation, he kept inquiring.


    "Only magical beasts have magical cores in their heads! The rest of them, have normal cores!"


    Ramie was taken by this reveal, and couldn''t help but to ask the obvious: "How do you know all of that?"


    "When you level up, this knowledge will come naturally to you. About the artifact, the life energy, and even about the beasts¡­ basically, the moment you level up, a lot of information will flow to your mind from your artifact, including the basic knowledge of using the artifacts¡­ just like a tutorial!"


    "Oh¡­!" Ramie was stunned by this answer for a moment. Then, his freighting yellow irises lit up intensely under the hood. This was the thing that he wanted to know about the most.


    After all, the drastic physiological and morphological changes that his artifact brought about were weighting extremely heavy on his heart, burdening him to no end.


    To have green skin that makes him look like an alien¡­! To have an ominous looking, dark flower atop his head¡­! To not have nose in his face¡­! To have freighting eyes that made him looks scarier than even ghosts¡­!


    Who would feel comfortable looking this freakishly?!


    It had caused him indescribably unrest. And even though the merits to this change had saved his life, and would probably increase his chances in surviving throughout this catastrophe¡­ but he still wanted to know if this change was reversible, if there was another way to return to normal. And if there was away, then he''d opt to reverse this change once he finds a safe environment, where he would no longer need the advantages brought about by this morphing spell.


    After all, not to mention the massive inconvenience he felt to have a look that was even more terrifying than the creatures, if the military or any other survivor with firearms, life energy, or artifacts sees him and kill him thinking that he was a creature, then there would be no end to his aggravation and grieve.


    This though kept boggling him constantly. However, considering the severity of his current situation, he had pushed this thought to the back of his mind.


    However, he knew ignoring this issue didn''t mean that it was going to disappear on its own.


    Even right now, as he is conversing with Reem, her curiosity was pushing her from time to time to try and take glance at his face that was concealed under the shadow of the hood. Most of the time, he wasn''t even directly looking at her face, so as she couldn''t see his yellow eyes.


    Because, if she saw his monstrous eyes, and screamed in horror as any normal individual would, and that lead to the creatures attacking and eating them¡­ then how ridiculous would that kind of fate be.


    "So, every artifact can level up?" he asked Reem.


    "Mn..." She nodded her head in response.


    "Then, one core can get you up to level 3? Right¡­?"


    "Um¡­ No! One core from mid tier-1 magical beast can get you up to level two! To advance to level three, you''d need another five magic cores from the same quality or one magic core from a higher quality."


    "¡­"


    Hearing that, Ramie was startled. He couldn''t help but to ask: "How many magic cores have you used¡­ I mean absorbed?"


    "Two¡­! One from mid tier-1 magical beast, and another from high tier-1 magical beast."


    With a hint of pride on her heart-shaped cute face, she answered, while scratching her small nose, and trying her best not to smile.


    Gulp!


    With twitching facial muscles, Ramie gulped down his saliva, and couldn''t help but to look at her under new light.


    It was beyond difficult to imagine such a petite Shorty killing a savage tier-1 creature! Although he had no notion of what was the exact level of creature they had fought in the third floor? Was it mid, or high, or another distinction, but still, ''This girl'' killing two ''savage creatures'' was beyond his imagination.


    Most likely, her killing these creatures was probably related to her artifact spells.


    Right now, the questions he had in mind were endless. But before asking anything else, he reached out to his pocket, and pulled out the piece of the clothes. Starting to unwrap it, he reveled the grape-sized, translucent gemstone and held up his hand in front of the girl.


    Gasp!


    Covering her small mouth with her hands after a slight gasp, she looked at the gemstone in his hand with clear, shining eyes.


    "This indeed is a magical core! How did you get it¡­?"


    Ramie didn''t answer, but instead ask: "Can you tell me how to level up now¡­?!"


    ¡­

 Chapter 28: Leveling up (2)

    Chapter 28: Leveling up (2)


    Currently, Ramie was sitting on the rug in the living room, in a complete silence.


    Across the room, Lance, Neil, Jeffry and Reem were gazing at him, fixedly, waiting nervously for the result. Lance and Jeffry were standing, and leaning on the wall. Neil was sitting on a chair, while Reem was sitting on the couch, gnawing on a chocolate bar.


    Right now, Ramie was in the process of leveling up!


    As Reem had said, it was rather a simple process. Apparently, all he had to do; was to hold the magic core in his left hand, the one with the artifact. More ever, the magic core has to be in a direct contact with his palm, with nothing in between. Thus, he pushed the core to the inside of his glove, to achieve the direct contact condition.


    The moment Ramie did so; he felt a faint cold stream of energy seeps through his palm from the magic core. Then, this flow of energy moved through his hand passing to the wrist area as though the physical barriers inside his hand of bones, muscles and veins did not exist. It was as if the inside of his hand was empty, like a channel for this energy to coarse through, just like the veins for blood!


    As the stream of energy passed to the wrist, the artifact then started crazily absorbing this energy, like dry sponge greedily absorbing fresh water.


    Mentally, Ramie started detecting the magic artifact 16 percent value increases one point after another¡­


    17%¡­


    18%¡­


    19%¡­


    20%¡­


    The speed at which this value increased was steady. At one point, he opened his eyes to see if this process slows down or speeds up when he''s distracted. However, it remained the same. He even changed his sitting posture, but the absorption speed remained unchanged.


    Apparently, the process of absorbing this energy had nothing to do with his mentality or frame of mind, or even his willingness to absorb this energy. This process was purely passive process. All he had to do is to hold the magic core in his left hand, where the artifact is, and close his grip. Afterward, the artifact would automatically start attracting the energy from within this core and then absorb it.


    Not long after starting the process of leveling up, he sensed the energy absorption rate slows down a bit by bit. Apparently, most of the magic energy inside this core has been absorbed, leaving only a little. He noticed the core losing its previous translucency, increasingly turning dull in color.


    Luckily, the artifact percent had already reached 98%. And he estimated that the remaining energy was more than enough to reach the 100% threshold. Which according to Reem; was the requirement to level up.


    Recalling what she had told him about the level up, he couldn''t help but to feel nervous about it. She had told him that once he levels up, he''ll get a chance to acquire a new spell. Hence, not only he, but all of the other four were nervous.


    It was needless to mention the criticality of acquiring new spell in this perilous situation of theirs. And the significant impact it could bring about to improve their chances of surviving past this terrible disaster, as evident by the Fire burst spell of Neil, which had allowed them to survive the otherwise deadly confrontation against the humanoid, snake-headed creature.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Thus, Ramie wished from the depth of his heart for a spell of a similar caliper the Neil''s fire burst.


    Refocusing on the constantly updated magic energy absorption progress in the artifact, he hoped for a good result. Also, he looked forward to get the information in regard on how to use his artifact.


    Seconds ticked by slowly, one after another, driving everyone to the very edge of their patient.


    It was as if time was slowing itself down on purpose.


    Luckily, not long afterward, Ramie gave them the thumps-up. Thus, bringing an end to the stress in their hearts, and letting them know that the level up process was a success.


    However, things were yet to be concluded. As even though he had successfully leveled up, but his worry on the type of spell that he''ll get was still nagging him.


    < Your magic artifact has gained a level! >


    < Your magic energy has risen by +20 units >


    < You have gained 1 skill point! >


    < Reassessing status¡­ >


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.2 Magic Artifact (7%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 29


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent)


    - Unused skill points: 1


    At once, the new updated stat''s information flowed to his mind.


    The moment the stats popped in his mind, a rush of energy surged from the artifact toward his arm¡­ then from there, spread out to the rest of his body.


    This energy was slightly cold, and it moved throughout his body, before settling. It was as if his body was a water tank, and this energy was water.


    ''So, this is how magic energy feels like¡­!''


    Even though he had nine magic energy points before, but he couldn''t sense it, as according to Reem, only after leveling up, or willing to cast spell for the first time can one start perceiving this energy.


    Although he had casted morphing spell before, but at that time, a violent and drastic changes took effect in his body, turning him into his current form. So, at the time, a peculiarity such as the magic energy movement inside him was completely overshadowed by the massive change, and he didn''t pay attention to it at all.


    Actually, yesterday, at night time, when he first woke up after casting morphing spell, he had heard Lance inquire from Neil on how did he managed to use that attack and finish off the creature? At the time, Ramie was too shocked about his current form to partake in that conversation. But still, he had heard it nonetheless.


    In that conversation, Ramie heard Neil tell Lance that when he wanted to cast the spell, he had felt a stream of cold energy invade his body, and that he used that very energy by injecting it in the artifact to fuel the casting of the spell.


    At the time, Ramie didn''t ponder on these words, but now that he had felt this similar feeling of this cold energy coursing through him, the words of the conversation came to him naturally.


    After sensing this energy, he remembered Reem warning him about the next step in the level up¡­ which was the rush of information.


    She had said that the moment he first levels up, a surge of information will flow directly to his memory from the artifact, which will contain information regarding how to use the artifact and what does the stats and levels means¡­ basically, all one needs to know to make the best use of this mystical bracelet to protect themselves. Also, it''ll contain other information regarding the life energy and the creatures.


    This made Ramie look forward this particularity with excitement. As it might give him further information regarding his morphing spell and if there was any way of reversing this abominable change and restore his human form.


    Of course, even if he finds out that is completely possible to restore his human form, he won''t just use it right here and then. At least, he''ll wait until he reaches a completely safe and secured place such as the capital before doing so, because, as important as returning to his human form was to him, staying alive was ever more so.


    Immediately, Ramie''s ceases all of his thoughts, clearing his mind, in preparation for what was to come next.


    I the next instant, a rush of cold energy surged from the artifact toward his head, and started invading his mind.


    Reem had already warned him in this regard. And according to her words, the moment he levels up for the first time, the artifact would send a massive stream of information to his mind, causing him dizziness at first and then splitting headache later on¡­ And that was the reason why he was sitting during the level up and not standing.


    So, he cleared his mind of any unnecessary thought to save up his mental power to deal with the streaming information, and he didn''t try to resist the process.


    Minutes went on¡­ one minute¡­ two¡­ three¡­


    Ramie''s eyes started twitching, as he felt the dizziness creep up on him.


    Reem had told him that this stream of information had lasted a several agonizing minutes in her case, because she was caught off guard by this change, and thus panicked and lost her composure and started resisting this process as a result, which in turn led to excessive draining of her mentality in a time where her mind was already on its limits as it processed the massive volumes of rushing information.


    So, as per her advice, he tried to rid himself of all kinds of thoughts to avoid splitting his attention, and solely focus on processing this stream of information, not making the mistake of resisting it, as apparently, this was unstoppable process.


    Minute ticked by one after another¡­ and the dizziness started intensifying¡­


    Clearly, it was progressing toward developing into a headache.


    However, just then, the surge of information slowed down a bit by bit, before completely coming to a stop.


    "¡­"


    Ramie was pleasantly surprised, it had finally ended. And there was no splitting headache or anything.


    Not wanting to wait any further, he started processing the information in his memory with haste.


    "This¡­?"


    All of the sudden, Ramie''s heart sank, and his complexion went ashen.


    The part regarding his morphing spell had flashed by just now¡­ and it was far worse than he had expected¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 29: Leveling up (3)

    Chapter 29: Leveling up (3)


    Among many other things he had understood from these information, the terms path and class stood out the most to him, as they were directly associated to his transformation¡­ and they made him feel extremely flustered¡­


    Of course, by now, he knew why casting the spell morphing had changed him so drastically.


    Turns out, the artifacts come in many types and not just one! And in his case, he had acquired the bloodline type artifact.


    And what did the bloodline artifact mean...?


    It simply meant that the moment the user of this particular type of artifact chooses to cast the spell morphing, which according to the absorbed knowledge, was the standard first spell in all of the bloodline artifact types, then the artifact around the wrist would injected a pre-stored bloodline essence of a specific exceptional type of beasts into the blood of the artifact user! Thus, triggering an evolution process in the body, in which the newly inserted bloodline essence is integrated in the body to allow the user to acquire and use spells that are exclusive to that particular bloodline.


    Of course, the side effect would include the introduction of certain physical traits on the user distinctive to that bloodline, which could be anything¡­ from a simple change, such as the eyes colors to a full body reformation.


    Needlessly to say, Ramie fell under the later¡­


    This change was not because of a simple magic spell, but by the introduction of additional genes into the body! That is to say, this change was not a simple effect produced by the spell itself, but by the introducing of inhuman bloodline into the body, which causes a fundamental change that occurs on a genetic level with the spell morphing as medium to safely delete particular segments of the user''s genes and insert new ones!


    In short, it meant that right now; he was no longer considered completely human¡­! But instead, half human half beast¡­!


    ''How did things ended up this way¡­?''


    There was no way to describe how heavy and disturbed his heart was right now¡­ he didn''t even know what to feel about this fact...


    Although, when he first saw the effect of casting the morphing spell, he didn''t take it well at all¡­ but by then, he still subtly thought it to be the result of a mystical spell.


    So, to a certain extent, he believed that if a spell could bring about this kind of change, then there might be another spell that could reverse this effect!


    But now, and knowing that this change was actually on a genetic level, that small ray of hope was mercilessly shattered.


    The information was clear on this regard. At least, there was not a single mention of a way to reverse this transformation.


    Ramie had no idea what to exactly feel in this regard. After all, the modern medical field was far from being able to induce such drastic change in the human body through genetic means, not to mention reversing it. As such, it was useless to lay any hope in restoring his human form through medical means.


    ''If by some miracle I escape this city and successfully reach the capital, would the military allow me in with such form? Or will they shoot me on sight, or will they conduct experiments on me?'' gloomy thoughts poured to Ramie''s mind.


    Meanwhile, Lance, Neil, Jeffry, and Reem were still waiting in their spot, anxious to know just what kind of spell did he got.


    Right now, Ramie was sitting still. With his face covered, there was no way to tell his expression¡­ Not to mention, that he no longer actually breathe through his non-existent nose nor his mouth. So, he was as still as a corpse. They only way for them to tell that he was alive were through his minor movements and shifts in his sitting posture, which conveyed an inner struggle of some sort stirring in him.


    Jeffry and Reem were yet to be made aware of his special ''transformation.''


    Among the four of them, Reem was the first to reach her limit, unable to hold herself back anymore, she started coughing few times first, before asking: "Ra-Ramie¡­ is it possible for me to ask what kind of spell did you exchange your skill point for?"


    The skill point that she was referring to was something that the artifact holder''s get whenever they level up! And using this skill point, they can exchange it to get a spell.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Having leveled up twice, this was something she had experienced in her two times of leveling up.


    Having heard her question, Ramie snapped back to present. Sweeping the four people in front with a glance, the looks of anticipation in their eyes was especially radiating, as it reflected their inner anxiety to an answer that might mean the difference between their life and death. After all, it was needless to say of how much one powerful spell would boast their surviving chances.


    Having seen their expressions, Ramie laughed bitterly in his heart. The situation they were in was the closest thing to a death sentence. And the odds were that they might all die here tragically in this city and turn into beast''s feces in no time.


    Yet, here he was, sinking in his own thought, even though there was a high chance that a tier-2 or higher beast finds them and devour them at any given time. By then, the way he looks wouldn''t mean a thing to these monsters¡­ just a different flavor of food.


    The world outside had already descended in hellish abyss, and their survival odds were already extremely ugly. And this artifact around his wrist was the only thing that might provide them with a way!


    Thus, having arrived at this conclusion, Ramie tried to calm his heart, and push away these thought and not ponder over them anymore, not until he reaches a safer place.


    "Just give me a minute." He said to Reem in a low voice, to calm them down a bit.


    Then, willing it in his mind, the stats were projected in his mind.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.2 Magic Artifact (7%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 29


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent)


    - Unused skill points: 1


    As the screen of information popped up in his mind, he first inspected the magic artifact percent, which was 7%. Then, pulling out the core from his glove, he saw that the magic core had completely lost its magic energy, turning dull in color and then breaking apart into small pieces.


    According to his current knowledge, this magical core was no longer a mystery.


    Apparently, this core was something that all the magical beasts had. And it serves as a battery to store the magic energy these beasts absorb. The magical beasts then use the energy in these cores to fuel casting their own innate spells.


    At this point, Ramie couldn''t help but to recall the first beast they fought back in building they hid in. At that time, Neil was suddenly paralyzed the moment the beast glared at him with shining eyes, causing him to fall defenselessly during that life and death confrontation. Back then, that was an inexplicable event, and Ramie had only assumed at the time that Neil''s falling to that state had something to do with the beast. It was only a guess and he had no idea on how did the beast done that in the first place¡­?


    But now¡­ that event was no longer a mystery. Apparently, that beast was considered a magical beast, which is why that when he had delivered the killing blow, his artifact had extracted the beast''s magical core and brought it to him. Unlike the snake-headed beast that Neil had killed, which was considered as a normal beast¡­ and not magical beast.


    Next, comes the class; which contained the name of the creature that the bloodline essence was extracted from.


    The title ''subterranean ghost tree'' did not make Ramie feel comfortable at all, which was understandable. After all, the term ''ghost'' was there. Not to mention the term ''subterranean!'' As for the ''tree'' term, it made sense to him. After all, with the hat-like, black flower atop his head, and the deep green, wood patterned skin of his¡­ it was kind of hard not to make that association. And even the ghost term did not seem very out of place. After all, with his black sclera''s, black pupils and the frightening yellow irises that could make even the most steel-hearted experts flinch with terror, it wasn''t hard to see why the ghost term was there in the bloodline''s name.


    Clearly, there was no part of those eyes that can be considered human? And even if the class title contained the word hellish instead of ghost, it could still pass as believable with those demonic eyes!


    However, it wasn''t as if the bloodline artifact users didn''t have advantages of their own¡­


    First; bloodline magicians will be able to cast strong spells unique to their bloodline that the other magic paths can''t use. And second, all the bloodline magicians gain the ability to sense the magical aura and life energy aura of both humans and beasts¡­ which is a tremendous life saving advantage by itself.


    This particularity made Ramie feel a bit less gloomy about his form.


    Sighing inwardly with a heavy heart, Ramie shifted his focus to the term ''special'' in the class.


    This term meant that the beast that the bloodline was extracted from was considered beyond rare! Also, according to the information, the rarity grades of the artifacts were; Common, Rare, Special, and Epic!


    Needlessly to say, the rarer the grade of the artifact, the better the spells it can unlock¡­


    Next up, was the magic energy segment in the stats.


    The information he received regarding the magic energy contained a very interesting facts. According to the information, the magic energy was something that everyone with magic talent can absorb and store in their bodies.


    Prior to the catastrophe, there was a sort of restrictions that obstructed this process. And these restrictions weren''t just applied to humans, but to everything else in earth¡­


    But now, this was no longer the case.


    As Ramie processed this part, he immediately remembered the words of the voice, which mentioned something about lifting some sort of restriction, and associating it with life energy and magic artifacts.


    According to this new knowledge, people with talent for magic can now absorb this energy and use it to cast the spells inscribed in their artifacts.


    But first, they''d have to absorb the magic energy stored in the magical beast cores, which was of different nature from the human''s magic energy, and use it to increase the level of their artifacts, and the capacity of their bodies to store magic energy. By doing so, they can unlock the different spells in their artifacts. Afterward, they can use their own magic energy to cast these unlocked spells.


    Reaching this point, Ramie was now sure that this artifact around his wrist was basically a weapon, and a one that could potentially save his life.


    As for where did these artifacts really came from, this was not the time to ponder upon such issue. Instead, he decided to focus on how to properly use it to survive through this catastrophe.


    The magic energy value that he had was now 29, way more than Neil''s 5 points, which made him hope to obtain a spell similar to Neil''s fire burst.


    What came after that; was the innate spell. This particularity however gave him a headache. As according to the acquired knowledge, an innate spell was something that every human with magic talent have. So, as long as he had magic energy, he should definitely then have an innate spell¡­ however, the innate spell field in his stats contained the term ''unknown,'' which meant that either his artifact couldn''t identify his innate spell, meaning that this artifact wasn''t suitable for him, or that he didn''t have one in the first place¡­ which didn''t make sense, as the knowledge he had absorbed was very clear on this aspect.


    In any case, he didn''t want to loiter any further, as the day light was starting to retract itself, announcing the impendency of the night, and by extension, the activity of the beasts. Not to mention the other nervous four who waited the outcome of his level up.


    Thus, not wasting any more time, Ramie shifted his intent to the new entry in his stats¡­ the unused skill points. And, the moment he focused on it, a new lines of information pooped up in his mind.


    < Skill points can be used to unlock new spell or to advance an existing spell! >


    < Unlock new spell¡­ >


    < Advance existing spell¡­ >


    As the new lines of information appeared in his mind, Ramie was no longer ignorant to its significant, or the way to deal with it.


    He immediately chose ''unlock new spell¡­''


    At once, new line of information appeared¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 30: Plant spells/ Ghost spells

    Chapter 30: Plant spells/ Ghost spells


    < Choose one of the following criteria! >


    < Ghost spells! /sealed >


    < Plant spells! >


    As Ramie chose '' unlock new spell,'' new lines of information popped up to him.


    From the knowledge ha had acquired, he knew that his bloodline had two distinctive aspects; one was the plant part, while the other was the ghost part.


    The plant spells were unsealed right from the beginning, because they didn''t require special conditions aside from the bloodline. As for the ghost spell, they were not the same. And every single spell in the ghost criteria has its own level restrictions. So, as long as his level is sufficient to unlock any spell in the ghost criteria, then, the term ''sealed'' will be lifted. However, it still wouldn''t mean that all of the spells will become available for the exchange, but just the spell with met conditions. The rest of the spells in the ghost criteria will still be sealed.


    Wanting to see what kind of spell he''ll get, Ramie chose the ''plant spells'' immediately.


    Following which, yet another line appeared.


    < Do you want to exchange your [1] skill points: Yes/No >


    Unhesitant, Ramie chose ''yes'' mentally, as he knew that his artifact does not display the list of spells, nor let him chose. And all he had to do, is to level up, acquire skill points, and either use them to exchange for spells immediately or accumulate them in order to advance the rank of the spells he had.


    Since he had no spells that he can cast at the moment, he naturally chose to exchange for spell. And as expected, another lines appeared.


    < You have obtained the spell: Green Vine (Rare) >


    < Reassessing status¡­ >


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.2 Magic Artifact (7%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 29


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent), Green Vine (Rare)


    - Unused skill points: 0


    Seeing the stats, Ramie focused on the green vine spell with intent. In response, the artifact displayed its description.


    < Spell: Green Vine (Active) >


    < Grade of the spell: Rare >


    < Effect: projecting flexible green vines from any part of the body! >


    < Cost: 5 magic energy units for every projected vine, and further consumption over time for maintaining and moving the vine! >


    Having seen the words ''active'' in the spell''s description, Ramie''s mood underwent a significant change.


    ''Finally¡­ an active spell!''


    He had finally gotten an active spell similar to Neil''s fire burst! And what did active mean¡­? Simply, it meant that unlike his one-time use, passive morphing spell¡­ he can cast the active spell as many times as he wants to¡­ given that he has enough magic energy of course.


    Anxious to test out his new spell effects, Ramie rose up to his feat, then, similar to what Neil had done when he wanted to cast his spell, Ramie called out in his mind with intent.


    Green Vine!


    Immediately, a flash of new knowledge flashed through his yellow eyes as information regarding how to practically cast the green vine spell flowed smoothly to his mind.


    Few seconds afterward, Ramie''s eyes lit up, and a slight smile of relief broke on his well concealed face.


    Finally, he got something he can use to fight the creatures!


    However, he did not completely relax just yet. First, he had to test out its effect to see how it could benefit his chances of surviving.


    To him, the best outcome would be getting a spell similar to Neil''s fire burst¡­ which is simply point and shot, simple enough and highly effective. However, even if he''s not lucky enough to end up with that kind of outcome, then as long as he get a conveniently spell, he''d still be grateful for it.


    Which is why, he had to see its effect with his own eyes.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    When Neil got his fire burst spell, they didn''t want to use it inside the apartment back then, because it had flashy name, and because they hadn''t seen anyone use a spell in front of them before. Besides, they had no idea at the time on what kind of noise or explosive effect that the fire burst spell might cause. So, not wanting to alarm other beasts to their hideout, they decided not to test it unless they had no other way.


    However now, it was easy to figure out this green vine effect. If not from the spell''s plain name, then from the description, where there was no hint of a flashy or noisy effect. Besides, the green vine spell was plant based spell, so explosive effects and noise were not something that comes in mind when pondering over its effect.


    Above all, he now knows that casting a newly acquired spell for the first time doesn''t actually mean casting it, but instead it''s akin to requesting the practical casting method from the artifact. As the spell''s description and the practical method of casting isn''t exactly the same thing.


    And indeed, the casting method was transferred to his mind in flash.


    Looking at the four people across the room, Ramie warned: "be careful, am going to try out my new spell! Don''t worry, it won''t cause ruckus!"


    Green Vine!


    Willing it in his mind, he controlled his magic energy, and injected it into the artifact, and mentally chose his right forearm as the target of the spell.


    According to the casting method, this spell was not to be casted at a distant target, but on his own body. But first, he had to fuel his artifact with the required magic energy first.


    However, knowing that he had 29 magic energy points stored in his body did not mean that he knew how much 1 magic energy point really was.


    Although he had control over the magic energy in his own body, and if he wanted, he can inject half of this energy inside the artifact or quarter of it, but dividing it on 29 was beyond his perception and his control over this energy.


    So, he supplied a large volume of the magic energy inside his body toward the artifact and let it absorb the required amount for casting the spell.


    And the moment he done so, he felt a slight itch at his forearm. Then¡­!


    Rip!


    From the middle of the forearm area, his sleeve rose up like an erected tent, as a protrusion that was as thick as his wrist area tore its way through the sleeve fibers and stuck out like a snake.


    It didn''t stop there and kept growing longer and longer. And after few seconds; a four meter, green whip-like vine was projected from his forearm.


    It wasn''t only that, the green vine wasn''t just lying still on the ground, but was slithering around on the floor like a living snake, as if it was looking for a target, which was kind of scary to the onlookers.


    However, none of the present four was terrified, as they were already warned beforehand.


    "This¡­!"


    "Wow! This is cool¡­! Quickly, tell me, what can it do, what can it do?" Reem actually got excited by the terrifying sight, and couldn''t help but to blurt out audibly. After all, Ramie was with them, so, the more fearsome his spell is the better for them.


    Lance, Neil, Jeffry and Reem were practically at the edge of their nerves, as Ramie took a lot of time processing the absorbed knowledge, and maintained a relatively long silence, which gave a bad feeling that his new spell might be lousy and of no use.


    However, now that they saw this slithering, vicious looking vine moves and coils about vigorously, they felt a bit better, and wanted to ask him about its effect. However, before they get to ask, Reem jumped up first and spoke: "Wow¡­ can you control it?"


    Ramie nodded to her in response¡­he can indeed control this vine.


    This spell came as a surprise to him. After all, this vine felt to him like another limb, and even controlling it came to him naturally. It was as if he had it right from the beginning. And he held a large degree of control over it, and can move it as precisely and easily as any of his two arms. More ever, even despite its obviously frightening snake-like moves, Ramie didn''t dread it in the least; instead, it felt familiar to him.


    Following his will, the vine moved, curled, and twisted itself about. It gave him the feeling that this vine can exert a greater strength than his own muscles.


    ''This is good¡­ very good. This might be of real help in these times¡­! I better test this vine''s limits!'' Ramie thought to himself.


    And so, he proceeded to test out the vines to see its limits¡­ How long can he extend it for? How much of strength can a single vine exert? And more ever, the spell description implied that he can project more than just one vine. So, how many of these vines can he produce? How much magic energy required for maintaining and moving these vines?


    His spell was not as simple and direct as Neil''s fire burst¡­ which was simply point and shoot. As such, and since this spell could potentially save his life¡­ he wanted to use as efficiently as possible, as soon as possible. Preferably, before the night fall, where the beasts emerge, starts their battles and go into hunt mode.


    After only few short while of testing, almost all of his magic energy was exhausted. But the result was beyond his imagination¡­ to the point of almost making him happy about his morphing spell.


    Anyhow, after playing around with his spell for a while, he now had a basic understanding regarding the green vines he can now project.


    First, and as mentioned in the spell description, to project a single vine; 5 magic energy points are required, as for maintaining its existence after projecting it, further magic energy consumption is needed over time. The moment he stops supplying the vine with magic energy, the vine then separates from his body, coil up, and dries after awhile, turning into an ash when the magic energy in it is completely used up.


    As for the vine''s strength, speed, and durability¡­ Ramie had tested these aspects against Lance. And the result was simply fantastic.


    The vine moving speed was actually faster than Lance''s reaction speed while powering himself up with life energy, and so was the strength this vine can exert. As for the vine best quality, then it would undoubtedly be its durability! As Lance couldn''t tear it apart when Ramie coiled it up around him, even despite using all his strength while using life energy, which made Ramie elated.


    When it comes to how many vines can Ramie project¡­ he was a bit hesitant. As the night was about to descend, and Ramie wanted to save some of his magic energy in case something sneaks into the building. However, at the time, Reem told him a certain shocking piece of news that had him change his mind, and continuing his testing.


    Still, he was unable to figure out his numerical limit of the vines, as he had summoned and controlled three of them before his magic energy almost runs out. So, he decided to test this aspect when he has more magic energy reserve.


    When it comes to the control efficiency, he found out that if he projects a single vine, then he can control it with the greatest efficiency. As for two vines, although the efficiency decreases a bit, but he could still control them almost as good as controlling his own arms.


    However, when he projects three vines, then it becomes a mess, and controlling them becomes hard, sluggish and slow.


    As for the length issue¡­ it was practically similar to the strength and speed; it was associated with how much of magic energy he''s willing to spend. For instant, merely maintaining the presence of the vine consumes magic energy, albeit at slow rate. However, if he was to move the vine, then the magic energy consumption increases more. And if he was to exert strength or move the vine at a fast speed, then naturally the consumption rate will soar to crazy levels. And that''s only in the case of a single vine, not mention two or three vines.


    As such, unless the situation is extremely dire, with no other alternative¡­ it is preferred not to use this spell wantonly, and conserve his magic energy as much as possible.


    At first, when he learned that it only requires 5 magic energy points to project a vine, he felt excited by the thought of projecting a lot of them in one go to overwhelm whatever beast comes his way. However, now, it turns out otherwise¡­ as merely maintaining a single vine requires the consumption of magic energy, not to mention moving it.


    This was evident by how he had exhausted almost all of his magic energy points in merely short while when he projected three of them.


    This meant that in any future confrontation, he had to be extremely careful to not wantonly use up his magic energy, in order not to fall in a defenseless state. After all, even if there were people with him¡­ he had no real relation with any of them and thus shouldn''t expect any of them to risk his life for him.


    Even though his aura detecting bloodline ability is very crucial to the group, not to mention his high perception¡­ it still doesn''t mean that others would throw themselves in the way of danger for him, if the risk outweighs the benefit.


    This conclusion was something he engraved in his mind.


    Anyway, after almost exhausting his magic energy reserve, he now had a basic understanding of his green vine spell. Also, after projecting the first vine from his forearm, the second one from his leg, and the third one from his back¡­ he had concluded that casting this spell on his back would project the vine in the shortest period of time, which is a very important point, as in a life and death confrontations, every second matters!


    Thus, he added a mental note of always projecting the vines from his back henceforth. There was another reason for this decision¡­ which was; to keep his hands free and use them to hold other weapons, to better defend himself and maximize his survival chances.


    ¡­

 Chapter 31: The dark forest

    Chapter 31: The dark forest


    "What! Your magic energy increased by 20 point in a single level up!!"


    After asking Ramie about this particularity to see on whether it was similar to her case or not, Reem reacted in very dispirited manner, disappointment apparent in her eyes.


    The importance of the magic energy volume was of an extreme importance to the artifact holders, which was an obvious fact considering that it fuels their spells. So, simply, the more magic energy points they had, the more they can cast their spells, and by extension, the better their chances of survival becomes. Saying that magic energy was the ammo to their weapons wasn''t far from the truth.


    So, Reem''s disappointment by this piece of information made her lose focus in her eyes momentarily.


    In fact, having leveled up, she had already received the ''manual instructive information.'' And among the information, the terms Common, Rare, Special, and Epic were not left out of elaboration.


    In short, these four terms are the grades of the artifacts, which depicted their rarity.


    It wasn''t only that. The information also included a fascinating fact in this regard. It stated that the artifacts were not obtained by those with magic talent randomly, but instead, following a certain system!


    And this system was centered on one key point¡­ and that was the overall aptitude of the user, which further included many aspects!


    Meaning, that Ramie did not acquire this specific bloodline artifact with the rarity ''special'' randomly, but according to this piece information ¨C was because it was the most suitably to his own aptitude.


    This fact gave rise to a lot of new questions that needed to be answered. However, this was not the time to waste, as the night was imminent.


    Looking at Reem dazed expression; it wasn''t hard to imagine the reason. After all, the artifact that had ''common'' rated class, would gain 5 points of magic energy each level up, the artifact with ''rare'' rated class, would gain 10 points, the artifact with ''special,'' would gain 20, and ''epic'' would gain 40 magic energy points.


    Considering these numbers, it wasn''t hard to imagine how massive the magic energy reserve that those with ''epic'' and ''Special'' grade would end up having after few levels, comparing to Rare and Common grades.


    Since Reem had a rare graded artifact, then it meant that she would only receive a meager 10 magic energy points per level, which was only half comparing to Ramie''s 20 points!


    As for Neil and his ''Common'' grade artifact, his bitter expression was more than enough to portray how he felt in this regard. After all, who would be happy knowing that the human world entered its darkest time while only receiving a low grade weapon?


    However, considering that he had received one at all was still a comforting fact. As such, Neil consoled himself. After all, normal weapons don''t level up, and they certainly need ammo to do the trick¡­ which is a commodity that will undeniably grow scarcer and scarcer with time¡­ unlike their recoverable magic energy.


    Faced with Reem dazed expression, Ramie didn''t know what to say to comfort her, or Neil.


    Anyway, at this point, ramie wanted to get the issue of his form out of the way, to avoid any misunderstanding that might happen with Jeffry and Reem. After all, Reem was apparently strong enough to kill two magical beasts. So, he didn''t want her to see his face accidentally and kill him on the spot or something.


    Thus, he signaled to lance, to get this issue out of the way.


    Understanding his gesture, Lance proceeded to inform the pair of father and daughter about Ramie''s special ''case.'' In order to avoid any unnecessary incidents once they see his current appearance.


    "Oh¡­ this kind of thing actually happened¡­? Then, um¡­ can I see your face¡­? I promise, I won''t scream or anything." Reem asked. An interested expression was on her face.


    Ramie pulled down the shirt, revealing the lower part of his face, and then he pulled back the hood.


    Pssssssst!


    Seeing his face, Jeffry sucked in a cold breath, he was at loss for words. His face remained stiff for quite some time.


    Ramie noticed that Jeffry''s grip on his rifle tightened. It was obvious that he was forcing himself not to the point the weapon at him.


    "Eh¡­?" Reem eyes lit up, while scrutinizing his face. She then started caressing her chin, while muttering to herself in an audible voice; "¡­ you look very similar to last boss in a game I played few years ago¡­"


    Then, and realizing that she her thoughts were audible, she smiled embarrassingly, while casting an apologizing look at him.


    It wasn''t only ramie, but Lance and Neil too were speechless about her reaction. Now, it had to be said¡­ that even Lance and Neil had yet to adapt to his face. Yet, this girl was taking it too easily, way too easily.


    Not to mention displaying some shock, she didn''t even frown. Comparing to her, Jeffry''s reaction was the more normal one.


    Anyway, afterward, Ramie went looking for another hoodie and a trouser, as the current ones he wore had three big hole on them, due to casting his spell.


    ¡­


    As the last ray of light disappeared, the night came once again, enveloping the city, and signaling the start of yet another bloody night.


    Howl!


    At almost the same time, different savage cries and roars of beasts resounded everywhere outside, declaring the start of another night of terror.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    In a certain building, inside a particular apartment, were five people, sitting in the living room. All the windows were covered with extra layers of sheets, to prevent the candle light from attracting a lethal attention from outside.


    The faces of the five did not brim with overflowing, witless fear and anxiousness that someone in their situation should display. After all, they were trapped in a city where death was lurking behind every corner and inside every alleyway and building.


    Instead, those five were eating dinner with only slight vigilance in their eyes, as if the unending terror outside didn''t have much to do with them.


    "Reem, you shouldn''t eat too many sweets. Eat bread too. Otherwise, you won''t feel full." Jeffry spoke to the dejected looking Reem.


    "OK, OK father¡­" She replied to him absentmindedly.


    Having learned about Ramie''s ''case,'' she kept casting sympathizing looks from time to time toward him.


    Jeffry could only smile in response. He knew that today, she was not going eat anything aside from that pile of sweats in front of her on the table.


    Suddenly, Reem''s eyes lit up with joy, exclaiming: "Whity is here!"


    SHRIEEEEEEK!!!!!!


    Before she finishes her words, a high-pitched piercing shriek of a beast rang outside, right atop their building!


    The sound was so piercing that even if someone covered his ears 20 buildings away from here, he''d still hear the shriek.


    This high pitched sound carried so much power and authority, that the surrounding beast''s cries in area of several building around all went down by an entire level, as if they were deeply intimidated by this beast.


    The moment Ramie heard the shriek, he sensed a strong and oppressive aura pulsating atop the building, bringing about a strong sense of oppression and might that did not shy away from challenges. It was as if this beast was declaring itself as a local tyrant.


    This aura was much stronger that Lance''s aura, but its nature was similar to Ramie''s, which meant that this creature was a magical beast.


    As this shriek sounded, and instead of showing fear, the five of them inside of the apartment were relieved instead.


    Sensing the tyrannical oppressive feeling that this aura brought about, Ramie couldn''t help but to cast another glance at Reem.


    This petite girl beside him that was gnawing mercilessly at the sweats¡­ was actually the master of that strong beast!


    That''s right, this beast was actually her summon!


    According to her, the first spell she got in her artifact was a summoning spell. And using it, she managed to summon this magical beast, which is the only reason why she and her father survived this far. It was also the reason why no other beast dared to come inside this building, which answered the question of why had Jeffry said when he first saw them that this building was safe, and why he seemed so certain about it.


    Also, this beast was the reason why she managed to upgrade her artifact to level three. As apparently, this ''pet'' magical beast of her was the one bringing her the magical cores of the beasts that he had slain outside.


    From the moment she and her father resorted to this building to escape the flying beast''s assault till now, and thanks to this ''pet'' of hers, neither her life or her father''s were threatened not even once.


    This girl was indeed very lucky!


    Apparently, this ''Whity,'' was considered among the strongest of tier-1 beasts, a peak tier-1 beast!


    The information he received from the artifact were not only regarding the use of his artifact, but also on the beasts as well.


    For starters, they were called beasts and not creatures.


    Also, these beasts were divided into magical beasts that had magical cores inside them, and normal beasts that had life energy cores inside them.


    The magical beast''s core contains magical energy that is required to level up the artifacts. As for the life energy cores, needlessly to say, they were useful for the warriors to raise up their life energy ignition percent, and even break through to higher levels and gain even stronger and denser life energy.


    As for the magical beasts, it was just as Reem had previously told him, once someone with an artifact delivers a killing blow to a magical beast, then the artifact would remotely extract and brings the magical core to the artifact user. But if a non-artifact user kills the magical beast or other beast kills it or it dies by other reasons, then the magical core had to be extracted manually by dissection. Of course, this remote extraction method only applied to magical beasts, and not normal beasts.


    Also, another interesting fact about the normal beasts and magical beasts ¨C which was that other than the tier divisions, the beast''s tiers were further subdivided into low, mid, high and peak, to represent their power levels within every tier, which depends on the volume of magic energy or the density of life energy these beasts had.


    The magical beast that Reem had summoned was considered a peak tier-1 magical beast¡­ which is to say that it is considered the strongest among tier-1 beasts!


    This was the reason why Reem and her father were so sure why their building was safe and that no other beast will dare to sneak in


    Thinking to this point, Ramie remembered the tire-2 Wicked Dog that had assaulted the bakery store. More precisely, he remembered the strong aura which that beast gave off, which was easily stronger and more oppressive than the aura Reem''s summon was giving him. He asked Reem:"how strong exactly this summons of yours¡­?"


    Having learned that she was a year older than Ramie, the shyness and timidity had completely went away, and she assumed the big sister role when talking to him. Also, after learning of his special ''situation,'' every time she looked at him, sympathy would well up in her eyes.


    "Don''t worry, in this area of several buildings, whity is somewhat of a king around here, so, no beast under tier-2 can beat him!"


    "Also, even the dog that had attacked you before won''t make another move! So, as long you remain in whity''s territory, don''t worry, no other nearby beast will dare to make a move with whity around!" She answered Ramie with a warm tone.


    Hearing her answer, not only Ramie, but Lance and Neil too were taken aback. Not by her tone when addressing Ramie, but by the vital information she had just revealed.


    Hearing her words, Ramie''s eye lit up under the new hood he had found in another apartment. He and the other two had already told Jeffry and Reem regarding the large dog attack in the bakery store. So, for Reem to make such claim, in such certain tone, Ramie had to know whether she was just trying to assure him or if she has a reason to say such heavy words.


    He had a clear, unforgettable impression of the heavy and towering aura that the tier-2 beast dog had exuded back in the store, and he was sure that that beast was stronger than Reem''s summon based on the difference in their auras. Till now, and knowing that such huge threat might be looming around, he couldn''t really relax even with Reem''s powerful summon overseeing this building.


    "Are you certain?" Ramie asked, wanting to see why she was so confident.


    "Mmm¡­" Reem nodded, appearing to be certain of her claim.


    "How can you be so sure?"


    "Um¡­ well, when I summoned Whity first, a special connection was formed between us, and that''s why I wasn''t scared by him when he suddenly showed up after the summon. Right now, and at all times, I can tell where he is, and¡­ to a certain extent¡­ even his thoughts. We can also communicate with each other! It''s not like we can exactly talk or something¡­ at least, not with words¡­ but with¡­ um¡­ how should I put it¡­" talking to this point, she assumed a pondering posture for a moment, before her eyes lights up: "Thoughts! Yes¡­ it''s like we can talk with our minds! Yes, minds¡­"


    "Oh!" Ramie did not expect such a thing was possible, at least not until he heard it from her. As for Lance and Neil, they too appeared startled by this answer.


    Continuing speaking, she took a long breath and spoke in one go: "Whity himself assured me that he''s the strongest around¡­ and that no other beast, not even the lord of this area, which is the dog you had encountered¡­ would dare to fight him in his own territory! He also told me that the dog is low tier-2 beast, so the gap between them isn''t very, very large. More ever, that bad dog is severely injured. So, rest assured, he won''t dare to attack for the incoming few days!"


    Apparently, she seem to be very relaying on this summon of hers.


    Ramie felt a bit confused, he remembered her just saying that she communicate with her summon via thoughts and not words¡­ So, was it possible to her to understand so much with only thoughts? The only possibility was that this mind link thing was even better than communicating with words.


    "Can you completely control your summoned beast?" Ramie couldn''t help but to ask this question.


    "Yes. Whity does everything I told him to¡­ And in my summon spell description, it says that am his master, and that he''ll do all I say. So, I told him to protect me and father."


    Ramie felt relieved at her answer. Then, the intensity increased in his shining yellow eyes under the hood, as he intended to ask the next question.


    Seeing that Reem being so responsive to him, probably out of sympathy for his special ''circumstances,'' he asked: "Is whity one of the beast that had attacked the city?"


    Reem was a bit taken by his sudden question. Then she bit her tiny lips, and answered, weakly: "¡­yes."


    "Oh¡­ then¡­ did it eat any¡­humans?"


    "No! He eats plants and vegetation, not meat." Reem answered firmly, appearing very certain of her words.


    Ramie was really curious now, as he didn''t expect that there would be vegetarian beasts. But, he believed her. At least, until things prove otherwise.


    "You said that you can communicate via your thoughts. So, did you ask your summoned beast where did it come from, and how did he arrive here?" he asked one of the most baffling questions he had in mind. Ramie was very eager for the answer.


    "¡­Yes of course, I asked whity that, but¡­ it seems that even he didn''t know. According to him, several days ago, he was in his territory, which was located inside a very, very huge dark forest that spanned endlessly, in all directions. However, suddenly, one the beast kings, the one that was controlling the portion of the forest where Whity lived, ordered all of the beasts under him to charge at shiny grounds that were filled with magic. Then, he found himself here, along with the other beasts."


    Ramie''s expression darkened under the hood at this answer, and his yellow irises shone momentarily with eerie yellow flash, which made him especially frightening.


    Luckily for everyone around him, the much lowered hood and the new scarf hid this frightening seen.


    Dark forest!


    He didn''t consider himself to be knowledgeable regarding geography¡­ but he didn''t think that there was such place on earth¡­ at least not enough to contain such ferocious beasts with ''magic'' abilities and strength enough to demolish the military to such a pathetic degree¡­ not to mention the voice''s words that mentioned a gate?


    So, the logical conclusion even without the voice''s words ¨C would be that these beasts had come from another world¡­ another dimension¡­ or another place! Because, obviously, if these beasts were located on earth, and with such terrifying strength and numbers that overwhelmed the world, then they would have been discovered long ago¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 32: Escaping the city (1)

    Chapter 32: Escaping the city (1)


    Ramie proceeded to ask Reem more details about her summoned magical beast. After all, and knowing that the camp was no longer in this city, but was moved to the capital, their destination naturally shifted there as well.


    So, to better formulate plan to leave this city and go to the capital, they first needed to learn everything about the strongest asset they now have¡­ which was obviously Reem''s summoned beast.


    Luckily, when it was Ramie the one who asked her the questions, and thanks to her sympathy toward his ''condition,'' she held nothing back, telling him everything about her artifact, and her summoned beast.


    As Reem proceeded to explain more and more, Ramie was really stunned, as more and more of his questions were answered.


    For instant, why are the creatures only active at night? Why were they attacked by the dog beast? Why are they safe in this building? Why does the beasts roar and howls so much at night, as well as other things¡­


    After rounds and rounds of discussion, turned out that although Reem''s summon was a beast, he was a bit different from other beasts¡­ at least according to Reem. She said that through their mental connection, she had understood many new things regarding these beast''s behaviors.


    According to her; her summon had a gentle temperament, was exceedingly intelligent, almost as intelligent as human, and did not consume meat for food. And apparently, although he was considered a beast, he belonged to a different category of beasts, different from the man-eating ferocious beasts that overtook the city.


    According to her, the difference between ''Whity,'' which was the name she calls her summoned beast with, and other beasts, was wider than the difference between carnivorous and herbivorous animals.


    She kept speaking up for her summon more and more, trying to convince the three of them of how gentle whity is, how harmless to other humans he is, and that unless provoked, he wouldn''t harm a fly. She kept putting out words for him, even though she didn''t have to.


    However, these efforts of her were unnecessary¡­ as Ramie and the other two with him, didn''t actually care whether she summoned a zombie, a monster, or any other atrocity or abomination.


    As long as it on their side, and helps them survive through this city and move to the capital, they wouldn''t mind if she summoned the king of ghosts!


    Reem told them that the beasts that had settled in the city, according to ''whity,'' had a strong concept of territory. And that in every night, and aside from hunting the remaining humans, these beasts would battle each other ferociously to mark their own territories and then defend or expand it¡­ each according to its own strength and capabilities. Hence, these nightly cries were their way of putting out claim on these territories and warn other overstepping beasts, or to challenge other nearby beasts to expand their lands.


    The weakest tier-1 beasts were fighting each other to occupy new lands and establish their own domains¡­ which could range to anything from a small sized room in any building structure to an entire building¡­ or even several buildings. All according to the beast level of strength.


    As for tier-2 beasts, according to Reem''s summon, there were only a handful of them in the entire city¡­ each controlling a large portion of it.


    When it comes for the beasts above the second tier¡­ some of them seemed to have followed the retreating military forces, while others departed for other areas outside the city.


    Now, tier-2 beast can be said to be the overlords of the city, as they divided it among themselves unhindered. This piece of information made Ramie heave a breath of relief. After all, the sight of two gigantic creatures battling each other and destroying buildings and streets as if they were made of fragile clay made a deep impact and fear in his heart.


    Although he only really saw one of these tire-4 beasts outside the building and not the other one, but considering the damage caused by the terrifying fight as well as the fact that the giant beast he saw didn''t gain the advantage in that confrontation¡­ it wasn''t hard to conclude that the other beast was of the same rank too.


    Luckily, since these things had left the city, then it means that their overall situation wasn''t completely hopeless. At least, they wouldn''t be squashed to death with no chance of resisting.


    Also, this area they were in seems to fall under the tier-2 dog beast that had attacked them back in the bakery store. Also, this dog beast and all of the other tier-2 beasts were the main reason why the rest of tier-1 beast go completely quiet and hide in day time. Of course, the fact that all of these beasts had come from a dark forest where the light rarely shines in also played a part in this particularity.


    With time, a new Hierarchy system of domination similar to the one that was established in dark forest was slowly taking shape here in the city. In the mean time, large numbers of tier-1 beasts were fighting to protect their own small territories of rooms, floors, or even entire buildings, while tier-2 beasts were fighting to dominate entire areas of the city.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Luckily, the tier-2 wicked dog beast that had dominated this area was the weakest among the tier-2 beasts in the entire city, as it was only a low tier-2 beast. More ever, he was injured, which reduced the difference between him and the peak tier-1 beast summoned by Reem to a bridgeable gab.


    This particularity meant that right now, this part of the city was actually the safest for them to be in.


    ¡­


    When the night completely descended, and the other beasts started their daily ritual of battles, Reem''s summoned magical beast let out this ear piercing cry to establish his dominance over this building, and even few nearby buildings, hence, was the earlier sharp cry.


    Now, and after coming to learn these new information from Reem, Ramie understood why she didn''t use her summon beast to leave this.


    After all, if she and her father were to try to leave this city, then they would have to inevitably leave this area that was controlled by the injured dog beast that didn''t currently pose a deadly threat to them, and pass through to other areas located under the domination of other stronger tier-2 beasts, and risk bringing deadly attention onto them.


    Instead, Reem''s plan was to wait until her summoned beast advance to become tier-2 beast before trying to leave the city. Because, as things stood, and with her summoned beast level of strength, which was on the verge of advancing into the next tier, and becoming tier-2 magical beast, stepping into another tier-2 beast territory might be interpreted as an act of challenge, and incur an aggressive act. Thus causing them to land in unfavorable situation. However, if her summoned beast was to advance to the second tier, then if he''s unable to defeat the other tier-2 beasts, at least, escaping this city wouldn''t be a problem then.


    As according to her summoned beast thoughts, this was the way for these beasts to prevent any other beast from advancing, to trim down the competition. Luckily, the wicked dog beast that controls this area was weakened at the moment, and is busy on defend his own territory, rather than trying to suppress her summoned beast.


    Having learned this new information about the beasts behavior, Ramie was extremely interested in learning more and more of these details. After all, the more he understands regarding his enemies, the better he knows how to deal with them, and the better his survival chances becomes.


    Anyway, right now, the pair of father-daughter standing was obvious to Ramie and his two companions. Their intention was to hide here and let her summoned beast increase his level to tier-2, not to only improve their chances of leaving the city, but also to better protect themselves on the way to the capital.


    This course of action was different from what Ramie and the other two originally had in mind. It had put them in difficult situation, as on one hand, and judging by Reem''s summoned beast strong aura of magic, it went without saying that sticking with Reem and Jeffry would provide them with a strong layer of protection. And if her information regarding her summoned beast strength and the immanency of his Advance to higher tier was accurate, then it was all the more reason to stick with them.


    However, on the other hand, leaving this city as fast as possible while the beasts were busy fighting each other for territories was the sensible thing to do, and depending on her words, if her summon stepping to into another territory with its mere tier-1 peak level might incur a violent reaction from the local tier-2 beast, then how aggressive would the reaction be if her summon actually advanced to tier-2¡­?


    Also, she had said that the fight for territories included all the beasts, from the lowest tier-1 to the strongest tier-2, which was probably how the local tier-2 dog beast was injured in the first place. So, what if another tier-2 beast defeated the already weakened dog beast and swallowed its territory! Doesn''t it mean that danger could still come to their doors even if they barricaded themselves and hid here¡­?


    So following that logic¡­ wouldn''t be best for them to leave this city before such scenario comes to pass.


    According to the artifact absorbed knowledge, the way for magical beasts to advance their tier is similar the artifact''s users, which is by absorbing magical cores.


    If a tier-1 magical beast wanted to advance its level, then it had to kill other tier-1 magical beasts and absorb their cores, more specifically, the magic energy stored inside these cores. The higher the level of the magical beast that the core is taken from the better¡­ as the stored magic energy volume in the magic core becomes larger in higher levels. So, if the magic core was acquired from a weak magical beast, then to advance, several or tenths or even more are required to raise the levels within the tier, not to mention an entire tier. Of course, if a tier-1 beast gets a magical core from a stronger tier-1 beast or even tier-2 beast, which would naturally contain a much larger volume of magic energy, then advancing a small level or even an entire tier becomes possible¡­ all depends on the level of the magical beast in which the core came from¡­ It might take even one magic core to advance to a higher tier.


    This manner of advancing goes for the rest of the tiers of beasts, and not just tier-1 beasts. As for the vicious beasts that had a life energy core inside them, it was the same, but with life energy cores instead of magic energy cores.


    As such, Ramie''s concern was that if Reem''s summon raised its level to tier-2 in several days or weeks by hunting magical beasts and absorbing their magical cores¡­ then what guarantee there is that the already stronger tier-2 beast around won''t manage to raise their own levels.


    More ever, there was another thing Reem said that supported this concern of his¡­ Which was¡­ since the magical beasts were less in numbers than normal beasts, then wouldn''t it mean the magic cores that are required for the magical beasts to level up will be correspondingly less in numbers as well, and harder to find¡­?


    And wouldn''t that in turn mean that normal beasts can advance their levels faster than magical beasts!


    So, what was he, Lance and Neil suppose to choose¡­? Leave on their own? But, didn''t Reem say that the other areas around were controlled by even stronger beasts¡­!


    He could not shake off the sense of oppression he felt from that wicked dog beast overwhelming aura of power¡­ and that was actually a mere low tier-2 beast and was also injured!!


    The only reason they had survived back in the bakery store was because that dog wasn''t interested in them¡­ probably, because he knew that they couldn''t leave his territory, and maybe he was saving them up for later on.


    They fell completely under the mercy of a weak and injured low tier-2 beast¡­! So, what will happen if they were to encounter a healthy, mid, high or even peak tier-2 beast¡­??


    Feeling the crushing weight of the situation, Ramie let out a sight. Seeing the complicated, pale, and flustered looks alternating on Lance and Neil''s faces as the discussion went on¡­ it was obvious the course of action they''ll go with.


    In fact, he himself felt that staying with Reem and Jeffry was the best choice to make¡­ or at least the least dangerous one. As, after Reem had upgraded her artifact to Lv.2, she got a skill point in which she exchanged to get a supportive spell that can use to cast a spherical, protective shield of energy on an area of five meters in diameter, which meant that it could be used to shield the five of them in case of emergency. And it is needless to say how important such spell can be to protect their lives.


    Besides, they were taking chances with both choices, and since the possibility of being attacked was almost equally high in both cases¡­ then, they might as well take their chances with a strong beast on their side rather than without.


    After all, their chance of trying to use a boat to escape the city had gone down the drain¡­ as according to Reem, the beast that took over the entire coast area and the harbor was the strongest and most vicious one in the entire city.


    After a short exchange of words, Ramie, Lance and Neil agreed to stay with Reem and Jeffry for few days, for her summon to advances to tier-2. But in exchange, they put forth the condition that if Reem''s summoned beast still didn''t advance in five days¡­ then Jeffry and Reem had to join them as they take their chances and leave the city. After all, after asking Reem about the estimated time for her beast to advance, she couldn''t give them an exact number, hence, and not willing to wait for death to arrive at their doors, while they''re just waiting, they placed this condition.


    Reem and Jeffry agreed readily on the proposal. Apparently, they too weren''t feeling very optimistic about the chances of the summoned beasts advancing before some strong beasts attack them.


    Before, it was only the two of them with the summoned beast, so, they felt that waiting was the wisest choice, but now, there were two artifact holders with them, as well as a warrior. So, their chances of successfully leaving the city went up by a good margin.


    Reaching this point, Ramie asked Reem: "can we see your summoned magical beast?"


    ¡­

 Chapter 33: Escaping the city (2)

    Chapter 33: Escaping the city (2)


    Waking up from sleep, Ramie lifted his head and glanced at the clock hanged on the wall across the room: "8 Am!!"


    Ramie was taken by the indicated time. The five of them had stayed awake throughout the night, not daring to sleep. They were afraid that the tier-2 wicked dog beast might make a move at Reem''s summoned while they were sleep.


    The entire night was filled with beast cries and battles. So, they only slept the moment the sun shined on the city, when the beasts hide in their territories.


    Ramie was the last among them to fall asleep, which was around 7:20. However, he was feeling so invigorated right now that made him feel as though he had slept for an entire day, even though he had dozed off for less than an hour to completely restore to top condition.


    ''This bloodline is really something¡­!''


    He couldn''t deny the massive advantage this bloodline had granted him.


    ¡­


    Today was the fourth day since this city fell completely to the beasts, and it felt like a vivid nightmare.


    Four days ago, he was on the boat, wanting to come here as fast as possible, to get himself checked out by a doctor. He also was worried about the political situation of the country. But now¡­! He was strategizing ways of using his ''magical spells'' and coordinates with another ''magicians'' and an actual ''summoned monster'' to escape a monster infested city so as not be eaten alive!


    This twist of turn was beyond imagination not 4 days ago¡­ now however, it was reality!


    Yawning and stretching out his body, he got up from the most comfortable sleep he had gotten during this period of crazy events.


    Standing straight, he closed his eyes, and started sensing the magic energy flowing in his body. He moved it about¡­ and it followed his will, moving as easily as him moving his hands.


    Unlike Lance''s description of his life energy, which was warm and invigorating, this flowing energy inside him felt a bit cold, with no strengthening effects.


    After a while, a certain childish thought flashed through his mind, putting an amused smile on his face.


    Executing this thought, Ramie assumed a kamehameha energy blast shooting posture. Concentrating this magic energy inside him, he channeled it to his palm, and tried to lunch out an energy blast, hoping to see something extraordinary.


    Plop!


    However, to his disappointment, and aside from the sound of of water drops falling into the kitchen''s sink from the loose faucet, nothing happened¡­ and no physical manifestation of any sort appeared.


    Looking at the rest to see if any of them saw him did the moves; he felt a tinge of embarrassment. Luckily however, everyone was snoring, in a deep sleep.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, he focused on his body. He could feel that the magic energy inside him had decreased by a quarter, which was the volume he had just channeled it and discharged it out.


    To make sure of it, he summoned his stats.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.2 Magic Artifact (7%)


    - Path: Bloodline MagicianThe tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 21/29


    - Innate Spell: Unknown


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent), Green Vine (Rare)


    - Unused skill points: 0


    As if conforming his doubts, his magic energy value had decreased by 8 points.


    ''I should be careful from now on, and maintain this energy at full value in all times. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be funny if we''re attacked and I only have a meager magic energy reserve!''


    Adding this mental note, he moved to the kitchen.


    Taking out a small bottle of milk and similarly small pack of biscuit from the large bile of food that was stacked on the kitchen''s floor, he started having his breakfast.


    Under the protection of Reem''s summon, Jeffry had brought this food in few days ago from a nearby store.


    After finishing his breakfast, Ramie patiently waited for Reem and the others to wake up.


    ¡­


    Walking up the stairs that lead to the building''s roof, Ramie could feel the aura of Reem''s summon magical beast intensifies with every further step he takes.


    Alongside him, were Lance and Neil. They were following Reem and Jeffry as they led them to the building roof to see her summoned magical beast for the first time.


    Since Ramie was the only one that can feel the overbearing aura of the beast, only he was feeling tense.


    Although he asked Reem for this chance yesterday¡­ but it was nighttime at then, and the others can''t see well in the dark. So, they left it for today''s daytime.


    Reaching the door leading to the roof, Reem pushed it open and waved them to walk out, Ramie and the other two stepped out, while Reem and Jeffry followed suit.


    "This¡­!"


    The moment Ramie walked out of the door, and his line of sight fell on the large figure ahead, lines of information surfaced in his mind.


    Tier-1 Beast /summoned


    Name: Azure Gazelle King


    Innate Spells: lightening shield, lightning beam, lightening ball, lightening shock-wave


    Special notes: A mild-natured beast that only attacks when provoked.


    The artifact only displays the tier and not the mini levels (low, mid, high and peak). however, with Ramie''s bloodline path, he could easily sense that although this beast was also tier-1, which was the same as the snake-headed, humanoid beast they had fought before¡­ but the dominating aura of this beast easily outstripped that beast by a large margin.


    Also, his aura didn''t fell by much when comparing to the aura of tier-2 wicked dog beast they had encountered back in the bakery store.


    This naturally conformed Reem''s story regarding the imminence of this beast advancement to the next tier.


    Having seen the number of innate spells this beast had, Ramie was astounded.


    But then, that stun turned into a sense of relief. After all, this beast was on their side. In his heart, Ramie thanked god that they didn''t face a beast with so many innate spells.


    Ramie took a careful look at the creature.


    Standing on its four limbs at two meters tall and almost one and half as that in length, was an azure colored beast that looked awfully like a Gazelle!


    With eyes that exuded loftiness and pair of crystal-like, translucent horns atop its head that glistened as they reflected sun light. The summoned magical beast stood proudly, oozing with a majestic pride that was hard to conceal.


    The beast looked at them with uninterested gaze. The intelligent reflected in his eyes was too bright. It gave them the feeling that this beast was as smart humans, if not smarter.


    In a complete contrast to the savageness and cruelty that the beasts they had so far met exuded, this beast had the refined bearing of a king, naturally radiating a strong aura of nobility.


    Ramie and the other two stared at the beast, taken by his presence. If the mythical creatures in the legends existed, then this beast was definitely one of them.


    The beast scanned them with a pair of unimpressed eyes, not even Jeffry was spared from that condescending glance. However, as the beast eyes finally fell on the high spirited Reem that was walking toward him excitedly. In that moment, the beast''s prideful eyes shone with excitement as the radiant superiority disappeared away in a flash. He walked toward her and lowered his head toward her with affection, so that her hand could reach and pat his head.


    Unlike the vivid haughtiness in this beast''s eyes when looking at them, he acted completely different and obedient around this short girl. He even took the initiative to rub his head against her stretched out hands.


    Ramie was a bit speechless by this beast attitude. After all, all of the beasts he saw thus far were savage, ferocious and were oozing with tangible blood thirst. This beast however was¡­ very different.


    Remembering Reem''s previous words, Ramie shifted his gaze toward the beast''s translucent, crystal-like horns. According to Reem, this beast had a lightening affinity, and thus, was adept at lightening based attacks.


    That pair of horns atop its head were his natural weapons, where his innate spells are casted from. These horns were his competitive advantage, like fangs and claws in the wilderness animals.


    At this point, Ramie felt some sense of confident welling up in him, alleviating some of the deep concerns that were weighting heavy on his heart. After all, all of the people here including himself had means to defend themselves, whether it was firearms, the domineering life energy, or the mysterious artifacts... not to mention an actual magical beast that was on the verge of advancing into the strongest tier of beasts in the entire city!


    All of that together had caused a bit of hope to sprout in his burdened heart.


    Now... he could finally see a possibility of leaving this city alive¡­! And not being torn apart and devoured alive by some savage beast.


    Standing close to one of the strongest beasts in the area, and standing beside other people with extraordinary capabilities¡­ a four days missed sense of security surged back to his constantly on edge mentality, soothing away a lot of his worries.


    The strong line up beside him wasn''t something to be trifled with. Even if they were attacked by a strong beast, with the current cards they have in hand, they definitely won''t be completely defenseless.


    With that thought in mind, Ramie felt a sense peace. He was always the type who liked to plan everything ahead. Now however, if he tried to do that, his mind would simply be overwhelmed by the countless bleak and dark possibilities lying in wait¡­


    Right now, he decided that just leaving this city alive is the objective. As for later on¡­ he decided to deal with developments as they come.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to plan things ahead, but it was just that he could longer afford to divide his attention, and prepare of every possibility.


    As he assumed this type of thinking, he felt released, as though a giant bolder was lifted from his mind, clearing his thoughts. He as a result took the most refreshing breath in days.


    With the power they had in hand, the bleak situation around had finally started to brighten up a bit.


    Unknowingly, he had already accepted the new reality.


    This moment... marked the beginning of the strongest soul path magician...!


    ¡­

 Chapter 34: Escaping the city (3)

    Chapter 34: Escaping the city (3)


    "Whity brought another core!" excitedly, Reem said to the four of them.


    "Magical core or life energy core?" Ramie asked.


    "Life energy core¡­" She responded to him, while casting an apologetic look toward Neil.


    This was an idea that came to Ramie when Reem had taken them to see her summoned beast atop the building few hours ago.


    His idea was that since the tier-2 dog beast that controlled this part of the city was weakened at the moment, and didn''t dare to attack her summoned beast directly, it naturally meant that her summon was the biggest ''dog'' around, so, he suggested that she should take advantage of this fact and order her summon to initiate attacks on nearby beast for their cores before the dog beast recovers.


    Before, Reem had order her beast to protect her and her father, which meant that he couldn''t leave this area and attack other beasts. She was afraid that other beast might attack her and her father while her summon was away.


    Following her orders, the azure gazelle king beast did just that. Even the two magical cores that he brought to her had come from magical beasts that he caught overstepping inside his territory. After all, not all the buildings in the city were occupied by beasts, so, most of the beasts would roam the city in the night to look for territory or hunt for food.


    Now however, there were two artifacts holders as well as life energy user with Reem, which meant that even if another beast attacked, then even if they couldn''t kill it, they can at least hold their own until her summoned beast returns, which was why Ramie had suggested this idea to her.


    Ramie felt that Reem ordering her summon to stay here and not hunting for more magical cores wasn''t the best course of action on the long run. As, if she were to order her summon to hunt for magical cores, then it would help her level up her artifact faster and get new spells. That would mean that even if the tier-2 dog beast dared to attack her later on, she would have more options to defend herself.


    Anyway, with her summoned beast imminent advance in tier, he had no real need to absorb tier-1 beast magical core, as the magical energy in these cores were not enough to help him advance.


    Of course, if the azure gazelle king can get a tier-2 core, then he can advance his level immediately.


    However, even if the dog beast was injured, he was still tier-2 beasts. Even if Reem''s summon could hold his own against the dog beast, in the end, holding his own against a beast and killing it were two different things.


    In the first place, for a peak tier-1 magical beast to advance in tier, a magical core of a higher grade is needed for it. Without it, going through countless battles over a long time and the absorption of tenths of cores from weak magical beasts is needed. Luckily, her summon has already went through all of this, and now, he didn''t have much of use to the low tier-1 beasts cores, which is why Reem was the one to utilize those cores.


    As for life energy cores, and unlike magical cores, anyone could actually use them to ignite their life energy and become warrior. So, if she were to get cores, then it wasn''t out of question for Jeffry to awaken his life energy.


    However, after getting one life energy core for Jeffry two days ago, he has yet to ignite his energy. So, this piece of information seemed now less unreliable to Reem.


    Anyway, with Lance around, the life energy cores became very important for them. As they would allow Lance to increase his life energy ignition percent, which would correspondingly increase his power, and ultimately, increasing their survival chances.


    Although, magical cores would be a great welcome, unfortunately, all magical beasts below the 2 tier now avoid the Azure gazelle king like plague, as he''s too strong, not to mention their low numbers to begin with. Which was why she had casted an apologetic glance toward Neil, as he was really eager to find a magical core and advance his level and get new spell.


    Right now, Lance was sitting on a chair with closed eyes, while holding the two life energy cores that Reem''s summon had brought earlier from two unlucky beasts close by. However, his absorbing speed of the life energy stored in these two cores where much lower than the artifacts speed in absorbing magical energy. As in the past hour of absorbing, he had only raised his life energy ignition percent by only few points.


    The others were observing and hoping that he would raise that percent as high as possible, to increase the strengthening effect of his life energy, which would undoubtedly benefit their chances.


    Jeffry on the other hand was sitting with closed eyes, and holding a core in his hand, hoping to ignite his life energy and become a warrior.


    Ramie and Lance were sitting on the couch, waiting to spring in action the moment he senses any aura closing in, while on the same time, hoping for the summoned beast to find some magical beast. After all, Neil''s first spell had proved its significance, so, they couldn''t help to wonder what kind of spell the next one would be. furthermore, when Neil''s artifact levels up, his magic energy reserve would increase by another 5 points, which would naturally mean that he''ll be able to cast his fire burst spell 5 times consecutively, instead of the current two times, an advantage that would be extremely helpful to them.


    As for Reem, she was sitting on another chair, while devouring the last piece of chocolate in the food pile, nervously. After all, there was still a chance that the tier-2 wicked dog beast might attack her summon, or them.


    Minutes ticked by slowly¡­ all them except Lance who was concentrating on raising his life energy ignition percent, were on high alert, in case of something lurking on them while the summoned beast was searching the area around for a weak tier-1 beast to hunt for cores.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Reem had ordered her summon to only attack beasts that he can kill with the minimum effort, as she wanted her summon to be in top condition and not spend his magic energy wantonly, in case of a strong beast takes advantage and attacks either him or them.


    As Reem was chewing on the last piece of chocolate, all of sudden, her face went pale, as a terrible expression spread on her face.


    This change didn''t go unnoticed by the rest of them, immediately raising their alarm.


    His heart palpating, Ramie wanted to ask, but before he could do so, Neil asked first in nervous and hurried tone:"What''s wrong?"


    Fear in her eyes, Reem spoke in a quivering tone:"the tire-2 beast controlling the coast area is attacking another nearby tier-2 beast!"


    Everyone''s heart jumped at this news. The implication of this action was obvious to all of them. Even Lance broke his concentration as his expression changed.


    According to Reem summon, this beast was the strongest in this city, and him attacking tier-2 beasts that control adjacent areas to the coast means that this beast has started devouring new lands to expand his. This was a crisis to them, considering that this area too was neighboring the coast area.


    Of course, there might be another reason for the beast attack, but if this conjecture was true, then it meant that the tier-2 wicked dog beast was about to be attacked too, which naturally meant that this area would fall under the control of a very strong beast, a one that could very easily kill and eat them with them unable to put up the tiniest resistance.


    Judging by the aura of the tier-2 dog beast, Ramie estimated that they would have an 80% chance to ward him off, considering they give it their all, along with Reem''s summon. And that considering that this beast is injured and weakened. As for how strong its aura can be once he heals, Ramie didn''t dare to imagine.


    But now, a beast way stronger than that dog might take control of this area, which was beyond bad news for them.


    "We have to leave the moment that the coast beast attacks the dog!" Ramie said firmly, in urgent tone.


    No one objected. In fact, the moment Reem spoke those words; the same idea had come to everyone.


    No one asked Reem how she knew this news, as everyone knows by now that she had mental connection to her summoned beast.


    Afterward, Reem summoned her beast back, and everyone started preparing to leave at a moment notice. The pile of food in the kitchen floor was soon packed, as well as bottles of water and other necessities.


    In few minutes, the plan of running to the harbor and using boats to escape was revived once more. After all, escaping through other areas means going through the territories of other tire-2 beasts, which was simply too dangerous. More ever, running through these territories in daytime brazenly will definitely be considered as an act of challenge to the authorities of the tier-2 beasts controlling these areas, which was the reason why no other beast below the second tier dares to roam the outside or make any noise during daytime.


    On the other hand, the way to leave this city through sea was the shortest route. More ever, if they took that rout during the beast attack on the dog beast controlling this area, then they could probably escape without having to confront that monstrous coast beast.


    As for the threat of the beasts below the second tier making a move on them¡­they didn''t worry much by it, as they had the summoned beast along with them. Not to mention, these tier-1 beasts probably wouldn''t dare to attack them in daytime as long as they don''t step inside the building structures controlled by these beasts.


    Though the situation seemed to be boiling with danger, the truth is that this was a golden opportunity to leave the city without having to confront any beasts in the second tier. After all, when the coast beast attacks other nearby areas beasts, the thing would have to leave its territory for the duration of the attack, which would mean an open window for the Ramie and the group to escape through the sea.


    Since the military force Ramie had seen in the harbor retreated through the land, it meant that the boats were left in the harbor. And that was precisely their mean of leaving this city.


    Minutes ticked by slowly, until¡­


    Howl!!!


    A blood-curdling beast cry of unwillingness and despair rang in the distance.


    ROARRRR!!!!!!!


    Another bestial roar reverberated a second afterward. But this time, it was a tyrannical cry of triumph and conquest. This roar was so powerful, that it caused a strong oppressive pressure to descend on the entire city. It caused the group to quiver in fear.


    On the same time, Reem''s expression changed. However, neither Ramie nor the other three around needed Reem to convey her summoned beast thoughts this time.


    Apparently, the coast beast had defeated his opponent.


    Opening her mouth, Reem spoke urgently:"The nearby beast was defeated and he had escaped! The coast beast is coming here for the dog beast right now!!"


    Everyone''s hearts sank at this news. Although they had expected that the coast beast might attack the tier-2 dog beast afterward, which was in accordance with the whole concept of beasts fighting amongst each other to expand their territories that has been ongoing for days now. But they didn''t expect it to happen immediately afterward.


    The coast Beast was too tyrannical!


    Without saying a word, everyone knew what to be done at this point.


    As the five of them started descending the floors of the building to escape to the harbor as fast as possible, Reem ordered her summon to observe the situation outside and scan ahead, to secure a path for their escape.


    Roar!!!


    ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    At once, two different and consecutive bestial roars bellowed like battle cries.


    One was extremely overbearing and savage, while the other was noticeably weaker and less oppressive.


    Obviously, the weakened dog beast was not going to back down without putting up a fight first. Probably, its pride as tier-2 beast didn''t allow it to escape without a fight. This was in the group''s favor, as it would give them enough time to escape.


    "RUN! RUN! RUN!"


    The five of them ran out of the building toward the harbor direction with all of their might, as if hell was chasing close by after them.


    They didn''t care to be noticed by the hiding tier-1 beasts in the buildings, as right now, an oppressive and tyrannical atmosphere of fear and panic descended down on the entire city like a curtain, making it harder to even breathe.


    Right now, the strongest beast in the entire city was waging a dominating war for conquest on all the nearby areas to the coast area. So, all the other beasts including the strong tier-2 beast were on high alarm, which gave Ramie and the rest a chance to leave this hellish, monster infested city.


    The five ran in the middle of the streets as fast as they could, while the summoned beast was jumping on the buildings along their path to scan the road ahead while keeping his senses on the almost one-sided battle ongoing behind.


    The battle commotion and roars behind them indicated that this confrontation will be short lived one.


    As Ramie ran from one street to another, he could perceive the beasts auras emanating weakly from few buildings and shops they had gone past¡­This meant that there were beasts inhabiting these places.


    Anyway, with the ruckus their group was making as they ran through these streets, it was hard to believe that these beasts were ignorant of their presence. Yet, no beast dared to make a move.


    This fact highlighted how domineering and savage the tier-2 beasts actually were. Of course, another reason could be because of the peak tier-1 summon that was guiding them.


    To Ramie, he thought that the latter played a major role in why no beast dared to make a move on them, as none of these auras he felt were as strong as Reem''s summon.


    Thinking to this point, Ramie felt exceeding lucky to have come across Reem and Jeffry.


    As the savage battle''s commotion behind started dying down gradually, the five people''s hearts swayed. To them, the terrible coast beast defeating the wicked dog beast and coming back to this area before they could escape; was the worst case scenario.


    Reem was the slowest among them, and was already panting. Apparently, she was at her limit. While Lance on the other hand, was the fastest, as he was using his life energy to boost up his physical capabilities.


    Seeing that Reem was on the verge of completely stopping, Lance grabbed her, and then threw her at his shoulder, as if he was kidnapping her, then dashed ahead of the rest.


    Lance was the fastest among them, but not wanting to leave them behind, he deliberately slowed himself down to their pace. Reem had a small statured, so, her weight didn''t have any effect on his speed what so ever.


    As for the rest, they were already approaching their limits. Except for Ramie, who even despite not being the fastest among them, he maintained his top speed the whole time, like a machine. He wasn''t even feeling the slightest tired, and strangely, he got the feeling that he could maintain his sprint at top speed for as long as he wants to.


    Although back in high school, and even in college, running speed was his fort. And he took a pride in the fact that no one within his generation had ever outrun him. But now, he could clearly tell that his running speed had dropped by a lot¡­ another downside of his bloodline transformation¡­


    But since his vitality had increased to a monstrous level, allowing him to maintain his top speed thus far, he didn''t have any complaint.


    ¡­

 Chapter 35: Escaping the city (4)

    Chapter 35: Escaping the city (4)


    Roar!!


    As the five of them ran from one street to another, the commotion of the bestial confrontation far behind seemed to be about to reach its inevitable conclusion.


    The already injured dog beast was definitely not a match for that thing from the coast area. However, that dog beast was the vengeful type, and didn''t want to retreat before at least inflicting some damage on his adversary, regardless of how small it is.


    This particularity was a god sent opportunity for the group of five. Otherwise, if this dog beast was as cowardly as the other tier-2 beast that had retreated in a sorry figure, then they wouldn''t have the chance to reach this close to the harbor safely.


    Ramie could almost not believe it ¨C they had actually reached this point and the harbor was in their sight, yet, that dog beast was still preserving on against that monstrosity.


    This was an exceedingly good luck!


    That battle not only held off the strong tier-2 beast that controlled the coast area, but also prevented the strong tier-1 beasts from stepping out of their occupied areas, and remains in the hide, cowering out of fear of the big ''bosses'' fight.


    As Ramie maintained his speed of running, he started thinking that this good luck might be due to Reem. After all, he never considered himself to be a lucky person. Things were proceeding way too smoothly. And it was even making him feel nervous.


    This city was nothing short of death trap for humans now. Yet, he was actually only few steps away from actually escaping!


    His heart was palpating with nervousness, fearing that something bad might happen any moment now.


    This feeling of his wasn''t out of hunch, but merely because everything was simply going just too well!


    Green Vine!


    Green Vine!


    Not even waiting for any lurking danger to reveal itself, Ramie caste Green Vine spell twice, projecting two vines out of his upper back to deal with anything that might pop up on them in a moment notice.


    Reaching the harbor, and seeing the large number of boats, Ramie scanned them with a quick glance, wanting to find a boat similar to the one that Eric had rented before.


    He had no knowledge of how to operate a boat. And the only things he knew about them, came from observation when Eric operated the fishing boat that he had rented for the vacation.


    Luckily, after few seconds, he saw a fishing boat that was very similar to the one Eric had rented.


    Among the group, Ramie was the only one with the slightest knowledge regarding boats. So, the rest silently followed his lead on the matter.


    Having located his target, and without a delay, Ramie boarded that fishing boat to see if the control panel was similar to the fishing boat Eric had rented.


    Luckily, it was the case.


    Waving for the rest to come aboard, he signaled Lance to untie the rope and board the boat quickly.


    Reem''s summon jumped into the boat at her command, causing it to sink into the water by bit, due to his weight.


    Then, starting the engine, a loud commotion sounded out. Ramie was feeling very anxious, fearing that something might be attracted by the noise.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    With restless heart, he steered the boat away from the harbor as the engine roared, propelling the boat further and further away.


    Neil and Reem''s expression were exceedingly pale, and their hearts anxious. They were scanning the area with alarmed gazes, while wishing that the sea could just pull them away from the city faster.


    "Everyone, look! There are people there!"


    Suddenly, Reem spoke in urgent tone, while pointing at a certain direction.


    Not far away from them, a group of over a hundred figure emerged from behind a corner, running toward the docked boats.


    "This many people actually survived thus far¡­!" Reem blurted out, while staring at the running figures.


    Everyone on the fishing boat was taken. Then, a warm feeling of happiness washed over their hearts, driving away some the gloom of desolateness that filled their hearts for the past few days.


    The level of danger in this city was truly insane for humans, making them think that there were only a handful of survivors other than them in the entire city.


    However, the large number of people in that group gave them hope, a hope that humans could somehow survive this disaster.


    The people in that group were running together and not separated, which most likely implied that they had come from a single place where they were hiding.


    Roar!!


    As this group started boarding a certain boat, a car sized beast came at them charging from behind a corner. he was radiating a brute excitement, wanting to devour this cluster of preys that he had developed a taste for through the past few days.


    The beast was few hundreds of meters away, so Ramie artifact didn''t perceive the aura of the beast, which meant that the artifact can''t display the beast''s information.


    At the scene of the beast charging at the people, the five in the boat felt their hearts quiver.


    There were children, women, and elders among that group. The five on the boat did not wish to see the scene of the flying beasts descending from the sky and feasting on people few days ago to repeat itself here.


    Lance grip tightened as his life energy rotated in his body violently, signifying his desire to go help these people.


    Reem and Neil''s countenance went aghast and colors drained from their faces as they realized what kind of gruesome fate was about to unravel upon these people.


    Their fishing boat was already few tenths of meters away from the land. So, even if they wanted to help¡­ there was no time for that.


    However, just then, a weird scene happened.


    Around eleven figures dashed out from the group that was trying to board the boat. They stood forming a line between the group behind and the beast that was charging over.


    Behind them, another nine came; some were holding firearms while others were unarmed. They stood behind the eleven.


    Afterward, a stunning scene happened, a one that explained why these people had survived thus far.


    Three figures from among the nine stretched out their hands, and then, a fire arrow, ice spear, and lightning bolt were shoot out off their stretched hands and streaked through the distance, eventually landing and exploding on the beast''s head. Forcing it to cut its momentum short and howl in pain.


    Things didn''t stop there; the eleven men and women rushed toward the beast in speed that average human shouldn''t be capable of, and then used the white weapons in their hands to stab, slash, smash at the howling beast.


    The table was turned around in a moment, and the beast started thrashing about, trying to get rid of these abnormally strong preys. While they on the other hand were trying to finish him off.


    The scene was almost comedic, as the hunter became the hunted, and the prey became the predator.


    "They actually have eleven individual with life energy and three with artifacts¡­!"


    Not only Ramie, but the other four in the fishing boat were in daze¡­


    Now, the mystery of how had these people survive thus far was resolved.


    The eleven men and women were relentlessly attacking the beast, trying to finish it off as soon as possible, and extract its core.


    ROAAARRRR!!!!


    However, and seeing his impending doom looming over his head, the beast let out a resounding roar, a one that shock the entire harbor.


    In a second, the azure gazelle king grew very agitated in the boat, and lightening sparks started flickering off his two crystal-like horns, expressing his restlessness.


    Reem''s complexion swayed in fright:"That''s bad! This beast is the young-ling of the coast beast! He''s calling for his parent!!"


    Bang!


    The moment these words fell, everyone on the boat broke in cold sweat.


    The oppressive roar of the coast beast on itself alone was more than enough to install fear and trepidation in their hearts, not mention the beast itself! That thing dared to face two beasts on the second tier consecutively after all!


    They weren''t sure that they could ward off one severely injured and weakened tier-2 beast, not to mention two healthy ones.


    None of the five on the boat, not even the summoned beast wanted to be here when that thing arrives.


    However, not everything ones wants go as desired.


    ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!


    As the group of eleven started dissecting the corpse to extract the core, an earth shattering angry roar resounded throughout the city, shaking the soul of every living thing in radius of several kilometers.


    Death ¨C was on the way!


    The group of eleven immediately let go of the corpse, and rushed to the boat that was starting to move away slowly. Apparently, those on the boat did not waste time and did nothing during the fight with the beast, but instead prepared to sail even as the confrontation with the beasts was ongoing.


    The twenty figures caught up to their group, and leapt in the moving boat. It was unknown if they managed to get the core or not.


    The boat wasn''t small, but it wasn''t big either. And now, over a 100 individual were packed on it. It was so cramped that some of them had to hold onto the boat''s side-rails from the outside and have only one foot on the boat! The boat even sank in water a bit.


    From the distant, Ramie hoped that they manage to get far before that monstrous thing arrives.


    ROAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!!


    However, the next moment, another ominous and menacing roar reverberated in the air, causing the wind to vibrate. Then, following which, a massive silhouette dashed from behind a large building toward the beast corpse.


    The large beast looked like an exaggerated sci-fi version of an over-sized crocodile in a horror movie!


    Everyone was paralyzed at the sight, and witless fear shrouded the hearts.


    It wasn''t the giant thing figure, the many columns of razor-sharp bones protruding out of its head, body, and tail, nor was it the unmatchable savagery it gave off, especially with that thick tail and strong, wide jaw¡­ it wasn''t that what made them fall in this state of fear and despair¡­


    Instead, it was the fact that this thing was crocodile!


    The implication behind that wasn''t something one would miss.


    It was only now did the group of five understand why this thing had chosen the coast area as his territory.


    Immediately, Lance was filled with regret for coming up with the boat idea as a way of escaping.


    ¡­

 Chapter 36: Confrontation with magic (1)

    Chapter 36: Confrontation with magic (1)


    As the beast lifted his gaze from its young-ling corpse toward the overcrowded boat, his eyes burst with flame of hatred and vengeance that threatened to obliterate everything.


    Then, like a death reaper, it dashed toward the water with great momentum and swam toward the boat that wasn''t very far away.


    Immediately, shouts of fright and panic rang out from the boat, as the protruding bones of the creature''s back were the only part of the beast visible outside the surface of the water. These bone spikes moved toward the boat like a shark''s dorsal fins, approaching the boat in mere seconds.


    The group of five in the fishing boat stared wide eyed at the beast as it swam freely in the water.


    This thing was an amphibian beast!


    That meant that not only those people in that boat were in danger, but so were they!


    This was beyond bad news¡­!


    The crocodile beast bit at the boat furiously and started peeling off large chunks of it as though it was made of fragile plastic! Meanwhile, the people in the boat either fell or jumped in the water and started swimming back to the land in frenzied, terrified manner.


    As water splashed about, and in under one minute, in a sight that would make one doubts his own eyes, the boat broke apart and sank into the sea in many pieces.


    Ramie and the other four in the boat were watching from afar, in daze, as if they were watching a live horror show.


    This was too monstrous! This thing just tore apart a boat larger than its body in less than a minute. Just how exaggeratedly strong its jaw was!


    Following which, it returned back to the land while swallowing everyone in the water in his way, not sparing any of them.


    As the shouts of despair and anguish rang non-stop from the people still in water, the three artifact users (the magicians), whom had climbed up on some other nearby boats instead of going back to the land, started throwing their magical spells at the protruding beast''s back above the water, hoping to give their group a chance to escape.


    The warriors on the other hand managed to reach the land first, and started helping out those still in the water.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    With three tail swings, three huge pillars of water rose, along with countless pieces of debris. As for the magicians trying to hold off the beast, every one of them was pulverized to smithereens along with the small boats they stood on.


    Afterward, along with boats debris, three red patches of blood started enlarging at the attack sites¡­ this was all what remained from the magicians.


    Leaving no one alive in the water, the oversized crocodile beast dived down and then Jumped back up on the harbor land, and started eyeing the escaping figures with ruthless, hateful eyes¡­


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Eight warriors stood in its path, determined to allow the rest to escape. It wasn''t known whether the other three life energy users had escaped, or died on the sea.


    ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!!


    The creature unleashed a savage roar that was filled with killing intent and hatred. Obviously, it wasn''t willing to let any of them escapes¡­


    Then, the massacre commenced¡­


    ¡­


    After an hour of sailing, the worst case scenario, luckily, did not come to be.


    They had safely escaped the city, without losing any member of their small group, which was nothing short of a miracle.


    As for the crocodile beast, it was too busy chasing and annihilating the other survivors group to pay attention to them, which allowed them to flee unnoticed.


    Of course, the beast was probably blinded with so much rage that it failed to notice them. Another explanation would be that it had already notice them, but deemed them to be unrelated to its youngling death, so, it simply ignored them.


    However, the main reason for their escape was most likely because the survivors from the other group separated and run back into the city, which forced the beast to chase them, thus buying Ramie and the rest a precious time to sail away far from the city, and that crocodile beast''s territory.


    For the second time in one day, they managed to escape only because something/someone else took on the full weight of the crisis!


    The first time, was the dog beast busying the crocodile, and now, it was this unfortunate group of people busying the same beast.


    Ramie had sailed few kilometers away from the coast first, and from there, he made the boat move along the coast, from afar of course, making sure not to lose sight of it, as his sailing knowledge was almost next to nothing. As such, he didn''t want to lose his way in the open sea.


    So, he made sure to sail along the land, at least till he could no longer see that hellish city anymore.


    His city was the only port his country had on the sea. So, sailing away from it naturally means that he had already entered the sea borders of the neighboring country. Which meant, that to go back to the capital, he had to re-enter the country through the land borders, as there was no way in the world that he goes anywhere near that city again¡­ especially not through the sea! Not with that thing lurking there.


    The atmosphere in the boat was beyond gloomy, as the scene back on the harbor was simply too gruesome, dark and very hard to forget.


    When Ramie realized his bloodline path advantage, the fear of the future in his heart was a bit alleviated, then, and after Reem''s summon entered the scene, a bit of confidence seeped in to his heart, giving him a bit of courage in the face of the difficult odds ahead. Afterward, he got his first spell, which served to further increase that small spark of confidence, turning it into a glowing torch.


    But now¡­ he realized that he was yet to fathom how much darker the world has really become¡­


    The odds against them were even grander and more overwhelming than he had initially thought.


    As, just as they gained strength enough to confront tier-1 beasts, the ridiculously powerful tier-2 beasts appeared in the scene. An hour ago, three magicians with artifacts, and almost a dozen of warriors whom had life energy similar to Lance and others with firearms, were brutally and frighteningly easily killed without posing much of threat or even injuring the perpetrator beast.


    It was a one sided massacre in all of its meaning.


    Slowly, a certain idea started sparking brighter and brighter in his mind. It first came to him when he suggested to Reem to send her summon to fetch them beast cores to increase their surviving chances.


    Unfortunately, that crocodile beast attacking the dog controlling their area had put an end to that though of his. Now however, under the light of the horror show on the harbor, it came back to him again.


    The thought was ¨C how many times could his artifact be upgraded, and following so, what kind of spell will he get? Will they be powerful enough to kill that crocodile¡­? Will these spells make him stronger than these beasts? And if so, then to what limit?


    That thought was crazy, as it involved him throwing himself in the face of danger, instead of doing his best avoiding it¡­ But after seeing the terrifying power displayed by crocodile beast, he couldn''t help to started thinking ¨C was that monstrosity something they could escape from with their limited arsenal of spells?


    The words of the voice started coming back to him, and within which, it implied that those who possess artifacts and had ignited life energy were capable of facing the beasts!


    ''Did the voice mean that it was possible to face even beasts with strength similar to that crocodile, and the higher tier beasts? Or did he only meant the small beasts¡­?''


    ''But he did say to kill beasts and get their cores and level up! Maybe if one is to do that¡­ then maybe¡­ facing even that crocodile is possible¡­?''


    Absentmindedly, Ramie''s line of though took a path that he wouldn''t dare consider not a day ago. But now, that crazy idea actually started to make some sense to him, slowly and steadily¡­


    ''It seems that at one point, we should start hunting these beasts for their cores and hope to unlock some really powerful spells¡­!'' the thought of hunting beasts for their cores started rooting in his mind, a bit by bit.


    After another while of sailing, Ramie snapped back to reality. He realized that the boat was in the sea border of the nearby country by now.


    The nearby country had a coast city few tenths kilometers ahead. And if they kept sailing in this current direction, then they''d end up in yet another city.


    None of the five could forget how dangerous the previous city was. As such, Ramie decided to dock the boat at their current location before reaching that city.


    Behind, was the death trap city; while ahead, was another city, though in another country. It was known to all of them that the waves of beasts appeared mysteriously all around the world. As such, it was safer to never go anywhere around any small or medium sized city at all. Not until they are sure that it was beasts free.


    As the beasts appeared everywhere, no government in the world would dare to spread their forces thin, not when there were so many beats, and not when there were beasts strong enough to demolish buildings with a single attack. As such, it was wiser to fortify few key cities, such as the capitals or cities with dense population, and evacuate everyone to these places.


    For this reason, the current final goal of the group was to reach the capital. Not only for safety, but also for their loved ones who had been relocated there¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 37: Confrontation with magic (2)

    Chapter 37: Confrontation with magic (2)


    As the wind blew, the clouds obeyed, allowing the air current to carry them according to his will.


    The sun was already descending beyond the horizon, and the light was already thinning out a bit by bit, at the verge of disappearing.


    As one particular cloud moved, a white figure was revealed from within.


    The figure was definitely a man, and he was wearing a white colored cloak that was fluttering with the wind. His cloak was radiating with a magical energy so strong that it even caused the surrounding air to vibrate intensely.


    The man was gazing at the huge mountain range below, intently. After a while, he pulled back the hood to reveal the face of a man at his late 20s. His features were average; however, his gaze exuded a very strong sense of power and authority that could make anyone who looks at him feels awe and respect.


    For a while, the man was silent. The only sound around him was the howl of the wind.


    The man looked downward at the mountain range beneath, and spoke: "mountain beast! Show yourself! I have come to negotiate with the beast king!"


    Although he spoke in his normal voice, however, the moment he spoke these words¡­ it was as if some mysterious power amplified his voice to the point of creating a shock wave. His words rumbled like thunder, completely disrupting the serenity of the mountain rage bellow.


    His voice was so loud, that it caused every living thing in the mountain range to either hide, or escape in panic.


    If there were any human in the area, then they would be very shocked to hear this voice.


    This voice ¨C was the same voice that people heard in their dreams.


    For few seconds, nothing happened. Then, and with slight tremor in the mountain, a thick textured, black colored slimy liquid suddenly erupted from the mountain range caves and openings, as if it was magma.


    The liquid gushed out profusely, forming a large lake around the base of the mountain in a matter of few minutes. However, the flow of the liquid was still far from over.


    The black lake was still expanding at a terrifying rate, and the black liquid was still gushing out nonstop. Soon, a black colored lake that spanned for few kilometers was formed. Countless pores were opened at the surface, and Poisonous white smoke started emitting from them. All of the trees and other life forms that were swallowed by the lake melted immediately, and was absorbed by the lake.


    After the flow stopped, thousands of slits started forming on the lake surface, then, and slowly, the slits started opening, revealing eyes that had black-colored sclera and shinning blood-colored pupils.


    Thousands of eyes that varied in sizes from few meters to few hundreds of meters opened up at the same time. All of them simultaneously stared at the flying figure of the man.


    The sight was exceedingly ominous. More ever, the lake was exuding an almost visible burble aura of death and destruction, causing the animals and beasts alike in the area to escape away in fright.


    Up in the sky, the man''s expression did not change. He waved his hand, and a force field of energy surrounded him.


    Suddenly, a glint of red light flashed across all of the eyes in the lake, then, it was concentrated in the largest eyes in the middle, forming unstable ball of radiating red energy, then¡­!


    Rip!!!!!


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    All of the eyes squinted, to the point of closing, and then they abruptly opened, causing the ball of light to explode, shooting a highly concentrated laser-like beam of energy toward the figure.


    The speed of the energy was so fast, that it had cut through the air and reached the man in no time.


    The man squinted his eyes, and he waved both of his hands, revealing his wrists.


    Stunningly, he didn''t have any artifact around his wrists; instead, he was casting spells directly, without any medium.


    "Rank-5 spell ¨C Hellfire bombardment!"


    As the man spoke, massive amount of magic energy was emitted off his hands, causing multiple black-colored raging fire balls to materialize around him. The heat emitted from the black fire was so intense, that it caused the temperature in the surroundings to rise up at a terrible rate.


    Bang!!


    The red beam of energy collided with the shield that the man had casted earlier on, causing it to fluctuate violently. However, the force field still endured the energy attack, and did not shatter.


    The man retracted his right hand, made a fist, and then punched out toward the energy beam.


    BOOOOMMMMM!!!!!


    The moment he did so, the shield surrounding him immediately exploded outwardly, producing a power so great that it caused the energy beam to explode and scatter about.


    The explosion of the energy shield and the energy beam was so powerful, that it caused a sonic boom and a violent shock wave of a surging wind to spread out in a radius of few tenths of kilometers. The massive shock wave scattered the cloud in the area, and caused the surrounding temperature to rise.


    The man was still hovering at his original position, unaffected at all.


    Around him, the black fire balls increased in size many time, and were still suspended in the air around him.


    "I have no doubt that you have absorbed the memories of many people. So, I assume you know what nuclear bombs are. Now, here is a tip for you, every one of these fire balls can produce a similar explosive power, and if I threw them at you, they''ll turn this area to an ever burning lands of magma and toxic fire. However, since I don''t want to ruin my planet in an irreversible way, I wish that you don''t force me to cast them at you."


    "I already know that not even an attack on this grade will kill you, as your main body is hiding deep inside the ground, but¡­ I have no doubt that the injury this attack will inflict on you will be very troublesome for you to heal. So, do you still want to test my strength, to see if I''m worthy enough to exchange words with you¡­?"


    The man spoke calmly, without using amplification on his voice. He had no doubt that the mountain beast could still pick up on his words.


    [... ¡­ ¡­ f-i-n-e¡­ mag-ician] [You¡­ are¡­ worth-y¡­ enough] [¡­ now, speak¡­ your intentions¡­]


    A deep, ancient, and cryptic voice sounded next to the man''s ears. The voice seemed as if it was coming from another world, or time.


    First, it sounded incoherent, as if the beast was trying to speak in this language for the first time. But then, and after each letter and word, it started making sense to the man.


    "Convey to your king that if he wants the energy core of the global magic formation, then he must accept the following conditions. First, no beast above the second tier is allowed to attack the cities. Second, stop the annihilation campaign of the humans around the world. Third, the first and second conditions must not be breached for a period of a thousand year. Forth¡­


    The man spoke several more conditions, while the eyes kept staring at him.


    Finally, when the man was done talking, the ancient voice of the beasts sounded out next to his ears: "¡­ Do you think¡­ you''re entitled¡­ to make demands?"


    "I know I''m. Otherwise, tell your king that if I''m pushed to the corner, then he better forget about ever getting the core. Now, stop talking none-sense, and deliver my message to your king." The man spoke with a face that was blank from any expression.


    The thousands of eyes all shined with endless greed at the mention of the energy core. Then, they squinted, and released an invisible beam of mental energy at the man, as if trying to peer into the man''s mind, to control him and force him to hand over the core.


    The man in the sky snickered at the attempt, but still, he didn''t dare to underestimate the attack.


    The man immediately clapped his hands together, and muttered something in low voice, then, and as a blinding light radiated from between his hands, he opened them wide. Following which, an illusionary, violet skull surrounded him.


    The skill opened its mouth wide, as if swallowing something.


    Immediately, many cracks appeared in the skull, and the skull started twisting, as if it was in great agony. Then, the expression of the skull became dull, as if it was under control.


    "Scatter for me!" the man spoke in a loud voice. And following which, the skull exploded into countless scattering sparks of violet light, and faded away.


    "Are you going to give me the response, or are you continuing this childish game." The man resumed his posture, and scolded. However, under his sleeve, both of his hands were shaking violently.


    It was obvious that he couldn''t completely nullify the previous attack.


    The eyes all squinted again, as if trying to read something from the man. However, after a while, they all relaxed again.


    "The king¡­ says that he can agree¡­ on most of the conditions¡­ However¡­" the beast spoke again, and toward the end of his words, an intense light glinted across the thousands of eyes. "¡­ However¡­ no one¡­ can make¡­ the king¡­ wait¡­!"


    "¡­ If you want¡­ time¡­ then¡­ win it... magician..."


    Saying so, a fist-size ball of energy rose from the lake to the man. "¡­ This is¡­ the location¡­ of the sky beast. Go, and fight him¡­ without using the formation."


    "Until you surrender¡­ for every second¡­ you survive against him¡­ you''ll earn¡­ one year!"


    "Now¡­ this is the deal¡­ accept it¡­ or leave it¡­"


    After saying these words, the black lake started seeping into the ground, and flowing back into the mountain. However, before the black mass completely disappear, few words drifted next to the man''s ears.


    "... You think... that by giving them... these flawed¡­ and incomplete products... that you call... artifacts, you can save them...? ... In reality, ... you''re only... prolonging their suffering. I have eaten... few millions of them... so far. and I... can tell you, that none.... of the ones¡­ I had eaten¡­ had the aptitude... to become¡­ as strong as you. this action of yours¡­ to delay¡­ the inevitable¡­ is pointless¡­ "


    Looking below, at the site were the black mass was, the man saw countless human skeletons, with artifacts still attached around the wrists of hundreds of them.


    All of these artifacts were damaged to a great degree, so, the magic formation couldn''t retrieve them.


    Sigh!


    After staying in his spot hovering for a while, the man let out a heavy burdened sigh. A look of sadness covered his face, as he started at the hills of human bones.


    "A year for every second I hold on for¡­"


    After letting out another sigh, a resolute look appeared at the man''s face. Then, and after casting one final glance at the bones, he disappeared.


    ¡­

 Chapter 38: Confrontation with magic (3)

    Chapter 38: Confrontation with magic (3)


    As the water was too shallow, Ramie had no choice but to stop the boat a bit further from the shore. To disembark, the five had to swim the remaining distance.


    At this point, Ramie was in a dilemma. He didn''t know whether the azure gazelle king could swim to the shore. And if he couldn''t, then how could they bring him to the beach?


    However, soon, the answer was provided. He had forgotten that the summoned beast was really, really good at jumping. As back in the city, he was capable of jumping from one building to another, without problem.


    Thud!


    Splash!


    The summoned beast kicked his leg with so much force, that it gave rise to a violent splash of water, and almost caused the boat to completely plunge down. Then, he jumped all the way to the peach, landing near the rest of them.


    ¡­


    "What should we do now?" Neil asked, reflecting the same thought that was circulating every one''s mind right now.


    They did not expect things to progress this far so quickly.


    Today, they woke up thinking of ways to safely leave the city. Now, however, not only did they leave the city, but apparently, also the country.


    They were forced by an unexpected escalating sequence of events that left them no chance to understand everything, much less to plan ahead.


    As everyone scanned everyone else''s faces, looking for answers, it was Lance who voiced out his thoughts first: "What else can we do! We will walk to the border, and get back to our country through a point outside the city of course, and then go to the capital!"


    This was something everyone could accept. Hearing that they were going back to their country and then the capital, were the military forces were; they felt a bit at ease. As now, they at least had a plan.


    No one objected at the proposal.


    Lance''s suggestion was exactly what Ramie had in mind. In fact, there was really no alternative aside from that.


    Luckily, food was no problem, at least not for several days, or even more if they rationed well. The food pile back in the kitchen was enough to half fill 5 bags, one for each of them. As for the summoned beast¡­ it was capable, according to Reem, to eat any part of any plants. So, food was of no concern for this summoned beast, as wild plants and grass could be found almost everywhere.


    After decided on their course of action, the group started walking away from the coast, and deeper into the land of the neighboring country. They wanted to keep walking until they come across the international road that connects this country to theirs.


    This road was the main path of trade between the two countries, where most of the traded wares usually passes through. Furthermore, this international road connects this country to their country at a point several tenths of kilometers outside that monster infested city, which was pretty much why they had chosen this path. After all, if they walked along the cost back to their country, then they would be walking straight into that hellish city again, which was something they wished to avoid at all costs, even if they had to move few tenths of kilometers inside another country.


    ¡­


    After few hours of walking, the night started descending gradually.


    Ever since walking away from the beach, they saw nothing in this barren land other than rocks and few spots of wild plants scattered about here and there.


    Anyway, that wasn''t of concern. The main problem was the beasts¡­


    Even though they hadn''t seen any beast yet, but on the same time, they couldn''t rule out the possibility that there were beasts lurking out there somewhere. So, they moved with utmost cautiousness, under the assumption that they might be attacked at any time.


    Luckily, with Reem''s summon with them, they didn''t feel tense the whole time. As this beast''s sense of aura was much sharper than Ramie, with larger range, which was why back in the city, he was able to tell the level of tier-2 beasts in other areas even though they never got close to him.


    Of course, and although all of the beasts have the ability to sense auras¡­ however, not all of them had high perception. Some of the beasts had the ability to sense any aura no matter how weak it is from long distances, while others could only sense the very strong auras and only in short distances.


    Luckily for them, the azure gazelle king fell under the former category, thanks to his bloodline.


    As the light started fading away, they found a relatively large boulder, and decided to camp beside it. Of course, by camping, they meant to sleep beside the boulder with their bags as pillows, as the attack of the crocodile beast was so sudden that they didn''t have time to prepare.


    As for the summoned beast, it simply jumped atop the boulder, and sat down, like a watchdog.


    As the night completely enveloped everything on sight, the group sank in an almost immediate sleep. As, with the azure gazelle king high perception, they were assured that nothing could escape his detection. Thus, they allowed themselves to get some rest.


    Today, was simply too eventful, mentally wise even more than physically.


    The fear, the distress, and the anxiousness they lived under in the city for the past few days were simply too much for them. It had exhausted their spirit to a great extent. And yet, they weren''t any closer to their destination, the capital, but further instead.


    The single exception to that was Ramie. He was the only one awake right now.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t get any sleep at all¡­ but it just that he fell asleep for only half hour. Afterward, he woke up with completely recovered vigor and energy, as though he had slept for half a day.


    Hanging in the sky, was half moon, as well as countless bright stars. So, the night was bright enough to make out even small details in close distance.


    Resting his back against the boulder, Ramie was able to see ahead with clarity almost approaching the day time, even though it was night. Apparently, this was another bloodline advantage to be grateful for.


    His shining golden eyes gazed ahead unblinking, as it perceived the surroundings. Since he couldn''t sleep, he decided to stand guard, and make sure that nothing sneaks on them.


    After awhile, and without seeing anything out of usual, his line of though involuntarily drifted back to when Eric escaped and left him behind without as much as gLance¡­


    Although he tried to convince himself that Eric was probably scared out of his mind back then, and wasn''t able to think clearly¡­ but nonetheless, he couldn''t shake away the bitterness he felt in his heart¡­


    Friends were required in tough times, not the easy, blissful ones¡­ otherwise; it would be nothing more than a useless pretence and waste of time¡­


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    In any case, Eric had chosen his own path. A path that was different from the one Ramie was on now.


    Thinking of this, Ramie couldn''t help to wonder whether Eric had managed to leave the city with the military forces, or was still trapped there¡­?


    After losing himself in sea of thought in regard to Eric for some time, Ramie shook these thoughts away. What had happened¡­ happened. And Eric wasn''t here anymore, so there was no point on lingering on these depressing thoughts now.


    Anyhow, having few hours of free time, Ramie shifted his focus to certain parts of the acquired knowledge from the artifact. He wanted to process and understands them.


    Ever since the explosion of this crisis, he walked from one dangerous situation to another, and today, even though he was in a foreign country, it was still the first chance he got to take a breath. So, He wanted to make sure that he had fully comprehended the information he received from the artifact.


    Thus, he poured all of attention on a certain matter that was of critical importance to him ¨C it the matter of levels!


    The first thing he had noticed in these levels was that the beasts, whether magical or normal, had a unified system of levels, which were the tiers and the mini levels within them.


    As for the artifact holders, whom were called the ''magicians,'' and the life energy users, whom were called the ''warriors,'' according to the information, their system of levels was different from each others, and from the beasts, though, not by too much.


    For instant, the tier-1 beasts have the mini levels (low, mid, high, and peak) within the tier. And naturally, low tier-1 beast is considered weaker than mid tier-1 beast, mid weaker than high and high weaker than peak, and so on¡­ these mini levels depicted the different in strength within the tiers. Of course, that didn''t only go for the tier-1 beasts, but for the rest of tiers as well.


    Naturally, low tier-2 beast is considered stronger that peak tire-1 beast, as the difference is an entire tier.


    As for warriors, they were represented with levels (Lv.1, Lv.2, and so on¡­). Their system followed the life energy percent value, which ranged from 1% to 100%, to represent the volume, density and purity of their life energy.


    The larger the volume and the denser life energy is, which is represented with the life energy ignition percent, the stronger the warrior becomes.


    Of course, level.2 warrior with life energy ignition percent as low as 1% is considered stronger than level.1 warrior with life energy ignition percent of 99%, as the life energy undergoes a qualitative change when the warrior breaks through to higher levels.


    As for the magicians¡­ their case was rather a special one¡­ They were represented with Ranks (Rank-1, Rank-2, and so on¡­)


    The magicians system of levels was unique, because it depended on the artifact''s levels, and not the volume of magic energy stored inside the magician''s body.


    For example, any Rank of magician would be subdivided to Lv.1 artifact, Lv.2 artifact, Lv.3 artifact, with Lv.4 artifact being the max.


    After Rank-1 magician manages to upgrade his artifact to Lv.4, then the next advancement would bring him up to become Rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact, and so on¡­


    Anyway, every time a magician advances the level of his artifact, he gets a skill point. And every skill point can either be used to unlock a spell, or to upgrade an existing spell. Which meant that Rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact would be able to unlock 4 spells, or unlock less, and use the rest of the skill points to advance one of these spells.


    And what made the magicians even more unique¡­ was that their strength, wasn''t measured by physical abilities, the amount of magic they had, or even by the level of their artifacts, but instead, by their spells!


    This was the reason why that if a magician can''t cast spell, then regardless of his level, even a wild animal, much least beast, can take him out.


    The magician''s spells were so diverse that it was very hard to categorize them. This made the magicians powers very mysterious and hard to predict. Hence, they were considered even more formidable than the warriors on the same level, or even higher levels sometimes, all depending on the spells they can cast.


    The simplest categorization of the spells; was to offensive, defensive, supportive, and special spells.


    As for how magician''s levels can be compared to warriors and beasts? It was a bit tricky matter, as the levels of magicians don''t really reflect their true capabilities, but it was their spells instead. However, symbolically speaking, it could be put in such way:


    Low tier-1 beast = Lv.1 Warrior with Life energy ignition: 1%-25% = Rank-1 magician with Lv.1 artifact


    Mid tier-1 beast = Lv.1 Warrior with Life energy ignition: 25%-50% = Rank-1 magician with Lv.2 artifact


    High tier-1 beast = Lv.1 Warrior with Life energy ignition: 50%-75% = Rank-1 magician with Lv.3 artifact


    Peak tier-1 beast = Lv.1 Warrior with Life energy ignition: 75%-100% = Rank-1 magician with Lv.4 artifact


    That however wasn''t completely inaccurate. And can to some extent be true in the case of common classes of magicians. As for rare, special and epic classes, the story then might become different, all depending on the spells they can cast of course.


    Ramie''s current level is Rank-1 magician with Lv.2 artifact, which could said to be comparable to mid tier-1 beast, and Lv.1 Warrior with Life energy ignition: 25%-50%.


    Following that, Ramie could said to be as strong as Lance, which after absorbing the two life energy cores on the boat, managed to raise his life energy ignition percent.


    Lv.1 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 30%


    This meant that Lance was now comparable to mid tier-1 beast, and by extension, so was Ramie now.


    As for Neil, he was still Rank-1 magician with Lv.1 artifact, as he had yet to absorb any magical core.


    Anyway, this logic had placed Reem which was Rank-1 magician with Lv.3 artifact as the strongest member in their team, aside from the summoned beast, which was on the verge of advancing to become low tier-2 beast.


    Another piece of information worth mentioning; was that the artifacts won''t display the term Rank-1 magician on the stats, and would only start displaying the magician Ranks after reaching the second Rank. Which meant that any magician that his artifact didn''t display the Rank; is considered Rank-1 magician by default.


    After processing all of the information, Ramie found that judging the strength of normal beasts and warriors to be fairly easy¡­ the normal beasts by their aura, and the warriors by their life energy ignition percent value, and also by their auras.


    Even though in the case of beasts, only the tiers are displayed by the artifact, but since he had acquired a beast''s bloodline, he inherited the ability to sense auras, though much weakly than Reem''s summon. But it was understandable, as this beast had an innately strong sense of perception.


    In the case of magicians, judging their capabilities was a difficult task. As their auras only signifies the volume of magic they had, and its density, but not the type of spells they have, which is unfortunate, as in the case of magicians, the spells were the standard of their power, not their auras.


    Also, in the case of magicians, there were the grades; common, rare, special, and epic, which depicted the rarity of the spells their artifacts can unlock.


    Anyway, since the artifact can display the magician''s class grade, whether its common, rare, special, and epic, in the stats when he locks on a magician, it could at least allow Ramie to know whom to be careful around.


    Also, the fact that the artifact can''t read the stats of another magician in case his class rarity is higher can be a strong form of protection, concealing him as a magician, and having him appear as someone ordinary, not a magician or a warrior. And that''s giving that he conceals his artifact of course.


    This feature of artifacts was the reason why Neil couldn''t get any reading from Ramie and Reem, since his class rarity was only common. And it was also the reason why Reem couldn''t get a reading from him, as her class was only Rare, a grade below special.


    Time went on¡­


    As Ramie was submerged in his thoughts, all of the sudden, he felt a bad intent scan at him for a second, before disappearing. It felt as if something casted his sight at him briefly before looking elsewhere.


    Under the hood, ramie''s golden irises shone with eerie yellow glint of light as a sense of alarm rose in his heart.


    He started scanning at the direction of the intent with cautiousness, to locate the source.


    However, no matter how many times he scanned, he couldn''t see anything out of usual, as if the feeling few seconds ago was an illusion, a trick that his mind had played on him.


    The perception he got was not of an aura, magical or life energy¡­ but it was more like¡­ the feeling he got back in the building¡­ once with the magical beast in the apartment, and the other was when the snake headed beast wanted to sneak attack him in the fourth floor.


    Following this sense, was the reason he survived both these encounters. So, he wasn''t going to ignore it this time or any other time, as it had already proven to be credible on more than one occasion.


    Even though his artifact didn''t have information on this particularity, but since his innate spell could not be identified by the artifact, he guessed that this type of perception might be related to that unidentified innate spell of his, or it was one of his bloodline advantages.


    Ramie thought of waking the four up, however, their loud snoring was hard-to-ignore sign of how tired they were. More ever, tomorrow, they had long way to travel, and god knows what kind of beasts they might have to confront. So, this was more than just a necessary rest, it was a must.


    Ramie had the ability to see in the nigh almost as good as in daytime. Not to mention that this night wasn''t very dark to begin with. So, the moment anything tries to get close to them, ramie was sure that he could perceive it long distance away with his eyes sight.


    Beside, the azure gazelle king was guarding them, and his perception of aura was much stronger and sharper than Ramie. So, he was the best detector of danger they could ask for. As such, and since the azure gazelle king didn''t react, it meant that this brief intent might have come from a weak beast that wanted to ambush them. However, and upon seeing the strong summon staying in guard, it had fled away in panic.


    Although ideally, they shouldn''t sleep, and spend the night on guard, only sleeping at day time¡­ but they were simply too exhausted to stay awake till morning, and they simply couldn''t resist sleeping at all. Also, tomorrow they had to cover a lot of distant with high possibility of facing dangers. So, Ramie decided to not wake them up, not unless he senses it again, or until the summoned beast detects something.


    Instead, Ramie raised his guard and decided to maintain a state of high alert for the rest of the night.


    ¡­


    Far in the distance, behind small hill¡­


    "Look at that damn beast, and how strong he looks! It seems that one of those five bastards is a summoning magician! Good, very good¡­ I really hope they have food and water." The man who spoke these words was dressed in brown clothes. His face was pale and his hair disheveled. Judging by his tone when speaking these words, he appeared to be excited.


    If books could be judged by their covers, then this man was definitely was not an upstanding citizen, not due to his miserable state, but because of the sinister vibe he was giving. Also, his facial features were basically of a text book gangster.


    Next to him, stood another man, dressed in black clothe. He had a cold expression and piercing eyes that did not contain the slightest bit mercy within. His gaze alone was enough to give others chill when looking at him.


    "This still won''t change the outcome. We''ll deal with them the same way we dealt with the other group. Except this time, you shouldn''t get too close to them, and throw it at them from a distant." As the black-clothed man said so, his eyes gleamed with cruel intent.


    Hearing these words, the brown-clothed man hesitated a bit, before asking:"How should we deal with the beast then?"


    "Easy! We bury explosive materials close by. And once you blow those five up, the beast will lose its connection to the summoner! At then, one of two things will happen. The beast either escapes, which would make things easier for us. Or it stays, by then, I will lure it to where the explosive material is buried, and then we send it after its master!"


    As the black-clothed man spoke these words, his expression remained unfazed, as if everything was within his grasp. Even though he had just sentenced five people to death, not a single ripple appeared in his face, as if he was doing something extremely normal.


    "Big brother, how many of them do you think have artifacts?" the brown-clothed man asked.


    "I don''t know, but, the more the better! This way, after getting their magical gemstones, you can finally advance your artifact again! And by then, after you unlock new spell, we''ll have a better chance in killing the rest of magicians back in that damn compound, and get their gemstones!" the black-clothed man spoke as a matter of fact, as if he was confident that the group in the distant will die today.


    Now, it had to be said, that according to the information that the artifacts transmits to their users after the first level up, when a magician dies, his artifact vanish. However, the biggest gem that is embedded in the artifacts stays behind. As for the use of this gem, it was exactly like the magical cores. It can advance the level of the artifacts.


    When Ramie first processed this information, he didn''t miss the implication behind it. He immediately knew¡­ that things in the future, were about to become a whole lot darker, especially for the magician.


    Upon hearing his brother''s words, the brown-clothed man grinned like a wolf, baring his yellow, crooked teeth. A blood thirst glint flashed across his narrowed eyes as he fantasized about the next spell that will join his arsenal.


    It was quite obvious that this pair of brothers had done such deed many times so far.


    ¡­

 Chapter 39: Confrontation with magic (4)

    Chapter 39: Confrontation with magic (4)


    As the time went on, the night approached its end.


    After burying some explosive material in a marked place, the duo commenced their plan, before the night ends.


    Having done this kind of thing before, they were familiar with the process. So, the preparations were made smoothly.


    The brown clothed-man, as per the plan, was already on the move. He walked slowly and sneakily toward the targets location. His emotions were calm, with not a single fluctuation whatsoever. Even though he was about to put off the torch of five lives, not a speck of hesitation was in heart.


    After doing it many times so far¡­ the act of killing came to him as easy as breathing.


    The group of five had no idea that tonight was the night¡­ that they will never get to see the sun of the next day. He almost pitied them. But so what! For him to level up his artifact, he needed the gemstones that the magician''s artifacts drop after they die.


    Although killing magical beasts and getting their magical cores would also do the same. But magical beasts were hard to find. More ever, even if he finds some, they are usually either too weak, which meant that the magic energy in their cores is too little, this type of weak beasts usually gathers in groups, which makes going after them too dangerous, or they are too strong, which would put him and his brother in the face of death when confronting them.


    Other magicians in comparison were a different story. Even the magician who hadn''t absorbed any core and didn''t level up his artifact would still yield a gemstone with considerable magic energy.


    This was the reason why the two of them were able to level up this fast.


    Now, his brother was rank-2 magician ¨C Lv.1 artifact, while he himself was rank-1 magician ¨C Lv.3 artifact¡­ which meant that finishing of this group might provide him with gemstones enough to upgrade his artifact to become Lv.4.


    That would naturally mean that his chances of survival during these dark times would increase by a lot.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    For this purpose, those five had to die.


    In the first place, them coming here and delivering themselves to him was only due to their own bad luck. Who told them to come here in this timing? This was basically free and easy level up. So, why would he pass on that?


    His artifact, was the elemental type, and had the rare grade. As for the class, it was the dark magician class.


    At first, he had no idea what that meant, but once he leveled up first, and received the information¡­ He understood immediately that he had hit the jackpot.


    His innate spell was Dark element manipulation, and his first spell was invisibility. Although the use of that spell was only limited in the dark, making the nighttime the best time to use it, which was a large drawback to him, but it still gave him a huge advantage, allowing him to escape many situations which would have been otherwise dead ends.


    This spell of his was the main reason why he and his brother had gotten this far, allowing him to back-stab other magicians and get their gemstones.


    Even after leveling up his artifact twice and getting another two spells, his invisibility spell was still his favorite. As, not only does it hide his figure, but also masks his aura, which allowed him to escape countless hopeless situations, and also helped him to scheme against other magicians.


    Thus, he built his entire strategy around the invisibility spell as the core. And it was the reason he was so sure that he could approach them, and throw a grenade at them, without them even realizing anything.


    So, albeit it''s huge magic energy consumption rate, which made it so that he could only use it for short time, the invisibility spell was still way too effective.


    This spell was also the reason why he was almost confident that the summoned beast won''t detect his presence.


    However, one can never be too sure, which is why his strategy was to not get too close to them, but instead, to maintain a certain distance away from them, a one that isn''t too close or too far. Then, he simply throws a grenade at them, and retreats away.


    As for the beast, the buried explosives should be enough to deal with it. Afterward, he''d come back to collect the dropped gemstones from their artifacts.


    When it comes to the volume of the stored magic energy inside the gemstones, it depends, according to the information, on the magician''s rank and the artifact level. The higher, the more magic energy stored in these gemstones.


    The brown-clothed man wished that these people had already advanced their artifacts. So that he could have an ample harvest.


    Quietly and stealthily, he made his way to the sleeping five.


    One of his worries was that one of these people might have an artifact with detecting spells; in which case, he would be in real trouble. However, since he had gotten this close to them and none of the five reacted so far, it naturally meant that this was not the case.


    As for his biggest worry, it was the fearsome summon that sat atop the boulder, watching out for them like a guard dog.


    As he moved all the way to this point, his attention was focused on the beast the entire time, fearing that it might detect him.


    Luckily, since he had already gotten in the attack range, and the summoned beast had yet to react, it meant that his plan was a success.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, he shifted his focus on the five: ''Don''t blame me¡­ blame your own bad luck for bringing you to this place! ¡­ I wonder how many of you are magicians? ...Mmm¡­ I hope all of you are! This way, I can have five gemstones¡­!''


    Thinking to himself, a flash of excitement flickered in his eyes at the prospect of getting gemstones, then it turned to a killing intent as he moved and hid behind a mid-sized boulder 20 meters away from the group, to protect himself from the aftermath of the explosion.


    Then, and scanning the five sleeping targets, he took out the grenade¡­ preparing to throw it at them.


    ¡­

 Chapter 40: Confrontation with magic (5)

    Chapter 40: Confrontation with magic (5)


    As ramie was pondering on the information he had received from the artifact¡­ all of the sudden, and like a crackle of thunder, an overwhelming sense of danger violently erupted in every cell of his body.


    He sensed an extremely thick, concentrated killing intent, surges toward him like a flood, overwhelming his senses!


    It was much stronger than the killing intent he had felt with the first magical beast he had encountered, the snake headed beast, and even the man back in the bakery store.


    This definitely wasn''t some weak beast trying to sneak attack them¡­ but judging by the extreme viciousness and menace within this intent, it felt more like a deadly enemy was specifically coming for his life¡­


    Erupting with motion, Ramie jumped up, and then, took few steps ahead, facing the direction where the menacing killing intent was gushing from¡­


    Green Vine!


    Green Vine!


    Not wasting a single moment, he injected the magic energy into the artifact and mentally commanded, preparing to face off this dreadful enemy.


    Immediately, and along the sound of tearing off clothes fibers, two vines emerged from his back, tearing their way through his clothes, and extending from his back like a pair slithering snakes.


    "WAKE UUUUUP! ENEMY ATTACK!!!!!"


    Breaking through the silence of the night, Ramie bellowed out loud, to alarm the others, while on the same time, locking his yellow-shining eyes at a certain boulder.


    In his mind, all he had to do was to hold up for few seconds, till the rest wake up, and join him to resist the sneaking beast.


    The moment his words left his mouth, an orange-sized object flew from behind the boulder, moved in arch-shaped path, and came descending at them.


    It wasn''t the razor-sharp claw or the bared teeth that he expected¡­ but merely an orange-sized object!


    It didn''t even move in great speed, and he could definitely evade it if he wanted to.


    But¡­ behind him, were four people who had just heard his shout, and were probably still in state of panic and confusion, and were not aware of the situation yet. If he was to evade, this attack would definitely land on them. Also, he had no idea what kind of strange innate spells this was¡­ so, and just in case, he decided to repel the object away, and not just evade it.


    As such, and using one of the vines, he flung the thing away.


    Whoosh!


    The moment Ramie did so, the killing intent surged again. Then, and following which, a football-sized dark orb of energy materialized next to the boulder, and streaked at him in a high speed, from the same location, reaching him in a moment!


    This ball was spinning with speed so high that it caused a visible vortex of wind to twirl around it; also, it was glowing with dark-blue colored light¡­Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Damn¡­"


    Judging by its speed, Ramie immediately realized that he won''t be able to evade it in time, not with his reaction speed.


    Luckily, he had the vines!


    Upon his will, and with great speed, one of the vines was swing at the incoming dark orb of energy, to fling it away, just like the previous attack¡­


    Bang!!!


    However, the moment the vine came in contact with the energy ball¡­ the ball exploded, immediately pulverizing most of the vine into smithereens, only leaving small part of it intact.


    Seeing the destructive nature of this spell, Ramie''s heart throbbed with alarm.


    "This is bad¡­"


    Had this energy orb struck him, he would have been dead for sure by now! Luckily, the vine took the full brunt of the attack.


    However, just as ramie wanted to swing the other vine, to launch a counterattack, the killing intent locking on him surged with even further intensity, and with it, a fist-sized, arc shaped mass of black energy streaked at him from the same location.


    Whoosh!!


    This small arc of energy tore through the wind at speed many times faster than the dark orb! And Ramie could tell that this was something that not even his vines could intercept in time¡­!


    Rip!


    Like a ray of laser, the energy arc struck his chest, and cut its way through him with east that was akin to a sharp knife cutting through butter, and emerged out of his back with its momentum not even diminishing a bit, and then continued on its straight path!


    Thwack!


    With a sickening sound, blood splashed out from ramie''s chest and back.


    "!!! ¡­ !!!"


    Ramie stared at his chest, bewildered¡­


    He¡­ was hit¡­!


    He could sense a warm liquid flowing down from his chest, quickly spreading and drenching his clothes¡­


    For a moment, his mind reeled with high speed, a one that made him feel as though the time slowed down for him¡­


    The speed at which his blood flowed out made him realize a frightening fact¡­ this¡­ was a lethal attack¡­ This was definitely a killing blow¡­!


    So far, it had only been few moments since this insane confrontation started¡­ he had no time to comprehend everything, and was only acting on the defense till now¡­ at least, until the rest of the group joins the battle and supports him¡­


    But now¡­ he had suffered a fatal injury before the rest and including the summoned beast could even know what was happening¡­!


    The worst part of it¡­ there was no aura, no presence, no nothing¡­


    The three attacks and the killing intent were the only things telling him that he wasn''t dreaming¡­ that he was currently engaged in a heated battle with an invisible enemy¡­


    Even as he kept looking at the boulder, where the killing intent and the attacks were coming from, he couldn''t see anything, not even a shadow¡­


    Not even the summoned beast had reacted yet¡­ which meant, that he was literally fighting alone.


    ''I''m... actually¡­ going to die¡­?''


    The idea finally sank in his mind¡­! They, had just left the city, and now, they were being assaulted with such a dangerous invisible beast!!!


    How could their luck be so bad as to encounter such a formidable enemy¡­?


    Ramie knew that he was dying¡­ that the beast was going to have a good meal tonight.


    As he had this though¡­ a deep howling frustration and anger was stirred in his heart... he wanted to kill this despicable beast at all costs.


    ''No way this thing is living long enough to eat me¡­''


    This beast was simply way too cunning, shooting out one attack at him after another, with quick succession, not giving him the tiniest chance to retaliate¡­


    Worse, ramie was lethally injured, but had yet to put up any real fight¡­


    The idea of him dying without putting up any resisting caused his blood to boil with anger.


    The killing intent was still present, which meant that the enemy was still here.


    Ramie''s anger erupted like a volcano, turning into a maddening rage that demanded a pay back!


    "If am dying¡­ then you filth better not dream of living after me¡­ "


    "Die¡­!!!"


    No longer caring to defend himself, Ramie roared in explosive rage, and he went on the offense. He wanted revenge on this damn beast at all costs.


    Injecting his magic energy without restrain into the artifact, and sending his raging will... the green vines projected from his back, shooting toward the sky, like an octopus arms, extending at crazily rapid rate¡­


    In a moment, the two vines rose to over 29 meters into the sky, as ramie crazily expended his magic energy without holding anything back at all. Then, following the howl of rage in his heart, the pair of vines descended at crazy speed toward the location of the radiating killing intent, as if they were the materialized form of his deep anger.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The two vines crazily whipped down at the particular spot in extremely violent and heavy lashing motions, bombarding the ground, and causing heavy thudding booms to resound, as if pair of sledge hammers were ramming the ground.


    Every single lash delivered force similar to full powered punch, energized with life energy from lance. Hence, each lash was causing a dull, heavy thud to resound in the quiet nigh, and even generating slight earth tremors from the point of impact.


    "Die, die, die, die, die, die¡­!"


    With a savage expression, Ramie pounded the area with the vines crazily, without care for the massive expenditure of his magic energy.


    He wanted to kill this thing without giving it any chance to retaliate. He wanted to squash this beast into a puddle of blood.


    Suddenly, and as Ramie sank in a state of mindless rampage, launching his frenzied attacks at the enemy¡­


    Boooooom!!!!


    An explosive, rumbling sound reverberated in the vicinity, and a fiery flash of light lighted up the night, momentarily, originating from the site where the object was thrown.


    The rumbling sound of the explosion snapped ramie out of his raging state.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    All of the sudden, an anguished cry of sorrow and grief erupted from behind¡­


    Without even turning, Ramie knew that the previous energy attack that pierced him few seconds ago, had struck one of the other four¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 41: Battling a rank-2 magician (1)

    Chapter 41: Battling a rank-2 magician (1)


    Having reached a distance of 20 meters close to his targets, and seeing that none of them has yet to react¡­ the brown-clothed man knew that his plan has worked, just like the many times before.


    Not even the summoned beast was alarmed, which meant that if he wanted to get closer, then chances were that he could still go undetected.


    However, he didn''t want to push his luck too much, besides, this distant was enough to throw the grenade and not miss.


    Also, the five were together, with barely any distance between them¡­which meant that one grenade should be enough to take them all out.


    Feeling excitement at the prospect of getting easy gemstones, the brown-clothed man licked his lip as his eyes gleamed with radiating killing intent.


    He very much liked this feeling.


    His invisibility spell gave him a massive advantage. And the prospect of taking people''s lives without them even knowing he was there gave him an overwhelming sense of superiority. It was simply way too thrilling.


    These five were sleeping still, not having the tiniest idea that the scythe of death was already upon their necks.


    With his blood boiling with excitement, he suppressed his breath, to avoid making excessive noise. He took out a grenade from the small bag at his waist, and then scanned the five people to determine where to aim and throw the grenade.


    However, just at this moment, something completely outside the realm of his expectations happened in front of him, catching him off guard¡­


    As the half-moon was up in the sky, shrouded with countless stars, and brightening the night to a large extent, it wasn''t impossible to make out figures in such distance.


    Under his eyes, one of the five jolted himself up, took few steps in his direction, and then assumed a vigilant posture.


    This wasn''t all. The moment this person leapt up, two abnormally long, octopus-like limbs emerged from behind his back, and rose in the air, like a pair of vicious snakes.


    The brown-clothed man''s expression froze, and the smile on his face vanished at this terrifying development¡­


    Being undetectable was his biggest advantage over others. But now¡­ this person was looking right at him, as though he was completely reveled before him.


    The worst case scenario had come to be¡­! His presence¡­ was detected!


    ''This guy actually have a sensory type spell¡­!''


    The two octopus limbs meant that this person was a magician too, and his action reveled that he had not only located him, but was also ready to engage in a battle with him.


    "WAKE UUUUPPP!!"


    The sudden bellow from that man caused him to fall in a state of anxiety and panic.


    If the others joined this person in attacking him¡­ he would be a dead meat, especially with the summoned beast on their side.


    Thus, he decided to kill this man at all cost, before the rest joins the battle.


    This man was obviously the only one that can detect him, so, with his death, none of the others would pose any threat for him. Also, his brother was watching from afar. So, he would come here as fast as possible to back him up.


    But before that happens, he first had to eliminate this man!


    With a sense of urgency and panic rising in his heart, he pulled out the pin and threw the grenade at the man¡­


    However, to his fright, the man simply waved one of octopus-like limbs, and the grenade was flung away just like that.


    The brown-clothed man''s heart went cold at the sight.


    ''This is bad¡­! I have to kill him quickly¡­!''


    Determining to finish off this man at all costs, the brown-clothed man decided to resort to use his trump cards... ''Dark energy blast spell'' and ''Dark blade spell!''This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Although these two spells were strong offensive spells, however the problem with them was that their magic energy consumption was great; also, their cooldown time was too long¡­


    So, he could use each one of them only once in a confrontation¡­ which was why he left them as a life saving measure that he uses only when falling in dire straits¡­ which was pretty much now.


    Dark energy blast!


    He unleashed the first spell at the target, wanting to eliminate him as fast as possible.


    However, and to his fright, the man actually survived the spell that nothing had survived so far, by receiving it with one of his octopus-like projections, thus salvaging himself from what should have been a finishing attack.


    Feeling an overwhelming sense of crisis, he followed up with the other spell¡­


    Dark blade!


    This spell was his ultimate move, able to cut through anything. More ever, its speed was so fast that nothing had escaped it so far.


    Luckily, and as usual, the spell didn''t disappoint.


    Seeing that the energy blade hit the man right in the chest, the brown-clothed man heaved a sigh of relief¡­ this situation could have evolved into a dangerous one.


    ''This damned tenacious man was down at last¡­''


    However, before he could finish his thought, a stunning scene happened ahead¡­


    Immediately, his eyes bulged out in terror, and his blood froze¡­


    The man didn''t go down as expected¡­ instead; the octopus-like projects rose up in the sky, and then move down at him in a high speed like whips of death¡­


    This¡­ was the last thing he ever saw¡­


    ...


    Now, it had to be said, the invisibility spell that the brown-clothed man got, turned him into a sort of mage-assassin, which gave him an overwhelming advantage against his opponents when using ambushes, enabling him to get close to them and then deliver the finishing blow.


    After so many confrontations with both other magicians and beasts, the brown-clothed man always finished off his enemies without being detected. So, when his target this time noticed his presence, this threw him off balance, causing him to slide in state of fear and panic.


    As such, and instead of making the safest choice, which was retreating, he panicked into making the choice of attacking.


    Actually, attacking was still a justifiable choice to make; as he didn''t think that a mere mage wouldn''t die immediately after receiving his two powerful offensive spells.


    However, what the brown-clothed man didn''t realize¡­ was that with the ability to sense ill intentions, this covered up man was literally his perfect counter. Also, since the brown-clothed man didn''t have a defensive spell, he could only watch as the two vines descends at him with speed beyond what he could react to, to claim his life.


    ¡­


    As the rumble of explosion sounded, a heart-wrenching cry of sorrow came from behind Ramie. It was the grieved cries of Reem.


    "DAAAD!! WAKE UP! WAKE UUUP¡­!"


    However, ramie didn''t look back, and kept his eyes focused ahead.


    The killing intent had already vanished, and so is the aura.


    The dust started dissipating, revealing a figure, lying still on the ground that his vines had just bombarded.


    Lance arrived next to him, and after exchanging looks, he moved carefully toward the figure with utmost caution, while holding Jeffry''s assault rifle.


    Ramie followed after lance. He could not sense any aura from the figure on the ground. Apparently, this thing was very much dead. As around half of it was turned into a mush of meat and blood.


    Evidently, the power delivered with his vines had crushed this beast into mincemeat.


    Finally, ramie was able to relax. Nothing could come back from this, so, the threat had been neutralized.


    Albeit¡­ at a terrible price¡­!


    Reem''s anguished cries were the only thing audible now through this quiet night.


    Looking behind, over at the boulder, Ramie could see that Jeffry was lying lifelessly on Reem''s lap, drenched in his blood.


    Ramie immediately checked himself up¡­ And, he was stunned¡­


    "This¡­!!!!"


    The slit on his chest had actually closed, and blood was no longer flowing. More ever, he was still able to stand, and aside from an overall sense of weakness in his body, there was nothing else¡­ not even pain.


    Ramie was shocked¡­ he didn''t know whether this was a momentary feeling before he collapses and dies, or that his bloodline vitality was really this terrifying¡­!


    While Ramie was checking his wound, the summoned beast ran pass him, overtook lance, and circled around the dead figure on the ground, while letting out low sounds of irritation.


    Evidently, he felt humiliated for failing to detect this enemy despite being the strongest here. And that his failure had caused his master to pay such hefty price as a result.


    Being as prideful as he is, the beast felt very ashamed of failing so miserably.


    Seeing the summoned beast get closer to the figure, with still no reaction, ramie followed lance and moved closer to the figure on the ground.


    "This¡­!"


    Ramie''s eyes went blank at the sight¡­


    This figure¡­ actually belonged to a human¡­!


    The upper side of his body was smashed beyond recognition; it was basically a mush of meat, bones and blood.


    Ramie stared sluggishly at the crushed corpse. The sight of the figure in a small pond of blood and meat was like a visual nausea.


    Suddenly, a though that was like a bolt of lightning struck Ramie''s mind¡­ he had actually minced a human being to death¡­!


    After the bakery store confrontation, the thought that he might have to defend his life against other people, had never ceased to cross his mind every once a while. However, he didn''t think that it would happen so quickly¡­ Just hours after leaving the city


    Beasts were beasts, they had clear motive ¨C they attack to kill and eat. As such, ramie had no problem to kill the attacking beasts.


    However, people¡­ are different¡­ They have all kinds of motives.


    So, why did this man attacked them?


    Did he do it out of selfish motives¡­? Or, does he have a starving family somewhere, and he wanted to steal their food to feed his children?


    As Ramie stood in daze, gazing at the minced corpse, the azure gazelle king suddenly started growling at a certain direction. And sparks of lightening flickered intensely around his two horns, signifying the arrival of yet another threat.


    Luckily, this enemy was detectable one.


    Ramie, Lance and Neil''s expressions immediately changed. They didn''t need anyone to explain what did that mean¡­


    They instantly knew¡­ that the horror of this night¡­ has yet to come to an end¡­


    A sound that was akin to the howl of wind came from the direction the summoned beast was facing.


    It sounded far at first, but then, the intensity of the sound started growing louder and louder, indicating the arrival of yet another fearsome enemy.


    Ramie''s heart started bounding hard, his yellow eyes shone with intensity under the hood.


    As lance and Neil were wondering on whether this new enemy was another accomplice of this man, or wandering beast that was attracted by the commotion of the battle, ramie on the other hand, and with his special eyes, already determined the identity of the enemy.


    Ramie''s face twitched at the sight. This man was definitely another magician, as he was actually flying¡­ or more accurately, he was floating about one meter above the ground, while dashing at them in great speed.


    "Be careful! The enemy is a magician!" ramie alarmed the two with him.


    Jeffry was dead, and as a result, Reem was in no condition to support her summon with the buff skill she had, nor to use the defensive skill to support them. Worst, even though ramie''s confrontation with the minced man was exceedingly short, the intensity of the battle made him use up more than half of his magic energy in those few short seconds, not to mention that he was feeling weakened due to severe injury that was inflicted on him.


    If possible, Ramie didn''t want to be involved in another fight. He really hoped that this new incomer wasn''t affiliated with the minced man.


    However, this didn''t matter. If this man had hostile intentions, then it means that the choice of the battle had already been made for them.


    "STAY YOUR HANDS¡­! LET GO OF MY BROTHER!!!!!!"


    Like a clap of thunder, the new incomer''s booming bellow reverberated in all directions in the quiet night, causing the very atmosphere around to vibrate with the intensity of his rage.


    In a heartbeat, everyone''s expression froze.


    The language in which this man shouted indicated that he was a fellow country man. So, they perfectly understood his words¡­ and the implications behind them.


    Now, Ramie was sure¡­


    This night¡­ was doomed to be filled with bloodshed.


    He¡­ just hoped that it wouldn''t be theirs¡­!


    ¡­

 Chapter 42: Battling a rank-2 magician (2)

    Chapter 42: Battling a rank-2 magician (2)


    Any artifact user upon leveling up usually receives a general knowledge regarding the beasts, the warriors, and their artifacts. Included in that knowledge; was the meaning of the grades (common, rare, special and epic).


    Any artifact with any of those four grades allows its user to unlock spells with the same grade as the artifact, or lower, but never higher.


    For example, common grade artifact allows the magician to unlock common grade spells. Rare grade artifact unlocks rare grade spells, special grade artifacts unlocks special grade spells and so on¡­


    Of course, it goes without saying that the rarer the grade of the spell, the better it is.


    Any artifact with the grade common allows its user, the magician, to unlock common grade spells, and also, it increases the magician''s magic energy pool by 5 magic energy units every time the artifact is leveled up. So, since there are 4 levels to the artifact within each rank, the magician usually receives 4 increases of magic energy by 5 points each.


    The rare grade artifacts unlocks rare grade spells, or common, and adds 10 units of magic energy to the magician''s magic pool, which is double that of what the common grade artifact adds each level up.


    As for the special grade artifacts¡­ it unlocks special grade spells, or lower, and adds 20 magic energy unit. The epic grade unlocks epic grade spells and adds 40 energy units.


    Considering the pattern, it was obvious how vast the gap between the grades becomes as the artifacts advances further and further!


    For instant, when rank-1 magician with common grade artifact advances to the second rank, his magic energy pool would be somewhat around 25 magic energy units, considering that his starting units were 5 when he first got the artifact. As every level up of the artifact grants him 5 magic energy units , which leads to him having around 25 magic energy units when he levels up four times to advance to become rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact.


    As for the rare grade, by the time the magician becomes rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact, his magic energy pool would be around 50, considering that his starting point is 10 magic energy units.


    Special grade artifact would be around 100, if the starting point was 20 units.


    In the case of ramie, it would be 89 units when he advances to become rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact, as his starting point was only 9 units.


    As for the epic grade, it would be around 200 units, when he is merely rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact, which is simply too monstrous! Especially when considering that when magician with common grade artifact advances into the forth rank, he would have magic energy pool with less than 100 magic energy units¡­!


    The disparity was too insane! As if saying that magicians with common grade artifact shouldn''t even think of comparing themselves to the epic grade...That even a first-rank magician with epic grade can defeat fourth-rank magician with common grade.


    However, this wasn''t actually true¡­ not when taking some other factors into account.


    And the first of those factors and the most important ¨C was the rank barrier!


    As for what the rank barrier means¡­ simply, when a magician advances to a higher rank, he''d gain a certain advantage that enables him to suppress other magicians with lower ranks.


    For example, when a magician advances to the second rank, and regardless of his artifact grade, would gain a force field that almost no rank-1 magician can breach with any offensive spell!


    Which is to say, even a rank-1 magician with rare or special grade artifact probably won''t be able to breach the force field that a rank-2 magician with common grade artifact have.


    This force field is the reason why the second-rank magicians could fight the insanely strong tier-2 beasts.


    The second factor was the magic energy consumption rate!


    As to what did that mean¡­ it simply meant that the rarer the grade of the spell is the more magic energy units it requires to be casted. For instant, Neil''s fire burst spell requires only 2 magic energy units to cast, as for the rare and special grade spells, it is likely to need much more magic energy units to be casted, and would probably have other forms of strict restrictions on the cast of the spell, such as long cooldown time (which is the interval time between two casts for the same spell) or some others restrictions. Which somewhat reduces the difference between the grades.


    Meaning, that even though the rarer grades allows the magician to have larger magic energy pool, but it does not mean that they can cast their spells wantonly, which was obvious in the case of the brown-clothed man.


    Even though he had two rare graded spells with high offensive power, but the magic energy unit requirements and their cooldown time made it so that he could only cast any of the two spells only once during a battle¡­ which was a flaw that had ultimately lead to his demise.


    As for the third factor¡­ it was probably the most important one, as it was directly related to the reason why the magicians were so formidable in the first place.


    It was the advancement of spells!


    It was of no doubt that the ability to cast spells was the reason why magicians were considered so formidable in the first place. So, by extension, the subject of advancing the spells was the core concern of magicians, as it is directly associated with their source of advantage.


    When a magician levels up his artifact, he gets one skill point every time. And since in every rank, magician had to level up his artifact four times, it naturally meant that in every rank, a magician gets four skill points.


    These skill points could either be used to unlock new spells or to advance an existing spells. Of course, there was the possibility of saving up these skill points for later use.


    When a new spell is unlocked, it is by default considered rank-1 spell, even if a rank-2 or rank-3 magician exchange a skill point, he''d still get a spell in its most basic form, which is the first rank.


    So, to upgrade new spells, 2 skill points are required for the first advancement, which makes the spell rank-2 spell. And to advance it even further, 3 skill points are required to advance it to become rank-3 spell, then 4 skill points to advance it to rank-4, and so on¡­Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Also, a magician cannot advance a spell to a rank higher than his own. And that means, that a rank-1 magician cannot advance any of his spells to become rank-2 spells, as they''d exceed his own rank¡­ which is why it wasn''t possible to advance spells in the first rank, not unless the magicians can reach the second rank, where only then can they advance a spell to become rank-2 spell.


    This particularity was the reason why rank-1 magicians were typically unable to defeat magicians in the second rank, not in one versus one fight. As, at least a rank-2 offensive spell is required to destroy the force field that the rank-2 magicians has.


    And since magicians in the first rank can''t advance any of their spells beyond their rank, it became quite obvious that fighting second rank magician was not a very good idea.


    Unfortunately¡­ for Ramie and the others, this was precisely their dilemma right now.


    The man floated toward them had a conical-shaped whirlpool of wind rotating around him, enabling him to float. He was obviously a magician.


    Focusing on him, lines of information appeared to Ramie.


    - Rank-2 magician


    - Lv.1 Magic Artifact (17%)


    - Path: Elemental Magic


    - Class: Wind Magician (Common)


    Ramie''s heart jumped in trepidation at this reveal, this was the scenario he wanted to avoid the most.


    This was beyond bad news! It was simply a disaster for them to fight a second rank magician, much less an angry one!


    The knowledge ramie had received from the artifact clearly stated that rank-1 magician had a little to no chance of surviving against a magician in the second rank¡­ not unless he finds a way to break the force field.


    But now, not only were they about to fight one, but also Ramie''s own condition was far from his optimal state, and his remaining magic energy was less than half.


    Ramie''s heart sank. Lance expression turned grave, while Neil''s face was completely stiff. The situation couldn''t possible get any worse than this.


    With the half moon in the sky and the countless stars lighting up the night, the eye sight range was very good considering that this was still night time.


    Seeing the minced corpse on the ground beside them, the floating man''s expression became petrified, his eyes froze, and his mind lagged. He was ferociously resisting the idea that this minced puddle of blood and meat on the ground was actually his brother¡­


    He''d rather believe that he had gone insane, and that this sight was simply his mind playing cruel trick on him¡­


    He didn''t have the notion in his mind that his brother would even be detected, much less dying in such gruesome manner.


    How was this even possible¡­?


    With his brother''s rare grade artifact, and that terrifying invisibility spell of his, he had even managed to sneak on a low tier-2 magical beast, and plant a bag of explosive material in its lair, and then detonating them, thus killing the beast. And that was why he himself managed to level up to the second rank, by using the magical core belonging to that very magical beast.


    So, not in his wildest imagination had he expected that his brother would actually die to a group of survivors whom weren''t even awake, but sleeping¡­! It didn''t even cross his mind!


    The black-clothed man''s trembled all over, disbelieve and shock alternating on his face. His mind was reeling, to process the sight, and its implication. Then, and as the cruel reality finally started sinking in, an anger and hatred that was like no other, shrouded his heart.


    Fiercely raising his head, he roared like a madman, as look of madness and menace started brimming in his eyes.


    "YOU ACTUALLY KILLED MY BROTHER...! MY BROTHER...!"


    Unable to contain his explosive emotions, the man stretched out the palm of his right hand toward them, and bellowed atop his lungs.


    Wind Cutter!


    Wind Cutter!


    Wind Cutter!


    Wind Cutter!


    At his frantic shouts, multiple arch-shaped distortions of air flew at the locations where ramie, the other two, and the summoned beast were standing, one for each of them.


    Ramie immediately sensed the sudden rise of the man''s killing intent, and knew that he was going to attack even before he could hear the shouts.


    "Evade!!" with a roar, ramie alerted the others to dodge the incoming attack. On the same time, he jumped to the side and rolled on the ground while maintaining only one vine for protection, as he didn''t want to waste what little of magic energy he still had.


    Whish!


    As he jumped, ramie heard a sharp whizzing sound passes through the place where he was originally standing, as if something had cut its way through the air.


    Luckily, he had successfully evaded the attack.


    Getting up, and looking over at the others to see their condition, ramie saw that the azure gazelle king has already started engaging in a heated battle with floating enemy. Evidently, the beast had dealt with the previous attack somehow. Whether by dodging or by using the lightening shield, ramie didn''t see as he was busy avoiding the spell that was thrown on him.


    The azure gazelle king was bombarding the enemy with his laser-like, flashy lightening beam spell. Which according to Reem, was his strongest offensive spell, even stronger than the lightening ball.


    Looking at the enemy side, ramie could see that the man had landed on the ground, probably to reduce his magic energy consumption. Around him, was a semi translucent, dome-shaped, rotating wind current that was resisting the lightening beam and preventing it from hitting him while he was standing within the core of the dome, perfectly protected.


    Apparently, he had casted some sort of defensive spell to protect himself.


    Ramie knew that unless they somehow manage to destroy that defensive spell and force field that were protecting the enemy, their chances of walking away alive from here were close to zero.


    Even though typically, a magician in the second rank could trample over a first rank magician... but that was in one on one fight. Now however, there were three of them, not to mention the powerful summoned beast.


    So, it wasn''t completely out of question for them to live past this night.


    Looking over at lance, ramie saw that he seemed to have dodged the initial attack, ran back to the boulder, and picked up Jeffry''s assault rifle.


    It was obvious that he intended to use the rifle to join the summoned beast in attacking the enemy, in order to suppress him and prevent him from launching any other attack on them.


    Then, as ramie looked over at Neil, his expression changed.


    Neil was lying on the ground unconscious, while a small pool of blood was slowly spreading from underneath him. Upon a careful look, ramie could see a gaping wound on his shoulder.


    When the black-clothed decided to attack, his radiating killing intent gave away his intention even before he launches his spell, which is why ramie was not taken by this attack, and why he had reacted so fast. It could be said that he evaded the moment the spells were released.


    When it came to Lance, he had his life energy, so, his reaction speed was exceptional. Thus, he managed to dodge in time even despite the critical delay between Ramie''s warning and him reacting.


    As for Neil, he was a magician, which meant that aside from fueling the cast of spells, his magic energy didn''t give him any strengthening effects. Which is to say, without spells that enhances physical reaction, Neil pretty much had the physic of a normal person. Hence, by the time he heard the warning and understood the meaning, the wind spell already struck him on the shoulder.


    Lance wanted to go over and check on Neil''s condition, but the enemy was too formidable, and their situation was too severe. So, he decided to focus on defeating the enemy first.


    At this moment, lance started opening fire at the enemy, so as to not give him any chance to cast other spells on them. Although he could close the gap and throw punches and kicks at the wind barrier, he however, chose not to.


    As to why, it was because if this magician decided to cast spell at him, then with such short distance, he''d definitely be unable to evade in time. More ever, even if he destroyed the barrier, this magician is not a rank-1, but rank-2. So, the force field would prevent Lance from knocking this magician unconscious, at least not before he throws a deadly spell on him. Hence, Lance played it safe, and resorted to use ranged attack.


    Ramie did not hesitate, taking a step forward, he poured magic energy crazily to increase the length of the vine, and then, he used the same attacks that he used on the dead man. He started pounding the vine in frantic manner at the dome-shaped defensive spell, hoping to break it.


    Lance did not stop in his place, but moved to another direction while maintaining his shooting pace at the enemy.


    Seeing that, ramie understood that lance was trying to surround the enemy and attack from different directions, to confuse him. Fighting this way would mean that when this man stops defending and tries to attack any of them, he''d leave himself open for the others to attack.


    Having understood so, ramie started moving to the opposite direction while maintaining his attacks on the man.


    Ramie and Lance understood that right now, the best chance for them to outlive this night, was by not allowing this man to cast any spell on them. As for the reason, it was pretty simple one¡­


    This man was a rank-2 magician with Lv.1 artifact, which meant that he had gotten 4 skill points as well as the one spell that any magician gets when he first acquires the artifact.


    As to what did that mean¡­ it simply meant that this man had either exchanged the 4 skill points to get 4 spells, or had used 2 skill points to get 2 spells and used the other 2 skill points to advanced one spell into becoming rank-2 spell!


    To ramie and the others, it was bad for them either way¡­ because if this man gone with the former choice, then it meant that he had more spells to use on them that they had no idea about.


    On the other hand¡­ if this man went with the latter choice, and advanced a spell into the second rank, especially an offensive spell¡­ then it would mean that the moment they give him a chance to attack ¨C is the moment they die.


    Although, stalling for time and extending the battle for a longer duration might be a good choice to exhaust this man''s magic energy, as he only has a limited magic energy, due to having common grade artifact¡­ However, if this man had an advanced spell, then it would make ''prolong the battle'' strategy a very bad plan.


    Because if this was the case¡­ then stalling for time and prolonging the duration of this battle would mean giving this man a lot of chances to cast his rank-2 spell on them and finish them off in one go.


    Of course, this scenario would be true only if this man had actually advanced a spell in the first place.


    However, and considering that the stakes were their lives, they didn''t want to depend on ''if''


    Following that logic, the strategy of exhausting the enemy''s magic point by prolonging the battle was a deadly plan with way too high of a risk.


    So, the best chance they had was to not give this man any opportunity to cast any spell on them. And to achieve this, they had to maintain their current pace of attacks.


    But¡­ this was precisely were the problem laid. As ramie''s magic energy was already more than half spent, and him using this manner of attacking was eating up his energy at a terrible rate. Also, it wasn''t as if the assault rifle in lance''s hand had unlimited ammo.


    On the other side, the black-clothed man was maintaining his defensive spell, to withstand their attacks, which naturally meant that he too was spending his magic energy.


    Taking that into account, this fight became a battle of attrition.


    Would Ramie and Lance run out of magic energy and bullets first¡­? Or would this wind mage run out of magic energy¡­?


    If it was the former, then they''ll get the first seat to witness the might of Rank-2 spells¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 43: Battling a rank-2 magician (3)

    Chapter 43: Battling a rank-2 magician (3)


    The black-clothed man felt so enraged, that he wished to tear apart these people with his own nails and teeth. His wrath was endless. His blood was boiling with hatred that it threatened to drive him to insanity.


    His brother''s corpse was unrecognizable.


    Originally, he and his brother chose a spot and set up a camp, deciding to rest for the night. However, before the daylight completely fades, his brother had located five people with a beast in the far distant.


    At first, they had no intention of going after this group, as they were too tired to follow them. They thought that this group would continue traveling and settle only when the night completely descends.


    However, they didn''t think that they would luck out so much that the group would choose to stay and also spend the night under their sight.


    So, they changed their plan and decided to rest first, and then fish for the gemstones from the magician in that group later in the night, as his brother was still to reach the peak of the first rank and unlock the forth spell.


    Few seconds ago, he was in the distance looking through the scope observing things. He wasn''t worried at all, as his brother''s invisibility spell was simply that fearsome.


    Also, the especially bright night made it so that even in the distant, he could still make out the figures of people.


    According to the plan, he expected an explosion at the location of the group. As his brother was suppose to unpin the grenade, then, throw it at these people, killing them in their sleep.


    However, and unlike the expected, the explosion happened way off course. At that moment, he knew that something had gone wrong. Thus, he dropped the scope, and used his mobility spell to go over as fast as possible.


    And now, not only has his brother been killed, but was also smashed into bloody pulp.


    He couldn''t imagine how violent his brother''s death must have been.


    In his mind, the most probable culprit was the summoned beast. So, he wanted to kill the thing first, and then finish off the rest afterward.


    To avenge his brother and to calm the burning rage in his heart, those filthy things that dared to kill his brother had to die in the most violent way possible. And it had to be done with his own hands.


    Unfortunately, he had made a critical mistake, a one that put him in a tricky situation.


    When he saw his brother''s corpse on the ground, he momentarily lost his rationality to an insane, mindless rage under the shock of the sight. Which lead to him casting four consecutive spells, thus wasting a precious magic energy, and only managing to take down one enemy at such high cost.


    He only have a common grade artifact, which naturally meant that he had to be exceedingly careful when casting spell, and not waste a single point of magic energy.


    But now, not only he used a mobility spell to rush here with haste; he had actually casted 4 spells in one go.


    If his enemy was one person, it wouldn''t be a problem at all, but¡­ this wasn''t the case here. More ever, he had no idea how many magicians or warriors were in the group.


    Unfortunately, the mistake had already been made.


    So, facing the intense, instantaneous retaliation from the group, and being forced to use yet another spell to defend himself, he snapped back from his mindless anger, and managed to suppress his explosive emotions.


    After calming down, he got the readings of these people stats.


    "One magicians, one warrior, one peak ter-1 magical beast." he judged that the summoned beast was a magical beast due to its having innate spells, which was something only magical beasts have.


    This reading caused his expression to go dark¡­


    Since there was a summoned magical beast here, it meant that there should be a summoner among them! However, his artifact didn''t reveal any summoning magician at all.


    This could only mean one thing ¨C that the summoner had an artifact with grade higher than his own artifact!


    Also, his artifact did not display the stats of the man that had a long octopus arm popping from his back, which also meant that this man was a magician with a higher grade artifact.


    This was awfully bad news!


    ''No wonder my brother fell to these dogs¡­!''If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Even though the black-clothed man was rank-2 magician, he did not stop his defensive spell. He did not dare to, as he was facing three way continuous assaults.


    In a second, the fiery rage in his heart dissipated, and an assertive glint flashed through his eyes.


    He wasn''t a foolish man, he was anything but. His cunning nature soon took over, and replaced the uncontrollable anger in his mind. Him surviving so far and reaching his current level was not a fluke. And although his brother''s artifact made a good contribution toward these results¡­ but the main reason for it was thanks to his sly mentality.


    Although he was a rank-2 magician, knowing that this person with the octopus arm that was frantically swinging it at his wind barrier was a magician with a higher grade rank, and that the girl crying in the back was most likely the summoner, giving that the summoned beast was standing between him and her, he started re-evaluating the situation.


    The number of people that he had seen acquiring an artifact was simply way too low.


    As for those with rare grade artifact similar to his brother¡­ they were as rare as those whom had won the lottery.


    However, before him, were actually two of them¡­!


    He really felt cheated: ''Is this punishment¡­? From all the people we could have come across, we actually stumbled across two magicians with rare artifacts¡­!''


    The problem was, being unable to see their stats meant that there was a possibility that one or both of them might have already advanced to the second rank¡­! The same as himself.


    He did not like such odds.


    Although him getting his revenge was a obligation that did not accept debates, he didn''t want to throw away his life uselessly just like that.


    Thus, he wanted to leave himself a room to retreat.


    His devious nature urged him to leave the scene, and wait until he recovers his magic energy and come up with solid and safe plan to kill these animals.


    However, they had killed his brother! He wouldn''t be able to calm himself down¡­ not until he at least kills another one of them.


    The problem however, was that he was being assaulted from 3 different direction on the same time. On one side, was the warrior using a firearm to attack him. On the other side, was the magician with the whip-like spell. As for the front, it was the beast!


    Luckily, he had advanced the wind barrier spell to the second rank! Otherwise, the wind barrier spell in its basic rank-1 would have collapsed by now.


    Although, right now, he wished that he had advanced an offensive spell instead. In which case, he would have killed all the four of them with the initial attack!


    Gnashing his teeth to the point of issuing a crackling sound, he knew that based on his magic energy consumption rate, killing all of them was out of question now.


    And the prime reason for that ¨C was the summoned beast!


    Magical beasts according to the artifact knowledge had much more magical energy than magicians.


    And that meant, that there was a considerable chance that this beast can maintain at this rate of attack till his own magic energy runs out. In which case, he''d fall in these people''s hands.


    However, on the same time, he was not willing to just retreat like that.


    Thus, with an expression that was both grim and hideous, he made a move.


    ¡­


    Ramie''s heart was cold. His magic energy was running thin, on the verge of running out.


    Yet, that mage''s shield was taking the attacks from them without showing any sign of collapsing. Apparently, he had advanced this defensive spell to the second rank. As if his defensive spell was rank-1, then it would have shattered long ago under this kind of assaults.


    At this point, the battle was a gamble of who would runs out of magic energy first. Of course, knowing that the spell that this man had advanced was a defensive one, it meant that their chances of surviving past this grim night was better than expected. Because, if that man had advanced an offensive spell, then they all would have died already.


    All of the sudden, ramie felt a killing intent sweeps at him from within the dome.


    ''This man is going to make a move!'' he concluded.


    Immediately, the wind shaped dome exploded outward, revealing the man inside.


    Ramie felt a deep killing intent locks on him. Obviously, he was the target of the man''s retaliation.


    Ramie did not know that the man suspected the azure gazelle king to be the killer first. However, and after seeing the attacks from the three of them, he singled him out as the prime suspect of his brother''s death.


    In response to the killing intent, Ramie swung the vine with the last bit of magic energy he had at the man ¨C to kill before he gets killed. At the same time, he threw himself to the side, to avoid that attack that he knew was coming for him.


    Boom!


    Rip!


    It happened at the same time¡­


    Ramie''s vine violently smashed at the man''s force field, causing it to flicker intensely.


    At the same time, a sharp, compressed grape-sized bullet of wind tore its way through the air at high speed toward ramie, giving off a sense that it could penetrate anything in this world.


    Although ramie had jumped virtually the same moment that the wind mage casted his spell, unfortunately¡­ the high velocity of the wind bullet was still something that ramie couldn''t evade with his average reaction speed, even despite knowing that the attack was coming.


    Rip!


    Like a high caliper sniper bullet ripping apart its way through thin, weak branch of tree, the wind bullet hit ramie at his left arm, a bit further the shoulder. The area of contact exploded apart violently, and with a splash of blood, his arm flew away, rotating.


    Ramie fell to the ground, and moved both of his arms to receive the ground¡­ however, only one arm responded to his will. As for the left arm, a torn tissues and the dripping blood was all what came to his field of vision.


    ''This¡­!''


    Staring at his shoulder, only few centimes of flesh were all what left from his left arm! He had lost an arm, just like that¡­!


    On the other end, the moment the dome of wind around the wind mage disappeared, the beam of lightening and the last few bullets from lance barraged the force field around him, causing it to flicker intensely at the same moment he shot an attack on ramie. Also, ramie''s vines smashed at him too.


    Under the intense assault of attacks, the force field was pushed to its limits, as it endured the pressure of the three way assaults. However, it still did not break apart.


    With a terrifying killing intent that raged with hatred in his eyes, the wind mage immediately casted his movement spell, kicking off a cloud of dust, as he fled off.


    Unfortunately, even despite their combined attack, the force field still endured the damage.


    It wasn''t strange. After all, that man was still rank-2 magician!


    So, even despite their numerical advantage, not to mention the summoned beast on their side, they could only force him to retreat. And that was only because his magic energy was running low, and not that they threatened his life or anything.


    None of them possessed an attack strong enough to break through that man''s defensive spell, which was completely understandable, given that it was rank-2 spell! As for the force field, if they could have hammered it with attack for a while more, then breaking through it wasn''t completely out of question. However, it wasn''t as if that man was stupid enough to give them that ''short while''


    ''The artifact¡­!''


    Shaking himself awake from his shock, ramie realized that his arm where the artifact was was cut off. However, before he could process the implication of losing his artifact, he saw the silver bracelet resting around his right arm''s wrist.


    Apparently, the strategy of cutting off the hand that had the artifact wasn''t effective.


    Looking at his shoulder, were his left arm was suppose to be connected, ramie was stunned.


    ''I can''t feel pain¡­ I can''t feel pain at all¡­ is it because that am is a state of shock¡­?''


    Ramie raised his head, and stared at the fleeing figure that was floating away in the distance.


    What he was feeling now ¨C was the most intense killing intent he had ever sensed thus far, even stronger than the killing intent of the snake headed beast.


    They did not win this battle, it was merely suspended. The menacing intention that he was perceiving from this man indicated that this fight was far from over.


    Ramie was certain that this man was not going to just flee and forget about them¡­!


    He was definitely going to attack them again! Most likely, the moment his magic energy recovers. Especially that now he was familiar with their spells. Chances were, the next attack he launches would be their death sentence. After all, the minced corpse on the ground was evidently his brother!


    With that thought in mind, ramie felt darkness creeps to his conscious¡­ he knew that he was going to pass out.


    Today, he had received a lethal hit to his chest, lost a lot of blood, and now he had lost an entire arm!


    His last thought before sinking in the world of darkness¡­ was hoping that his bloodline vitality was strong enough to stop his bleeding injury, and save his life.


    He hoped¡­ that the wind mage wouldn''t attack and kill him along with everyone while he''s unconscious.


    ***


    ''Shity author¡­ give me a break already, can''t I just be overpowered right from the beginning, like the rest of the MC''s¡­ And have beautiful women fawning over me for no reason at all?!'' this was the last thought ramie had, right before he passes out.


    ¡­

 Chapter 44: The compound

    Chapter 44: The compound


    "Am I¡­ dreaming¡­?"


    Ramie was gazing at the sky, in the far distance, where a man that was dressed in white cloak was actually fighting a giant dragon.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    The dragon was releasing one destructive energy beam after another, trying to hit the man, who was flying with great speed, dodging the relentless attacks.


    Every time one of these beams hits the ground, an explosion with destructive might that didn''t lose out to nuclear bombs would bloom at the place, creating a mushroom-shaped cloud of white flame that would engulf an area of few tenths of kilometers. The deafening booms and the shock-waves would spread even further.


    Ramie was exceedingly baffled by this sight¡­


    The last thing he could remember ¨C was losing his conscious after suffering a severe injury from the wind mage. Now however, he was floating in the middle of a huge crater in the ground. More ever, the crater was basically a sea of flame and molten lava. Yet¡­ he was floating there, perfectly fine, even though half of his body was submerged in the raging fire.


    Looking around, there were many craters. Ramie guessed that these were formed due to the intense battle between the mage that was dressed in white, and the flying dragon.


    "I''m definitely dreaming¡­ I know that now. But, why can''t I wake up¡­?"


    Ramie concluded that he was dreaming, because even despite the far distance, he could still make out even the expression of the magician, and he could even zoom in and out on anything in his field of vision.


    He was sure that he was dreaming, even despite how realistic the scene looked. Of course, he didn''t rule out the possibility that he was hallucinating. However, regardless of what this was, and giving that there was a strong enemy lurking on him and the others, he wanted to wake up, to face off that vindictive wind mage.


    Closing his eyes, and focusing his will, Ramie hoped that this action would wake him up from this dream.


    To his surprise, his vision grew blurry, and distant. ''It actually worked¡­!''


    Overjoyed, Ramie focused more and more. And as a result, his vision blurred even further.


    However, and before everything completely fades, Ramie started having a distant inexplicable feeling, a one that made him feel that this wasn''t a mere dream, that this was actually happening, that¡­ the result of this face off between the mage and the dragon, was going to impact everything, and every one.


    However, before he makes sense of this feeling¡­ everything vanished from his sight.


    ¡­


    Opening his eyes, the sight of white ceiling greeted his vision.


    His memories were a bit hazy and muddled. So, momentarily, he closed his eyes, to give his mind enough time to sort its things out.


    As memories started drafting back to him, one after another, Ramie''s eyes snapped open, violently. Then, jumping up from the bed, he started scanning his surroundings in apprehension.


    ''Where is the enemy..?''


    The last time he closed his eyes, things were a far cry from being good.


    "My arm¡­!"


    Looking at his left arm, it was there, without as much as a scratch on it.


    "How is this possible¡­?"


    He clearly remembered his arm being blown off by a spell. Yet, here it is, intact..!


    Ramie was stunned.


    He was now in a bedroom. The walls were new; the bed was new, everything was clean and new here. It was as if this room was only recently built, and every object in the room smelled new.


    ''Where am I¡­? Where is this place¡­?''


    His bewilderment was only growing now.


    The last thing he remembered was losing conscious while a very dangerous enemy was lurking on them. Yet now, he woke up in a bedroom!


    Cautiously, he opened the door, and started descending the stairs.


    He discovered that he was in a small, recently built house.


    The house was clean, and everything inside looked new and shiny, making him puzzled.


    Checking the house, no one was inside, making him wonder on where Lance and the rest were?


    Walking to the entrance door, he felt the life energy aura of a person approaching from the outside.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Ramie stopped in his track, took few steps back, and prepared to a possible confrontation.


    As the door was pushed open, a man walked in.


    "¡­ You''re awake¡­!"


    The man who opened the door was none other than Lance. More ever, he appeared to be stunned to see Ramie.


    Seeing that it was Lance, Ramie immediately asked: "What happened with that wind mage? Where is this place¡­?"


    Lance sighed in return; the look of surprise was still in his eyes: "Don''t worry about that, young fellow! We aren''t in any danger here. Also, there are few things you need to know. But before that, let''s go to the kitchen. You have to eat something. After all, it''s been a while since you last ate anything!"


    And so, Lance took Ramie to the kitchen, poured him meat stew to eat, and proceeded to explain things to him.


    Minutes passed by¡­


    The meat stew was basically few pieces of meat that were boiled in water, without any other ingredients. However, that was not the reason why Ramie didn''t touch it, but it was the stunning news that Lance was informing him with.


    "This¡­!"


    If it wasn''t for the seriousness in Lance''s tone, Ramie would have suspected that Lance was joking with him.


    Basically, the nightly confrontation with the wind magician had taken place a week ago, and not yesterday!


    After which, that man did not give up on exacting revenge on them. Apparently, he attacked them again while Ramie was unconscious, and had almost killed all of them, if it wasn''t for Reem taking part in the fight, and using her defensive spell and buff spell, which tipped the balance of the fight to their favor.


    After which, and failing to accomplish his goal, the black-clothed man took advantage of the fact that Ramie was unconscious, and he shot him with three spells to complete his unfinished business.


    Lance told Ramie that if it wasn''t for the summoned beast sensing his aura, they might have buried him along with Jeffry, thinking that he was dead. After all, the wounds were so severe that they didn''t think anyone can survive them.


    Anyhow, with such lethal wounds, none of them had any hope for him to live for long. They even prepared another grave for him, after finishing burying Jeffry. However, and luckily for him, the wounds on him started healing at frightening rate. Hence, he survived the burying part.


    Hearing this, Ramie gulped down few times, nervously. After all, he was really too close to being buried alive.


    Anyway, following Reem''s request, the summoned beast finally lowered his head a bit, and allowed them to mount his back. Thus, and using the azure gazelle king speed, they were able to finally escape that vengeful man.


    After escaping from that dangerous crisis, they crossed the border back to their country, and after some time, they found a remote residential compound, which was inhabited by around a 100 family.


    Luckily, those people allowed them in.


    Lance told him that all of this happened a week ago. And during this time, the tissues at the site of the cut on his arm were actually healing and growing at inhuman rate. And it went on until a completely new arm was formed.


    This made Ramie even more shocked with the monumental vitality his bloodline had provided him with.


    ''This bloodline can actually regenerate complete limbs¡­!''


    In Ramie''s mind, the drastic morphological change that he had gone through, suddenly no longer seemed that important at all! He was actually feeling happy now that he has gotten this type of artifact.


    It wasn''t weird of him to think as such. After all, it was undeniable that he was alive thus far only due to this bloodline.


    At any rate, hearing that the arrogant beast was the one to discover that he was still alive, Ramie was beyond grateful for that haughty beast now. After all, without him, he might have ended up been buried alive.


    ''So, we''re staying in the compound now¡­!'' Ramie started thinking.


    The housing crisis was an everlasting problem in country. And this compound was only one of the many new housing projects across the country.


    However, this particular compound was a rather failed project. As for the reason¡­ it was obviously due its remote location that was located in unpractical long distance away from the city, which meant that for the inhabitants to get access to schools, the market, their work places, and other facilities¡­ they''d have to cut a long distance to the city to get access to these basic services.


    That was the reason why in this residential compound, only small portion of the residential units were actually occupied by people. And that was only due to the very low coast they were offered at.


    Anyway, that was before the descent of the crisis. As for now, the biggest disadvantage of this compound ''Its secluded location,'' had actually turned into its biggest advantage!


    As a result, these people were almost completely isolated from the outside world. Thus, they avoided the unstoppable beasts tide. However, in the compound, and aside from him, Lance, Neil, and Reem, there are 19 warrior and 5 magicians with variant levels, which meant that they still faced their share of troubles, fought beast''s attacks and got cores, hence managing to level up.


    The highest level individual among them was a warrior that had reached the second level, while the five magicians were still in the first rank, with variant levels of artifacts.


    From that point, it was obvious that these people had already gone through trails of blood and death, and had suffered casualties. So, although their distant location had excluded them from the un-survivable initial beasts tide that had overturned the cities; they still got a whiff of the disaster, which showed them a glimpse of the horrors outside.


    After conversing for a while, Ramie''s expression turned bitter, as he said.


    "So, they did see my appearance!"


    "Am afraid they did¡­" Lance replied, with a sigh.


    "So, as long as I stay away from them, and do my share, they''re OK with me staying in the compound?" Ramie asked.


    "Yes." Lance nodded.


    In short, when they first came here, the Lv.2 warrior, who was something of a leader around, and the rest, saw his appearance.


    Apparently, that didn''t sit well with most of them. Some of them thought that he was possessed with a beast¡­ while others though that he was a beast disguising himself as human.


    They had almost chased them all away as a result.


    Luckily, three of them were magicians, while one was a warrior. Not to mention the strong summoned beast with them. So, giving the size of help they can lend in such terrible times, the Lv.2 warrior wasn''t as stupid as to chase such a significant force away. As such, they were granted entry with the condition that they take up a residence a bit further from the residents.


    This compound was composed of a 900 residential unit. And being a failed project, only around 100 were bought and occupied by families. As for the rest of the units, they were empty.


    Before the calamity descends, the occupied units were scattered throughout the compound, but now¡­ for the fear of beast attacks, the entire population relocated and clustered together in one side of the compound, for better protection.


    As for this house that Ramie and evidently Reem, Lance and Neil were living in now¡­ it was apparently a bit further from the gathering, not very far, and not very close.


    Ramie couldn''t help to smile bitterly at that, which given his dark-green nose-less face, wasn''t something pleasant to look at.


    Seeing that Lance was trying to not show any change in his expression, Ramie felt even bitterer. Thus, he added a mental note to always conceal his appearance.


    Actually, he was feeling very grateful for Lance, Reem, and Neil for not abandoning him, and for staying here, outside the cluster of protection, just for the sake of taking care of him.


    ''It seems that I owe those three a favor...''


    Also, he even felt grateful for the ''leader'' and the compound residents for letting someone ''so suspicious'' inside the compound in the first place.


    After all, aside from his humanoid appearance, he probably looked even more horrifying than the beasts, especially with those eyes of his. In fact, he did have the bloodline of a beast, which meant that the current him, was in reality, part human, and part beast.


    "It''s a good thing that you woke up this early. When they allowed us in, the leader gave us few conditions to follow. The first one is that we have to defend the compound in case of beasts attack. Second, we have to do our share of the daily tasks."


    "Tasks¡­?" Ramie inquired.


    "Well, this compound was fed with water through a pipeline from the city. However, now that there is no water supply in the city, naturally, there is no water supply here. So, to solve this problem; the compound sends an expedition to the nearby river to load water and then bring it here once every two days. We have to take part in protecting the load along the way."


    "As for the food problem, it is solved with a daily mission of hunting. We have to take part in that one as well."


    Having heard that, Ramie couldn''t help to ask: "Food? Do you mean wild animals¡­?"


    After all, there are around 300 individual here. Although they were around 400 individual prior to the crisis, however, after some attacks, a round 100 unlucky soul met its demise.


    Anyway, the remaining 300 were still too many mouths to feed.


    Lance smiled to him: "Actually, having stayed here for a week, we found that the beasts come in many types, just as Reem''s summon had said."


    "There are actually herbivorous beasts, and not just carnivorous ones. For example, this meat in the stew on the table; it came from a beast that had the size of an elephant, and is exceedingly similar to the buffalo animal! By the way, you should eat it. It tastes similar to cow''s meat¡­ only more delicious and nutritious. Seriously, go ahead and try. After all, there is no alternative source of food here."


    Hearing so, Ramie leaned toward the stew and sniffed: ''it really smells fragrant!''


    Ramie was very surprised. Immediately afterward, his stomach started to rumble, and drool began to gather in his mouth.


    Inspecting himself, he could see that he looked much thinner now, which made sense. After all, having fully recovered from such severe injuries, and even regenerated an entire arm. Not to mention that he had slept for a week without eating anything¡­ It was obvious that his body used up a lot of energy during this while.


    However, giving the situation when he last blacked out, and waking up in unknown place, he couldn''t afford to pay attention to minor issues such as how hungry he really was.


    Anyway, now that he knew the situation. And knowing that he was in a relatively safe place, the deep hunger was soon awakened like a raging monster. And his stomach voiced out it protest loudly.


    Picking up the spoon, and tasting the stew, Ramie was stunned.


    "How is it possible for anything to be this delicious¡­?"


    In response, Lance gave a wide smile to him: ''You should have tasted it when the compound still had salt. Anyway, have you checked the new information that all of the magicians seem to have received...?''


    ¡­

 Chapter 45: The first update?!

    Chapter 45: The first update?!


    "What information?" Ramie asked.


    "Well¡­ few days ago, the artifacts of Neil, Reem, and all of the magicians in the compound received a surge of information, a one that was called patch 1.0! ¡­ Yea, don''t give me that look. I assure you, I''m not joking here. Anyway, the surge of information contained missing parts of spells details, other general information, and about the respective path and class that every magician have. Apparently, and just like that morphing spell of yours, there are other magicians here in the compound that had spells with missing info. Some even had gotten only the spell name, with no mention of the spell''s effect, magic energy cost, or anything else. Those magicians had to test their spells in practice to learn their effects."


    "Evidently, this flow of new information provided some of the missing details to some spells, but not all of them¡­. Anyway, some of the magicians here said that the new information''s title suggests that new knowledge might be transmitted in the future."


    Hearing this, Ramie''s eyes instantly lit up. The moment he considered the fact that new information might have been transmitted to his mind, a drift of fresh memories rushed to him¡­ It was as if he had read book about these information not long ago, and the moment he thought about the book''s title, the content soon drifted to him from the memory.


    ''So, even I got new information¡­'' in a moment, a considerable load of memories flashed by Ramie''s focus, and he comprehended them all, without any effort, as if he had already read and memorize them before.


    Instantly, his morphing spell details were updated. The missing information that mentioned this spell and its effect appeared to Ramie.


    ''I wonder¡­ if I had been aware of these changes at the time, would I still cast it¡­?''


    Shaking this thought away, Ramie shifted his focus to the next part, the one that was regarding his bloodline.


    < The subterranean ghost tree is a special type of beasts that belongs to the neutral alignment. This beast possesses two paths; the plant path, a sub-branch of the wood path, and the ghost path, a sub-branch of the soul path. >


    < The plant path of the subterranean ghost tree granted it a powerful survivability that only few other entities could match since the ancient times. This beast is wildly known for being one of the hardest creatures to kill. Also, this beast is known to have an extreme vitality. >


    < The ghost path ¡­ >


    Seeing the information regarding the plant path, Ramie was overjoyed, as to him, the ability to survive was the most important thing. He knew that this bloodline would definitely increase his chances of surviving. However, and upon seeing that the ghost path general details were missing, he could only let out a sigh of disappointment.


    ''Maybe it''s because the ghost path spells are still sealed¡­.''


    Even though the ghost path info''s were still missing, but his evaluation of his bloodline increased yet again.


    Moving to other parts, Ramie finally knew why he has gotten this particular type of artifact, and why it had to be the bloodline artifact that contained the subterranean ghost tree bloodline essence in particular.


    Apparently, his innate spell that his artifact had yet to process ¨C was a soul based spell!


    Generally, the magician''s path in magic is dependent on the type of innate spell that he has. And that was the main criteria that determine what type of artifact any magician gets. For instant, Neil had the fire manipulation innate spell, which is why he had gotten the elemental type artifact, the one that unlocks fire based spells for him.


    Ramie on the other hand, had an innate spell that belonged to the soul path. Hence, and since there was no type of artifacts that was solely dedicated to the soul path, Ramie got the best next thing, a bloodline artifact that holds a type of bloodline belonging to a beast that can use ghost path spells, which was a sub-branch of the soul path.


    This was the only reason why Ramie got this artifact. As for the plant path aspect of this bloodline, it was of no great use to Ramie on the long run. As to why, it was because Ramie had no aptitude to the plant path at all. Hence, when he uses the plant type spell in his artifact, he''ll be able to only exert 50-80% of their full potential.


    In the first place, the only reason why he was able to use the green vine spell was because of the bloodline. However, and even with that, Ramie was only able to apply less that 70% of the true power of the vines, and why he was only able to control two vines at a time, while according to the new information, it should have been at least four.


    Of course, on the other hand, Ramie did have a soul based innate spell, even though it has yet to be processed by the artifact. However, still, this meant that when Ramie finally unlocks the ghost path spells, and due to it being a sub-branch of the soul path, he will theoretically be able to cast them in their full potential, plus a boost, giving the high compatibility of this path with his aptitude.


    According to the new information, Ramie''s artifact will unseal the ghost path spell the next time he upgrades it.


    This made his blood boils at the prospect of advancing his artifact: ''According to the new information, my aptitude with the soul path means that I''m the most compatible with the ghost path aspect of this bloodline. This means that in the future, I should focus on unlocking the ghost path spells, at the expense of the plant path, as I can exert the most efficiency with them¡­"


    Thinking of the matter of upgrading his artifact, Ramie recalled something, and asked Lance with anticipation: "Mr. Lance, have you gotten the gemstone?" he really wanted to advance his artifact the fastest possible, to increase his power.


    In response, Lance''s expression froze, and an expression of embarrassment clouded his face.


    "Actually¡­ regarding the matter¡­ I-I¡­" he struggled for awhile, before forcing out few words: "Actually, the wind mage took it¡­!"


    Having heard these words, Ramie''s facial muscles twitched, violently, to the point of convulsing his face. However, and seeing the terrible expression on Lance, he suppressed his emotions, and did his best to comfort him.


    This was truly not Lance''s fault.


    In the first place, only the magician received the information, through their artifacts. As for the warriors, they were as clueless as the rest of the people. Not only regarding the maters of warriors, magicians, and beasts, but they even had no idea about their own life energy.


    Without a magician around to tell them these matters, they were completely oblivious to everything.


    As for Lance not having any idea about the gemstones matter, it was naturally because that Ramie and the other two didn''t discuss it around him. If fact, the three of them did not discuss much either, as these info''s were already common sense to them. They only spoke of things that were related to their current situation.


    After the confrontation, Ramie and Neil were unconscious, while Reem had just lost her father, and was still wallowing in her trauma. Hence, and given that Lance was clueless to the gemstone, the wind mage retrieve it after launching his second attack on them.


    In short, the gemstone was gone because of the miscommunication between them.


    ''It seems that from now on, either I or Neil should explain some of the artifact knowledge to Lance, to avoid repeating this type of mistake again¡­''


    After another while of discussion with Lance regarding the compound, Ramie understood the current situation.


    Ramie also learned another deciding factor on why the compound group allowed them in.


    Apparently, the two brothers that had ambushed them back then, had actually killed three magicians here in the compound. And even despite being surrounded, they still managed to escape safely.


    Those two were simply way too adept at escaping, which wasn''t much of a surprise. As one of them was rank-2 wind magician while the other had a rare graded artifact that granted him an invisibility spell.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    So, learning that this new group of refugee had actually killed one of the ''demonic'' brothers, the compound leader allowed them in even despite the reluctance and objections of some of the inhabitants. After all, the two ''demonic'' brothers were also outsiders. Hence, not many were excited to host more people from the outside.


    ¡­


    After finishing the abnormally delicious meat stew, Ramie put on overly concealing clothes, which covered everything. As for his face, he put on a scarf.


    His clothes were the same ones he has gotten in the city, except for the hoodie, which was new. Lance told him that it was Reem who had washed his clothes and got this new hoodie from the inhabitants for him.


    "It''s almost 8:00 am. The hunting expedition is about to set off. So, we should get going now." Lance said to Ramie.


    Every day, a hunting expedition sets off to bring food for the compound. And one of the conditions for them to stay here was that they took part in this expedition.


    Walking out of the house, Lance led Ramie to a certain direction.


    After walking for a short distance, the two finally walked into inhabited streets.


    Everyone they saw on the way greeted Lance enthusiastically, as though they were greeting their work place superior.


    As for the reason, it was because he was a warrior!


    Lance had told Ramie had warriors get a very special treatment around here, in all aspects. He told him with an amused smile, that so far, two families actually tried to marry their daughters to him, as a way to form connection with a strong individual.


    "Someone your age shouldn''t make such unbelievable lies." Ramie rolled his eyes at such boastful words.


    "Hehahaha¡­ actually, I''m not lying."


    "Oh¡­! Seriously¡­?" Ramie was now taken a bit. "¡­How old were they?"


    "Late twenties, and mid thirties, based on the pictures they sent me." Lance answered, with smile.


    Now, Ramie was really stunned.


    "Hahahahah!" In response, Lance exploded laughing. "Actually, I was only kidding when I said it happened to me. But seriously speaking, these kinds of things had indeed happened here. I wasn''t joking about this part. But it happened for the younger warriors, not the old ones me. These people here¡­ seem to be willing to do anything to form a connection with the families that produced warriors or magicians. However, considering the situation, I really can''t blame them."


    Ramie turned silent at these words.


    The original inhabitants in the city numbered around 400. However, after few beasts'' attacks, that number dwindled down to 300, which showed how tragic these encounters were.


    Among the deceased, the overwhelming majority were obviously among the families that did not produce a warrior or a magician.


    Although all of the inhabitants were clustered in a single area, still, when flock of beasts attack, the warrior and magician wouldn''t be able to fight with their all, if they thought that their families might be in risk, which would lead to a poor performance at best case or the complete crumple of the battle formation in worst cases.


    So, to avoid such undesirable outcome, the compound leader had the families and the relatives of the warriors and magicians to live in the center of the cluster, in houses that were fortified with metallic rails and sand bags. Also, when a large flock of beasts attacks, everyone was required to fight. The only exception for that were the families of the warriors and magicians.


    The favoritism did not stop there, but was even extended to the distributed amounts of water, food, and other resources, with the warriors and magicians families receiving extra portions.


    For these reasons, the families that did not produce warriors or magicians were very desperate to form a connection with either the warriors, magicians, or their respective families. It was really a matter of life and death for them.


    It wasn''t for the other privileges as much as being allowed to move to the central, safe area.


    Anyway, genes seemed to play a role on the matter, as the 19 warriors, and 5 magicians had actually came from only an 11 family.


    From the 19 warriors, only 3 were females, while 2 of the 5 magicians were females, with the rest being males. The three magicians that were killed at the hand of the demonic brothers were actually a family of father, mother and a daughter.


    In any case, the treatment that the families of warriors and magicians received made it so that others were willing to do anything to form any type of connection with these powerful individual.


    It wasn''t only through marriage, but some even wanted these families to adopt their children. After all, the savage attacks of beasts made it crystal clear that a mere knife or a machete was tragically insufficient for the families to protect their children or even themselves through these dark times. It was in the nature of people to want the best for their children.


    Anyway, as Ramie followed Lance, he could see how respectful the people acted toward Lance. It could be even said that they were acting excessively respectful, to the point of humbling themselves.


    As for Ramie, they were acting cautiously toward him, with many even casting fearful looks at him and taking the initiative to distance themselves away from him.


    Of course, Ramie did not blame them for it. In fact, these kinds of reactions were still less severe than he had expected.


    Walking for a while, the two finally reached the entrance of the compound.


    The compound was surrounded with a three meter tall wall, and it had two entrances. One entrance was blocked with three flipped over trucks, and a long hill of stacked blocks, to prevent anything from getting into the compound. As for the other entrance, it was sealed by wooden wall that was composed of two rows of thick tree trunks fixed together to form a three meters tall barrier that was used to block the entrance. Then, two trucks were placed behind it to reinforce it. This entrance was the only way in and out of the compound.


    For the entrance to be opened, the two trucks had to move away, and the wooded barrier had to be pulled to the sides by the trucks.


    This barrier was made after the catastrophe, by cutting down some trees and fixing them into a double-layered makeshift gate to seal off the entrance.


    As Ramie followed Lance, he saw two men, each get in one of the two vehicles that were being used to support the wooden barrier. Then, the two trucks were driven back. Afterward, he saw few people tie few ropes at the far side of the barrier to the trucks and then pull the barrier to the side, to make a path to the outside.


    "We''ll be using those trucks for the hunt." Lance said to Ramie as he pointed at another three trucks that were stopping in a row to the side.


    Walking toward these trucks, where few people were standing, Lance waved Ramie to wait, while he went to inform the compound leader that Ramie had woke up, and that he''s here to do his part.


    Ramie saw Lance walk toward a certain man that was standing to the side, overseeing everything.


    As those people saw him and Lance, all of them casted a variant looks at him. After all, with his hoodie and the concealed face, it wasn''t hard to figure out that he was the suspicious magician that was the central topic of many discussions for the past week.


    Few, casted him curious looks, while the majority threw him cautious, alert, fearful, and some even had a dark expressions as they glared at him.


    The main problem why those people did not trust him was because no magician was able to get any reading of his stats! And although this particularity might mean that Ramie simply had a high rarity grade artifact. Another possibility was that he might be a beasts disguising as human, or at least that how these people thought.


    Anyway, this made the people here very suspicious of him.


    Facing that kind of pressure, Ramie actually felt relieved in his heart.


    Although he wasn''t someone who is used to such intensive, focused glares¡­ however, considering the horrifying scenarios he had imagined when others sees his appearance, this reaction of these people was rather light.


    To him, as long as others don''t attack him on sight, it was acceptable. After all, this compound was to him a mere stop in his way, regardless of how long he stays her. To him, the destination was the capital. So he did not really need the acceptance of these people.


    As long as they allow him to stay here, do not attack him, and leave him to his business, it was fine with him.


    Ramie stood waiting not very far from the group, so, he was able to sense their auras.


    He sensed 15 aura of life energy radiating from 15 individuals. As for the magic aura, he sensed only 3.


    Scanning the warriors, a multitude of warrior''s stats popped up to him.


    4%, 9%, 12%, 18%, 20%, 31%, 45%, 60%, 86%¡­


    ''Some of them are actually stronger than Lance¡­!'' Ramie thought to himself.


    Then, Ramie threw a scrutinizing look at the man that Lance was talking with. Unsurprisingly, that man was radiating the strongest aura that Ramie had felt form any human so far, much stronger than the aura of the bald man back in the bakery store.


    Lv.2 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 2%


    This man''s aura was actually close to the wicked dog beast aura. Ramie felt pressurized even though he was standing a distance away from him.


    That man''s aura gave off much purer and denser feeling than Lance''s aura. It also felt more oppressive and heavier. It made Ramie feel that if this man wanted him dead, no one here would be able to save him.


    The difference between the life energy of different levels of warriors was both qualitative and quantitative.


    According to the knowledge from the artifact, rank-2 magicians had a force field as a distinctive feature of the second rank. As for the Lv.2 warriors, their life energy undergoes a tremendous change upon breaking through to the second level.


    That change generated an unbreakable gap between Lv.1 warriors and Lv.2 warriors.


    The density of Lv.2 warrior''s life energy was much thicker and purer than Lv.1 warrior, which made it so that even if several Lv.1 warriors with life energy ignition of 99% were to fight against a single Lv.2 warrior with life energy ignition of 1%, they would still be unable to beat him. As the boost that life energy of the second level gives to the physical abilities is way higher than the first level. Also, the defense of the second level life energy is much superior to the defensive effect of the first level.


    The Lv.2 warrior that Lance was talking to appeared to be in his mid 40s. He was a short man with dignified complexion. His posture was straight. His features were ordinary, with his long mustache being the only notable thing about his face. There was unconcealed sharpness emitting from his narrow eyes.


    Over all, he looked imposing, but not dangerous, even despite his radiating strength.


    According to Lance, he was Gregory, the compound leader that allowed them in. However, no one in the compound dared to call him with his name, but with titles such as boss or leader.


    As Lance spoke with him, the compound leader looked over at Ramie. And the moment his gaze landed on him, Ramie felt an indescribably pressure assaulted over at him.


    Ramie was now rally stunned. This pressure was intense to the point that made him felt as though a tangible weight was pressing on him.


    ''So this is the might of Lv.2 warriors¡­!''


    The pressure lasted for few seconds before it vanished. Lance then turned at waved at Ramie to join them.


    Waking over, and then standing beside Lance, Ramie spoke directly: "Thanks for letting us in!"


    "No problem!" the man replied indifferently.


    "Can you show me your eyes?" The compound leader said without any change in his expression.


    Ramie was taken by the question. But he recovered in a moment; they had already seen his appearance and eyes. So, seeing them again was nothing now.


    As such, he pulled down the scarf that covered his face, and pulled up the hood a bit, revealing his frightening, inhuman eyes.


    The compound leader looked directly at his eye for a while, without even blinking. Then opening his mouth, he asked: "Are you a beast?"


    Lance''s expression changed immediately, he wanted to say something. However, before he manages to explain, Ramie answered without a single fluctuation in his tone.


    "No!"


    "Do you have any malicious intent against us?"


    "No!" Ramie answered firmly, again.


    Lance''s eyes darted between the two, nervously, as if wanting to say something.


    Actually, when the compound leader asked him to reveal his eyes, Ramie could feel an intense sense of alarm in the leader''s intent. And when he looked at his eyes directly, and asked him the two questions, Ramie could feel that this man was merely on alert against him, without any malicious or a killing intent.


    Ramie immediately knew that this man was testing him. As, when he answered his first question, denying that he was a beast, he felt the intensity of this man''s intent drops a bit, which confirmed that this man was not targeting him out of a bad intention, but was more like taking care of his own people. So, Ramie complied and answered truthfully. After all, he really had no bad intention toward these people.


    Then, when he answered the second question, he felt the man''s intent relaxes completely, which made him very confused. He had no idea on how did this man knew that he was answering truthfully.


    ''Was it hunch? Experience in dealing with people, maybe?''


    Ramie had no idea on why did this man believed him in the first place.


    "Good! As long as you don''t do anything wrong, or hurt anyone, you can stay here for the short run. Also, hence forth, you''re required to take part in the hunting expeditions, as per the schedule. Mr. Lance, I leave guiding him to you!" The compound leader said to Ramie, before addressing Lance.


    Just like that, the first exchange between Gregory and Ramie was over.


    On the side, lance let heaved a sigh of relief.


    After awhile, Ramie, Lance, 15 warrior, and three magicians got into the three trucks, and after all of the preparation was done, the three trucks moved out for the hunting mission. The wooden barrier was pulled from the other side to seal off the entrance after them. As for the rest of the warriors and magicians, they were left to defend the compound in case of beasts'' attacks.


    At the cargo bed, in the back of the truck, Ramie sat with Lance, along with other six warriors.


    In an extremely awkward scene, all of the eyes were glaring hard at Ramie.


    "Why do I feel like I''m naked or something!" Ramie said to lance in loud voice, in attempt to joke, to lighten the mood.


    However, none of them laughed, and instead, they glared at him even harder.


    ¡­

 Chapter 46: The beasts flock attack (1)

    Chapter 46: The beasts'' flock attack (1)


    As the three trucks moved on the way, Ramie could still feel few glares falling on him every once awhile.


    He still did not know whether this type of perception was one of his bloodline abilities, or it was his ''unknown'' innate spell. Anyway, this enabled him to perceive the intents behind the gazes of people once they cast their intention directly at him. Even if he was closing his eyes, he could still perceive the type of intents, their intensity, and even the direction where these intents coming from.


    To him, this ability was as useful as his abnormal vitality, as these two abilities played a massive role in his survival thus far.


    Scanning everyone around, Ramie saw that everyone in the truck was actually relaxed. As for the reason behind such behavior, it was clearly because the compound leader was with them.


    Seeing the way everyone looks at that man, it was very obvious that they held a great respect toward him.


    Lance had told him that the reason why only 100 inhabitants died thus far and not everyone¡­ was mainly due to this leader.


    Anyway, it was quite obvious how tragic the first few days of the crisis were on these people, which showed in their hardened expressions and their high life energy ignition percents, indicating the severity of battles they went through.


    It was at that turbulent time that the compound leader made his contribution, earning him the respect of the people.


    Anyhow, after all they went through, these people were elites now. And the harmless vibe that people living in peaceful times usually give off¡­ was all but erased from them by now.


    Looking at the warrior with him in the truck back, ramie saw that each and every one of them was holding a long spear. These spears all had a shaft that was made of metal, with their heads made of beasts'' bones!


    This was one of the ideas that the compound leader had come up with.


    The metal bars with sharpened heads failed most of the time in penetrating the tough defense of the beasts, thus, the compound leader came up with the idea to use the bones of the beasts that they hunt, which were very hard, sturdy, and light in weight, to make weapons to fight the beasts.


    And it worked, amazingly.


    In fact, this particularity was one of the contributing factors of why they had survived thus far. It had even raised the effectiveness of warriors in battles by a huge margin. After all, what was the point of having strength if there were no tools to manifest this advantage in a direct fight? In the end, even the beasts had weapons that suited their competitive advantages, which came in the form of fangs and claws.


    So, obviously, the warriors needed weapons too, to better exert their strength.


    Anyway, it weren''t only the warriors that were offered these spears, magicians and ordinary people too. Ramie himself got a spear, albeit a short one, the same as the other magicians and ordinary people, as his strength wasn''t sufficient to effectively use a heavy long spear.


    There weren''t only spears in the compound, but other weapons too, also made of beasts'' bones. However, the reason why the majority seems to favor spears¡­ it was because the spear was a very easy weapon to use for the none-trained. It was just point and thrust. This was something that everyone was able to do.


    Anyway, with the sharp bony ends, any simple thrust could inflict an injury. And this way, everyone could do his role in fighting the beasts, albeit only the weaker ones.


    After a while on the road, the three trucks finally reached a certain hill, and were parked behind it.


    Immediately, and as if they had done it many times before, the warriors and magicians got off the trucks, weapons in hand, and hurried to the top of the hill.


    The hill top was flat, and was filled with large rocks. Everyone moved in ducked posture among the rocks, to stay hidden. Then, after reaching the edge of the hill top at a certain direction, they peered ahead.


    No one said anything to Ramie, but he did as the rest, wordlessly. After all, Lance had already told regarding this matter.


    In short, this rocky hill top was very suitable to hide them and give them a very good sight at the river. This river was exactly the hunting site where they usually get their preys.


    Peering over at the river, ramie was now really stunned.


    At the riverbank, a large number of beasts on both sides of the river could be seen drinking water. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some beasts were alone, while others were in hordes.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The sight was just like a documentary of wild life. Except in this documentary, mythical creatures were the norm.


    "Do you see the horde of gigantic buffalo-like beasts? That''s our goal!"


    Beside ramie, Lance spoke in low voice.


    Ramie''s line of sight fell on the horde of buffaloes following Lance''s words.


    Those buffalo-like beasts were as Lance''s words implied, very similar in their morphology to the buffaloes. Except that they were larger¡­ almost as large as an elephant.


    Ramie couldn''t help wonder on what was the hunting strategy here, as the number of beasts ahead wasn''t small at all.


    As if hearing his thoughts, Lance spoke again in low voice:"these beasts that you see on the riverbank are all herbivorous beasts. All of them only go active at daytime, and retreat to their hideout in the nighttime. But make no mistake; they are as formidable as the counterpart carnivorous beasts. And perhaps more, as most of them live in hordes that are overseen by tier-2 beast. And similar to the carnivorous beasts, they also fell under the division of normal beasts that had life energy cores, and magical beast that have magic energy cores."


    Hearing these words, ramie went in deep thoughtful. ''Overseen by tier-2 beasts¡­!'' however, he wasn''t very surprised. After all, Reem''s summoned beast was an obvious example that herbivorous beasts can also be as formidable as carnivorous ones.


    Lance continued: "these buffalo-like beasts had strong sense of unity, making it is practically a suicide to try hunting any of them in the open, in front the horde."


    "Few days ago, we went after one of them and killed it in one attack. However, and before we know it, the rest rushed at us and even killed two warriors! If it weren''t for the compound''s leader immediate action, a lot of us would have died here. So, when you kill one of them, be sure that the rest don''t recognize you as the killer, otherwise¡­"


    At the hill base, ramie saw the compound leader sneaks into another even lower hill nearby, holding two thick, long spears.


    Lance spoke again: "Do you see the compound leader down there? He was once a prominent javelin thrower! He had even won few medals at the national level! Anyway, the reason why we no longer lost anyone in these days, was because that''s how he hunts these beasts now ¨C from a distance!"


    Ramie was amazed that this man was actually able to hunt in this manner. After all, the distance between the hill he was stationed at and the closest buffalo beast was few hundreds of meters!


    Seeing that the compound leader assumed a posture, ramie observed carefully.


    Putting down one spear on the ground, the compound leader held one in his hand, scanned the location of the beasts, and then walked back few meters.


    Then, and like a predator, charging at its prey, he exploded into motion, in a speed that ramie didn''t think was possible for human to move at.


    Bang!


    The compound leader kicked off the ground with his leg violently, propelling his body forward in a sudden acceleration, like a race car. Then, and dashing several meter ahead with explosive momentum, he reached the hill edge in a split second, before suddenly and violently twisting his body in a sudden motion, transferring all of his gained momentum into the spear, as he shot it out toward the horde of beasts in the distance.


    The might of Lv.2 warrior was fully displayed to ramie.


    ''This man might be actually able to fight that wicked dog beast head on!''


    When ramie first felt the aura of the tier-2 wicked dog beast back in the city, he didn''t think that it was power a human could ever contend with¡­ but now, and seeing the power and speed of this man, he couldn''t help to get excited at the prospect of leveling up his artifact, to see how much of effect would his spells have once he advances their rank.


    ''Sailing through the wind,'' wasn''t a proper description of how the spear was traveling ¨C instead, saying that it was ripping its way through the air was more accurate of a description to its high velocity.


    This compound leader was obviously adept at the javelin throwing sport!


    With a pained cry, one of the buffalo-like beasts fell to the ground, while only half the spear shaft was apparent, protruding from its back.


    Clamor! Clamor! Clamor! Clamor!


    As one of them fall, the buffalo beasts started howling in rage as they trampled on the ground violently, looking for the killer.


    Dust rose in the air and smaller beasts started running away to avoid being trampled to death by the angry horde.


    The compound leader didn''t stop there, but he picked up the other spear, and repeated the process once more.


    However, this time, the spear missed, and instead, it cracked one large rock near the riverbank in half.


    After a short while, the fallen buffalo went still. Afterward, and seeing the death of one of them, the horde clamored for a while before running off to the distant.


    Ramie was now really astonished.


    Just this easily, an elephant-sized beast went down from such a distance!


    This manner of hunting was really unique, and obviously effective and safe.


    ''No wonder everyone holds this man in such a degree of admiration and respect¡­!''


    Actually, the treatment the compound leader received wasn''t baseless. After all, he was the strongest man around in incredibly dark and chaotic times, where strength was the deciding factor of who lives and who dies.


    Especially now, that there is new specie at the top of the food chain, a one that even the modern weapons could not match its might.


    Of course, if the threat was only the first tier beasts, then the humans might not have fallen to such desperate state. Unfortunately¡­ this wasn''t the case.


    As the horde of the beast fled away, a large area around the riverbank was cleared of beasts. Of course, it wasn''t as if all of the beasts in the distance or on the other side of the river fled away, but only the beasts in this particular area.


    What happened afterward was just as lance told him. Even despite the presence of beasts, the group drove the three trucks to the river side, and in organized manner, they loaded the corpse of the buffalo beasts in an exceedingly short time. Of course, the biggest helper was the compound leader, as he was Lv.2 warrior with superior strength.


    Throughout the process, the compound leader was constantly radiating his life energy, as a form of deterrence, to prevent any beast from attacking.


    The other beast did not attack, and minded their own business. Ramie detected many beasts with peak tier-1 levels, which acted indifferently to their presence. Probably, because these beasts weren''t afraid that they can threaten them, which was due to the beast''s individual strength or due to them being in hordes.


    Anyway, seeing a chance to gain some trust from the group, ramie projected two green vines to help them in the loading process. After all, it would be more convenient and easier for him if the others didn''t raise their guard against him all the time.


    This wasn''t the only reason why ramie wanted to help. As after giving it some thoughts, he concluded that it was highly possible that they might suffer some beasts'' attacks in the future, and that he would have to fight in a life and death battles with these warriors and magicians. So, in such scenario, it would be better for him to have some allies that are willing to help in times of need.


    As for the other reason, his fight with the two demonic brothers made it obvious to him that his lack of pure offensive of defensive spells means that it wasn''t safe for him to fight beasts alone. As for his green vine spell, it was only supportive spell, with an offensive aspect to it. As such, it would be better for him in the future if he partnered up with others, and play the role of supportive magician, at least until he unlocks offensive and defensive spells.


    Having projected the vines, and displayed the maximum output of strength that he could exert, even the compound leader was surprised at the sight.


    After all, even though Ramie could not exert the vines full potential, due to him lacking the aptitude for the wood and plant paths, the green vine was still rare grade spell. So, even at part of its potential, it could still be considered a strong common graded spell.


    Some of the group exclaimed in surprise. The green vine spell strength was impressive to them, and in these times, strong individuals were always welcomed. However, in return, some distanced themselves even further away from him, and felt even more alarmed.


    Anyway, seeing that he had successfully stirred the interest of the three magicians in the group, which approached him, and even throw some words of praise, Ramie knew that his display gave the desirable effect.


    After all, the magicians'' standing in the compound came second only to the compound leader. Which wasn''t weird, as the power that their offensive spells could produce was much higher than a warrior on the same equivalent level.


    This point was obvious when Neil killed the snake-headed beasts that lance was defeated against.


    Finishing the loading process, without any incident, the group went back to the compound on the same path they had come through.


    ¡­

 Chapter 47: The beasts flock attack (2)

    Chapter 47: The beasts'' flock attack (2)


    After loading up the buffalo beast on the truck, the hunting group returned back to the compound on the same path they came through.


    During the way back, everyone maintained a state of high alarm, ready to spring in action the moment any beast pops up on them.


    Luckily, nothing eventful happened. And they returned safely back to the compound with the fat prey.


    ¡­


    Inside the compound...


    Getting off the trucks, the three magicians approached Ramie and initiated a friendly chat. Apparently, they were curious regarding his bloodline artifact, and differences were between his bloodline path and their elemental path.


    The three magicians were two men; one seemed to be in late thirties, he was somewhat a fat man with amiable face, while the other was in his early twenties, he was a short man. The woman on the other hand, was in her early or mid fifties. The two men had elemental artifacts with fire class for both of them. As for the woman, she too was of elemental path, but her class was water, and not fire. Of course, the three of them had common grade artifact.


    According to the transmitted knowledge; the elemental path artifacts were the most numerous among the artifact''s types, which is why Ramie wasn''t surprised to see their stat screens.


    Finishing unloading the prey, the warriors started dissecting the carcass into smaller pieces of meat to store for tomorrow''s consumption, lance was working with them. Ramie and the three magicians started walking toward the housing area, while chatting and exchanging experience.


    The standing of the magicians here was higher than warriors on the same rank, as their spells granted them a variety of attacks that could kill beasts in safe ranges. This made the magicians effective against the flying beasts that were capable of conducting ranged attacks from the air¡­ which was something the warriors were helpless against.


    Actually, it wasn''t only the offensive spells of the magicians that distinguished them from warriors, but it was some of the defensive spells, that not only could it be applied to themselves, but can also be used on warriors and others, which was of great help in group fights.


    As for the supportive spells, their efficiency was self explanatory. It wasn''t an over estimation to say that one magician with the right spell on the right timing was a trump card that can change the outcome of a battle.


    Anyway, now that the three magicians were able to get passed his appearance and treat him normally, it meant that it was only a matter of time before the others catch up. Of course, none of the three got to the issue of his looks, and they pretended that it didn''t exist, which suited Ramie.


    During the conversation, the three magicians showed a great interest in Ramie''s green vine spell, and even displayed a bit of envy about how lucky he was to get his special grade artifact that gave him a huge magic energy pool. Apparently, the two fire magicians had offensive spells that could only be used few times before completely exhausting their magic energy, while the female magician only had defensive spells with similarly high magic energy requirements.


    From the conversation, it was becoming very obvious to Ramie the huge gap between different grades of artifacts rarity. It made him look forward upgrading his artifact rank, and obtain even more magic energy.


    He asked the magicians on why didn''t the compound leader kill other beasts at the river and extract their cores to help them upgrade. To which, they answered that the small beasts didn''t have cores in their bodies, which made them essentially like wild animals. As for the beasts with cores, they were usually part of hordes that were overseen by tier-2 beasts. They told him that they had made the mistake of attacking one of these beasts and take its core. However, that day, the compound was attacked by the tier-2 beast of the same type as the beasts they had hunted, and it killed a dozed of people in the compound before retreating.


    From that point onward, they refrained from hunting anything other than the buffalo-beasts. As even after hunting few of them, no tier-2 beast came for retaliation.


    This was the reason why for the moment, only the buffalo beasts were in the hunting list.


    Although there might be other beasts that aren''t protected by tier-2 beast, but unless they are out of options, the leader ordered to stick with the buffalo beast for the mean time, and not go after other kinds. At least, not before they grow strong enough to handle the tier-2 beast.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    After parting way with the three magicians, Ramie went straight to the house he woke up in.


    According to Lance, Neil had received a crippling injury in his shoulder, from the rank-2 magician''s attack. As for Reem, she had lost her father in that tragic nightly battle. Among them, she was the one that has lost the most, and with her delicate personality that hasn''t seen much suffering in life, Ramie wanted to see how she was coping with the new reality.


    Reem''s summoned beast was able to sense aura of other beasts and humans. So, that made him a perfect detector for danger. Hence, Reem was exempt from going out for hunt, and she was tasked to stay within the compound and alarm the others in case her beast detects any sneaking beast.


    This naturally made her very important in the compound. Lance told Ramie that the compound leader wanted to relocate them to the center of the living area, where the inhabitants were concentrated, to better protect her.


    However, and because Reem refused to relocate by herself, insisting that Ramie had to be included with them, they stayed here.


    This naturally made Ramie feel grateful for the petite girl. It made him feel even sorrier for her tragic lose.


    At first, he was a bit worried that she might blame him for her father''s death. After all, he was the target for that attack. Yet, he was now alive and kicking while her father was buried. However, the act of her refusing to leave him alone indicated otherwise. It also spoke of how kind and compassionate this girl was.


    ''It seems that I have a great debt to repay now¡­'' Ramie added a mental note to repay this favor to Reem when she needs it the most.


    Returning to the house, Ramie saw Neil.


    "You actually woke up!" surprised to see Ramie, Neil uttered.


    "It seems so!" Ramie answered with a light smile.


    Of course, due to his covered face, Neil didn''t know that he was smiling.


    "Your arm¡­" Neil''s eyes involuntarily moved to Ramie''s arm and he stared at it for a good while.


    "¡­" Ramie felt awkward at this situation. According to the doctors who lived in the compound, the damage Neil suffered wasn''t light, and it had rendered him cripple. Now, Neil lost 90% of his entire arm''s motor functions.


    While, on the other hand, Ramie had his entire arm severed off his body. And he even received several lethal blow to his chest. But now¡­ not only has he completely healed, he even re-grew an entire arm!


    It was hard for Neil not to compare his condition to Ramie.


    Cough!


    With slight fake cough, Ramie wanted to change the subject. Hence, he said:"How do you spend your time here?"


    Snapping back to his senses, Neil felt a bit embarrassed. He smiled bitterly, "With my arm''s injury, am afraid there isn''t much I can do. So, they tasked me to stay in the compound and partake in the guarding duties."


    Hearing his answer, it was obvious from his tone that his injury had left a deep impact on him.


    To dispel the awkwardness, Ramie kept chatting with him until Reem came.


    "Look who woke up!" Neil said to her the moment she walked into the house.


    Along with Reem, another girl that appeared to be 18 or 19 walked in. According to what Lance had said, her name was Etta, and she was very shy girl. In the entire compound, Reem was the only person this girl talks to.


    Apparently, at the beginning of the crisis, this girl and her family resorted to the compound to seek protection. However, after the passing of several ordeals on the compound, she was now the only surviving members of her entire family.


    Thus, after they came here, she connected with Reem almost immediately, and in a very short time, the two became inseparable friends. Right now, the two of them occupied the upper floor in this house, leaving the ground floor for Lance and Neil.


    Talking with Reem, Ramie could see that although she was acting normally, the air of loss and pain around about her gave away her feelings. She was evidently still in grieving period.


    Lance had told him that she usually busies herself in doing various tasks in day time and act normally around everyone, however, and once she''s alone, or tries to sleep, she would immediately burst in tears. He told him that they could often hear sobbing sounds from her room.


    After an hour of chatting, Lance arrived. He told them that the two tankers were sent to the river and brought the water. Having taken part in hunting team, they were exempt from the water task.


    Afterward, everyone went to sleep, even though it was still day time. Apparently, this was the sleeping schedule in the compound. People go to sleep around 10 Am, and wake up around 3 Am, in order to stay up throughout the dangerous night.


    ¡­


    The daytime passed quickly, and the night started descending¡­


    The moment the sun started fading behind the horizon, the atmosphere in the compound underwent a drastic change. In mere moments, a chilly air of darkness descended upon the compound like a curtain.


    Everyone in the compound started rushing back with haste back to their houses. Doors and windows were locked and barricaded quickly. And in no time, the streets went quiet.


    In mere seconds, a desolate stillness pervaded throughout the compound, rendering the not few minutes ago lively place, into a bleak and deadly silent ghost town that contained no hint of life whatsoever.


    The reason for such behavior was the wood that was located to the north of the compound, which spanned for over several tenths of kilometers. In that area, a frightening number of beasts settled in, rendering it a death zone for humans.


    So, since that wood was only few kilometers away from the compound, it thus became the danger source number one for the compound inhabitants. That area was the main reason for the casualties in the compound.


    Anyway, over the span of few ordeals, the compound inhabitants had worked up a certain system to cope up with the new reality.


    The system was, at night time, the people would stay up within their houses, and no one gets out outside. The moment any house is attacked or in case anyone hears a weird noise outside, then, they would ring a bell or blows a whistle to alarm the others. At that moment, the warriors and the magicians and few other tenths of capable individuals would gather at the center of the living quarter, forms pre-arranged teams, and defend against the presumed threat.


    Before this arrangement, they used to form teams and patrol the living area at the night. However, and as people are unable to see in the dark, they resorted to using the oils from the buffalo carcass''s they hunt to lit up torches. Unfortunately, that arrangement gave rise to a certain problem ¨C the flaying beasts!


    It turns out that every night, multitude of beast emerges from the wood in the north and starts hunting for food. So, lighting up torches or any other source of light in the night was similar to pin-pointing themselves as preys for these beasts. It had led to the death of a many people.


    Beasts simply dived down from the sky, picked people up and flew away¡­ just like that!


    They had learned the hard way that not a single spark of light should be lit up from within the compound, not during the night at least.


    The solution they came up with to the problem was to stay indoors, to stay awake during the night, and maintain a high level of alarm in case of possible beasts'' attack.


    As for the sleeping time, it was now during the daytime, after finishing their daily tasks.


    Of course, it wasn''t that everyone in the compound sleeps during the daytime and stays up during the night. But the rule was, the capable individuals, the warriors, and the magicians had to abide by this schedule, as they represented the defending force of the compound. Thus, they had to rest in daytime in order to maintain top condition, in case of beasts'' assault at night time.


    ¡­

 Chapter 48: The beasts flock attack (3)

    Chapter 48: The beasts'' flock attack (3)


    Short chapter///


    .....


    After the passing of few hours in the night, Neil was the first to give up to sleepiness, as he was the most exhausted among them. Losing most of the motor functions in his predominate arm forced him to train the other one. To achieve that, his daily schedule was distributed between training his left arm, and carrying out his tasks. Hence, only six hours of sleep wasn''t enough for him. So he usually compensates in the night.


    Reem and Etta went up to their rooms, while ramie and Lance remained sitting in the kitchen. As for the azure gazelle king, and due to his high perception of auras, he was patrolling the compound, as per Reem''s order. His mission was to kill the sneaking beasts.


    As for Neil, he didn''t bother to abide by the ''stay up all night'' rule. After all, he was sure that none of the present people would rat him out.


    Sitting in the kitchen alone with Lance, Ramie could feel that Lance''s aura had grown stronger.


    Lv.1 Warrior


    Life energy ignition: 62%


    During this week, Lance managed to increase his life energy ignition percent to 62%.


    As for the reason behind such progress, it was naturally Reem''s summoned beast!


    In this compound, there was a certain rule set by the compound leader; it stated was that whoever kills a beast gets to take its core for himself, a war spoil so to say.


    This rule was extended to everyone. Even to those without magic or life energy.


    As for the reason for such rule¡­ it was to encourage everyone to do their best to grow stronger, and not depend on others for protection!You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Unlike magicians, anyone can become a warrior if he/she absorbs life energy cores. Of course, it didn''t mean that every life energy core means a new warrior to the compound. Some needs to absorb one life energy core to ignite his own life energy, while others need more than one core, or needs life energy core from a stronger beast to ignite their energy.


    Anyway, this policy was the reason why they maintained the existence of a 19 warrior even despite the death of many of them.


    So, since Reem''s summon had a very strong perception, he was able to detect beasts in a distance. Thus, when he detects a strong beast, or a horde of beasts, he alerts Reem, which in turn, rings the bell and alarm the rest. However, when he detects a beast that he could handle, then he simply kill it and brings the core to Reem.


    So, since the normal beasts were in higher numbers than magical beasts, Reem''s summon brought a lot of life energy cores for her. Naturally, she gave many of them to Lance, to increase his power so that he could better protect them when they leave for the capital.


    This was the reason why he reached this level.


    Remembering that whoever kills a beast, get to keep his core; Ramie had a spark of an idea. Thus, he asked:"Mr. Lance, you told me in the morning that whoever kills a beast, takes it core. So, is there anyone that killed a magical beast here¡­ I mean someone that wasn''t a magician?"


    Contemplating for a second, Lance answered: "Yea there are!"


    Having heard the answer, Ramie''s eyes lit up: "Have you thought of trading these cores, I mean the life energy cores that the azure gazelle king brings from the beast he kills? Have you thought of trading them for the magic cores from those people?"


    "Of course we did. But, they flatly refused. I guess they prefer to trade among themselves, and not with us!" Lance answered with a sigh.


    Hearing this answer, Ramie was disappointed, but not surprised. After all, the compound inhabitants knew that their group''s departure was a matter of time. So, it made more sense for them to increase the power of fellow inhabitant, which would ultimately benefit their own chances of survival, and not some outsiders that were going to leave eventually.


    Following that logic, it made sense for them to reject the exchange.


    "What about the core of the buffalo beast? What does the compound leader do with it?"


    The buffalo beast that the leader had hunted today was a mid tier-1 beast, which meant that its life energy core was capable of raising the life energy ignition percent of a warrior to 50%, or even raising new warrior from among the inhabitants. So, since they hunt one buffalo beast every day, it meant that there are a considerable number of these cores in the compound leader''s possession.


    The leader was Lv.2 warrior, this meant that only life energy cores from tier-2 beasts or higher are useful to him now. So, Ramie was rather curious as to what he was doing with the buffalo''s cores.


    When it came to leveling up, for both magicians and warriors, only cores on the same counterpart levels as them or of higher level can help them level up. As for cores from weaker beasts, it would usually require a large number of them to substitute the effect of cores from strong beasts.


    It meant that to level up, both warriors and magicians had to acquire cores from beasts on levels equivalent to their own levels or higher, the higher the better.


    In response to Ramie, Lance said: "What else, he distributes most of them among the existing warriors to increase their ignition percents. Only small number is used to awaken new warriors¡­. I guess, he prefers to have few strong warriors rather than a lot of weaker ones, quality over quantity so to say."


    Afterward, both Ramie and Lance went silent. And the night passed by uneventfully, without any mishap.


    ¡­

 Chapter 49: The beasts flock attack (4)

    Chapter 49: The beasts'' flock attack (4)


    In blink of an eye, a week passed by.


    For the first time ever since the disaster, no nightly beast assault has happened during this entire week, at least not on a scale that required an all out effort to fend off the assault, which was a welcomed occurrence to the inhabitants.


    During this week, and finally, a magical beast sneaked into the compound during the night. Of course, the azure gazelle king, which was still a peak tier-1 beast, took out the unlucky thing in one attack. Thus, the group finally obtained a magical core.


    Given that absorbing this magical core that came from low tier-1 beast wasn''t enough for Reem or Ramie to increase their artifact''s level in one go, the decision was made to give it to Neil.


    Finally, and after absorbing the core, Neil was able to level up his artifact to the second level, successfully becoming Rank-1 magician with Lv.2 artifact, which was equivalent to warrior with life energy ignition percent between 25% and 50%, or mid tier-1 beast.


    Neil was so elated, that his entire face was flushed with excitement. And considering the spell he got, he certainly had the right to be this content. Ramie and the rest were happy for him, as after his injury setback, his mood was in steady slump, with a dark expression and air of depression looming over him almost all the time.


    The spell he unlocked was Fire Ball spell!


    This spell contained much more destructive power than Fire Burst spell. Basically, this spell allowed him to form a ball of blazing fire and shoot it out. The moment the fire ball hits something, it detonates in a violent explosion that was enough to destroy a car.


    If one wanted to compare this spell to his fire burst spell¡­ then, it could be said that if fire burst spell was comparable to a bullet in damage and effect, then fire ball spell was similar to a grenade, and a very powerful one at that!


    However, it wasn''t as if it didn''t have its own flaws.


    For starters, unleashing one fire ball requires 5 magic energy points, a price that was simply way too high, especially considering that after leveling up his artifact, his magic energy pool was now a meager 10 magic energy points!


    This meant that Neil could use this spell only twice before completely running out of magic energy.


    As for the other flaw, it was that this spell required a full 5 seconds to prepare.


    This was simply way too long! It gives the enemy way too much time to react. In life and death battles, every second was critical, not to mention whole five of them.


    If Neil was alone in a fight, then his death is nothing but assured. Luckily, this wasn''t the case. And with Lance and the summoned beast around, buying him five seconds wasn''t too out of reach. Beside, the destructive power of the fire ball spell was simply too good. And it was great addition to their group''s arsenal of attacks, as it granted them a killer move. Not to mention that with 10 magic energy points, even if there wasn''t enough time to cast a fire ball spell, the alternative, which was fire burst spell being casted 5 times in a row, wasn''t too bad, considering that it costs only 2 magic energy points for each cast.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    So far, neither Ramie nor Reem had any offensive spells¡­ while Neil had two. This made both of them looks forward unlocking offensive spells.


    During this week, the azure gazelle king also hunted few sneaking beast, bringing them few life energy cores. Unfortunately, these cores came from low tier-1 beasts, which made them useless to Lance, whom his life energy ignition percent was 62%, making him equivalent to high tier-1 beast!


    This meant that only cores from high or peak beasts are useful to him at this point.


    So, and since the locals didn''t want to exchange magic cores for their life energy cores, they gave the cores to Etta, to ignite her life energy. After all, she was now part of their group, and increasing her power benefits them as a whole.


    It took all the cores for her to ignite her life energy, which was disappointingly only at 17%. This made them understand that people had different aptitude for the life energy. Some needs one core from low tire-1 beast to ignite their own energy, while others require several cores from stronger beasts.


    However, even though her ignition percent was merely at 17%, this still made her stronger than everyone in the group other than lance, physically wise of course.


    During this week, ramie spent a lot of time training and experimenting with the green vines spell. He wanted to familiarize himself with the spell, and use it more efficiently. He even sparred with lance in many occasions.


    These training sessions gave him new insight in regard to his fight with the demonic brothers.


    In that fight, he had made many mistakes. So, he started processing them one by one, in order not to repeat them in the future.


    Against the invisible mage, he had no choice, as he was the only one that could perceive his presence. However, against the wind mage, he could have done better.


    For starters, his spell, green vine, was supportive spell. Its main use was to restrict the movement of the target, which is why the best feature of the vine was its durability. Yet, he actually used it as an offensive spell.


    His second mistake ¨C was directly confronting the wind magician, even despite his lack of a defensive spell.


    He was a mage! His role was not to fight in the front line, at least not against a superior enemy. He realized that at the time, he should have retreated behind either lance or the beast, and used his spell to try and restrict the enemy, not to attack him.


    The result of the training sessions was that the group was forced to change ramie''s role in the fighting strategies. They assigned him to a supportive role instead of an offensive one. In his fight with the wind mage, he had almost died. He was only alive till now thanks to his ability to perceive intention aimed at him and his bloodline vitality.


    Although his green vine spell wasn''t bad, but it only shines in a group fight, not individual ones!


    This made the group even more certain about the decision they made. And after sharing it with Ramie, he agreed to it without hesitation.


    Their decision was ¨C to stay within the compound until the azure gazelle king levels up his tier, and becomes tier-2 beast. Afterward, they''ll send him out to bring them life energy cores to increase the ignition level of Lance and Etta, and magical cores advance the artifacts of Reem, Ramie, and Neil.


    Also, they decided to try convincing others within the compound into joining their group, and us the cores that the azure gazelle king brings to ignite their life energy, thus improving their chances of survival when they finally leave the compound and go to the capital. However, after an extensive discussion, they decided not act on this plan now, to avoid falling out with of the compound leader. They decided to take that step only when the azure gazelle king advances his tier.


    Anyway, to them, it was merely a matter of time before they embark on a very risky trip to the outside. So, it was of utmost importance that they become as strong as possible.


    ¡­


    As the sun descended, the light disappeared behind the horizon, announcing the end of yet another day.


    As per usual, ramie and the rest gathered in the kitchen to devour the delicious stew of the buffalo''s beast meat. Even though Ramie has been eating this same meal twice a day for the past week, it still tasted to him as delicious as ever. Apparently, the apocalypse did have its up sides as well.


    These days, things were simply going too well. And for the first time ever since the disaster''s descent, no one had died in the span of more than six days, which was a precedent, a one that people hoped for it to last.


    As ramie was about to finish his meal, all of sudden, Reem''s expression underwent drastic change, her face became as pale as a sheet of paper.


    Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech!


    Countless bestial screeches'' sounds came faintly from afar. They were continuously getting louder and louder.


    At the same time¡­


    Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!


    "WAKE UPPPPP!!! WAKE UPPPP!!"


    "BEASTS'' ATAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!"


    Shouts of alarm and panic, as well as the ringing sounds of multiple bells sounded in a quick succession, from many directions.


    At once, the faces of the entire group fell. They knew¡­.


    The temporary period of peace had just come to an end.


    ¡­

 Chapter 50: The beasts flock attack (5)

    Chapter 50: The beasts'' flock attack (5)


    Charging out of the house and heading over to the center of the living quarter, Ramie and the group saw tenths of people running about with haste.


    The night was especially bright, with countless stars and a gibbous moon hanging up in the sky.


    Looking upward, tenths of dark silhouettes could be seen up in the sky screeching and circling right above the compound, as if they were vultures that had set their eyes on a prey.


    "Whity says they know there are people here! They are marking us for hunt!" From behind Ramie, the anxious voice of Reem came.


    After alarming the group, Reem hurried to inform the compound leader.


    Hearing her words, the compound''s leader face darkened. After which, he issued his orders to light up the torches.


    Before, the orders were not to light up anything in nighttime, to avoid attracting the attention of the beasts. Now however, and knowing that the assault was happening anyway, and that the beasts goal was them, he ordered to bring out the torches, which were made using the oil from the carcass''s of the buffalo beasts.


    Shortly afterward, torches were lit throughout the central square, improving the vision clarity by a significant degree.


    Some people came with large stacks of weapons and dropped them to the ground. Immediately, everyone rushed over and started picking up the weapons they are most familiar with. Ramie and the group did the same.


    Most of the weapons were long spears, as they were the easiest weapons to use. Just point and thrust! Also, since no one in the compound actually had any weapon experience, the spears thus became the popular choice for most. Not to mention that the spears length gives the user a longer reach, hence a better range, allowing them to not get too close to the dangerous beasts.


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Issuing their version of war cries, the beasts started descending down at them with excited screeches, in anticipation for the incoming promising feast.


    As the beasts dived down at them, Reem''s face grew even paler: "This is bad! They are led by mid tier-2 beast!"


    Like a clap of thunder, her words fell on the people''s ears heavily, causing violent tremors of fear and anxiousness to rock their hearts.


    Even the compound leader''s countenance changed, as his body broke out in cold sweat.


    He himself had energy ignition percent of only 2%, making him equivalent to beast that had just advanced his tier, meaning, he was comparable to weak low tier-2 beast.


    It had to be said, warriors are originally at disadvantage when fighting beasts on the same level as them, especially beasts in the second tier and above. But now, he was actually supposed to fight a beast higher than him by an entire small level.


    The entre course of this life and death battle was dependent on his fight with the tier-2 beast.


    If he wins, the others would have a good chance to live. But, if he died, then, everyone here dies¡­ as simple as that.


    No one here aside from him was capable of confronting beast with that level.


    Realizing the severity of the situation, the compound leader started shouting out some instructions. Following which, four warriors stood beside him, and two magicians stood behind the 4 warriors, to provide support for the leader in his fight.


    Other than that, 20 other man with spears and Molotov cocktails stood with the leader, to support him in his decisive battle with the tier-2 beast.


    In the square, and other than Ramie''s group of 2 warriors, three magicians and the summoned beast, there was now the compound leader, 18 warriors, 5 magicians, as well as 80 individual of capable men and women.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    In the square, almost everyone held spears, even the magicians. Some held Molotov bottles for support. As for the compound leader, he held a relatively long spear that was different from the rest. It was made completely of bones. The leader also held a large, square-shaped shield that was also made of bones. On his back, there was a quiver, carrying several bony spears. He intended to use those as throwing javelins.


    Until now, the inhabitants had never faced assault on such large scale. They were very nervous, terrified even.


    ''They look like¡­ vultures¡­''


    Ramie''s freaky eyes enabled him to see in the night almost as good as in the day. Hence, as the beasts dived down at them, and starting approaching closer and closer, Ramie was finally able to get a clear look on their appearance.


    The beast general physical structure was greatly similar to vultures, with vicious eyes and very sharp claws. As for the standard size of the beasts, it was a bit larger than an average adult man.


    Having seen the enemy, Ramie felt a great pressure in his heart.


    The beasts numbered almost the same as them, which was very bad news, considering that the majority here were normal people with no life energy or magic. Also, this was the first time for anyone here to fight against this type of beasts. So, they had no experience in fighting them, which meant that there was no way to judge how this fight will go. Not to mention the biggest dilemma in this battle; which was the leading beast of this flock being stronger than the strongest individual in the compound, the leader.


    Having conducted several training sessions, everyone knew what to do. Soon, in the living quarter''s square, 9 teams gathered, including the compound leader''s team. These teams gathered in one large circular formation.


    The compound''s leader team was formed with the compound leader as the main fighter, with 4 other warriors, 2 magicians, and 20 other individual for support.


    As for the other 8 teams, each one comprised of 2 warriors as main fighters, with 7 to 8 people to support them, as well as one magician to support the entire team.


    Etta was in one team with Reem, while Lance was in another team along with Neil''s. Ramie on the other hand was alone in a third team.


    The two warriors that were in Ramie''s team had ignition percents of 10% and 18%, which made each of them comparable to low tier1 beast. They were among the weakest warriors in the compound.


    However, ramie didn''t complaint. He knew that other warriors didn''t want him in their teams.


    In fact, Ramie was fine with things this way, as during this week, and through his interactions with them, he found the two warriors in his team, which were actually brothers, very honest and simple. He had a good impression on the two.


    At least, with those two warriors in his team, he wouldn''t have to worry about being backstabbed for his gemstone.


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Screech!


    Screech!


    As the flying beasts got in range, and upon seeing their preys gathering in a tight formation, they flapped their wings to slow down their descent, and then started screeching in intimidation, in order to scare off the preys into scattering, to make the hunt easier and more thrilling.


    Locking his gaze at one beast, information appeared in Ramie''s mind.


    Tier-1 Beast


    Name: Lammergeier


    Innate Spells: none


    Special notes: A beast that uses his sharp beak and claws to hunt his prey.


    The artifact revealed to Ramie that this beast was normal beast and not a magical one, as it didn''t have any innate spell.


    However, instead of feeling relieved, Ramie frowned instead.


    Normally, this was good news, as it meant that these beasts didn''t have any spells that the group should be wary about.


    However, as the beasts were close above, Ramie was able to sense that there were some beast among them that had magical aura, and not life energy.


    Locking his gaze on one of these beasts, the stat screen appeared to Ramie.


    Tier-1 Beast


    Name: Magical Lammergeier


    Innate Spells: Feather Blade


    Special notes: A variant type of the Lammergeier, uses its discharged feathers to kill its prey.


    Ramie felt unease, as it meant one more unknown variable to worry about. But right now, this battle was unavoidable. As such, he steeled his heart for the fight.


    As the screeching flock got closer, and everyone was finally able to clearly see the beasts, the hearts of everyone fluttered for a second, before they gritted their teeth and prepared themselves for the fight.


    Unlike the smaller beasts, the leading tier-2 beast scanned down at the large group of preys. And upon locating its target, its eyes shone with savagery before diving without hesitation.


    Naturally, the target was the compound leader. Apparently, he was a worthy prey in the eyes of the beast.


    As the beast dived at the compound leader, it brandished its claws.


    Sensing the imminent danger of the rushing beast, the compound leader raised his massive shield, to block the attack.


    Puchiing!!!


    As the beasts claws pierced at the shield, a sharp sound rang out.


    SCREECH!!!!


    Seeing that its attack had actually been blocked, the tier-2 beast screeched in irritation.


    As the beast stabbed down again at him, the compound leader waved up his large shield again, and managed to successfully block the second attack.


    Whoosh!


    It didn''t stop there. He thrust the spear that he held in the other arm at the beast, wanting to take advantage of the chance to inflict a severe wound on the beast. He wanted to force it to retreat and put an end to this battle before it begins.


    Screech!


    Flap! Flap! Flap!


    Letting out an angry screech, the beast flapped its wings three very quick, successive times, to avoid the sudden attack.


    "Die¡­!"


    Before the beast manages to evade, the compound leader rotated his life energy to its max, forcing his body to exert its maximum output of muscular power.


    SCREEEEECH!!!!


    With a splattered blood, the beast flapped its wing and gained some altitude, to create a distance between him and this dangerous foe. The beast could not believe that an opponent with an aura weaker than him was actually able to not only block its attack, but to land a hit on him in the process.


    Seeing the sight, everyone was shocked. The leader had pulled off yet another miracle.


    In a second, every ones blood boiled with excitement, and they started unleashing battle cries as their morals skyrocketed.


    This brief confrontation of the leader gave them hope that this battle might not be as hopeless as it seems.


    As the people cheered, Ramie wasn''t feeling confident at all. His good eye sight enabled him to perceive much more details than others.


    First, the injury of the beast wasn''t deep enough to affect its battle performance, at least, not to an impactful degree.


    Second, he could see that the compound leaders shield had cracks on it, which meant that with few more hits, the shield would shatter. And the defense advantage of the leader would go away, which would probably mean the end game for them.


    All he could hope for now, was that this beast was stupid enough to make another mistake of such caliper, and allow the leader to land a killing blow this time¡­ or that this beast would cowered and abandon this fight.


    The next instant, Ramie''s hope of a cowering enemy was shattered, as the beast dived again at the compound leader, ferociously. Apparently, the beast was coming for a pay back this time.


    Like the previous time, the compound leader raised his shield to block the assault.


    Puchiing!!!


    Similar to the previous time, as the beasts claws pierced at the shield, a sharp sound rang out.


    Everyone held their breath, anticipating the leader to repeat the previous feat, to finish the battle before it even begins.


    The anticipated sight however¡­ didn''t come to be¡­


    The crafty beast wasn''t stupid enough to underestimate his opponent again, and give him a chance to counterattack. The moment the beast attacked the shield, it flapped its wing in a very violent and sudden movement, pushing itself upward to gain safe altitude, while simultaneously, creating an explosive current of wind at a certain direction, blowing away few people out of the safe formation.


    Every ones heart sank at this development.


    This beast was cunning one, and this was his retaliation for the injury.


    Subconsciously, everyone knew¡­ This was going to be a disastrous night¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 51: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (1)

    Chapter 51: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (1)


    Those whom were blown away from the formation got up in confusion.


    Upon seeing that they were outside the formation, with beasts hovering around them, their hearts shuddered with terror.


    Run! Run! Run! Run! Run!


    They dashed with all of their might to re-enter the formation before the beasts make use of the chance. After all, the distance wasn''t far. Unfortunately¡­ with the excited hovering beasts above, them living beyond this night was not meant to be.


    "Ahhhhhhh!"


    "Compound leader, save us!"


    "Heeeelp!"


    The two teams that were closest to them moved outside of the formation. They tried to shield the unlucky individuals from the swooping down beasts. Unfortunately, the beasts'' attack was even faster.


    Hearts shrouded with terror, those standing in the formation watched the massacre unfold only several meters away from them.


    The two teams retreated back into the formation, to avoid falling to a similar fate.


    Aside from the compound leader, that was now facing the tier-2 beast; no one else had the ability to save the blown off men. Hence, the others could only swallow their emotions and hold their position.


    Afterward, the beast swooped at the formation and the battle started.


    ¡­


    Every once a while, a tragic cry of unwillingness would sound out, signifying the death of someone within the formation.


    Just like the other teams, Ramie''s group too, the fifth team, was engaged in a heated battle with five flaying beasts on the same time.


    The two warriors were the main fighters in his team, with everyone else acting as support for them.


    Each one of the two warriors was engaged in a battle with one flying beasts, where the warrior tries to stab the beast and land a killing blow with his spear, while the beast is evading and defending using his claw, and trying to claw or beak at the warrior''s head.


    As for the other 8 men in his team, 6 of them where trying to fend off 3 beast by thrusting their spears at them, trying to keep them away until the warriors finish their fights and help out.


    Of course, even though these 6 men weren''t actively trying to kill these beasts, but just keeping them away, still, one of the men was severely injured, and was in dire need for a medical attention.


    This didn''t mean that those 6 were completely useless, as every once a while, one of them would successfully land a hit on one of these attacking beasts. In fact, the injured man had landed a killing blow on one beast''s; its corpse was several meters away from the formation.


    As per the compound rules, if this man survived this night, that beast''s core would be his, and he would get the chance to awaken his life energy.


    The battle between the fighters that held spears and the beasts was quite systematic. Just avoid the incoming claw or beak and then thrust out the spear, the same went to the beasts. There were no flashy attacks or fancy moves at all, simply dodge and attack.


    In the center of the fifth team, ramie stood with two green vines projected from his back. He was using these vines to support his team against the five beasts that they were fighting against. The two vines were moving none-stop, they were whipping at the five beasts to prevent them from taking advantage of the opening and land a killing attack, while on the same time, preventing other beasts from ganging up on his team and overwhelm them with numbers.


    The green vine spell was supportive in nature. Hence, and being surrounded by his team, and not having to worry about defense, Ramie''s green vine spell started showing its worth in this fight.


    The beasts his team was fighting kept screeching in irritation all the time. Every time they get a chance to claw at their respective opponents, the slithering vine would pop out of nowhere and slap these beasts away, denying them from catching their prey.


    The green vine spell wasn''t like the other magicians'' spells, point and shoot. Instead, it was continuously activated, giving Ramie the chance to interfere in the fights of his team all the time.


    To him, killing an attacking beast wasn''t difficult. All he had to do was to coil the vine around a beast, crush it to death, strangle its neck and deny it air, or break the beast''s neck. However, if he actually does it, then it would expand great deal of magic energy on each beast. His energy then would run out against few beasts. After all, it wasn''t as if the beast wouldn''t struggle to free itself and just allow Ramie to kill him.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    If the enemy was just one beast, then it wouldn''t be a problem. However, they were now facing an entire flock. So, he had to be careful not to waste his magic energy.


    For that reason, ramie opted to adopt the role that was most suited for his spell, supportive magician.


    Outside the formation and just few meters away from the team, Ramie used his green vines to stab 4 spears into the ground with their heads facing upward. He had prepared these spears for the magical beasts among the flock.


    The reason he did so was to kill these beasts by grabbing them and smashing them at these spears, hence, killing them without expending much magic energy.


    Sensing the aura of the beasts, ramie detected at least eight magical beasts among the flock. He was keeping small portion of his attention on these beasts, waiting for them to come close to his team, to make his move.


    His aptitude for the soul path meant that unsealing the ghost path would provide him with the spells that he can cast with the most efficiency. Hence, he felt a great urgency to get some magical cores.


    In each and every one of the teams, there was someone responsible for lighting up and throwing out Molotov bombs few meters away from his respective team. The purpose was to create a rising fire to limit the movement options of the beasts, to prevent too many beasts from gathering on one team.


    Sadly, the number of these ignition bottles was quite limited, as the fuel was of utmost important to bring food and water to the compound. Thus, they couldn''t wantonly make these Molotov bottles without any consideration.


    Ramie didn''t initiate any confrontation on his own, but instead, he used his vines to seal off any opening in the team''s formation, and also prevent any other beast from sneak attacking and joining the fray on his team.


    His abilities to sense the aura of the surrounding beasts allowed him to monitor the situation of the battle with great precision, like radar, which prevented any beast from launching a sneak attack on any member of his team. It also allowed him to better support his team, as it permitted him to judge the levels of attacking beast whether low, mid, high or beak, allowing him to make a correct judge on who needs supports against his opponent among his team and when.


    It was like a 3D map in his mind projecting the overall situation of the battle without having to observe with his eyes.


    This quality made his team the only team to not lose any members till the moment, even despite the chaotic and savage battle.


    "Ahhhh!"


    "ARGHHHH!!"


    Screech!


    Screech!


    SCREECH!


    As the battle went on, various human and inhuman cries mixed together, ranging here and there every so often.


    The pile of fighters and beasts corpses was enlarging with time, as the stench of blood and smoke reeked throughout the battlefield, creating an atmosphere of death and war.


    Using his ability to sense the aura, ramie kept an eye on the battle between the compound leader and his team against the tier-2 beast.


    The compound leader''s team was now down to 17, the leader included. His shield was cracked and scratched in many places, making it obvious that it was on the verge of crumpling apart under any attack now.


    Apparently, that was not an easy fight at all. But it wasn''t as if the leading beast was not struggling as well.


    An occasional glances over at that confrontation showed ramie that the beast had actually sustained additional injuries, which gave ramie a bit of hope in the outcome of this battle.


    Other than the compound leader and the 4 warriors pining the beast in its place, the magicians kept launching occasional spells at the beast, while another 2 men kept throwing Molotov bombs every once a while.


    Charred feathers could be seen on the beast''s body. Also, two javelins were sticking out from its body.


    These injuries seemed very severe. However, the vitality of the beast was so great that even such serious wounds were incapable of impacting his battle performance or deterring his relentless attacks. Instead of making the thing weaker, these injuries actually served to make him angrier and fiercer, which fueled his battle powers even further!


    The battle went on¡­


    Suddenly, ramie''s expression went dark.


    He felt a concentrated killing intent locking onto him for a certain direction above.


    Without looking, and using his ability to sense the aura, he matched the location of the killing intent with specific aura of a beast that was flaying in a large circle above the battlefield, in a relatively higher altitude than other beasts.


    Ramie divided his attention between supporting his group and on keeping track of the lurking beast.


    As he and his group engaged in their fight, he could perceive the beast flying above them, and locking its killing intent on him. The thing was probably looking for an opening to make its move on him.


    "Arghhhhh!"


    A cry of pain came from one of the 6 men in his team.


    Apparently, as ramie divided his attention to focus on the lurking magical beast above, he didn''t notice the mistake this man had made. Thus, he wasn''t able to cover up for him in time, which resulted in the beast that this man was facing clawing at his hand, and creating a long wound on it.


    Screech!!


    The beast got excited, and followed up on his attack with another claw at the man''s head. If this attack was to land, then this man would be the first casualty in ramie''s team.


    Hearing the shout, ramie reacted instantly. He whipped with his vine at the beast, to push it away, and save the man.


    Bam!


    Screech!


    The vine whipped at the beast''s body, creating a slapping sound, and sending it smashing backward, narrowly saving the man''s life.


    Screech!


    Ramie grew tenser.


    A bestial cry came from above. However, among the tenths of cries, it was insignificant. But to ramie, this cry meant something else entirely.


    The moment this cry sounded, he felt the killing intent that was locked on him intensifies by an entire notch.


    The lurking magical beast above had seen this opening, and finally decided that this was the perfect opportunity for the attack.


    "Come to your father¡­"


    Ramie did not lose his cool.


    Through his ability to sense the aura, he perceived the movement of that beast.


    Instead of fearing the tension of the confrontation, Ramie felt the excitement of the battle, which was an effect of his bloodline.


    The attacking beast''s aura threw him under the category of low tier-1 beast, which was probably why this beast resorted to a sneak attack and not a direct confrontation.


    Anyway, this was a magical beast, which meant that it has a spell, a one that ramie had yet to have idea of its features. So, being extra careful was in order.


    Taking advantage of the fact that the swooping down beast had no idea that he was aware of him, ramie waited until the beast approaches a bit closer, so as when he launches his attack, the beast won''t have the chance to counteract or even react.


    "Finally¡­ another magical core is coming!"


    "Now¡­!"


    Like a leaping snake, and upon Ramie''s command, the vine shot upward toward the swooping beast with great speed.


    To push the vine to its absolute limits, ramie went generous with the magic energy expenditure, which made the vine moves in a greet speed.


    Rip!


    Screech!!


    The beast was utterly shocked, as it saw something slither at him like an agile snake, swiftly evading other beasts and shooting up at him with astonishing speed ¡­


    It wanted to evade, but its momentum was at its max, making it extremely difficult to make any turns. It was too late¡­


    The vine slithered toward the beast and coiled up around its body and wings, completely sealing its movement. Then and making use of the beast''s momentum, it pulled him downward.


    Ramie''s group was already in way over their heads, and needed his support at all times, to cover for their openings. So, ramie didn''t want to complicate things for them any further. As such, he needed to kill this beast not only without asking for their help, but to kill it as fast as possible, and with the least expended magic energy.


    How to pull this off¡­? It was something that he had accounted for the moment he saw that the attacking beasts were of the flying type.


    Thus, following his will, and using the beast''s momentum, the vine pulled down with all of its power.


    As for the destination, it wasn''t in front of his team, but was the pre-planted spears that were stabbed in the ground few meters outside of the formation.


    Bang!


    The beast smashed into the ground with great momentum, causing a shockwave of dust to be blown off outwardly from the site of crash.


    Many teams were startled due to the heavy impact, but giving the heated situation they were in, no one had the luxury to spare a glance at this direction.


    Feeling a slight vibration of his artifact, ramie was overjoyed.


    Finally, he had acquired magical core!


    In no time, a small object was shot out of the dust barrier, and flew directly toward Ramie''s hand.


    ¡­

 Chapter 52: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (2)

    Chapter 52: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (2)


    The eight teams were surrounded by flying beasts from all the sides. If it wasn''t for the existence of the warriors with their inhuman strength and the magicians with their spells, the formation would have crumpled seconds after the attack, and no one would have survived thus far.


    However, things were still far from being good; Just to cope up with the beasts, the warriors and magicians were spending their magic energy like crazy, while the beasts on the other hand, were fighting using their own normal pace!


    This meant that the longer this battle goes on for, the more the advantage of the beasts grows, and the worst inhabitants'' situation becomes.


    Four magicians had already expended all of their magic energy.


    The compound''s situation was worsening.


    The solution to outlive this night was quite obvious ¨C they had to conclude this battle as fast as possible!


    However, there was a major problem here¡­ wining this battle was not dependent on the collective effort of everyone here, but, in reality, it was mainly dependent on the compound leader''s defeating the tier-2 beast, by either killing it, or injuring it enough to force it to retreat.


    Other than that, there was no other option¡­!


    The remaining warriors and magicians weren''t trying to actively fight and kill beasts, at least not as much as trying to maintain the formation from crumpling apart.


    Of course, if they were to focus on killing beasts, then they''d be able to kill at a lot more at such pace. But, if they were to do that, then the normal people fighting here alongside them will be killed off in no time, which would leave a lot of openings, allowing the beasts to swarm them and annihilate them. After all, the number of attacking beasts was over a hundred, which contained few peak tier-1 beasts, several high tier-1 beasts, with tenths of low and mid tier-1 beasts. While the total number of warriors and magicians was less than 30, including ramie''s group, with most of them being at levels equivalent to low and mid tier-1 beasts, and pathetically few equivalent to high or peak tier-1 beasts!


    The difference was not only in quantity, but in quality as well, making their odds desperate right from the get go. So, they couldn''t afford to fight alone. As such, they allowed an 80 odd normal individual partake in the fight, to improve the chances.


    Their hope now was not to win the fight, but to make the win so costly to the beasts that they let go of them, and retreat away.


    ¡­


    After acquiring the first magical core in this battle, Ramie realized that to get more cores, he needed to take action himself. Thus, he extended his defensive supportive role to an offensive supportive one as well!


    One at a time, he would use the vines to whip away at the beasts, to close to the openings in his team. Preventing the beasts from overwhelming them. This was his defensive role. He would use both of his vines to grab and restrict an attacking beasts. Throwing them at planted spears on the ground, or pulling the beast toward his group so that they could stab it to death, this was his offensive role.


    Of course, if he noticed a beast with magical aura flaying in range, he would take the initiative to make a move and kill the target to get its core.


    He alternated between using either of these offensive and defensive strategies depending on the level of the attacking beast, and on the condition of the team.


    If the attacking beast was low or mid tier-1 beast, then he would leave it for the team to kill it, but, if the level of the attacking beast was high or peak, then he would go all out and coil up his two vines around the beast wings, to seal its movement, and bring it down on the planted spears, or bring it down and pull it toward his team so that they finish it off.


    As the fight went on, his team members started getting used to this fighting style, which made them more proficient at killing the beasts.


    This led to the efficiency of Ramie''s team rising to a great extent, and soon, the corpses of beasts started piling up in front of them.


    Of course, Ramie acquired another 2 cores in this process.


    In this battle, ramie''s ability to sense the auras of the beasts and the fighters throughout the battlefield gave him a huge advantage, assisting him in playing his supportive role. It allowed his team that was among the weakest teams to achieve results similar to that of the strongest team in the formation.


    However, still, ramie''s worries were not eased up at all, as even if he got magical cores, they wouldn''t do him any good if the compound lost this battle and the beasts killed them all.


    Sensing the beasts'' auras vanishing one after another, Ramie could tell that more than 30% of the beasts had been killed so far, but this did not make him happy at all.


    For every beast the fighters kill, one of them dies to a beast in the formation.


    This confrontation turned into a battle of attrition, not only of their life and magic energies, but also of their numbers.


    This meant that this battle was not going their way at all.


    ''Maybe I should go and help them restrict the tier-2 beast¡­''


    A sudden idea came to ramie. However, he dismissed it away almost immediately.


    Even though his vines were very sturdy, and were good to restrict beasts. But the enemy was a tier-2 beast. The beast would probably cut the vines like they''re nothing. Not to mention the severe impact his departure would leave on his group, which would ultimately affect other nearby groups. As such, he threw this unrealistic idea to the side.


    "FATHER! HELP!!!!"A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Throughout the chaotic battle, suddenly, a man''s distressed scream rang out.


    Among the many distressed, desperate, and anxious screams that have been ranging none stop so far, this one shouldn''t have brought a lot of attention. However¡­ considering the identity of man that had shouted, it made all the difference.


    "MY SON¡­! HANG ON, I''M COMING¡­!"


    Suddenly, a roar of an immense rage shook the entire battlefield. It brought about so much pressure, that everything, whether it was human or a beast, were affected and felt pressurized by the bellow. Even the air vibrated due to the intensity of it.


    Following which, a figure dashed like an angry rhino throughout the formation toward the man that issued the distressed cry.


    The dashing man was none other than the compound leader. And the man that had called for help was none other than his son, which was an earth magician.


    To safe guard his son, the compound leader assigned two of the strongest and most skilled two warriors in the compound to son''s team, to protect him. He even placed 8 strong men in his team, and had placed him in the rear of the formation, away from the site of his confrontation with the tier-2 beast. Not to mention that his son was Rank-1 magician with Lv.4 artifact, making him the highest level magician in the compound.


    However, right now, the two warriors in his group were dead, which lead to his group falling apart under the immensely ferocious attack of the beasts.


    A gaping wound was on his shoulder, with one of his arms being torn apart to the point that it was dangling about by a thin strip of skin and meat on his side.


    It was obvious that his condition was not good, not to mention the presence of the beast that was almost upon him, preparing to deliver the killing blow.


    However, his father, the compound leader, moved at such speed, that left ramie really shocked.


    He could sense that there was a strong aura was darting through the battlefield like an arrow, toward the fallen magician.


    In no time, the compound leader was already beside his son.


    With a wild roar, akin to a beast''s battle cry, the compound leader punched out forward, toward the beast that was about to kill his son.


    BOOM!!


    The punch brought about so much pressure, that it caused the beast to freeze in its place.


    With an immense terror gripping his heart, the beast flapped its wing crazily, wanting to fly away as quickly as possible, as it sensed a towering killing intent locks on him.


    However, how could a high tier-1 beast escape from the clutches of Lv.2 warrior!


    As the punch landed on the beast, a massive volume of kinetic energy rippled toward the beast''s body, sending it smashing backward lifelessly.


    Not a single bone was left intact inside that beast''s body.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The compound leader punched out three more consecutive times, killing three more beasts in a row.


    After killing the beast, the compound leader shouted out some orders, which led to his sons team merge with another team. As for his son, he was placed in the center of the formation with the rest of the wounded.


    Turning his body, the compound leader wanted to return back to his team to hold off the tier-2 beast. However¡­!


    From the moment when he left his position, dealt with the beasts threatening his son''s safety, and wanting to return to his position¡­ several precious seconds were wasted¡­ seconds where the tier-2 beast was left free to do as it pleases, with no deterrence at all¡­


    In these few seconds, everyone witnessed the fate that would have befallen them had they not have the Lv.2 warrior to hold off the tier-2 beast¡­


    It was like a strong wolf running havoc among puny lambs!


    The moment the compound leader left his position, the already wounded and furious tier-2 beasts finally found a chance to outlet his accumulating anger on the puny enemies that had tormented it with waves and waves of attacks.


    Screech!!!!!!


    With an excited screech, the leading beast finally commenced its revenge.


    Swooping at them, the beast grabbed two warriors, one with each claw. It crushed their heads, and threw them outside the formation for the other beasts to feast on them. Then, it dashed at the rest of the leader''s team.


    The sight; was beyond horrendous. The beast killed one person with every attack, lunging itself among them, not fearing any retaliation from these weak preys. The beast indulged itself in a wild massacre.


    Everyone could see the beast excitedly tearing apart their comrades as they exerted their all in a meaningless struggle to defend themselves against the swooping tyrannical power.


    The deterrence the compound leader provided all this long was no more, albeit for awhile, but very precious while, nonetheless.


    Heads rolled, bodies were torn, and blood splattered about in a sight so gruesome that it was painful to watch.


    Ramie''s heart sank, as he felt the immanent defeat, and the death that''d follow after.


    ''Should I run away¡­?''


    Ramie couldn''t help to ask himself.


    The brief onslaught of the tier-2 beast was too impactful, annihilating the compound leader''s team and assaulting three other teams all at the same time.


    This was a level of power beyond their ability to handle, without a question.


    Following the tire-2 beast frenzied massacre, the other beasts got agitated.


    Letting out their war cries, the other beasts'' attacks got an instant monumental boast in the momentum, leading to them entering a berserker state and unleashing frenzied attacks on the fighters.


    Fighters started dying right and left, falling at a frightening rate.


    For few seconds, it was apparent that this battle was a lost cause, with no possibility to turn things around whatsoever.


    Despair filled the hearts, and smell of death spread in the vicinity, intensifying several time over.


    "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    All of the sudden, an explosive roar of utter fury bellowed throughout the area, causing even the air to throb with intensity. The anger contained within the bellow brought about a heavy and oppressive feeling that caused all the beasts in the area to feel an imminent danger descending on them.


    This was the might of Lv.2 warrior going all out without any reservation on his life energy consumption.


    The compound leader had been saving up on his life energy up until now, waiting for the right chance to outburst his life energy without restrain, to kill the beast in one attack, and finish this tragic battle in one go.


    He did not do so from the beginning, because if he was to fail, then he would waste away his life energy, and the consequences would possibly coast everyone their lives.


    However, now, and upon seeing that his team was decimated, with other three teams half annihilated, the formation was only a hair-width away from completely crumpling apart.


    He knew, if he didn''t act now, then their total annihilation would be a certain outcome.


    He knew that this was completely his fault. So, he wanted to put stop to this slaughter as soon as possible.


    With things progressing this far, killing the tier-2 beast would be the only way to overturn the situation.


    Thus, rotating his life energy at its max, the throbbing power surged throughout his body, his muscles swelled, boosting his physic.


    Immediately, his body exerted its max output, and he held up his long spear and prepared to explode in action.


    The tier-2 beast immediately sensed the surging pressure, and instinctively knew that this tough enemy was going to go all out against him.


    SCREECH!


    Unleashing a piercing cry that caused the ears of everyone to whizz in agitation, the beast grabbed at another two warriors with its claws.


    "Ahhhhh!!!"


    "Helllllp!!"


    The two warriors issued a blood curdling cries, in hope of someone coming to rescue them from the clutches of the frightening beast.


    As the compound leader was about to dash in action, to answer the call, and against all expectations, the beast flapped its wings in three successive times, and soared into the air, carrying with him the two preys.


    Screech!!!!!


    The beast then issued a calling cry, and soared away in retreat.


    Following which, the other beasts carried their preys with them and followed suit.


    Everyone stared in disbelief at the sight, not comprehending that the beasts were actually retreating away.


    "Is it¡­ over¡­?" one man spoke with a shaky tone.


    However, there was no answer to his question, as no one had expected this horrifyingly tragic battle to end just like that.


    Everyone expected the beasts to make a turn at any time, and sweep down at them again, to finish the job¡­


    However, the beasts seemed to have really decided to withdraw.


    They group didn''t realize that the leading beast was very intelligent, and sensitive to the compound leader''s emotional state, and that when he sensed the compound leader intent to go all out against him, he decided to retreat away, as his goal of collecting food has already been met.


    The leading beast had no intention of fighting to the death against his opponent. In the first place, he had fixated on the prey that had caught its attention. But since the target proved to be very dangerous, and perhaps, even capable of taking his life, the beast opted to retreat, instead of engaging in a battle that might not necessarily end up in his favor.


    Right now, the people were in state of bewilderment, not believing that this tragic battle had really ended.


    Suddenly, and as everyone was staring in trance, two vines shot upward, toward one of the beasts that had picked up a fighter''s corpse and started flying away with it.


    Like a pair of vicious snakes wrapping themselves around their prey, the two vines coiled around the beast''s wings and head, and with great momentum, pulled downward at great speed.


    As the beast was being pulled to the ground, it flapped one of its wings, shooting out three streaking feathers at the source of the vines, to retaliate.


    The people present in the battlefield were shocked at the sight.


    BOOM!


    The beast was brought down toward the ground with great momentum, and smashed against it, creating a dull, heavy thud, and giving rise to a shock-wave of dirt.


    At the site of the crash, the beast could be seen lying on the ground lifelessly with a spear sticking out of him.


    Beside the beast, other beasts could be seen lying lifelessly on the ground, with spears sticking out of them, as if they were skewered meat. On some sites, two or three beasts were skewered on the same spear.


    As the people traced where these vines came from, a man could be seen standing, and reaching out his hand toward the corpse, as if wanting to receive something.


    Three feathers were sticking out of him; one lodging on his shoulder, one on his arm, and one on his femur, all of the three feathers had struck him on the right side of his body. Apparently, the last attack of the beast had hit the culprit.


    However, the man didn''t seem to care about the feathers at all. Instead, eagerness was radiating from his yellow shining eyes.


    ¡­

 Chapter 53: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (3)

    Chapter 53: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (3)


    The magical beasts were divided to tiers, such as tier-1, tier-2, tier-3, and so on¡­


    In any of these tiers, there are 4 small levels, which are low, mid, high, and peak. Of course, it goes without saying that low tier-1 beast is weaker by default than mid tier-1 beast, and mid is weaker than high and high weaker than peak, and so on.


    The difference in the small levels was small, at least when comparing to the deference between the tiers.


    For instant, two or three low tier-1 beasts might be able to kill mid tier-1 beast, sometimes even one low tier-1 beast can achieve that. Several low tier-1 beasts might be able to kill high tier-1 beast, or even peak tier-1 beast. Of course, that''s all in general.


    However, when it comes to the tiers, then 10, 20, 30, or even a larger number of peak tier-1 beasts might not be able to even kill one low tier-2 beast, or even injure it for that matter.


    Of course, that is the general rule. But, it could also be said that there are some variables that might bend this rule, such as, the type of the beast, the type of its innate spell, or the superiority of its bloodline. Some beasts with high order bloodline might inherit innate spells or physical advantages that might enables them to transcend this rule, and battle beasts with higher level or even tier than themselves, to a certain extent of course. All depending on the superiority of their bloodline, and the type of advantages it provides.


    An example of this would be the azure gazelle king that Reem had summoned.


    His bloodline advantage was obvious, as it allowed it to have a very strong four innate spells when he is merely in the first tier. However, still, his bloodline wasn''t overpowered to the point that allows him to kill beasts of higher tiers. But considering that his bloodline allowed him to fight few flying beasts on the same level as him which was a peak tier-1 beast, on the same time, and still hold his own¡­ his bloodline could be said to be a very powerful one.


    That was the reason why the azure gazelle king was able to secure an entire side of the formation and even kill many beasts as strong as him.


    Anyway, moving to the magicians'' artifact advancement subject¡­


    When a magician wants to advance his artifacts level, then, the usual way would be getting a core from a magical beast with a counterpart level to his own, or on a level that is not very far off his own level. Of course, magical core from beast with one level higher than the magician''s level would help the magician to advance his artifact by absorbing only one core, while 5 or so magical cores from beast on the same level as the magician''s are required advancing the artifact. As for cores from beasts that are lower than the level of the magician, then large number of them is needed for the magician to advance his artifact.


    For example, Ramie''s level now was Rank-1 magician with Lv.2 artifact, which meant that the counterpart magical beast level to him would be mid tier-1 beast. So, if he wanted to advance his artifact from Lv.2 to Lv.3 artifact, then he would need one magical core from high tier-1 beast, or 5 cores from mid tier-1 beast. As for the reason for such exponential increase in the cores numbers, it was related to the purity of the core. The higher the level of the magical beast, the purer the core and the more magic energy the artifact can absorb from them without a waste.


    This particularity was the reason why Ramie was so happy right now!


    In his hand, now, rested 1 core from high tier-1 beast, and 4 cores from low tier-1 beasts. The high tier-1 core came from the last beast he killed.


    Finally, he was going to advance his artifact and unlock another spell!


    But it wasn''t only that, as with advancement, his magic energy pool would increase by yet another 20 magic unit, which will bring up his total magic points to 49!


    It takes 5 magic energy points to cast his green vine spell one time to project one vine, and 10 points to use it twice to bring out two vines. Before, this would have left him with 19 magic energy points to spend on the vines, which although seemed a lot, but considering that to merely maintain the existence of the vines, magic energy had to be spent, not to mention moving the vines, exerting strength with them, and increasing their length, all of that requires an intense use of magic energy that would eat up the 19 points in a very short time.


    Anyhow, the additional 20 point was something he was in dire need of, to increase his survival chances. This advancement was sure to raise his battle power by a significant notch.


    Putting away the magical cores, Ramie turned around, and started scanning the battle around.


    Tenths of flying beasts corpses were littered everywhere. Small patches of fire were lighted in many scattered spots across the area, which came from the fuel of the Molotov bottles.


    Blood and body parts of both the beasts and the fighters filled the ground, causing a thick stench of blood to permeate the air. The atmosphere was quite sickening.


    The faces around were as pale and as aghast as zombie''s expressions, with not an iota of liveliness in them. The surviving fihgters were simply either looking around in daze or wandering lifelessly, with empty, dull eyes, as if they had just got their souls sucked away from them.


    For a good while, a deadly and desolate silence permeated the area.


    The aura of death, despair, and bleakness was so concentrated that it was almost tangible. The atmosphere around was so heavy, so depressing that even without the blood and corpses in the ground, one could easily see that this place was a site of disaster.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! My brother!!!!!"


    One blood curdling cry of utmost pain and bitterness sounded out. Afterward, and as if opening a gate, several other cries equally painful and bitter, sounded out here and there.


    It wasn''t weird, considering that this compound was small society of families, where everyone knew everyone else.


    However, this wasn''t the worst part here.


    But the worst part was that across the battlefield not even one human corpse could be seen, but only remnants, such as a hand, half arm, half a leg, or other smaller pieces. Every single corpse was taken by the beasts away.


    The joy in Ramie''s heart vanished into smoke. And a strong sense of gloom washed over his heart, bringing him back to the dark reality around.


    The compound''s residents did not win, but suffered a tragic lose by all standards. The beasts did not retreat because they were defeated, but fled because they had already gotten what they came for.


    This tragedy proved that his group''s decision to leave this compound and head for the capital instead of settling here was indeed the correct one. As even though there were over 20 warrior and magician here, with even a level 2 warrior among them, but in the end, they still almost got annihilated in a single attack.


    Casting a look at a certain direction, the compound leader was standing alone outside the bloody area, turning his back to the battle site. He didn''t even go check on his wounded son after the beasts retreated. He didn''t even dare to turn and look around.


    It was obvious that he was feeling guilty at abandoning everyone at a critical juncture, thus allowing the tier-2 beast to inflict such disastrous losses on them.


    After the tier-2 beast started running havoc among them, the other beasts took advantage of the situation and started harvesting lives at a horrifying rate, killing a lot of people in a very short instant.


    This was obviously the result of the compound leader''s decision.


    Although, his last outburst of strength was unquestionably the reason why the beasts fled away, thus saving everyone here, but¡­


    Over 60% of the losses were inflicted in the last bit of the battle, as a direct result of him abandoning his position.


    Among the 18 warriors, 11 met their demise. 3 magicians from the five died, as well as 50 other survivors from the 80!


    The death toll was indeed disastrous, and that is not counting the wounded numbers. This outcome would inevitably cause a sharp decline in the total defensive force of the compound, making the upcoming days especially dangerous for them.


    If the compound was to suffer any other attack on such scale again, then it was highly likely that they might not survive it at all. Because, if the other warriors and magicians died, then, the compound leader alone would definitely be unable to confront a horde alone, not unless he is much stronger than the strongest beast in the horde, Which is a very hard thing to achieve, considering that the only life energy cores that can allow him to increase his strength are from tier-2 beasts.


    So, to increase his life energy ignition percent, he''d have to specifically find a low tier-2 beast, and kill it.


    However¡­ this was very hard thing to do, considering that the leader''s life energy ignition percent was merely 2%, making him comparable to a very weak low tier-2 beast. After all, for lv.2 warrior to be comparable to a low tier-2 beast, he''d have to have an ignition percent between 1% and 25%, and it goes without saying that lv.2 warrior with 25% percent is stronger than a warrior with 2%.


    As such, not only does he have to find low tier-2 beast, but the beast should have to be very week one among his peers. More accurately, the compound leader had to find a beast that had only recently advanced to the second tier.


    Even though the compound leader had just forced a mid tier-2 beast into retreating, it was more of a team effort than his sole power. As the warriors, the magicians, and the other people in his team prevented the beast from solely focusing on him, and forcing the beast to be on constant guard against their attacks, spells, and their Molotov bottles, thus preventing the beast from exerting his full power and soloing the team leader. Otherwise, this battle would have ended with a very different outcome.


    Besides, it wasn''t as if beasts come at demand.


    Even if the leader gathered a team and wandered outside the compound to look for newly advanced low tier-2 beats, there was no guarantee whatsoever that they won''t come across a large horde of beasts or one strong beast above the second tier, and face annihilation without a chance of retaliation.


    Also, if they were to leave, to look for beasts, then, who would stay to protect the families in the compound?


    These people''s situation was depressing for all corners¡­


    Anyway, for the mean time, the only way for them to get cores was from the beasts that attacks the compound. After all, there was no shortage on such beasts, not to mention that they had reached these levels of theirs in the first place due to this strategy.


    As Ramie was sighing at the miserable situation of the compound residents, Lance and Neil walked over, and asked in a concerned tone:"The feathers¡­? Are you ok?"


    Turning to look at them, Ramie nodded, before saying:"Yea, don''t worry about me. It''s nothing!"


    Right now, there were three feathers sticking out of his shoulder, arm, and femur, respectively. All on the right side of his body.


    However, Ramie didn''t feel the slightest pain at all¡­ he was feeling only a bit of discomfort at the three sites.


    ''It seems that I have really lost the sense of pain¡­?''


    Thinking about this particularity, ramie remembered that when he fought the demonic brothers back at the borders, he did not sense any pain at all at the time, even though that he received a direct hit to the chest, and got his left arm blown off.


    Ramie simply grabbed the feather at his arm and pulled it out. However, Instead of the red blood, small amounts of yellow greenish blood flowed out for a moment before stopping. Just like that, the injury was sealed, and the healing process started at an abnormal rate.


    The strange color of his blood did not surprise him at all. He had seen it back when his left arm was blown off.


    The two other feathers were pulled out afterward.


    Casting a brief gaze at where Reem and her friend were, it was obvious that they were both fine, physically wise at least. As their faces showed signs of traumatic fear. The two girls were still in shock at the bloody scene around.


    The azure gazelle king powerful aura made it so that only few peak tier-1 beasts attacked Reem''s team, making them the least attacked team in the entire formation, as all of the other beasts below the peak level didn''t dare to even come close to their direction. As for the few peak level beasts that had attacked, the gazelle beast simply bombarded them with his innate lighting attacks, killing many of them before they could even attack.


    The only casualties that Reem''s team had suffered came in the last moments of the battle, when the compound leader abandoned his position, which encouraged other beasts to launch a frenzied attack on her team, leading to their casualties. Otherwise, her team wouldn''t have lost anyone at all.


    It wasn''t only Reem''s team, but the frightening aura of her beast lessened the pressure on the other two nearby teams, which included the team of Lance and Neil.


    ¡­


    "Should we leave the compound before the gazelle advances his tier¡­ before the compound gets attacked again?"


    Neil voiced his concern in a shaky tone from the side.


    It was obvious at this point that the compound chances of surviving another attack on such magnitude didn''t look promising at all. So, Neil couldn''t help to voice his thoughts. After all, this was not their home, and there were staying here only under the premise that it was the safer choice for them. But now that this place was attacked in such away, this made it obvious that staying here might not be necessarily the wisest choice any more. Hence, Neil voiced his doubts.


    "Not necessarily true! Together, we aren''t weak, indeed. But, look around¡­ there were a lot of warriors and magicians here as well as tenths of people who aided in the fight, yet¡­ we almost got completely annihilated! Now, can you imagine what would have happened had this flock caught us alone in the way to the capital¡­?" Ramie answered in a firm tone.


    Hearing this, Neil''s facial muscles twitched as he imagined such frightening scenario.


    Ramie then continued, answering himself:"We would turn into food no matter how hard we fight. Unfortunately, this is the fact now; group strength is a very good thing, but there outside, the only thing that could really make difference, is the individual strength! Without first having a second level powerhouse with us, it would be very unwise to leave the compound before then. Otherwise¡­"


    The three felt very gloomy at such situation.


    Staying here was dangerous, but¡­ so was leaving.


    "This doesn''t need a lot of thinking. Remember, the summoned beast''s advancement could be triggered at any moment. Hence, we should wait until he advances, to discuss this matter. Also, by staying here, we''d be under the protection of a level.2 warrior! Not to mention other warriors and magicians." Lance said. Then, he went silent for a moment before adding:"If the worse came to the worst, we can always have Reem convince her beast to carry us and escape."


    Ramie sighed in his heart, before saying: "The compound residents suffered a massive damage in this fight¡­ however; they did kill a lot of beasts! So, their gain of cores is rather abundant. Anyway, I''ll go get my share of the cores. You should do the same as well. We should quickly raise our levels."


    Saying so, Ramie turned and moved toward the two warriors in his team. They were extracting the cores from the beasts the team members killed.


    ¡­

 Chapter 54: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (4)

    Chapter 54: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (4)


    Walking over to his team, ramie intended to watch how they go about digging out the core from the corpses, to get an idea on how to do it himself when he and the rest leave for the capital.


    However, the moment he approached, one of the warriors saw him, and secretly pinched the other one, while saying something in a low voice.


    Before the battle begins, ramie had pulled the hood backward, revealing his head that was covered with the hat-like flower. He also pulled down the scarf, thus revealing his frightening eyes, and his nose-less, dark-green, wood-patterned face.


    He did so because he didn''t want anything to obstruct his vision in this critical battle.


    The people in this team had just fought in a life and death struggle against terrifying beasts alongside him. So, none of them had the time to display any intense reaction toward his appearance.


    Throughout this week, the people here had either avoided him like plague and showed him a cold attitude, or acted cautious near him. Only small number acted normally around him.


    Walking to the group, one of the two warriors faced him with a still pale face, due to the intense battle he just went through, and spoke in a very humble tone:"Mr. Ramie! On behalf of everyone, thank you! If it wasn''t for you, a lot of us would have been taken as food by now!"


    The other warrior nodded to ramie in gratitude.


    It wasn''t only them, but the others in the team too shared this sentiment toward ramie. Thanks to his vines, their team was the only team that didn''t lose any member at all throughout this tragic night. Not even when the beasts ran rampant at the last few seconds of the battle.


    The frenzied octopus-like attacks of the vines had kept the beasts away from the team to the very end.


    Facing such gratitude, ramie started feeling a bit of guilt inwardly. Truth be told, he had decided during the battle that when his magic energy expenditure reaches a certain point, he would utilize the last of it to run away and hide in one of the nearby houses.


    ''Luckily, the beasts retreated before I reach that point¡­''


    Ramie comforted himself inwardly.


    Anyhow, in this battle, most of Ramie''s kills were magical beasts. He was only willing to waste his magic energy to kill magical beasts and not normal ones, as the magical beasts had magical cores critical for his level up, and also, the magical beasts usually had weaker physical constitution than the normal beasts, hence, he''d spend less magic energy to kill them.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Over all, his team killed 16 beasts. Ramie killed five magical beasts alone, and assisted in the killing other 8.


    According to the rules set by the compound leader, whoever kills a beast by an individual effort gets his core. As such, the five magical cores undisputedly belonged to Ramie.


    "Mr. Ramie, This is your share..." The 40 year old warrior, extended his hand, and handed Ramie 4 cores, two of which belonged to low tire-1 beasts, one belonged to mid tier-1 beast, and one actually belonged to high tier-1 beast!


    "¡­!"


    Ramie was a bit surprise. He didn''t expect them to actually give him 4 cores out of the 11.


    However, upon further consideration, this division didn''t seem weird at all.


    His supportive role not only made this team the only group to not lose anyone throughout the battle, but also, him restricting the beasts and sealing their movements was the only reason why the team managed to kill these 8 beast in the first place.


    This battle showed the value of having ranged attacks. As such, and with the falling of three magicians in one go, it was inevitable that the importance of the surviving magicians rise in the compound. As such, it was only natural for them to want to leave a good impression on him.


    Holding the four cores in his hand, Ramie wasn''t sure what to do with them for now. However, and considering that these cores could be used to produce four warriors, their importance was self evident.


    Saying some words of encouragement to the group, Ramie excused himself, as he wanted to go back and start the level up process. The event today left him feeling an even stronger urge to rise up his level as fast as possible.


    Also, the battle tonight brought to his attention another disturbing reminder¡­ which was ¨C he should not completely depend on others for his safety, as he had seen the consequences of the complete reliant on others with his own eyes.


    The compound''s leader brief retreat amidst the battle to save his own son had led to his team, which completely depended on him, to face the full brunt of the tier-2 beast wrath, leading to their complete annihilation.


    If possible, Ramie wanted to avoid falling into a situation where his life rests in the hands of others that do not consider him top priority. He wanted to have the strength to protect himself.


    As ramie walked back home, he could see the others that were hiding during the fight being called out to clean the area, to extract the cores and to wrap thing up.


    On the way, he saw Reem and Etta walking ahead of him while supporting each other. The azure gazelle king was alongside them, as protective of Reem as always.


    Returning back to the house, someone came after him, holding a small basin of water for him.


    The water was very precious commodity here in the compound, so, washing up was a luxury that only the warriors, magicians and other few got to enjoy 2 or 3 times a week. Of course washing up in these days was using wet piece of cloth to scrub and rub the body clean, and not the usual water pouring.


    As for the rest, they could wash up only once a week, with even less portions of water.


    But now, a basin that contained a water enough to wash up 8 times was brought to him, to clean himself and even his clothes!


    This special treatment was given to all of those that had taken part in tonight''s battle, to show appreciation for their efforts.


    For the first time in what felt like forever, ramie got to clean himself and his clothes properly.


    Afterward, he went to his room that lance had assigned to him.


    Closing the door, and sitting on his bed that was basically a mattress on the ground with a blanket and billow, Ramie took out the five magical cores.


    ''Finally¡­! Am going to level up¡­!''


    Right now, he had 5 magical cores. 4 came from low tier-1 beast, and 1 came from high tier-1 beast.


    Given his level, the 4 cores from the low tier-1 beast weren''t very useful to him now. As to level up his artifact, he''d need 5 cores from mid tier-1 beast or 1 core from high tier-1 beast.


    Luckily, the last beast he killed was exactly high tier-1 beast.


    Anyway, if he used the high tier-1 core to level up, then, the other 4 cores would become utterly useless to him. Hence, he decided to use these cores first.


    ''I wonder¡­ what kind of spell I will get after this advancement¡­''


    ¡­

 Chapter 55: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (5)

    Chapter 55: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (5)


    Absorbing all of the cores from the low tier-1 magical beasts, his stats were refreshed many times. When he was done absorbing all the four of them, his magic artifact advancement percent rose by a very small margin, which was expected. After that, he held the magical core from the high tier-1 beast in his left hand, and started absorbing the magic energy inside.


    After a while, lines of information that he really wanted to see for some time now finally popped up to him.


    < Your magic artifact has gained a level! >


    < Your magic energy has risen by +20 units >


    < You have gained 1 skill point! >


    < Your innate spell has been identified! >


    "What! My innate spell¡­?"


    "Finally¡­!"


    Ramie''s eyes widened in realization¡­ Finally, his artifact was able to read his innate spell.


    He did not stop the absorption process, and kept absorbing until all of the magic energy in the core was completely absorbed.


    < Reassessing status¡­ >


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.3 Magic Artifact (10%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 49


    - Innate Spell: Soul Perception


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent), Green Vine (Rare)


    - Unused skill points: 1


    "Soul perception¡­? What kind of effect does it have?"


    Focusing on the innate spell, information appeared in Ramie''s mind.


    < Innate Spell: Soul Perception (Passive) >


    < Effect: A soul based spell that perceives the intents aimed at the host. >


    ''No wonder¡­!!''


    ''It seems that it was my innate spell all along¡­!''


    Finally, the mystery of his ability to sense the intents was revealed now. And apparently, it wasn''t one of his bloodline advantages as he had though before, but instead was his innate spell all along.


    ''But why has the artifact only detected it now¡­? Wasn''t that supposed to happen the moment I got the artifact, like the other''s artifacts did?


    He really did not understand the reason behind it. One of the artifact''s functions was to detect the user''s innate spell the moment it is activated. However, in his case, the artifact was only able to detect it after he leveled the artifact up twice!


    ''Anyway, I''ll think of that later. Now, I should unlock another spell¡­''


    ''God I hope its offensive or defensive spell¡­!''


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Making up his mind, he shifted his intention on the unused skill point. Following which, information appeared in his mind.


    < Skill points can be used to unlock new spell or to advance an existing spell! >


    < Unlock new spell¡­ >


    < Advance existing spell¡­ >


    As advancing existing spell was only available after he ranks up to the second rank, thus he ignored it, and chose ''unlock new spell.''


    < Choose one of the following criteria! >


    < Ghost spells! >


    < Plant spells! >


    Having seen that the term sealed was removed from the ghost spells, Ramie was overjoyed.


    He started thinking that the ghost path spells being unsealed might have something to do with his innate spell being identified.


    < Do you want to exchange your [1] skill points: Yes/No >


    ''Yes!''


    Commanding in his mind, he gulped down his saliva in nervousness.


    < You have obtained the spell: Ghost glare (Special) >


    < Reassessing status¡­ >


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.3 Magic Artifact (10%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 49


    - Innate Spell: Soul Perception


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent), Green Vine (Rare), Ghost glare (Special)


    - Unused skill points: 0


    Not wasting time, Ramie focused on the spell immediately.


    < Spell: Ghost glare (Active) >


    < Grade of the spell: Special >


    < Effect: A soul based spell that causes the target to fall in a trance like state, leaving him defenseless! The duration of the effect depends on the difference between the soul force of caster and the target, the larger the difference, the longer the effect lasts. If the difference in the soul force is small, then the spell can only cause the target to fall in a confused state. Severe, or minor, similarly depending on the difference of the soul force >


    < Special note 1: This spell can only be used on living targets. Soulless targets are unaffected >


    < Special note 2: This spell can only have effect on targets with soul force weaker than the caster >


    < Special note 3: This spell ignores physical defenses >


    < Cost: 20 magic energy units >


    Up on seeing the grade being special, ramie''s heart fluttered with joy. This meant that this spell will be a very powerful one.


    Then, and having seen the term ''soul base spell,'' the joy only increased. As, it meant that the ghost spell did indeed belonged to the soul category, which by extension meant that he''ll be able to cast it with max potentials, unlike the green vine spell.


    Heaving a sigh of relief, ramie skimmed through the description of the spell.


    Ssssssiii!


    Going through the description, Ramie was so stunned that sucked in a cold breath of air.


    "This¡­ this is¡­ too powerful!!"


    A spell that causes the target to fall in a defenseless state!


    Just how powerful of an effect this was!


    Wouldn''t that mean that he can just attack the target beasts without worrying about them even retaliating against him!


    With this spell, he can render the beast an idiot and kill it! Just like that¡­!


    This spell was definitely worthy of becoming his ultimate move¡­! His killer move!


    And when he got to the part where it says that this spell ignore ''physical defenses,'' he almost jumped up from the joy.


    This spell exceeded his highest expectation. It was indeed worthy of being a special grade spell.


    For the first time, he understood how lucky he was for getting this special grade artifact.


    An artifact on a certain grade can unlock spells from lower grades, but never from higher ones.


    For an example, a special grade artifact can unlock spells with rare, or even common grade, but never epic.


    So, when Ramie got the Green vine spell which had the rare grade, he knew that it was normal occurrence. Nonetheless, he felt worried. Which was completely understandable, as he was in a very dangerous place, which was the city? So, even if he knew that his artifact can unlock special grade spells, there was no guarantee that he can live long enough for that to happen. As such, he needed the strong spells right from the get-go, to help him survive his meantime crisis rather than the later ones.


    As such, he had a lingering fear that this time; he might get another rare grade spell, or worse, a common grade spell, rather than the powerful special grade.


    Luckily, that did not come to be.


    Then, as he saw the cost of magic energy units to cast this spell¡­


    "En¡­?"


    The light in Ramie''s eyes dimmed a bit¡­ the joy in his heart started wearing off.


    ''I guess you can''t have it all¡­''


    Although the magic energy cost for casting this spell even one time was twice the total magic energy points that Neil had, but still, the effect of the spell was very powerful, which made sense for it to have such a large magic energy demand.


    ''Mn¡­ I guess I can use this spell only twice in my peak condition!''


    ''But still¡­ 20 magic energy units are way too much! I have to be careful when deciding to use this spell. Otherwise, I might end up in a sorry state¡­''


    Although, as a magician with special grade artifact, he had a lot of magic energy at his disposal comparing to the magicians with rare and common grade artifacts, but¡­ this massive advantage was downplayed by the large magic energy requirements that the high grade spells have.


    Anyhow, there was always a cost and effect balance of some sort when it comes to the higher grade spells. It can come in the shape of massive magic energy requirement, such as in his Ghost glare spell, long time to cast the spell, or long time of cooldown after casting the spell, such as the brown-clothed man that had attacked ramie back at the borders.


    That man''s two offensive spells had a long cooldown time that only allowed him to cast any of them only once in battle, which had ultimately coasted him his life in the fight with Ramie.


    Restriction came in other forms as well. Such as the invisibility spell, which had a unique restriction that made it so that the spell could only be used in nighttime, or in dark places¡­ otherwise, it could not even be casted.


    Although Ramie wished to get offensive or defensive spell, but he wasn''t disappointed at all with what he got.


    However, having yet another supportive spell did make him wonder if he''ll ever get an offensive or defensive spells in the future?


    Although his green vine did have secondary offensive and defensive aspects to it¡­ however, in the end, it was supportive spell in its core.


    His ability to sense aura, his green vine, and ghost glare spells made him a very powerful supportive magician.


    ''Since am already part of a group, my lack of an offensive and defensive spells shouldn''t be a problem in the short run¡­ I guess the green vine and the ghost glare spells made me a group fight specialist¡­''


    ''Hmm¡­ I wonder if I''m on the way to become a supportive magician¡­''


    ¡­

 Chapter 56: Arrival of the survivors convoy (1)

    Chapter 56: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (1)


    As the sun of a new day rose from behind the horizon, the group underwent a significant change.


    For starters, Lance''s life energy ignition percent was now 93%, making him equivalent to peak tier-1 beast. As for where did he got the cores for such huge power leap¡­ it came naturally from Reem!


    The azure gazelle king made quite the contribution in the battle yesterday; he managed to kill four peak tier-1 beasts after all! Thus, and as these beasts we normal and not magical, Reem had no need for their cores. As such, two of these cores went to Lance, enabling him to break through to a peak Lv.1 warrior. The other two cores, as well as 8 other cores from weaker beasts, went to Etta.


    Disappointedly, after absorbing the 8 cores, Etta only raised her ignition percent to 81%, showing that her talent was way below that of Lance.


    In yesterday''s battle, Reem''s team was the team with the most kills, with a total of 23 kill, which wasn''t strange considering that the azure gazelle king was with them.


    Ramie''s team came second, thanks to his green vines and his ability to sense the auras. The leader''s son team came third with 9 kills, which wasn''t strange, considering that he was the only magician with Lv.4 artifact around, while Lance''s and Neil''s team performed more or less the same as the other teams.


    Anyhow, in the battle yesterday, only 5 magical beasts were killed, all of which fell to Ramie''s vines!


    Ramie was now a rank-1 magician with Lv.3 artifact, the same level as Reem, making him equivalent to high tier-1 beast.


    ¡­


    Ramie left the house and headed for the gate, to participate in the hunting mission.


    Even though it hasn''t been long since the nightly confrontation was over, food was a priority that didn''t accept discussion.


    "My regards, Mr. Ramie¡­!" A voice that contained the utmost respect and humbleness came from the side.


    Looking at the source of the voice, a man in his late 40s walked over with haste toward Ramie, he was almost jogging.


    His face full with smiles, and he was radiating with friendliness.


    "I''ve heard of your heroic performance yesterday Mr. Ramie. And let me tell you this; right from the depth of my heart, all of us, owe you so much that we probably won''t be able to pay in two life times! You are a real man, with high virtue and kind, benevolent heart¡­! You are a rare breed¡­ rare breed indeed!"


    "How mistaken were we in the way we treated you! But you! You fought with all of your might, thus saving every single soul here! Oh¡­! How will we ever be able to repay you''re endless kindness¡­ how will we ever?!"


    "To think we have been so wrongful for someone of your caliper¡­! It makes my heart twist with utmost pain¡­!"The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Please Mr. Ramie, for the sake of your efforts in yesterday''s battle¡­ no! For my own sake! Please let me make it up for you! Otherwise, my heart will never see peace." The moment the man approached Ramie, he immediately released an endless stream of awkward praises and complements, glorifying Ramie exaggeratedly. More ever, the man acted in a servile, humble manner as if he was a lowly employ speaking to a high ranking superior.


    Ramie was taken at first; however, he soon understood the matter, and sighed in his heart.


    Seeing Ramie remain silent, the man continued: "Let''s see¡­ how about you move next to our house. In this way, the moment you need something, we can immediately bring it for you. Or, if you''re not willing, we can move next to your house, and serve you the way you deserve! You can consider us your servants! At least this way, we can pay some of the monumental dept that we owe you."


    It didn''t take a genius to understand the sudden change in behavior was probably because this man had heard of his performance in last night''s battle. As such, he was now seeking to form a connection with him, to have a strong backer in these dangerous times. So, he came up with such an awkward way of speaking to wash away the previous impression he had left on ramie.


    Only a day before, these people made sure to maintain a distance from him. They had even prohibited their children from going anywhere near the house where he lived.


    However, they treated him in such a terrible manner not out of personal grudge, but simply because they wanted to be cautious in these abnormal times.


    Hence, Ramie didn''t blame them or hold any grudge against them at all.


    Looking at the man, Ramie could make out a poorly concealed fear in his eyes. Apparently, this man was still afraid of him, however, for the sake of his own family, he was forcing himself to make this move.


    Ramie spoke few words to assure the man that he holds no grudge for the unwelcoming treatment he received. He also assured the man that he''ll do all he could to protect the compound while he stays here, before saying few words and parting ways with him.


    Truth be told, although ramie understood the man''s desperation, however, in the end, he wasn''t strong enough to ensure the compound safety. In yesterday''s battle, he was barely strong enough to protect himself. And that was only because he relied on a team.


    More ever, the enemy were flying beasts, with not much physical capabilities, hence, it could be said that his green vine spell was a good counter for them, allowing him to be so useful.


    Also, he wasn''t alone, but a part of group that was to leave the compound either sooner or later. As such, he couldn''t really afford to take responsibility for a family''s safety, or bound himself with others.


    Also, it was needless to say how dangerous and deadly the trip to the capital can be. Ramie and the others with him weren''t sure that they could protect themselves, not to mention a family. The trip was a gamble; with ones'' own life as stake, as such, whoever goes, has to take responsibility for himself, and shouldn''t count on others'' help.


    As Ramie arrived at the compound entrance, immediately, all the gazes fell on him.


    Different from the usual gazes, there was no sign of fear, wariness, or apprehension this time. Instead, there was only respect and approval.


    The news that he protected all of his team members was already known by everyone now.


    Scanning the warriors around, Ramie was surprised.


    Near the compound''s entrance, 20 newly awakened warriors could be seen!


    Before, there were 18 warriors other than the compound leader. Now however, and considering that 11 of the 18 had met their demise in the battle yesterday, there should have been only 7 here¡­


    However, right now, excluding the compound leader, 27 warriors could be seen, near the gate, preparing the vehicles for the hunt.


    As for where did these new numbers came from¡­? It was obviously from the gains of the battle!


    Yesterday, the compound suffered a great loses¡­ however; it wasn''t as if there was no gain at all.


    On the beasts'' side, more than 60 beasts were killed, which naturally meant a lot of life energy cores.


    Hence, during the night, part of these new cores was used to replenish the number of warriors. And more than 40 cores were given to 30 individual, to ignite their life energy and join the fighting force, while the other cores were used to increase the ignition percent of the existing warriors.


    As the aptitude of the people differs from one person to another, from the 30 individual, only 20 succeeded, which was still a lot.


    However, considering that not only the cores the comes from low tier-1 beasts were given, but cores from mid and even high tier-1 beast were used, it was of no wonder that this many had succeeded.


    After receiving some words of thanks from few warriors, Ramie awaited Lance to come, as partaking in the hunting expedition was part of their daily task.


    ''I should test out the new spell at the beasts on the riverbank, to see its effect¡­''


    As Ramie was thinking to himself, he sensed a peak tier-1 beast aura came toward the gate speeding from within the compound.


    A second later, the azure gazelle king showed up with Reem mounted on his back.


    Seeing that her face was pale, Ramie''s expression instantly went dark.


    ''Don''t tell me¡­''


    Every time Reem displays this type of expression, a catastrophe befalls them.


    Opening her small mouth, Reem shouted in panic:"A mid tier- 2 beast is heading over here from that direction!!!"


    Just as she said these words, and pointed at a certain direction¡­


    ROOAAAR!!


    A heavy, reverberating roar bellowed from the distance.


    ¡­

 Chapter 57: Arrival of the survivors convoy (2)

    Chapter 57: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (2)


    "Bring the weapons! Call everyone! Prepare for battle!" the compound leader roared his orders with urgency. Then, he jumped up on one of the two trucks that were supporting the wooden barrier.


    Looking the direction where Reem pointed earlier, and seeing a massive figure charging over, the compound leader''s countenance turned extremely heavy.


    Seeing his expression, Ramie gulped down a mouthful of saliva, his expression terrible to behold.


    For the second time, and in less than 12 hours, the compound was attacked by a tier-2 beast!


    ''Could this beast be drawn here by the scent of blood from yesterday''s battle¡­?''


    Although the blood was cleaned yesterday¡­ exactly for the purpose of avoiding other beasts being attracted to the smell, but Ramie couldn''t help to question. After all, he couldn''t just believe that their luck was simply this bad.


    As the roars of the beast approached closer and closer, the weapons'' bundles were brought, and all of the warriors and magicians gathered near the gate, preparing to defend against the assault, for the second time in less than 12 hours.


    With terrible expressions, all of the warriors and the two magicians in the compound gathered behind the gate barrier, preparing for the incoming confrontation.


    Many of them had already fought yesterday at night, and had barely gotten any rest, but now, they had to go through it all again, and in such short interval.


    The newly awakened warriors were still in the initial state¡­ they were yet to get used to their life energy, which meant that they won''t be able to exert all of their strength.


    Normally, they shouldn''t be allowed to partake in a confrontation with tier-2 beast caliper, but¡­ what was alternative?


    Judging by the direction where the roars were coming from, it was apparent that the beast was coming at the gate.


    "Be careful, this beast has the size of a truck! Quickly, anyone aside from the warriors and magicians; gets away from here, and hides in his house!"


    The threat now was not something to be confronted with numbers. So, any one with no special abilities would just hinder the others.


    In this fight, and against such a monstrous size, quantity was useless. Only quality can make difference here!


    Also, if the warriors and magicians present here were unable to handle the beast, then the average people would be even less so.


    Originally, the total number of individuals in the compound was only around 300. However, in yesterday''s battle alone, over 60 souls were lost to the beasts. It was a horrifying loss in any standard¡­ especially considering that the 60 fatality were among the 100 most capable individual in the compound. As for most of the remaining survivors, they were mostly children, women, or old people, which were less useful when fighting the savage beasts and even less willing to.


    Roar!!


    Roar!!!!!


    ROAAAAR!!!!!!!


    The roars of the beast got closer and closer. The group of magicians and warriors steeled their hearts for the imminent death battle.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    By now, everyone could sense slight tremors spreading across the ground in a certain rhythm. This was obviously the beast''s heavy steps.


    ''Just how heavy that thing is¡­!''


    The compound leader stood atop one of the trucks that were supporting the wooden barrier, one of the warriors ran over and handed him a bundle of the throwing javelins as well as the bony spear that he had use against the tier-2 flying beasts yesterday.


    Picking up one of the javelins, the compound leader assumed a throwing posture, and with a ''whoosh,'' he sent the javelin flying toward the beast, hoping to kill it before it reaches the compound.


    Seeing the compound leader through the javelin, everyone held their breath, awaiting the leader''s expression to loosen in relief, to see if he could inflict either a killing or crippling injury on this beast.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    However, instead of the leader''s expression loosening or rejoicing in triumph, his face darkened even further¡­ killing their hope on the spot.


    He did not stop there, but picked up one javelin after another and threw it at the charging beast.


    However, and to every one''s dismay, the beast didn''t roar in agitation or an anger, to indicate that he had suffered any damage. Thus making the present warriors and magicians feel even more agitated, as they didn''t know whether the leader''s attacks missed the target or that the beast''s defense was so terrifying that these types of attacks didn''t cause the least damage to it.


    Suddenly, the leader''s expression changed. On the same time, Ramie felt a massive aura charge at the wooden barrier with a great speed!


    Ramie heart sank at once.


    ''This thing is actually intending to charge through the barrier¡­!''


    Everyone expected the beast to attack the barrier first, and then force his way in. As such, they intended to inflict as much damage as possible to the beast as he''s busy trying to make path to get inside the compound.


    However, and sensing that the beast was coming at the barrier in such momentum, it was obvious that the beast was intending to charge his way through the barrier.


    One quick glance at Reem that was about to shout in warning confirmed ramie''s thought.


    Not wanting to wait a second further, Ramie turned and charged away with his top speed.


    A moment later, two shouts of warning sounded out in succession, warning everyone to run away from the barrier.


    One was deep, very loud and angry, while the other was soft and barely audible.


    BOOOOM!!!!!


    RUMBLE!!


    With an ear shattering, violent sound of explosion, the wooden warrior was blasted apart to the inside of the compound, sending wooden shrapnel in various sizes flying everywhere.


    As the wooden barrier caved in and exploded, the two trucks were pushed violently to the inside of the compound, flipping and sliding on the ground in such momentum as though they were two speeding trucks that had been involved in a violent road accident.


    The two trucks crushed anyone who didn''t move in time, and countless wooden shrapnel showered the running people, killing few on the spot and injuring others.


    A thick, two meter long trunk of tree that was part of the barrier came hurling violently though the air with great momentum at Ramie''s direction.


    The trunk was rotating in the air like a bat that had slipped away from the grip of a baseball player, as he was swinging it at the ball.


    Thud! Thud!


    The hurling trunk hit two warriors on its path that were running away from the gate.


    The first one, a newly awakened warrior, was hit on the head.


    Given that he was new with life energy, and that his ignition was less that 3%, he was completely unable to withstand such immense force. Thus, his head was crushed, killing him on the spot.


    The other warrior had ignition percent of 68%, making him equivalent to high tier-1 beast. Plus, he had advanced at the beginning of the crisis. Thus, he was adept at using his life energy, which showed, considering that he pushed all the energy at the backside of his body to block any attack that might came from the beast.


    As such, and as one of the edges of the hurling trunk hit him on the back, the warrior was flung violently to the side. He only suffered a slight bruise.


    Ahead of the two warriors, was Ramie!


    So far, he completely depended on his innate spell ability to sense the killing intents aimed toward him to evade attacks.


    But this trunk was inanimate object! It has no aura or killing intent. As such, Ramie was clueless to the approaching hundreds kilograms weight of trunk that came at him crushing with huge momentum.


    Bam!


    Ramie was smashed violently at his right shoulder with one of the edges of the trunk.


    Even though the trunk''s momentum was lowered upon hitting the last warrior, but Ramie had no life energy protection. Thus, his right shoulder''s was shattered upon the impact, and the meat was torn apart, mingling with the bones, while he was flung away in the air, rotating, as though he was a doll that was thrown away by an angry child.


    Spining in the air, his right arm that was now attached to his deformed shoulder by a thin piece of meat finally broke free from his body, and was thrown in a different direction.


    After flying for a distance, his body finally crushed to the ground. And he displayed no sign of movement afterward.


    Originally, the large cluster of people weren''t standing far the barrier, waiting for the beast to attack the barrier so that they shower him with their assaults.


    They didn''t anticipate the beast simply charging through the gate like that, which was understandable, considering that the barrier was made from double layer of thick tree trunks and was supported with two trucks that were parked behind the barrier to reinforce it with weight.


    This display of power on the beast side exposed everyone to a shower of variant sized wooden shrapnel, and two smashing trucks.


    Through the translucent lightening shield spell that Reem had casted to protect herself, she witnessed Ramie''s shocking situation, and cried out in horror.


    But he wasn''t the only one in a sorry situation¡­


    Many newly awakened warriors met their end here. Three were crushed by one of the flipping trucks, one with the hurling trunk, and few had several large wooden spikes planted in their bodies. Others too were injured with shrapnel.


    The two truck''s cargo beds were loaded with hundred of bricks, to increase the weight that supports the barrier. However, these bricks flew at them and worsened the situation by an entire notch.


    Luckily, the leader had ordered the average people to hide in their homes. Otherwise, the death toll would have been much worse.


    Lance was now a peak Lv.1 warrior. Hence, his defense saved him from sustaining any injury.


    Reem had her defensive spell, and so did her beast.


    Neil on the other hand was the furthest from the gate. And luckily, a warrior with 73% life energy ignition percent was running behind him. So, he unintentionally protected him by receiving the shrapnel''s shower.


    As for the shy Etta, she had absorbed too many cores through the night, raising her power from low to mid to high to peak in one go. Hence, her life energy was very unstable, which is why she stayed home.


    Roar!!


    Right now, a towering figure was inside the compound, scanning everyone with eyes that were oozing with savageness and greed for the rich harvest ahead.


    The beast charged in while running on his four limbs, but now, it stood up on its hinder legs, towering over the two flipped over trucks.


    Finally, the people inside managed to get a clear look at the enemy.


    The beast was large, heavy, and was covered with thick, silver-blue colored fur. Standing on its hinder leg, the beast casted a huge shadow on the ground, making every ones heart''s quiver in trepidation.


    "It looks¡­ like a bear!" one of the warriors blurted out.


    ROAAAR!!!


    Unleashing a savage roar, the beast charged at them with his massive figure, causing the ground to rumble under his heavy weight.


    This beast had indeed caught the scent of the blood from yesterday''s battle. Thus, he had come here to satisfy his insatiable hunger. So, upon seeing the number of preys ahead, he could no longer hold his urge back.


    Upon this sight, the faces of everyone fell and their hearts tightened.


    Immediately, they rotated their life energy to its max, and raised their spears, trying to resist the beast.


    However, and as the hill of muscles and savagery charge at them with a momentum of an oversized tank! And coupled with the rumbling ground under the gigantic thing, the charge of the beast gave them an illusion as though he was a landslide and they were a mere weak ants standing in its way!


    Although everyone remained in their spot, and held their ground¡­ but, it was obvious that it wasn''t out of dedication or bravery. Simply, they were too afraid to runaway and give their back to such monstrosity!


    "Warriors, hold your ground! Magicians, cast your spells! Now!!" the order of the leader sounded out from the right wing of the group.


    Suddenly, and as the order fell, the speeding silhouette of the leader came rushing from the side, with a long spear in his hand¡­


    His face was red with anger, and the swelling veins of rage made his forehead and neck look like a map.


    Less than a day ago, a lot of people died, and among them, 11 warrior and 3 magicians fell. And now, many warriors and probably one magician were killed as well.


    He simply couldn''t take it anymore. He had to stop the bleeding in numbers. Otherwise, the compound might become history in no time at this pace.


    Thus, with a belly that was filled with volcanic anger, he rotated his life energy and prepared to dash at the beast, deciding to sneak attack and land a fatal hit with his spear the exact moment the beast attacks the group.


    ¡­

 Chapter 58: Arrival of the survivors convoy (3)

    Chapter 58: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (3)


    As the beast dashed at them, he didn''t go for the center of the group, but charged at the wing of the group that had the most people in it.


    From the rear of the group, a man covered with bandages took step forward and shouted in weak voice.


    Earth wall!


    As if the earth had answered his call, a four meter tall, five meters long, and two meters wide wall of solid mud rose from the ground right in front of the charging beast.


    Roarr!!


    Offended by such trick, the beast didn''t go around such meager wall, as his pride didn''t allow him to. But instead, he charged at the wall, wanting to smash right through it!


    The one who casted this spell was exactly the compound''s leader son.


    His artifact was of the elemental path, and he had the innate spell earth manipulation. As such, his class was earth magician, with common rarity.


    He was a rank-1 magician with Lv.4 artifact, which made him the highest level magician in the compound. And with an artifact of the forth level, he naturally had four spells, which were Earth spike, Earth wall, Earth hand, and Earth cage.


    As for their types, they were offensive spell, defensive spell, supportive spell, and supportive spell, respectively.


    Upon seeing the massive figure dashes at them, his heart was momentarily grabbed with fear, so, he immediately casted his defensive spell right in front of the beast to stop or at least interrupt the beast''s seemingly unstoppable momentum.


    Boom!


    Bzzzzzztt!


    It wasn''t only him who casted a spell. On the same time, a fire ball and a lightening ball smashed against the beast''s body and exploded at the same time into violent blasts of fire and sparks of short lightening strands.


    To everyone''s shock however, this didn''t force the beast to stop¡­ or even interrupt his momentum for that matter. The beast charged at the earth wall at an even stronger force.


    "Be careful of the aftereffect!"


    "Raise another wall!"


    Immediately many urgent and loud shouts came from the other wing of the group, however, the compound''s leader son was in a pathetic state, due to yesterday''s battle. He was severely injured, and was weak to the point of barely supporting his own weight. He was unable to react in time.


    Only when the beast was upon the wall did he understood the implication behind these words.


    ''Wait¡­ the earth wall is less than 7 meters away. So if this thing blasts through it, wouldn''t that send the debris right at us¡­?''


    His heart sank at the thought, and he wanted to act, but¡­ it was too late¡­


    BOOOMM!!!!


    Similar to the wooden barrier, the wall was obliterated apart, with a rumbling explosion that tremored the entire compound. It as if a high grade military missile landed there.


    At the same, the debris and the pieces of the wall flew at the people behind it.


    Suddenly, a dome shaped barrier came to existence right behind the wall, and right in the path of the debris and shrapnel.


    Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!


    The flying trajectories bombarded the dome, causing it to flicker at its limit, as it withstood the force. Luckily, the shield held, and did not break.


    From the far side, Reem lowered her hand.


    This dome shaped shield, was exactly her defensive spell. And she had casted it at the very last moment to block the possible aftereffect of the beast''s attack.


    Luckily, and given that this spell was of the rare grade, its defensive properties were much better than the common grade Earth wall spell of the compound''s leader son.


    Although the leader''s son artifact was higher than hers by a level, but, to magicians, only the ranks, the spells, and magic energy can determine their strength.


    All of the magicians in the compound were rank-1 magicians. This meant that regardless of their Artifacts levels, all of their spells were rank-1 spells. So, this left the grade of the spell and its type to say which is more useful.


    The beast picked up its speed and charged at the dome shaped shield, also smashing it into flashy sparks.


    At this moment, the beast appeared as though he was indestructible mythical creature that was unstoppable by any mean.


    With even the attack of Reem''s azure gazelle king having no damage on this beast, the rest of the magicians'' spells thus became useless against this thing.


    This wasn''t weird, considering that even the leader''s javelin, which had penetrating power higher than any magician''s spell here in the compound, had failed to even penetrate the skin of this beast.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Right now, it became quite clear that this beast''s specialty was strength and defense, unlike the flying beast yesterday, which had the ability to command other beasts.


    By shattering Reem''s shield, the last layer of defense that the group has was destroyed easily, leaving nothing else between them and the beast.


    Seeing the looks of terror and defeat on these preys, the beast could no longer hold back its primal urges, and his savage intent to tear apart and devour soared. Thus, he charged excitedly at them.


    At this moment, the compound leader pushed his life energy to its max, and his physical abilities were pushed to their limits.


    "Neil, throw your fire ball at the thing, Now!!!" preparing to launch his attack, the leader shouted out his order.


    The first time he ordered the magicians to cast their spell, his intention was that to let the magicians overwhelm the beast with their destructive offensive spells to distract the thing, thus creating a chance for him to deliver the killing blow.


    Unlike the throwing javelin, this time he intended to use his primary spear that was completely made of bones and was larger and longer with thicker shaft, thus allowing him to thrust the spear with all of his power without snapping it in two halves.


    His intention was not to injure the beast, but to kill it with one strike to a vital point! After all, unlike the flaying beast from yesterday, this one was alone.


    Actually, the leader intended to attack the moment the fire ball and the lightening ball landed on the beast. As although these two spells had less penetrating power than his javelin, but these two spells had something his javelin lacked ¨C the explosive effect!


    In his eyes, even if the beast had thick layer of skin that was capable of blocking his javelin, the fire ball and the lightening spells had an explosive effects. So, even if the skin of the beast resisted these spells, the explosive effect should still inflict an internal injury to the beast.


    Afterward, the beast''s momentum would be interrupted, leaving an opening in his defense. And that is when he would sweep at the beast, and deliver the killing blow.


    Unfortunately, the two spells didn''t seem to inflict any injury whatsoever to the beast.


    Still, he had to do something. He shouted for Neil to cast a fire ball at the beast before attacking, to create a distraction, even if it was for a second.


    Rotating his life energy to its max output, a massive volume of power that only life energy of Lv.2 warrior can produce streamed like a flooding river to every muscle fiber, and to every corner in his body, completely submerging him in a lake of radiating power.


    His body greedily absorbed the rich energy like a dry sponge inside a puddle of fresh water. In no time, his body started to overflow with throbbing power, giving him the illusion that nothing in this world could withstand even one punch from him.


    He however knew better than to believe as such.


    The pure monstrosity ahead was the best example that this false feeling was an empty sensation that only a small frog in small puddle of water would have, not knowing that any random creature in the nearby ocean can swallow it with a mere gulp.


    Right now, the beast had already reached the group, and turned three warriors into mingled masses of meat and bone with a mere swing of its massive, clawed paw. One warrior was even snapped in half, with each part of his body flying in a different direction, due to the sheer force behind the swing.


    Everyone on that side scattered and started running away like a scurrying chickens, without even the slightest fighting spirit.


    As the beast was about to swing his paw at an escaping warrior, a flying fire ball landed right at the beast''s side, exploding into a mass of fire.


    "It''s now or never¡­!"


    Seeing the fire ball explode, the leader lunged himself forth with the full power of Lv.2 warrior. He traversed the entire distance between him and the beast before the fire of the explosion even dissipates.


    Getting close to the beast, his muscles bulged with an overwhelming power. He then kicked off the ground and increased his momentum, wanting to channel the full force of the charge into the spear, to output the strongest attack he could muster ever since breaking through to the second level.


    If this attack did not work, then nothing else would! As such, he put his all in it.


    Reaching right next to the beast, he moved his body in a manner to transfer the kinetic energy of the charge and force it behind the thrust, to penetrate the thick layer of the beast''s skin.


    "Ah!! Die!!!!!"


    Out-bursting his strength, and using his both hands, he thrust the spear at the side of the abdominal area of the beast¡­


    The exceedingly sharp head of the spear pressed and caused the fur of the beast to cave in, giving the impression that it was about to stab through with just a little additional force.


    However¡­!


    Instead of penetrating the skin, the head of the spear bended to the side, strained to its limits. However, still, it was unable to force its way in, even despite the massive pushing power.


    Crack!!


    The spear snapped under the massive force, and was rebounded backward, unable to preach the skin at all!


    The compound leader stared, stupefied. He was shocked at the sight.


    This attack was literally the best he could offer, yet¡­


    If even his strongest attack failed, and his strongest spear was broken, then¡­ what else could he do?


    Suddenly, his heart shuddered, and his hair stood on end as a deathly cold chill ran down his spine.


    From above, two small pupils that oozed with death, menace and unmatchable savagery locked on him.


    ROARRR!!


    Hearing the loud roar, the compound leader eyes widened in shock and horror as he realized the terrible situation he was in.


    Rotating his life energy frantically, he dashed backward, to avoid the retaliation of the beast, while holding his arms in a defensive posture in front of his chest.


    Unfortunately, his reaction was a bit to late¡­


    A massive paw of destruction smashed at him before he manages to distant himself in time.


    Thud!


    A crushing force landed on him, causing a violent surge of wind, and sending him flying in a sorry state.


    The compound leader flew away like a cannon ball, and then crushed far in the distance with a heavy thud. His body rolled over many times while sliding on the ground for several meters before coming to stop.


    From the distant, his left arm could be seen twisted in many weird angels.


    Although both this bear and the flying beast from yesterday were mid tier-2 beast, however, there was one major difference between the two.


    Each type of beast had his own advantages and disadvantage. The flying beast had the advantage of commanding other beast of its type as an advantage, and its weak defense as flaw, while this bear has his defense and strength as advantage, and speed as flaw.


    Yesterday, the compound leader used the numbers as an advantage to counter and eventually nullify the flying beasts'' commanding ability, while continually inflict damage on it, taking advantage of its weak defense. Hence, they weren''t completely annihilated in the fight.


    Whilst against this beast¡­ numbers meant nothing! And with the beast strong defense, the other magicians and warriors became useless to fight the beast.


    So, the only hope was that the leader would defeat this thing, but now¡­


    Seeing the compound leader being sent flying like a rag doll, everyone''s eyes widened in shock and horror as their mouths gaped open.


    The worst nightmare had come to pass, and the strongest individual in the compound was thrashed.


    This was the last straw that broke the camel''s back. Following which, chaos broke out all around.


    If the strongest among them went down in one swing, then what about the others?


    The only warrior that could have made difference was taken out so miserably, and with him, the last hope.


    Following that was absolute chaos. Some were not willing to resign to this result and stayed to fight the beast¡­ others ran away in fright, wanting to put as much distance between them and the beast as possible. One man headed to the destroyed gate, and fled away, completely abandoning the compound.


    The beast ran amok, excitedly killing everything that moves in sight. He was like a meat grinder, grinding nonstop.


    One of the newly awakened warriors was so frightened, that he didn''t have the power to even move his legs. He thus froze in his place as the beast came at him with blood thirsty-eyes, to deliver the killing blow.


    Tears and mucus mixed together in his face, as he muffled his cries, hoping that this meaningless action would make the best go away, or make him invisible or something. Falling to the ground, his urine flowed beneath him, creating small puddle of stench.


    As the beast was upon him, opening his large maw that was filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, to bit off his head¡­ All of the sudden; the beast''s eyes lost its luster, with the glow of life fading, as if his soul was being sucked away.


    The massive figure froze right in its place, as if he had lost conscious right here and then.


    With the beast towering over him like that, the warrior was so frightened, that his soul almost left his body.


    Slowly, he forced himself to turn around, and crawl away from the motionless towering figure.


    As he started crawling, his eyesight was drawn to two very small, glowing orbs to the side, in the distance.


    The two orbs shone with a mysterious yellow glint of light like a pair of small moons in a very pitch black night, promising a path for the lost souls.


    Even though there were many things happening within this warrior''s field of vision¡­ like people running away with haste, others shouting for him to get away from the beast... But¡­ everything seemed to happen in the background, as if it was something unimportant, something trivial, something that had nothing to do with him.


    All what he wanted to do, was to keep staring at those little orbs forever and ever, as if they were the only thing interesting in this world, the only thing worth looking at.


    It was as if the light emanated from those orbs was offering him something beyond what this world could ever match¡­ something otherworldly¡­ like the answers to all of his questions¡­ the reason behind his existence¡­


    Completely surrendering to these two mysterious orbs, he wanted to reach out to them, to just leave his own body and fly to them¡­


    These two orbs seemed to be attached to something like a face, but¡­ in front of the allure of the orbs, the face looked only blurry¡­ it was unimportant¡­


    In the background, a shouting voice could be faintly heard, and it seems to be coming from the mouth in that blurry face¡­


    "Attack the eyes! Attack the beast''s eyes! Before the spell wears off! SOMEBODY, ATTACKS, THE DAMN, EYES!!!!!!!!!!"


    However, and like everything else in the background other than the mystical orbs¡­ to this warrior, this voice was simply unworthy of his attention¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 59: Arrival of the survivors convoy (4)

    Chapter 59: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (4)


    After being struck by the massive trunk, and flying away miserably, Ramie had lost his conscious for only short time, before waking up.


    His entire right arm was no longer there; his shoulder was now frighteningly mingled. The entire right side of his torso was messed up, with many broken ribs and bone tips sticking out like spikes¡­ yet, he did not die.


    His bloodline''s abnormal vitality had saved his life yet again.


    Ramie regained his consciousness just in the time to witness the compound''s leader failed attack, and the miserable state he landed in after receiving the enraged beast''s retaliation.


    After gazing at the beast and seeing his stats screen, he understood why they were suppressed to such a sorry state.


    Tier-2 Beast


    Name: Glacier bear


    Innate Spells: none


    Special notes: A descendent of the mountain king, known to have an extreme strength and defense. Beware of his charging attack.


    Seeing these stats, Ramie understood that this beast was on a level beyond what the current compound could handle.


    As such, he decided to resort to the use of his new ultimate trump card ¨C Ghost glare spell!


    After all, and even though this beast was on an entire tier higher than him, but this spell of his was a soul based spell that can directly attack the soul of the target, ignoring the physical defenses. More ever, the target was a beast! So he didn''t believe that this beast can have a soul force higher than normal human. Also, the fact that his innate spell belonged to the soul path implied that his soul force should higher than average.


    Although he wasn''t sure of the concept that humans had stronger souls that beasts, but¡­ what other choice was there!


    He had to cast his spell and see if it affects the beast or not?


    If it did, then hopefully the effect would last for a long time¡­ long enough for someone to inflict some damage on the soft spots in the beast or something, assuming he had any at all.


    And if its failed, then he and the others would carry out their emergency plan that they had agreed on days ago and flee the compound.


    It had to be said, that after he got this spell, last night, he had casted it for the first time, so the artifact had already transmitted to him the particular casting method.


    It was a rather simple one. As all he had to do, was to inject the required magic energy into the artifact to fuel the cast of the spell, and lock his eyes on the target. Apparently, this spell was to be casted using the eyes, and not the hands or anything else. Direct eye contact was not needed for the spell to work, but merely looking at the target would do. Also, he didn''t need to keep locking at the target for the effect to last, but only for a brief time to cast the spell. Afterward, looking elsewhere would be fine.


    Thus, locking his eyes at the beast, Ramie gave it try.


    Ghost glare!


    The moment he casted the spell, the beast went motionless almost instantly.


    Ramie felt overjoyed at the fact that his spell actually worked on the beast. But instantly afterward, he remembered that this beast was much stronger than himself, and that the higher the tier of the beast, the more intelligent they become, which meant that this beast''s soul force might not be very far off from normal humans¡­ as such, the effect of his spell would be a short one.


    "Attack the eyes! Attack the beast''s eyes! Before the spell wears off! SOMEBODY, ATTACKS, THE DAMN, EYES!!!!!!!!!!"


    Ramie immediately started shouting for the others to attack the beast while still on its trance-like state that was induced by the ghost glare spell.


    To his dismay however, after he finished his shouts, the beast regained his senses, and was confused for a second, before starting to roar with a towering fury while scanning the area around to locate the culprit behind the attack.


    Generally, all the beasts had the ability to sense the aura of other creatures. However, not all the beasts had the same degree of this perceptive ability.


    Some beasts had a heightened sense that enables them to sense both strong and weak auras, while other beasts had a weak perceptive ability, only enabling them to sense the auras of beasts that were much stronger than themselves. As for the weak beasts, they had to depend on other senses such as sight, smell, and hearing to locate targets.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Now, it had to be mentioned that the aura generally reflects the strength of the beast that radiates it, or its level, whether it was the life energy aura or magic energy aura. And needlessly to say, the stronger the beast, the stronger the aura he emits, and the weaker the beast, the weaker the aura.


    Anyway, when it comes to the beasts that had an average perceptive ability, they are able them to sense the strong auras, while also sensing the weak auras if they were close by.


    Luckily for Ramie, this beast had a rather dull aura sensing ability, and thus was only able to detect auras of beast much higher than himself.


    As such, and depending on his other senses, it was impossible for the beast to locate the attacker, as the spell was soul based, and needless to say, detecting that spell was far beyond the capabilities of normal senses.


    Seeing that the chance has passed, ramie wanted to curse out in frustration.


    The beast was motionless for a 3 full seconds, yet, no one dared to attack¡­!?


    Ramie immediately picked himself up with great difficulty, he pushed his body to its limit and forced himself to run away from the scene, to create a safe distance between himself and the massive, raging monstrosity.


    "Ramie¡­! You''re actually still alive¡­! Wait¡­ was that your new spell just now¡­?"


    As Ramie ran over to the group, the half rejoicing-half shocked Reem welcomed him from a distant.


    She was standing near the group of warriors that didn''t want to retreat. Those warriors all have families hiding in their houses just few tenths of meters behind. So, if the beast got passed them here, the living area behind would be the next playground.


    As Ramie saw Reem, an idea came to him. So, he decided to give it a try, to see if this gloomy situation was salvageable or not. And if it wasn''t, then, he could only join the others in escaping.


    "Yes! It was my spell¡­! Tell me, if I do that again, can your beast try and attack the eyes of the bear?"


    "Eyes¡­ um¡­ Yes¡­probably¡­ but, I have to say, we have already shoot him with lighting ball and fire ball at the same time. But it didn''t do anything at all¡­!"


    Hearing so, ramie was stunned.


    Although he had regained his conscious in the time to see the compound''s leader attack fail, which was the strongest attack here, but, it came as a shock for him to learn that even two explosions did nothing to this beast.


    Shaking his head, Ramie spoke: "Then, we will make this one last attempt, if it didn''t work, then we can just run away from here! Tell me, can your summon outrun this thing¡­?"


    "Yes! Although this beast is strong, he''s too heavy to catch up to whity." Reem answered, appearing to be certain in her assumption.


    Hearing her answer, Ramie felt assured. After all, if this attack failed, then there was a chance that they face the retaliation of the beast.


    Right now, the beast had killed one of the warriors that was trying to crawl away from him, and was busy in devouring the remains.


    "Tell your summon to attack the moment I give the signal!''"


    Saying so, ramie faced the direction of the beast, and prepared to cast his spell.


    As the ghost glare spell requires 20 magic energy points to be casted, and as he had already used it once¡­ this meant that he could cast only one more time, before his magic energy drops down to 9 points¡­ meaning that before recovering his energy, this would be the last time he could cast it in this confrontation.


    The beast was over 30 meters away from them now, devouring the warriors that he had killed earlier. The beast was ignoring their existence, as if he could just kill them whenever he wanted to.


    The area where the beast stood was lettered with several warriors lying on the ground either dead or too weak to resist, the best seems to have stopped the killing spree and started eating his trophies.


    Injecting his magic energy in the artifact, ramie commanded!


    Ghost glare!


    Immediately, his two golden eyes shone with a mysterious light, and in almost no time¡­ The beast''s eyes lost their glimmer and dulled, as if losing all signs of life within them. And immediately, the beast went immobile again.


    "Attack!!!" Ramie shouted with urgency.


    The moment his sound fell, the azure gazelle king charged ahead with high speed, toward the beast, and shortened the distance between him and the motionless beast in no time.


    Then and standing at a distance that would allow him to retreat on time if his attack failed, flashy sparks of lightening flickered, dancing around the gazelles'' two horns.


    Bzzzttt!!!!!!


    In a split second, and just like the lightening that streaks through stormy nights, a beam of lightening bounced from the crystal- like horns of the azure gazelle king and streaked through the distance, smashing right at the beast''s face.


    The lightening beam bombarded the beast''s face, causing sparks of lightening to splash off wildly.


    ROAAAAAARRRR!!!


    ROARRRRR!!!


    ROOOAAAARRRR!!!


    The moment the beast regained his senses, a massive waves of pain assaulted his brain like a flood, causing him to unleash wretched cries of agony and pain.


    The azure gazelle king retreated the exact moment the beast started moving, and moved away, next to Reem.


    "Success¡­!"


    Seeing the beast violent reaction, with two streams of blood gushing down from its eyes, Ramie was elated.


    Both eyes of the beast were now burned, with smoke rising up for the beast''s eye sockets!


    It wasn''t only Ramie, but everyone else was also overjoyed.


    In the distance, the beast started moving in circles, while howling with agony. Occasionally, he would push his head against the ground, as if wanting to scratch his bloodied eyes.


    Even though the beast had lost his eyes, but in the end, he was still mid tier-2 beast! And other than ramie''s ghost glare spell, no one here has anything that can affect the beast.


    The bitter fact was that even though they had incapacitated the beast, they still couldn''t kill it, even though he had already lost his sight.


    Not long afterward, the best stopped moving in circles, faced their direction, and roared at them with anger, while swinging his large paws at them threateningly.


    Everyone held their breath, waiting for the beast''s next action.


    Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog''s sense of smell is 100 times better than humans. A blood hound''s is 300 times better.


    As for bears''¡­ their sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound''s or 2,100 times better than a human!


    Of course, that went for the normal bears, the animals. As for this beast, it was unknown if he possessed the same quality that average bears has or not. However, if it did, then it would explain why had this beast come here in the first place ¨C the lingering blood smell from yesterday''s battle.


    Fearing that this beast might have a good sense of smell, no one dared to approach this hill of muscles. In the first place, aside from the severely injured leader, no one here was capable of even hurting the beast now.


    After letting out few menacing roars at them, the beast turned back, picked one of the corpses on the ground with his mouth¡­ and left the compound.


    "..."


    "..."


    "Did the beast just¡­ fled away¡­?" One of the warriors asked, in uncertain tone.


    No one answered him.


    The beasts'' occasional roar grew fainter and fainter.


    He was indeed retreating away.


    Looking at his injury¡­ Ramie''s expression turned terrible.


    After that, he looked backward¡­


    The thick tree trunk that knocked him out had flown all the way to the other side, embedding itself into a house, and causing an entire side of that house to crumble apart.


    Seeing the scene, Ramie''s eyes twitched a bit.


    ''I actually survived that¡­!''


    Immediately, the frustration in his heart vanished away, completely.


    A moment afterward, and after feeling a sense of security, Ramie sensed his consciousness fading away¡­


    ''Not again¡­''


    He immediately tried to sit down, to avoid falling down on the right side of his body, and worsening the injury. However¡­ and before he manages so, he black out, standing.


    Thud!


    ¡­

 Chapter 60: Arrival of the survivors convoy (5)

    Chapter 60: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (5)


    Waking up from sleep, ramie immediately looked at the clock hanged at the wall across the room.


    ''Hmm¡­ it''s only been several hours since the bear attacked¡­''


    On his bed, he saw shreds of bones littered around. Looking at his shoulder that hasn''t even been bandaged, Ramie could see that the process of healing had already begun, as his shoulders'' condition looked better than when he saw it before losing consciousness. Also, pieces of broken bones could be seen protruding from his shoulder. Some of these bones were half emerged, while other shreds were almost completely emerged, and were on the verge of falling off.


    ''Is my body excreting these bones?''


    Ramie started thinking that his body''s healing abilities were much more terrifying that he though them to be, which naturally made him overjoyed. The last time, his body had grown an entire arm, but at the time, his arm still had a base that was attached to his shoulder. But now¡­ his entire arm was gone, with no leftovers. So, he couldn''t help to wonder if it was possible for his body to build an entire arm from the zero point.


    Getting up, and going to the kitchen, he saw a large pot containing the usual meat stew awaiting him. Maybe due to his severe injury, but Ramie was so hungry that he devoured the entire content, which was thrice the usual portion he eats, just to alleviate his hunger.


    Soon, the rest brought him up to speed on what happens after he lost conscious.


    The compound leader had woken up shortly after he lost conscious, and apparently, his left arm was damaged beyond recovery.


    His left arm bones were shattered into small bits, and scattered, penetrating through his arm''s flesh, ruining it beyond recovery.


    This wasn''t strange, considering that he received a full force attack from a beast strong enough to obliterate the gate barrier with a single charge. Actually, him walking out with only a lost arm was quite good enough.


    That bears'' strength was pretty abnormal, even for a tier-2 beast.


    The water female magician and the compound''s son survived the slaughter, which was a large stroke of luck for them and the compound.


    As for the warriors, all of the deaths and injuries were among the newly advanced 20 warrior.


    The delight of their families in the early morning turned to weeping in noon time.


    10 of them were dead, 6 injured with a variety of wound that ranged from crippling wounds to superficial ones.


    One of the newly advanced warriors couldn''t handle the pressure and went full psychotic. Apparently, the trauma of the massive beast chasing, smashing and eating people was too much for his mentality to deal with.


    Another warrior ran away during the battle with the beast, and he has yet to return. Actually, this warriors'' fleeing the compound was understandable, considering that his brother, who was also a warrior, had died in the nightly battle with the flying beasts, leaving no one else for him to care about inside the compound.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Considering the situation outside, it was safe to assume that if he doesn''t come back by the night time, then he''s most likely a lost cause.


    Considering these losses, the compound''s leader expression became as dark as charcoal. Worst, unlike the night battle from yesterday, the compound gained nothing from this confrontation. No life energy cores, no magic core¡­ only losses.


    As for the compound entrance¡­ they no longer wanted to make another barrier from wood. Instead, they tried a different approach to seal off the entrance this time.


    The warriors demolished few uninhabited houses, and brought the bricks, the wreckage, and stacked it up to three meter tall bile that completely sealed the entrance off, without any possibility to open it. Also, the reinforced it with the two flipped over trucks.


    This way, the new barrier would offer much more resistant, and definitely won''t be demolished by a beasts'' charge.


    As for the truck and the trunk that is used to bring the hunt and water, these trucks were now parked outside the compound.


    The warriors piled up the remaining bricks and wreckage of the demolished housed into an L-shaped pocket structure outside the compound wall, and parked the trucks inside. Of course, this new structure had a sturdy, thick wooden door to prevent anything from sneaking into the trucks.


    This way, the compound was now completely sealed off, with no way for vehicles to move in or out of the compound. Thus, it now became safer.


    For the hunted beast, the warriors built a small platform, using ropes and wood to carry the hunt from above the wall. As for the water, it would be pumped using a series of pipes, from beneath the wall.


    Although this kind of effort would normally require days or even weeks to carry out, however, with the warriors around, the task was pulled off in mere hours.


    Actually, although this battle was completely tragic for the compound inhabitants, but for Ramie''s group, this tragic event actually introduced a good chance for them!


    Prior to last night''s battle and today''s, no one was willing to join them, now however¡­ Lance told ramie that today, they were approached by more than a dozen people, secretly of course. They wanted to join their group, and leave with compound with them when the time comes.


    The reason for this change of attitude was ironically the exact same reason that prevented the people from taking this step in the first place ¨C Ramie!


    Before, and due to ramie''s ''special condition,'' no one wanted to even consider joining their team, not unless they cast ramie out first. Now however, he was exactly the reason why they wanted in¡­


    This change was partially due to his performance in last night''s battle, and majorly because of his contribution in today''s confrontation.


    Before, it was known that he has a ''special'' grade artifact, which meant that some of the spells that he can unlock were bound to be very powerful ones, but his ''condition,'' was still too frightening to look pass¡­


    But now that he started showing some capabilities, his reputation immediately soared. As for the matter of his ''condition,'' it was pushed to the back.


    This development confirmed the idea that these were not normal times, and strength was the thing that matters the most here.


    Anyway, this development was good news to them. As, the more that joins them in their trip to the capital, the better their chances of surviving becomes.


    ¡­


    The night descended, bringing about blood-chilling atmosphere. The night before, the compound fell under attack by a flock of flying beasts. And today at morning, another beast attacked, making these 12 hours the bloodiest period the compound had ever experienced.


    So, as the night came, no one felt safe, expecting another tragedy to befall them yet again.


    Luckily, these fears proved wrong, as the night went by uneventfully.


    The next morning, another problem arose.


    It was the hunting problem!


    So far, it was always the compound leader that hunts the buffalo beasts with his javelin throwing skills. But after the battle yesterday, his left arm was cut off by the compound''s doctor, as it was way beyond saving.


    This meant that for at least few more days, they''d have to hunt the buffalo beast themselves. Which gave arise to another problem ¨C no one else in the compound had the ability to throw javelin, and kill the buffaloes at a distant.


    Through experience, they knew that to kill one of these beasts, which always move in large hordes¡­ one had to deliver the killing blow without being perceived by the horde. Otherwise, the entire hunting team would face their retaliation, something that they weren''t sure they can survive without the presence of the leader with them.


    So, the problem was that none of the warriors had the throwing skill, and among the magicians, none of them too had any spell that can kill at such distance.


    Luckily, they weren''t completely out of options, as in the end, it fell at the azure gazelle king.


    Using his lightening ball innate ability, he''d attack the horde and kill one or two of them, then, escapes using his speed that was luckily higher than the buffalo beasts.


    This way, the food problem was solved. And ramie''s group started getting one or two cores every single day.


    After few days, the compound leader finally recovered. And he returned to running things in the compound. Although he had lost an arm, but given that he was right handed in the first place, he was still able to resume his job of killing the buffalo beasts.


    Naturally, the way he treats Ramie''s group completely changed. And even though he resumed on using the javelins to hunt the buffalo''s, instead of keeping all the cores for the compound, he started giving their group cores of one hunting trip from every three.


    As such, they started getting paid for their stay in the compound.


    The following days didn''t exactly go by without incidents, as many other beasts attacked the compound. However, luckily, no attack on a noticeable scale happened again. The azure gazelle king was more than enough to deal with these attacking beasts, and deter others.


    Just like that, days went by on this pace¡­ until one day¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 61: Arrival of the survivors convoy (6)

    Chapter 61: Arrival of the survivors'' convoy (6)


    As per his daily routine, Ramie prepared to start training his green vine spell.


    He could tell that his degree of control over the vines was still lacking, as such, and to improve his fighting power, he would spend few hours every day in training the vines.


    For the past few days, he committed himself to this daily schedule.


    His shoulder healed back to normal, as if the horrifying wound did not exist at all. As for his arm, few tissues began sprouting down the edge of his shoulder. Apparently, his body was in the process of re-growing his arm back.


    Just as he wanted to start training, Lance came home running in haste.


    "Ramie, quickly, go the compound entrance, a large number of military vehicles have come and stopped at the gate! The compound leader wants everyone to go there, now!"


    "Military vehicles¡­?" Ramie was stunned by the news.


    Putting on the hoodie and wrapping the scarf to cover his head and face, Ramie ran toward the compound entrance.


    ''Didn''t the military retreat back to the capital¡­? Could they have come to evacuate us there?'' on the way, Ramie couldn''t help to think that this might really be his lucky day.


    However, this might not be the case at all. And those could be survivors, just like them. So, he didn''t get his hopes up by too much, not before he sees for himself.


    Arriving at the entrance, Ramie saw many warriors standing on the wall, and staring outside, with their spears and weapons in their hands. He also saw the compounds son and the water mage there.


    Moving to the wall, he climbed a make-shift stairs that was made of piling up blocks, and stood on the wall.


    Looking at the scene ahead, Ramie frowned.


    Outside, a convoy consisting of two Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 5 armored personal carriers, and over 10 other civilian vehicles, could be seen in one line stopping around thirty meters away from the compound


    In front of the stopping convoy, around 30 warriors with two magicians stood in group, while looking at them.


    It wasn''t only that, but in front of that group, stood one man that was exuding an aura of Lv.2 warriors that was a bit stronger than the compound''s leader.


    The size of the force made everyone in the compound feel strong pressure.


    Ramie wasn''t sure of what would happen next, as he didn''t know what those survivors want.


    Thus far, he had already clashed twice in deadly confrontations with people. As such, he couldn''t help to think that if these people had ill intentions, then this situation might develop to become as ugly as the attack by the bear beast.


    One look at the warriors on the wall proved that this though of his has unfortunately become common sense now. Because as evident by their expression and the tense atmosphere around, it was obvious that everyone here was thinking the same thing right now.


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    At some point, Lance arrived with Reem. And after she spoke some words to the compound leader, he nodded to her, jumped down the wall with three other warriors, along with Lance, and started walking toward the convoy.


    Ramie immediately thought that the compound leader was waiting to hear Reem''s report on this group''s exact levels of strength, due to her summon''s ability to perceive auras.


    The three warriors and Lance that escorted the leader all had ignition percent higher than 75% and were the strongest warriors in the compound. Probably, the leader had done so because in case something goes wrong, then all of the four with him would be able to handle themselves.


    He didn''t ask for weaker warriors and magicians to go with him, because their reflexes won''t be as quick as those four. Also, even though the magicians can have a really destructive spells, but eventually, their reflexes and physic was still quite average, so he didn''t want to bring any of them close to 30 warriors with heightened reflexes.


    The compound leader and the four with him reached the group, and started talking with them.


    Slow minutes ticked by, with everyone on the wall feeling nervous. If this group had ill intention, then they are pretty much doomed, as the difference in the power was obviously large. So, everyone held their breath, as they awaited the result.


    After around five minutes, the compound leader and the Lv.2 warrior in that group shook hands, with smiles.


    The compound leader then turned, and waved to them.


    Only now did Ramie heave a sigh of relieve. Apparently, the compound leader and the survivors'' leader had reached some sort of understanding.


    Afterward, the survivors'' parked their vehicles outside the compound. Then, they entered the compound by going over the wall using robes.


    It turned out that this group was not sent from the capital or anything, but only a group of survivors that had been wondering outside aimlessly while looking for a shelter.


    Among the 30 warriors, few had ignition percents above 50%, making them comparable to high and peak tier-1 beasts, while the others were below 50%, which made them as strong as low and mid tier-1 beasts. As for the two magicians, both were rank-1 magician with Lv.4 artifacts.


    This served to show how turbulent their time outside was. As to level up this much, it meant that they had gone through a great deal of life and death battles with beasts, and acquired their cores, which naturally suggested that this groups fighting power was not to be underestimated. As to survive up to this point, it meant that they had survived through many dangerous battles.


    Luckily, their attitude wasn''t overbearing at all, even though they were much stronger than the compound inhabitants.


    The total number of survivors in the convey numbered a bit less than 100.


    Getting into the compound, the convoy survivors looked to be in a very bad shape, and looked very tired and dirty, which spoke again of how tough their time outside was.


    Immediately, they moved to the other, unoccupied side of the compound to settle.


    Evidently, they were so tired that the first thing they wanted to do was to sleep in their new, dirty, houses without bothering to even dust them off first.


    As the night descended, Ramie and the rest gathered in the kitchen, to have the usual meat stew dinner. However, this time around, Lance wasn''t sitting with them.


    Today, when the group of survivors settled in the compound, the compound leader invited the survivors leading warrior to his house, to discuss some important things with him, and he invited Lance to the discussion as a representative of the group, which served to show how much of high regard he viewed them with now.


    Anyhow, with Ramie''s ghost glare, Reem''s azure gazelle king, and not to mention Lance and Etta that both having ignition percent higher than 75%... their group was a force to be reckoned with within the compound. So, it was obvious that the compound leader was trying to give them sense of belonging to the compound by allowing them to partake in the decision making, so as to convince them to settle here and abandon their plan of leaving for the capital.


    Anyway, as everyone was eating, Ramie had his mind on the stats screens he had seen when observing the two magicians in the survivors group.


    - Lv.4 Magic Artifact (99%)


    - Path: Scholar Magic


    - Class: Inscription Magician (Rare)


    When Ramie saw this stat, he immediately recognized that this 30 something years old man had the scholar type artifact, which according to the artifact knowledge, meant that this man was a none-battle magician, and that his magic would have more of a constructive nature than a destructive one.


    According to the artifact knowledge, small percentage of the people with magic talent had very high degree of control over their magic energy, which enables them to construct magic spells themselves, and not depend on the spells inscribed in the artifacts. More ever, these constructed spells can react and answer to certain conditions and prompts other than the will of the magician that had casted them, and also to sustain themselves beyond the will of the caster.


    This would naturally open the door to endless applications, making the scholar magicians of the highest importance. After all, these people can create spells themselves, and not depend on the artifact''s inscribed spells, which opens up a sea of possibilities for what they can do.


    The artifact knowledge Ramie had, mentioned the inscription magicians'' class. And according to the knowledge, they were magicians with the ability to install certain spells into objects, to add certain desired effects or properties. The inscribed spells would use these objects to manifest or cast their effect, thus turning these objects to magic tools or magic weapons.


    ''Magic weapons¡­! Just how much of benefits can these things bring to us¡­?''


    Ramie felt thrilled at this prospect. After all, merely the crude use of the buffalo beast bones by turning them into spears and weapons had increased the fighting power of the compound by an entire level. So, how strong and useful could these bones be after turning them into magic weapons?


    This convoy coming here opened up a lot of possibilities, and Ramie could barely wait for tomorrow to meet this mage, and see what kind of inscriptions can he make.


    As for the other magician in the survivor group; she wore over-sized clothes which covered her entirely, only leaving small part of her face revealed. The exposed portion of her face was the reason he knew that she was a woman. And when Ramie saw her stats screen, he finally felt relieved.


    This was the first time ever since the catastrophe descent that he meets another bloodline magician other than himself!


    ¡­

 Chapter 62: Lightning inscriptions (1)

    Chapter 62: Lightning inscriptions (1)


    - Lv.4 Magic Artifact (99%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magician


    - Class: Silver Wind Bird (Common)


    The stats screen of the women conformed that she too was a bloodline magician, just like him.


    It was probably the reason why she covered herself to this degree.


    Having seen that there was another bloodline magician other than himself; Ramie started feeling more relieved. After all, this meant that others too had this type of artifact, which naturally meant that when he finally reaches the capital, he wouldn''t have to convince the military that he''s just a magician, and not some beast disguising as human or some other crazy theories. In other words, he wasn''t the only freak out there.


    Right now, Reem, Etta, and Neil had already finished their dinner, and were chatting among themselves, while Ramie on the other hand remained silent, thinking of when would Lance returns to bring them news about this group, and specifically about the two magicians.


    Ramie was very curious about these two magicians. He wanted to know what kind of spells the bloodline magician has, and what kind of inscription can the scholar magician make.


    His curiosity toward the scholar magician was more than the bloodline magician. As the scholar magician had the ''Rare'' grade, which implied a better spells¡­ or inscription in this case.


    Lance arrived several hours after dinner time, bringing the news that Ramie wanted.


    Apparently, this group of survivors wasn''t actually one group from the start, but was gathering of the remnants of other groups that managed to escape cities or were originally inhabitants of rural areas.


    This group was formed from survivors that had their original groups annihilated by beasts, 9 groups to be exact, but they managed to escape death due to luck or due to their own capabilities. And after that, they came across each other and formed this group.


    Along their road, they kept absorbing every survivor they see until the group reached its current size.


    This meant that this gathering was the crux of many other groups, which explained why they had so many warriors. After all, they were the most capable of their previous groups. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have survived thus far outside.


    Anyway, after seeing the horrors outside, these survivors understood the importance of unity, and understood that individually, there hopes of survival were next to nothing. As such, they huddled together to form a group powerful enough to raise a level.2 warrior and survive many deadly encounters. Of course, having two magicians, one with powerful perception magic, and another capable of inscribing any object, and turning it into a magical weapon, played no small role in them staying alive till far, and even killing a tier-2 beast, while not have any second level individual.


    Anyhow, it turned out that them coming here was not a coincidence. Apparently, among them, was a survivor who had a distant relative living in the compound. As such, he informed about the existence of the secluded compound.


    However, on the way, they faced a problem¡­ which was that they didn''t know exactly where the compound was¡­.


    But, just then, luck smiled to them. And it came in the form of a warrior that was being attacked by a beast.


    That warrior was exactly the one that fled the compound upon the attack of the bear beast.


    Afterward, Lance got to the part where the survivors leader negotiated with the compound leader the terms and regulations regarding them staying here.


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    For place of settling, the compound leader gave them the other side of the compound, which made sense, considering that the other side was uninhabited.


    Both sides agreed that they live in two separate groups, which was very normal, considering that neither side trusted each other.


    In the first place, the compound leader had accepted that they settle here because he was made aware by the bear and the flying beast''s flock attack that alone, the compound inhabitant''s chances of survival were not looking bright at all¡­ as evident in their losses in the previous battles. As such, he felt that it was for their own good to accept this massive fighting force to settle here with them.


    In the beginning, this group of survivors didn''t use the logic of power with them, and their leader expressed their willingness to offer certain compensations in exchange of allowing them to settle inside the compound. He did not show any hostility or make any threats. And he really looked sincere in his intentions.


    Also, the compound leader wasn''t sure what this group would do if he was to deny them from settling in the compound. After all, they were indeed stronger than them, and looked very desperate. So, he wasn''t willing to bet on how desperate this group of survivors was. And he didn''t want to fall out with them, as in all honesty, he didn''t think that they can be their match. Not to mention that if they were to settle in the compound, then the total fighting power of the compound would rise by a lot, leading to every ones survival chances increasing in the face of future beast''s attacks.


    Anyway, even if they didn''t trust this survivors group, it did not mean that they couldn''t coexist with them, especially when considering that the stronger the total force of the compound, the safer it is for everyone.


    The final form of the deal was; the compound leader would allow the group of survivors to settle in, teach them how to hunt for food, and make the water mission a daily mission, a day for them, and a day for the survivor''s group, and also make some bone weapons for them.


    In return, the survivors group would give them 3 light armored vehicles from the 5 in their possession, and third of the fuel in the tanker truck that they had.


    As for the other compensation, it was a rather interesting one¡­


    The deal stated that the inscription magician in the survivor''s group would inscribe 10 weapons for them, which would greatly increase the offensive powers of these weapons.


    According to the survivor''s leader, this process would turn the weapons into magic weapons, by inscribing a spell with offensive nature in each of them.


    This was something that made Ramie very interested, as right now, his greatest weakness aside from not having any defensive spell; was his lack for an offensive mean.


    Although his vines did have an offensive side to it, but it was mainly a supportive spell in nature, with offense as only secondary aspect¡­


    As for his bone spear¡­ it wasn''t very useful to him. The problem laid in the fact that unlike warriors, Ramie''s strength was only a bit higher than an average adult man, which naturally meant that the spear in his hand barely allowed him to barely fight an average tier-1 beast, not to mention tier-2 beast.


    As such, the concept of having a magical weapon that allows him to fight beasts much stronger than himself had a great appeal to him.


    Coupled with his ghost glare and green vine spells, it would allow him to better protect himself and even kill strong beasts, all by himself. And this way, he would be less dependent on others to protect him.


    Thus, he decided to pay a visit to that magician, the moment the chance allows. And make an exchange with that man; after all, aside from the five magical cores that he had gotten by killing the five magical beasts, his team gave him four life energy cores, two of which belonged to low tire-1 beasts, one belonged to mid tier-1 beast, and one actually belonged to high tier-1 beast.


    Also, during the meeting, the compound leader had made use of their group''s strength by bringing it into the table, to strengthen the compound''s stand, and to gain more benefit from the other party.


    This much was fine with them, as the compound leader promised that four of the ten inscriptions that he gets from the deal would go to their group.


    Lance also told them that after the compound leader mentioned Reem and Ramie''s accomplishments in the last battle, the survivor''s leader was greatly awed by them, especially by Ramie''s spell that could even impact a tier-2 beast.


    As a result, the survivor''s leader expressed his will to meet the two of them, in order to lay the ground for future cooperation with their group.


    Afterward, Lance proceeded to tell them the rest of the meeting results.


    ¡­


    The night went by peacefully, and the sun started rising from behind the horizon, sending its rays everywhere.


    Lance headed off for the daily hunting mission along with Neil. As for Ramie, he stopped partaking in these missions due to his injury. His shoulder has almost healed back to normal, and judging by the growth sprouting down from his shoulder, his body seemed to be in the process of re-growing an entire new arm, throwing him in awe again at his extraordinary bloodline vitality.


    Today, their group was going in a joint hunting mission with some warriors of the survivor''s group, in order to familiarize them with their hunting routine.


    As for Ramie, he walked out to the front yard of the house, to start his daily training of his green vine spell, to increase his degree of control.


    With a single vine, his degree of control was the highest, and it was precise to the point that when he throws a very small rock, he could still catch it with the vine every time it fells. But after projecting the second vine, his accuracy drops sharply. So, he set a goal to himself to train until he could control two vines as good as he controls one.


    As for the reason¡­ it was so that he could use the vines to catch a high speed moving targets and to defend against high speed attacks.


    This problem first sprung forth after the fight with the flaying beasts. As during that battle, he was attacked two times by the feather spell from two flying magical beasts that he tried to catch.


    At the time, he could tell that if he had only one vine, he could have blocked most of the feathers coming at him. But since he projected two at the time, his control suffered greatly, leading to him being hit a lot of times.


    That made him understands that only having the spell was not enough to protect himself, but he had to be proficient at using it.


    After all, anyone could use a rifle if got the basic instructions, but not as good a professional. By pulling the trigger, one could easily fire a shot, but to actually hit a target¡­ that needed a skill, which comes from continuous training.


    For that purpose, Ramie started this routine.


    After only a short while of using his spell, Ramie''s eyes suddenly lit up. And he put a stop to his training.


    In front of the house, two guests have arrived. And coincidentally, they were the two people he wanted to meet the most, ever since yesterday.


    ¡­

 Chapter 63: Lightning inscriptions (2)

    Chapter 63: Lightning inscriptions (2)


    "Please come in." walking into the house, Ramie invited the two guests in.


    When he and the rest first came to the compound, the compound leader had them settle away from the living quarter, were the rest lived, because of him. However, after the last two battles, the attitude toward them shifted a 180 degree. And they were asked to relocate right in the middle of the living quarter, where it was supposedly the safest place to live at.


    However, their group refused that offer, and chose to remain right where they were. As with the azure gazelle king around, this was the safest for them. Also, they had already settled here, and they were rather comfortable here away from the rest.


    For that reason, Ramie trained in the front yard of the house, and sometimes even in the open street, without having to cover his head or face.


    Although by now, the residents were fine with the way he looked, to a certain extent. But the children¡­ they were still frightened by his appearance. As such, he preferred to stay away from the gatherings.


    So, when the two guests arrived, his head and face were uncovered, thus, throwing them in shock.


    To this type of reaction, Ramie only smiled, lightly. After all, there was nothing out of usual to the way they reacted to his appearance, and to him, this was the normality now.


    Outside, the two guests started recovering from their shock, and after some hesitation, they followed him inside.


    ...


    Serving them water, Ramie sat at the table in the kitchen. Opposite him, were the two guests, also sitting.


    They were still staring at him, gawking, as the shock has yet to dissipate in their eyes.


    As for Ramie, he didn''t mind it at all, even though it was rude to stare this hard at someone you just met.


    After all, this was the normal reaction for those that sees him the first time. So, he was more or less used to it by now.


    After a while, the two magicians realized their impoliteness, and started issuing fake coughs in embarrassment.


    "Mr. Ramie¡­ I¡­ I''m sorry. We didn''t mean to be rude." With difficulty, the male magician fumbled out, trying to apologies.


    "No worries. No worries. It''s fine." Ramie comforted him, and stopped smiling. As he remembered that smiling makes his face looks even more terrifying, which would only make the two even more flabbergasted.


    The male magician then let out a sigh of relief, and lowered his gaze to the ground, to collect his thoughts, as Ramie''s face was too shocking, and was still causing him difficulties to focus.


    The only thing he was told by his leader when coming here, was that there was a very capable bloodline magician with strong spell among the locals, and that he had ''special grade'' artifact. As such, the main objective of coming here was to lay the ground for future cooperation with this magician and his group, which had apparently came from the outside too, the same as them.


    His leader said that this man had spell that can even cause a tier-2 beast to lose conscious for a while. So, he wanted to ask few questions. He wanted to see if someone with special grade artifact could receive different or better knowledge from his artifact than the rest do upon leveling up the first time.


    So, coming here, he already had it in his mind that this magician belonged to the bloodline path. As such, he prepared himself to see someone with bestial physical traits. He had set his mind to not show any startled or even surprised expression when meeting him, to earn a favorable impression from this powerful magician.


    Also, they too had a bloodline magician in their group with beast''s physical traits on her body. So, he was sure that he would be able to hide his surprise, and act normally around this magician.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    So, when he went for the magicians'' house, and saw him using some sort of spell in the front yard, he was only surprised a bit at the man''s dark-green skin color, and his weird hat. Luckily, he adjusted himself in a second, and went to greet the magician.


    However¡­ the moment he stood in front of the house¡­ and the man turned and faced him, his smiling expression froze, and his mind lagged.


    The black flower atop this man''s head and the nose-less face were things that only caused him a brief surprise... However, those yellow, shining eyes¡­ they were different story¡­


    The golden irises shone in contrast to the dark sclera and dark pupil, giving off a vibe of an evil spirit, or ghost.


    He then struggled to act normally, and erase the shock from his face, but it was to no avail. Eventually, only after he saw the artifact around the man''s wrist did he manage to convince himself that this man ahead was a magician, and not some sort of evil spirit.


    Afterward, this magician walked home and invited them in.


    As those terrifying eyes turned away from him, he finally found a chance to allow this shock to settle.


    Then, he and his partner followed the man in, and took seat around the kitchen table across him.


    However, the moment those eyes fell on him again, and on such close proximity, he actually started staring again.


    Unlike the female magician beside him, he was not all covered up, and his expression could not be hidden. As such, he knew that he had to mend his expression as fast as possible, to avoid offending this magician any further.


    As such, he lowered his head, appearing as though he was wiping dirt off his shoe.


    "I''m sorry Mr. Ramie. It seems that I have brought some dirt into your clean house."


    "It''s fine. Don''t worry about it. Actually, even I brought some dirt when I walked in." Ramie replied, appearing very relaxed. He did not want to pressure them, and he was willing to give them all the time they need to absorb the shock of seeing his face.


    After few seconds, the magician raised his head and gave Ramie an apologetic smile¡­ not even one trace of discomfort on his face. And with an amiable expression, he said: "Mr. Ramie, I apologies for my earlier misconduct. So, please, pardon my narrow-mindedness¡­!"


    "Let me introduce you myself, Mr. Ramie. I''m Brent, this is Nora. We have heard of your heroic actions that had saved a lot of lives. And we¡­"


    Afterward, Brent kept flattering Ramie for a while. And Ramie listened to him patiently. As even though he wasn''t really comfortable with being flattered this hard, but he still listened, and did not interrupt.


    While Ramie wanted Brent to directly get to business, as he was really interested in learning more about the scholar path, but Brent on the other hand seemed to try to lighten the mood, and make Ramie forget his earlier ''misconduct,'' before jumping to business.


    Anyway, after chatting for a while or various unimportant topics, the direction of the talk finally steered toward the artifacts. Brent asked Ramie regarding his artifact, and Ramie answered all of his questions. After all, everyone in the compound already knows about him. So, there was no point in hiding what is already known.


    The only thing that he kept to himself was the ability to perceive intentions. This ability was a trump card not only for him, but also for the entire group. Lance forbade Neil and Reem from telling anyone about it, not even Etta knows.


    On the other hand, Ramie showered Brent with questions regarding his scholar path, and all of them were answered.


    From that, he knew that the scholar path magicians'' don''t actually get spells when they level up their artifacts, but instead, they get formula of inscriptions and tons of information on how to successfully inscribe them.


    With aggrieved expression, Brent told Ramie that after leveling up to this point, he got four inscriptions, but so far, he was only able to inscribe one of them.


    Apparently, and unlike spells, scholar magicians can''t just execute the inscriptions using the artifact, but they actually had to study the inscriptions formula from scratch, and had to comprehend them completely. Only then would they be able to build the module of the inscriptions. And this was only the theoretical part. As for the practical part, they would have to start experimenting the inscription indefinite times, until they get a handle on it. Only after that, can they make an inscription.


    However, even after he went through all of that, he was only able to inscribe the most basic form of the inscription that he had comprehended. As for the other inscriptions, he has yet to even begin studying them.


    Apparently, this branch required the magician to have a high IQ, and also required the magician to put in a lot of efforts to learn the inscriptions.


    However, as hard as this might be, the reward was certainly worthy of the efforts.


    As even though Brent only learned to make one inscription, but its effect was so powerful that It had increased the total power of the survivors group by a huge margin, and even enabling them to kill tire-2 beast when all of them were only in the first level.


    The effect of inscription was to give any object that it is inscribed on a lightening attribute, which causes a paralyzing effect on any living creature that is stab with it.


    Using his inscription, Brent started making offensive magical weapons that had even allowed the average people that weren''t warriors or magicians to kill beasts.


    The advantage these weapons brought was beyond enormous, which made Ramie think that they had lucked out by this group of survivors coming here.


    As the conversation progressed further, Brent conveyed their leaders will for future cooperation with Ramie and the group.


    Ramie agreed immediately to that, as it would not only allow him to get more of these lightening inscriptions, but also, it''ll allow him to get the other inscriptions once Brent learns to inscribe them. As such, Ramie did not hesitate to accept their extended hand.


    After conversing for another while, Brent took out an object that was wrapped with a piece of cloth.


    "Mr. Ramie, as an apology for my earlier behavior, please accept this gift."


    Saying so, Brent un-wrapped the cloth, and revealed a 30 centimeter long blade that was clearly made of beasts'' bones.


    At the blades'' thick end, a stripe of rubber was wrapped around it, to be used as a handle. An eye catching inscription could be seen hidden under the rubber.


    "Mr. Ramie, this knife is made from the bones of a very strong beast that the leader had killed. I inscribed it with my lightening inscription. So, the moment you press on this marked spot at the blade''s handle, the inscription will activates, and you''ll see a current of electricity dance around the blades'' tip. Afterward, any creature you stab with it, the inscription would then release part or all of its energy inside the creature, depending on the resistant it meets, and paralyze it for a certain while, which depends on the creature''s strength."


    "Now, let me remind you that once the inscription is activated, it will stay on until all of the energy stored in it are used up, which would be less than an hour. So, it would be better to use it as soon as possible, when its energy is still full, to deliver the strongest effect."


    "Of course, you shouldn''t touch the tip when you activate the inscription, to avoid being electrocuted. And keep in mind that this inscription is one time use. After that, all what you''ll have is a good knife, and not a magical tool."


    Ramie didn''t hesitate a moment to accept this gift. And then he offered his thinks.


    Afterward, and as Ramie escorted the two magicians out, to send them off, the female magician finally spoke.


    ¡­

 Chapter 64: Hunting for cores (1)

    Chapter 64: Hunting for cores (1)


    As ramie escorted the two magicians outside the house, to send them off, the female magician finally spoke.


    "Um¡­ sorry, for gawking at you like that¡­ I didn''t mean to disrespect you¡­" With a soft, melodic voice, Nora, the female magician said to Ramie, apologetically.


    Actually, she as bloodline magician also had physical traits of beasts forced on her body. And it had caused her endless sorrow and aggrieve.


    The change included her eyes becoming abnormally big, and the emergence of two wings from her back. As for the worst, it was that her legs had morphed into something that looked like perching birds'' legs, with four clawed toes, three directed forward and one directed backward.


    When she first casted that damned morphing spell, she was under the impression that this spell would shot out something that can kill beasts, just like the elemental path magicians she had seen did. However, and to her dismay, what happened after casting that damned spell was a world apart from what she had in mind.


    Although the change did not morph all the parts of her legs, but only the feet and the shin, up to the knees¡­ but still, it had almost driven her crazy with fear, thinking that she had caught some sort of strange illness.


    Anyway, having no other alternative, and with grieve and unwillingness, she was forced to live with this the outcome.


    Afterward, she started seeing people die one after another, even warriors and magicians among them. While she on the other hand always survived. As unlike them, she had the choice of flying, which was like a safe pass in all of the battles her group had gone through.


    As such, and with time, she finally started feeling less crestfallen and dejected regarding her form, as the advantage was undeniable.


    However, her appearance remained a heavy burden, a one that she couldn''t accept, but had to live with. Because every time one sees her for the first time, there would be a lot of gawking, as if staring at a circus freak, thus agitating all over again.


    As such, she started covering herself up. She especially hated those who stare at her leg with that look of disgust in their faces, not even bothering to consider how she might feels to be stared at like that.


    She could see it in their eyes, she could almost hear them thinking of how lucky they are for having normal legs, and not chicken legs.


    Although, these people might be just jealous of her flying advantage, but still, those looks on their eyes as they stare was still too much for her.


    But now, she had finally met someone far¡­ far worse than her.


    The look on her eyes when staring at him wasn''t look of disgust as much as shock, as his condition was too exaggerated. Inwardly, seeing that there was someone else in much worse condition than her, she started feeling a stream of relief surge in her heart, as though a large weight had been lifted off her shoulder.


    What was her condition comparing to his¡­!


    Although her legs might cause some people to cringe, but that was it. It was nothing comparing to this man''s disturbing face.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Even if his nose-less, dark-green, wood-patterned face was shocking to look at, but with time, one might get used to it, maybe. However, his eyes! They were downright horrifying, very difficult to even look at!


    ''To actually have the bloodline of a beast that''s called subterranean ghost tree¡­ Just, how unlucky can one be? At least my bloodline has come from a bird¡­ and not some atrocity''


    Having witnessed how horrendous the bloodline''s morphological changes can be, she actually started feeling lucky. As at least, her bloodline didn''t come from a creature with a sinister name. As for her eyes, they were only a bit larger than normal, and not like this man''s; downright fear-provoking, sinister, and creepy to the point that makes one feel very uncomfortable facing him.


    Her case was a far cry from this fellow.


    Following this line of thought, she started feeling as though knots and knots were untying in her heart, one after another, and releasing away her repressed feelings of disgust, loathe, and hatred she held toward her disfiguration.


    It made her feel much lighter, as if a great burden has been lifted off her chest. As after seeing what this magician''s bloodline had done to him, she no longer felt as though she received the short end of the stick, as apparently, someone else has.


    As such, she felt as though she owned this Ramie man an apology or something for widening her horizon.


    On the other hand, Ramie just nodded to her, and repeated that he didn''t take offense of any kind, before sending the two off.


    He had no idea that his face had just saved someone from a severe case of depression.


    ¡­


    In the following days, the survivors group completely settled, and sorted their things out.


    Naturally, with the addition of such large force, the compound safety went up by an entire level, which reflected positively on the life style of the inhabitants.


    First, there was now enough number of warriors to completely secure the compound, by forming guards'' teams that patrols the compound during night and day, thus ensuring that the inhabitants sleeps peacefully in the night, and wakes up energetic the next day.


    The direct result of this change was that the artisan that was responsible for making weapons using the buffalo''s beast bones had a breakthrough in his work, and actually managed to make a bow.


    This bow was completely made from the buffalo''s'' beast parts. The bow shaft was made from bones, as well as the arrows, while the string was made from the buffalo''s tail''s hair.


    Although, these bows required so much power to pull the strings that only warriors with ignition percent higher than 25% had the ability to use them¡­ but with their high penetrative power, they were considered a game changer weapons. They immediately raised the fighting power of the compound by a huge margin.


    Now, the next time flying beasts attack the compound¡­ they''d be in for a tragedy.


    After making these bows, Brent immediately started working on ways to apply his lightening inscription on the arrows, to further enhance their penetrative power.


    The second benefit of the additional manpower was that instead of making one trip to bring water from the river per day, now, they make 3-4 trips.


    Before, the compound leader was using the tanker truck to bring water as fast as possible, in case the compound is attacked during his absence, and also to reduce the fuel consumption.


    Now however, and with the presence of another Lv.2 warrior around, there was no need for haste. As for the fuel consumption problem, they solved it by pulling the tanker truck with robes.


    Although this method was more costly, time wise, but at least the fuel was no longer a constant nagging issue at the back of their minds.


    The increase in the water missions enabled people to finally bathe to their heart content, which reflected positively on their morals.


    When the survivor''s group first came and settled, they maintained their own gathering, and remained separated to a large extent from the original inhabitants, due to lack of trust between the two groups.


    However, with time, and as they started mixing together, trust was built up slowly and steadily, and the line between the two groups started fading away, a bit by bit. Now, the two groups had practically merged with each other to a large extent, basically becoming one large group.


    Now, there was no division in the areas of residence, treatment, and other aspects. Although in name, they were still two different groups, but in actuality, they had turned into one large group with two leaders.


    This turn of development was the main reason behind the increase of life quality in the compound.


    At this pace, days went by, peacefully, with no one dying for a good while.


    Finally, people started regaining some of the sense of security, for the first time ever since the start of this whole thing. They no longer stayed up all night with a lingering terror in heart, not sure if they''d still alive till morning or not.


    Anyway, with so many warriors around, patrolling the compound day and night, the life of the residents started stabilizing a bit by bit.


    After over 3 weeks of peaceful times, the two leaders held a meeting to announce an important matter that concerns the security and welfare of the compound inhabitants.


    Now, these kinds of meetings were held once every week, to make decisions on important issues. Ramie and the group were always welcomed to take part in them, as their group held a significant amount of power. However, other than Lance, no one among them usually attends these meetings.


    However, this meeting seemed to be special one, as the two leaders specifically expressed their hope that their entire group attends this time, especially Ramie and Reem.


    Apparently, the next meeting was involving something big, something that the leaders might need their group''s help with.


    When Ramie heard the news, he had a faint guess in his heart for the reason, as did lance and the rest.


    ''It seems that things are finally progressing to that point¡­''


    Ramie thought to himself.


    ¡­

 Chapter 65: Hunting for cores (2)

    Chapter 65: Hunting for cores (2)


    In Gregory''s house, around 27 individual were gathering in the guest room.


    The room wasn''t very spacious to begin with, making it a bit cramped inside. But, none seemed to want to complain.


    Also, the furniture was not enough to accommodate everyone, as such; most of them had to stand, with only about third managing to find a seat.


    The place was noisy with chatter. It went on until a certain man cleared his throat audibly, to draw attention. And then he stood up from his seat and scanned everyone with a quick glance.


    This man appeared to be in the mid twenties of age, had an average build and features. The only notable thing about him was his stern face that didn''t seemed to be capable of expressing relaxed expression whatsoever. During the entire time he spent in the compound, no one ever saw him with a different expression at all.


    This man was the strongest individual in the compound. He was precisely the survivor''s leader.


    His name was Brian, and he was a soldier. In the compound, only Gregory, Ramie''s group, and few others dare call him by his name.


    Facing everyone, He spoke: "Until now, and thanks to the tremendous efforts of every single individual in this compound, we have reached this far. However, and as every single one of you already knows, we still have long way to go. For these three weeks, we haven''t lost a single soul. But, I think that all of you agree that this safe period did not come to be mainly due to our strength, but because no strong beast came by this area so far. So¡­ what should we do? Do we just sit idly, and hope that nothing too strong ever comes here! Is it acceptable to put something so important as our lives'' and our families'' up to chance? If a weak tier-2 beast or small beasts attacks then it is no problem. But, what if strong tire-2 beast, a large horde of beasts or even beasts of higher tires attack? Do we just stand weakly and let them eat our families¡­! Do you see the problem here?"


    The survivor''s leader then paused, allowing his words to sink in.


    As expected, a deathly silence shrouded the place. One could feel the intensity and the nervousness permeating the air.


    His words were completely true, as the entire concept of safety in the compound was based on the fact that no strong beast ever comes anywhere near this place.


    If a low tier-2 beast attacks the compound, then with every ones effort, it wouldn''t be out of question to kill it. Actually, it would be completely doable. And if the attacking beast was mid tier-2 beast then although facing him would much harder, but defeating him and forcing him to retreat was completely possible, especially now that they had ramie''s ghost glare spell and the lightning inscription.


    However, if the attacking beast was high tier-2 beast or stronger¡­ then, them keeping their lives would be in question.


    Although everyone hoped that such time never comes to be. But¡­ this was not up to them to decide. And the chance of that happening will always be there. As such, the survivor''s leader words shook the hearts.


    No one here was ignorant, and the logic in the survivor''s leader words did not escape any ones comprehension.


    Having seen that his words have taken effect, Brian was satisfied: "sufficient strength¡­ that is our problem. We need more strength! We need cores from strong beasts! Otherwise, we could lose everything in moment¡­ As such, and to address this issue, I and Brother Gregory have come to a certain decision¡­! Now as you know, Nora leaves the compound everyday to scan the areas around the compound, to map out the locations of the threats that can endanger our compound. Yesterday, she found an injured mid tier-2 beast few kilometers beyond the national borders. An injured beast!! Now, do you understand what I''m getting at?"If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Saying so, he scanned everyone with a meaningful look.


    ''As expected, they had finally made the move¡­'' Ramie''s eyes shone under the balaclava that covered his face¡­.


    This was exactly his guess. It wasn''t only him, many others here had already seen this coming, and didn''t seem to be very surprised.


    However, still, some faces immediately sank, as they understood the implications.


    This wasn''t weird, as both the original compound inhabitants and the survivors group had seen the terror of tire-2 beast. And although this particular beast was injured, and they understood the need to kill it for its core, but still, remembering the terrifying battle powers of tier-2 beasts instantly caused many hearts to shudder in fear, even though all of the attendants of this meeting were either warriors or magicians.


    The survivor''s leader continued his words: "today, we''ll form a special team, and in few days, that team will head out, and go after this beast! We have to kill this one and get its core. Otherwise, if we miss this chance, there is no telling if we''ll ever come across such a golden opportunity in the future. Of course, if this beast is too strong for us, and we can''t kill it, then we can simply retreat back here, as with its injury, it''s highly unlikely that this beast can chase us at all."


    "Only with sufficient strength can we truly guarantee our compound''s safety. Thus, we can''t afford to miss out on this chance."


    As he finished his words, some faces went pale; some fell in contemplation, while others nodded in approval.


    The weak ones were afraid, as to increase their levels; all they had to do is to wait in line, until it is their turn to receive a core harvested from the daily hunted buffalo''s.


    As for the warriors with ignition percent above 75%, they were eager to get their hands on a core from second tier beast to break through to the second level. As right now, they are very strong against normal beasts, but against the second tier, they don''t amount to much.


    Although, they knew that this particular core won''t necessarily go to them, assuming that they managed to kill this beast in the first place¡­ but if the two leaders strength increase, then getting other cores with their help won''t be problem in the future.


    Extensive discussions took place after the survivor''s leader announcement. This mission''s team formation, their numbers, their skills, and other in depth details, was discussed thoroughly for an hour.


    After that, the two leader''s gaze and all of the others turned toward Ramie''s group.


    No one in their group was surprised in the least.


    They knew that the two leaders were going to ask them to take part in this hunting mission.


    Actually, then moment Nora was tasked to scan for the close tier-2 beast, and judging by her spells, many had foreseen this matter.


    Nora''s bloodline allowed her a very enviable ability ¨C the ability to fly!


    Being a rank-1 magician, and having advanced her artifact to Lv.4, she had four spells.


    None of them were combat oriented. However, and considering the way her spells complemented each other, it had made her even more terrifying than a combat magician.


    Her innate spell ''true eye,'' had made her something of a detection magician.


    Her first unlocked spell was ''extended flying!'' It allowed her, as the name implied, to stay in the air for a very long period of time. The second spell was ''enhanced vision'' which allowed her to zoom her vision, like a camera, thus allowing her to see clearly even at long distances.


    The third spell was ''enhanced perception,'' which allowed her to sense auras from a long distances, but only for a single target at a time, and not from all directions, like Reem''s summon, or like Ramie''s.


    This made her able to sense the auras of beasts and determine their exact level of strength while she flies far above in the sky, safely.


    The forth spell was called ''wind burst,'' which allowed her to increase her flying speed by a huge margin for a short while.


    Now, all of these spells were active, and not passive, which meant that they aren''t active all the time, but she had to cast them, to get the effect. The down side to this was that she could cast them only limited number of times before her magic energy runs out.


    The collection of these spells had turned her into a human drone with strong perception, which went along with her innate spell ''True eye.''


    Anyway, unlike Ramie, it was obvious that the bloodline she acquired complemented her innate spell perfectly.


    As if she had the bloodline of a terranean beast, then obviously, her perception abilities won''t be as threatening as now, as she could perceive everything from the sky, beyond the range of attacks.


    So, with these abilities, she was qualified the most to detect the location of the beast capable of threatening the safety of the compound. As such, the two leaders had assigned her to do just that.


    In the past few weeks, she had located many tier-2 beasts. Among which, was this injured one.


    Anyway, ramie and the rest were planning to hunt for cores the moment the azure gazelle king advances to the second tier, as his bloodline seemed to be of high order, making him naturally stronger than beasts on the same level as him.


    However, now that the two leaders were taking the initiative to hunt for tier-2 cores, the group didn''t have any objection. On the contrary, getting tier-2 cores now can hasten their schedule of leaving for the capital.


    Ramie, Neil and Reem all nodded toward Lance, giving him the signal to accept.


    ¡­

 Chapter 66: Hunting for cores (3)

    Chapter 66: Hunting for cores (3)


    Even though ramie and the rest of the group lived in the compound, it was a temporary situation, and they had already made their intentions to leaving the compound in the future known to everyone.


    As such, the two leaders couldn''t just order them to partake in this mission and follow their orders, but instead, they had to ask them to do it, and it would be up to them to accept or refuse.


    This mission involved taking a risk for the compound, while they were outsiders, and had no real stake in the compound.


    Also, their group had the azure gazelle king with them. And even although Reem had said that his advancement to the second tier was imminent more than month ago, but he is yet to advance till now¡­ however, they knew that it was only a matter of time, and even if it was delayed further¡­ it will definitely happen in less than two months.


    Anyway, the moment the azure gazelle king advances, and considering his high order bloodline, which made him very capable of killing beasts on the same level, then, getting their hands on tier-2 cores afterward wouldn''t be a problem, and without having to risk their lives at all


    As such, they could totally refuse to partake in this mission, and it wouldn''t affect their plan.


    However, the group decided to keep an opened mind, and first see the details of the mission and the level of risk in it, and if it was doable or not, then decide whether they wanted in or not. Also, the compound has to offer them some benefits befitting the risk they were going to take.


    After all, to head for the capital, they obviously needed a certain equipment and preparations for that purpose, such as a vehicle for instant, as they can''t just traverse all this distance on foot. Also, with beasts roaming the outside, obviously, not just any vehicles would do.


    After seeing the Infantry Fighting Vehicle and armored personal carriers, Lance installed the idea that only such vehicles can give them the best chance of making it to the capital. As such, they waited for a chance to exchange for one of these vehicles from the compound. As even though these vehicles no longer had any ammo left to use for their guns, but the protection of armor was still very attractive considering the type on threats they might encounter in the trip.


    It wasn''t just the transportation problem, but also the fuel, inscribed weapons, and many other minor but yet important material.


    So, this might be their chance to get all of these things in one go.


    Also, even when the azure gazelle king levels up and they send him to bring cores, there was no absolute guarantee that he wouldn''t come across stronger beast with higher order bloodline than himself, leading to his death. As such, if they agreed to help the leaders in this mission, then they can ask them for help when needed, such as using Nora to locate low tier-2 beast for them, instead of blindly sending the azure gazelle king to find and kill beasts. Also, they can ask the two leaders to help the summon beasts in his battles, if the opponent is too tough.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ...


    After the meeting was concluded, Ramie and the rest headed back home with serious expressions.


    After knowing that the target beast was mid tier-2 beast, and was severely injured in its leg, they had agreed to join the mission after some considerations.


    Of course, they did so after some negotiations for benefits.


    The benefits included an armored personal carrier and fuel enough to reach the capital, and many inscribed weapons; which included two bows, 20 arrows with half of them inscribed, and all the minor materials they might need in the trip.


    It wasn''t only that¡­ as what started as a single mission, had turned into an agreement for a future collaborations on a series of missions.


    On their part, they agreed to help the compound in the missions to hunt beasts, but on the same time, they''d act as an independent group. They put forth this condition so that if at any time they deem the situation to be too dangerous during any battle, then they can just withdraw at any time without needing permission. Also, they asked for at least two warriors with life energy ignition percent above 75% to join their team during these missions for protection, and follow their instructions.


    The other condition was that the core from this mission would go to the compound, but the next core from the next mission would go to their group, as opposite to the leader''s suggestion that they get the core from the third mission. Apparently, the two leaders wanted to get one core for each one of them, before dedicating the third mission for Ramie''s group. However, after some discussions, they rested on the second mission core. After all, they knew that the Nora had more than just one location of tier-2 beast memorized.


    Also, the two leaders agreed to not obstruct anyone from joining their group and leave with them, even if he/she was warrior.


    As to why do the two leaders accepted such terms almost easily¡­? It was obviously due to Ramie''s spell ghost glare. After all, this spell had already proven its worth against the mid tier-2 bear beast. And frankly, this spell was the major reason why they had agreed to go after this beast in the first place, as no matter how strong this beast is, with a spell that can render him defenseless for three whole seconds, and could actually be casted twice! It would be easy for them to inflict lethal damage on the beast during this while.


    Anyway, even if the spell did not work on this beast¡­ with his injury, it would be no problem for them to escape away.


    In Ramie''s group, Lance understood this logic well. As such, he played that point to full extent.


    The compound was in dire need to raise the power levels, as it was related to the present and future security of the people in here. As such, this mission was of utmost importance to them. For that reason, they met the demands of their group, albeit after some back and forth negotiation.


    Anyway, to the group, this way they can get tier-2 cores without having to risk the summoned beast''s life. Thus, this agreement was a win-win situation.


    Not all of the group members agreed to partake in the mission. As Reem refused immediately, saying that ''Whity'' was close to advancing. So, she didn''t want to partake in this mission or any other mission before her summon advances his tier. Lance and Ramie supported her decision, as it was in every ones best interest if her summoned beast stayed alive until he advances. Etta didn''t want to leave Reem''s side, so, she was also out too.


    In the end, from their group, only Ramie, Lance, and Neil decided to join this mission.


    Taking advantage of the time before setting off for the mission, lance started training with the new bow. Ramie on the other hand continued his training with his vine spell, his control over two vines in the same time has only improved by little. He estimated that it would take him long time to control two vines in the same time as good as controlling single one.


    The two leader''s decision was to set off after few days, and not immediately. As to give Brent enough time to inscribe enough arrows with his lightening inscription. After all, the process of making these inscriptions was very exhausting, mentally wise.


    Before, Brent was able to only make a limited number of inscriptions, each week, before feeling a severe headache that would render him bedridden for a while. However, after few head-splitting headaches, he came to learn that he could only inscribe a certain number of these inscriptions each week. Thus, he stuck to the quota, and no longer tried to overdo it.


    Apparently, the process of inscribing exhausts the mind energy as well as the magic energy. As such, before raising his mental energy, he shouldn''t consider mass inscribing these inscriptions.


    As the two days passed, finally, today was the time where the hunted becomes the hunter, and reverses the trend that has been ongoing ever since the descent of the disaster


    ¡­

 Chapter 67: Hunting for cores (4)

    Chapter 67: Hunting for cores (4)


    On small hill, 30 kilometers away from the compound, stood Ramie.


    Beside him, stood Lance, Neil, Gregory''s son, and other 11 warrior. All of whom, had ignition percents above 50%.


    Ahead of them, stood the two leaders, Brian and Gregory; they were holding scoops and looking through them at a certain direction.


    Behind the group; were the 5 armored vehicles that had brought them here, and an empty loading truck.


    Right now, everyone was staring ahead, at a certain direction. Their hearts were tense, and they maintained a tight grip over their inscribed weapons, preparing themselves to engage in a heated battle that could decide the future of the compound.


    If they manage to succeed, then the tier-2 core would bring the power of one of the leader''s to a higher level, thus increasing the compound chances in the face of futuristic threats.


    But if they fail, then how long will they have to wait to come across such a golden opportunity.


    It was obvious that this chance was a stroke of luck that might never come again. As such, this beast has to die, and his core has to be obtained¡­


    In the distance, up in the sky, was Nora. She was flaying at a safe altitude, and was currently dropping Molotov bottles at a certain location, one after another.


    Every time one bottle falls, it explodes and spreads fire on the ground.


    "I SAW IT!! It''s moving to an opened ground!"


    All of the sudden, Gregory spoke, excitedly.


    Nora wasn''t throwing these fuel bottles for nothing. Instead, she was dropping them on the beast that was hiding in an area filled with boulders.


    The injury this beast had was on one of his legs. And it crippled his movement to a large extent.


    As such, the hunting team wanted to push the creature outside the rocky area and into an open ground. This beast was after all, a mid tier-2 beast. As such, they wanted to confront him in an open ground so that they have an open field to use their ranged attacks of bows, spells, and Gregory''s thrown javelins at an appropriate distance, and not have to get close too to him.


    They wanted to use them from a distance, as the area this beast was hiding in was filled with large boulders that provided a perfect hiding place for the beast, and would also hinder their group fight.


    If they wanted to attack this thing in the rocky area, then they''d have to get dangerously close to it, which was a very risky move. As even though this beast was severely injured, he was still tier-2 beast.


    Also, in the open ground, even if the beast chases after them, they''d still be able to take precaution, and maintain a distance. But in the rocky area, it was like a maze, with a beast in it. So, they decided that they''d only attack if the beast was forced out to an area where they can have a clear view on it.


    Luckily, with Nora''s ability to fly, and using the fuel bombs¡­ the beast was finally forced out with fire.


    Having seen the beast limb out from the rock area, Gregory shouted out his orders.


    "We''re attacking, now! Get into the vehicles!"


    Following which, everyone jumped into the armored vehicles. And with roaring engines, the vehicles descended the hill, and headed for the creature.


    Five vehicles moved in one line toward the beast. As for the loading truck, it remained unmoving. This loading truck was brought to carry the beast corpse in case they win. So, there was no point in involving this truck in the battle, as it would turn into scrap with one attack from the beast.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "Halt!"


    Reaching a certain distance away from the beast, Gregory shouted out.


    Even though the beast was severely injured in his leg, but they were still unwilling to get too close.


    Immediately, everyone disembarked off the vehicles, carrying their spears and bows.


    Brian, Gregory, and the rest of the warriors went into a battle formation and moved toward the beast.


    As for ramie, Neil and lance, they stood in the back, not moving with them, and watching instead.


    It wasn''t that they weren''t willing to take part in this battle, but rather, they were asked to not to.


    A day ago, a disagreement broke between Gregory and Brian as to who gets the core from this beast. It had almost developed into a conflict.


    However, before it gets to that point, they came to lance and ramie, and wanted to alter a specific condition in the agreement with their team.


    Apparently, they wanted the core from this mission and the next one. They wanted to give Ramie and his team the core from the third beast they hunt.


    Naturally, the group was not very happy with this change, as these two obviously wanted to resolve their conflict at their group''s expense.


    After some back and forth discussions, Ramie and lance agreed to the change, however, not wanting to be taken advantage of, the put forth another condition.


    It was that if the compound group managed to kill this beast on their own, without needing their help, then they''ll accept the proposed alteration. However, if they were asked to interfere, then the old agreement remains unchanged.


    The two leaders agreed to this condition immediately, and didn''t complicate things any further.


    Of course, the other reason why they agreed to the two leader''s condition was that because it was in their own team''s best interest that the compound stay''s united and no conflict breaks out, least until the azure gazelle king advances his tier.


    Any conflict before they''re able to well protect themselves would make things more dangerous for them, and for the compound itself. As such, they compromised.


    Anyway, as the warriors moved toward the beast, Ramie''s eyes fell on the beast.


    Tssssss!!


    Seeing the heavily armored creature, Ramie sucked in a deep cold breath of air.


    He could sense the towering aura of the beast, which was oppressive enough to even affect his heartbeats pattern. It was as powerful as the aura of the bear beast that he had faced in the compound.


    After calming his heart, Ramie started feeling assured. As if his ghost glare could affect that bear beast, then it should be enough to influence this one as well.


    Standing at fours limbs, with a height that reaches 3 meters, the massive figure of the beast glared at the advancing force with caution. The beast had a general structure that was a mix of a lizard and the extinct armored-dinosaur.


    With color that looked just like the rocks'', the beast was covered with variant-sized, oval-shaped, protruding plates of bones that were aligned in a horizontal rows along its head, back, and the tail, making him look even more formidable than a tank.


    The beast was so heavily armored that made ramie think that nothing in this world could inflict any injury on him.


    The creature''s head was covered with a thick exoskeleton that protected his head, making him seem as though he was wearing a helmet.


    However, looking at one of the hind legs, a large chunk of it was missing, as if it was bitten off in one bite.


    ''Just what kind of creature can cause such injury on this armored beast¡­?''


    As Gregory and Brian took the lead and faced the beast, the beast just kept swinging his tale about, threateningly. The tail was very thick, and had a large club-like protrusion at its end, giving the tail appearance of sledgehammer. Apparently, this was the beast''s natural weapon, his competitive advantage.


    Ramie gazed intently at the beast, and following which, information appeared in his mind.


    Tier-2 Beast


    Name: Rock lizard


    Innate Spells: none


    Special notes: Heavily armored creature known for using the charge attack to crush, and the tail to hammer his opponents.


    ''Charge attack¡­? That''s useless now with his injured leg. All they have to do is to stay away from this creature''s tail and they''d be fine¡­'' Ramie thought to himself as he scrutinized the beast ahead.


    As ramie, lance, and Neil, watched from a safe distance, the warriors charged at the beast.


    Ramie didn''t need to tell them about this beast''s stats. After all, Nora had already divulged this information before they even get here.


    Howl!!!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Howl!!!!!!!!!


    Having seen the team heading toward him, the beast start swinging his massive tail and smashing at the ground, thus producing this heavy thudding, explosive sounds.


    As the massive sledgehammer-like tail of the beast bounded at the ground in irritation, tremors of shock wave started spreading out, and causing fear in the hears of the attackers.


    Obviously, this beast has great strength as well.


    BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!


    Every single step the team takes toward the creature, the faster the pace at which he hammers the ground, as if menacing his enemies with a squashing force if they kept moving closer to him.


    From this behavior, it was evident that the injury was impactful enough for the beast to resort to intimidation, instead of just charging at them and turn them into mincemeat with that tail of his.


    "Archers! Shot your arrows, now!!" Gregory shouted out, commanding.


    Following which, six warriors loaded their bow, pulled back the strings, and released.


    At once, six arrows made of beast''s bones flew toward the beast.


    Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!


    The arrows however did no damage at all to the beast; some rebounded off the armor plates, while other just shattered about, due to the abnormal defense.


    Having seen this sigh, Gregory frowned. Every one of these arrows had enough penetrative power to embed itself into the compound''s wall, even from long distances. Now however, they didn''t even leave a scratch on the beast''s armor, even from such close distance.


    "Another round, use the inscribed arrows this time!" Brian issued his order, wanting to finish this battle as soon as possible, as he didn''t feel very comfortable being out in the open, with the threat of another beast popping up on them at any time.


    The six warriors pulled out other arrows that were marked by black dye, for distinguishing purposes.


    They immediately activated the inscription, which led to the appearance of small lightening arks, flickering as they danced around the arrows tips, signifying the initiation of the inscriptions.


    Having seen this sight, Gregory watched with anticipation.


    "Let me see how much damage these inscriptions can do! Now, SHOOT!!!"


    Immediately, six arrows with lightening arching around them tore their way through the air, toward the beast, while leaving trail of lightning sparks behind.


    ¡­

 Chapter 68: Hunting for cores (5)

    Chapter 68: Hunting for cores (5)


    Colliding against the lizard''s heavy armor, sparks of lightening exploded at the points of impact between the arrows and the bone plates covering the beast. The electricity strands and sparks just splashed off the armor as if declaring their helplessness against such defensive might.


    "This¡­"


    All the faces immediately changed.


    The inscribed arrows did not even scratch the plates; they only served to make the beast angrier.


    HOWL!!!!


    BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!


    As if expressing his anger, the beast started bounding at the ground with his sledgehammer-like tail, causing slight tremors of shock wave to spread out. And even making the very air vibrates.


    Clenching his teeth, Gregory''s facial muscle twitched, as his anger rose.


    He couldn''t forget the fact that he had lost an entire arm to one of these beasts. And he wanted to kill one of them himself.


    Pulling out one of the inscribed javelins from the quiver on his back, he activated the inscription, and assumed the throwing posture.


    Bzzzzzt!


    Occasional sounds of electricity were emitted off the inscription, as arcs of lightening danced about, at the javelins pointy head, signaling the activation of the inscription.


    Retreating back for an appropriate distance, Gregory rotated his life energy to its max output, causing a throbbing power to circulate, boosting up his physical capabilities to a great extent.


    With his muscles bulging up like balloons, Gregory exploded with strength, and dashed forth to gain momentum.


    AGHHHH!!


    Gathering the momentum, Gregory twisting his body in a manner that allows him to transfer his running momentum into the spear, then, he threw the javelin with so much power that would have earned him a world record.


    RIP!!


    The javelin was shot out with so much force, that it did not just sail throw the wind, but it had practically tore its way through it with a highly concentrated, penetrative power that was enough to go through a light armored vehicle with no problem.


    In almost no time, the javelin traversed the distance to the beast and arrived at him.


    Having seen Gregory launch out the strongest ranged attack in the entire compound, everyone held their breath with nervousness, and their hearts tightened.


    If this attack did not work, then¡­!


    Howl!!!


    Seeing the streaking attack came at him, the beast let out a howl of challenge, and then met the attack head on¡­ with his forehead.


    BANG!!


    The moment the javelin came in contact with creature''s helmet like exoskeleton, the lightening energy stored in it exploded, causing a splash of lightening sparks to bounce off the creature''s armored head. As for the javelin¡­ unable to penetrate not even a millimeter in, it immediately shattered into many pieces, bouncing off about, not inflicting any damage at all.


    HOWLL!!!!


    Blocking the attack, the beast let out a victorious cry, and bounded on the ground in triumph.


    Gregory''s expression at the moment was shocked dumb, and he just stood frozen, not believing the outcome.


    It wasn''t only him, but the rest too had a similar looks on their faces.


    Not speaking of killing the beast, the strongest ranged attack they had did not even injure the beast, or even leave a scratch for that matter.


    How could they not be shocked?


    This wasn''t just the javelin, but there was the inscription as well.


    So far, and through many test outs, they learned that the inscription not only adds a paralyzing effect to the spears, but it also increases the penetrative power as well.


    As for why they were sure of this. It was because in the last few weeks, they used metal bars as javelins, and it actually managed to kill the buffalo beasts.


    Now it had to be said that before, no javelin other than the ones made of beast bones were able to even injure the buffalos, not to mention killing them.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    However, and using these inscriptions on metal bars, Gregory actually managed to kill the buffalos with his throws! This taught them that these inscriptions weren''t as simple as they had thought them to be.


    Now however¡­


    Snapping back to reality, Gregory gritted his teeth, and gave up on trying killing this beast alone.


    As Gregory started considering calling for help, the beast started limping to the rocky area¡­


    Having seen this development, the silent Brian started shouting out: "Attack now! Attack before the beast escapes to the rocky area!"


    As everyone started feeling frantic, the beast stopped before he gets into the well protected area of boulders, then¡­


    The beast did something that shocked everyone.


    The beast did not escape or anything¡­ after all, these enemies had yet to even land a single injury on him. But instead, he moved to a place that was filled with rocks that were protruding off the ground, and then, he swung his sledgehammer-like tail at a particularly large one among them.


    BANG!!!!


    Under the massive physical force that smashed at it, the rock was immediately uprooted from the ground, and then was crushed to variant sized rock shrapnel that flew at the stupefied crowd.


    It was as if a large sized shotgun opened fire at them!


    Countless rock shells rained at them, smashing at many of them and landing direct hits.


    Gregory was Lv.2 warrior. So, the defensive power of his life energy protected him from the rock shrapnel shower. And the same went for Brian.


    However, when it came to the other warriors¡­ many of them received direct hits, and suffered variant injuries.


    The lucky ones got hit with rocks that were small enough for their life energy to nullify the damage.


    As for few others, they got the short end of the stick, as large rock shreds smashed right at them, and inflicted many wounds that ranged from mid to heavy.


    Luckily, no one died, which was mainly thanks to their life energy protection helping them to withstand the damage.


    If warriors with ignition percents below 50% had come here, then there''d be many dead people around here by now, luckily, this was not the case.


    Ramie, lance, Neil, and the other two warriors, stood in the distance. So, they got enough time to throw themselves to the ground and avoid the rock shower. Thus, none of them was injured at all.


    Turning to check on the rest behind him, Gregory had a very dark expression right now.


    This beast was a normal beast and not a magical one. More ever, he was crippled. As such, they did not expect any ranged attacks in this battle. But now¡­!


    This move was beyond expectations, which lead to this outcome.


    It wasn''t only Gregory who had an ugly expression, but so was Brian.


    They could see that one of the warriors with ignition percent of 94% was sitting on the ground, dazed, as he stared at his shattered leg.


    This warrior was a youth, yet to even reach 20s of his age, and he had absorbed only few cores to reach this percent, which meant that he had a talent enough to push him into becoming Lv.2 without a problem.


    Now however¡­ he was sitting on the ground while staring at his shattered leg. Evidently, he was in a state of shock, not willing to believe that he had just turned into a cripple


    With his high ignition percent of life energy, his defensive power was enough to absorb most of the damage. Unfortunately for him, the rock shrapnel that came at him was big enough to produce a crushing force beyond his defensive capabilities. As such, the power of the impact was enough to completely shatter his leg bones'' beyond repair.


    Had he have a lower life energy ignition percent, then, the rock might have completely torn off his leg.


    However, in the end, the result was still the same, and he''d become cripple anyway.


    "Watch out! The beast is going to do it again!"


    Suddenly, Brian''s warning cry made everyone throw themselves on the ground, and put their hands on their head for protection.


    BANG!!!


    The beast smashed yet another rock at them, showering the area with rock shrapnel.


    BANG!!!


    BANG!!!


    BANG!!!


    The beast gave them no rest, and kept on using this type of attack again, again, and again.


    Apparently, after seeing the effect, the beast was not going to stop before he completely annihilates the attackers.


    Dismay clouded every ones features. It was as if they were soldiers in battlefield, being suppressed with enemy''s fire, and unable to even lift their heads up.


    On the ground, Gregory''s entire face was convulsing with anger.


    The beast was crippled, and was like a sitting target for their attacks yet¡­ he still pushed them to this sorry state.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The beast did not stop, or slow down, and maintained his bombardment on the area.


    "Arghhh!"


    Suddenly, one of the warriors was hit on his shoulder with a relatively large piece of shrapnel.


    Evidently, it was large enough to severely injure him despite his life energy protection.


    "This cannot continue any further¡­" Gregory realized that even staying down won''t protect them from the rock bombardment. And if this was to continue, then their numbers would continually dwindle down, and with time, everyone would be injured to the point that none of them would be able to resist the beast once he comes to kill them.


    Making up his mind, he shouted: "BRIAN! Plan B, NOW!!!"


    Following which, Gregory stood up, and dashed to one side, while Brian dashed at the opposite.


    In few moments, Gregory ran to the left side of the beast, and Brian ran toward the right side. Then, Gregory started throwing his javelins at the beast from the far left side, while Brian started throwing arrows from the right far side.


    They did so to force the beast to stop his rock bombardment on the rest


    It worked, as the beast realized that these two opponents were the most dangerous ones among the group. As such, he started throwing rocks at them in his baseball manner of attacks.


    With their level 2 life energy, these attacks only caused numbing sensation or minor injuries, and nothing more, as their life energy was thicker and purer than the first level warriors.


    Standing in the far left side of the beast, Gregory''s javelins finally ran out, and from the looks of it, so did Brian''s arrows.


    However, the beast was still as vigorous as ever, and not even one scratch was inflicted on him.


    Even though Gregory and Brian attacked every singles part of the beast that they could hit from this range, the result was still as disappointing as ever.


    The two leaders now realized how foolish they were for thinking that weapons that were made from tier-1 beasts bones could be actually used to kill tier-2 beast specialized in defense.


    Even though the inscription increased the penetrative power of these weapons¡­ but the target was a beast specialized in defense. As such, they realized that this thought of theirs was too farfetched right from the beginning, and unrealistic.


    Feeling bitter in his heart, Gregory finally submitted to reality. The second tier-2 core was definitely not going to be his, which meant that for a while, he would have to lower his head to Brian.


    ''Well¡­ as long as the compound becomes safer for my people, I''ll lower my head for him¡­ Even if he took the third core and didn''t give it to me.''


    He could see a fire of ambition in Brian''s eyes, and he couldn''t help to think that after he takes this core and becomes stronger than him, he might not stick to his promise, and takes the following cores all for himself, to ensure his dominance over the compound.


    However, if this would ensure a safer environment for the people in the compound, then he decided that he wouldn''t mind to lower his head at all.


    After a heavy sigh, Gregory shouted out: "RAMIEEE!!!!!" Then, he held his bone spear, and charged at the beast.


    Having heard the shout, Brian''s eyes gleamed, then, he charged at the beast from his direction.


    Right now, both of the leaders dashed at the beast from two different directions.


    The beast immediately let out a war cry, and he lifted his tail up, and prepared to squash the two attacking foes into a mush.


    Reaching certain distance away from the beast, Brian shouted atop his lungs: "GLAAAAARE!!!!"


    This was the signal!


    At once, the beast''s pupils dilated into two large moons, and the luster of life faded at once from his eyes, as he fell in a strange trance.


    AHHHHH!!!


    ARGHHH!!!!!


    The two leaders traversed the distance to the beast in no time, and stabbed at the creature''s hidden neck with all of their might.


    Squash!


    Squash!


    With great difficulty, the two bone spears cut their way through the creature''s neck, penetrating all the way to the other side.


    The neck was not covered with thick, rigid armored bone plates like the other parts, making it the ideal spot to stab the creature. However, it was very short, and hidden between the head and the torso. As such, and considering the beast vigilance about it, it was hard to impossible for them to land a hit from a long range at such hidden area.


    Now however, and considering the motionless state, the beast was a sitting duck, albeit for only a short while of time. As such, they drove their spears with their utmost strength into the neck, and caused a massive splatter of blood to gush at them, staining them red.


    Having accomplished their goal, they immediately retreated backward, widening the distance, to avoid the beasts'' retaliation.


    Three second¡­


    Four seconds¡­


    Five seconds¡­


    Six seconds¡­


    Seven seconds¡­


    Eight seconds¡­


    However, the beast did not unleash his fury, and did not go rampant; he didn''t make any sound at all¡­


    Seconds afterward, the beast just released his muscles, and fell to the ground¡­ motionless.


    Just like that¡­ they killed their first tier-2 beast¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 69: The wind mages scheme (1)

    Chapter 69: The wind mage''s scheme (1)


    Seeing the lizard lay motionless on the ground, Ramie let out a sigh of relief.


    During the confrontation, he, Lance, Neil and the other two warriors with them, stood beside the vehicles, waiting for the signal to participate in the fight.


    However, it did not come, at least not at first.


    This made Ramie think that the two leaders were hell bent on claiming the life of this beast all by themselves.


    However, just then, the rock bombardment came, and the situation was turned.


    Anyway, even despite the distance, the rock shrapnel still reached them and showered the armored vehicles.


    Luckily, and due to the distance, the momentum of these rocks was not enough to destroy these APCs. And few dents were all the damage these vehicles sustained.


    Anyway, after the first wave, Ramie and Neil hid behind the vehicles, as unlike the warriors, they didn''t have life energy to protect themselves. Lance and the two warriors stood by them.


    Although he wanted to help, but the flaying rocks kept coming and coming, thus preventing him from getting in an appropriate range to cast his ghost glare spell.


    His spell had a range of exactly 50 meters to affect the target. Beyond this range, it wouldn''t work at all.


    But now, the APCs were stationed 100 meters away from the beast, as a getaway strategy, and right now, the area was under rock bombardment. If he tried to get any closer, he''d risk getting himself struck by a rock.


    In the distance, he could see that even warriors at the peak of Lv.1 were barely holding themselves against these rock shreds, and were suffering from serious injuries, not to mention him who didn''t even have life energy protection.


    Luckily, Gregory and Brian let go of their reservation and executed plan B, which involved his intervention. They charged at the rock lizard from two different directions and started throwing ranged attacks at the creature, thus putting an end to the rock''s shotgun predicament.


    After that, Ramie dashed toward the beast, to get in the 50 meters range required for him to cast his spell. The other two warriors and Lance ran ahead of him, serving as shields.


    By calling his name, and according to the pre-determined plan, they asked him to ready himself, and by shouting the word ''glare,'' they asked him to cast his spell.


    After casting his ghost glare spell, everything was settled, with unbelievable ease.


    This made Ramie feel exceedingly thankful for having this artifact of his.


    Although the warriors obtained an immense physical boost and strong defense by igniting their life energy, but the nature of this power forced them to be in the front lines of any battle, thus receiving all of the battle pressure and putting their lives on the line.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As for him, he just stood far away in a safe distance, and at the given signal, he just casted his spell and the outcome was decided, just like that!


    Also, and judging by the toughness of the tier-2 beasts, in the next missions, this scenario would probably repeat itself again. And even without putting his life on the line, his team would still get the benefits.


    This made him feel a bit guilty.


    It wasn''t just the warriors, but the other magicians as well.


    even though they were magicians just like him, but in the end, his ''special'' graded spell ''ghost glare,'' had made him the only magician capable of impacting a battle with a tire-2 beast involved in it, thus, making him indispensable for these types of missions!


    He knew that now, he could impose any condition on the compound, and they''d have no choice but to say yes to him.


    However, in the end, he didn''t want to take advantage of them like this, not when they were the ones that spilt blood in the fight.


    Walking toward the warriors, few turned to look at him.


    Envy was unconcealed in their eyes.


    Even though they had the life energy coursing through them, but what that was comparing to such a powerful spell?


    They had risked their lives and faced such a strong beast, but all this man had to do was to use his artifact, cast one spell¡­ and the deal was sealed, just like that¡­


    There was no question about it. This beast was killed only thanks to Ramie''s spell. Everyone could tell that if this beast didn''t go still for that while, then they wouldn''t have been able to stab it in the neck that easily.


    If they decide to fight this lizard in a melee fight and place themselves in range for this beast to throw his devastating tail at them, then even if they were to kill this thing, by then, they would have undoubtedly paid an enormous price in lives, and there was a good chance that they wouldn''t have managed to killed him at all.


    Following this kind of thinking, the warriors relaxed a bit. Having such magician with them¡­ had saved a lot of lives. And it could be considered their good luck as well.


    However, the moment few warriors casted their gazes at him, something strange happened to them¡­


    Their pupils went wide, as they stared at him without blinking at all. Next, two of the warriors fell to the ground like as if they have been petrified. Two more staggered backward, struggling to maintain their balance, as if they were stoned.


    Seeing this sight, Ramie instantly realized that there was something wrong here.


    ¡­


    Understanding the issue, ramie was felling very embarrassed.


    Apparently, after using ghost glare, his eyes would emit a residual soul power that can cause anyone with lower soul force than him, that stares directly at his eyes to be caught in the spell initial effect, albeit at a much weakened rate.


    It turns out that those warriors had casted their gazes at him. And since his yellow eyes were the most prominent part about him, they instinctively looked at it, which had caused them to fell in this state.


    Not all of them had been affected in the same degree. Evidently, those who had their life energy deactivated were the most severely impacted ones. As for those who had their life energy activated, they had only fallen in a state of confusion and bewilderment, which didn''t last long.


    After Gregory and Brian came, his eyes had only stunned them for a moment before recovering.


    Apparently, life energy could even defend against his spell, albeit to a certain extent.


    ''To not mention such important detail in the spell description¡­ sighs. I hope there would another update to solve this issue, and that the spells that I unlock in the future wouldn''t have this problem¡­'' Ramie though grudgingly.


    ¡­


    Finally, they got their hand on a tier-2 core.


    With this core, either Gregory or Brian could increase their ignition percent to above 25%, which was equivalent to mid-tier-2 beast. With this kind of power, getting another tier-2 core would become much easier. All what they have to do now, is to have Nora scan the area until she locates low tier-2 beasts from now on, and by killing these beasts, raising the levels of other warriors to the second level won''t be problem at all.


    With much difficulty, the lizard was finally loaded on the loading truck. Not wanting to stay out in the dangerous open ground any longer, the small convoy set off back to the compound in haste.


    Even despite the injuries, smiles still found their way to some faces.


    Today, they had brought with them a heavy tier prize.


    This was a tier-2 beast. The core wasn''t the only precious part in it. The skin on its back and the for example; It was filled with bone plates that not even the javelin, the arrows, plus the inscription, were able to leave a scratch on it, not to mention breaking through it.


    They could already foresee having strong shields and body armors that could even help them against tier-2 beasts. Also, the bones would be used to make arrows that coupled with the inscriptions, would enable them to inflict immense damage on tier-2 beasts. They probably wouldn''t have to engage in close quarter combat any more.


    If they could completely translate the might of these bones into weapons, then hunting other tier-2 beasts would be much easier in the future.


    Arriving at the compound, many faces were full with smiles, as they anticipated the increase of power, which naturally meant a safer future for them and their families.


    None of them had any idea that far in the distant; pair of vindictive eyes were eyeing the compound with malevolence.


    ''You thought you could kill my brother and just live here in peace, with those dogs of the compound...?''


    The figure, who spoke these words, was not standing on the ground, but instead¡­ he was hovering 2 meters above it.


    ''Hehehe¡­ count these days well¡­ as they are your last¡­!''


    ¡­

 Chapter 70: The wind mages scheme (2)

    Chapter 70: The wind mage''s scheme (2)


    Atop certain hill, the figure of a man was hovering.


    His black clothe fluttered with the wind, as its current was enveloping him and levitating him off the ground. This man was staring coldly at a residential compound in the distance.


    The most notable feature about him was his pitch black hair, as well as his eyebrows that looked like sharp swords.


    This man was exactly the rank-2 wind magician that had attacked Ramie and the rest at the border area.


    Casting one final glare at the compound, he murmured: ''just wait¡­ just wait¡­'' He turned and floated down the hill, then away.


    ¡­


    After failing to kill the culprits who were responsible for his brother''s death, he could only helplessly grit his teeth and stare, as his enemies escaped into this compound.


    Going after them into the compound has never crossed his mind, as he and his brother had already killed few magicians there some time ago. Also, this compound is protected by Lv.2 warrior, as well as many other Lv.1 warriors and other magicians. So, and considering that he had advanced a defensive spell, and not offensive one, fighting these people head on was not a realistic choice for him.


    However, that being said¡­ this didn''t mean that he was just going to let them off the hook¡­ it just meant that he had to look for a better way to exact his revenge.


    With gritted teeth, and a distressed heart, he journeyed through the beasts infested lands for the purpose of finding a safe place¡­ a place where he could shut his eyes close in the night and still expect to wake up alive in the morning, without becoming a monster feast.


    After days of unparalleled suffering and hardships, he finally stumbled across his objective.


    It came in the shape of a maximum security prison.


    The public had always denied the idea of prisons built in cities, in or near any inhabited area. As such, this particular prison, as many others, was built far away from any city, in a secluded area.


    This particularity played for the prison''s resident advantage. As when the beasts tide overran cities, they remained safe in the prison, almost untouched.


    Afterward, some of the prisoners started feeling life energy sprouts in their bodies, and some even acquired artifacts. What happened afterward was natural. As with some of the prisoners becoming warriors and magicians, they took over the prison in no time.


    Anyway, faced with the new reality, they did not escape the prison. But instead, they turned it into a shelter, and hid there.


    When he stumbled across the prison, they accepted him in, partially due to his level of strength, and mainly because he offered them his brothers'' gemstone. Anyway, with time, he blended in, becoming one of them. Apparently, his brother was still helping him, even in his death.


    Currently, the prison had one leader, two vice leaders, and five captains. He was one of the five captains.


    Actually, the leader, the two vice leaders, and two of the five Captains weren''t prisoners or guards. Instead, they were survivors that had come from the outside. Currently, there were about thousand residents in the prison. And only about three hundred of them were prisoners or prison staff. As for the rest, they were all survivors that had come wandering from the outside.


    As he returned back to the prison, floating, the watch tower sentries at the front of the prison didn''t rush to open the gate after seeing him, as there was no need to.


    Just as he reached the outer gate, he simply manifested a small wind whirlpool beneath his legs, levitating himelf over the gate.


    "Welcome Captain Curtis!"


    Seeing him, everyone in his path greeted while displaying expressions of utmost respect, a one that reached the point of being reverence. And they get out of his way, cleaning the path for him, as though he was royalty.


    This was something he really enjoyed, the treatment of the strong.


    Arriving at his personal chamber, which used to be an office for one of the prison staff, he pushed the door and went inside.


    Seating himself, he spoke in low voice: "did you made sure not to let anyone see you when you came here?"This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The moment he said these words, the side door was opened, and a man walked in.


    The man had a thick mustache, and he was wearing a dark-brown leather armor that was made of beast''s skins.


    Seeing the black clothed magician, he lowered his head in a silent greeting, as though he was a follower, before saying: "no one knows am here. They think that I''m currently in my room, preparing for tomorrow''s hunting mission."


    "Good¡­! Remember, when the team reaches that area, serve them the poisoned meals, and find a chance to disappear from their sight. However, don''t go too far away, and choose spot where you can monitor them. The magician will die first, but the warriors¡­ the poison will need some time to put them down.


    "Afterward, gather the corpses in an open ground, and make some cuts on them. Once the beasts smell the blood and clean the mess, execute the second part of our plan. And, Billy¡­ don''t forget¡­ no mistakes! Otherwise, both of our heads will be hacked off our bodies." The black-clothed man, that was apparently called Curtis, said to the other man, in a warning tone.


    "I understand!" the other man, Billy, responded.


    "Good¡­ Now return back to your place, and make sure not to let anyone know that you were here."


    "Yes Captain." Billy replied, before leaving through the side door.


    Just as Billy closed the door behind him, a blood thirst killing intent gleamed in his eyes: ''Finally! My daughter will be safe from now on, and that little dog won''t be able to hurt her anymore."


    After the catastrophe descended, Billy thought that earth turned to hell. However, after the leader came to the prison, and took over, he came to learn just how wrong that thought of his was. He discovered that the man-eating beats weren''t really the worst aberrations on earth.


    Ever since the leader and his family came to the prison, his life turned to a living hell.


    The leader''s second son showed an interest in his daughter. At first, he only harassed her verbally. However, and as time went on, the harassment grew worse and worse. If things were to progress the way they were, then he was sure that the unscrupulous son of the leader would inevitably take things to the next level and violets his daughter.


    As such, he never allowed his daughter to get away from his sight, at all times.


    In the beginning, it worked. However, not long afterward, the little shit convinced his father to transfer Billy to other side of the prison, away from his family.


    Afterward, everyday was like a living hell. Every day, he would wallow in anxiety, fear, and panic, not knowing whether it would be the day that his daughter gets violated.


    He spent every hour from every day, straining at the edge of a mental breakdown.


    It was at that time that Curtis approached him, and made that offer of his.


    That offer was like a ray of light cutting through cloudy day. He accepted immediately.


    He himself was only a peak lv.1 warrior. Hence, it was impossible for him to make any action. However, with Curtis''s help, things changed.


    Tomorrow, Billy was going to solve the problem, at its root.


    Left alone in his chamber, Curtis''s lips curved up to form a vicious smile, revealing two rows of white teeth, as a sinister glint flashed in his eyes.


    ''I may not have the power to annihilate you lot, for killing my brother¡­ but that doesn''t mean that I''ll just sit back, and let you enjoy your pathetic lives. Tomorrow, the hatred of that bloodline freak will be invoked. Hehehe¡­ let me see you lot suffer his wrath!''


    Thinking of the fate awaiting his brother''s killer, Curtis felt very satisfied. Killing his enemies with his hands was good, however, unleashing the fury of that monstrosity at his enemies and watching them wallow in agony and death without him having to lift a finger tasted even better to him.


    However, and truth be told, revenge wasn''t his main motive for making this move¡­ but something else¡­


    The prison''s leader second son was only one advancement away from becoming peak rank-1 magician. Hence, and considering the rarity of the tier-2 beasts, and the excessive cruelty and ruthlessness of the Baldwin family, Curtis had doubts that the prison leader might actually decide to kill him, to get his gemstone for his son, to help him advance his Rank.


    Hence, Curtis felt pressurized, which is why he came up with this plan, to strike two birds with one stone.


    To exact revenge on his enemies, and to protect himself!


    ¡­


    One month later.


    These days, the entire prison was on its toes. A month ago, shocking news spread among everyone ¨C the leader''s second son, the vice leader, had ventured outside to a relatively safe area, with a group of warriors in a routine mission to hunt low level beast. Afterward, all news from him was cut off, and he even missed his returning time by weeks.


    Everyone was nervous by the news, and the entire prison was stirred.


    They weren''t afraid due to the prospect of a strong beast sneaking close to the prison¡­ but instead, everyone was tense due to the first vice leader, the leader''s first son wrath.


    The missing second vice leader wasn''t a nobody. His father was the prison leader and his older brother was the first vice leader. Also, two of his uncles were captains.


    In short, this prison was actually led by one family, a family that four of its members were magicians¡­ very strong magicians. And none of them had an artifact lower than the ''Rare'' grade!


    Among this family, the older son was the strongest, as he had a ''Special'' grade artifact!


    His artifact was the bloodline type, giving him the bloodline of the carnage dragon, which granted him the advantage of having strength that was unrivaled in the prison.


    Even though he was only Rank-1 magician with Lv.4 artifact, but he was actually able to defeat two Lv.2 warriors on the same time.


    However, his bloodline didn''t just give him a powerful advantage, but also a major disadvantage ¨C His temper!


    Aside from his close ones, he was incapable of tolerating anything from the rest! He had even killed someone for laughing out loud, while he was in the area.


    This showed that bloodline magicians didn''t have to only suffer from morphological and physiological changes¡­ but also from psychological sides as well.


    Apparently, they not only inherit the advantages of the injected bloodline, but also the disadvantages.


    Anyway, in the prison, and aside from his family, everyone else was terrified of him, due to his flaring temper and ruthless nature. He was the type of person that wouldn''t hesitate to take a life if he was irritated, which is why everyone avoided him like a plague.


    In the main meeting room.


    Currently, there were around fifteen individual gathering in the room. They were the strongest individuals in the prison. In the middle of the room, there was a large table with many chairs lined around it. However, no one was seated around the table at all. Instead, they were all standing.


    The atmosphere was extremely tense and volatile, as there was no news at all regarding the leader''s son. There wasn''t even a single trace. It was as though he and the entire group with him had vanished into thin air.


    "Brother! We''ve searched the entire area that Jonah went out too, and even scanned the area around the prison. However, we didn''t find any beast strong enough to threaten their lives." The leader''s first brother, Randall, said.


    Currently, other than the Baldwin''s family members, which is the leader''s family name, no one else dared to open his mouth and say a thing. As in the corner, stood the violent older brother, Derek.


    Anyone here could tell that if someone not belonging to the Baldwin family says the wrong thing here¡­ then the claws of death would descend on him faster than blinking.


    Simply, that how strong the older brother was, how unreasonable, and how ruthless¡­


    Hearing his brother''s answer, the leader''s expression turned terrible.


    This entire incident didn''t make sense at all.


    The area in which his son went too was an area populated with very weak herbivores beasts. While on the other hand, his son was a lightening magician with very strong spells. Also, there were four peak Lv.1 warriors. Not to mention that this mission was a routine task, a one that his son and his group had carried out many times in the past.


    More ever, there were no strong individual beasts or any large group of beasts. All of the beasts there were weak and coward in nature.


    So, what had happened there¡­?


    Opening his mouth and wanting to say something, the door to the meeting room was suddenly pushed open, and a man came in, before saying in urgent tone: "Leader! This is bad! The madam is coming here¡­!"


    Hearing so, aside from the Derek, everyone''s expression changed.


    ¡­

 Chapter 71: Path of collision (1)

    Chapter 71: Path of collision (1)


    "My son¡­! My son¡­! Has he returned yet? Is there any news about him¡­?"


    Pushing the guard the stood in front of the door to the side, a woman forced her way into the meeting room, while frantically shouting. Her hair was disheveled, her clothe messy, and there were two dark bags under her eyes. It was obvious that this woman hadn''t gotten any rest for a long period.


    Seeing her, Curtis''s expression underwent a subtle changed, as he thought: ''you crazy woman, get the hell out of here¡­! Do you want to get people killed again or what¡­?''


    It wasn''t only him, but every ones expression turned ugly upon seeing her.


    This sort of reaction wasn''t actually due to the woman herself, but to the catastrophe her sadness can bring.


    This woman was the leader''s wife, Derek''s and Jonah''s mom. She was the person that Derek cared for the most. Every time he sees her wallowing in sadness and pain, and shouting frantically, his fury brews. And with his growing agitation, comes an overwhelming blood thirst. Without a target to pour his fury onto, he becomes extremely unstable, and goes into killing spree inside the prison.


    Apparently, the creature which his bloodline came from was extremely blood thirsty beast, the carnage dragon, explaining why every time that he''s provoked; he can only balance his emotional state by giving a vent to his anger. Otherwise, he''d become like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any minute and goes into an indiscriminate killing spree.


    Few days ago, and effected by his frenzied mothers, his bloodline threw him into a raging state, and 4 people were killed as a result. Three were Lv.1 warriors and one was actually a magician. After the incident, the leader prevented her from getting into the same place as Derek, not unless she controls herself.


    However, in the end, she was a peak Rank-1 magician herself, with a rare grade artifact. So, if she really wanted to go anywhere in the prison, then aside from the leader, there weren''t anyone stupid enough to try stopping her with force.


    Seeing her dash into the meeting room while shouting frantically, the leader knew that if he didn''t act quickly¡­ then the prison would probably lose another few assets. As such, he rushed over to receive her, while making all kind of excuses to ensure her that her son was only momentarily missing and not dead.


    Noticing that the older son''s mood didn''t spiral out of control, everyone in the meeting room let out a secret sigh.


    The disaster has been avoided.


    Curtis was leaning at the wall, at a certain side of the room. Currently, his face was expressionless. However, in his heart, he was laughing out loud.


    This was a maximum security prison, which meant that the prisoners here were among the worst in the entire country. However, and comparing to the Baldwin''s family, these vicious individuals were butterflies of peace.


    Prior to the disaster, the Baldwin''s family head, the current prison leader, was a politician, and a very rich one at that. His connections extended far and wide, and using this network, he kept on expanding the family''s wealth nonstop. Even despite that his corruption was no big secret, but he somewhat managed to survive through three governments, without being taken down. In fact, many of the protestors prior to the catastrophe held signs with his picture on them, next to words like die or rot in hell.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Simply, that how much hated he was. However, even despite that, his position remained unshakable.


    This served to show just how capable and cunning he was.


    This was the reason why Curtis was this happy. As now, he had set this ruthless leader and his vicious family onto a path of collision with his enemies.


    ''Hehehe¡­! I cannot take revenge myself. So, I''ve unleashed monsters on you. Let me see how will you survive this¡­?''


    After sending his wife back to their place, the leader came back with a dark expression, and announced: "Expand the search area again! And if needed, we''ll keep expanding it to the end of earth! Before his corpse or a trace of him is found, no one will rest, or object! Otherwise¡­"


    Saying so, the leader scanned everyone with a dangerous cold glint in his sharp eyes.


    ¡­


    The compound¡­


    In the past few months, many things have changed¡­


    After Brian absorbed the Rock lizard''s core, his life energy ignition percent rose to 30%, making him a mid Lv.2 warrior. This rise of his strength boosted the total power of the compound, and made the people feel a bit safer. Also, this meant that his power level was now equivalent to mid tier-2 beast! Of course, this didn''t mean that he could beat a mid tier-2 beast by himself alone, as generally, beasts in the second tier were a stronger than warriors of an equivalent level to them.


    Anyway, this meant that low tier-2 beast were no longer a problem for the compound to handle. As such, Nora started actively searching for low tier-2 beast for them to hunt. As for mid tier-2 beasts, the battle with the Rock lizard showed them clearly that beasts of that level are still something out of their league¡­ at least for the time being. They decided to first raise few warriors to the second level before thinking of going after the mid tier-2 level beasts.


    As for ramie''s team, and after a long wait, the azure gazelle king finally advanced to the second tier!


    Upon his advancement, the azure gazelle king acquired yet another powerful spell ¨C Lightening Bolt barrage!


    With this development, their small group no longer held back.


    According to their agreement with the compound, they went out in another hunting mission to acquire a tier-2 core. And with that, lance finally broke through to become Lv.2 warrior!


    With this development, the only thing holding them from leaving to the capital was


    The time required for getting few other tier-2 cores and magical cores to further boost their team''s strength.


    With a third hunting mission, the compound got yet another tier-2 core from low tier-2 beast. This core however, an unexpectedly, was also seized by Brian. The deal was that this core goes to Gregory. However, Brian broke the agreement with Gregory and gave this core to one of his followers, which successfully broke through to become Lv.2 warrior.


    With that, Brian revealed his ambition. And from that point onward, the compound had only one leader instead of two. Gregory calmly accepted this arrangement, and he didn''t try to kick up any fuzz. He afterward accepted his rule of a subordinate instead of a leader.


    Gregory was pragmatic man. He knew that creating conflict was bad business for everyone. Hence, he didn''t resist.


    For the forth mission, Nora was tasked to search for a low tier-2 magical beast, as per Ramie''s group request.


    Ramie had a special graded artifact. So, if he was to raise his level to the second rank and get more spells, then, there was a great chance that he could unlock yet another special graded spell!


    His ghost glare spell was great trump card for the team. So, they wanted to see if he could unlock yet another similar grade spell to join the team''s arsenal. Also, the same could be said on Reem''s case.


    As for Neil, they wanted him to progress to the second rank so that he could advance his Fire ball spell, to increase its destructive effect.


    However, after a week of a continuous search, Nora still didn''t manage to find any tier-2 magical beast.


    This showed how rare these beasts were in comparison to the normal tier-2 beasts.


    Luckily, and as rare as tier-2 magical beasts were, tier-1 magical beasts on the other hand weren''t.


    After fruitless search, ramie''s team settled for a small horde of about 20 tier-1 magical beasts. These beasts were small foxes, and they had the innate spell of frost attacks.


    However, in front of three Lv.2 warriors, the azure gazelle king, and another group of Lv.1 warriors and magicians, the group of fox-like beasts had no chance of surviving.


    As such, Ramie, Reem and Neil finally managed to upgrade their artifacts to Lv.4, which pushed them up to become peak rank-1 magicians.


    To them, the next step would be becoming rank-2 magicians.


    Anyway, by upgrading his artifact by another level, Ramie acquired another skill point. And without hesitation, he exchanged it to get another spell.


    With his special graded artifact, the spells he unlocks can either be common, rare, or special, but never higher grade. As things stood, he already got one rare graded spell and one special graded spell. His hopes was that the next spell either be rare or special graded, and not common.


    However, and to his dismay, the spell he got wasn''t common, rare or special graded. In fact, it wasn''t graded at all!


    His new spell had no description, cost, or effect¡­ only a name.


    Rooting!


    And when ramie focused on the spell''s name, to get information on it, only a cast choice pops up:


    < Cast: yes/no >


    This option made Ramie very uncomfortable. As the last time this kind of option popped up to him, he turned into his current form. Not having any sort of description on the affect of this spell made him very skeptical.


    This lack of crucial information conformed that these artifacts were really flawed products.


    ''The last update provided many missing information, so, I should wait for a while, maybe the next update can give me the missing info. Anyway, if it doesn''t come in the near future, I might cast it and see the effect myself¡­!''


    Ramie decided to avoid casting this spell for the time being.


    ¡­

 Chapter 72: Path of collision (2)

    Chapter 72: Path of collision (2)


    Reem got another buff skill that she could only cast at her summoned beast.


    As for Neil... disappointingly, he got two lousy spells. The first was a defensive spell ¨C Fire barrier! In this spell, a dome-shaped barrier of fire is ignited around Neil, to protect him.


    However, and after putting this spell to test¡­ it turned out that this defensive fire barrier spell was really just a screen of fire that surrounds the caster! It has no apparent defensive quality. As even when they threw a small rock at Neil, it got through the fire barrier and hit him right on the head, leaving an embarrassing bump.


    The only use they could think of for this spell was to keep the small beasts away, or to scare away the animals that are afraid of fire. The worst part about this spell was its high consumption of magic energy.


    The second spell was an offensive one. It was called ¨C fire arrow!


    This spell basically makes and discharges an arrow of fire in a straight path. The fire arrow was very similar to the fire burst spell, and the only difference was that this spell uses more magic energy and had shorter range, about 5 meters. The only up side aspect about it was that the arrow inflicts continues fire damage to the target for a while after casting it.


    Apparently, getting his Fire ball spell had used up all of his luck, as both of his new spells weren''t really necessary, or efficient. Both were big letdown, at least when comparing to fire burst and fire ball spells.


    This wasn''t the only change in ramie''s team. As after the levels advances, their total team''s power reached new heights. And as a direct result of this power rise, many compound inhabitants expressed their wishes to join the team, and travel with them when they move to the capital.


    After some considerations, Lance accepted ten people into the team, with all of them being normal. The reason he didn''t accept warriors was because he didn''t want to affect the compound''s battle power by taking away capable hands.


    Anyway, with the azure gazelle king advancing to the second tier, sending him out to hunt for tier-1 life energy cores wasn''t a big issue anymore. As such, the ten individuals soon became Lv.1 warriors, adding to the team''s power, and making up for the shortage of warriors in the team.


    In the compound, another significant development happened.


    Brent managed to comprehend two inscriptions. Both of which were of the defensive type. The first inscription forms a one meter diameter energy shield that can withstand multiple attacks from peak Lv.1 warrior. The shield is one time activation inscription; it lasts until all of its energy is used up or when taking damage that exceeds its defensive limit. This inscription could be used by anyone, as the magic energy for it comes from the stored energy in the inscription, and not the user.


    The second inscription was also of the defensive type. It forms dome-shaped earth barrier that surrounds the user, isolating him. This barrier can mend itself even after taking damage, and can lasts up until the inscription energy runs out. This inscription too can be used by anyone.


    Through all of these developments, the compound''s total power rose sharply.


    This rise of power encouraged Brian to attack the other types of herbivores beasts that comes to the river for water every morning, other than the buffalo beasts. Brian hoped through this action to increase the items on the compounds food menu. As so far, it was only the buffalo beast''s meat.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Also, he hoped to increase the number of cores that they get every day in order to further increase the strength of the Lv.1 warriors in the compound.


    However, this plan of his had backfired in a very bad way. As after they killed another type of beasts on the river side¡­ a high tier-2 beasts attacked the compound only an hour afterwards, and wrecked havoc. Apparently, the beast that they had killed was part of the horde that this beast was overseeing.


    If it wasn''t for Brian''s, Ramie''s, and the azure gazelle king performance in the fight, which forced the beasts to retreat, the inflicted damage would have been truly disastrous.


    Actually, the biggest factor why they didn''t suffer any casualty in the high tier- beast retaliation was not because of how strong they were¡­ instead; it was that the beast didn''t intend to annihilate them in the first place and only wanted to get his message cross.


    The reason why they believed so was because during the fight, the herbivores beast had many chances to kill people but it didn''t, instead, the beast only injured few warriors.


    This event taught them that even though their current state was far stronger than before¡­ however; their level of strength was still too low when considering the big picture outside. This development deflated Brian''s growing ego.


    Apparently, getting a bit stronger had ruined his sense of judgment.


    After that event, Ramie and the rest of the group started their preparation to leave for the capital. The only thing on their agenda before leaving was to try to get few other tier-2 cores and bring up the level of some of the warriors in their team to the second level.


    They had no idea what type of dangers would they meet in the trip. Hence, they wanted to prepare themselves the best they could before departing.


    Although initially, they wanted to get few tier-2 magical cores and increase the magician''s levels in their team¡­ but, tier-2 magical beasts were very rare and hard to find. So, they settled for the next best thing ¨C life energy tier-2 cores.


    In these days, and after exchanging for another APC, Lance and the group were very busy. They used the extra tier-1 life energy cores to exchange for many other things as well. Such as; bone shields, bone spears and bows made of tier-2 beasts that were inscribed with lightening inscription, earth barrier and energy armor inscriptions, and many other necessities for the trip.


    Currently, in the central compound''s square, ramie and the entire group were staring at the two APCs with satisfaction. The entire past week was spent in working on these two armored vehicles. Their group used the skeletons of the tier-2 beasts that they had hunted to reinforce each of the two vehicles to increase their defensive power.


    Right now, each of the two APCs outer frames was surrounded with bone cage from five directions, leaving only small opening for entry. These bones defensive quality was much higher than the vehicle''s armor. It was to the point that even Lance''s full powered punch could only leave a small crack on them.


    ''Great! With this type of reinforcement, these vehicles now could even resist attacks from weak tier-2 beasts with ease!'' staring at the two armored vehicles, ramie thought to himself.


    In the past few days, ramie had a constant nagging sensation at the back of his mind that something major was about to happen. He didn''t know why he had this feeling, as in the compound, everything was going well. Their strength was on a constant rise¡­ the beasts around the camp were constantly thinning out, due to their wanton campaign of hunting¡­ no excessively strong beasts appeared anywhere near the compound¡­ so, why this unsettling feeling never goes away?


    This feeling was making him very uncomfortable. It was very weak, like a distant noise that was about to disappear, however, it wasn''t weak enough to the point of completely fading, and on the same time, not strong to the point of making sense, or giving him insights.


    It wasn''t just this feeling that was almost driving him to become a paranoid person, but in the last three days, ramie has being seeing the same dream, repeating itself in the same way over and over again. In this dream, he always sees 40 spikes of earth emerge from the ground in the compound and penetrate his four limbs, completely restricting his movement, pinning him on the ground, and preventing him from getting up. The ground would then weave itself around him and swallow him down. All the while, lance, Neil, Reem and the other members of the team run away from the compound, while calling out for him to catch up.


    In this dream he keeps on struggling and struggling while digging his way up. And when he finally digs himself out, he only sees Reem and Neil waiting for him, while everyone else gone.


    This dream has been eating up at him for the last three days.


    These dreams seemed very real to him, and he didn''t take them lightly. Ramie convinced lance and the rest to pull the date of the trip closer, to about a week. During this week, they would participate in two more hunting missions with the compound forces, to get two tier-2 cores, one for them, the other for the compound, and then make the trip for the capital.


    To ramie, the capital was the safest place to in, in these times, as it is the place where most of the military forces are concentrated. So, if this bad feeling of his was on point, and something bad was really about to happen, then going for the well-protected capital should be his best chance to avoid this supposed dangerous event.


    As for his appearance problem, he no longer cared about the issue at all. Seeing that Nora too had the bloodline artifact convinced him that there should be many other magicians in the capital with this type of artifact as well. So, his form shouldn''t cause a ruckus or something, as there should be precedents.


    ¡­

 Chapter 73: Path of collision (3)

    Chapter 73: Path of collision (3)


    The prison, the meeting room¡­


    Shatter! Shatter!


    Thump!


    The sharp sounds of breaking classes and bounding on the tables could be clearly heard in the meeting room.


    Right know, the high ranking warriors and magicians in the prison were all present in the meeting room, but none of them dared to say anything or even make the slightest sound.


    ''Luckily, that mad man Derek isn''t here! Otherwise, he would have flew in rage and offed some people already!'' one of the magicians, couldn''t help to think.


    "He was actually killed! HE WAS ACTUALLY KILLED!"


    With a bellow of rage that conveyed inexplicable hatred and malevolence, the prison leader was completely sunken in state of hysteria.


    Just few minutes ago, one of his missing son followers, a man called Billy, crawled to the prison in an extremely pathetic state.


    His clothe were torn, his body filled with cuts and wounds, and his hair burnt in some places. It was obvious that he had gone through a hellish time outside during this month.


    Before he completely passes out, he had recited the crisis that had transpired to their team.


    Apparently, they weren''t attacked by some horde of beasts or a single powerful beast¡­ instead; their team was a tacked by another group of survivors.


    He told the leader that their team was ambushed, and that his son was attacked and killed first by some lightening shooting summoned beast that one of the attacking group magician''s summoned. Afterward, the attacking group took the fallen gemstone of his son, and attempted to negotiate with their group to drop the matter.


    Apparently, the attacking group killed his son only for the sake of the gemstone. They weren''t interested in the rest.


    However, just then, one of their group members threw some threats at other group, promising them a gruesome death when they report this matter back.


    At that moment, the other group started attacking them in an all out assault, wanting to silence them. They started annihilating everyone in their team.


    Afterward, and realizing the huge gap of strength between them and the attacking group, the few survivors started running in every direction, hoping to get the news across, and alarm the prison leader about the dangerous group.


    Next, and to get rid of the pursuers, he was forced to escape to areas that were filled with beasts. And after an entire month of hiding and suffering, he finally found a chance and escaped from that group.


    His last words before falling unconscious¡­ was that the other group had Lv.2 warrior in their ranks, and some magician that can project octopus-like arms from his back.


    Right now, the prison''s leader was boiling with so much wrath that he was breathing roughly, while bulging veins were moving like worms on his forehead and neck. In his eyes, there seem to be blazing flames of hatred.


    After awhile of breaking tables, chairs, furniture, interspersed with throwing all types of vulgar curses, the leader seem to have regained some of his sanity, after venting some of his rampaging emotions.


    Turning to look at one of the captains, who used to be one of the prison guards, the leader asked with bloodshot eyes: "What are the closest population centers to this prison other than the city?"


    In response, the captain gulped down, nervously, before answering: "two villages, one residential compound near the city, and another residential compound near the borders."


    Hearing the reply, a ruthless killing intent filled the leader''s eyes. "Give the location of these places to Derek, and tell him to scan them for a group of survivors that have a summoned beast. Inform the warriors and magicians to prepare! Tomorrow, we set off the moment Derek brings the location of these filthy things!"


    To the side, Curtis maintained an expressionless face. However, inwardly, he was laughing nastily. ''Let me see that psychopath torture you and then burn you to death! Tomorrow, your relaxing days comes to end. My brother''s death will not go unsettled¡­ will not go unanswered¡­!''


    ¡­


    The compound¡­


    As the night descended, everyone went to sleep.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Ramie and Lance were the only ones awake in the house. Ramie''s vitality was high enough that 20 minutes of sleep was more than enough for him to regain his vigor. As for Lance, sleeping few hours was enough for him.


    Before, they used to sleep only at day time while stay up all the night, for the fear of beasts attacking the compound and killing them in their sleep. Now however, and with Brian''s group addition, there are now enough warriors to organize two shifts of patrols, the day shift, and the night shift.


    As for the azure gazelle king, after advancing to the second rank, no tier-1 beast was crazy enough to even approach the compound any more, much less attacking it. Apparently, to the other beasts, the act of the gazelle radiating his aura meant that he had taken this place as his territory. As such, unless they wanted to challenge his authority, no beasts below the second rank dared to go anywhere near the compound.


    Currently, ramie and lance were exchange some idle talks, to pass the time.


    Suddenly, Ramie went silent for a second, before standing up, abruptly. He then ran to the door.


    Seeing ramie act in this manner, Lance was taken at first. Then, he followed ramie, and asked: "Mr. Ramie, what is it?"


    Opening the door, and then walking to the front yard, ramie started scanning the sky with his shining yellow eyes.


    "Am not sure, Mr. Lance¡­ I think I just felt the aura of magician, passing right above the house!" ramie said, while surveying the sky.


    "Passing above the house? Are you sure?" Lance asked, confused.


    "Am not sure myself¡­" ramie replied.


    After few seconds, Reem walked down from the second floor, and confirmed ramie''s sense. Apparently, the azure gazelle king sensed the same thing.


    The next day, at morning...


    After conveying this information to the others, a large gathering of warriors and magicians gathered in Brian''s house, to discuss the incident.


    "Why would a magician fly above the compound in the night, and not announce his presence?" one of the warriors asked.


    "Maybe it was just a beast, coming to hunt a meal. However, and upon sensing the azure gazelle king, it just fled away." Another one blurted.


    "Are you stupid? Do you thing that the azure gazelle king can''t tell between a beast and a magician? He didn''t make such a mistake when he was in the first tier. Not to mention now, when he is in the second tier, with even higher perception!"


    "You''re all forgetting the Mr. Ramie too sensed that it was a magician. So, drop this beast matter already."


    Since the compound leader, Brian, hadn''t said a single word yet, opinions and theories flew about, as the warriors and the magicians started giving their own estimation on the incidents. For a while, the chattering noises filled the place.


    It went on until Brian raised his hand, thus stopping the commotion, after seeing that it led to nowhere. Turning to look at Ramie, he asked: "Mr. Ramie, what are your thoughts on the subject?"


    Seeing that Brian was asking him a question, Ramie inwardly sighed.


    After learning their intention of leaving the compound, Brian had done all that he could to convince them to stay. And he really had good reasons to do so. If not for the fact that their team has a Lv.2 warrior, or Ramie''s ghost glare spell that could even impact a tier-2 beasts, then it was for the fact that they had a tier-2 magical beast.


    The azure gazelle king domineering presence had rendered the compound a restricted area, where beasts below the second tier wouldn''t even think of sneaking into the compound anymore, due to the summoned beast''s radiating aura. The azure gazelle king in this action of his had claimed this compound as his own territory, which kept all of the beasts away.


    So, to change their minds, he first used the individual approach, trying to convince them one by one, to brake off from the team and join the compound, in return of many promises and benefits.


    However, since it didn''t work, he then tried many times with Lance to convince him to stay, so that he can have him change the other''s minds. However, that was all to no avail.


    Departing to the capital was something that they had made clear right from the beginning. Also, even if they left, it wasn''t as if the compound would be helpless in the face of beasts.


    Not to mention that the compound already had three warriors in the second level, but also, there were more than 70 warriors in the first level. As for the past month, and after the huge power leap in the total power of the compound, Brian spared no effort in organizing regular hunting missions for tier-1 beasts in the compound surrounding areas, thus amassing a considerable number of cores for the compound inhabitants to ignite their life energy and join the defensive force ranks. Not to speak of the inscriptions that Brent was making relentlessly.


    These facts made ramie and the rest feeling less guilty for leaving the compound. To them, the only safety could be found in the heavily defended capital.


    Also, the nagging sensation that ramie had was still buzzing at the back of his mind nonstop, like relentless fly. At this point, there was nothing anyone could say to change his mind of leaving this compound.


    Anyway, looking at Brian''s express, it was obvious that he had yet to give up on his intent to convince them to stay. He was trying to involve them in this matter in hopes of changing their mind.


    Seeing Brian''s expression, ramie guessed that Brian already had his own thoughts on the matter. However, to make him feel more involved, he asked him. Sighing inwardly, Ramie had to answer, as he was being asked directly: "There are two possibilities. If he was a passing magician, then we probably won''t see him again. But, if he was scouting the compound intentionally, and at night time, then he should have means to see in the dark. In this case, he must have already seen the azure gazelle king and the patrolling warriors, which mean that he already knows that there are people here. So, we should just wait for him to contact the compound, and see his intentions." Saying so, ramie displayed a pondering expression, before adding: "If this magician is alone, then there is nothing to worry about. However, if he''s part of a group, then, before we determine their numbers, strength, and above all, their intentions, then we shouldn''t relax¡­"


    After ramie finished saying so, a commotion broke out among everyone in the meeting.


    In the compound, there were a lot of good things going on for them. For instant, the compound location that wasn''t far away from the river, which meant a stable source of water and meat from the herbivores beasts that gathers there every day. Also, the location was secluded, and far enough from the cities, and other places that are heavily infested with beasts.


    This meant that it was completely possible for other survivors group to want this compound for themselves. More ever, if a group of survivors that could survive this long in such hostile environment had a design on their place, then the consequences could become very dangerous to them.


    After that, the meeting went on with a heavy atmosphere lingering about.


    ¡­


    Several kilometers away from the compound, at the peak of a large hill¡­


    The prison leader glared at the distant compound, through a scope. His eyes were shining with a dark sinister glow, as hatred rampaged in his heart without end. His mind was flickering with all kinds of savage ways to kill those wicked people.


    The hatred he felt was so strong that it was driving him crazy. He had to kill these people in the most barbaric manner possible, to avenge his son.


    Thud!


    The shocking figure of a man landed from the sky, few meters away. His heavy weight caused a heavy, dull, thudding sound to echo out and kick up a short pillar of dirt and dust.


    The man was wearing only a trouser, with his feet and upper body naked. His exposed body was covered with blood-colored, interconnected network of scales that ran from his head to toes, completely shrouding him with scale armor that gave off the feeling of absolute defense.


    There were two thick horns atop his head that was covered with long white hair. The two horns were black in color and were bent backward. Resting on his back; was a pair of gigantic scaly wings. The swinging figure of a thick, two meter long tail could be seen bounding the ground where he stood.


    His body was constantly radiating savage and strong magical aura the installed fear on whoever sees him. His presence was indeed overwhelming.


    This man was the older son, Derek!


    Looking back, behind the hill, about two hundred warrior, and eleven magicians were stepping out of few tenths of vehicles.


    With a fire spitting eyes, the leader said to the crowd: "Derek has ascertained that they have less than half our numbers of warriors, and fewer magicians than us. However, with Derek around, as long as they don''t have any rank-2 magician, or Lv.2 warrior with ignition percent above 50%, then those filth can forget about living past this day!"


    "We''ll fight them the way we fought the horde of beasts a month ago. To avoid any losses on our side, we''ll use our superior numbers to separate them from that damned beast, divide them and prolong the fight. We''ll do that while Derek picks the powerful warriors up one by one. Then, and the moment all of the level two warriors die, we''ll take our time to execute the rest, and the beast¡­"


    ¡­

 Chapter 74: Path of collision (4)

    Chapter 74: Path of collision (4)


    "A large number of warriors and magicians are approaching the compound from the west side; they''re coming over at a high speed."


    Just as the meeting was about to end, Reem''s eyes suddenly flashed in shock for a moment, before she recovered and reported the stunning news.


    At her words, every ones hearts constricted. The possibility of hostile intentions was the first thing that everyone thought of.


    "How many are there?" Brian asked with haste. A sense of urgency prevailed in his tone.


    "Over two hundred!" Reem replied, agitation clouding her expression.


    Hearing the number, fear plastered across every ones faces.


    "Call everyone to assemble, take out the weapons, and prepare to fight." Brian roared his orders with haste. And everyone charged off the house with anxious hearts.


    The other group''s large number rendered everyone nervous.


    BOOM!!!


    Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!


    Only seconds after the announcement, the rumbling sound of a huge explosion shook the entire compound. Everyone felt terror, as an impending sense of crisis shook the hearts.


    Seconds afterward, the sounds of multiple miserable cries started ranging nonstop from a certain direction in the compound.


    Brian, Lance, Gregory, and Kevin, the newly advanced warrior, soon arrived at the explosion site. They were warriors in the second level. So, their speed allowed them to arrive at the scene faster than the others.


    The moment they reached the scene, a terrifying sight met their eyes.


    A large portion of the outer wall surrounding the compound had shattered, creating a nine meter long gap in it. Tenths of men and women were pouring in through the wall nonstop. They had ruthless expressions on their faces, and they were holding bone weapons of various types.


    However, this wasn''t the worse part ¨C the worst part was that they were currently in the process of massacring the compound warriors that were patrolling this area. More ever, and judging by the displayed strength, there were at least three Lv.2 warriors among their ranks.


    Seeing that over a dozen of warriors had already turned to corpses on the ground, Brian''s eyes turned bloodshot: "You mad Dogs¡­! Stop this madness at once¡­"


    Shouting atop his lungs, Brian didn''t wait for the response, and exploded with strength. Letting out another cry of anger, he dashed at the attackers to put a stop to the carnage. The other three followed a suit.


    Every warrior was of great importance, so they couldn''t allow the compound to bleed out such precious essence.


    As they attacked, the azure gazelle king dashed, overtaking them in a moment, in response to Reem''s orders. Arcs of lightning constantly dancing around him, forming energy shield.


    On the other side, and seeing the strongest individuals in the compound charge at them, the prison higher ups let out war cries, and dashed out from the group to meet the challenge.


    Facing the charging summoned beast, the prison leader started breathing roughly, as veins popped up on his forehead, his face flushing with rage.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    His magic aura of a Rank-2 magician surged, as he injected his magic energy into the artifact.


    He immediately yelled atop his lung ¨C EARTH GUARDIAN!


    The moment he casted his rank-2 spell, the ground underneath him rose to his body, and enveloped him, forming a four meter giant made of soil. The giant had a humanoid shaped body, with abnormally thick proportions. Also, there were many magical runes moving about on its surface.


    "You damn beast! You''ll pay for what you did¡­!" letting out a booming roar of rage, the earth giant walked forth, causing the ground under him to shook with every step, which showed how heavy this thing was. Then, as the giant raised his massive hands, he smashed downward the location of the summoned beast.


    BOOOOM!!!


    Under the heavy smash of the earth guardian, a reverberating explosion sounded out, as a violent tremor spread outwardly, shaking the entire compound, and along with it, the hearts of the residents.


    This attacked stunned Ramie and the rest, who just arrived at the scene.


    Right now, around two hundred warriors with some magicians were standing at one side inside the compound, while on the other side, stood Ramie, Neil, Reem and the rest of the compound warriors and magicians.


    In the middle, between the two groups, was an open ground where the strongest forces in the two groups were busy fighting each other.


    The azure gazelle king was now facing an earth giant, with a mid Lv.2 warrior. Brian and lance were engaged in one VS one fight against two mid Lv.2 warriors, Gregory against a low Lv.2 warrior, and Kevin fighting a rank-1 bloodline magician.


    On the compound side, every one''s expression was stiff¡­


    The battle among the strongest in the two groups had just started. However, no matter how one looked at it, it was obvious that their side was at a terrible disadvantage here.


    For starters, Gregory had only one arm, yet, he was fighting a warrior with a similar level to him, and with all of his limbs intact. He was already receiving hits more than he delivers.


    Kevin was Lv.2 warrior. More ever, he was fighting a bloodline magician that was only at the first rank; yet, he was already completely suppressed, in every possible way. The confrontation between him and the magician looked less than a fight, and more like a torture.


    Lance had a life ignition percent lower than 25%, which made him low Lv.2 warrior, yet, he was facing a mid Lv.2 warrior. Judging by the moves of that warrior, it appeared that he had battle experience that was even better than Lance.


    Gregory, Kevin, and Lance were at a severe disadvantage in their fights. It was obvious that they were spending life energy at a crazy rate, just to cope up with their opponents. Not to mention throwing attacks, the three of them were struggling to defend themselves.


    Battles among warriors at the same levels or with small levels difference were fights of attrition. Unless one party is much stronger than the other, the possibility of quick conclusion was minimum.


    The compound side was on the losing end in three of the five major fights.


    As for Brian, he was fighting against a warrior with similar strength to him. Thus, he was fighting on an equal ground.


    The azure gazelle king on the other hand was engaged in a heated battle against a Rank-2 earth magician and mid Lv.2 warrior. However, he was in no disadvantage at all. As for the reason¡­ he was magical beast, which meant he had more magic energy at his disposal than magicians of an equivalent level. More ever, when magical beasts advance in tier, all of their innate spells rank up alongside them, and not just one. Thus, right now, the azure gazelle king was abusing this advantage to its fullest, shooting out one spell after another, hence, preventing the two opponents from using their numerical advantage.


    "Charge!! Let''s finish off these filth!"


    After one excited shout, the prison group warriors were all railed up, and they started roaring with war cries, as their blood boiled for battle.


    "Go!!!!"


    Then, with another roar, the prison''s large group brandished their bone weapons and charged at the compound crowd with great momentum.


    At the compound side, some were afraid, some were angry, while others were anxious. However, regardless of what they felt, in the end, they all had their families in the compound, and there was no other place to escape to. So, there was no way for they would back down.


    Even though the charging group had a ferocious expressions, but the compound group had went through many hardships and struggles. Each of them was refined through beasts hunting missions. They were in no way easy to swallow.


    "Assume defensive formations!"


    "Activate your energy shields!"


    "Let''s avenge our fallen brothers, and kill those savages!"


    Many determined shouts thundered from the compound group. And in no time, the shields inscriptions lit up at the front line, and many shields of energy flickered into existence.


    Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Before the two groups meet, many types of attacks flashed from the back of the prison group, and traveled the distance, landing on the front-line of the compound warriors.


    The magicians had started casting their spells. And fire, water, ice, wind, and other types of spells flew toward the compound crowd.


    However, and luckily, the compound group had energy shields inscription that protected then. Otherwise, many would have fallen, thus increasing the number difference between the two groups ever further.


    Fire ball!


    Unwilling to stay silent, Neil threw a fire ball at the charging enemy, from behind the warrior group. Since the enemy magicians shot the first round, he wanted to respond.


    The enemy warriors didn''t have the energy shield inscriptions. And they only had their life energy protection. So and seeing the fire ball streak at them, the enemy warriors at the front-line dodged the spell.


    The fire ball landed straight at a warrior that was running at the back. This warrior had very low life energy ignition percents. So, his reaction speed wasn''t that high. More ever, he was running behind other warriors, so, his sight was blocked. As such, he only noticed when the blazing ball was practically upon him.


    Boom!!


    With a thunderous explosion, and a high temperature fiery mass, the warrior flew backward, as charred corpse.


    The fire ball had landed straight at the warrior, and released a fiery shock-wave, killing him, and injuring another warrior that was running very close to him.


    "Kill the invaders! Kill the invaders!"


    Seeing the fire ball claim a life among the enemies, the compound group morals was ignited, and their fighting spirit surged.


    They had no idea why the these people were so fierce and determined to kill them, and why they didn''t even bother to negotiate or threaten them first¡­ however, the few corpses of the patrol warriors on the ground had already conveyed the enemies intentions. Hence, no one said anything, or questioned, but just attacked.


    Next, the two masses of warriors violently crushed into each other, like a mad mob.


    ¡­

 Chapter 75: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (1)

    Chapter 75: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (1)


    As the two groups clashed, a chaotic brawl followed.


    "Kill them all!"


    "Leave none of these bastards alive!"


    "Kill the enemies, defends your families! Defend your compound!"


    The warriors in the two groups crushed into each other like maddened bulls. And a chaotic fighting scene broke out.


    In warrior''s fights, unless the difference between two warriors is too large, then the confrontation would usually be a battle of attrition, which was the case here.


    Punching, kicking, head-butting, elbowing, and stabbing were the main attacks in this brawl. Everyone had the protection of life energy. Also, all of them were Lv.1 warriors. So, no one care much for defending, instead, everyone was throwing attacks like crazy, wanting to kill their opponents.


    Any random life energy-charged blow in the fight was more than enough to kill any normal individual, or magician. However, to these warriors, it only uses up energy to defend against.


    One of the compound warriors charged his fist, and punched an enemy on the head. However, the other man wasn''t affected by much. As he just turned his gaze at him with disdain, before delivering a destructive punch to his abdomen. The blow carried so much strength that it caused a visible air tremor to explode at the point of impact.


    The compound warrior was thrown few meters in air, miserably, and landed outside the brawl. From this, it could be said that he had picked the wrong target ¨C a warrior with very high ignition percent, much higher than his own, hence the power difference.


    Normally, one would assume that this warrior should be crippled or dead by now, given the immense strength in the blow. However, the compound warrior simply rotated his life energy, got back up, and charged again into the masses, like a rugby player who had simply been pushed away from the formation. Next, he simply chose another target, before throwing a punch at his head.


    Seeing that the man he struck had been pushed back, the compound warrior rejoiced.


    Now, he had finally found someone he could confront using his power.


    This scene repeated itself many times across the brawl. As for the reason, it was because warriors didn''t have artifacts to give them accurate readings, so, it was hard to judge the power of the opposite warriors. Hence, they simply kept punching around, to find a suitable target to fight. Of course, if one weak warrior strike a much stronger warrior with a bad temper, then the stricken warrior might not let him go with a punch, but beat him to death right on the spot.


    Sights like two or three warriors ganging up on one warrior and bombarding him with all sorts of attacks was not a rare scene in the fight. After all, the compound side had already lost several warriors when the compound wall was breached. More ever, their enemy had a number of about 200 warriors. So, the numerical advantage was not leaning to their side.


    Normally, they should seek to escape from this fight, or find other ways to avoid it. However, they all had families here in the compound¡­ so; no one had the luxury of choice.


    It was either they defeat their enemies, or their enemies kill them and their families. At least, everyone in the compound side was thinking as such.


    For this reason, the compound warriors fought with exceptional ferocity. Their souls were brimming with fighting spirit, as they gave it their all, fighting with the mentality of ''kill all of your enemies or your family gets killed.''


    As the fight went on, and with some warriors dying, the compound group started realizing the implication of their smaller numbers. As such, they gathered in a circular formation, while their enemies surrounded them.


    With their brimming fighting spirit, and coupled with their defensive inscriptions, the pressure on them was greatly reduced. However, and judging by their high consumption of their life energies, anyone could tell that they were losing this fight, slowly, and gradually."


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    In the middle of the circular formation, and with a pale face, Reem was constantly casting her buff spells on the azure gazelle king, to maintain his advantage, and press on his opponents in the fight.


    She was aware that the moment her summon, or any other Lv.2 warrior on their side losses, then everyone in the compound will fall in a dangerous position. As such, she was monitoring the fight through her summoned beast''s thoughts.


    As for Neil, after casting his Fire burst spell five times, he had already used up all of his magic energy. Aside from the warrior that he killed using firs balls at the beginning of the fight, he managed to kill four more, using his fire burst spells. Right now, and with an ashen face, he was nervously monitoring the battle.


    This was the sorrow of magicians! The moment they run out of magic energy ¨C they become completely useless and dependent.


    Ramie on the other hand had a lot of magic. But still, he fought very conservatively. So far, he casted his Green vine spell only once, projecting one vine.


    "Go!"


    Sending his vine outside the defensive formation, ramie depended on his perception of aura to choose a certain target.


    Outside the formation, two very strong warriors grabbed one of the compound warriors that have been fighting at the border of the formation, and pulled him out. They then threw him backward, away from the formation.


    At once, many prison warriors gathered on the horrified warrior, and started beating him up ruthlessly. This warrior was one of the strongest warriors on the compound side. So, they wanted to overwhelm him with numbers, and break through his life energy defense.


    The prison leader promised three life energy cores for the three warriors that kill the most targets of the enemies. So, all of the warriors that have life ignition percent above 90% were especially eager to kill as many of the compound group as possible. They were dying to break through into the second level, to become captains, and enjoy the privileges and the good treatment that comes with it.


    The compound warrior was in absolute despair. If he was being attacked by only one or two warriors, then perhaps he could break free from them and return to the formation. However, against four warriors, with two of them being stronger than him, he knew that his life energy defense would not be sufficient to take all of this damage.


    Bang! Bang! Thud! Thud!


    A barrage of attacks fall on the warrior, who assumed a fetus position, on the ground, trying to defend himself.


    Indeed, being isolated from any help, and enduring frenzied attacks from four warriors, his life energy defense was approaching its limits, and his body started suffering heavy damage. He even started coughing up blood.


    Suddenly, from between the many legs, a snake-like green vine slithered with high speed, dodging the legs, and moving between the spaces. The vine curled its tip around the warrior''s leg. Then, and with a sudden jolt, the warrior''s body was dragged on the ground, from between the four warriors, breaking the balance of few warriors on his way, and then disappearing into the defensive formation.


    The entire thing lasted a very short while, and the four warriors were left stunned in their position.


    "This¡­!"


    "What the¡­!"


    The strongest among the four had an expression that was darker than the night. He had already killed two, and one more would inch him one step closer to that core. However, his prey was snatched right under his nose.


    Helpless, he could only shift his attention to another target.


    Looking at the other three with him, he spoke, in a rugged tone, a one that perfectly matched his cruel face: "Don''t stand like idiots! There are more targets to find!"


    Saying so, he rotated his life energy to its max, and squeezed his way to the frontier, joining the fray. The three warriors exchanged few looks at each other, before following suit.


    "Kill! Kill! Kill¡­!"


    The rumble of the fight went on, and the numerical advantage of the prison warriors started pressing harder and harder on the defensive formation.


    Ramie played a supportive role, as all of his current spells belonged to this type; he used his vine to alleviate some of the pressure on some warriors, when the enemy gangs up on them, by directly attacking the enemy warriors.


    Although, by projecting another vine, and by using his ghost spell, he could definitely do a lot of damage on the attacking warriors¡­However, the five battles ongoing outside the formation between the powerhouses of the two groups were the real decider of this confrontation.


    If the compound loses in any of these arenas, then this entire fight would be useless!


    On the other hand, if they win in even one of those fights, then the victor could participate in another arena and help reducing the pressure on them.


    For that reason, Ramie had a very narrow room to maneuver.


    After advancing his artifact to the forth level, he gained another 20 unite of magic energy, bringing his magic energy to 69 point!


    This meant that he could use his ghost glare spell three times, as every cast requires 20 magic energy units.


    Anyway, after casting the green vine spell once, which requires 5 points, he now had only four magic energy units to spend on the vine and not one unite more. This would naturally leave him with 60 magic energy units, the amount needed to cast his ghost glare spell thrice.


    His intention was to save those three precious casts on the Lv.2 warriors. He wanted to cast the ghost spell at a critical moment, to alter the outcome of the battle in their favor.


    "Ramie!!! Kevin in a dangerous situation! He''s about to lose!"


    Suddenly, the high pitched shout of Reem drifted to ramie, conveying a very bad news.


    Ramie immediately casted his gaze at the site where the battle was raging between Kevin and the towering bloodline magician¡­


    His expression became dire at once¡­ Kevin was in an exceedingly sorry state.


    His face was swollen, his clothe tattered, and his body bloodied. The bloodline magician was laughing in a maniacal manner, like a crazy psychopath, while raining Kevin with heavy blows from his sledge-hammer like fists, scaly, clawed legs, and his thick tail.


    The bloodline magician stood at a towering two meters tall, while Kevin heights didn''t exceed 1.65 meter. The sight was like a grown up bullying a child.


    Even though Kevin was Lv.2 warrior, with a thick, highly concentrated life energy, while opponent was merely a magician at the first rank¡­ However, this magician''s bloodline seemed to have granted him unmatchable strength, and a defensive spell that was so powerful ¨C that it made it impossible to penetrate his defense even though Kevin had spend the entire time punching at his body with full energized blows.


    This situation rendered Kevin''s attacks useless, and let him suffer endless barrage of attacks that carried destructive power enough to turn any Lv.1 warrior into a meat paste.


    His opponent was only a first rank magician, yet, his fists carried force and heaviness that not even his life energy shield was enough to fully protect him from.


    The despair started creeping into Kevin''s heart, and with it, his fighting spirit and battle strength started dropping at a dangerous rate. This led to him turning to a punching sand bag for his overly excited opponent.


    If this damn beast would just give chance, he would definitely escape. However, this demon seemed adamant on killing him here.


    Just as ramie was contemplating on how to get in range and use his ghost glare spell to save Kevin, he felt a cold killing intent locking on him. The hatred in that look was so intense, that ramie was able to sense it even in the chaos of the fight.


    Without even turning to lock, Ramie immediately threw himself on the ground, as he sensed the killing intent intensifies.


    ¡­

 Chapter 76: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (2)

    Chapter 76: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (2)


    Whoosh!


    Just as ramie threw himself on the ground, a compressed bullet of wind passed through the spot where his head used to be, creating a whizzing sound of high speed object ripping its way through the air.


    Ramie''s heart went cold immediately. No matter what, he could never forget the attack that had torn off his arm before.


    The bullet of wind hit the head of one of the warriors inside the formation. Luckily, he had a very high life energy ignition percent. So, the wind projectile didn''t penetrate his life energy shield.


    However, the man''s luck ended there, and did not go any further.


    The momentum of the spell wasn''t strong enough to claim his life; however, it was more than strong to push him forth, throwing him out of the formation.


    "Save me!!!"


    The man gave a desperate cry for help, as plea was all over his face, not only for the compound warrior to help him, but also for the enemy warriors to have mercy on him. However, his cry was bound to be disappointed.


    Like a group of bloodthirsty hyenas, the prison warriors overwhelmed him with punches and kicks.


    "Go!"


    Ramie immediately sent his vine at the man, without a delay, and pulled him with all of his might.


    This man took the hit that was meant for him, so, Ramie felt obligated to save him.


    However, as the vine went out to save a living man, it only brought a blooded corpse.


    Three seconds¡­! That was all it took for the countless attacks to break his life energy defense and kill him.


    Getting up, Ramie focused his sight at the figure that was floating above the ground tenths of meters away.


    The man was dressed in black, and he had a small hurricane of wind spinning around him, alleviating him above the ground.


    In that man''s eyes, a bone-chilling, murderous look was shooting out toward him. If gazes could hurt, then Ramie would have been ripped to a myriad of tiny shreds by now.


    Immediately, and having recognized that man, Ramie was taken. Then, a blinding fury welled up in his heart afterward.


    That man and his brother attacked ramie and the others for the sake of their gemstones. They wanted to kill them to get an easy advance of power, as it was safer to kill humans than to kill beasts. Jeffry, Reem''s father, was killed by this man. Yet, that man was now coming after his life.


    Looking at the twisted face of the warrior''s corpse beside him, Ramie''s eyes started pulsating an intense eerie yellow glow, signifying his boiling rage. The look of despair and unwillingness was printed on this poor man''s face.


    Yet another victim fell for that wind magician.


    Ramie returned the intense gaze at the wind magician. This was the first time in his life that he really wants to kill another human being.


    Although, the confrontation with this man happened in night time back then, but at that time, the shinning moon and the stars illuminated that night. Also, ramie''s eyes gave him the ability to see in the night almost as good as in the day. So, he had no problem recognizing this man.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    The wind magician, Curtis, was hovering at the back of the group, while smiling coldly at the Ramie. He very much liked seeing his enemy trapped like an animal, waiting to be slaughtered.


    His plan succeeded perfectly. And now, his enemies, as well as the compound trashes, were all about to die.


    Although the power levels in the compound had given him a huge surprise. However, in the end, they''d still die, all the same.


    He felt lucky for not attacking on his own and devising that plan instead.


    As strong as the compound was, their strength was still insufficient to win this fight. After all, with that psycho Derek on their side, who can even contend against a mid Lv.2 warrior, as the long as the compound didn''t have any warrior with ignition percent above 50%, then none of these filth should ever think of living past this day.


    Having these kinds of thoughts, Curtis felt a sense of elation and excitement at the prospect of his enemies dying without him even taking any chances. Him managing to play things from behind the scenes and destroying his enemies gave him an unimaginable intoxicating sense of power and control.


    ''Dogs shit¡­ blame for your luck for being on my radar! I, Curtis, whoever crosses my path, will find nothing in his future but an abyss of suffering and regret¡­! Now¡­ repent in hell for your sins.''


    Although he was a Rank-2 magician, but, having chosen to advance a defensive spell instead of an offensive one had impacted his abilities by a great margin.


    At first, he chose to advance the wind barrier spell, to better protect himself, and have a strong defense. And that indeed happened. However, what he did not put in consideration was that if he did not advance an offensive spell, then his attacking power would only be that of a rank-1 magician! It was only later on did he understood how big of a mistake was that decision of his.


    Now, his offense was so weak, that he couldn''t actively participate in any tire-2 beast hunting missions, which ultimately led to his level stagnating.


    Also, this particularity made him unable to fight any warrior, or magician at the second level, or even assist against, as his wind barrier defensive spell could only be casted at himself and not on others.


    Anyway, his enemies were all going to perish here today, even if he didn''t lift a finger.


    That being said, if there was a chance for him to kill any of these people himself, then he wouldn''t mind. And even if he couldn''t, then it didn''t really matter. As the result would be the same, everyone here dying. So, even though his sneak attack on the hooded magician failed, it didn''t matter by much.


    Gritting his teeth to the point of making grinding sound, Ramie shifted his attention to the battle around him, and sent out his vine to help the warriors maintain the defensive perimeter.


    Although he knew that the wind magician was still there, lurking and waiting to find a chance to launch another attack. However, with his aura sensing ability, he could keep a part of his attention on that magician''s aura and monitor his location without even looking. Also, using his innate ability to sense ill intentions that targets him, he could still react and evade the next attack that magician throws at him.


    Although killing this magician was the best choice right now, however, the distance between them was beyond the range of his spells. Hence, and considering that leaving the formation was nothing less than asking for death, Ramie had no choice but swallow his anger and wait for an opportunity.


    The defensive formation was being pressurized to the point of collapse. It was obvious that the number advantage was too much for the compound warriors to deal with.


    Thud!


    Suddenly, and as the situation was progressing toward a certain defeat, a large bundle of spear bones fell from the sky, right in the center of the defense formation.


    "These are the inscribed weapons! Make use of them, now!"


    As everyone looked up at the sky, the dazzling flying figure of Nora could be seen above them.


    Hearing the words, immediately, everyone in the compound side was overjoyed.


    As they all rushed here in haste, most of them didn''t have the chance to bring the bone spears with them. As such, they were forced to fight with their hands. Now however¡­!


    In no time, Ramie untied the ropes and started distributing the inscribed spears to the warriors.


    Bzzzttt! Bzzzttt! Bzzzttt!


    Immediately, lightening sparks started flickering off the spears'' tips as the warriors activated the lightening inscriptions.


    The warriors of the prison were completely taken by surprise. They had no idea why these spears were flashing with electrical current. Most of them started thinking that these spears were taken from some special type of magical beasts.


    As for the prison magicians in the distance, and after hearing the flying woman''s words, some of them started realizing the situation. After all, magicians did acquire the artifacts information after leveling up for the first time. So, they had some knowledge regarding the inscriptions, albeit a superficial one.


    "Watch out!"


    "Stay away from these spears!"


    "Quickly, retreat!"


    Instantly, many shouts of warning bellowed from the magicians in the prison group, calling out for the warriors to avoid the danger.


    However, it was already too late¡­


    With bellies that were filled with blazing anger, the camp warriors stabbed at the enemy warriors with hatred. Many of their comrades had already fallen to these vicious enemies that had attacked them for no obvious reason. So, after getting the inscribed spears, they exploded with strength, and launched their counterattack.


    "Don''t hold back!"


    "Show then no mercy!"


    "Stab at their heads!"


    As the camp warriors attacked with complete savagery, shocking scenes broke out in the battlefield.


    Immediately, countless miserable cries rang out among the prison warriors, and blood splashed about.


    Aside from the paralyzing effects, the lightening inscription also adds a piercing effect to the spears. And even the life energy protection was not strong enough to withstand the magical weapons.


    "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"


    Having seen their fellow warriors die one after the other, the prison warrior soon realized the horror of these new weapons, and they started retreating in frenzied manner.


    On the same time, the warriors that were patrolling the other side of the compound arrived. And they were ready for the fight.


    Immediately, they brandished their bows, and started throwing their inscribed arrows at the enemy warriors.


    In no time, the battle tide was turned toward the compound warrior side favor.


    In front of the inscribed spears and arrows, the life energy defense was like a thin paper, shattering at contact, and allowing the camp side to nullify the numerical advantage of their enemies.


    ¡­

 Chapter 77: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (3)

    Chapter 77: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (3)


    After gaining the advantage in the fight, and breaking the siege, Ramie immediately shifted his attention on the wind magician. This guy was very ruthless, and it seemed that he was adamant on killing him. As such, Ramie wanted to take this chance to eliminate this threat.


    However, the moment the enemy warriors escaped, the wind magician fled away, to the group of prison magician.


    Seeing him retreat away, like a panicking rabbit, ramie had no choice but to put this matter on hold, as speed wasn''t really his fort, unlike the wind mage. Now, Ramie decided to move toward Kevin, to make use of ghost glare to change the tide.


    "DEREK! Stop toying around with him. Kill him quickly, and take care of the Lv.1 warriors. Also, look for the summoner! The moment we kill him, finishing off this beast will become much easier." Having seen the development at the battle, the prison leader issued his command.


    To the prison leader, the matter of everyone in the enemy camp below the second level wasn''t very important. In his thinking, the moment they kill the second level warriors and the summoned beast, this battle would end immediately.


    However, even if he didn''t place much importance on the enemy''s first level warriors, still, he didn''t want to lose too many warriors on his side.


    Hearing his father''s order, the towering Derek regained some of his self control, which helped him to break free from the blood thirsty state he was indulging in. Next, he gathered his fingers into a fist, and smashed at his short opponent, squashing him to the ground, like a fly.


    Quickly, he turned and swept the enemy magicians with piercing eyes, to look for the summoner.


    "This¡­!"


    ''WHAT! There is actually a magician like me here¡­!''


    Abruptly, Derek''s expression underwent drastic change, as his heart gave a jolt. Then, his complexion became grave, his blood thirst completely vanishing away.


    Next, without waiting a moment of hesitation, he spread his massive wings, and with three violent successive wing flaps, he shot up, soaring into the air, as he flew to create a distance.


    The sudden change was simply to sudden, attracting some attention over.


    The reason for his behavior was because he saw a hooded man emerging from the compound warriors group, and running toward him.


    To him, not even mid Lv.2 warrior was enough to install this kind of fear in him. However, the stat screen he got from this man, was more than enough to provoke his alarm, and induce a great sense of danger in his heat


    This magician¡­ was like him ¨C a special grade artifact holder!


    He himself was only peak Rank-1 magician. However, why was he strong enough to beat Lv.2 warrior to such a pathetic state? Why was he able to even fight a mid Lv.2 warrior to a standstill? Why was he able to fight low tier-2 beasts with only his bare hands?


    The answer to all of that was ¨C his special grade artifact!


    His artifact gave him the bloodline of an extremely vicious and strong type of beast, which had a connection to the dragon race. Although, the psychological issue of this bloodline was quite the problem, however, the advantages were great enough to make up the difference.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Anyway, by advancing his artifact to the forth level, he got very strong spells. The first spell was of the defensive type. Upon casting it, a thin membrane of energy surrounds his body, and protects him from damage. This spell was the reason why he wasn''t even scratched during his fight with the Lv.2 warrior. And why he was able to bully him to such a degree.


    As for the rest of the spells, one of them was enhanced strength, which had an effect that matches its name, while the other two were offensive spells; incineration bomb, which creates a globe of flame that releases a raging fire with high temperature for a short while, and piercing scales, which discharges scales from his body at very high speed, enough to even go through a wall.


    Having a special graded artifact himself, he had a very good idea on how terrifying the spells these artifacts can unlock. So, having seen that there was another magician like him here, he felt a gripping fear, from the depth of his heart.


    It wasn''t just the grade of the artifact alone, but also, the fact that this magician too was a bloodline bearer magician, like himself.


    Before, he was fighting while harboring the thought that no one here had the power to threaten him. Now however, things were very different.


    Even though he was seconds away from killing his opponent¡­ but he didn''t care.


    Immediately, he spread out his massive scaly wings, and soared into the sky with three successive wing flaps.


    He didn''t want to be anywhere nears that magician. As such, and giving that his greatest asset was not his close quarter combat, but the two powerful ranged spells instead, he decided to fight by using his advantage, in order to stay away from that bloodline magician.


    In his mind, the moment he kills the Lv.2 warriors, his group would then overrun the compound and kill this magician.


    He wanted others to bear the risk of fighting this bloodline magician, and test his spells. Then, and when they exhaust his magic energy, he''ll sweep in and deliver the killing blow.


    As the bowmen rushed to the scene, things immediately turned chaotic for the prison group, not only for the Lv.1 warriors, but also for the Lv.2 warriors.


    Now, most of the thrown arrows were made from the bones of tier-1 beasts. These types of arrows weren''t able to breach the life energy defense of all Lv.2 warriors. However, when it came to the arrows that were made of tier-2 beasts'' bones, and had lightning inscription on them¡­ these arrows were even enough to threaten the live of Lv.2 warriors.


    As such, and as one arrow pierced the calf of the warrior that was fighting Gregory, the rest on the prison camp finally realized the horrors of these arrows.


    Immediately, the mid lv.2 warrior that was fighting Brian and the low lv.2 warrior that was fighting Gregory retreated away.


    As for lance, he was nowhere in sight, apparently, he took the battle with his opponent deep into the compound.


    Right now, there were only two ongoing battles, the one with the azure gazelle king and the one with lance.


    By now, everyone in the prison group realized that finishing off their enemies in one full sweep was no longer a possibility.


    The sudden appearance of the electrified weapons completely destroyed their plan, and rendered their numerical advantage useless.


    Without these weapons, the battle was like a confrontation between large and small sized mob¡­ however, with these weapons addition, it had turned to a confrontation between almost armless and a well armed mob.


    However, no one in the prison camp seemed very anxious, at least as anxious as someone in their position should be. In fact some even casted the compound group with a pitying glances, as if feeling sorry for them.


    This made Ramie and the rest feel very uncomfortable.


    They could tell¡­ the enemy, still had a trump card that has yet to be revealed.


    As if confirming their bad premonition, the bloodline magician in the air issued a sinister, maniacal laugh, and his malevolent scaly face gave off vibes of madness. It was obvious that he was up to no good.


    Scanning the compound group bellow with vicious eyes, he licked his lips in manner of cruelty and tyranny.


    ''As long as I stay here in air, that bloodline magician below shouldn''t be able to cast any spell on me, otherwise, he''d have done by now¡­ I should focus on killing the strong warriors first, to break the power balance between them and our group. After that, our group''s warrior will take care of this magician¡­'' as Derek eyesight fell on Ramie, he thought to himself.


    Truth be told, he wasn''t sure if it was his own hunch or a warning from his bloodline, but he could feel the need to get as far from this mage as possible. Hence, he didn''t hesitate.


    Anyway, it wasn''t as though he absolutely had to confront this mage. All he had to do, is to finish off the enemy warriors¡­ afterward, the rest would bear the risk of confronting this mage.


    Making up his mind, he shifted his focus on the others.


    As Derek''s issued his blood thirsty laugh, some people in the prison group started shaking their heads. They had a very good idea of what kind of miserable fate was about to unfold on these people.


    Energy membrane!


    Casting his defensive spell, a thin layer of aura covered Derek''s body, from head to toes.


    Incineration bomb!


    Stretching out his right palm, a spark of crimson colored fire was ignited. Then, the spark started growing and turning into a raging globe of flame.


    At once, the group compound realized that something was off about the situation. It was apparent that this bloodline magician was planning on fighting them all by himself.


    "Be careful, he''s a special grade artifact holder!" Ramie immediately shouted, alarming the others.


    Bang!


    The moment his words fell, it was as if a clap of thunder crackled on every one''s mind. At once, all the hearts shuddered.


    The fact that Ramie''s ghost glare spell could even impact a mid tier-2 beast was still fresh in minds. So, they all realized that this magician was the real trump cards of the enemy. Now, the fact that he was intending on taking all on no longer seemed ridiculous.


    "Everyone! Attack this man at once! We mustn''t let him cast this spell of his." One of the warriors in the camp side roared furiously, jolting everyone awake from the shock.


    Immediately, lightning inscription lit up everywhere on the compound side. Inscribed arrows were all pointed at the flying magician. Then¡­!


    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Nine arrows that had lightning flickering around them tore through the air, while emitting a crackling sounds like that of sparks, all of them heading toward the flying magician.


    ¡­

 Chapter 78: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (4)

    Chapter 78: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (4)


    Nine lightening arrows streaked the distance toward the manically laughing Derek.


    However, not to speak of alarm, not even a speck of fluster was on his face. In fact, he spread his arms open, as if intending to welcome the arrows without even attempting to evade.


    Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! Clang!


    Colliding with his energy defense, countless sparks of lightning exploded, as the piercing effect of the arrows soared, directly attacking the thin energy membrane.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Exhausting all of the energy in the inscription, and unable to even advance a Cm, the arrows directly shattered to pieces, due to the violent collision.


    Everyone in the camp started wide-eyed at the sight. These arrows were not something that even the Lv.2 warriors with ignition percent up to 25% could handle, yet, not to mention inflicting damage, the arrows didn''t even bypass the this energy film!


    It was only now did they realize why Kevin was beaten up to such a sorry state.


    "Keep on attacking, don''t give him chance! Otherwise¡­ we''ll all be in trouble." someone in the compound side shouted. Following which, arrows and spears kept flying toward the bloodline magician. All the while, Nora was still bringing more and more weapons for the warriors.


    Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang!


    Arrows kept assaulting the energy defense of Derek, yet, the result was the same ¨C arrows shattering upon contact, while electricity spark crackling like fire crackers all over his torso.


    Ramie''s eyes gazed coldly at the sight. This magician really had it all. Impenetrable defense and ridiculously powerful offense¡­! Not to mention his ability to fly!


    He really got everything that Ramie lacked.


    Ramie wanted to cast his ghost glare, and conclude the fight; however¡­ this magician was flying beyond his rang. And even if Ramie stood right under him, the range would still be much more than 50 meter.


    ''There has to be something I can do¡­'' ramie''s mind reeled, trying to figure out something.


    If only the defensive spell of this magician was special grade, then it was fine for them, as his magic energy shouldn''t be limitless. However, if this fire globe in his hand was an offensive spell, and was also special graded, then, everyone here was in a deep trouble.


    If that magician launched a melee attack, then they''ll have a chance by overwhelming him with numbers. However, if he is to stay airborne, and bombard them with ranged spells, then they really won''t be able to do anything to him. And giving that not even their inscribed arrows work on him, they would really be forced to endure his assault until he consumes all of his magic energy.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    This was the tragic scenario.


    As his spell cast was over, reaching the size of an adult human head, Derek locked his gaze at the Kevin, who had suffered a broken leg, and was now being supported by two warriors, leading him to the rear of the formation, to treat his leg.


    A vicious killing intent flashed in Derek''s eyes, as he decreed in an extremely overbearing tone: "In this world, there is no one that I, want him dead, and he lives past that moment, no one!"


    Saying so, and amidst a wild laughter, Derek threw the flaming crimson globe down, toward Kevin.


    "KEVIN! WATCH OUT¡­!" Brian seethed with fury, as he circulated his life energy and shouted, while dashing toward Kevin, to intercept the attack.


    However, even though Brian was fast, but he had reacted only after seeing the streaking globe and estimating its direction. In doing so, he had wasted precious time.


    The raging globe cut the distance in almost no time, and struck Kevin, who was being supported by two warriors, taken the rear of the formation, thinking that he was safe.


    As the crimson fire touched him, it immediately exploded into a thick, symmetrical fire pillar, raising five meter in height, and releasing intense wave of heat. The fire pillar engulfed Kevin and the two warriors that were supporting him.


    "AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"


    Everyone''s eyes widened in shock and horror, and their mouths gaped open, while watching Kevin, frantically writhing about his body as he burned. His miserable, wretched wails caused the bodies of everyone in the compound side to shudder.


    The intense heat of the fire pillar forced Brian to halt his advance, not daring to step into it.


    The crimson fire pillar rage lasted no more than three seconds, before disappearing, and revealing three bodies on the ground.


    Kevin¡­ had all of his clothes burn, and fuse with his melted skin. There were many bubbles swallow and rapture continuously on skin, releasing pus from within. The moment the pus flows out, it immediately evaporates, with a sizzling sound of corrosion. Kevin was releasing moans and groans akin to whimpering animal. It was obvious that he was in unimaginable pain.


    As for the two warriors, both of them were reduced to charred corpses. They had died before they could even scream.


    Even though one of them had ignition percent above 90%, and the other 13%, they both died on the spot, all the same. Their life energy defense didn''t even protect them for a second.


    Right now, the two warrior''s corpses were in the process of disintegrating to ash, at a visible rate.


    Everyone started bewilderedly at Kevin, who was assuming a fetus posture on the ground.


    In the air, a sickening smell of cocked meat wafted everywhere, giving the onlookers a strong urge to vomit.


    Staring at the miserable state of Kevin, who had yet to reach the twenties of his age, Brian''s eyes were completely bloodshot.


    In the compound, Kevin had the best talent among the warriors. Every time he absorbs life energy from energy cores, it always increases his ignition percent by a high value, not wasting any energy in the absorption process.


    Now, it had to be said, not all of the warriors had the same aptitude for life energy. In the process of absorbing the energy from the beasts'' cores, there will always be a waste of energy.


    To the warriors, the less one wastes energy during the absorption process, the highest his talent is, and the better his breakthrough prospects are.


    Some warriors have bodies that barely absorb the energy from the cores. And some had to practically force their bodies to absorb it. On the other hand, some absorbs the energy within the cores like dry sponges absorb fresh water, without wasting much.


    Now, and following this logic, not all the peak lv.1 warriors could break through to the second level when absorbing one tier-2 core. Some, might need to absorb several, some needs tenths, while others even hundreds.


    So, Brian wanted to give the core to the warrior with the best chances of successfully advancing, so as not to waste the precious opportunity, hence, Brian chose Kevin.


    Also, he wanted to pick one of his own followers to strengthen, to consolidate his control over the compound.


    However, right then, Kevin''s mother displayed a strong and firm objection. She was a smart woman. She knew that once her son increases his strength, he would have partaken in dangerous missions, and risks his life more often.


    Thus, she refused this plan, insisting on her opinion.


    However, at the time, and to convince that woman, Brian had to make countless promises and oaths, to take care of Kevin, to keep him safe, away from the harm way.


    After that, he took him under his wing, and with time, he started genuinely caring for him, considering him like his younger brother.


    Now however, the shy, silent boy in his memory was reduced to such state¡­!


    Thinking of the mother''s reaction, Brian started breathing roughly as veins bulged up on his forehead, his face radiating with rage.


    Grinding his teeth to the point of making sounds, he raised his head, and shot a menacing glare toward the laughing magician, bellowing: "If you''re a man, then I dare you to come down here and fight me!"


    Derek however, did not respond to the provocative words, instead, he mocked, in overbearing words: "what a pathetic little dog! ¡­ Is that your grand plan? To beg your enemy¡­! Now, lower your head, like the good dog you are, and obediently accept you punishment!"


    Finishing his words, two crimson globes of raging flames ignited on his two hands.


    Immediately, on the compound side, every ones expression changed¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 79: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (5)

    Chapter 79: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (5)


    As the two fire globes reached their completion, Derek swung one of his hands, shooting down one fiery globe at the compound warriors bellow.


    "Evade¡­!" not forgetting the frightening sight few moment ago, one of the warriors cried out in alarm.


    Unfortunately, even though the warriors at the targeted site managed to avoid the descending globe, they were still caught in the fire pillar that raged after the spell struck the ground.


    Following which, the same scene repeated itself yet again.


    Even though the engulfed warriors concentrated all of their energy on the defense, and tried to charge out of the thick fire pillar¡­ however, they all still died the moment the berserker flame touched their bodies, not giving them the time to even take one step before turning them to charred corpses.


    Having seen four warriors from his group die so miserably, and so quickly, Brian was on the verge of going mad from rage: "YOU LOW LIFE!!! I DARE YOU TO ATTACK AGAIN!"


    "Hahaha. Challenge, accepted!" amidst wild laugher, Derek spoke in sarcastic tone.


    Following which, he waved his other hand, shooting the flaming globe downward.


    Upon seeing the direction that the globe was streaking toward, Brian was filled with so much unspeakable rage, that he almost gritted his teeth into a fine powder.


    The fiery globe was aiming at none other than the severely injured Kevin!


    With eyes that were almost spewing fire from the anger, Brian took out a small dagger, and standing beside Kevin, he stabbed the dagger in the ground.


    This dagger was one of the objects that were inscribed with the earth dome inscription.


    Immediately, the moment the inscription was activated, the ground rose from around, forming a dome shaped earth barrier in a moment, and covering both Brian and Kevin.


    Boom!


    The moment the globe touched the dome, it immediately exploded, forming a thick fiery pillar, and engulfing the dome.


    Crack! Crack! Crack!


    The dome lasted a moment, then, spider pattern cracks soon spread all over it, signifying its inability to withstand the raging flame.


    Shatter!


    The dome completely collapsed the next moment, causing the fire to engulf both Brian and Kevin.


    Whoosh!


    Like a shooting star, the miserable figure of Brian lunged out of the pillar.


    His clothes were charred and his hair burned. However, and aside from minor burns on his skin, he was fine.


    Apparently, his ignition percent that was above 25% was enough to shield him for the most part.


    At this point, Brian was no longer even glaring at the flying magician. Instead, he was looking the mass of black charcoal in his hand that was continuously disintegrating into ash.


    This was all what remained from Kevin!


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Being so severely injured, and with his exhausted life energy, he was left defenseless against the raging fire. Thus, he was obliterated the moment the fire touched him.


    Looking at the scattering ash, Brian trembled all over. He had no idea what to tell the mother when she asks him where her son is¡­


    There was no longer even a corpse!


    Brian fiercely raised his head, and roared like a madman. Then, he simply glared at the flaying magician that was grinning at him from above.


    "Glare all you want. Today, you''ll all pay for my brother''s life with yours. Hehehe¡­ I bet you wish that you could kill with that look of yours!" Derek said, while casting a condescending look at him.


    At this moment, Brian started losing hope in salvaging this situation. As things stood, there was no hope for them to turn things around.


    The enemy group was larger them. However, the inscribed weapons in their possession bridged the gap to a large extent. If the enemy group decided to attack them, then they would definitely suffer disastrous losses in the process. Hence, they unleashed their trump card.


    The attacking group had this bloodline magician as the strongest member. And with his advantages, he was in a position to weaken their group to the point that the attacking group could finish them off without incurring much loses.


    Taking that into consideration, for them to turn the table, there was no way other than neutralizing this bloodline magician.


    The enemy camp have their advantage¡­ however, it wasn''t as if they didn''t have a trump card of their own.


    Reaching this point in thought, Brian lowered his head, and then, he shot a subtle glance of plea at ramie that was standing among the warriors.


    The enemy has their bloodline magician; however¡­ the compound has a magician with special graded artifact of their own as well.


    Sensing the gaze, there was no way for ramie to not understand the meaning of it.


    Ramie frowned at that.


    Although, and truth be told, he did come up with a plan to salvage the situation here. However¡­ his plan involved him putting his life at a great risk.


    Thus, he didn''t want to use it, not unless he''s absolutely sure that there is no other way around.


    ''Even if this magician has a large magic energy pool¡­ In the end, a spell this destructive is bound to have a huge magic energy requirement. Thus, he could only cast it few times. And so far, he had casted it thrice¡­ Also, he had already casted his equally powerful defensive spell. So, this means that by now, his magic energy should be running low¡­''


    Shifting his gaze toward the flying magician, ramie concluded inwardly.


    Actually, his conclusion was very accurate. As Derek no longer had the magic energy required to cast incineration bomb again.


    However, still, this didn''t mean that their troubles were about to end¡­


    Aiming his two arms downward, Derek shouted¡­


    Piercing scales!


    Following which, the scales all over his two arms started vibrating intensely, then, four arrowhead- shaped scales were violently discharged from the two arms, and tore their path through the air like high-caliper sniper bullets, heading at the compound group bellow.


    Immediately, all the warriors circulated their life energy to its max, to withstand the assault. Several energy shields inscription flickered into existence, to defend the magicians.


    Bang! Bang!


    Argaaa!


    Two of the shooting scales were blocked with energy shields, while the other two struck two warriors.


    One warrior was hit on the head. However, and luckily for him, he had placed both of his hands atop his head. So, when the scale struck, it penetrated both of his hands before completely losing its momentum when reaching his head. Hence, he got out with only pierced hands.


    Of course, the fact that he was peak lv.1 warrior might be the reason.


    The second warrior on the other end wasn''t as lucky. The scale struck him at the base of his neck, and emerged from the other side, dealing him a killing blow.


    He had ignition percent that didn''t exceed 20%.


    As for the energy shields, both scattered into sparks after blocking the hits, which signified the alarming penetrative force these scales possess.


    The truth was¡­ even though Derek was no longer able to cast his incineration bomb spell. However, he still had another offensive spell, a one that has much less magic energy requirement.


    Having seen that two of his scales were blocked, Derek didn''t care at all, and instead, he laughed: "you''ve blocked two of them. However, don''t be so happy so soon. After all, there are more where they came from¡­! Hahaah¡­"


    Finishing his words, he casted again.


    Piercing scales!


    Piercing scales!


    Piercing scales!


    The shooting scales whizzed through the air like a stream of bullets, raining on the compound group with no end.


    At once, miserable cries of pain and fear filled the area, as one warrior fell after the other.


    Derek was completely ruthless in his attack. Whenever he sees a warrior that has been hit, he keeps shooting at him until he riddles his body with scales, and kill him.


    Lv.2 warriors were fine, as the scales weren''t powerful enough to penetrate their defense.


    Ramie, Neil, and Reem were surrounded by the ten warriors that had recently joined their team. Eight of them were protecting ramie and Reem, four for each, while the remaining two were protecting Neil.


    This has been the case ever since the beginning of the fight.


    After few more rounds of attacks, Derek finally stopped his assault.


    ''Finally¡­ his magic energy has been exhausted.''


    Ramie heaved a sigh of relief. If this bloodline magician had more magic energy, then the damage that he could have inflicted on the compound would have been really terrible.


    Looking over at the distance, where the battle between the azure gazelle king and the two opponents was still ongoing, ramie relaxed a bit upon seeing that the summoned beasts was still holding up.


    Since the bloodline magician no longer had the magic energy to shower them with his spells, and since that the Rank-2 earth magician and the lv.2 warrior were yet to successfully suppress the azure gazelle king, everyone in the compound side realized that unless the attacking group wanted to pay an extremely heavy price to annihilate them, this battle was very much over.


    "You have run out of magic energy, don''t you? Now, I dare you to come down and fight me, man to man, I DARE YOU!" Having suffered so much loses, Brian was not willing to see this mage just retreat away. He wanted to vent the violent hatred and fury that were eating at his heart.


    "Heheheh¡­ You think that this is it? How naive¡­! Let me tell you, I have come here for the sole purpose of razing this place down to the ground. So, today, and before the sun sets¡­ all of you lot will be history. Now, be obedient as the dogs you are, and willingly had over your lives!" seeing the unspeakable rage in Brian''s face, Derek threw more arrogant words at him, to aggravates him even further.


    Finishing his overbearing and tyrannical words, Derek took out a small glassy container from his trouser pocket. The container looked like a vial, and it held a blue colored liquid that had a bit of glue to it.


    Seeing this container, all the magician faces in the compound side paled, their hearts palpating with fear.


    "He actually has a magic energy recovery potion¡­!!! Then, could they possibly have¡­?'' Neil started wide eyed at the small vial.


    At once, a terrible realization dawned at every one''s hearts.


    ¡­

 Chapter 80: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (6)

    Chapter 80: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (6)


    The artifact information gave a brief introduction on several paths of magic, and their classes. And one of those classes; was the potion magician!


    This class was a branch of the scholar magic path, the same as Brent''s inscription class. It was a none-combat class. However, and unlike inscription magicians, potion magicians weren''t proficient at making inscriptions; instead, they use their specialized spells to concoct potions.


    They do that by extracting active substances from specific parts of magical beasts and magical plants and use them to make potions that mimics spells and sometimes pull off some feats that not even spells can do.


    If a potion magician can get access to the material he needs for concocting potions, then he can be even more frightening than inscription magician.


    As such, the sight of the magic recovery potion in the bloodline magician''s hand indicated that the attacking group had a scholar magician in their rank.


    No one had any doubts that this wasn''t a magic energy recovery potion, as according to the artifact''s information, the blue color was the standard color for this type of potions.


    This was beyond bad news for the compound side!


    Emptying the veil''s content in his mouth, Derek''s eyes gleamed with a faint blue light, as his magic energy started recovering at a fast rate.


    "Keep shooting out arrows at him, don''t give him the chance to fully recover his energy!" few panicking shouts ranged from the compound side.


    Following which, arrows that were flickering with lightning sparks streaked toward Derek, carrying the hopes of the panicking warriors to finish him off.


    Cling! Clang!


    Cling! Clang!


    Cling! Clang!


    However, the same spectacle repeated itself yet again.


    The arrows couldn''t even break through his thin energy membrane, not to mention inflicting damage on him.


    It wasn''t only the bowmen that attacked, but even Gregory threw some of his inscribed javelins at the bloodline magician. However, even that didn''t work.


    With this, Ramie''s hopes of this fight coming to an end were completely shattered.


    "It seems that I have no other choice but to do resort to that¡­ and bear the risk¡­!"


    The bloodline magician having a magic energy recovery potion meant that unless he''s taking down, the bombardment will continue, and more will fall. This would severely weakened them, and encourage the attacking group to launch another assault.


    Having made up his mind, Ramie''s eyes gleamed with a faint yellow light under the shadow of the hood.


    With his balaclava on, his face was completely concealed, so no one in the enemy camp aside from the flaying magician had any idea that he was bloodline magician.


    Ramie moved closer to Gregory, and he whispered few words to him¡­


    ...


    Right now, Brian was so frustrated, that he was grounding his teeth to the point of almost shattering them.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Today was like an endless nightmare. And the bloodline magician flying above was the reason behind it.


    In his entire lifetime, he had never suffered to this degree, nor had he hated anyone or anything this much. His heart was like a volcano, about to erupt, but couldn''t. His blood was like a highly pressurized magma that had no way to go.


    His breathing was unstable, and his veins were swelling so much that they looked like worms crawling under his skin. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and were staring without blinking at the flaying mage, as though there was nothing in this world but him.


    Right now, even the warriors that were next to Brian felt the pressure of his anger. His life energy was very unstable, to the point of causing a fluctuating air current to twirl around him.


    At the moment, Brian''s life goal was to catch that mage. And if he could achieve this, then, nothing else mattered in his life.


    This was how much he hated that magician!


    Unfortunately for him, as long as that magician stayed in the air, there was nothing he could do to him.


    As the situation descended to this point, Brian felt a sense of weakness and despair creeps to him¡­


    Even though he was the strongest warrior around, even though he was sure that he could severely injure or even kill this bloodline magician if he fought him in close quarter combat, but¡­ in the end, this magician was able to fly, and also had ranged attacks!


    These were things that life energy doesn''t grant to the warriors!


    Generally, warriors were stronger than magicians and faster. A warrior could thrash a magician to death if got close to him. However, on the other hand, magicians were capable of casting spells, something that warriors couldn''t.


    This point was precisely the reason why even despite that Brian was an entire level higher than Derek, he was still unable to do anything to him¡­ as to defeat an opponent, one has to get close to him first.


    Reaching this point, Brian could only hope that Ramie was going to do something. As right now, he was the only one in his mind that could alter this situation.


    ¡­


    Incineration bomb!


    Incineration bomb!


    Upon Derek''s cry, two flaming globes shoot down, creating two pillars of flame, and incineration 3 warriors to ash.


    ''This is the chance!'' as the two fire pillars raged about, Ramie spoke to Gregory is haste: "quickly, before he forms another globe of fire, do it, NOW!!"


    As his words fell, Gregory instantly grabbed ramie, and in a ridiculous and somewhat even comical sight, threw him up with all of his might!


    Like a dashing bird, Ramie was launched through the air, toward the flying magician.


    As simple and as ridiculous this plan was, this was the only way he could think of to get in range to cast his spells.


    Upon seeing the compound''s bloodline magician fly toward him in such comical way, Derek didn''t laugh, nor was he amused. Instead, a horrified look soon covered his face.


    ''He''s coming¡­!''


    Feeling an alarming sense of threat from this mage, Derek''s heart sank. He flapped his massive wings frantically, so as to widen the distance. He was very frightened of the prospect of this magician having powerful spell. So, his plan was to avoid getting close to this man at all times, and let the others bear the risks of killing him.


    This was precisely the reason why he flew to the sky and resorted to using ranged attacks in the first place. He didn''t want to give this man any chance to cast his spells on him.


    Derek''s eyes turned bloodshot, his weight was too heavy, and so, he knew that he wouldn''t be able to get away in time.


    "$%^&#* dog shit! You wanna kill me¡­! Dream on #$%^&*!"


    Feeling the severity of the situation, he roared with anger, before muttering some incoherent curses, and then aimed his two arms at the shooting man¡­


    Piercing scales!


    Piercing scales!


    Piercing scales!


    Following his cries, a dozen scales were shoot off his arms, and tore their way through the air, streaking toward Ramie.


    Feeling the intensifying killing intent, Ramie gritted his teeth, and activated his energy shield inscription, to block the incoming attacks.


    Ramie''s Ghost glare spell had a range of 50 meter, while the bloodline magician on the other hand was flying much further than that. So, and since this spell was the only thing ramie was sure that it could impact this magician, Ramie came up with this desperate move.


    His plan was that to have Gregory throw him at the bloodline magician, to get him into the range that enables him to cast his ghost glare spell at the mage, to stop his assault. Afterward, his group would capture this fellow, and use him as a bargaining chip to end this bloody fight.


    This plan was very dangerous to ramie himself, as it involved him directly approaching that mage. Thus, and to prevent this magician from using his incineration bomb on him, ramie waited till this mage finish casting his spell to attack.


    The reason ramie did so, was that because the process of forming this spell takes time, so ramie wanted to attack the moment the mage cast this spell of his, so that when ramie attack, the mage wouldn''t have the time to form another one.


    Now, speaking to this point, this left the other spell as threat to ramie ¨C the piercing scales spell, as shooting these scales was almost instantaneous, which meant that ramie had to survive several waves of attack first, before getting to cast his spell.


    Anyway, with the absence of any other choice, Ramie had to gamble.


    Whizzzzz!


    Activating his energy shield inscription, ramie placed the shield in front of him, to block the attacks.


    Shatter!


    As the first wave of four streaking scales collided with the shield, a powerful, sharp penetrative force was transmitted to the shield, causing it to vibrate with intensity. Unable to withstand the force, the energy shield fluctuated forcefully, and then it shattered, causing sparks of energy to scatter in all directions.


    The four scales shot right through him, like hot knives through fragile butter.


    Losing his only defense measure, ramie was left defenseless against the scale barrage. At least eight scales landed on him, three of which inflicted heavy damage.


    Being a magician, his body''s defense was nothing in front of the highly penetrative scales.


    One scale brushed his chest, inflicting long wound, and continued its way, hitting his foot, and emerging from the other side.


    The second scale struck his clavicle bone, shattering its way through his chest, where his lung should be.


    The third scale struck his chest, tore its way through his flesh, and emerged from his back.


    If he had lungs, then he had just lost the two of them.


    Another one hit him in the thigh, emerging from the shin, while shattering the kneecap and the other bones in its way. The rest fell on various places on his two arms.


    Cough! Splatter!


    Ramie coughed up a mouthful of blood, and with it, a mush of flesh. Obviously, the second and third strike gave him a severe injury. If he had normal physic, he should have turned to corpse by now.


    However, and instead of feeling fear for his life, Ramie smiled, revealing two rows of blood dyed teeth.


    Finally, he had gotten in range, while still alive.


    Just as his opponent was about to cast another wave of scales at him¡­


    Ramie injected magic energy into the artifact and roared: "Ghost glare¡­!"


    ¡­

 Chapter 81: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (7)

    Chapter 81: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (7)


    Seeing the compound''s bloodline mage fly toward him like a shooting arrow, right through his piercing attacks, Derek felt an electrifying sense of an impending doom piercing through his heart, causing his scalp to tingle with numbness. A dread that was like nothing else welled out inside him¡­


    However, and before he could do anything, he heard two words¡­


    "Ghost glare¡­!"


    The moment these words sounded out, the light in Derek''s frightened eyes immediately faded, and his pupils widened, becoming like two full moons.


    Whoosh!


    Ramie didn''t waste any time, and throw his vine toward the falling magician, and coiled it around him.


    Cough!


    Then, and coughing another mouthful of blood, ramie swung his vine, throwing the unconscious bloodline mage toward the compound side.


    "GREGORY! Quickly grab him¡­!" Ramie howled loudly, which caused more blood to splatter from his mouth. It was obvious that the third scale had dealt him some serious damage.


    ''This is not good¡­.'' Ramie thought in his heart. The bloodline mage''s towering body was very heavy, which forced ramie to exhaust a lot magic energy to throw him toward their side. Now, Ramie''s magic energy was down to 37 units, from the earlier 40, which meant that his ghost glare spell that costs 20 magic energy units to cast can now only be used once.


    Gregory dashed ahead, to receive the bloodline magician. "Eh?" However, and just as he took few steps, a figure lunged out violently from behind with unstoppable momentum, like a charging bull, causing him to be pushed to the side.


    "Let me see who will save you from me today¡­!" The figure had a savage face, his eyes exuding hatred and menace. Brian''s current complexion was like a long starved beast that had just spotted a fat prey. His anger had accumulated beyond what words could describe.


    Thud!


    The heavy figure of Derek crushed onto the ground, causing slight tremor.


    Not far ahead, Ramie was falling to the ground.


    His physic was average. Hence, a fall from such altitude was enough to endanger his life.


    He controlled his vine, and stretched it down, to receive the ground first, in order to absorb the momentum of the fall.


    Thud!


    Falling to the ground, four warriors dashed toward him with all of their might. They were precisely the new warriors in the group that were responsible for protecting him.


    A mage alone in the open ground was a very easy target for the spells of the enemy magicians. Hence, the four warriors acted with haste, not wasting anytime at all. In fact, as per Ramie''s instruction, the four of them charged out the moment ramie was thrown toward the mage.


    Using his vine to reduce the impact of the fall, Ramie received no critical damage from the descent. However, the scales injuries were still there, severely impacting his mobility.


    As the four warriors reached him, one of them picked him up and dashed back into the compound group. The other three warriors activated their energy shield inscriptions and blocked few offensive spells that were thrown over from the enemy magicians.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "This¡­!"


    "Impossible¡­!"


    "What is happening¡­? Did I see wrong¡­?"


    In the prison group, many gasps of shock and bewilderment sounded out in quick succession. The quick sequence of event started, developed, and then ended in a speed that left them no time to comprehend anything.


    At the outcome that was unfolding before their eyes, they were so shocked, that their eyes were practically popping out of their sockets.


    Derek was unstoppable war machine. He could even hold his own in a melee fight against Lv.2 warrior with life energy ignition higher than 25%!


    This made him undefeatable in their eyes. Truth be told, the moment he flew into the sky, and started shooting down his spells at the compound group, they pretty much considered it to be their victory. It wasn''t out of arrogance or blind faith in Derek''s power, but it was just¡­ that how strong he was.


    However, now, and with ease, he was actually captured!


    "MY SON¡­! MY SON¡­! Derek!!! Animals, let go of my son! Let him GO!"


    From the rear lines of prison group, a high pitch shriek of a woman split the air.


    From the prison group, the figure of a woman emerged; she was pushing her way through the magicians and warriors, running agitatedly toward the compound group. However, before she manages to get to the front of the prison group, the reverberating shout of the prison leader range out.


    "Brother! Don''t let her go! Have someone take her back to the prison, NOW¡­!"


    The prison leader had an expression that was just as shocked as the woman. He was engaged in a heated battle with the beast, to wear it out and exhaust it magic energy, so as to make killing it easier. However, he heard an urgent shout from one of his underlings, hence; he threw a look at the other side¡­


    However, the moment his eyes fell there, he saw his son crash onto the ground, and one of the enemy warriors charge at him, wanting to attack him.


    Usually, and with his son''s defensive spell, it shouldn''t have been much on him¡­


    However, and seeing that his son wasn''t moving at all, he was stupefied.


    His son was simply lying still, as the enemy warrior charged at him with great momentum...!


    "DEREK¡­! Stop messing around¡­! Just finish these nefarious things off¡­!"


    "¡­ ¡­"


    No response¡­ nothing!


    Upon seeing that his son wasn''t making any move at all, as though he was paralyzed, and the enemy warrior charging at him madly, the prison''s leader heart sank: ''This isn''t good¡­!'' Immediately, the earth giant let out a reverberating roar, a one that shook the entire area, causing the very air to vibrate.


    "STAY YOUR HANDS¡­!!!! IF YOU DARE HARM A SINGLE HAIR ON HIM, I WILL TOURTURE AND KILL EVERY SINGLE LIVING THING IN THIS COMPOUND!"


    Roaring out furiously, the prison''s leader expression inside the earth giant was especially fierce and daunting.


    However, and upon Reem''s order, the gazelle did not stop his lightning bombardment at the giant, actively obstructing his movements.


    After the prison leader roared, the other in the prison side shook awake from their trance, and started shouting out warnings and threats.


    "Let go of Master Derek! Or the ground here will shower with your blood today!"


    "You dare attack Master Derek!"


    "You despicable villains, you''ve already killed his brother, and now you''re go after him!"


    Having seen this sight, Ramie''s heart tensed. The enemy group was large and powerful enough to annihilate the entire compound, if they were to disregard the losses, and decide to fight them out to death. As such, ramie caught this magician to use him as a bargaining chip, to extract the compound people from a battle that he knew it wouldn''t end in their favor.


    This was the only way he could think of to end this current dilemma.


    However, Brian seemed to have something else in mind, as he exploded like a rampaging beast, disregarding the best interest of the compound people, and intending to kill the bargaining chip.


    Looking at Brian, Ramie wanted to shout in warning, however, seeing the overwhelming radiating madness in his eyes, Ramie instantly knew¡­ Brian had already made up his mind to kill, regardless of the cost. He had simply lost control.


    With Ramie''s remaining magic energy, he could only use his ghost glare spell one time. This one cast was a great essence to the compound, a trump card so to say, a one that he could use in a critical moment to impact the tide of the battle, to salvage the compound.


    He hoped that if Brian kills this mage, and things get to worst, this one cast would be sufficient to end the battle.


    After hearing the shouts from the enemy, and instead of cooling down, the fire of Brian''s mad fury and hatred were fueled even more. Then, releasing an animal-like howl, he charged like a crazed monster from the group, before violently circulating his life energy, and unleashing a frenzied barrage of punches at the bloodline magician, whom had just fell from the sky.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Like a frustrated boxer venting his anger on a punching back, Brian unleashed the devastating power of lv.2 warrior, as he smashed down at Derek with a barrage of full powered punches that were energized with his maximum output of life energy.


    Instantly, heavy, dull thuds sounded out, and small bursts of air bursted with every hit. Each punch carried a sharp killing intent and hatred that was like nothing else.


    Any single punch of them was enough to smash a peak lv.1 warrior into meat paste. Yet, and shockingly, even in his defenseless state, Derek''s chest didn''t cave in as expected¡­ all what the punches could do was to blast apart few scales and inflict none lethal damage to Derek''s chest.


    This caused Gregory who was rushing to stop Brian to freeze in shock.


    It wasn''t only Gregory, Ramie too; who had just been carried over, was stunned.


    Brian''s punches were the most powerful force anyone in the compound could output, as he was the strongest¡­ and if even that didn''t kill this mage in his defenseless state, then once the ghost glare spell wears off, there would be no stopping this bloodline magician anymore.


    Truth be told, Derek had used his defensive spell twice, in his fight with Kevin, and a second time to defend against the arrows¡­ hence, the compound side didn''t have clue of how strong Derek''s scale were, as no attack so far landed on them.


    At once, Ramie and Gregory abandoned the ''taking hostage'' strategy.


    With this mage defensive might, they wouldn''t be able to take him hostage anyway.


    Having seen that his attacks weren''t giving the result he was going for, and under the urgency of ramie''s spell wearing off, Brian shook awake from his fury, and he regained his senses.


    He realized that this manner of random attacks wasn''t sufficient to finish off this mage in time. Hence, he decided to go for the weak points.


    However, a moment afterward, and as if to confirm Gregory and ramie''s fear, Derek''s eyes snapped open¡­


    The ghost spell effect, had worn off!


    ¡­

 Chapter 82: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (8)

    Chapter 82: Ghost Tree vs Carnage Dragon (8)


    Derek''s eyes were completely bloodshot. His bloodline was overflowing him with throbbing blood thirst.


    A moment ago, he was flaying, and shooting down piercing scales at the bloodline magician. Now however, he found himself lying on the ground, serving as a punching bag for the one he had been ridiculing.


    He immediately sensed the injury on his chest, even without looking. In the end, even though his physical defense was quite abnormal, he was still Rank-1 magician. So, even if his opponents couldn''t kill him, a considerable damage was still inflicted on his body.


    He felt enraged!


    Now, it had to be said; aside from the four spells that he unlocked from the artifact. He had the blood sacrifice innate spells, which in turn allowed him to get the bloodline artifact that contained the bloodline essence of the carnage dragon, which perfectly suited his aptitude. This beast apparently belonged to the extreme evil alignment, which also matched his inner, most concealed character.


    His bloodline and his innate ability were perfectly synchronized, generating a synergistic effect. They gave him the ability to constantly increase his physical power and defense. The more he killed, and satisfied his bloodline urges of carnage, the stronger he becomes!


    The synergy of abilities allowed him to grow stronger over time, even without training, as long as he kept killing!


    This ability was completely monstrous!


    However, that didn''t mean that it had no limits or that his strength would increase infinitely. There were some restrictions. For example, his ability increases his strength significantly only when he kills strong opponents. Killing targets weaker than himself only gives him small boost.


    Morphologicalyy speaking; as he grew stronger, his body grows bigger!


    When he first got the artifact, he was 1.68 meter. However, and over time, his body grew to his current towering height.


    As for the psychological side, his bloodline made his mental state very instable.


    Also, after killing so many people and beasts, another drawback appeared.


    Every once awhile, he''d suffer from an extreme mood swings that makes him excessively blood thirsty, and pushes his anger to exploding point.


    To neutralize his emotions, he''d often abuse and beat up others to death over minor mistakes.


    Most of the times, a mere look at him, a loud laugh in his presence, or any other minor annoyance would provoke his bloodline''s wrath, leading to a sharp spike of temper, and threw him in a killing spree. This mental instability effect increased alongside his strength.


    After some test outs, he figured that he had to indulge himself in a mass killing spree every once a while, to neutralize his mood. The targets could be either humans or beats, but, humans were generally better. Unfortunately, he had already cleared the area around the prison of all the weak hordes of beasts, which left people.


    Actually, when he heard that his brother had been killed, and that the killers were found out, he was more exciting at the prospect of massacring the killers much more than feeling anger or grief for his brother.


    In a moment, the carnage dragon bloodline raged over the humiliation, leading Derek to descend into another episode of madness.


    A moment afterward, a killing intent that was so concentrated, that it almost was visible, flooded out of him.


    In no time, a tangible chilling wave of suppression swept all around, enveloping everyone in the compound side, and throwing them in a state of trepidation.


    Everyone''s eyes went wide with fear, even Brian felt dread that was like nothing he ever felt before stirs up in his heart, completely forcing his anger out of him.


    "YOU DARE INJURE ME!! I''LL KILL YOU ALL, I''LL SHOWER WITH YOUR BLOOD, I''LL BURN EVERYONE HERE TO DEATH, NONE OF YOU ANIMAL SHOULD DREAM OF LEAVING TODAY¡­!!!"Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Before Derek finishes his words, three attacks landed on his head!


    A whipping vine smacked at the back of his head¡­


    A destructive punch smashed at his face¡­


    A spear, cracking with lightning was thrusted at the back of head¡­


    Ramie, Brian, and Gregory attacked at the same time, wanting to finish off this abnormally ruthless opponent.


    They attacked the moment they saw him raise his hands with the scales pointing up.


    They knew that he was going to launch his scale spell again. Thus, they acted without hesitation.


    "You dare attack my son!!! Everyone, attack, annihilate these low lives, ATTACK, NOW!!!!"


    A reverberating howl of fury came from the prison leader.


    Following which, the towering body of earth giant abandoned his battle with the summoned beasts, and along with the rest, dashed toward the compound group.


    Boom!


    Just as the prison masses attacked, the gazelle charged at the earth giant and unleashed his area of attack spell, Lightning shockwave, twice, to force the masses away.


    As tire-2 beasts, all of the gazelles'' innate spells were of the second rank. Hence, the destructive effect of this large scale attack was not something the rank-2 warriors dare to receive, not the mention the others.


    At once, a shock wave comprised of intertwined electric arcs spread out, scattering away the entire prison group. The earth giant''s body was filed with cracks, with many pieces of rock falling off.


    Reem''s face immediately paled. This spell''s energy requirement was monstrous, and the gazelle could not use it again, for the fear of completely depleting his remaining energy reserve.


    She orders the gazelle to cast it to buy them some time to settle the bloodline mage.


    Receiving the three attacks, a thin energy membrane flickered around Derek''s body, just before the three attacks fall on him. Apparently, and out of pure instinct, he had already casted his defensive spell.


    The energy shield fluctuated, violently; however, it still didn''t shatter. On the same time, Derek swung his pair of wings around, to push the attackers away. Afterward, he released two spells of piercing scales at Brian and Gregory.


    Due to the close proximity, the scales accurately struck them both, causing them to grown in pain.


    However, and luckily, their life energy prevented the scales from penetrating their bodies, thus limiting the injures to the surface.


    Kill!


    Kill!


    Brian and Gregory disregarded the pain, and roared at the same time, while unleashing another round of attacks at the bloodline magician, to overwhelm and break his defensive spell with successive attacks.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Attacking from both sides, Brian and Gregory unleashed a frantic barrage of attacks at Derek''s body, wanting to kill him before the support arrives.


    On the same time, two slithering vines coiled around Derek''s wings and squeezed them together, to prevent him from escaping through the air.


    In a moment, Brian, Gregory and Derek sank into a savage, chaotic fight.


    Intense tremors of air exploded all over, as punches and kicks flew everywhere.


    Rage and ruthlessness filling his bloodshot eyes, Derek was swinging his hands frantically, sending relentless attacks at Brian.


    On the same time, from the front, Brian was furiously barraging Derek with full powered punches, energized with life energy, all concentrated on his head.


    From the back, Gregory was thrusting his spear at Derek''s upper back, neck and head none stop.


    Brian and Gregory were in a fight against time. They were struggling to kill this magician before the other side arrives.


    "STAY YOUR HANDS!!! LET HIM GO!!"


    Seeing the dangerous situation of his son, the prison leader roared out furiously. He could obviously see that his son has descended in state of madness, and even though he had instinctively casted his defensive spell, however, he was under siege and was receiving intensive attacks from two Lv.2 warriors. His defensive energy membrane was fluctuating intensely, at the verge of shattering.


    Kill!


    Kill!


    Seeing that the ruthless bloodline mage was still enduring the assault, Brian and Gregory grew frantic.


    They knew that if they didn''t manage to kill him now, then it was the end game for the entire compound inhabitants.


    Regaining some clarity in his eyes, Derek re-casted his defensive spell, and following which, the energy shield around him that was flickering at the verge of shattering immediately solidified, becoming firm.


    Witnessing the scene, Brian''s and Gregory''s faces fell¡­


    "Hehehe¡­ you lose. Today, let me see who can save you from¡­"


    Having seen the look of despair in their eyes, Derek grinned viciously at them, showing them his sharp teeth. However, before he could finish his sentence, his expression immediately turned blank, while his pupils dilated. The glow of light from his eyes completely disappeared¡­


    At this sight, Brian''s eyes regained confidence. At once, he shouted at Gregory: "quickly, throw me the spear!"


    Without any delay, Gregory complied, throwing the spear that was crackling with lightening toward Brian.


    Grabbing the spear shaft, Brian''s eyes gleamed: "little Kevin, consider this my apology for involving you in his mess."


    Circulating his life energy inside his body, invigorating power throbbed with intensity inside him, raising his muscles output to its max.


    "STAY YOUR HANDS! STAY YOUR HANDS!" The earth giant thundered: "IF YOU TOUCH HIM, I''LL SHOW YOU HELL!"


    Hearing the overbearing words of the man that had first attacked, Brian''s anger flared: "It was you lot who initiated this. NOW, open your filth eyes and watch, WATCH the consequences of your actions¡­!"


    Roaring with seething anger, Brian gathered all the power he could muster, and then, he outburst it all, thrusting the spear with all of his might at the blood magician''s exposed neck.


    "NOOOO!!!!!"


    The earth giant issued an earth shattering bellow, a one that caused the very air to tremble with fear.


    Derek had a black expression¡­ as if he was in a deep coma. As a direct result, his defensive spell had completely shattered, due to him completely losing his focus.


    He was completely defenseless. As such, he showed no reaction even as the thrust of death struck his neck.


    Squawk!


    With a sickening sound, the spear penetrated Derek''s neck, emerging from the other side, and blood gushed out, splashing, from both ends.


    The fresh blood sprayed Brian''s face, making him appear especially savage and menacing. He looked like a beast that had just feasted on his prey.


    "When you kill, you better prepare yourself to be killed." He uttered with ruthless expression.


    Suddenly, the chaotic area turned silent. And a sudden gust of cold wind blowed at the area, causing both the hearts and bodies of the present people to tremble. The sudden shift chilled the hearts.


    Thud, the towering body of Derek fell to the ground, lifelessly.


    Inside the earth giant, the prison''s leader expression alternated between extreme shock and fright for his son, he was struggling to accept the sight. His chest rose and fell so hard that it looked like it was going to burst: "You¡­ actually...! You actually¡­! My son¡­"


    Instantly, the prison''s leader face went pale, his mind was buzzing with waves and waves of extreme pain. He was at the verge of mental breakdown.


    His only remaining son¡­ was killed!


    It wasn''t only him, everyone in prison side stared with shock at the scene.


    The unbeatable and ruthless bloodline magician that not even the prison leader was able to defeat¡­ was killed, just like that!


    ¡­

 Chapter 83: Deciding to leave the compound

    Chapter 83: Deciding to leave the compound


    The prison leader was completely stupefied. The development ahead was beyond his imagination.


    This was supposed to be revenge mission, to punish his younger son''s killers¡­


    This was the reason why he brought his wife, even though she was scholar magician, and didn''t have much of combat abilities. He wanted her to watch the brutal execution of the killers, to derive some closure from it.


    In his mind, suffering some loses on his side was unavoidable. However, and considering the difference between his forces and the enemy''s, the casualties should be at minimum.


    In this revenge battle, he had considered two approaches.


    The first, was throwing his forces at the enemy in an all out attack, to completely eradicate them as quickly as possible.


    The second, was creating a stalemate, and surround the enemy forces, without going all out, a battle of attrition so to say. This way, he''d exhaust the enemy''s energy, thus allowing his son to pick off the enemy strongest warriors one by one.


    Using the first approach, he''d eradicate the enemy quickly, however, this way, he''d lose more men.


    Whilst with the second approach, the battle would last longer; however, the casualties would be much fewer among the prison forces.


    Considering the ups and downs, he went with the second choice.


    According to the prisons forces numbers and strength, they should have annihilated the compound group by now. However, two unexpected surprises popped up on the stage, completely overturning his conclusion.


    The first one was the scholar magician in the compound, which nullified the prison''s numerical advantage.


    The second ¨C was the presence of a special grade artifact holder among the compound group, which possessed spell capable of impacting even the undefeatable Derek, ultimately leading to his demise.


    Now, it had to be said, the prison leader didn''t even think of the notion that something could threaten Derek. In his mind, even if his son faces extremely powerful opponent, whether a beast or human, a one that he couldn''t triumph against, then, he could simply spread his wings and retreat away to safety.


    This was why in his mind, even if Derek took on the entire enemy group himself, he wouldn''t worry about him. After all, he had a special graded defensive spell, a one that could take immense damage without shattering.


    His son ¨C was unkillable! He was sure of that beyond the shadow of any doubt.


    Now however, he was staring at the lifeless corpse of his only remaining son, laying on the ground, in the enemy''s gathering.


    Feeling an unprecedented eruption of wrath and hatred exploding in his heart, he roared: "YOU ACTUALLY SEVERED MY BLOODLINE¡­! TODAY, I''ll shred you and spray your blood on the ground! Today, none of you worms shall escape¡­!" Afterward, the giant turned to the lv.2 warrior that fought the summoned beast with him, before pointing at the other lv.2 warrior:"You take him and go push the beasts away. Don''t try to kill him, just obstruct him for a minute. One minute, this all in need!"


    Shaking the ground with every step, the earth giant burst in motion, toward the compound group.


    However, just then, an unexpected thing happened¡­


    The prison warriors that were supposed to follow him and storm the enemy didn''t move. Instead, they were glued to their spots. Fear, anxiousness and hesitation clouded their faces.


    Seeing this sight, the earth giant stopped in his track: "YOU¡­!"


    Looking at them, the prison leader was speechless. He then roared: "You dare defy my orders¡­?"


    The prison group felt gripping fear from him, however, none of them answered. They simply averted their gazes away from him.


    Truth be told, the reason why they agreed to attack the compound was because they were afraid of the prison leader and his psychopath elder son. Also, the leader promised the warriors to give them life energy cores, and the magicians to give them the gemstones of the compound artifact holders.


    As for the main reason why they came¡­ it was because they had the advantage over the compound. And also, Derek was in their side.


    As the prison leader said, all they had to do was to exhaust the enemy''s energy and take out some of them if they saw an opening.


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    In other words, the risks were minimum, and the benefits were abundant. Hence, they gladly came.


    But now¡­ things have completely changed.


    For starters, the psychopath bloodline magician was now dead. This meant¡­ they had lost their heavy hitter.


    And now, the leader wanted to throw them into a life and death battle against a group that not even Derek was able to survive against!


    They weren''t stupid¡­ they knew that to take down a special grad artifact holder, another one of similar tier was needed.


    This meant that the situation has turned on them.


    Before, they were the one that had such rare figure. Now however¡­ they enemy was the one with that advantage!


    Having survived this far, none of these people was stupid¡­


    They could see that with Derek''s death, and with the presence of a special grade artifact holder in the enemy group, many of them wouldn''t leave this compound alive if they were to launch an attack now, especially not when their enemy has inscribed weapons.


    Truth be told, none of them was sad for Derek at all. In fact, most of them were elated to witness his pathetic demise. If anything, they now wanted to thank the compound group instead of fighting them.


    So, when the prison leader issued his order, none of them had the intention to comply.


    Why would they risk their lives for someone they hated?


    This battle was a losing cause. And they weren''t going to throw their lives away, not for that psychopath, and not when they had families and relatives to care of back in the prison.


    The prison leader scanned them with eyes that were spewing fire, his hatred and fury was over the roof. He wanted to threaten them with heavy consequences, to frighten them into complying.


    However¡­ in the end, he didn''t.


    He was and always has been a politician. Compromising when he''s at disadvantage, advancing or retreating according to the circumstances was his core philosophy.


    He wasn''t an implosive man, most of the time.


    It was just that his son''s death was completely outside the realm of his expectations.


    As such, when it happened right in front of him¡­ the sheer weight of the shock was too much for him to process. Hence, and in a rare occasion, he had lost his rationality for a moment, allowing his emotions to momentarily dictate his actions.


    Reevaluating the situation with an assertive look, the prison leader could see that among those that didn''t want to fight, was the mid lv.2 warrior that helped him in fighting the summoned beast, and the other lv.2 warrior.


    With such strong powerhouses refusing to attack, failure was guaranteed.


    Now, his first brother, Randall, was deep inside the compound, fighting a low lv.2 warrior, while his second brother was hurt. He was injured by an arrow.


    As for Curtis, the rank-2 wind magician¡­ there was no sign of him at all, anywhere.


    ''¡­ That damned bastard escaped¡­!''


    In fact, unbeknownst to everyone, Curtis had escaped the moment Derek was captured by the compound group.


    When ramie fell to the ground, Curtis was one of the magicians that had launched their spells at him. He wanted to make use of the moment to take his revenge. However, these attacks were blocked by four strong warriors.


    That was the moment that Curtis fled the scene.


    He was a cunning man in his nature. The moment ramie returned to the compound group, he knew that his wish of taking revenge was a goner. More ever, the fact that ramie was able to capture Derek frightened him a lot. He didn''t want to fight a special grade artifact holder.


    Between revenge and keeping his life, he preferred the latter much more.


    Reassessing the situation, the prison leader reined in his flaring emotion.


    Shifting his gaze back to the enemy group, he could see that the summoned beast had already returned to their side, and was now preparing to intercept his attack. The rest of the compound fighters were already gathered in a tightly closed formation. They were prepared to fight out his forces to death.


    The stark contrast between the two camps was quite obvious.


    His force''s morals have gone down the drain; they were in no shape to attack. While, on the other hand, the other side had resolved themselves to give their all, which wasn''t weird, given that they were literally fighting for their very lives.


    He himself was an earth magician. He had a rare grade artifact. His spells weren''t bad at all, especially the spell that he advanced, earth guardian. Unfortunately, even if he was to us the two remaining magic recover potions that his wife had made for him; he''d most likely still be unable to annihilate the enemy.


    Making up his mind, the prison leader spoke, in a husky voice: "Retreat¡­!"


    The prison group fighters'' faces lit up in delight.


    Even though they could have retreated on their own, without waiting for the leader''s order¡­ however, they didn''t do it.


    Truth be told, they were still afraid of him.


    Even though he was only rank-2 magician, like Curtis, however, the difference between the two was bigger than the gap between small domestic cat and vicious lion.


    For starters, the leader had rare grade spells, which were much more powerful than Curtis''s common grade spells. Second, he had magic energy recovery potions, that his wife, the potion mage, had made it for him.


    The leader could simply cast his earth guardian spell that had strong defense, and keep on throwing the rest of his spells at his opponent none-stop. The potions in his possession would enable him to fight in this manner for good while.


    In the first place, that was the reason why he could battle out the frightening summoned beast head on.


    This made fighting the leader an utter nightmare.


    For that reason, the prison group didn''t want to fall out with the leader; they just wanted him to act rationally. After all, his strength was the reason why the prison was so safe to begin with.


    "Carry the dead, we have to take them back with us, and give them a proper burial." The prison leader forced out through gritted teeth.


    Hearing these words coming from the leader, the prison group fighters let out a deep sigh of relief. Their fearsome leader has regained his self control.


    Truth be told, the prison leader didn''t say so out of concern¡­ he just did it to regain his influence over his forces.


    Turning his attention to the compound side, he roared: "BROTHER¡­! THE FIGHT IS OVER. COME BACK!"


    His brother was still fighting inside the compound. He didn''t want to retreat without him.


    "Darren! Darren! Come back! NOW¡­!!"


    The earth giant roared again, and waited for a while. However, there was still no response.


    At this point, the prison''s leader heart turned cold. ''No way¡­ Not my brother too¡­''


    "You damn animals! What have you done to my brother¡­? You didn''t only kill my two sons, but now you did something to my brother¡­!"


    "Bring him out this instance, or I''ll attack the houses and demolish them on the inhabitants¡­!"


    The intense hatred and the seething fury shrouding these words made everyone in compound side realize that if the warrior that was fighting Lance didn''t show up now, the earth mage would definitely carry out his threat.


    "You despicable piece of shit¡­! You''re the one that attacked and killed our people. Yet, you dare blame it on us, and make threats, acting as though you''re the one in the right."


    Brian couldn''t rein in his anger, and howled back. However, on the same time, he didn''t want to push things too far, hence, he signaled the compound warriors and magicians to carry their dead, and retreat to the back.


    Brian wanted to let the let the enemy carry their dead members that were sprawled near them.


    Also, Brian sent out two warriors to check on Lance and the enemy warrior. He could see that the enemy forces didn''t want to continue this fight. Hence, he didn''t want to give them any motive to do so.


    Not long afterward, the two warriors returned. They were carrying the enemy warrior.


    The handle of a bone knife could be seen protruding off his head. It was obvious that he was dead!


    Seeing the sight, the prison fighters'' were shocked¡­


    Another powerhouse has fallen.


    The prison leader gnashed his teeth so hard that they about to turn into fine powder.


    At this moment, a storm of emotions rocked the prison''s leader heart. This was the first time in his life that he suffers such disastrous loss.


    Casting one final glance at the compound gathering, his eyes shone with a dark sinister glow, as a bone-chilling, murderous intent erupted out from his heart. Then, and in a deep, ominous voice, the prison leader spoke: "Remember my words. A month from now, you''ll all wish that you had died here today, and didn''t live to suffer what is to come¡­!"


    "My two sons and my brother are no longer in the world of the living. But¡­ you all still alive¡­"


    "Let me tell you this ¨C Eat, drink, sleep¡­ enjoy your lives. Enjoy it. For what is coming for you, is something that you can never expect, or defend against¡­Hahahaha!"


    Half speaking, half shouting, in a husky voice, the prison leader threw his menacing words toward the compound gathering. Next, and with an echoing maniacal laugh, he and his forces left the compound, disappearing behind the compound wall.


    ¡­

 Chapter 84: Destruction of the prison and the compound (1)

    Chapter 84: Destruction of the prison and the compound (1)


    Seeing the enemy forces retreats outside the compound, ramie heaved a sigh of relief.


    After using his vines to restrict the bloodline mage, and casting his ghost glare spell at him again, his magic energy was almost thoroughly exhausted.


    Had the battle with the enemy continued after that, he''d be completely useless.


    Right now, there were only two warriors standing next to him from the four. As for the other two, he had sent them deep into the compound. His propose was for them to prepare the vehicles in case worse comes to worst.


    Luckily, killing the bloodline magician seems to have impacted the enemy''s moral by unforeseeable extent.


    They actually refused their leader''s orders, and didn''t attack.


    This was the best possible outcome for the current situation ¨C the enemy withdraws without a fight.


    For the moment, this was good thing, as there will be no further bloodshed.


    However, things were still unresolved¡­


    On the long run, and considering the intense tone of the enemy''s leader, and the pure hatred and menace contained in his last words, it was obvious that the situation was far from being resolved. There was a high chance that the enemy would follow up on this attack.


    More ever, the words of the enemy leader were quite baffling.


    He spoke of the compound killing his two sons. However, and upon recalling the events of the battle, Ramie couldn''t remember the enemy''s leader showing intense emotion for anyone else other than the bloodline mage, or his brother.


    Just when did they killed his son?


    Ramie did consider the possibility that ''killing his other son'' might be a mere pretext to launch this attack on the compound in order to steel their resources. However, and upon further thoughts, ramie didn''t feel much of confident in this possibility¡­ as the pure hatred that the man held couldn''t just be justified by seeking resources.


    It was obviously that there was some sort of deep animosity or death feud between that man and the compound inhabitants. Otherwise, why didn''t the enemy''s leader just use the power difference between his forces and the compound''s to force them to surrender, or to extort some of their resources, but instead, launch that vicious attack and massacred them first without attempting negotiation or making any demands.


    There was something very suspicious about the whole thing.


    Not to mention the appearance of the wind mage, the one that had ambushed them back at the borders with his brother.


    Anyway, the battle had just ended. Ramie decided to check on Lance and then go back to get some rest, in order to regain his magic energy. After all, there was no guarantee that the enemy wouldn''t make another move on them in this while. Hence, he wanted to be in his best condition as fast as possible.


    Supported by one of the warriors in his group, Ramie limped his way to where Lance was. The warrior that had brought the enemy''s lv.2 warrior''s corpse told everyone that lance wasn''t in good shape at all.


    The wounds ramie received from the bloodline mage had already been sealed, and no blood was coming out. Obviously, his monstrous vitality was showing its effect.


    Walking deep into the compound, ramie saw wreckage and devastation everywhere along the way. It was as if a disaster struck the place.


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    Apparently, the fight between the two lv.2 warriors was so intense that it had left trails of destruction along the path.


    Judging by the destruction, the two must have fought their way through many houses.


    Fences were either completely destroyed or had cracks and holes all over. It wasn''t only that. Some of the houses had entire portions of them collapsed to the ground.


    It was as if two powerful beasts stormed the place.


    Following the path of destruction, Ramie finally saw Lance sitting in a partially collapsed house, leaning on a cracked wall, and drinking water. There were two people beside him, checking his wounds.


    Seeing his condition, it seems that he hadn''t suffered any lethal injury. However, on the same time, he didn''t exactly walk out of this fight completely intact either...


    Lance''s face, was completely swollen, and was filled with skin bags. He looked as if he had just fought ten heavy weight champion boxers, all on the same time.


    There was nothing human about his face; his eyes were completely sunken between many skin swellings. He really looked like an alien.


    The exaggerated damage wasn''t limited to just his face, but it was extended to the rest of his body.


    "Are you all right?" Ramie asked.


    "Better¡­ than¡­ the other guy¡­" Rubbing his temple, Lance replied, with twisted lips. Ramie couldn''t tell if Lance was smiling or making some other expression.


    Ramie nodded to him:"if you can joke, then you''re fine."


    "What¡­ happened?" Lance asked.


    "The same thing that happened with the wind magician back at the borders¡­ after killing some, the rest fled."


    "By the way, I think we have still underestimated that wind''s mage determination to take revenge. He was among the enemy magicians, he even sneaked attacks me with a spell."


    Hearing these words, Lance''s expression turned grim, or not. It wasn''t obvious.


    "We should speed up or schedule to leave the compound. We have already done all we can for the people here. The rest should depend on themselves¡­ Anyway, even without us, they still have the ability to hunt low tier-2 beasts. So, raising more lv.2 warriors shouldn''t be too much of a problem for them."


    "Our dept to them for accepting us here in the compound should have already been paid, several times over by now. Anyhow, with that bloodline magicians'' death, that survivors'' group shouldn''t be able to pose a deadly threat to the compound anymore."


    Ramie spoke up his mind, and didn''t beat around the push. Truth be told, if traveling to the capital wasn''t so dangerous, he would have already went there by now.


    He had no idea on whether the military convoy that had evacuated the people from the camp back in the city had reached the capital safely, or if the powerful beasts that followed the convoy attacked them?


    His aunt was his only family; however, he had no idea on whether she was alive or dead. And if she was alive, then what was her situation in the capital?


    Why the warriors and magicians here fought their enemy so hard? The answer was obvious ¨C because they had their families here, along with them, and they were defending them.


    He however, was alone; his family was elsewhere, him staying here any longer than necessary was wasting time. For all he knew, his aunt might be in dire strait, alone, with no one to help her.


    Anyhow, the trip to the capital wasn''t dependent on just him. So, he didn''t want to act selfishly, and impose his will on others.


    This trip was riddled with dangers, and it involved risking life. Hence, those taking part in it had to make the decision themselves, and accept the risks.


    "I¡­ agree¡­" Lance answered without hesitation, which surprised ramie a bit.


    Lance was the righteous type. Ramie expected him to say something along the lines of ''we should help these people first, and help them resolve this matter with the other survivors group, before we think of going to the capital!''


    However, and contrary to ramie''s expectations, lance agreed immediately, without any hesitation.


    ''It seems that the heavy beating he took did a number on him¡­'' Ramie thought to himself.


    "Anyway, I''m going home to take some rest. This way, I''ll restore my magic energy and heal my wounds at a faster pace."


    Saying so, Ramie signaled the warrior to help him walk back home. His legs injuries weren''t light at all, and he didn''t want to put his weight on them, so as not to aggravate them, which would lead to increasing the time required for healing.


    With his bloodline vitality, he didn''t need any medical attention at all. Time alone was enough to heal such wounds.


    ¡­


    The compound loses in this battle in term of lives wasn''t light at all. Among the magicians, none died. However, among warriors, at least 34% of them were either dead, severely injured, or received a crippling injury.


    It wasn''t only that. The compound had actually lost Lv.2 warrior.


    This was even more impactful to the compound than the total loss of all the lv.1 warriors.


    As for the magicians; Nora, the bloodline mage ¨C she had escaped after the enemy''s mage went airborne. Apparently, she fled the scene because she was afraid the she''d be targeted by his ranged spells.


    She has yet to return, he whereabouts completely unknown.


    This battle has been a disaster to the compound.


    Worst, a death feud seem to have been knotted with the attacking group, even though no one knew why those people attacked in the first place, and why they were so vicious and decisive in their intents to kill.


    The inconceivable intensity of hatred and malevolence in the enemy''s leader tone suggested further complications in the future.


    Standing at the compound''s outer wall, and staring at the direction the enemy group escaped to, Brian had an expression that was darker than the night.


    Things were already hard on them here, living under the possibility that a strong beast or a horde of beasts might attack at any moment. Yet, now, and for no apparent reason at all, a deep animosity had taken root between them and an even stronger survivors group.


    The other group was the one that initiated the attack; they were the one that had killed his people first. However, it didn''t matter if the other group was the one in the wrong, it didn''t matter at all. The important thing was; the compound now had a very strong enemy.


    Thinking up to this point, Brian''s expression turned helpless.


    Turning his head, he saw a woman at the site of the battle. This woman was throwing shoes and small stones at every warrior and magician she sees in battle site.


    She was in a hysterical state, hitting and cursing at everyone, accusing them of killing her son.


    This woman was precisely Kevin''s mother.


    Looking at her, Brian grinded his teeth to the point of making sounds, his fists clenched and loosened several times. He wanted to summon the courage to go and confront her. However, in the end, he couldn''t¡­


    ''That nefarious monster¡­! I shouldn''t have handed his corpse over¡­! I should have skewed him on fire and fed him to the beasts¡­!''


    Remembering the maniacal laugh of the flying bloodline mage, Brian gritted his teeth, as his eyes turned bloodshot.


    ¡­

 Chapter 85: Destruction of the prison and the compound (2)

    Chapter 85: Destruction of the prison and the compound (2)


    The prison, the leader''s office¡­


    The leader was sitting on the ground, leaning on the wall behind him. His hair was disheveled, and his complexion terrible to behold. Dirt and stains of clay were all over his clothe.


    In the middle of the office, on a long table, rested Derek''s corpse¡­


    The leader''s eyes were glued at the table. Mixed expressions of daze, shock, sorrow, agony and hatred were alternating on his face without end.


    He was repeating the scenes of the battle in his mind over and over again, questioning on why he failed to consider the possibility of the enemy having scholar magician and special grade artifact holder in their ranks.


    He went to the compound to carry out a death sentence on the inhabitants, he was intending to kill every single warrior and magician in that place, to sooth his and his wife''s sorrow and sadness.


    However, in the end, things spiraled out of his control, reaching a conclusion that was far beyond the realm of his expectations.


    Now, both of his sons were dead, while the killers are alive and kicking.


    "It''s all because of that damn artifact of his¡­ if he could only¡­ could only have advanced to the second rank, then¡­ those filth wouldn''t have been able to kill him no matter what they did¡­" with a bloodshot eyes, the prison leader spat out with intense hatred.


    For a magician to advance to the second rank, first; he had to advance his artifact to the forth level, and rise the advancement percent to 100%.


    Once that is done, and the magician gets a hold of tier-2 core from a magical beast, the artifact would then unlock the rank advancement option. And the magician would get a chance to advance to the second rank.


    However, in his son''s case, even after he raised the percent to 100% and got a hold of tier-2 magical core, nothing happened¡­!


    No matter what his son did, the damn option just wouldn''t show up.


    As a result, the leader used the core on himself and advanced to the second rank.


    Afterward, and to solve Derek''s advancement problem, he thought of killing Curtis, and take his gemstone. Maybe Derek''s artifact was so special, that it can only advance the rank using gemstones.


    However, and before he could find an excuse to kill Curtis, one of the bloodline magicians in the prison reached the rank advancement conditions, yet, his artifact too didn''t display the advancement option.


    After that, and to confirm that matter, the prison leader helped another bloodline magician to reach the rank advancement threshold.


    The result was still the same.


    This meant that those who got the bloodline type artifact wouldn''t be able to advance beyond the first rank. It was either that, or there was some sort of hidden condition to be met, to allow the advancement.


    The arrival of the first update confirmed that the artifacts weren''t perfect. This meant that with time, the full advancement conditions for the bloodline type artifacts might be revealed.


    However, and till then, he intended to have his son make full use of his bloodline advantage against other rank-1 magicians. Hence, he brought him to this battle with him.


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    However, in the end¡­


    To make matters worse, the warriors and magicians in the prison were completely subdued by fear, due to the enemy''s lightning weapons and the tentacle magician.


    There was no chance of another attack.


    Right now, the only thing that was holding the prison leader from going full ballistic, and descend into a state of rampage, was his grandson, Derek''s son.


    As time went on, the prison''s leader expression stilled¡­ he had reached a decision.


    He looked at the still corpse on the table. Then, in a hoarse voice, he spoke: "Derek¡­ Your father has done you injustice. I shouldn''t have let you go against the enemy by yourself¡­" saying so, a look of savagery flickered across his eyes. "However, rest assured¡­ Before I bury you in the ground, I''ll bury the compound bastards first¡­!"


    Finishing his words, the leader shouted, in a booming voice: "Clark! Bring Curtis over¡­"


    Outside the office, standing at the corner of the corridor, the man named Clark shuddered like a weak leaf in a turbulent wind.


    For the past two days, and ever since they returned from the battle, the leader''s temper has been like a flaming torch. Everyone was terrified of him, and none one wanted to get anywhere near him.


    Truth be told, if the outside world wasn''t as dangerous, Clark was sure that most of the people here would have fled away, and sought refuge elsewhere. In fact, if they hadn''t formed a death feud with the compound people, they would have escaped there and begged for forgiveness and acceptance.


    Unfortunately, that was no longer a viable option.


    More ever, aside from the compound, there was no other human gathering, so, basically, they were stuck here with the leader.


    Hearing the leader''s roar, Clark''s face instantly went pale: "YES¡­ YES LEADEER¡­!"


    ''Curtis, You poor bastard¡­ just what kind of misfortune would befall you today¡­'' Harboring these kinds of thoughts, Clark dashed away, like a scurrying animal, to fetch Curtis.


    Not long afterward¡­


    "What¡­! Did you hear wrong¡­? Are you sure he wanted me, and not someone else?"


    Curtis''s face was ashen. What he didn''t want the most has come to be.


    Although, in the battle, he had fled away¡­ however, given that the others refused to fight, this action of his was greatly overshadowed.


    Also, and although the leader was known for being excessively merciless, but he wasn''t completely unreasonable¡­ Hence, and since that the option to leave the prison to the outside world without having rank-2 offensive spell was basically a suicide, Curtis gritted his teeth and decide to stay and see how things go.


    Truth be told, the outside world was filled with beasts. The time he spent there was basically a struggle at the edge of death. It was a slow death process.


    When his brother was alive, he didn''t suffer as much. As even though his brother was only rank-1 magician, however, he had a very powerful offensive spells, they could even injure tier-2 beast. But, after the battle at the borders, things completely changed.


    Anyway, Curtis pretty much preferred to try his chances with the furious leader than outside with the beasts.


    Clenching his hands tightly, and with an aghast face, Curtis walked past Clark, who had the ''I''m glad am not in your shoe'' kind of look, moving toward the leader''s office.


    ''He''s not going to kill me, right¡­?''


    The leader was a tyrant, but he wasn''t stupid. If he started killing those that backed off from the battle, then there was a high chance that the others might assemble together and revolt, launching retaliation against him, his brother, and his wife.


    After all, the number of casualties the prison suffered in the compound wasn''t light, and the dead fighter''s relatives had a grudge against him for leading their loved ones to death for his own proposes.


    Also, and now that the biggest pillar that consolidated his authority, his son Derek, had died¡­ the leader wouldn''t dare attempt such a stupid move¡­ would he¡­?


    Harboring such thoughts, Curtis made his way to the leader''s office with heavy steps.


    Pushing the door open, Curtis''s heart almost leapt to his throat, and his face was drained from color.


    The curtains inside the office were all down, making the office very dim lighted. The place was brimming with excessive blood thirst, grimness, and a powerful stench of death.


    The frightening atmosphere inside made Curtis feel as though he was about to walk into a dungeon and not an office.


    In the middle of the office, laid the corpse of Derek¡­ Next to him, stood the leader¡­


    It has been two days since the battle in the compound; yet, the usual stench of corpses was still to reek. Maybe the decomposition process has yet to begin, or maybe it has, but, the decay has yet to reach the stage of emitting stench.


    The leader was standing straight, his expression normal, however¡­ the look in his eyes was something else¡­


    Inside the dim lighted room, the leader''s eyes were like two still lakes, appearing peaceful. However, and upon closer look, one could see that they were glowing with demonic, ice aura.


    The apparent calmness of the leader was masking immeasurable ruthlessness and malevolence. This made him look like a demon in human skin.


    Curtis''s heart started throbbing violently, like a war drum. He preferred the leader to act in explosive temper, to go crazy with anger, to smash things about, to throw curses, to throw some punches at him¡­ anything other than this frightening calmness.


    In one of the dark corners of the office, a subtle presence was lurking about, observing the situation.


    This faint aura gave Curtis some reassurance.


    Someone was watching the developments here. If the leader was to make the wrong move, the others would unite and launch an all out offense on the leader and his remaining family.


    Swallowing his witless fear with much difficulty, Curtis forced his weak legs to carry him inside the office.


    His breathing was ragged to the point of producing buffs of turbid air with every exhale. Even though he himself was ruthless person, however, the leader''s ability to stay calm in such critical time made him fear the man even more.


    Seeing Curtis walks in, the leader''s lip edge rose to form a smile that didn''t look like smile:"Curtis¡­ oh Curtis, oh Curtis¡­ you are really smart, you know."


    "Escaping at that particular moment shows that you are very assertive and decisive person, you are quite the capable man. You know, I wish I had several individuals like you here¡­"


    "Anyway, now that our campaign had failed on the compound, the remaining survivors would impose a great danger to us. On the short run, they won''t do a thing, and they will spend the time in getting more cores and increasing their strength. This however, will be a great danger on us, in the long run. Hence, measures must be taken."


    Saying so, the subtle light in the leader''s eyes intensified, and his smile widened, as he looked directly at Curtis.


    At once, the surrounding temperature went down by an obvious margin.


    Without knowing why, Curtis''s heart sank, as a bad premonition shrouded his soul.


    He felt that the next words leaving the leader''s mouth would spill a disaster.


    ¡­

 Chapter 86: Destruction of the prison and the compound (3)

    Chapter 86: Destruction of the prison and the compound (3)


    Sweeping Curtis with his deep gaze, the prison leader smiled.


    "It has come to my knowledge that aside from the wind hurricane movement spell that you have created yourself, you actually improvised another one, right?"


    Curtis was taken by the question; he had no idea where the leader was going with this. However, in the end, he could only nod, weakly, in conformation. After all, he had indeed come up with a new spell, after a sudden insight. He was the one that spread the news of this spell, to increase his worth in the compound, in hope that the leader grants him magical cores, so that he can further advance his artifact, and choose to upgrade an offensive spell this time, to make up for his pathetic offensive means. Since he spread it, it was known by all, so, there was no point in denying.


    Hearing the conformation, the leader''s smile deepened, making him look like a devil that had just successfully entrapped his prey.


    "I heard that you got the insight for this one from your defensive spell, wind barrier. I also heard that to cast this spell, you use your innate spell to manipulate the wind to form a thin isolating air barrier around you, to isolate all sounds. And from your own words, you said that this spell could even block your smell from leaking, thus hiding you from the sharp sense of smell that beasts have."


    Hearing the leader speak in such tone, Curtis''s hair stood on end. He still had no idea what the leader was going for, but he knew that it wasn''t good thing, wasn''t good thing at all¡­


    "Curtis, since everyone knows, I trust that you too must have heard about the hive, you know, the ones located few kilometers to the north of the prison."


    "Our first encounter with them ended up disastrously, primarily due to their sharp senses of smell, which allowed them to follow the attacking unit no matter where they escaped, up until they eradicate them. These beasts really have an otherworldly concept of territory¡­"


    "You see Curtis, as long as the compound bastards still alive, we''ll definitely suffer greatly in the future. The way I see it¡­ before we finish off those bastards, we''ll never be completely safe. As such, we have to make a move on them. And we have to take them down all in one go, this time." saying these words, a look of craziness flashed by the leaders face¡­


    After hearing these words, and noticing the look, Curtis, who was very tense and frightened¡­ actually relaxed.


    In his heart, he laughed in a delight: ''Phew¡­ stupid old man. You really gave me the fright of my life¡­ To have that kind of viciousness in your eyes and to speak in such mysterious and terrifying tone¡­ you really had me worry for a second there¡­"


    The fear and nervousness in Curtis''s heart vanished away, cunning thoughts started circling his mind: ''it seems that you haven''t let go at all¡­ in the end, this obsession of yours to kill the compound bastards will be your doom¡­!''


    Truth be told, this meeting between the leader and Curtis was being monitored by one of the magicians in the prison. In turn, that man was conveying the content to the others.


    Everyone in the prison feared the leader, and didn''t want to go up against him. However, if he was to insist on his quest to take revenge on the compound people, and forces them to fight those people out to death¡­ then, there''d be no choice for them but to go against him, and try to take him down and his brother.


    The compound people were much stronger than they thought them to be¡­ more ever, they had magical weapons and special grade artifact holder on their side.


    In the end, even if they had the numerical advantage, so what¡­ the compound side had better advantage than they did.


    No one in the prison side wanted to fight those people again. The world was already dangerous enough for them as it is.


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    At first, they accepted to launch an attack because they thought that the compound people would go down with ease. However, since they prove to be tough bone to chew, the prison fighters changed their mind.


    As such, every warrior and magician in the prison had his attention on this meeting.


    They were propping the leader''s intentions.


    If he lets go of his quest of revenge, or at lease doesn''t involve them in it, then, things would be fine, again.


    However, if he insists on dragging them into another tragic fight with nothing to gain, then¡­ they''d have no choice but to act against him¡­ even though they hated the idea of fighting such powerful man.


    This was the reason why Curtis was so delighted right now.


    The leader''s obsession with revenge will force the others to take extreme measures against him. Hence, there would be no reason for Curtis to fear the leader punishing him for his unsightly escape.


    The slight ripple that came from the shadow hiding in the leader''s office corner spiked Curtis''s delight even further: ''It seems that the others have decided to act¡­ Shitty old man, prepare to face death¡­"


    The leader''s expression remained the same, unchanged.


    "hehe. Why are you acting so calm¡­? Could it be that you''re so far gone in your anger that you can''t even notice the scheme tailored for you¡­?''


    On the other side, the leader maintained a still face, seemingly oblivious to the minor change in mood.


    He appeared as though he was completely aware of everything happening around him. Showing an expression that says ''everything is progressing the way I want it to¡­''


    Suddenly, the flashing craziness I the leader''s eyes vanished like smoke: "Curtis, truth be told. I think that no one in the prison is capable of handling the compound bastards¡­ hence; I''ve decided to end the matter here¡­ From now on, there will be no attacking the compound. They have too many advantages to my liking. As such, throwing ourselves at them would only lead to mutual destruction¡­ which is something stupid to do¡­"


    "There is really nothing we can do against those bastards¡­ that''s what I honestly believe in¡­ I have lost hope of ever eradicating this problem¡­ it seems to me, that letting them grow in power and launch an attack on us is all what we can do¡­"


    Hearing these words, Curtis suddenly felt cold in his heart, unexpectedly at a loss of words. His eyes widening in shock, he missed a breath, and just stood there, stunned.


    The sudden shift in the leader''s tone was out of the blue¡­


    Just when the shadow hiding in the far corner grew restless, just when others were about to launch an all out attack at the leader, just when his fate was almost set in stone¡­ he actually changed his stand 180 degree, in but a moment¡­


    It wasn''t only Curtis who was in trance, but the hiding shadow and others in the prison too.


    The leader''s eyes flashed with an ominous glow, as he casted Curtis a look of pity at Curtis, as though he was looking at a bug that was about to be stomped on.


    "I had really thought that our situation was hopeless¡­ that''s until of course I heard about your splendid new created spell¡­"


    "As you know, the bugs are so united, that if any of them is killed, these beasts would follow the killer and launch relentless attacks on him up until his death. Their sense of smell is so sharp that it can allow them to follow a target up to very long distances."


    "¡­ Now, Curtis, remember¡­ we have accepted you here. We have provided you with safety¡­ we have shared our very food with you, even though we didn''t have to."


    "Ever since I accepted you here, I knew that someday, you''ll show your worth¡­ that you will make a massive contribution for the prison residents¡­ now, and luckily, the time has come¡­ using that magnificent innovative spell of yours, you''re the only one that can finish this matter between us and the compound, once and for all."


    "Actually, all these bugs have is their sense of smell. All of their other senses are dull, almost none existent. So¡­ if you were to use that spells of yours to draw a target mark at the compound, that would great and it''d solve our dilemma."


    Bang!


    Hearing these words, and understanding the implication behind them, Curtis''s face became soulless, like a ghost. These words fell on him like a crackle of thunder, clapping next to his ears.


    "This¡­"


    "¡­ You''re isolating me from the rest¡­you bastard; this has been your plan all along¡­!"


    Curtis''s heart was thumbing so hard, it was about to explode. In actuality, and for the past two days, he was the one enticing and pushing the others to make a move at the leader, stirring them up to make use of the leader''s unstable emotions and shock to finish him off.


    The shadow lurking in the dark corner of the office was the contact channel. His job was to confirm the leader''s decision, and give the signal for the attack.


    Up until the leaders last shift of mind, things were going his way, everyone was preparing to storm this place and put an end to the leader.


    However, just now, the leader gave the others the decision they wanted to hear. [There will be no attacking the compound, you are all safe.]


    By saying so, he eliminated the reason for their attack.


    Although this was merely his word, however, and judging by the fact that no one was storming this place, it was apparent that the others had accepted the leader''s gesture.


    Actually, in the first place, the prison fighters had a very thin will to attack a strong individual such as the leader. Hence, his confirmation alone was apparently enough to diffuse their will to attack.


    Curtiss heart grew cold¡­ the rug has been pulled from under him.


    The leader''s anger for losing his second son was beyond words. However, he was now using him to both come into terms with his forces, and to give a vent to his anger at the compound, and on him for being the first one to escape the fight.


    In other words, the leader was telling the others that he will no longer force them to fight the compound. However, he was going to use him, Curtis, to deliver a deadly blow to the compound, to settle things for the prison as a whole.


    Just like that, the leader regained his control, and turned things around.


    Truth be told, the leader has been staying here in the office the whole time. So, he had no idea on what was going on outside. However, in the end, he was a Politian.


    His very job was to trick others, to sell them empty words, and make them feel gratitude for him for doing so.


    Right from the moment he called in Curtis, and noticed the shadow lurking in the corner, he had already pieced things together.


    Truth be told, he knew that Curtis would most likely fail in luring the bugs into the compound, and die a miserable death. However, he did so to give a vent to his accumulated anger.


    If he can''t rail up the others to launch an attack, then he might as well use Curtis, the one who was scheming against him to blow some steam off, to calm his emotions.


    ¡­

 Chapter 87: Destruction of the prison and the compound (4)

    Chapter 87: Destruction of the prison and the compound (4)


    Creak!


    The office door was pushed open, and few warriors and magicians walked in.


    On their faces, there were looks of confusion, uncertainty, and doubt.


    The leading warrior, who was the lv.2 warrior that had refused to follow the attack order back in the compound, opened his mouth, trying to say something, however, and before he manages so, the leader spoke first: "Marlon, before you say anything, let me speak first¡­"


    The leader then let out a deep say, before continuing: "You were absolutely right by refusing to follow my order back then. According to the development of events in that battle, I should have been the first one to realize the severity of our situation, and order a complete withdraw¡­ sigh, if you had only disobeyed me earlier on¡­. Then, my son would have been alive by now¡­"


    The leader spoke in a reminiscing, sorrowful voice¡­ there was not a tinge of grudge or hatred in his tone, or his expression. One, could easily sense that the leader didn''t hold them any responsibility for anything, at all.


    The group stared at the leader with shock, they had never seen him act this humble before¡­ slowly, their defenses were all lowered, and their intentions to fight him out to death wavered to the point of vanishing¡­


    "You idiots, he''s just lying at you¡­! He''s as cunning as snake; don''t believe anything that comes out of his mouth! He''s just trying to separate us and finishes us off one at a time¡­!"


    Curtis, who was breathing raggedly, shouted out in panic.


    ''If those idiots lost their resolve¡­ then I''m doomed for sure¡­!''


    Everyone in the group started looking at each other, to see what the others were thinking. Hesitation filled their faces.


    Truth be told, even though they knew that the leader was the cunning type, and that there was a good chance that these words of his were a maneuver, to turn the table to his favor¡­ however, in the end, they really didn''t want to fall out and engage in a fight to the death scenario against him¡­


    The moment they agreed on uniting against the leader, they all made a pact that whoever survives the confrontation, would have to take responsibility for the families of those that falls in the fight.


    However, and truth be told, this was only a verbal agreement, with no way to enforce it whatsoever¡­ as such; everyone hoped that things doesn''t escalate to that point. No one here was really willing to trust his family to others.


    Hence, when the leader said that he''d let go of the matter, that he''d no longer force them to fight the compound people¡­ their already wavering will to fight him scattered in but a moment.


    Seeing things spiral out of the devised plan, Curtis''s countenance became deathly pale. This was literally the worst case scenario coming to pass.


    In actuality, he didn''t really blame these people for their choice. If he was in their shoe, he would have made the exact same choice in a heartbeat.


    Unfortunately, the leader has already singled him out for the retaliation against the compound¡­ there was no way for him out from this dilemma.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    However, Curtis was unresigned, he wasn''t willing to stand like a spectator while the leader throw him at the edge of the sword.


    With an agitated tone, Curtis barked at the group: "can''t you see, he hasn''t let go at all¡­! He''s planning to isolate me and then use me to exact his revenge on the compound¡­! If this fails, do you think that he''ll just let go? Impossible¡­! He''s a vengeful man¡­ if I fail to do it, then he''ll just turn on you and force you the way he''s doing with me now¡­!"


    The warrior''s and magician''s expressions wavered for a second, before they resolve on their decision.


    "Shut up Curtis! Your attempt to drive a wedge between us isn''t going to work!"


    "Yea shut up! If the leader said that it is over, then it''s over!"


    "Curtis, just do as the leader said. You have to pay us back for providing you with food and place to stay¡­ you have to use your spell to eliminate the compound bastards¡­!"


    In a moment, everyone turned on Curtis, barking at him.


    Right now, Curtis was so furious, his heart was about to explode out of his chest.


    "Shut you doggy mouths you low lives¡­! A day ago you all were so determined to kill this piece of shit¡­ now however you act as though it didn''t happen at all¡­!"


    Roaring these words, Curtis''s face turned savage: "Jason; haven''t you said that you''ll kill the leader''s wife, and take her gemstone!"


    "Shad; haven''t you said that the leader''s gemstone will belong to you, that you''ll allow no one to take it from you¡­!"


    "Theo; haven''t you argued that we should take the leader''s wife as a prisoner, and force her to make potions for us¡­!"


    Hearing Curtis''s words, every one''s faces turned aghast. Even the leader''s facial muscles started twitching.


    "You accursed bastard¡­! You venomous snake¡­! When have any of us said these words¡­?" with flabbergasted faces, the warriors and the magicians in the office started shouting in panic at Curtis.


    In actuality, no one said these words or anything like that.


    This was an attempt to escalate things, and shatter the thin understanding between the group and the leader.


    Curtis was trying to sabotage the situation, and mixes all the cards on the table, as the current situation was taking a course very unfavorable for him.


    "Hehehe¡­ Curtis, oh Curtis¡­ Do you take me to be as stupid as to believe these words of yours?" The leader said with a chuckle.


    The group of warriors and magicians heaved a sigh of relief, before barking spitefully at Curtis.


    "You devil! You lying bastard¡­"


    "You''re ungrateful animal! We have accepted you here, yet¡­ dare scheme against us¡­!"


    "That''s enough¡­! There is no point of cursing at each other." The leader raised his hand, putting a stop to the verbal attacks that were raining at Curtis.


    The leader turned to look at Curtis: "I have no feud with you at all. Escaping from the battle was the right choice. I really wish that my son was as smart as you, and escaped before things spiral out of control¡­


    Curtis, it''s not that I mean you harm¡­ but, you have to see things from our perspective¡­ you are the only one here capable of resolving our conflict with the compound.


    We have accepted you in your time of need, shared our resources with you, offered you food and shelter, even though we could have just chased you away, and saved ourselves the trouble¡­


    Now, all we ask of you¡­ is to pay us back a bit, and take care of the compound problem. Actually, when you consider it, resolving the matter with these people would make the prison a whole lot safer for both everyone and you, as you are yourself a resident here¡­ Also, if you took care of them, well give you all the rewards you ask for, and add more."


    As the leader finished his words, the rest all felt so emotional, that they started throwing all kinds of words at Curtis.


    "Yea Curtis, when you think of it, this is beneficial for you too."


    "That''s right¡­ we''ll give all kinds of reward."


    "Yea Curtis, you''ve been living under our wing and eating our food¡­ now, it''s time for you to make a contribution."


    Having been completely surrounded, Curtis''s terrible expression actually returned normal. All signs of anger and agitation vanished away.


    Truth be told, with the leader close by, his chances of escape was reduced to almost zero.


    However, this wasn''t the reason why he didn''t try to escape¡­


    If he tried to, and failed, he''d give the leader an excuse to kill him, and take his gemstone to his wife, to consolidate his authority inside the prison.


    Hence, even if was to be thrown at terrible odds, by being sent to the hive, where there was a large chance of him dying¡­ he''d still accept it.


    To him, it was still better than letting his enemy, the leader; enjoy leveling up at his expense.


    Curtis closed his eyes for a while, before opening them again. He looked at the prison leader with still gaze, and said: "Enough useless words¡­ You have accepted me here because I had given you my deceased brother''s gemstone, thus allowing your younger son to level up. Also, don''t think that I wasn''t aware of your intention to kill me for the sake of obtaining my gemstone¡­


    You are stronger than me¡­ as such; you can drive me to a dead end for the sake of obtaining your revenge on the compound¡­! There is no need to say anything extra¡­ it''s pointless¡­


    You are stronger; hence, regardless of my unwillingness, I have no choice but to bend to your order, even if I was being sent to death¡­ heheh¡­"


    Finishing his words, Curtis let out a self-deprecating, dry laugh.


    ''My own brother died, and I''m still unable to exact avenge on the killers¡­


    Now, my own life is being used by others¡­


    What a joke¡­ no matter how hard I plot ¡­ in the end, before real power, no amount of schemes can do a thing¡­''


    Raising his head and gazing the ceiling, unspeakable amount of hatred and rage welled up in Curtis''s soul.


    ''All of you here, all of the bastards in the compound¡­ you all better hope that I die in the hive¡­''


    ¡­

 Chapter 88: Destruction of the prison and the compound (5)

    Chapter 88: Destruction of the prison and the compound (5)


    "Now, it''s not that I don''t trust you or anything¡­ heck, it''s exactly because i don''t trust you that i''ll do this. however, you do understand my dilemma here¡­"


    The prison leader said to Curtis, while extending a small potion to him.


    Seeing this potion, Curtis didn''t display any intense reaction, as he had already foreseen things coming to this point.


    This potion was made by the leader''s wife, the potion magician. The formula for this potion was unlocked when she advanced her artifact to the third level.


    Basically, this formula enabled the leader''s wife to make use of the secreting glands of any poisonous beast to create poison potions. The effects of these potions vary depending on the type of poisonous beast which the poisonous glands were taken from.


    Two months ago, a small salamander-like poisonous creature was hunted near the river.


    Using certain additives, and by utilizing her innate spell, which conjures an illusionary and mysterious magical pot, the leader''s wife could produce a poison potion that when consumed, can cause death within a week, if an antidote is not administered within the period.


    As for the antidote for this poison, it was actually made from the same poison gland that was used to make the poison, but, with different additives.


    Anyway, given that this potion had a strong foul odor, making it easily detectable, and the fact that it gives effect only when consumed¡­ it became useless to be used against the beasts. The leaders'' wife was successful in only producing five of these potions with four antidotes. And she made them only to increase her experience in concocting potions.


    The leader had already used two of these potions few weeks ago as punishment for two magicians that had disobeyed his orders. He had only given them the antidotes five days later.


    As such, Curtis already foreseen the leader using this strategy with him to ensure that he wouldn''t just escape after they let him go¡­ the leader wanted to poison him, so that unless he do as asked, the antidote would not be given to him, and he''d be left to die.


    A savage look flashed by Curtis''s eyes for a second, before disappearing. He knew that there was no way out of this, not with his current strength.


    Swallowing his hatred and resentment, he yanked off the small bottles'' lid and drank the green content.


    A wide smile plastered across the leaders'' face.


    "Don''t worry Curtis; I have the antidote prepared for you. Just do us this favor, and I''ll organize two hunting trips for your sake. Everyone here will be a witness for my word; whatever we get in these trips goes to you."


    As the leaders'' voice fell, the present warriors and magicians all started speaking up for the leader.


    "Yes, yes. The leaders'' words are as precious as gold. I bear witness for that."


    "Did you hear Curtis; you''ll get a massive reward for only doing this one service... What more do you want Curtis?"


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Exactly Curtis¡­! Don''t think of this poison as us harming you¡­ it''s just a small motivation so that you don''t get any funny ideas. Actually, when you think of it, it is only natural that we don''t trust you, and do all we can to ensure that you do your part here in the prison."


    One after another starting throwing righteous words at him, fueling his emotions to the point of exploding¡­


    Curtis didn''t speak; he just scanned everyone with his sharp eyes, wanting to deeply memories their faces.


    These people were throwing him to the maw of death, yet they had the shamelessness to promise him rewards, and act as if it was a simple task.


    The creatures of the hive had an unimaginable sense of unity. If one of the thousands of bugs in the hive was killed, then the entire hive would chase the culprit and devour it no matter where it goes.


    For this reason, the area of several kilometers around the hive was completely free from any beast. Not even second tier beasts dared to go there.


    Although the bugs there had a weak perception or aura, however¡­ they had an unspeakably heightened sense of smell.


    Curtis''s new self-learned spell could definitely isolate sound. However, its smell isolating property was only theoretical. He had yet to practically test it.


    Yet, for the sake of calming his vengeful heart, the leader was throwing him at the face of death.


    Imprinting their faces in his heart, Curtis clenched his fists to the point of sinking his nails deep into his hands'' flesh: ''If I survive this, and get the antidote, I''ll exact revenge on all of you in the future. You think you can make use of me like this, and I wouldn''t pay you back for it¡­''


    Lowering his head, an ice-cold look glowed subtly in his eyes: ''You better think again then¡­!''


    ¡­


    Sneaking away from a small valley, the figure of a man moved carefully, hiding behind one large boulder after another.


    The man''s pale face was mask of fear and agitation. Moving with utmost caution, He was borderline witlessly frightened.


    Upon closer inspection, one could see that there was a football-sized, semi-transparent, cocoon-like mass floating over his left hand. This mass was filled with a cluster of the bug''s eggs.


    A dome-shaped thin membrane of air was rotating around the man, enclosing and separating him from the surrounding. The cocoon floating over his hand too was enclosed by small sphere of wind.


    Reaching a certain distance away from the valley, the man waved his hand in impatient. Following which, a whirlpool of wind surrounded him, lifting him off the ground.


    The man then waved his hand frantically, and in response, the hurricane around him started rotating at a higher speed, allowing him to scurry away as if he was a speeding car.


    Curtis''s eyes were completely bloodshot, his heart was beating so hard that it was about to burst out of his chest. "It actually worked¡­! It actually worked¡­!"


    He was really stunned.


    By using his innate spell ¨C wind manipulation to create a thin, isolating barrier of wind around him, he was intending to create a technique to isolates all sounds. He came up with this idea after a sudden insight.


    And it worked. As after surrounding himself with this membrane, no sound could transmit through this barrier, both from the inside and the outside.


    Apparently, this barrier prevents vibrations from spreading through it, hence, and since sound transmits through vibrations, this barrier was completely sound proof.


    Anyway, the scent blocking feature of this new technique was untested, as there was no dog or any animal with sharp sense of smell in the prison to test it on. This aspect was completely theoretical.


    However, in the end, he was actually able to sneak into the hive, steal over ten eggs, and actually flee away without being surrounded and killed¡­!


    The bugs'' weak sense of sight, hearing, and aura was also a huge contributor to his successful quest.


    During his infiltration, and in at least three occasions, he was a hair width away from being discovered and devoured, with not even clothe as remains.


    His intention was to kill a bug, and to carry part of it with him. However, after sneaking deep into the area, the number of bugs that he saw was really low, unlike what he had heard about this place from the prison warriors. More ever, he was actually able to sneak to the inside and even seize a cluster of bug egg, before sneaking out, without being found!


    This made him really stunned! Why would these bugs that were highly protective of each other abandon their eggs without guarding it? It didn''t make sense.


    Regardless, the unspeakable terror and trepidation he suffered as he snuck to this nest of over-sized bugs had probably cost him few years of age¡­


    Reaching a safe distance away from the valley, Curtis raised his head to the sky and let out a wrathful roar of hatred and malice: "Prison dogs, you forced me into a dead end, thinking that I''m too weak to resist¡­ you just wait! Some day in the future, I''ll turn the table around, and pay you back the debt a hundred fold!"


    Releasing his accumulated anger, Curtis steadied his mental state, and continued his way toward the prison direction.


    ¡­


    At certain unpaved roadside few kilometers away from the prison¡­


    Many tanks and armored vehicles could be seen scattered in the area. These war machines were all devastated and ruined beyond repair. Dust started covering them. The entire area was filled with craters and signs of an intense battle taken place here months ago.


    The place looked like a war-zone.


    Suddenly, a faint sound of wind could be heard in the area, intensifying by the second.


    Not long afterward, a man dressed in black attire came floating. He landed near a particular flipped over armored vehicle.


    "Belly, come out." The man called out.


    Creak!


    The flipped over armored vehicles'' door was pushed open, and a man clad in a leather armor crawled out.


    The man with the black attire asked impatiently: "Tell me¡­ what they are planning for me after I return¡­?"


    Seeing the hovering sphere above Curtis''s hand, the man shuddered, before saying:"¡­ The-They¡­ they are planning¡­ to recede on their promise to you¡­ the moment you go back¡­ they agreed on locking you up, and letting you die. They¡­ they already agreed on whom will get your gemstone¡­"


    ¡­

 Chapter 89: Destruction of the prison and the compound (6)

    Chapter 89: Destruction of the prison and the compound (6)


    Before Curtis left the compound, he had shot a meaningful glance toward Billy¡­ wanting him to wait for him in the pre-determined place.


    Now, and being the main culprit behind the whole compound disaster, Billy had no choice but to do as asked.


    Truth be told, Billy had hoped that Curtis would die in the hive, to but a closure on the whole matter. However, things don''t always go as one wishes to.


    Anyway, now that Curtis is alive, Billy had no choice but to fully cooperate with him. He didn''t have the ability to kill him after all.


    If Curtis was caught, and was left to rot to death in the prison, he might spill out the whole thing, dragging him and his family to the hell that was the leader''s fury.


    Hence, he spoke the truth.


    Curtis stood in his place, his face twisting and contorting several times, morphing to one demonic expression after another.


    Although he had expected such route of action on the leaders'' end¡­ however, hearing it directly from Billy who was with them¡­ and hearing that they devised this scheme the exact moment he was suffering in the hive¡­ a towering rage was spiked in his heart.


    Curtis expected the leader to back-stab him, however¡­ faced with certain, agonizing death by the poison, one would grow desperate to grab onto any chance to survive.


    This was the reason why the leader knew that Curtis would return to them in case he pulls it off, as this was the only way for him to live. In fact, the leader was right¡­ even if there was a chance that he''d get back-stabbed; Curtis inwardly decided to go back to the prison, to get the antidote.


    Actually, in the first place, Curtis knew that the leader was almost sure that he''d die in the hive, and not make it out alive.


    Throwing his head backward, he laughed agitatedly: "Hehehe¡­ how ruthless¡­! Even beasts can''t match your brutality¡­!"


    Billy, who was standing to the side, shook his head in remorse¡­


    When the whole disaster descended on the world¡­ when death and suffering prevailed¡­ and when the savage beasts run amok¡­ he had felt that the world was unjust toward humanity¡­


    However, the things he saw in this period, the things that people committed¡­ made that line of thought of his greatly diminish: ''Maybe, we really deserve this¡­ maybe, our unspeakable actions toward the world, and our each other, is what summoned this catastrophe¡­!''


    Regaining his composer, Curtis said:"Go back to the prison, and take some food, water and necessities. You should take one of the vehicles as well. You have only one hour, NOW GO!"


    Understanding what Curtis had in mind, Billy''s expression underwent a drastic change. However, it returned normal quickly: "is there no other way, there are a lot of innocent people there¡­?"


    Curtis threw him a condescending glance: "This is the only way I can get my hands on the antidote ¨C over their dead corpses."


    With a heavy heart, Billy turned and dashed toward the prison.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Curtis grinned as he looked at the prisons'' direction. He got into the flipped over armored vehicle, and took out one small veil.


    The veil contained a glowing blue colored liquid.


    Drinking the content, an arc formed at the edge of his lip:"I bet you didn''t expect such a turn of event¡­ Too late, your reign of terror ended the moment I knew that you''re intending to never give me the antidote¡­ that you''re planning on going back on the deal, now¡­ weep in despair¡­!"


    "You didn''t give me any magic recovery potion, so that my magic will only be enough to accomplish the mission, so that I''ll have no choice but to return back to the prison. You didn''t want to give me any chance to play any trick on you.


    Also, you have no idea that I have an accomplice inside the prison that doesn''t have any choice but to follow me."


    "Hehehe¡­ too bad for you¡­ You have no idea that I was the one that led your son to death by a tasteless, odorless plant poison that I discovered in one of the missions you sent me to carry out ¡­ that his two magic energy potions are now in my possession


    This feels so good¡­! I never expected my chance for revenge to come this quickly¡­! I wonder¡­ is it my good luck, or just your own bad fortune? Your strength had blinded you to the fact that your son had been killed by one of your own men. The prison cowards have submitted to you so hard, kissed your ass so hard that you overlook such possibility. You didn''t think that anyone would dare to harm your son. Your destructive behavior of enabling your son to do what he wants is the reason for your fall."


    After killing the leader''s son and his party, Billy was too afraid to bring the stuff on them back to the prison, for the fear of someone finding them. Hence, he had hid them here in this flipped over armored vehicle.


    The leader didn''t want to give any magic energy recovery potion to Curtis, so that in case he actually pulls it off, his magic energy should only be enough for him to take the bait and throw it at the compound. Afterward, his magic energy would be exhausted, and he wouldn''t have any room to play any trick at them and escape away.


    Next to the compound, few men sent by the leader were waiting to pick him and bring him to the prison.


    This was the plan.


    However, what the leader didn''t account for¡­ was that Curtis was the killer of his son. And that his son''s two magic energy recovery potions were in Curtis''s hands.


    Also, the leader didn''t account for the fact that Curtis had a death grip on one of his direct followers, Billy, enabling him to learn of their plan to deal with him.


    Curtis smiled widely, as he thought of the kinds of looks the prison group would have when the death army marches right into their lair.


    ¡­


    Trapped in the ground, and unable to stand up, Ramie watched disinterestedly as forty spike shot from the ground, penetrating his limbs and pinning him down.


    He was completely trapped, and unable to move, as the ground weaved itself around and swallow him down. However, he didn''t display any expression at all, as if these happening had nothing to do with him whatsoever, as though they were happening for someone else.


    Lance, Reem, Neil and rest were calling out for him nonstop, while the ground was swallowing him.


    When he was completely submerged in the ground, a force pushed him upward, throwing him above the ground. Around him, everyone had disappeared¡­ only Reem and Neil could be seen.


    ''Sight¡­ this dream again¡­''


    Ramie let out a tired sight, as he waited for the dream to come to its end.


    Even though he was dreaming, but after seeing the same dream everyday for the past few days, he was now able to tell that he was dreaming. He no longer engaged himself in trying to intervene in the dreams'' ''events,'' but merely allowed the dream to progress on its own pace.


    Wak¡­!


    Wake u¡­!


    Wake up¡­!!


    WAKE UP¡­!!!


    Suddenly, ramie started hearing a faint voice echo from the distance. The voice kept getting louder and louder, clearer and clearer.


    "Someone is calling for me¡­"


    Ramie felt strange, as after having the same dream for the past few days, he couldn''t remember hearing these voices not even once before.


    WAKE UP¡­!!!


    With a sudden jolt, the entire scene around ramie blurred and then shattered.


    Ramie instantly opened his eyes, waking up.


    Rising his head, trying to get up, Ramie''s mind instantly went in daze, frozen¡­


    The clamoring sounds he heard, and the shocking sight that his eyes just perceived was utterly terrifying¡­


    In his shock, Ramie realized that he was pulled from his bed to the middle of the room.


    A human sized ant-like bug was grabbing him with its frontal, hairy limbs, crushing his left arm with its powerful mandibles, and swallowing his arms'' mush. The bug has already eaten his arm down to the elbow, and was now continuing its way up to his shoulder.


    Ramie stared with utter shock at the bug beasts'' large compound eyes that were only a foot away from his face.


    Crunch Munch! Crunch Much!


    The bug stared at ramie without care, as it continued crushing and devouring his arm¡­ it was as if the creature was sure that Ramie wouldn''t be able to struggle away and denies it its meal.


    GHOST GLAAAAARE!!!!


    Processing the horrifying situation that he had just woke up into, Ramie bellowed with explosive will, like a wild beast.


    He had literally waked up while this beast was in the process of devouring him.


    As he casted his strongest spell, the bugs large compound eyes dimmed, and its body went motionless.


    "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME¡­!!!"


    Kicking the bug with his leg and pushing himself away from under the beast, Ramie got up with haste.


    Standing up, he burst in motion without hesitation, passing by the bug, dashing out of the room and down the stairs.


    "What is happening¡­? How could this beast sneak all the way here without anyone noticing? Where are the rest¡­?"


    Ramie''s heart was now beating like a war drum. Uncertainty downing on his though process¡­


    When he went to sleep, everything was fine, now however¡­ things seem to have escalated beyond reasonable explanation. It was as though there was a time gap.


    ¡­

 Chapter 90: Destruction of the prison and the compound (7)

    Chapter 90: Destruction of the prison and the compound (7)


    Stepping out of the house, ramie was barely able to maintain his composure¡­


    Bugs that ranged from football to bus sized swarmed the compound. They were everywhere.


    The compound residents were running around in panic and terror, dodging the bugs and looking for a way out.


    However, the compound was completely swarmed with bugs, with no path to escape to whatsoever.


    Above the compound, several car-sized bugs were slowly flying in large circles; producing a buzzing sound and spreading a violet colored dust downward.


    The dust dyed the air in violet color, causing it to be slightly hazy, and obstructing sight by very small degree.


    The sight around almost cost Ramie his composure¡­


    How did these beasts'' attack go unnoticed? Why the compound residents failed so miserably to react to the beasts attack, allowing the beasts to swarm them? Why didn''t the azure gazelle king detect the assault¡­?


    Questions upon questions swarmed his mind nonstop.


    Clitter! Clitter! Clitter!


    As ramie left the house, three car-sized bugs came at him.


    ''I have to meet the others¡­!'' Making up his mind, Ramie projected two vines and sent them at the neighboring house balcony''s rails, then pulled himself to the rooftop.


    Standing at the housetop, Ramie''s expression turned heavy¡­


    He could see that hundreds of bugs were still climbing the compound'' outer wall from all directions and attacking the warriors. Additionally, thousands of bugs were swarming outside the outer walls.


    Using his vines to move from one house roof to another, Ramie saw tenths of people running in the streets while the bugs chased after them.


    These bugs weren''t moving very fast, and the people were definitely capable of escaping if they give it their all, however¡­ there was no way to escape to at all, as bugs were literally everywhere.


    More ever, all of the people he saw seem to run sluggishly, as though they were under some sort of drug or something.


    Judging by his own reactions, Ramie immediately knew that this was the dust''s effect.


    This dust was dulling the senses and the reaction speed. It was making the people slower. Hence, giving these slow bugs the chance to hunt them down with ease.


    Ramie wasn''t able to help everyone; however, he didn''t ignore those who asked for it.


    Hearing a shout for help, Ramie sent one of the vines to help a mother and her toddler.


    He grabbed them both with his vine, and brought them to the rooftop he was standing on.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Thump!


    Bang!


    Just as Ramie put the two on the rooftop, a heavy, dull sound came from the house, and an intense tremor vibrated the roof. Before he could even react, the roof surface shattered and a pair of mandibles that gave off metallic luster was shot out, grabbing the mother and pulling her downward.


    Ahhhh!!!


    The toddler let out an air piercing screech, as the mother was cut in half when the two mandibles closed.


    Gritting his teeth, Ramie wrapped one of the vines around the toddler and shot the other at the adjacent house, then pulled himself and the toddler away.


    After that, Ramie repeated the process several times, getting away from the sites with large bugs concentration.


    Landing at another rooftop, Ramie projected a third vine, and using the vines as legs, he propelled himself upward; four meters above the house, to get a better look around, and determine where the main gathering was.


    The violets dust was slowing people down, while the bugs were chasing them all over the compound.


    Some of the people used bone weapons and even inscribed weapons to fight the bugs, and thanks to the slow movement speed of these creatures, many of the fighters managed to kill some of the bugs.


    However, in the end, the bugs number was simply too large, and there was no place for the people to retreat, hence, they were forced to fight nonstop.


    The warriors had it better, as with their life energy boost, they could still make up for the slowing effect of the dust.


    Pockets of resistant consistent of warriors and average people spread all across the compound.


    "Found you¡­"


    Looking at the compound''s entrance direction, where there was a huge commotion, ramie saw a large cluster of warriors fighting the main force of the bugs.


    With thousands of bugs both inside and outside the compound, warriors were now the only ones that can open up a path outside this mess. Hence, going there should be the best call now.


    Just as Ramie moved from one rooftop to another¡­


    Whizz!


    Whizz!


    Thuack!


    Thuack!


    Two thin spikes darted from the adjacent house backyard, striking Ramie on the waist area.


    Looking at the source of the sneak attack, Ramie saw few bugs hiding in the shadow of a large tree.


    Each of these bugs looked like beetles with domed backs that were filled with violet-colored spots. Their size was three times larger than human''s head, and they looked very similar to the ladybug.


    The bugs moved slowly under the trees'' shadow while turning their rear to him, new spiked were emerging and pointing at Ramie.


    The violet dust was costing ramie his ability to sense the auras, which was the reason why he landed at a house that had a bug inside it, leading to that''s woman death.


    Also, ramie had no idea why, but these bugs emitted no intent whatsoever, making his innate spell soul perception useless in this situation.


    This ability of his was soul based, so, he knew that the violet dust shouldn''t affect it¡­


    "There is something wrong with these bugs¡­ to not have an intent, means that these things either don''t have souls, or are unconscious of their actions. But, they definitely have souls¡­ otherwise; ghost glare wouldn''t have taken effect on the bug back in the house¡­ however, the alternative is that these bugs don''t have the intent to chase and kill¡­ but, if that was true¡­ then, why are they doing it¡­?"


    Settling on the rooftop, Ramie whipped a vine at these bugs, crushing them where they stood.


    His artifact displayed the bugs tier as the first; hence, Ramie sent only one vine to deal with them.


    Throwing a look at the toddler, who was carried in the air with the other vine, Ramie''s eyes twitched, turning bloodshot¡­


    Two spiked were planted in his torso, claiming his life.


    The bugs from before had apparently targeted them both, and not just Ramie.


    "With his mother dead, and with the compound surrounded with bugs, this might be the best for him¡­"


    Suppressing his emotions, Ramie let out a heavy sigh, while comforting himself. Then, and leaving the corpse on the rooftop, he sent a vine toward the adjacent house, before pulling himself over.


    Before he could even land on the next house, the rooftop where he left the corpse shattered, and two mandibles reached out and pulled the corpse inside.


    Right now, there were about five to six bugs in the street, following him wherever he goes.


    If he stays long enough on one house, then the tailing bugs would breach the house and try to catch him in a manner similar to the woman and the toddler now.


    On his way to compound''s entrance, Ramie saw many large holes in the ground along his way: "Could these bugs have snuck into the compound from under the ground¡­? But even then, the gazelle should still have detected their auras¡­"


    Ramie felt incredibly heavy in his heart¡­


    Giving the massive scale of the attack, and the fact that they were completely surrounded¡­ it was obvious now that not many people were going to make it past this day¡­


    This attack was just too abrupt, with no pre-warnings or signs¡­


    Usually, ramie sleeps more than an hour everyday these two days, to accelerate the healing process of his injuries. However, and judging by the shift in the day light, no more than three hours had gone by since he slept, which was probably due to the violet dust.


    Yet¡­ in these mere three hours, apocalypse seems to have stormed on the compound, and hell rose into it¡­!


    His legs injuries were yet to recover. At this point, his legs bone fragments were just starting to reconnect together, yet, he was now forcing himself to stand on them and even move around.


    Ramie had no doubt that if he could regain his sense of pain, he''d be in a deep agony now.


    Moving toward the compounds'' gate direction, where the main force was battling¡­ the bugs along the way exploded in numbers. It went from several bugs near the house, to tenths on the way, to hundreds!


    Reaching the final house, at the edge of the living quarter, the main force of the compound came into view.


    "This¡­"


    Ramie felt alarmed at the sight¡­


    The group of warriors, magicians, and few peoples were crowding in a relatively small area, surrounded by sea of bugs.


    These bugs came in several types and sizes, and were relentlessly launching attacks at the fighters.


    A moment ago, he was feeling sorry for others, but now¡­ he wasn''t sure that he himself could walk out alive from this heavy encirclement.


    ...

 Chapter 91: Destruction of the prison and the compound (8)

    Chapter 91: Destruction of the prison and the compound (8)


    The insect he was fighting was emitting the aura of low tier-2 beast, according to Reem. It should have been within his scope¡­ But¡­ in the end, this bug was no easy opponent at all.


    Clitter! Clitter! Clitter!


    The car-sized bug that was charging at him had two abnormally thick mandibles. Portion of its body was covered with thin layer of sparsely distributed hair.


    These two mandibles had already cost him two inscribed spears.


    This bug''s defense wasn''t anything special; however, its attacking speed was something else.


    "Throw me another spear¡­!" with an intense sense of urgency, Lance called at the warriors in the formation.


    "Take mine." One of the warriors shouted, while throwing his weapon to lance.


    Catching the spear, Lance growled in frustration.


    The lightning inscription in this spear had already exhausted most of its energy; the dancing electricity at the tip was flickering weakly, about to go off anytime.


    Right now, Reem''s summon was already engaged in a heated battle with two agility type bugs. One bug was emitting low tier-2 aura, while the other emitting mid tier-2 aura. It was obvious that the gazelle''s situation wasn''t promising at all.


    Gregory was in similarly bad position, he was fighting low tier-2 bug beast.


    Lance, Gregory, and the azure gazelle king were holding three sides of the formation, both facing their respective tier-2 opponents and the numerous tier-1 bugs, while everyone else was holding one side.


    However, the fact that the others were facing low tier-2 bug beast as well as a sea of bugs was quite problematic¡­


    The death toll was rising and their disadvantage was growing by the second.


    "If we do not break our way through this encirclement in the next few minutes¡­ then we''re all dead meat¡­! But first, I have to kill this bug, before it kills me." Lance thought to himself, grimly.


    Gritting his teeth, lance rotated his life energy and lunged himself like an arrow leaving its bow, toward the charging bug.


    "Die..."


    Firmly grabbing the spear''s shaft, Lance thrust the spear forward, leaving a trail of lightning sparks behind.


    The bug didn''t even try to dodge, bur dashed at him with even greater speed, and bit at the incoming spear.


    Shing!


    Bang!


    As the spear reached the bugs head, two shadows moved at lightning speed, closing at the approaching spear''s head, and shattering it effortlessly.


    Bzzt!


    Boom!


    The lighting in the spear''s inscription exploded with the spear, causing lightning sparks alongside bone shreds to fly around, due to the intensity of the clash.


    These two shadows were the bugs'' huge mandibles.


    Clitter! Clitter!


    The bug didn''t stop its momentum, but continued its attack at Lance, wanting to bite his head.


    Growl!


    Lance growled in anger, and twisted his body downward, to avoid the bug''s incoming bite.


    This was the third spear that shatters in his hand.


    The two previous spears were made of tier-2 beats'' skeletons, so they helped him greatly to hold his own against this bug, but now, the only remaining spears in the others possession were of lower quality, made of tier-1 beasts.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    This caused the gap between him, who was weaponless, and the naturally armed bug to widen.


    Now, he lost the ability to contend with this bug, and was no longer able to keep up with it.


    Lowering his body, Lance kicked off the ground, throwing himself to the side, to avoid the closing in mandibles.


    Clang!


    Just as lance dodged, the two mandibles closed at the spot where his head used to be.


    Thump!


    Thump!


    Thump!


    Lance rolled over the ground thrice, to the side.


    Getting up, Lance''s expression underwent a drastic change¡­


    "So fast¡­"


    The bug had dashed over, and was already upon him, there was almost no distance between the two.


    Flooding his muscles with life energy, Lance went all out.


    Recovering from his startled state, and due to his martial arts experience, Lance employed an evasive move, by pushing the ground with three successive steps, while twisting his body to the side, in an awkward angle.


    Clang!


    The two mandibles clapped together, at the spot where Lance was used to be, producing a sound akin to metallic collision.


    Throwing himself on the ground, while rolling with all his might, lance was desperately attempting to distance himself away from this bug.


    However, and to his fright¡­!


    Clang!


    Clang!


    Clang!


    The bug gave a chase, following him nimbly while clapping its mandibles at him, in attempt to cut him in half.


    Clitter! Clitther! Clitter!


    Getting up and running, Lance could hear the sound of the bugs'' steps on his tail, closing in closer and closer.


    "I can''t get away from this thing¡­ it''s too fast!"


    Gritting his teeth, lance made up his mind to go into the offense.


    If he couldn''t safely kill this beast, then he decided to stake his life and give it his all.


    Turning around, lance kicked off the ground with utter ferocity, forcing stop his momentum. Then, he kicked off the ground again, and dashed at the bug that was charging over with clapping mandibles.


    Throwing himself on the ground, lance slid below the bug, attempting to attack it from a blind spot.


    However, even though the bug did not expect this maneuver of his, it still had its fast reaction speed.


    At once, and before lance disappear beneath the bug, away from its perception, two giant shadows clapped at him¡­


    His eyes turning red, lance poured his life energy without any conservation, causing his muscles to swell.


    "Aghhhhh¡­!"


    Letting out a ferocious roar, he grabbed at the closing mandibles, preventing them from closing on him, and cut him in half.


    "Die¡­!"


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Sensing the crushing force of the mandibles overwhelming his maximum outputting power, lance slammed his feet continuously at the joint that connected the bugs'' large head to its thin torso.


    He wanted to distract the bugs from killing him by forcing it to focus of defending itself.


    "Die, die, die¡­!"


    Lance kept ramming the bug from under, casing an intense tremors of air to explode under the bug.


    The violent collision was causing the bug''s body to jump up again and again and again¡­ testimony of the ramming force that was barraging the bug''s neck.


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    The bug kept moving its legs, and twisting its body, to increase its pressure at lance, to close its mandible at him.


    Even though cracks and cracks were spreading like spider web pattern in the exoskeleton under the bugs head, neck, and torso, due to lances attacks¡­ the bug was completely ignoring defending itself, only attempting to close its mandibles and cut him in half.


    With his muscles strained to their very limits, Lance felt exasperated at the bugs'' insistence to kill, even at the expense of its own life.


    This action went against the creatures'' instincts of ''self preservation comes first'' principle that he had seen thus far.


    This bug was attacking like a suicidal maniac¡­ wanting to kill him even at all costs of losing its life¡­!


    These bugs'' actions were very abnormal, as if they were not here to get food, but to annihilate a hateful enemy at all costs.


    Kicking the bugs head, Lance made use of the momentum to push himself away.


    The rate at which he was inflicting damage at the bugs was lower than the rate that it was closing its mandible at him.


    Lance wanted few moments to brainstorm an idea to kill this bug.


    Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!


    The bug charged again at him, persistently, not giving him even a moment to catch his breath.


    The moment lance tried to get up, the shadow of the two mandibles was already closing on his head.


    Lance felt helpless in his heart¡­


    This bug was faster than him, and till now, he was making use of his profession experience to bridge the difference. However, this bug was apparently hell bent on claiming his life, to the point of even disregarding its own.


    This persistence was eating away his life energy at a terrible rate.


    At this pace, this battle was progressing toward its obvious conclusion even faster ¨C his death.


    A new variable was needed to come into play here, to even things out.


    Realizing the he wasn''t going to make if he tried to get up, Lance gathered his power, and kicked off the ground violently. Like a shooting missile, he was lunged up, jumping.


    To his dismay however, the bug was still not out of trump cards of its own.


    Spreading its almost atrophied wings which were very small comparing to its body proportions, the bug raised its head, looking at the leaping Lance.


    Buzz!!


    The pair of small wings flapped at a speed so fast that they left a flickering afterimage.


    Boom!


    A surge of air current exploded around the bug, like a hurricane, causing the bug to shoot up toward Lance.


    "This¡­!"


    Lance''s pupils contracted so hard that they became like needle''s head, as his heart sank.


    The bug''s momentum surge was completely ridiculous. He didn''t expect such small wings to produce so much power.


    He was now in the air, with no way to dodge the incoming mandibles.


    As the bug darted up at him like an arrow leaving a bow''s string, Lance could almost see himself being crushed in half.


    However, all of sudden, the faint glow of light in the bug''s small eyes disappeared, its wing stopped flapping. The bug no longer looked like a death machine, flying up to pick its prey, but more like an inanimate object that was thrown up, sluggishly.


    Lance was now stunned, he had no idea what the bug was trying to do.


    "KILL IT NOW¡­!"


    Suddenly, from the site where the fighters were facing the bugs, an urgent bellow entered his ears.


    Having heard the voice, Lance''s eyes lit up in hope, as his heart thumped with joy.


    This was a voice that he was waiting to hear for quite the while now.


    "You damn bug, now, you DIE¡­!"


    Letting out a furious roar of anger, lance joined both of hands and pumped his life energy wildly. He wanted to deliver the killing blow.


    The bugs'' wing were no longer flapping, however, the initial momentum of their movement was too great, casing the bug to rise up in the air, toward the falling Lance.


    Having flooded his arms with energy, they swelled up greatly, pushing the bulging blood vessels up, as if they were a network of worms crawling under the skin.


    BOOM!!


    With bloodshot eyes, Lance smashed at the bugs'' large head, with all of his might, causing the air between his joint hands and the bugs'' head to explode outwardly, producing a visible shook-wave.


    Crack!


    Crush!


    The destructive attack caused the exoskeleton that was covering the bugs'' head to crack, and then to shatter, caving to the inside due to the immense power of the attack.


    Thud!


    Thud!


    Falling to the ground, alongside the bugs'' corpse, lance dashed back into the formation, while crushing the bugs that dared to stand in his path.


    "Throw me another spear¡­!"


    Lance shouted at one of the warriors, he was preparing to fight the tier-2 bug that was recklessly killing the warriors in the formation.


    In his way, he turned and nodded with a genuine smile at the new comer, who had three vines projected from his back: "I''m glad you managed to come, and thank you!"


    Seeing the man whom he had thought to be dead gave him quite the comfort.


    Now, with this man''s addition, their chances just went up against these tier-2 beasts.


    ¡­

 Chapter 92: Destruction of the prison and the compound (9)

    Chapter 92: Destruction of the prison and the compound (9)


    "How many times can you cast ghost glare again?" lance asked, with distressed expression.


    Having believed that Ramie was dead amidst the chaos, and now seeing him here, Lance had no idea on how many times had ramie used the spell to safely get here.


    One mere cast of this frightening spell had extracted him from unsalvageable situation, enabling him to take down a formidable enemy.


    Giving that there were many other equally difficult opponents, Lance hoped that ramie had enough magic energy for at least another cast.


    Ramie laughed wryly in response.


    Having casted ghost glare twice now, 40 magic energy points had already been expended. Also, being forced to cast green vine spell thrice, another 15 magic unite was spent.


    So, and coupled with him utilizing his vines to escape and kill few bugs on the way, he was now left with less than 10 magic energy points.


    Seeing ramie shake his head to him, Lance''s expression darkened.


    "You should stay in the middle of the formation. The moment we deal with the tier-2 beasts, we can break through this encirclement."


    Finishing his words, and picking up another spear, lance dashed toward the tier-2 beast that was running amok between the several peak Lv.1 warriors that were stalling it.


    Scanning around, Ramie''s expression was ugly to behold.


    The situation was exceedingly terrible.


    The strongest asset they have, the azure gazelle king, was under a heavy siege by two astoundingly fast bugs. Gregory too was engaged in a heated confrontation with a bug. His missing hand was impacting his ability to keep up with the bug to a large degree.


    Lance on the other hand charged to face another bug, alongside few peak Lv.1 warriors.


    As for the rest in the formation, they were engaged in a nonstop battle with the charging bugs. These bugs were attacking relentlessly, and charging at them like suicidal maniacs, without any care or self preservation.


    Few hills of bug''s corpses were already forming around the formation perimeter. However, still, this didn''t impose the slightest deterrence to the charging bugs, or slow them down.


    "Kill, Kill, and Kill these damn insects!"


    "You have to preserve¡­! The moment the Mr. Lance and the gazelle take care of the stronger ones, we''ll break out from the compound! So, hold on¡­!"


    Many within the formation were shouting nonstop, in encouragement, to themselves before the others. It didn''t take a genius to figure that if not everyone here gave it their all¡­ then living past this situation was farfetched dream.


    The moment the perimeter is breached, the formation will crumple in no time.


    The lv.2 fighters already have more than they could handle on their plates, so, no one should expect any help from them.


    The tragic fact was that fighters in the formation were at their limit by merely defending, so, breaking through the bug swarm without Lv.2 warriors leading them was unrealistic idea.


    However, and giving that the Lv.2 warriors were already fighting the tier-2 beasts, to prevent them from massacring everyone in the formation¡­ it meant that the fighters in the formation had no choice but to hold on and hope that the gazelle, Lance, and Gregory manage to deal with their respective opponents before the formation is completely overwhelmed with the bugs swarm.Stolen story; please report.


    In the middle of the formation, there was no small number of warriors that had completely run out of energy. Gregory''s son, the earth magician could be seen among them. The water mage woman was nowhere to be seen.


    Moving toward the warriors that were part of his team, Ramie averted his eyes, to avoid making a direct eye contact with others, to avoid impacting anyone with the residual rippling soul force that was being emitted from his eyes, due to using ghost glare just few moments ago.


    Walking toward the warrior, Ramie asked in urgent tone:"Ricky, where are Brian and the rest¡­?"


    Ramie noticed that no small number of warriors was missing, including Brent, the scholar mage. Surprisingly, some of the strongest warriors that had come with the survivors'' convoy, and were sort of Brian''s lackeys, were nowhere to be seen.


    Upon hearing the inquiry, the man''s eyes turned bloodshot, as a mask of intense hatred and rage clouded his face. Spiting on the ground agitatedly, he answered in hoarse voice:"that bastard¡­! He told us that he''s going to gathered the scattered warriors in the compound and bring them here, however¡­ he took the chance to steel our armored vehicles and flee the compound along with his entourage¡­!"


    "HE DID THAT¡­!"


    Hearing the answer, Ramie''s expression darkened, anger welling up in his heart.


    Lance and the rest of the team had spent days in fortifying these vehicles using the bones from the hunted tier-2 beasts. They had even built bone cages around the vehicles to ensure maximum security. They prepared to use them in the trip to the capital. Yet¡­!


    Someone else stole the fruit of their efforts, and left them alone to suffer the wrath of the bug swarm.


    "When did that happen?" Ramie asked coldly.


    "Not too long ago! But don''t worry, they didn''t manage to get far before being ambushed and surrounded by a huge swarm of bugs¡­! According to Ms. Reem, her summon sensed that they are engaged in a heated battle with three tier-2 bugs at the northern side outside the compound¡­! I bet that their situation is far worse than ours. Serves them right, these low lives¡­!"


    The warrior spat with a ruthless tone. It was obvious that he was taking pleasure in their misfortune.


    Ramie''s ugly expression didn''t ease up at all; instead, it turned even graver.


    ''If they didn''t manage to escape from the swarm even with the fortified armored vehicles¡­ then, doesn''t that mean that neither can we¡­?


    Also, doesn''t that mean that that there are three more tier-2 bugs out there, and another large swarm of bugs¡­?''


    Ramie brainstormed the all the possibilities, trying to come up with a way to salvage the situation. However, the more he thought, the gloomier his heart became.


    The azure gazelle king was already in an obvious disadvantage, he was suffering to keep up with the two jumpy bugs that were assaulting him. Also, and seeing Reem''s pale face as she observed the raging battle meant that her magic energy was running low.


    Gregory''s situation too wasn''t looking good at all. His missing arm was causing him to fall behind the bug; he was suffering just to maintain his life, much less defeating his opponent.


    Lance''s situation was a bit better than the two, as he had the help of few warriors that were stabbing with their spears at the bug and throwing arrows at it. Unfortunately, with the lightning inscriptions in hand running out of energy, it was out of question that he can kill this bug.


    Adding to that, Ramie can no longer cast any ghost glare spell, due to his insufficient magic energy, which meant that he can''t help the others with their respective opponents.


    The situation was beyond disadvantageous for them, and was still deteriorating by the minute.


    However, and even with all that, there were another swarm of bugs outside and another three tier-2 bugs to be added into the mix.


    Calculating the overwhelming odds, ramie reached a terrifying result.


    ARE WE ALL GOING TO DIE HERE¡­?


    The key to salvage the situation was to defeat the tier-2 beats here. However, the three heavy hitters in the compound were all at a constantly growing disadvantage.


    Ramie felt bitter inwardly. He and the rest had decided to leave the compound the day after tomorrow, where his and Lance''s injuries were supposed to heal a bit.


    But now¡­ this happens¡­!


    ''I''m I not fated to reach the capital alive¡­?''


    "NO, I can''t think like that¡­!


    I have to help the warriors in the formation to maintain the perimeter, and deal with things as they arise!"


    Standing in the middle of the formation, ramie discarded the third vine, as his control over two vines was way better and finer than three. The trainings he went through for the past few weeks had increased his degree of control over the vines by a noticeable margin.


    If he had more time, he estimated that his control over the vines will reach a terrifying level. Unfortunately, he only had short time to train.


    Calming his heart, Ramie sent out the two vines at the bugs and started whipping at the bugs heads like crazy.


    Surrounding the formation, were many types of bugs. The most numerous among them were the car-sized slow moving bugs, and the football-sized, jumpy, and fast moving bugs.


    The former were the easiest to deal with, while the latter was the main cause of casualties among the defenders. There were jumping around all the time and launching sneak attacks at the warrior while they''re busy dealing with other bugs.


    These small bugs were very cunning, and hard to deal with.


    Ramie targeted this specific type of bugs, as the two vines had fast speed of movement and were very good at dealing with small and fast types of beasts.


    Also, another reason why Ramie targeted these small beasts was that they were fast, but had weak defense, which meant that he could eliminate them without having to exert too much of energy, meaning less expenditure of magic.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    The two vines slithered like nimble snakes as they crushed the jumpy bugs one after another.


    Whistle!


    The wind whistled as the two vines whipped in frenzies, slapping the leaping bugs away as headless corpses.


    The defenders were both shocked and elated at the pace at which the sneaky bugs were being killed at.


    The violet dust had cost ramie his perception to auras, and even slowed his body a bit. However, the two vines moved via spending magic energy, and weren''t depending at his physical constitution by much. Hence, their speed was affected by only a negligible margin.


    Thuack!


    Splash!


    Ramie maintained his pace of attacks, causing the yellow blood of the small bugs to splash all over the place, dying the ground.


    All of the sudden, Ramie''s expression changed. He had just sensed a sharp killing intent sweeping at him.


    Throughout this battle, this was the very first time that he feels a killing intent at all.


    Quickly facing the direction where the intent originated, Ramie''s eyes fell on small shadow, hiding itself among the figures of the bugs. The small creature moved its six thin legs nimble, making sure to hide itself from the discerning eyes, while continuously surveying the battlefield, with an assessing gaze.


    As ramie locked his yellow shining eyes at the small shadow, the creature glared back at him, with its eight, yellow-glowing eyes.


    ¡­

 Chapter 93: Destruction of the prison and the compound (10)

    Chapter 93: Destruction of the prison and the compound (10)


    Tier-2 Beast


    Name: Dream weaving arachnid


    Innate Spells: dream weave, minds network, minds synchronization, mind control.


    Special notes: a dangerous creature that has the ability to weave dreams to entrap his victims. This ability can only be used on the insect type beasts. The creature usually controls a large number of insects to do his bidding, and is also highly territorial in nature, once his territory is trespassed, the dream weaving arachnid will go to any length to eradicate the intruders.


    Seeing the popping screen, Ramie''s heart tensed.


    This was the first time the artifact gives so many details on a beast.


    The azure gazelle king had a good bloodline, however, even his stats'' screen didn''t have this many details.


    ''This beast has mind type innate spells¡­ No wonder I couldn''t feel any type of intent from these beasts. Turns out they''re all under mind control spell¡­!''


    Ramie started at the creature with grave expression.


    This arachnid had four spell that belonged to the mind path magic. They enabled him to create dreams, trap these bugs in them, and then control them to form his own army.


    Alone, this arachnid wasn''t much, due to his very weak physic. However, his innate spells which allowed him to control insects, enabled him to control an army of soldiers that didn''t even fear death. This beast was the most dangerous opponent the group has ever faced till now, as he had his own tier-2 beasts solders.


    ''No wonder we have all been driven to the corner¡­''


    When ramie looked back at the details of the battle, he immediately noticed the pattern.


    Lance was strong and was making use of his fighting experience to launch fast attacks. But, the bug that was fighting him had an even faster attacking power, and it confronted him without care for its own life, going all out to kill him at all expense.


    The bug that was fighting Gregory had strong defense, and low speed, as he himself wasn''t fast, and didn''t have strong offense. The bug slowly overwhelmed him with power.


    The azure gazelle king had good speed, and strong offensive spells. Against slower opponents, he could utterly demolish them with his attacks. However, the two bugs that were attacking him were very fast, and were constantly jumping around, denying the gazelle from landing any attack on them. More ever, the two small bugs were in an utterly flawless coordination, as if they were two bugs with one mind! They didn''t leave the gazelle any chance to retaliate at all.


    This match up was not coincidental at all.


    It wasn''t only that, but even the bugs that were attacking the formation were coordinating between themselves.


    The weak types of bugs were spread out all over the compound, attacking the people and the isolated warriors, while the strongest two types of beasts were all gathered here, surrounding the main force in the compound.


    The large and slow type of bugs was fighting as a vanguard, surrounding and relentlessly attacking the formation. Behind them, were the small, jumpy, and that fast type of bugs! They were observing, and launching sneak attacks at the worst possible moments. They were the ones responsible of inflicting the most casualties among the defenders.


    The warriors were defending according to certain formation; however, on the other hand, the bugs too were attacking according to a formation.


    Even though Brian and the escapees fled away, they still fell to the ambush of three tier-2 bugs and a massive swarm. It wasn''t a coincidence that three tier-2 beasts attacked them and not just two or one. Probably, two of the three tier-2 bugs confronted Brian, as he was the strongest, with the third bug annihilating the rest.


    There was even more to it; if the flying bugs in the air were to launch sudden attacks on the formation, they''d be able to harvest some lives¡­ however, the freighting thing was that they didn''t attack, but only stayed in the air, spreading their poisonous dust.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Weakening the defenders by spreading the dust was definitely more efficient their just attacking.


    The frightening realization made ramie''s heart go cold.


    These bugs weren''t fighting randomly, bur according to well planed battle tactics, a one that made full use of their advantages to completely entrap and slowly overwhelm the compound fighters.


    "If there is any chance for us to walk out of this situation alive, then killing this arachnid it is!"


    The moment ramie though of this, the football sized arachnid moved out of his sight, disappearing behind the swarm of bugs.


    However, the killing intent locking at Ramie started intensifying, indicating an imminent action.


    Following which, many of the small fast bugs started gathering at one specific side of the formation, standing above the large slow bugs, in a scene that had never happened before in this battle.


    Ramie immediately knew that the mind arachnid was going to eliminate him. Apparently, the action of Ramie killing large number of the small bugs had started changing the balance of the fight toward the defenders. Hence, the small arachnid decided to take action.


    The large bugs were being continuously killed by the warriors, and had no way to attack someone inside the formation, hence, the best way to kill him would be for the arachnid to mobilize large number of the small and fast moving bugs to attack and deliver a killing blow in one go.


    Ramie immediately felt the pressure; the number of the small bugs that were preparing to attack him was increasing nonstop. There was no way for him to deal with that number of bugs all at the same time.


    Not hesitating, Ramie willed, and discarded one of the vines: ''If you won''t to aim at me, then I''ll be come to you!''


    He finally saw hope of salvaging the situation.


    Gazing around, Ramie roared:" Darryl, Millard, Fred, Terrance, Philip! Buy me few second! Don''t hold back! I have located the enemy."


    The moment his voice sounded, five warriors looked over immediately. They were part of the ten warriors that had joined the team.


    The fight at formation perimeter was intense, and if they were to leave their positions, the pressure on the others would increase exponentially. However, hearing the last part, hope was ignited in their hearts.


    It was known that Ramie had a very strong perceptive ability in the compound. Hence, the moment they heard the shout, they knew that he was going to make a move that will impact the course of the fight.


    Truth be told, they had no idea, as the rest, that there was a manipulator behind this bug tide eruption, that these bugs were controlled. Aside from ramie, no one had the ability to detect if these bugs were controlled or not.


    However, for past few weeks, every time Ramie took action, the situation usually overturns toward their favor. Hence, they answered his call.


    The five went all out with their energy, dashing over and surrounding Ramie.


    Closing his eyes, ramie poured his magic energy into the green vine spell without restrain. He had discarded the second vine, as he''s most proficient at controlling single vine, and also to lessen the magic energy consumption.


    The vine started curling and curling, increasing in length nonstop.


    The killing intent locked at him suddenly exploded! The cunning arachnid was making his move.


    Squeak!


    Squeak!


    Squeak!


    The small bugs were all railed up. Next, they all leapt in the same time at the surrounded figure in the formation.


    "What in gods'' name is happening¡­?"


    "So many bugs, and on the same time..?"


    "Stop your nonsense, just punch and kill."


    Two warriors started shouting in shock, as the bugs were all coming for ramie. However, a third man roared at them. Next, they recovered and started throwing their attacks at the suicidal leaping bugs.


    For the bugs to be stirred this much over Ramie, something must have happened?


    The five warriors swung their fists wildly, smashing the attacking bugs frantically.


    The number wasn''t small at all.


    Few of the formation warriors were about to shout at the five warriors, and curse them for leaving their positions. However, and seeing the weird occurrence, they were all startled.


    What could have railed up these small sneaky beasts this much?


    Bam!


    Bam!


    Bam!


    The leaping bugs were all slapped to the ground as corpses. However, the reckless mass attack did not stop.


    More of them were jumping and attacking, as if this loss of numbers meant nothing.


    All of sudden, ramie''s eyes snapped open, intense eerie yellow light glowing from within his eyes.


    "Found you!"


    Whoosh!


    A dark, thin shadow was shot out from ramie''s back, toward a certain direction.


    The shadow moved with astonishing speed, tearing its way through the wind, and slithering like a snake, while dodging all of the bugs in its way, nimbly.


    The arachnid hiding amidst the bugs let out a shrill, air piercing cry, as he sensed the aura of death descending upon him.


    He knew that he was the target of this shadow.


    As the shrill cry split the air, the bugs were all railed up, turning the situation chaotic.


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    The bug swarmed a certain direction, as if trying to protect something.


    "Trying to escape, no chance¡­! This is for the lives you''ve taken away today?"


    All of sudden, another piercing cry sounded out; this time however, it was a different sounding bug cry. It was faint, and didn''t seem to mean much amidst the clamoring of the chaotic fight, however, to Ramie, this was a breakthrough in the compound''s desperate situation.


    The dream weaving arachnid ¨C has been killed.


    Next, Ramie let out a sigh.


    Even though many beasts surrounded it, the arachnid was still caught by the slithering vine and was crushed.


    Due to his killing intent, the arachnid was like a glowing beacon of a dazzling light in a dark night to ramie.


    The large figures of the bugs and the sight obstruction were no hinder to ramie, who can perceive the intents.


    The bugs around the formation all stopped their attacks, and started scurrying away. The scene was like a migration on a massive scale, causing the ground to rumble.


    Breaking way from the arachnid''s control seemed to have awakened these bugs.


    The people''s screams that were coming from all over the compound throughout this fight finally stopped.


    Everyone stared stupefied around: "has the nightmare come to an end¡­?"


    "Is it over¡­?"


    "What is exactly happening¡­?"


    Amidst the five warriors, ramie heaved a sigh.


    The cause to all of this endless chaos was a tiny, insignificant looking bug!


    Now that it has been killed, the dire situation should be resolved, to some extent.


    Although the mid control has been broken, there was a possibility that the tier-2 beasts wouldn''t just scurry away like the rest.


    Ramie patted one of the five warriors that had answered his call, the one named Millard. He wanted to warn them not to let their guard down, however, all of the sudden, Ramie''s heart gave a jolt, shuddering.


    Several different, overwhelming killing intents stabbed at him like sharp knives, from various directions!


    "Mr. Ramie, what is exactly happe¡­"


    RUMBLE!!!


    BOOM!!!


    Just as Millard was asking Ramie, the ground beneath them suddenly rumbled, caved in, and then exploded outward, violently. Two pincer-like crab claws were shot out of the ground, hacking at the six of them.


    ¡­

 Chapter 94: Destruction of the prison and the compound (11)

    Chapter 94: Destruction of the prison and the compound (11)


    Ramie felt an immensely crushing force throw him away, in the air. His sight view started rotating; the ground and the sky in his field of vision were constantly alternating, up and down, as if he was in a spinning wheel.


    Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw two giant crab claw-like pincers, smashing and cutting about, stirring up a storm of destruction in the middle of the formation.


    Thump!


    Ramie saw the ground approaching his face, and then, violent collision followed.


    The cloudy sky met his sight. It felt especially depressing, with gray clouds hiding the cheerful blue.


    His body was numb; he couldn''t feel anything at all.


    Memories of the past forcibly made their way to his focus, overwhelming his senses. It was as if a dam was opened, flooding him with the regrets of the past.


    ''This is not the time¡­!'' Ramie roared in his heart.


    Gritting his teeth, ramie brushed these feelings aside, and struggled to lift his head up.


    Gazing at his body, cold expression crept to his face.


    The area from the abdomen and below wasn''t where it''s supposed to be, attached to his torso¡­ Instead, it was lying on the ground, several meters away¡­


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Several meters away, on the other side, a lifeless face was gazing at him.


    ''Millard¡­'' Ramie felt bitter at the sight.


    The lifeless body of Millard, or half of him, was lying on the ground, the same as Ramie. Except¡­ he was dead.


    Fear, helplessness, and other myriad of emotions were all maxed out on Millard''s face, screaming out his unwillingness.


    "What a sorrowful way to go¡­"


    Ramie felt sorry for the man. Next, shifting his line of sight with difficulty to the formation, Ramie smiled resentfully.


    Three tier-2 bugs emerged from the ground, each having pair of giant pincers.


    These three bugs were the same type. They had large heads that were disproportionate to their bodies. Their long heads were covered with heavily armored exoskeletons. Even their small eyes were covered with foldable plates.


    It was obvious that these bugs were specialized for digging tunnels. They were probably the ones that dug the large holes he had seen in the compound.


    The three of them were tier-2 beasts, according to their stats!


    The formation was in utter mass, while the three bugs went completely savage at the fighters, clapping at them nonstop.


    Shifting his gaze about, ramie started looking around for something.


    One, two, three, four, five¡­.


    He located more than six arachnids, concealing themselves in well hidden corners, while keeping the battlefield in their field of vision.


    These bugs were lurking in the dark, away from the clamoring battle, controlling things from behind the scene.


    They were like manipulators, controlling their pawns with strings.


    "No wonder, no wonder¡­"


    Ramie felt great unwillingness in his heart. He hated the fact that the bugs were running rampant here, with no one strong enough to stop their tide.


    He was able to see the full picture now.


    ''Could these creatures have been using us to familiarize themselves with the fighting tactics of humans¡­?'' a sudden insight struck Ramie out of nowhere.


    In truth, that though of his was exactly on point.


    With the additional force of three tier-2 bugs, the arachnids were more than capable of concluding this battle within minutes. However, they didn''t.


    Being forced into this new world, the cunning arachnids wanted to learn to deal with the smart natives. They wanted to sharpen their commanding skills when fighting an enemy capable of fighting according to changeable battle strategies that shifts in accordance with the variables.


    Their previous enemies, which were hordes of beasts of course, were incapable of strategizing in battle. They were purely instincts driven. Usually, surrounding such beasts'' hordes would end the battle right there and then. However, these new natives were something else¡­


    After detecting that someone had snuck into their very lair, these arachnids wanted retaliation. However, upon discovering that the enemy was more than what meets the eye, they turned this battle into a training session.


    They didn''t want to finish off the enemy quickly, but they wanted to slowly overwhelm their opponents, driving them toward certain defeat, to force them into revealing all of their skills as they cope with the pressing situation.


    In the arachnids'' eyes, these bugs were nothing to care about, as their innate abilities allowed them to simply control other bugs, to replenish the lost force.


    However, and as one of them was actually killed, the arachnids panicked. With their low reproductive ability, which was next to nothing, losing even one of them was a catastrophic loss, a one that could not be tolerated.


    The formula was quite simple ¨C the higher the order of the bloodline, the less reproductive ability they have, and the less descendants holding the bloodline type they can reproduce.


    Thus, at the death of one of them, the rest decided to completely eradicate the entire colony of these natives.


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Hearing the obnoxious noise again, ramie shifted his gaze to his lower body, several meters way.


    A large bug came, picked up his lower body, and started gnawing at it.


    The bug was making a sickening, rattling noise, as it used small external appendages outside its mouth to tear apart the flesh, and throw it inside. The scene was like a meat grinder, grinding nonstop.


    As for Millar, several small bugs came to him, and stabbed him with their needle-like mouths. Next, they injected digestive fluids in him, which started liquefying his corpse at a visible rate. Ramie could see that the parts of the corpse where the mouths were stabbed started caving in, and melting.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The bugs then started vigorously sucking the liquid food.


    Suddenly, a shrill, miserable cry rang out from the bug that was devouring Ramie''s lower body. The bug then started thrashing about wildly, as if in great suffering.


    Screech!


    The bug then let one last agony filled cry, before falling to the ground, dead.


    Ramie stared at the bug, delighted in its misfortune.


    At this point, he no longer had the energy to do anything.


    However, soon, his expression froze, as he sensed a familiar, pulsating wave of energy emitting from the bug, sending him a signal.


    < Host has planted one tree-ling! >


    With a slight vibration, the artifact sent a message to him.


    Then, a shocking sight happened afterward¡­


    The bugs'' exoskeleton started cracking all over; then, numerous root-like vines broke through the exoskeleton, and stabbed into the ground. Next, a thin vine emerged from the bugs; corpse, and extended upward, erecting.


    At a speed that was astonishing, the vine started thickening, with multiple thin branches emerging from it. Then, leafs started appearing at the branches that were in turn, projecting other sub-branches themselves.


    In almost no time, a full-fledged, two meter tall tree was formed. The dead bug was now nothing more than a cracked exoskeleton, an empty shell. The bug had turned to nutrition, and was absorbed by the tree.


    Few small bugs moved toward the tree.


    Squeak!


    Squeak!


    Squeak!


    As the bugs close to the tree, vines shot out from the ground, stabbing the approaching bugs.


    The roots started digesting the stabbed bugs from the inside, and absorbing them. With few more squeaks, and futile struggle, the bugs dropped dead, as the tree sucked them dry, the same as the large bug, leaving them as empty shells.


    Ramie stared, wide-eyed.


    He could sense a tangible connection to the tree, as if it was an extension of his body.


    To verify this sensation, Ramie willed, and several vines were shot from the ground around the tree, moving according to his will.


    Ramie didn''t feel delight in his heart at all, instead, he was bitter: ''if I ever meet the one that had made these artifacts, I''m gonna crack his head open¡­.


    Such ability¡­ and the artifact didn''t even mention it, o even hints at it¡­'' ramie thought, grudgingly.


    It was unknown whether this was the effect of consuming the flesh of his lower body, or the blood. But in either case, he could have made use of this ability as a poison, to lure the bugs and then turn them to a tree-ling, whatever did that meant.


    Seeing the weird occurrence, many large bugs came over and attacked the tree.


    The tree sent all of its vines, in self-defense, to kill and absorb, while the bugs kept hacking at it.


    Finally, after taking down four more bugs, the tree was hacked to pieces. Ramie felt the connection to the tree disappears.


    Anyway, by now, the formation was no more, turning into small pockets of gathered fighters, fending off for their lives, even if it was for few more moments. Half of them had already died.


    This battle was not lost just now, but from the moment these arachnids took notice of this place. Ramie understood this concept.


    Looking to the side, he saw a small dagger next to him. The ruins of the earth dome inscription could be seen at the handle.


    ''This dagger must have fallen off from Millard or someone else¡­''


    Ramie reached out, and grabbed the sheathed dagger.


    If he wanted to activate the earth dome inscription, all he had to do was to unsheathe the dagger, and stabbed it into the ground. However, with bugs everywhere, the inscription wouldn''t last long, especially with the tier-2 beasts around.


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Several other small bugs started coming over at him.


    ''So this is how I go¡­!''


    Ramie seethed, as he watched the small bugs coming at him, vigorously.


    A look of hatred crept to his face: ''How stupid was I¡­! To think that that I was happy to get this meager strength¡­ it''s a joke, I''m a joke!''


    ''I should have tried harder, and risked myself more, to get tier-2 magical cores¡­''


    ''Why haven''t I tried harder? To survive such world, strength was the key! Only perusing safety had slowed my leveling up speed, leading to such scenario! This is something I already thought about countless times, but, but, I never got around to do it! why, why? ...¡­ Wait¡­ could it be¡­''


    Bang!


    Suddenly, a sudden realization struck Ramie like a crackle of thunder, rendering him dazed¡­


    ''It''s¡­ the bloodline¡­! The bloodline¡­!''


    The beasts'' bloodlines grant the artifact user the ability to wield powers unique to the respective beasts, where the bloodline originated! However, with such powers, consequences are sure to follow!


    Ramie always wondered on the type of psychological side of the subterranean ghost tree bloodline¡­ However, he never detected any.


    But, now, he instantly realized the type of psychological effect the bloodline had induced in him.


    The subterranean ghost tree is a beast known to have strong survivability. This meant that this beast''s instincts to survive are much higher than his instincts to gain powers.


    So, what could the psychological effect would be¡­


    Now, ramie knew what this effect was¡­ He was sure about it!


    [ The effect was an extreme strong self preservation tendencies! ]


    This was the reason why ramie''s first instinct whenever something dangerous happens was to escape and ensure his safety, rather than to fight or confront the enemy.


    The events of the past soon all flashed by ramie''s mind, confirming this juncture.


    - When he, Lance, and Neil fought the group in the bakery store, he didn''t escape. But that was only because the two who fought him were incapable of posing any risk to his life¡­


    - When he met Reem and Jeffry, and they told him that the military was out of the city, all what he could thing of at the time was to flee, and not look for small, weak magical beasts to get their cores and level up¡­


    - When he saw the tier-2 crocodile beast massacre the other group of survivors at the harbor, unlike Lance, who wanted nothing more than to go and help, he himself only wanted to get away, fleeing for his safety. Although, like the others, he wasn''t capable of doing anything even if he rushed to help those people, however, at least, the others with him thought of going to help, whilst his only aim at the time was to flee away¡­


    - As to his fight with the dark element mage, and the wind mage at the night¡­ he only fought because there was no room to retreat. He only fought because they specifically came for his life¡­


    - In the fight with the flaying beasts in the compound, the others were giving it their all, while he decided that when things gets too dangerous, he''d flee the scene and hide in the nearby houses, abandoning the others¡­


    Scenes and scenes kept flashing by in his mind, consolidating his assumption even firmer and firmer.


    In the last period, the compound''s power had risen by a large margin. Advancements and breakthroughs were being made every day, and the compound''s total power curve was shooting up nonstop.


    Although ramie was the cautious type and he never let his guard down¡­ but still, seeing the compound''s forces killing beasts at such rapid pace like they''re nothing, had dulled his cautiousness toward the beasts a bit. He had thought that with such collective strength, he could afford to put his safety first, above risking his life to get more cores and strengthening himself.


    This was the effect of his bloodline''s psychological side effect!


    However, what was the point of realizing that now¡­? He had prioritized safety over powering up, and now, the consequences came here to bite at him.


    ''If I have another chance, I''ll pursue strength like crazy dog!'' Ramie thought, his eyes bloodshot.


    "If you want food, you have to work for it¡­" ramie roared, bitterly, at the bugs. Then, he unsheathed the dagger, before stabbing in into the ground.


    Kr-krk-krak-kerak!


    As the inscription was activated, the ground rose from around ramie, from all direction, joining above him, thus forming an earth dome around him.


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Clitter!


    Lying down in utter darkness, Ramie could hear the small bugs climbing the dome, looking for an entry point. However, after seeing that it was completely sealed off, the small bugs went rabid, attacking the dome.


    This action of him was not going to save him, only delaying death, as even without any bug attacking the earth dome, and exhausting its magic energy, the inscription itself had a short time limit, as it was spending its energy just to maintain the dome structure.


    ''I wish I had remaining magic energy to try the rooting spell, and see its effect¡­?'' Ramie thought, as he sensed that his remaining magic energy was less than tenth of one unit.


    ''Wait¡­ the rooting spell is casted the same as my morphing spell¡­ maybe¡­ I should try and see¡­''


    Knowing that death was coming the moment the inscription reaches it time limit, ramie was now desperate to try anything. Originally, he was waiting for another update to come, to learn what this forth spell of his can do, however, now that things had reached this point, there was no meaning in doing so.


    Anyway, no matter what the effect of the spell could be, he doubted that it could help him defeat the crushing force of the bugs.


    Bearing no hope in his heart in this working, ramie willed.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.4 Magic Artifact (65%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 69


    - Innate Spell: Soul Perception


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent), Green Vine (Rare), Ghost glare (Special), Rooting


    - Unused skill points: 0


    ''Rooting!'' he commanded.


    < ???... >


    < ???... >


    < Cast: yes/no >


    As the screen popped up, a sense of foreboding crept to his heart.


    But, he had no idea if this sensation was because this spell''s casting method was similar to the [morphing] spell, or because of the lack of infos, or because of something else.


    However, regardless of the reason, there was no other choice here.


    ''Yes!''


    Willing it, ramie felt his consciousness drift away, slowly.


    As darkness started creeping on him, swallowing him¡­ abruptly, Ramie felt his consciousness being pulled into a world of darkness.


    In this world, he could see countless, variant-sized stars, glowing. His consciousness was being pulled at an incomprehensible speed, toward a certain star. Next, his consciousness collided with the star, and a scene was projected into his consciousness, spiking up his will to fight


    Ramie saw the familiar figure of the wind mage standing at a small hill, watching the crumbling compound, with a cold expression.


    ''What is this¡­? Is it an epiphany, or are my brain chemicals going wild¡­?''


    The wind mage wasn''t alone, but there were three figures behind him, a man, a woman, and a teen-ache girl. However, unlike the wind mage, their faces were blurred; ramie was unable to clearly see them.


    Ramie had no idea why he was seeing this scene, however, a deep, fury howled in his heart. It was as if this wind mage was behind every crisis that had ever struck him.


    Even though this didn''t make sense to ramie, however, his anger was genuine.


    Without hesitation, and as the darkness was swallowing Ramie, he focused all of his strength, and sent a vine to the wind mage. The satisfied expression on his face as he enjoyed the calamity ongoing in the compound completely agitated Ramie, spiking up his fury.


    Even though this was all his imagination, or something¡­ However, ramie felt uncontainable anger.


    As he sent the vine, the projected scene started wavering, at the edge of collapsing. It was as if the action of moving the vine in this scene was consuming his energy. If he was to stretch the vine even further, then he estimated that his energy wouldn''t be able to support this scene.


    Thus, ramie didn''t extend the vine any longer, and wrapped it around the wind mage''s neck.


    The vine length wasn''t sufficient to make a full circle around the neck, only half. Next, along ramie''s will, the vine squeezed.


    The wind mage unleashed an inhuman screech, as he struggled to free his neck.


    As ramie squeezed the vine even harder, all of his energy was used up, and the projected scene was shattered.


    Next, he was pulled away from the star, and his consciousness was swallowed, until only darkness remained¡­


    ''Huh, does this projected scene symbolize how much I hate that fellow¡­? Then, it would have been good if I had managed to crack his neck¡­''


    Before Ramie completely loses his consciousness, he thought to himself, disappointedly.


    ¡­


    On one of the hills that oversee the compound¡­


    The stunned figure of Billy and his family stared with fear at the fallen Curtis.


    A moment ago, he suddenly started screeching like a maniac, before falling to the ground with a frightened expression.


    "Curtis! Curtis, what is happening with you, what is wrong?" the anxious voice of Billy drifted.


    Right now, Curtis was on the ground, his face devoid of any color, like a zombie. Cold sweat was pouring off his body, without stop.


    His scheme has been a great success.


    After attracting the bug disaster to the prison, leading to the death of many of his enemies. He waited until the bug retreated back to their place, before going into the prison and looking for the antidote.


    To his joy, he actually found it. Afterward, he repeated the same thing, using the remaining of the ''sample'' he took.


    He was standing at one of the hills, while watching the compound. However, just a moment ago, he felt as though a pair of eyes started at his back, causing his skin to crawl. Next, he felt as though something was reaching out to him, strangling him, and wanting to devour his soul.


    However, there was literally nothing in sight! Neither he or the other three could see anything, at all!


    He really felt that this was it, that there was no escape. This was the most frightened he has ever gotten in his entire life. He really was horrified, shitless.


    People always feared what they don''t understand the most, and this was the most mysterious happening that he has ever gone through.


    Swallowing his fear, he got up with haste, and ran toward the car, at the base of the hill:"what are you all staring at like an idiots, just follow me, Now! We have to leave this place at once."


    As he jumped into the car, he rubbed his neck, then, pulled down his shirts'' collar, while looking at the mirror.


    Hisssss!


    Seeing his neck, he sucked in a cold breath of air, as his fear spiked up even higher.


    He saw a violet-colored bruise mark at his neck, as though he was being strangled by a rope.


    "*&^%$! What is happening in this world?''


    Truth be told, he was waiting here to finish off the escapees. He was determined to not let anyone off the hook. However, he was now determined to leave this place at all costs, and never return in his life time.


    ¡­

 Chapter 95: Decision and Consequences... plant form!

    Chapter 95: Decision and Consequences... plant form!


    When the disaster first broke out around the world, the world governments knew that it wasn''t possible to protect everyone. The scale of the beast tides eruption was simply too grand, like unstoppable tsunami. For this reason, all the armies around the world chose to defend only few key cities, and gather the survivors there.


    These cities became heavily guarded centers; they became the site where the humans were going to make their final stand, facing the beasts with their last outburst of strength.


    However, as the time went on, the awaited confrontation never happened. The beasts that were so powerful that not even the modern military might could stand up to them, never attacked the cities!


    The humans however never rested, they started fortifying their cities, and accumulating strength. Their superiority on the planet, which they had taken to be granted, was no more. So now, aside from each other, there was new enemy to build up strength for.


    Even though the beasts never attacked on a large scale again, however, aside from the cities, the rest of world was no longer the humans'' territory, but the beasts'' playground.


    As the time went on, the disaster started changing the world. New animals, beasts, plants, even bacteria and viruses started appearing, morphing the peaceful environment into a one that was exceedingly hostile and endlessly competitive.


    The new environment was so potent that not even the horrifyingly destructive effect of the atomic bombs that the human''s had used against the beasts was able to influence.


    The radiation were completely absorbed and cleansed, not long afterward.


    What was worse; was that the pace of the change was not showing any signs of slowing down at all. It was continuous, with constant growing hostile environment.


    Anyway, with the cities separated from each other with such dangerous environments, the structure of the human society itself started changing on multiple levels, political, economical, social, and others.


    For instants, politically wise, the dangerous environment made it very hard to impossible to connect the cities to each other, in most cases¡­ Hence, the concept of central government became very difficult concept to apply, almost obsolete. Thus, the cities in the world started managing themselves, establishing their own domains.


    As for the economical changes, it was caused the same reason. The difficulty of transporting goods between cities forced them to depend on the surrounding environment to sustain their inhabitants'' basic needs.


    Anyway, and luckily, the humans weren''t completely helpless in this new changing world. They had magic, and life energy, to compete in this new hostile world.


    At first, they had only the artifacts to apply the wondrous and mystical powers of magic, however, with time; magicians started feverously studying and exploring this new aspect of this world. Warriors did the same with life energy.


    These two new paths gave birth to individual with immense power, a one that enabled them to compete with the beasts head on.


    Magicians no longer depended on the artifacts, but started researching and creating new spells, by using the artifacts inscribed spells as foundation.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    On the warrior''s side, they started coming up with special techniques to use their life energy, and even started creating techniques that imitated the magicians'' spell effects.


    As such, the humans didn''t lag behind too much. After absorbing the shock of the disaster, the humans started playing to their strength ¨C high adaptive abilities, struggling to keep their footing in this new savage world.


    The time went on, and the environment was constantly adapting itself to the introduction of the new life forms, assimilating them in. this in turn led to a massive change in the world, as the humans knew it.


    Before the dust of the disaster settles, a prehistoric-like dense forest crept on the land, engulfing almost everything on its way, subjugating it to its cruel environment.


    After only few years, almost the entire land mass of the world was covered with this dense, jungle. This in turn created the perfect environment for the beasts to thrive in, and an everlasting nightmare for the humans.


    The scale of this forest was beyond grand, and so was the type of life that thrived in. Even though this forest was relatively new, however, it gave off a sense on ancientness, as if it has been there for millennia. The trees were so exaggerated in scale that they rose up to heights of tenths of meters, and sometimes more. They formed a canopy so thick that it could even isolate the land, denying it the grace of daylight, and turning many places on earth a permanent night lands. This led in turn to the prosperity of many frightening night lurking beasts, and plant life forms.


    To humans, this forest was a death zone, while for the weird types of animals, beasts, plants, and other creatures¡­ a heaven.


    Inside the massive forest, in a certain area, there was a small pond of muddy water.


    Beside the pond, there was a football-sized rock. Hiding behind it, was small furry creature.


    The creature was greedily eyeing a strange flower beside the pond.


    The flower, which rested on the ground, was flat with abnormal black colored petals. Emitting strange formless power, it looked very mysterious, and appealing. This was the reason why this small mouse-like beasts so interested in eating it. He could feel that if he was to consume it, he''d gain a lot of befits.


    Slowly sneaking toward the flower, the small beast was very cautious.


    After getting to a certain distance closer to the flower, and as if stepping into some sort of invisible barrier around it, the small beast suddenly fell under the pressure of a formless power, directly assaulting his soul.


    Before the beast could even react and flee the scene, the mysterious power assaulted at him in no time. Without being given any chance to escape, the beast gave a sudden jolt, before falling to the ground, completely motionless.


    The wind blew, and the flowers black petals fluttered a bit.


    In this savage environment, the flower rested in peace. The top predators in the area knew better than to approach it, only the small creatures were stupid enough to do so.


    Around the flower, almost no living thing could be seen. Anything that had designs on it had already went into a strange trance, lying on the ground till death. The rest of the ''wise'' creatures had already fled away, not daring to approach the area.


    It was as if there was a strange domain around the flower, where anything approaches it suffers the mysterious attack.


    Under the ground, attached to the flower, was two meter long, spindle shaped plant. The upper part of the plant, where the flower was attached, and the lower part of the plant where the roots were projected, were both tapered. The middle area of the plant was as plump, and as thick as an average man''s torso.


    Inside the plump middle, was a dark-green, fist-sized, gem-like orb! The orb was swimming within a thick textured liquid. Around the orb, was a bracelet, with gems embedded in it. The bracelet was projecting an energy barrier around the orb, as if protecting it from something.


    Pu-thump!


    Pu-thump!


    Pu-thump!


    Once every a while, a throbbing heartbeat-like faint tremor would be emitted from the orb, accompanied with a faint glow of light.


    Pu-thump!


    Pu-thump!


    Pu-thump!


    The orb was releasing the tremors and the glow at a very slow interval, persistently.


    Inside the orb, a very weak consciousness awakened.


    ''Who¡­ am¡­ I¡­?''


    The consciousness questioned.


    Afterward, the consciousness went dormant; as if it had spent all of its power just to conjure this thought. And the thumping pace degreased.


    The tremors'' interval time increased to one very few days.


    Months went by, one after another, during which, the beating pace increased back again to once every minute. Then, the consciousness was awakened again, still very weak.


    ''Who¡­ am¡­ I¡­?'' the consciousness formulated the same thought again. It was as if the consciousness was so fragile, that it couldn''t afford to even form a memory. Hence, it could only create this thought.


    Next, it went dormant again, and the beating pace degreased once more.


    Months and even years went by. And the savage cycle repeated itself.


    The consciousness required months to gather the energy needed to awaken itself, and question its identity¡­ however¡­ that was it. The consciousness afterward wouldn''t have the spare energy to even memorize the thought, and goes dormant again.


    Even despite the bracelet''s force field that was protecting the orb, the surrounding liquid was imposing a formless pressure at the orb, preventing it from gathering enough energy to permanently awaken the consciousness, all the while, trying to preach the force field and engulf the orb.


    Years went on, and the vicious cycle repeated itself.


    ¡­

 Chapter 96: Waking up

    Chapter 96: Waking up


    As the time went on, the weak consciousness kept trying to wake up, while the bloodline essence kept trying to stop it.


    In the world of beasts, the strong devours the weak, and adds it to its strength. This fact was so deeply rooted that it was engraved on a genetic level. The genetic composition of this plant was part beast ¨C part human. The beasts'' bloodline didn''t like the idea of submitting to what it considers as weaker being. As such, it was trying to suppress the consciousness from awakening, as it would be forced to submit to its will, all the while, it was constantly corroding the human genes, and replicating them with beasts'' genes.


    The bloodline didn''t have a soul, or was trying to take over the consciousness. Instead, it was trying to completely engulf the weaker human gene, as it considered it as flaw, before allowing the consciousness to wake up.


    In the world of beasts, the beasts struggle in a constant fierce competition to survive. As such, the natural defense mechanism of the bloodline refused to allow any disadvantage to exist. Hence, it was removing this genetic flaw, as it didn''t want to compromise its chances of surviving. It was trying to remove the weaker genes.


    The entire thing was like a hypersensitivity autoimmune reaction, where the bloodline was removing what it considered as compromised parts.


    As the years went by, the bloodline essence in the plant kept replacing the human genes with its own, slowly turning the plant body into a full-fledged subterranean ghost tree. While the artifact on the other hand, kept resisting the process.


    The artifact was prioritizing preserving the consciousness over stopping the bloodline invasion, working on the false presumption that the bloodline was revolting against the will of its user. This resulted in the artifact using only small parts of its energy to stop the bloodline invasion.


    In any case, the bloodline kept absorbing most of the magic energy that the plant was recovering, to fuel the process of gene invasion, thus preventing large portion of it from reaching the artifact. This made it so that the artifact was forced to use the little magic energy that it was recovering through the plant to defend the consciousness and slow down the human gene devouring, at the expense of awakening the consciousness.


    The vicious cycle went on for a very long time, until a certain day.


    Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!


    Several meters away from the small water pond, a dense wall of shrubbery rustled a bit, before parting ways. A two meter height, wolf-like beast walked out with heavy steps.


    Brrr!


    Brrr!


    Brrr!


    The beasts was emitting the powerful aura undulation of tier-2 magical beasts, and was breathing raggedly, causing puffs of white smoke to blow out with every breath. The body of the beast was filled with bleeding cuts and wounds. One particular wound was so deep that even the interior organs could be made out.


    It was obvious that this beast wasn''t going to last any longer.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    With eyes that were half closed, the beast forced it''s already failing legs to carry it to the small pond, to drink his last sip of water in this life.


    However, just as the beast was about to reach the pond, and as if stepping into some invisible boundary, a formless mysterious power directly attack the beast, causing it to go stiff right on the spot. The beast immediately collapsed, falling to the ground, as if it had lost consciousness.


    Ordinarily, the beast would have been able to recover after a while, enough to escape this strange area. However, now, he was so heavily injured that it didn''t have the power to even open its eyes, not to mention resist this mysterious power.


    The strange state went on and on, and the beast never recovered afterward. Its body bled out, till it was no longer able to support itself. Not long afterward, the glow of life disappeared, and the beast breathed its last.


    The blood of the beast flooded the ground, and the magic energy concentration spiked up in the area. As the subterranean plant next to the pond was a magical beast in nature, its reaction was to absorb as much magic energy as possible as fast as it could, before the energy diffuses to other areas with less concentration. Inside the plants'' pulpy middle, the artifact, which had been getting only small portion of the magic energy share for the past years, suddenly vibrated. The abrupt increase of the energy absorbed by the plant meant that its usual small share had increased by several folds.


    Even if the bloodline essence was stealing the lions'' share of the absorbed energy, the current remaining small portion that was absorbed by the artifact was easily enough to fill the artifact by one magic energy point, which is the minimum threshold, needed to awaken the consciousness.


    Bang!


    The core, that has always been surrounded by the artifacts force field, gave sudden a violent tremor, alongside an intense glow.


    The consciousness ¨C has awakened!


    Immediately, the bloodline invasion that has been ongoing for years ¨C stopped! All of the voluntary bodily functions submitted to the consciousness.


    This time around, the consciousness wasn''t weak to the point of disappearing only after forming one thought. This time, it was completely awake¡­ but also, fragile.


    His thoughts were in complete disarray, he had no specific idea to unify his thoughts around it. He didn''t know who he was, where he was, or what was happening? He knew nothing. Everything was blurry, and felt unreal.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, and as though an electric bomb had went off, various scenes rushed in like a flood, connecting to each other, and forming full picture.


    ''Damn it! The compound¡­! The bugs¡­! I mustn''t allow them to devour me, not before I make them bleed out the price.'' frantic thoughts reeled with urgency, causing him to flare with battle intent.


    Ramie abruptly tried to open his eyes¡­ however, he couldn''t see a thing.


    He tried to listen to the sounds¡­ but he couldn''t hear a thing.


    He tried swinging his hands, and turning his head¡­ but nothing happened.


    ''What is happening¡­?'' a sharp sense of anxiousness rose in his heart.


    The place he was confined in was utterly dark, completely silent, and he couldn''t initiate any movement at all.


    ''Could it be that I''ve been eaten¡­ and still alive inside the bug?'' his agitation was growing. However, after thinking things over, ramie dismissed this horrific thought.


    Calming himself down, ramie sent out his senses, to perceive his own body condition.


    ''This¡­!''


    Spending few seconds to scan himself, Ramie conformed the outcome he feared the most.


    He has been turned into a plant!


    Recovering from his shock, Ramie hurriedly recalled the stat in his mind.


    - Name: Ramie


    - Lv.4 Magic Artifact (98%)


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Subterranean Ghost Tree (Special)


    - Magic Energy: 0/98


    - Innate Spell: Soul Perception


    - Spells: Morphing (permanent)/deactivated, Green Vine (Rare), Ghost glare (Special), Rooting (Special)/deactivate (Uproot), Sprouting (Rare)


    - Unused skill points: 0


    - Bloodline''s integration percent: 18%


    Skimming through the stats, and seeing the term ''deactivated'' beside the Morphing spell, Ramie''s heart sank.


    Morphing was a passive spell. Its effect was regulating the integration between the bloodline and the body of the artifact users. This spell was constantly activated. Its main function was to prevent the injected bloodlines, which had an immense genetic potency, from devouring the human genes that had far weaker.


    The morphing spell basically suppresses the beasts'' bloodlines at an integration rate of 5% or less. This percent enables the humans of using their respective bloodline innate spells and advantages without becoming full-fledged beasts!


    However, now, and seeing that the spell was deactivated, ramie instantly knew that things had went south.


    Seeing the Bloodline''s integration percent at 18% confirmed his thought.


    ''*&&%^¡­ *&%#... @%^&¡­!''


    To vent his anger, he started cursing out for a while, before calming himself down.


    The 18% meant that he was now 18% beast. It also meant that when he casts rooting again, to regain his human form¡­ even more physical traits of the subterranean ghost tree would be forced on him. In other words, he''d be even less as human, and more as a beast.


    His artifacts'' flaw were constantly baiting at him. And everything that could go wrong with these yes/no type of spells was going.


    ''Morphing¡­.'' Ramie thought. And in response, the usual message appeared to him.


    < Spell: Morphing (permanent) /inactive >


    < Effect: gaining the bloodline of the subterranean ghost tree! >


    < Cast: yes/no >


    After casting this spell for the first time, it had given him the bloodline. However, if he was to cast it now, it would merely resume its bloodline suppression effect, and not injecting more bloodline.


    After casting the spell, he felt a bit relieved.


    Shifting his focus to the stats, he noticed some changes.


    ¡­

 Chapter 97: New spell; Sprouting

    Chapter 97: New spell; Sprouting


    Shifting his gaze to the stats, Ramie noticed some changes.


    The first thing he noticed was the artifact''s percent rising. It had risen to 98%.


    This change wasn''t odd, as when he first casted the morphing spell, the same thing happened. Of course, the reason for this change was very simple; the bloodline that he got belonged to a magical beast, which meant that after fusing with it, his body''s capacity for magic would rise. This wasn''t unusual, as the beasts are known for having capacity for magic energy much larger than humans.


    Anyway, after the rise in integration percent, he was becoming closer to a beast. Hence, his body''s capacity rose.


    The increase of his body''s capacity from 69 to 98 confirmed this juncture of his. Also, the unlocking of the ''Sprouting'' spell further ascertained his guess.


    Now, Ramie discovered another method to unlock spells, other than advancing his artifact. Of course, this is a method that he decided to never resort to. After all, he really didn''t want to turn into a tree beast, or any beast.


    The new spell and the rise in the base value of magic energy lessened the aggravation in his heart: ''At least I got something out of this mess¡­''


    Ramie shifted his focus on the Rooting spell. He was feeling very anxious, he was hoping that the ''deactivate (uproot)'' terms next to the rooting spell meant that it was possible for him to regain his human form. Also, he wanted to see if the information of the spell had appeared or not, he was depending on the possibility of an update coming in when he was unconscious.


    < Spell: Rooting (Active) >


    < Grade of the spell: Special >


    < Effect: A transformation type spell, it allows the caster to assume the subterranean plant form; it hides the aura, enhances vitality, and allows the user to absorb nutrition''s directly from earth. This spell has no time limit. >


    < Special warning 1: This spell temporarily raises the bloodline''s integration percent to successfully take effect. Hence, it temporarily deactivates the morphing spell. So, the user mustn''t cast it not unless he has an additional magic energy reserve than the needed for the cast >


    < Cost: 10 magic energy units >


    Seeing the special warning, ramie''s mood went terrible.


    Now, it had to be said that when a magician cast a spell without having the magic energy required for it, he usually only passes out for a while, with no further effect.


    However, to bloodline magicians, the backlash of this action holds entirely different meaning, and consequences.


    The morphing spell, which is a standard spell in any bloodline type of artifact, is a passive spell. It is the only thing suppressing the highly potent bloodlines'' genes, and preventing them from turning the magicians to full-fledged beasts.


    The morphing spell exhaust 0.4 magic energy point per day to entrap the bloodline¡­ Hence, bloodline magicians must never fully exhaust their magic energy reserve, to shackle the bloodline.


    As per minimum, the bloodline magicians must at least have 0.1 magic energy points at any given moment to maintain the morphing spell. This would sustain the morphing spell for 6 hours. Afterward, the magician must rest to recover magic energy.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Actually, even if the bloodline magician has 0.0001 magic energy points¡­ as long as he maintains his consciousness, he''d be able to recast the morphing spell.


    However, in Ramie''s case, the worst case scenario came to be.


    When he casted the Rooting spell, he had only few magic energy points. Hence, and given that the Rooting spell magic energy point requirement was 10, ''which he didn''t know at the time due to the missing information,'' exceeding the limits by this much had caused him not only to fail in sustaining the morphing spell¡­ but also to draw magic energy from the bloodline. On the same time, surpassing his limit by this much had led to him losing consciousness.


    This action was akin to unlock the gates wide open, and allow the shark entry into the fish pool. Of course, the fish in this metaphor was the human genes.


    As the bloodline was let loose, it immediately, out of its defensive instincts, started devouring the weaker genes. In this process, the bloodline shackled the artifact and even revolted against the consciousness. To the bloodline, survival for the fittest was an absolute role, hence, no weakness was allowed. This even surpasses self reservation. Thus, even if eliminating the weaker genes led to death¡­ the gene ''purification'' process would still continue.


    This was all to protect the specie. Even at the expense of the individual.


    This was the reason why Ramie was terrified.


    In short, exceeding the magic energy limit led to him losing consciousness, and on the same time, expending all of the magic energy reserve resulted in the deactivation of the morphing spell.


    As a direct result, the bloodline revolted and commenced devouring his genes, while preventing him from awakening, to ensure the continuation of the gene ''purification process!'' Since ramie couldn''t wake up, he couldn''t recast the morphing spell.


    Thinking of all of this, ramie''s thoughts sped up, his mind reeling at its max, calculating the consequences.


    He had no idea for how long he''s been unconscious for, or the situation outside?


    However, since he had only 3 remaining magic energy points, Ramie had to recover at least 10 points before using rooting spell to revert back to his human form.


    The bloodline progression was bad. However, not knowing the situation outside was even worse.


    How many bugs are outside now?


    Is it possible for them to locate him in this form?


    Although the rooting spell description mentioned hiding the aura¡­ however, does this property work on these bugs, or not?


    Without testing this aspect out, how could he be sure of it?


    Ramie instantly pushed the matter of the bloodline progression to the back of his mind.


    Although it was severe matter, however, keeping his life was even more important.


    As time went on, ramie started growing anxious.


    ''I have to calm down. Agitation won''t solve a thing¡­'' reminding himself, ramie cooled down.


    ''I can''t just cast rooting the moment I regain 10 point, but I have to cast it only when I recover all of my magic. This way, even if the situation outside is bad¡­ at least; I''ll be able to protect myself, or cast rooting again¡­''


    ''Wait¡­ even if I can''t see or hear I should still be able to sense auras. I hope the violet dust is no longer there¡­''


    Focusing on something to do, Ramie''s agitation lessened a bit by bit.


    Spreading his senses, Ramie started perceiving many dots in the vicinity around him. Some dots were large and bright, like light pulps in night time, signifying strong beasts. While others small and weak, like distant sparks, signifying weak beasts.


    Most of the auras belonged to beasts that could not even qualify to be considered tier-1 beasts. They were all far too.


    There was only one low tier-1 beast, and it was tenths of meters away.


    ''Whew¡­ it seems that the bugs are no longer here, or only one of them¡­'' Ramie felt relived. After all, there was no way for him to fight the tier-2 bug beasts alone.


    However, soon, he frowned: ''Could Lance and the rest have escaped safely¡­? I wish they did¡­!''


    Letting out a mental sigh, ramie focused on the overflowing magic energy around him: ''it seems that there is an increase of magic energy concentration in the area. Hmm¡­ so this is the reason why the artifact managed to awaken my consciousness. Whew¡­! It seems that I have lucked out here.''


    ''I should check the new spell, while I wait for the magic energy to recover¡­''


    < Spell: Sprouting (Active) >


    < Grade of the spell: Rare >


    < Effect: undifferentiating the cells in any area of the body to stem cells, then, re-differentiating them to form the required type of cells. Can be used to bud ''whistling flowers,'' ''air vibration recipient,'' ''central-peripheral secondary eyes.'' >


    < Special note: Whistling flowers; special types of flowers that sucks in air and then blows it through special tubes to induce sounds. Air vibration recipient; sensory organ that can receive sound waves though thin hairy cells, and then change the sound waves to electrical signals to be sent to the brain. Central-peripheral secondary eyes; sensory organ that collects the light in the environment to form an image, then converts this image into a set of electrical signals, and transmits these signals to the brain >


    < Cost: 1 magic energy units >


    ''Hmm¡­ so, basically; eyes, ears, and mouth¡­? Maybe¡­?''


    Ramie was a bit confused by this spell, and a bit disappointed.


    He was confused because he wasn''t sure on why this particular spell was unlocked among others¡­. disappointed because he didn''t get a battle oriented spell, which he was in dire need of.


    ''Mouth¡­ I''m not sure if it can be helpful to me. But eyes¡­ could it be that if I sprout more of them I can have better vision¡­? As for ears, maybe I can use them to enhance my hearing¡­ maybe?''


    ''Wait¡­ if I can sprout eyes now, then I can see the situation outside!''


    Reaching this occlusion, ramie instantly casted¡­ Next, information regarding the practical casting method of the spell rushed to his mind.


    Following which, he willed.


    Sprouting ¨C Central-peripheral secondary eyes!


    ¡­

 Chapter 98: Meeting Cyril (1)

    Chapter 98: Meeting Cyril (1)


    Casting the sprouting spell was the same as casting the green vine spell; first, ramie had to choose an area on his body as the target for the spell.


    Afterward, the cells in the area would morph into stem cells; the stem cells would in turn morph into the required set of cells needed to form the organ that Ramie had chosen.


    Of course, sensing that his plant body was few meters under the ground, he wouldn''t be able to see a thing under the ground. Hence, Ramie chose the part that was above the ground ¨C the flower.


    As the spell took effect, a slight pulp was formed the center of the flower, and started absorbing the flower into itself. Few seconds later, the flower shrunk to form a fat pulp. Next, a slit was formed at the top of the oval pulpy mass. The slit then opened to reveal an eye that was an exact replica of ramie''s yellow eyes.


    Now, instead of the flower, there was an oval pulp with eye in it, attached to a stem.


    The eye was wide open, scanning the surroundings, revealing vigilance and a bit of excitement.


    ''This is cool¡­ this is very useful!'' ramie marveled as he scanned the area.


    However, as the sight around entered his eyes, his excitement for this spell soon died down, as shock descended at him.


    ''A forest¡­? No¡­ this too dense, maybe a jungle¡­?''


    The scene was not something he had expected.


    ''Where is the compound? Where is this place¡­?''


    The ground was covered with grass and multiple layers of dead leaves. The shrubbery was dense, and greatly limited the vision. It was composed of many weird vegetation that ramie had never seen in his life. The trees were abnormally large and tall. Their trunks were very thick. The trees canopy was so dense that only few rays of light managed to get passed them to elevate a bit of the dimness.


    In short, everything around was weird and on an abnormally large scale.


    ''Could it be due to this eye that I see everything bigger¡­? No, that shouldn''t be it. Where is this place anyway?''


    ''I should wait until my energy recovers before cancelling the rooting spell and checking things myself.''


    Collecting his thoughts, Ramie made up his mind.


    ¡­


    After what felt like really long time, he finally recovered his magic energy.


    Rooting!


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    Injecting magic energy into the artifact and commanding, a seed was formed in the middle of the plant body, enclosing the core. Next, the process of destructive metabolism started breaking down the plant body to release energy, then; this energy was sent to the seed where a constructive metabolism started creating bio mass.


    The plant''s body started decreasing in mass as the seed started enlarging.


    The seed was then pushed upward, to the surface, where it bloomed into a giant flower with dark petals.


    In the center of the flower, a green-colored pulp started grown at a visible rate, while the plant mass under the ground grew smaller and smaller, turning into a root-like extensions.


    Minutes afterward, the root underground was thoroughly consumed, leaving only large oval-shaped pulp above the ground. Next, the pulp started withering at a visible rate, before cracking and peeling downward, revealing a humanoid figure, hugging himself in a fetus posture.


    The figure''s eye lids shook, before opening up, revealing terrifying ghost-like, shining, golden eyes.


    ''Hmm¡­ it seems that it takes only few seconds to turn to plant form, but several minutes to revert back to the human form.


    Ramie, who had dark-green skin with wood-pattern on it, wondered inwardly.


    Next, he started inspecting his body, to check the changes resulting from the bloodline progression.


    ''The standard bloodline integration percent is 5, however, now am at 18%. So I wonder what kind of change has happened to me.''


    After the inspection, ramie''s heart turned heavy: ''So, this time¡­ it''s my ears¡­! Sigh¡­! If its only this much, then it''s still OK.''


    Checking himself, he immediately discovered that his ears had atrophied. The outer parts were all but gone. What left were only two small holes instead!


    After seeing the monstrous appearance of the bloodline magician that had attacked the compound, Ramie no longer cared about his appearance, much. To him, as long as he covers his frightening eyes, that seem to still shock people no matter how hard they try to get used to it, then everything is fine.


    Letting out an inward sigh, Ramie shifted his attention to his surroundings. His body was naked, but he didn''t care, as apparently, he was in a very dense jungle.


    Walking around, Ramie started looking for clues in the vicinity, to figure out where he was.


    Judging by the rooting spell description and considering that he had casted it in the compound, he had to assume that this place was the compound. Otherwise, there was no other logical explanation for the situation.


    However, no matter how he looked at it, this was a dense forest!


    After a while, an extremely unsettling thought occurred to ramie, a one that made his skin crawl.


    ''That can''t be possible, right?''


    However, after a while of looking around, ramie finally found something that confirmed the worst case scenario¡­ he had found the ruins of a house!


    Most of the house was no longer there, with only two remaining rooms. One of which had a thick tree grow through it. Moss was growing all over the walls.


    This house alone wasn''t the problem, but it was the welcoming, handwritten sign that was half fixed, half hanging.


    This unique sign was something Ramie could recognize anywhere. It was hanging at a house where a good-hearted old man was living in the compound.


    Ramie recognized the sign because every time he walks by the house, he sees the old man dusting off the sign, even though there was no dust on it.


    A mind numbing realization started downing at Ramie''s mind. This sign represented the possibility he feared the most.


    ''How long have I been unconscious for¡­? My aunt¡­! Lance¡­! Reem¡­! Neil¡­!''


    ¡­


    As the night descended, the scarce rays of light that managed to get passed the thick tree''s canopy soon receded, throwing the originally dim forest into a domain of absolute darkness.


    However, as the dark prevailed, the many, previously hiding creatures burst into activity, commencing their daily program. The forest soon thrived with life. Countless frightening silhouettes charged out of their hideouts, with shining eyes, as they scouted for preys.


    Not long after the darkness shrouded the place, many small glows of green and yellow light soon lit up throughout the forest. These lights came from small types of plants and fungus, due to a light emitting chemical reaction of some sort. This light was similar to the ''cold light'' produced by the fireflies, with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies.


    A lone figure of a man could be made out near a small pond in the forest.


    Ramie''s heart was burdened with a heavy weight. He didn''t regret casting the rooting spell, as in the time, he really had no other way else. Also, even if he knew this was going to happen¡­ in the end, he''d still make the same choice.


    He had no idea on how long has it been since the attack on the compound. Was it months, years, tenths of years¡­ more¡­ he had absolutely no idea.


    Although it could, in his estimation, take hundreds of years for a forest to grow to this degree¡­ however, this was in no way normal forest. So, he had no idea how much time went by since the descent of the disaster.


    Right now, the thing he wanted the most was to meet another human being, to ask him the million dollar question.


    He didn''t leave the area. Instead, he kept looking around, for the ''ruins'' of the compound. He did so because he wanted to determine the four main directions in the compound, so that he could estimate the direction of the capital.


    After some time of inspecting, he finally located the location of the middle square in the compound, and from it, he threw his glance at a certain direction.


    ''This direction is where the capital is located. I hope it''s been only few years, and not a century or millennia¡­! Also, I hope humans still exist¡­!''


    He wasn''t sure on whether it was a hunch or a biological clock, or something else. However, Ramie could feel that it hasn''t been too long since he lost consciousness.


    ¡­

 Chapter 99: Meeting Cyril (2)

    Chapter 99: Meeting Cyril (2)


    Through a dark forest, where savageness and death was a daily theme, the figure of a man could be seen.


    The man was walking methodically, like a robot, not caring for the several shining eyes that have been following for the past hours.


    On the man''s back, shockingly, there was an eye. With a dark sclera, and shining yellow iris, the eye stared disinterestedly at the back, keeping a tab at the creatures that were sneakily following behind, in the shadows.


    The man had a poker face, as he kept moving toward a certain direction.


    After a while, one of the lurking creatures was no longer able to contain his urge to attack, as hunger finally wore down his patience. Hence, it lunged itself in the air silently, with a brandished claws and wide open maw, as it leapt the back of the man.


    Just as the creature was in the mid of his leap, a whip-like shadow slithered at him in an astonishing speed, like a snake. The shadow wrapped itself around the creatures'' neck, and then violently twisted in a sudden movement.


    Crack!


    With a sickening sound, the glow disappeared from the creature''s eyes, as it shuddered, before going still. The vigorous creature that had jumped in the air had landed only as a corpse.


    The moment the creature landed, something shot out from its body, before darting toward the back of the man, who seemed oblivious to the looming threats around him.


    However, the next moment, the man suddenly opens his left hand, as if anticipating something. Stunningly, the flying object changed course, heading right toward the open palm.


    Grab!


    The man simply grabbed the object, and threw it to his right arm, where many other similar objects could be seen, in a wrapped large plant''s leaf.


    Thorough the entire process, the man never turned, slowed down, or had any change of expression. This made it as though this was only norm for him, a simple matter.


    Witnessing the sight, the other lurking creatures were discouraged, and after some hesitation, they simply scurried off, into the dark corners of the forest, to try their luck elsewhere.


    ''This sprouting spell could really be useful.'' Ramie thought to himself.


    In the past few hours, he had tried the three types of sprouts that he could bud. From that, he discovered that whistling flowers could be used to issue sounds, incoherent sounds. Apparently, it would take him time an effort to use it to form actual words.


    The air vibration recipient was as expected, an ear. It could be used to pick up sounds. Ramie had sprouted few of them on his body, thinking that it would maximize his ability to hear. However, it turns out otherwise, as his hearing stayed the same, more or less.


    As for the most useful sprout that Ramie tested out¡­ it was undoubtedly the central-peripheral secondary eyes. After playing with this sprout for a while, ramie discovered that he could pretty much sprout eyes on any area on his body. Originally, he thought that he could bud multiple eyes, in a way that grants him 360 degree sight. However, the mind splitting headache he suffered as a result proved his thought wrong.


    Apparently, the amount of information being sent to his brain was too much to handle, all on the same time. Nonetheless, he was unwilling to give up. Hence, after another while of testing, he learned that in addition to his two frontal eyes, he could only project another one.


    The visual field of the human eye spans approximately 120 degrees of arc. However, most of that arc is peripheral vision. The human eye has much greater resolution in the macula, where there is a higher density of cone cells.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    That is to say, that most of the human sight is considered peripheral vision (less resolution and less perception of details and colors), with only one true point of focus, where the resolution is the greatest. The field of view that is observed with the true focus to read text typically spans about 6 degrees of arc, which is wide enough to allow a clear view of about five words in a row when printed text at ordinary size is held about 50 centimeters from the eyes. The brain creates the illusion of having a greater visual span by automatically and unconsciously moving the center of vision (the true focus), into any area of interest in the field of view.


    The third eye on Ramie''s back didn''t escape this rule. Hence, and since he discovered that his mind could only deal with one true focus point, without tasking itself, the third eye thus gave Ramie only peripheral vision.


    Peripheral vision is weaker in humans, compared with other animals, especially at distinguishing color and shape. This is because the density of receptor cells on the retina is greatest at the center and lowest at the edges.


    However, still, the third eyes still had great use. Ramie used it as a motion detector, to keep tabs on the weak creatures following him from behind. Of course, if ramie chose to, he could shift his true focus point at the third eyes at his back, or at the two frontal eyes, all depending on necessity. Over all, the third eye was complementing the two frontal eyes, with some independence.


    Anyway, coupled with his ability to sense auras, and his innate spell, Ramie had an almost perfect detection system, nothing with a soul could sneak up on him anymore, even if it had its aura or visibility concealed.


    As ramie walked on, he could sense a multitude of auras along his path¡­ in real-time, there were projected in his mind like countless, variant-sized dots, depending on the strength of the beasts. The bigger the dot, the stronger the beast, and the smaller the dot, the weaker the beast¡­.


    After walking for a while, Ramie came across a large swamp. The area was quiet, without the slightest sound or movement. The place overall appeared very peaceful.


    However, to Ramie''s senses, this swarm the most dangerous area he had came across ever since waking up. Countless auras could be sensed sub-merged in the muddy water, lurking for a surface dweller felling for this peaceful atmosphere.


    Looking right and left, ramie could see that the swamp was very large, as he was unable to see its end. He simply chose one direction, and walked along it. Ramie didn''t want to step into the swamp, as he could sense many strong auras lying wait in ambush.


    After a while of walking, Ramie suddenly stopped, before ducking down.


    He had sensed the aura of two tier-2 beast. Judging by the intensity, the two beasts seemed to be stuck in a confrontation of some sort, a standoff.


    Letting out a sigh, Ramie knew that he had to cross through the swamp.


    He didn''t go through the other side because he sensed a dozed of tier-1 beasts in that area.


    Although, if he was to fight his way through, then he could definitely make it, however, he chose not to. As for the reason, it was because he didn''t want to exhaust his magic energy, and conserve it at full capacity at all times, in case he''s forced to fight a strong beast. More ever, unless he has absolutely no other choice, he didn''t want to fight beasts, to avoid creating a commotion that could attract strong beasts over.


    However, now, he knew that he had to either go through the swamp by using magic energy, or confront the dozed of beasts on the other side.


    Eventually, he chose to spend some magic energy to go through the swamp. However, Ramie wasn''t willing to go through it during nighttime, but to wait until daytime.


    Thus, after sneaking away to a relatively safer place, he sat, leaning on one tree, between its large protruding roots. By doing so, and considering his appearance, he looked just like an extension of the tree. Not making any move at all, or any shift in his sitting posture, he was barely noticeable.


    ''Strange, I don''t feel any impatient at all¡­ could it be another psychological effect of the ghost tree''s bloodline¡­?'' ramie wondered in his heart, as the hours went on and on, without him feeling any discomfort or boredom of being utterly motionless.


    ''Hmm¡­ resistance to boredom as side effect¡­ not bad, not bad at all!''


    As the time went on, scarce rays of light penetrated the dense tree''s canopy, alleviating the pitch darkness of the forest. As a result, the glow of the plants gradually faded, before disappearing.


    Green Vine!


    Green Vine!


    Standing up and injecting magic energy into the artifact and commanding the cast, two vines emerged from his back.


    The swamp was filled with trees, like every place that Ramie had seen by now. However, the trees in the swamp were much scarcer.


    Anyway, giving that he could stretch his vines for as far as he needs, ramie didn''t feel anxious. Next, and just like Tarzan, ramie pulled himself up to a one of the nearby trees high branch, using the vine. Then, he threw the vine toward another tree that was 9 meters away, before pulling himself there. Next and repeating this pattern of movement, Ramie moved through the swamp, high up using the trees, away from the clutches of the luring beasts.


    He wasn''t willing to move this way from the beginning, as projecting and using the vines uses up magic energy. However, now, he had no other choice.


    Splash!


    After crossing halfway through the swamp, suddenly, there was a ripple of water moving toward the tree he was jumping to, then, the water surface exploded abruptly, as a fast moving shadow darted toward ramie, whom was midway in the air between two trees.


    As Ramie was midway in air, pulling himself toward the next tree, a slight smile broke on his gloomy face: "Little fella, you couldn''t hold yourself back.''


    Next, the second vine that was curled behind his back abruptly struck out toward the darting shadow.


    Boom!


    The vine moved so fast that the leaping shadow had no time to do anything. Like a steep whip, it crushed at the silhouette with unstoppable momentum, slamming it at the close by tree.


    As Ramie landed at the tree, he looked down at the thick tree trunk, where he slammed the attacking beast. It was a deep crater of demolished wood, depicting the violent power of the whip.


    In the midst of the shattered wood, the smashed figure of a meter and half green snake could be seen, twitching.


    The snake then fell to the water. However, before it could even touch the water, a large shadow emerged from the water surface, opened its large maw, which was filled with many rows of razor ¨Csharp teeth, and engulfed the falling snake.


    Ramie didn''t pat an eye to the scene, nor did he show any reaction. With his perception, he already knew this was going to happen.


    Turning his head, he sent the vine toward the next tree, before opening his hand.


    A small object flew to his opened hand jest before he pulls himself to the other tree.


    ''Nice, another high tier-1 core¡­''


    Ramie added the core to the cluster that he had already gathered from the attacking beasts. Of course, the core from the magical tire-2 that had died at the place where Ramie was rooted was also resting beside the other cores. Afterward, he simply continued his way, moving from one tree to another.


    ¡­

 Chapter 100: Meeting Cyril (3)

    Chapter 100: Meeting Cyril (3)


    After getting past the swamp, ramie traveled for about a day. In the past 24 hours, he had stepped into an area that was filled with bloodsucking leeches.


    These fat leeches length ranged from 10 to 90 cm, which was quite abnormal, and very unsettling. Where ever Ramie went, it was filled with these worms. Even when using the trees to move, leeches would fall on him from above upon sensing his aura.


    So far, he had lost his total blood volume several times over. Of course, that was distributed over tens of attacks. There was no instant where he lost more than half of his blood in one go.


    Luckily, his vitality was powerful enough to replenish the lost amount at a fast pace. However, as a side effect, Ramie had lost some of his body mass, due to the continuous blood generation. More ever, he was feeling very hungry.


    The other side effect was that he has become very tired.


    It was no use. No matter how many leeches he kills, there would be countless other more. Hence, at some point, he stopped trying to kill every leech that jumps him, only killing the bigger ones.


    He did so because the if he was to continue using the vines at such rate, he''d probably lose all of his magic energy while still in the leech infested area.


    Obviously, the consequences of such possibility would be too severe. Hence, he only traveled on foot.


    After reaching a certain distance, and due to the blood lost, his tiredness had a reached an alarming point, as his dizziness reached an all time new high.


    Gazing at the trees dense canopy, which was filled to the prime with auras, he dismissed the idea of resting on a tree branch. Apparently, the concentration in the tree canopies of these leeches was much higher than the ground.


    Ramie chose an area that had fewer leeches, and lied down on a large tree root that was protruding off the ground.


    The moment he lied down, he sensed a multitude of auras crawling toward him. Apparently, with his body heat, he was like a shining beacon in the middle of the night for these leeches.


    Ramie however didn''t react to them. Instead, he put his two hands under his head, like a pillow. He was in a dire need for some rest. The forest was already dangerous enough, and he wanted to maintain his strength in case he stumbles into a strong beast.


    Anyway, as these blood feeding leeches stuck their suckers at his skin, he could feel his blood draining out¡­ but, he still didn''t do anything.


    Few seconds afterward, Ramie, who had closed his eyes, started hearing squealing sounds of misery, from all around him.


    Then, he started hearing the crackling sound of wood, as though trees were pending their branches.


    ''Little *&^%$, how do you feel to be drained alive¡­? Not fun, huh!''


    A slight satisfied smile broke on Ramie''s face, as the twitching leeches around him were all sucked dry by the tree sprouts that started growing from their bodies.


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    In no time, a small garden of trees came into existence around ramie, completely surrounding him, and isolating him from the continually crawling leeches that were attracted over to his body heat.


    This thing has happened several tens of times already, practically every time a leech suck his blood, it would soon die and turn into a tree-ling.


    This was the reason why he was sure that he could lay down and rest, even though he was in area completely infested with these blood sucking worms.


    After some test out a day ago, ramie discovered that these minion trees would be formed whenever something ingests his blood. They of course grow by absorbing dry the body of the ingesting creature to sustain their own growth.


    These minion trees then would attack whatever he considers as enemy, or whatever attacks them. Ramie discovered that he can control these minion tree''s vines. Also, he discovered that his blood has the limit to produce ten of these trees, and not one more. Afterward, for every new one that is formed, an old one would die.


    As time went on, the area around ramie turned to an open slaughter zone for the leeches, as the surrounding minion trees kept on absorbing dry any approaching leech and turn them into nutrient to sustain their own growth.


    The trees grew larger and larger, taller and taller, as the massacre went on.


    In the midst of it, Ramie was lying down relaxed, as the squealing sounds of the killed leeches sounded nonstop.


    However, not very long afterward, a frown finally found its way to ramie''s relaxed face.


    Through his senses, he could perceive very strong auras inching closer and closer to him. Apparently, the non-stopping slaughter had attracted the attention of some special types of leeches.


    Spit!


    Spit!


    Spit!


    The newly arriving, very large sized leeches with violet and blue colored dorsal areas started spiting highly corrosive acidic liquid at the minion trees.


    Sizzle!


    Sizzle!


    Sizzle!


    With a poisonous rise of white colored smoke, one of the minion trees started melting to the ground.


    With three spits, one tree went down.


    This development annoyed Ramie, as he had yet to even sleep.


    ''It seems that there is no other way but that¡­''


    Letting out a sigh, Ramie controlled the trees one after another, to kill the acid spiting leeches. Afterward, and before more of them arrives, he touched the ground with his two hands, and commanded.


    Rooting!


    The moment ramie casted, his body morphed into a wiggling vines, before stabbing into the ground below him. Next, the vines seeped into the ground, through a small hole, before re-gathering to form a plant.


    During the process, ramie made sure to bring the wrapped leaf that contained the magical cores with him. Apparently, when he casts the rooting spell while having enough magic energy, he would be able to control the transformation process to a certain degree.


    For instant, he could make some adjustment on the plant form. Like instead of the standard flower, he could make a bush at the surface, or nothing at all.


    If he wanted to sleep for long, then the flower would be best the choice, as it has a defensive property. Apparently, the flower has the ability to passively activate ghost glare. As for the bush, it had no ability at all; it was just for camouflage purposes.


    Anyway, if ramie wanted to slumber for more than a day, he''d have to put something at the surface, for respiration. Otherwise, he''d suffocate.


    After assuming the plant form, his aura, his body heat¡­ all were gone.


    Losing their target, the leeches returned to their hideouts, slumbering, as they awaited the arrival of the next meal.


    The environment was very cruel, and unforgiving. Ramie was aware that if it wasn''t for his bloodline''s exceedingly powerful survivability, and unique abilities, he''d have been dead by now, even if he had strong offensive or defensive spells, or even life energy.


    After assuming the plant form, the leeches lost track of him.


    ''I should rest now, to recover my magic energy. As for vitality, to recover my exhausted body mass, this is even easier¡­''


    Thinking so, Ramie commanded the minion trees to send their vines to him, one tree after another. Next, the minion tree''s vines fused with his plant body, and started pumping their own vitality to him. If he wanted to, he could absorb all of the minion trees dry. However, he didn''t do so, as he only needed a bit of vitality. More ever, keeping the trees around him would allow him to momentarily keep the leeches away as he revert back to his human form.


    This was another use for the minion trees ¨C he could absorb their vitality!


    ¡­


    Somewhere inside the forest¡­


    ''Just how bad my luck can be¡­ I''ve lost trail of that damn woman, and now, it seems that I have lost my way, stepping into the uncharted area¡­''


    A man that was covered with a gray clock grunted, as he made his way through the uneven ground of the forest.


    His hood was pushed back, revealing a face that belonged to a man at his late forties. His hair was a mix of white and black, indicating an early signs of aging. His average featured face was like a map, filled with markings of time and hardships, allowing him to exude a thick air of an expert who had seen more than his fair share of misery and suffering. Also, there was a deep glow of un-concealed fierceness in his eyes, depicting a violent temper.


    Even though the man was complaining, but he maintained a sharp gaze, as his cautious eyes shifted around nonstop, scanning the surroundings for any signs of lurking danger.


    Abruptly, the man''s eyes lit up with a glow of hope, as his eyes captured the figure of a human, emerging from behind a large tree: ''finally, I''ve met another human here! IF he dared to come to this area, then he must know the way back. Now I can ask him for the directions.''


    Even though he felt happy, however, his cautious nature soon prevailed, pushing all the happiness aside, complying him to raise his guard, and prepare to cast his spells at any given moment if something was wrong.


    ''It seems that he''s a bloodline magician, more ever¡­ his bloodline progression seems to be much higher than 15%. His morphing spell should be of a low grade. He must be a member of one of those miserable decaying bloodline families¡­ this means that he''s much weaker than me. In this case, he shouldn''t be able to pose much of a threat.''


    Concluding so, the look of wariness disappeared from the man''s eyes, then, it was replaced with one of disdain.


    ¡­

 Chapter 101: Meeting Cyril (4)

    Chapter 101: Meeting Cyril (4)


    Seeing the figure approaching him, the man walked over as well, to inquire on directions.


    However, the moment the bloodline mage get a certain distance close, the man''s eyes went wide-open, almost popping out of their sockets, as he stared hard at the mage''s left wrist.


    "H-H-H-He¡­ he¡­ he actually have an artifact¡­!!!!"


    The man was so shocked that he forgot to breathe. His body shuddered, for a moment, before snapping awake from his trance. Next, his eyes gleamed with unspeakable greed, as he licked his lips like a snake, while his eyes glued at the bracelet.


    ''This, this, this¡­ I''m actually lucky enough to bump into an artifact holder, a weakling more ever! If I obtain this treasure, my life, my future¡­ even my very fate would change¡­!''


    Soon, the man imagination went wild, as he salivated.


    To him, the matter of defeating the bloodline mage was a foregone conclusion. He already considered the artifact to be his. This wasn''t a baseless arrogance, but only a natural conclusion to him. The sight of this magician proved that his bloodline progression should be much higher than the standard 5%, which meant that his morphing spell was of a very low grade, which naturally meant that this man had come from some weak, declining clan or a family.


    However, in the end, the cautious nature was his strongest feature, and the reason why had survived thus far in that accursed world. Hence, even though the aura exuded from this bloodline mage was weaker than his, meaning that this guy had less magic energy than he has, but in the end, he didn''t want to engage in a frontal confrontation.


    Making up his mind, his expression soon morphed into a friendly and harmless smile, in an abnormal speed. The look of greed had only flashed across his face for a second, before changing, smoothly, without any obvious stark difference. The entire thought process had taken place in almost no time, showing how adept at this he was. So, unless the one across him was an expert, he''d definitely miss reading his expression.


    Walking closer to the bloodline mage, he prepared his offensive summon path spell ¨C two-handed flaming sword, which is the spell that had allowed him to reach where he is in this savage world.


    The artifacts are magical tools known to grant the holder many spells. Hence, he had to act quickly, catching this mage off guard, without allowing him to cast anything.


    Walking several meters closer to the clueless bloodline mage, he extended his right arm, in a greeting gesture. Inside his sleeve, was a concealed weapon that shoots small darts loaded with a powerful sedative solution.


    The moment the solution is injected, even a beast would instantly fall where he stands, not to mention magicians with their weak physic.


    His plan was to release the dart and cast the spell at the same time.


    "Greetings, fellow magician! I wonder if you could tell me¡­" opening his mouth, and exuding a warm friendly smile, he said.


    However, the moment he pointed his open sleeve at the bloodline mage, wanting to launch his sneak attack, a sudden yellow glow of light covered his vision, then he simply lost all of his senses.


    Whoosh!


    A slithering vine whipped violently at his chest with an immense force, sending him crushing miserably several meters away.


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    The motionless figure collided with a tree trunk, before falling to the ground.


    ¡­


    Regaining his consciousness, Cyril felt his mind being assaulted with a massive headache. For a while, he had no idea who, or where he was, and his entire though process was in complete disarray.


    Opening his eyes, he saw the looming shape of the ground swaying in his field of vision.


    As he struggled to make out the blurry scene, Cyril was completely stupefied.


    ''This¡­!''


    He was hanging from a tree more than 14 meters above the ground!


    Trying to move his arms and legs, his face fell. To his horror, he discovered that his arms and legs were tied up, and he was unable to move them in the slightest. Currently, he was facing downward.


    Struggling to turn his head above, to see to what he was being tied to¡­ his heart skipped a beat.


    He saw the figure of the bloodline magician sitting on the branch he was being tied to, while looking at him with indifferent shining yellow eyes.


    "Sir, what is the meaning of this? I was just trying to ask for directions!" gritting his teeth, he forced out these words.


    Remembering things, he had been attacked even before he initiates his attack. Hence, he played the dumb card, acting ignorant.


    The indifferent eyes just stared down at him, unresponsively.


    "Sir, I''m poor! So if you want to robe me, just go ahead and take my belongings, I won''t resist. More ever, there is no hatred or feud between us, so why go this far!"


    Seeing the man still looking at him without bothering to respond, he decided to play the victim card.


    He wasn''t stupid. Being taken down so easily, without even knowing how¡­ he realized that this man was definitely not some nobody bloodline magician from a weak family, who had the luck of obtaining an artifact. In all likelihood, this man was a powerful rogue magician who lives in the wilderness.


    In this era, there are probably no more than a thousand artifacts left in the entire world. Every one of these artifacts is possessed by the strongest organizations, clans, and families. The few weak magicians who still have them are practically chased by everyone. Hence, most of them escape to the wilderness, and stays there.


    Definitely, this mage was one of those individuals.


    At first, he thought that this magician was only a rank-1 magician, an individual who got the artifact due to luck; hence, he didn''t fear him at all. But now, it seems that this magician was of higher rank, and is using some method to mask his aura.


    This meant that this mage was strong enough to protect his artifact.


    However, even if this is the case¡­ if news gets out that an artifact holder is living in this area, then, countless powerful organizations would flood this zone, to seize the artifact.


    The most common solution for this dilemma was to silence him forever, to bury the news.


    This was the reason why Cyril was so frightened right now.


    ''Why didn''t he just conceal the artifact? By then, there wouldn''t be the need to silence me?'' Cyril felt grieve and indignation.


    Had this magician just hidden the artifact, there wouldn''t be any need for him to lose his life. However, and now that he saw it, he realized that this was the end road for him. This mage would definitely not let him off.


    The mage''s indifferent gaze meant that he had already decided to finish him off. Probably, the man was just considering how to kill him.


    Shifting his gaze toward the swaying ground, the shocking realization soon downed in his mind, as a moment of a rare clarity pushed away all the unnecessary thoughts.


    ''I''m actually going to die here, just like that¡­''


    A slight billow of breeze blew at the area, making his lonely figure sway in the wind. The gust kicked up the dried leaves, as they twirled in the air, creating a rustling sound as they collided with each other. Afterward, the entire area turned silent, as an overwhelming sense of desolateness flooded Cyril''s emotions.


    The scene was peaceful, however, to him, it was horrifying.


    The spine chilling silence crept back to the place, causing Cyril''s skin to goose pump all over. The sight, along with the bloodline mage''s terrifying silence, caused a primal fear to crawl like snake all over Cyril''s heart.


    ''Is this the epiphany that dawn on those at the gates of death¡­?''


    With quivering lips, Cyril started subconsciously mumbling in an inaudible voice.


    ''I-I¡­ I''m actually going to die here¡­ NO, it can''t be!''


    His mind descended into a state of shock


    "You have tried to take my life; hence, your life now belongs to me."


    As the cold words fell on his ears like a chilly wind, the vine pulled him up, above the branch, leaving him hanging one meter next to the sitting figure of the mage. Now, he could look eye to eye at this magician.


    Cyril''s heart started bounding like a war drum, as he gazed at the mage''s face.


    The yellow eyes were giving off a ghostly, evil spirit-like air. Their yellow, eerie glow was shining in a stark contrast to the dark-green face and the pitch black background of the tree canopies behind, making it look as though these eyes were two shiny yellow circles hanging in the air.


    The scene made Cyril almost lose himself.


    ''He''s going to kill me¡­''


    ''What have I done wrong¡­? I''ve spent my entire life struggling for every opportunity, for every resource. No one has ever given me anything. Everything I have, I earned it with my blood and sweat. Unlike those dogs who were born with golden spoon up their *&^%$, I had to start from scratch. I''ve backstabbed, betrayed, schemed, and killed for anything and everything. All for the hope that one day in the future, I can have the chance to live like humans do, to enjoy wealth.''


    ''I''ve been always careful, and even now, I was.''


    ''Even though he''s only at the first rank, and looks like a weakling, I still didn''t go for it, but planed an ambush, to avoid any mishap. And before I can even attack, I had lost consciousness, so, he shouldn''t have an inkling of my intents. So, how in the world did I end up like this, hanged like an animal, and waiting to be slaughtered?''


    ''If he was strong, then he should have had all the time he needed to avoid me, or at least hide his artifact. I had no reason at all to suspect that he should be this powerful, as what is the point of him pretending to be weak, or letting me see his artifact?''


    ''I have spent my life acting all cautious and alert¡­ but now, I''m going to lose it all, just because of shit luck, just because this guy was careless!? NO, NOT POSSIBLE, I CAN''T ACCEPT IT!''


    Cyril gritted his teeth, as he made a decision in his heart.


    "Sir, WAIT! Don''t kill me; I can be useful to you! My pant''s left leg, you can find a flat pouch that is sewed to the pants lining. There, you can find a rare treasure that will definitely be to your liking, it will definitely solve the current dilemma."


    With extreme anxiety, Cyril cried out.


    ¡­

 Chapter 102: Gaining a follower!

    Chapter 102: Gaining a follower!


    Using the vine to rip open the pants leg, and pulling it closer, Ramie saw a small piece of cloth sewed to the lining of the pants'' leg. Next, he used the vine to rip it open, and pulled out a scroll made from beasts'' skin.


    The moment Ramie focused on the scroll, a stat screen popped up in his mind, even though he hasn''t opened it.


    < Low grade, Servitude contract seal >


    < Servitude contract seal: a contract that initiates an unbreakable bond between two individuals, a master, and a follower. The contract works only when the two parties agree. If one of the two parties in unwilling, the contract would not take effect, and the seal would lose effect. Only the master has the privilege to nullify the contract. >


    < Contract''s elements: The follower has to obey the master; the follower cannot lie to the master; the follower cannot build up an intention that means to harm the master, the follower cannot betray the master. >


    < Forcefully attempting to breach the contract''s elements can lead to severe consequences that vary from madness to death. >


    < The contract would be nullified without the consent of the master when the follower reaches the second level, Rank. The contract can only be used on a follower at the first level, Rank or lower, but not higher. >


    Seeing the mage picks up the seal, Cyril''s heart was overflowing with anxiousness.


    The main issue here was that he had seen the artifact. After that, there was no way this mage lets him off.


    Would this mage be stupid enough to let him go, a potential problem that could bring a calamity to himself? Of course not!


    Hence, Cyril took out the most prized possession he had, a treasure that he had gotten in one of the few strokes of luck in his life. He had picked it up from the corpse of a very high ranking member of a certain powerful clan, after being ambushed by a horde of beasts.


    This was a contract seal! Its price would be a life altering to someone like himself, even though this seal was only low grade. Unfortunately, he could never sell it, as it would lead a disaster to himself.


    As such, he had been intending to use it. But not just on anyone, but on a special individual, to reap the most benefits off this lucky encounter. Windfalls were rare; most would spend their entire lifetimes waiting for one of them, a one that''ll never come.


    But he had his, so¡­ he had to use it in a manner to maximize the benefits.


    Few months ago, he had finally found his target. It came in the form of a woman, from a powerful family.


    After doing his research, he found that this woman had a low statue in the family, as distant relative. To get rare resources, she''s forced to venture into the forest to look for them, as with her standing in the family, she could only get leftovers.


    Hence, he decided upon her. This way, even if he uses the seal on her, and forces her to marry him, others wouldn''t look into it too much.


    In his mind, if she marries him, he''d become part of that family, and he''d finally have a background to lean on. Even though the woman didn''t have an illustrious statute, and as her outsider husband, he wouldn''t get much at all¡­ however, to someone like him, not to mention the husband of a distant relative, even the position of a servant in that family was beyond his grasp.


    Anyway, if gets into that family, then his hardship filled life would finally come to an end. He would not need to venture into this dangerous forest any longer, and his living would be guaranteed for life.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Anyhow, this was the reason why he went astray. He was following the woman, intending to find a chance to use the seal on her, to enslave her. His plan was to ambush and injure her. Afterward, he''d force her to sign the contract, and put up a fa?ade that she fell for him due to him saving her life, in front of others.


    The beautiful part about the plan was that even if it failed, the powerful family wouldn''t look much into her death, making things more convenient to him.


    However, just as he was closing in on her, and by some stroke of shit luck, he had lost the trail, and wandered into this uncharted area.


    In the end¡­ fate seems to have a different say in the matter. The situation was completely overturned. He had really fallen in the hole that he had dug for her.


    Never would he have ever thought that instead of using this seal as a ticket to a better life, he''d hope from all of his heart that this contract be used on him, to extract him from a certain death.


    As he stared at the seal, he was afraid that this man would take the seal to himself, to use on someone else more capable than him. This way, he''d still be killed, to prevent the leakage of the news.


    This seal was his treasure, his biggest trump card he had to a better life, now however, he would be lucky if it was used on him, to turn him into a follower, a slave!


    This is how pathetic his current situation was!


    ''That damned woman, what kind of ridiculous luck she have!'' Cyril was agonizing in his heart.


    Ever since he set his eyes on her, one mishap was befalling after another. At first, he had thought that she had really good luck¡­ However, he dismissed it as only coincidence soon afterward. His reason was if she was lucky, then why would she live so miserably, even despite being born in a wealthy family?


    Of course¡­ the climax of ultimate bad fortune he was suffering now refuted that thought of his. Except¡­ there was no room for regret now.


    With nervous heart, and a pathetic expression, he stared at the seal.


    "Good sir, I have spent my entire life in the Underground city! I have wide net of connections. Whatever you need, I reckon that I can bring it to you. More ever, I have good connections with powerful people, hence, whatever information you need, I can obtain it with ease! Sir, I''m willing to become your follower, No, your servant! If you chose me, all of my knowledge and expertise will be in your service. Sir, becoming your servant is a great honor. It has always been my wish to serve a strong master like yourself!"


    Fearing that this mage wouldn''t use the seal on him, and just kill him instead, he started selling himself high. Of course, most of his words were more than just exaggerations, they were straight lies. However, he had no choice but to do so.


    In his mind, this man was a strong magician that was hiding in the forest, concealing himself from others, to avoid being hunted down and killed for his artifact. Hence, he should be cut off from the city, and by extension, the resources and information.


    As such, he focused in his lies on the aspects that he knew this mage needs. This was his way of telling the magician that you can use me to connect you to the city, that I can bring you information, resources, I can run errand for you and the likes, that I can be very useful to you.


    This was his gamble.


    Hearing him, Ramie''s eyes lit up.


    Truth be told, Ramie had no thoughts of killing this man at all.


    He had been merely staring at him so hard because this man was almost an exact replica of Eric''s father! The striking similarity extended to the voice even. Ramie was really founding it difficult to distinguish.


    However, the attitude and the overall vibe was completely different, plus some minor difference.


    Anyway, after determining that this man wasn''t Eric''s father, Ramie re-focused on the information extracting problem.


    His ability, soul perception, was a perfect detector, when it comes to ill intents. However, when it comes to lies, it wasn''t useful at all.


    The reason for such thing was that people don''t only lie out of ill intents, or because they harbor malicious thoughts, but they can also lies out of fear, or to lessen the impact of a hurtful truth, or to extract themselves from a difficult situation, and any other number of reasons.


    Ramie had many questions to ask. However, he wasn''t sure that this man would answer truthfully. Hence, and since this man went after his life, Ramie had no intention of acting kindly toward this man. Thus, he threw at him the cold words a while ago, to intimidate him, so that he wouldn''t dare to lie in the inquiry.


    However, the moment he was going to start his questions, the man, and out of the blue, had taken the initiative to offer this contract seal, wanting to become his follower.


    Now, Ramie had no idea what this ''contract seal'' is, or how it was made. But luckily, the artifact seemed to have information in its data base in regard to this seal, thus it identified it at once.


    "Who made this seal? And what is that underground city you''ve mentioned?" ramie asked the man, while inspecting the scroll.


    Still nervous, and a bit confused about the second question, Cyril answered, with some stuttering:"¡­Scholar magicians¡­sir! The underground city is a population center few tenths of kilometers away from here, sir!"


    "Scholar magicians¡­ hmm¡­?"


    ''This is strange, the artifact knowledge didn''t mention anything about seals, but now, the artifact easily identified this scroll.


    Opening the scroll, ramie saw that it was filled with complicated inscriptions similar to the inscriptions made by Brent. However, and unlike them, these ones were several folds more complicated; they were interconnected with each other, forming a single engraving, and were divided to several layers. The whole thing was like an electronic board.


    Ramie couldn''t make any sense out of it.


    However, the element of the follower inability to lie to the master greatly appealed to Ramie. Thus, he asked: "why are you willing this much to become my follower?"


    Hearing this response, Cyril''s eyes lit up. In his mind, if this mage was willing to take him in, then he would definitely not silence him afterward, as it would be wasting this rare seal. Hence, he showered the bloodline mage and kissed his ass nonstop, while over exaggerating his ''many fields of expertise.''


    Ramie was still not convinced of this man''s words, thinking that he was lying. However, since he didn''t sense any ill intent from the man, then most likely, this guy was lying for another motive.


    Anyway, ramie didn''t really bother about him. All what he cared for, was getting the information he needed, he was very anxious to. This seal, was merely a way to ensure that this man wouldn''t lie to him.


    ''I should use this seal on this man, to get the information I want, and maybe some guidance in that underground city he mentioned. Afterward, I''d just nullify the contract¡­''


    "How is this seal used? And¡­ oh yes, what is your name¡­?" Ramie asked the man.

 Chapter 103: Catching up to speed (1)

    Chapter 103: Catching up to speed (1)


    The process of using the seal was very easy. Simply, both of them had to touch the seal on the same time, and utter the keyword, to activate it. Of course, in the process, both had to be very willing, otherwise, the seal would fail, and the scroll would be wasted.


    As the seal was activated, Ramie could feel a concentrated magic energy travel to his body from the scroll, and condense inside his conscious. After sending his magic energy into it, he could feel a strong sense of connection to this man, Cyril. He could perceive that this pulp of magic energy gave him a one way authority and control over this man.


    As the contract was completed, two, connected, pulps of magic energy were condensed inside both Ramie''s and Cyril''s consciousnesses.


    Ramie agreed to use this method because he intended to make use of Cyril, to make him pay for his attempt to kill him. After getting the information he needed, and some guidance in the place that this man came from, he''d abort the contract and let this man go. After all, even if this Cyril went after his life, roping someone off his freedom and will was too extreme. In comparison, ''taking'' some ''compensation'' for the attempt of murder would be more useful to Ramie.


    "Let''s start with this, how long has it been since the beasts first showed up in this world?" With gleaming eyes, ramie asked the question he wanted the answer for the most. The moment he uttered the words, his heart started bounding hard, he was filled with nervousness to the brim.


    As the contract has been established, Cyril finally relaxed. This way, he had ''escaped'' the jaws of death. Although the bitterness in his heart had reached new heights¡­ however, faced with the prospect of losing his life, there was nothing that he wasn''t willing to do to avoid or even delay death.


    His life was sustained by committing atrocities. There was no type of crime that he left out, committing all of them, to a point beyond saturation. He had absolutely no doubt, the moment he dies; all of hell''s gate would open up for him, calling.


    Now that the death prospect has been pushed away, he felt relieve. He''d scheme for his freedom later on.


    Right now, he decided to do anything that he can to obtain the utmost trust from this mage, to give himself a head start. The first step toward that goal was to first understand his new ''master.''


    Showing a deep look of respect, he answered: "Reporting to master, the first eruption of beasts happened exactly 40 years ago. Before that, the world has no prior knowledge of any sort regarding these beasts'' existence." Even though he was prepared¡­ however, he himself saying the words ''master'' that he was anticipating to hear from that woman felt immensely bitter to his mouth.


    Finishing his answer, Cyril swallowed the discontent, and looked at the mage. Right now, both of them were sitting at a high tree branch. The reason for it was because this was nighttime, and the night lurking beasts had already filled the forest to its brim. So, the ground was the most dangerous at this period.


    Seconds ticked by, and Cyril frowned inwardly.


    The moment the mage heard his words, he shifted his gaze at the light coming from the plants below, and went still.


    Minutes ticked by, one after another. However, still, the bloodline mage didn''t show any reaction at all


    He was merely sitting still, like a statue, without showing any sign of movement at all. There weren''t even the minor breathing movements. It was like this mage was part of the tree, not even shifting his sitting posture.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    At such pace, three full hours passed.


    "Bloodline freaks!" Cyril cursed in his heart.


    Generally, when bloodline mage''s suffers setbacks, and have their bloodline progression advances, some of the beasts, from which the injected bloodline came from, habits starts appearing in their behaviors. Apparently, this was the case here with this mage.


    ¡­


    40 years!


    Ramie wasn''t shocked, but overwhelmed, incredibly overwhelmed!


    When he chose to cast Rooting, under circumstances similar to when he casted morphing spell for the first time, he knew that there would be consequences. He didn''t know what they''d be, or how severe they can be¡­? But, he casted it anyway¡­


    He didn''t regret casting, not at all. As if he didn''t, then he''d definitely be dead by now. He didn''t have a choice at the time. And even if he knew about the consequences in advance, he''d still choose to cast it anyway.


    However, forty years was huge number, a life time! It sounded heavy to his hearing, it wasn''t not something to accept with ease.


    Is his aunt still alive till now? How did she spend these hard years? Did she suffered, or did she have an easy life?


    And, what about the rest¡­? Lance, Reem, Neil¡­? Are they still alive, or dead?


    What about these 4 decades? Were they cut off of his age just like that, or what?


    Ramie started at the glowing plants below, lost in his own gaze.


    He knew that this man wasn''t lying, as he couldn''t. However, the number was too large.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t accept it. On the contrary, he was processing it. He knew that no matter what he does now, things couldn''t possibly be reversed, or changed. This was the consequence of a decision he made, so, he had to accept the outcome.


    However, it wasn''t as if there was no hope at all. For instant, according to the artifacts knowledge, those who awaken their magic talent or their life energy, instantly gain a tremendous increase in longevity. The information wasn''t too clear on the details; however, the term ''tremendous'' gave Ramie some hope. He hoped that his aunt, somehow, managed to awaken a magic talent, or managed to get her hands on a beast''s core, and ignited her life energy.


    It wasn''t much to go on, but for the time being, it was enough.


    As for the years¡­ his appearance was still exactly the same. And he didn''t feel like being older or something. His body status was the same, not stronger, nor weaker. Most likely, these years weren''t cut off his lifespan, at least, that what it seemed to him.


    Of course, there was always the possibility that his bloodline had given him so much lifespan that merely 40 years were considered nothing to him.


    Snapping from his reverie, ramie realized that he had sat motionless in his very position for long time. However, it didn''t surprise him. As apparently, after having the bloodline progress to 18%, he seems to have an abnormal increase in his patience.


    Now, he could literally sit in one place motionless, staring at a wall for days without feeling any discomfort or getting bored at all. Obviously, this psychological effect came from the plant aspect of his bloodline, and not the ghost aspect.


    As a psychological change, this wasn''t bad thing, it wasn''t bad at all. Especially when comparing to the bloodline mage that had attacked the compound, who inherited the savageness, killing tendencies, and bloodthirsty behavior from his bloodline.


    ''So, the dream has come true after all..! 40 spike, 40 years¡­!'' Ramie thought to himself, wryly.


    Prior to the bug disaster, Ramie had kept seeing a certain dream, repeating itself day after day after day, all in the same way. The key points in the dream had come true. Being swallowed by earth¡­ having forty spikes penetrate his limbs and bound him to the ground¡­ All of these things came true, except for the part where he wakes up and sees Reem and Neil waiting for him.


    ''Does this have something to do with my soul perception innate spell¡­?'' Ramie wondered. ''Anyway, if this dream came true, then¡­ was the dream about the white-robed mage and the dragon also true? And¡­ what about the wind magician''s scene I saw before blacking out¡­?''


    The artifact information said that his ability enables him to sense ill intents. However, if this was all it could do, then, what is the explanation for sensing the looming danger that had eventually befallen the compound¡­ what about it?


    At first, he had believed in the artifact''s information, however, after suffering the consequences of the artifact''s deficiencies, he started believing that the artifacts'' aren''t all that reliable. They are powerful tools, but not completely dependable.


    Turning his gaze toward the ''his follower,'' Cyril, Ramie spoke:"why did you come after my life? We are strangers, with no enmities. Is this common sense now, like mad max movies? Anyone and everyone you see is an enemy?"


    "I¡­" Cyril hesitated. In his mind, he was a bit confused. ''What kind of question is that? Isn''t it clear? I attacked you to obtain the artifact.''


    Obviously, the metaphor went missing on Cyril.


    However, Cyril didn''t dare to sound out his thoughts, and didn''t loiter too long before answering: "Master, I was too stupid, and attacked you to¡­ to obtain the artifact." Being bounded by the contract, Cyril wasn''t able to lie. "I was blindsided by my greed, and wasn''t able to perceive your magnanimity! Please master, don''t hold it on me. I will spend the rest of my useless life to be of service to you, to make up for my mistake."


    Ramie frowned a bit: "For the artifact? What''s your use for it? I can sense that you have a strong magic aura on you, meaning that you too have an artifact. More ever, artifacts can''t be taken, only the gemstones." Saying so, Ramie casted a focused look at Cyril, to see what type of artifact he has.


    - Rank-1 magician


    - Path: Summoning Magic


    - Class: Weapon Summoner


    - Magic Energy: 160


    -Artifacts in possession: None


    Ramie''s gaze immediately hardened at the reading he received. This was very different from the stats he usually gets.


    ¡­

 Chapter 104: Catching up to speed (2)

    Chapter 104: Catching up to speed (2)


    The first difference Ramie noticed was that the rank was displayed.


    Usually, the artifacts only display the rank after the mage rank up to higher Ranks. As for the first rank magicians, they are considered by defaults first rankers, without displaying the field. The second difference was the missing grade of the artifact. It wasn''t mentioned whether the artifact''s grade was common, rare, special, or epic. There was no mention at all.


    Anyway, this wasn''t important, but the rest.


    For instant, his magic energy points were at a staggering value of 160! This wasn''t small value at all! What did it meant to have this much of magic energy?


    It basically meant that he could go wild with his castings, showering the enemy with spells!


    Now, it had to be said, even after advancing his artifact four times, and becoming a peak Rank-1 magician, Neil only had a pathetic 20 magic energy unit at his disposal. He could use his fire ball spell only twice before going bankrupt. In the battle with the attacking group in the compound, Neil had to act with utmost cautiousness with every casting. He had to priorities and weights the gains and losses before even daring to think of casting fire ball.


    But this man, and even though he was a mere rank-1 magician¡­ he actually had an astounding 160 magic energy units, a frightening 8 folds of what Neil had! If this man wanted, he could cast fire ball 16 times! If Neil had this much, then he could have fried the bugs that attacked the compound, inflicting a staggering damage at them. And if all of the magicians in the compound had this kind of number, then, the bugs wouldn''t have been able to suppress them to that degree.


    The difference between the two was unbridgeable. It was like Neil had a pathetic small hand gun, with only few bullets, while this Cyril had a fully automatic machine gun with extra magazine.


    This number deeply stunned Ramie.


    However, this still wasn''t the biggest news here.


    The biggest news was that this Cyril didn''t even have an artifact! Yet, he was still able to amass this enormous amount of magic energy.


    Cyril was very confused by Ramie''s question, however, he still answered: "Master, only the strongest organizations in the world possesses artifacts! Aside from that, only those who had obtained their artifacts long ago and are hiding in the forest still have them. If they are discovered, then the top forces would come after them. It''s forbidden for people to have an artifact¡­. Whoever acquires an artifact or finds someone who has it, is encouraged to report the matter. And whom ever does so, will get an enormous prize. Failing to comply and being found out means death, or worse punishments."


    "If you don''t have an artifact, then how did you manage to become a magician in the first place?" ramie couldn''t wait but to ask.


    "Like the rest of mages in the world, by consuming resources, also by studying, and researching magic spells."


    Hearing the answer, Ramie realized that many things have happened during these 40 years. The common sense he has was now severely outdated.


    "Tell me the key points of everything you know that had happened from the disaster till now. EVERYTHING YOU KNOW, leave out no detail!" Ramie said with a severe tone.


    "Yes, yes, master!"


    ¡­


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The beasts, and with no surprise there, weren''t an inhabitants of this world. But, creatures that had came over from another world, a world where magic is in everything, a magical world so to say.


    The voice, had another name ¨C the arch-mage!


    Prior to the disaster, the earth had been enclosed by an invisible, global magic formation that was filtering off magic energy, rendering earth magic free planet. Also, this formation inhibited the ignition of life energy. So far, no one knew why this formation covered the entire earth, what was its purpose, or who set it up?


    However, after the invasion occurred, the arch-mage, aborted this formation, and distributed the artifacts. In doing so, he meant to give the people a fighting chance to resist what was to come.


    After that, Cyril elaborations went to the artifacts matter. Next, he revealed news that gave Ramie no small astonishment.


    Now, when someone wants to become mage, he first has to spend his entire life in pursue of this goal. Obtaining rare resources, putting in a massive effort in studying theoretical knowledge, memorizing, comprehending, gaining some rare insights, guidance from real magician, slowly accumulating magic energy inside the body, and other set of factors¡­


    Becoming a magician was an accumulative process! It wasn''t something that happens overnight.


    At least, this is how this Cyril did it; through decades of endless sweat, blood, and effort. It didn''t come about in one day.


    However, that being said¡­ when the beasts first appeared, the distributed artifacts did just that, or close to it. Although, in essence, they didn''t turn people into real magicians, as the direct condition of someone to become magician is to have the ability to cast a spell all by himself, without using any ingredients, and without using any artifact¡­ however, these artifacts still allowed people to amass magic energy in their body in almost no time, even though this was a process that should have been done over long time.


    This quick increase was done way too fast, in a very short time. It was a forceful process. So, there was no way for it to be consequences free.


    The direct cost of using the artifacts to absorb the magic energy from the magical cores was burning out life span of the user!


    The process of accumulating magic energy inside the body was similar to body building! It was an arduous process where one has to train for long time and put is massive amount of effort to gain results. If a body builder resorts to use some substances to force results, backlash of consequences is but inevitable. The same goes for magic.


    The voice, or the arch-mage, didn''t tell the warriors and magicians to absorb energy from the cores to harm them. He did it because there was no other choice¡­


    The situation at the time was demanding a quick power ups for humans to defend their lives. They didn''t have time to spend to learn magic the proper accumulative way. Hence, the arch-mage distributed the artifacts. Of course, this didn''t go just for magicians, but it also went for warriors. They too were pushed to increase their life ignition percent at an alarming rate¡­ at the cost of losing life span of course.


    Normally, magicians and warriors should never resort to increase their energies through training their bodies with the energies stores in the beasts'' cores. The magic energy and the life energy stored in the beasts'' cores have a violent and chaotic nature that was unsuitable and very harmful to the human body.


    However, at the beginning, they did just that, all for the sake of quick power up.


    That is to say, every time a mage use magical cores to absorb magic energy to advance his artifact, he basically burdens his body and loses lifespan. As for those who used the artifacts to advance their rank, these people were basically burning their bodies!


    It wasn''t only that, but if a mage advances his rank using the artifact, then he would become a very, very weak Rank-2 magician. He would in no way be able to contend against those that had advanced the accumulative way. And naturally, the same went for warriors.


    This information was not included in the artifacts. As such, no one knew about it, not the warriors, or the magicians.


    This knowledge all came to light not too long after the catastrophe. It was spread by the arch-mage to the top forces in the world, and from them, to the rest of the world.


    At that time, beasts were no longer attacking the cities. Hence, the need for the quick growth in strength was nullified.


    After that, warriors and magicians started going about their paths the correct way, the slow accumulative one.


    The real use of the artifacts was not to help mages advance; it was merely to give them additional spells that could be used during battles, supportive tools so to say! Also, it was meant to give mages spell to both learn and cast. Otherwise, merely having magic energy alone wouldn''t do a thing.


    That is to say, the artifacts were merely tools that were meant to assist mages in battles. They were never meant to help mages increase their magic energy and advance their rank.


    However, and due to the urgency in the situation, the arch-mage urgently modified the artifacts and added these features.


    In actuality, the process of ranking up to the second rank and other ranks was not merely a quantitative change, where magicians gain more magic energy, or simply activate a defensive force field, but it was more than that, much more. Ranking up isn''t something one can do using an artifact, it was a process that only few capable mages can pull of, it was an accumulate process that comes after building up strong foundation and gathering knowledge; it was something that requires long time, very long time.


    The artifacts, weren''t everything, they are just tools that were meant to give the humans a way to defend themselves during the initial onslaught of beasts. Now that the beasts stopped assaulting cites, the artifact holder, had to go about learning magic the normal way.


    ''Is this why he has much more magic energy than I do? Because he trained the ''right'' way?'' thinking so to himself, Ramie asked: "How did manage to have magic energy pool this large?"


    "By constantly absorbing magic energy from the magic stones... This way, I wasn''t limited by what the artifacts can give, but only with my own physical limits." Cyril answered. "The artifacts were programmed to increase magic energy of their holders while considering the weakest physical limit. Some have bodies than only contain few magic energy units, while others can easily contain up to tenths or even hundreds. Hence, and to avoid killing no small number of those with low limits, by injecting more magic energy than what their bodies can handle, the artifacts'' par was set very low."


    "If this wasn''t the case¡­ then most of the artifact holders would have died after leveling up."


    "Although it possible to increase the physical limit to contain more magic energy by consuming rare resources¡­ however, at the initial stage of the disaster, people still had no knowledge of these things, how to harness them, or how to use them."


    ¡­

 Chapter 105: Catching up to speed (3)

    Chapter 105: Catching up to speed (3)


    As the day light shone on the endless forest, few rays of light penetrated through the dense tree canopy, elevating some of the dark.


    On a certain path inside the forest, two figures could be seen walking. The first figure belonged to a man that wore a gray hooded cloak, while the other, wore a slightly haggard black cloak.


    The man that wore the black cloak was silent, while the gray cloaked man was talking.


    "At the beginning of the disaster, the number of artifacts around the world could easily reach several millions, or even more. However, as the time went on, and as the long awaited beasts'' attack never came, the unrest inside the cities grew. With the emergence of artifacts and life energy, many new organizations that gathered those people were established. These organizations had amassed strength and might that did not lose out to the local governments. Hence, when the governments wanted to dissolve these organizations, and take over their ''assets,'' to restore things to the way they were, things did not go as planned, and completely spiraled out of control."


    "Anyway, the following power struggle persisted for long time, creating chaos and anarchy that took lives almost just as the beasts'' invasion did. Finally, and when the dust settled, new overlords arose in the cities."


    "What followed after wasn''t peace, but even more chaos. At the beginning, taking other magicians'' artifacts wasn''t possible, only the gemstones. However, not long afterward, a method was discovered to seize the artifacts, and then merge them to advance the grade of the possessed artifacts. This way, it became possible to advance the artifacts to rare, special, and even the legendary epic grade. Also, there were some rumors of an even higher Grade beyond Epic, a one that unlocks superior spells!"


    "The sheer destructive power that the rumored grade spells can inflict became an obsession for all the mages. It became a goal to be pursued at all costs. What followed, was as one can expect, absolute disorder, and wide spread wars. This period, was called the great mage war!"


    "Although using artifacts to advance ranks became an obsolete idea, due to the disastrous cost. But, if one was to rank up using the normal way, then the artifacts would automatically unlock all of the spells of the rank that the artifact holder had advanced to. This means that if an artifact holder advances to the second rank, his artifact would unlock all of the second rank spells in its store, and make them available to him. Also, it was undeniable that the artifacts contain spells from the first rank, all the way to the fourth rank. And if one merges artifacts and manage to raise his artifact''s grade to the epic grade, then he''d be in possession of epic grade spells! Now, and considering that it was possible to extract these spells, and teach them to other, possessing such treasure became enough to erect a large force, and push it to the peak, like a clan, a family, or other sorts of none-familial based organizations. Any organization that has strong spells in their possession; they can continually attract fresh blood and protect their interests, they can become top force, with no expiration date. Without spells, especially these rare and higher grade ones, organizations would either crumble or get swallowed by others. Master, you are a mage yourself¡­ sure you can understand the importance of having powerful spells as your weapons."


    "Anyway, master, the interference of the arch-mage put an end to this war, all over the world. His power and knowledge was not something that others could stand up to. Hence, no one objected to his involvement. However, by that time, most of the artifacts had either been merged or destroyed. The remaining number was no more than a thousand, or even less."


    "Anyway, when an artifact holder dies or gets killed, with no one managing to take his artifact, his artifact would then vanish, only leaving small gemstone. Afterward, it would then find the next candidate that holds the suitable aptitude, before appearing at his wrist. This was how the artifacts were distributed in the first place. The top organizations in the world forbade others from possessing an artifact, and threaten with unimaginable punishments, while offering huge rewards to those that hand over their acquired artifacts or give information that leads to the capture of an artifact holder. They do so because they want to gather these treasures all for themselves, to increase their strength, and on the same time, to prevent others from creating organizations that can compete with them for resources and influence.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Ramie fell deep in thoughts, digesting the infos: ''so this is why the top forces in the world forbade others from possessing artifacts¡­ it''s all for the sake of obtaining the powerful spells for themselves¡­''


    This made ramie feel an intense pressure. If news got out that he has an artifact, and a special grade one at that, then his small life would come a pathetic end, without him having the chance to even resist.


    This wasn''t illogical. After all, the spells for mages were everything. Without them, the magic energy is simply ammo with no shooting weapon. And if the grade of the spells were to be depicted, then if a common grade spell was a handgun, then rare grade spell was like a heavy machine gun, special grade spell is like a bazooka or a missile. As for the epic grade, that was something even grander.


    Ramie started swallowing hard. If he was defeated here, then he would have been thrown into the meat grinder without even knowing why. Had he not used the contract, then Cyril would most definitely have not told him any of this, and instead led him to a top force to claim the prize on his head.


    He was literally a hair width away from the gallows, without even him knowing.


    This Cyril attacking him was not his bad luck; on the contrary, this was the best windfall he had ever gotten in his lifetime.


    "Cyril, tell me everything that can even remotely endanger my life in any way, leave out nothing at all!" Ramie spoke in severe tone. "But, before that, is there any way you know to conceal the existence of the artifact?"


    Sensing the tense tone, Cyril didn''t dare to delay, and spoke all that he knows about the matter: "Yes master! It was said that the arch-mage handed the top organizations series of commands that could be used to activate special functions in the artifacts. However, and as the rumor goes, they chose to withhold this information to themselves, and didn''t spread it. This was leaked by one of the famous mages that betrayed his organization. Afterward, the top forces in the world did their best to conceal the matter, however, they still failed. I myself don''t know what these commands are, however, if one pays a suitable prize to the right person; it is to my knowledge still possible to learn these matters."


    "You''re saying that even after the arch mage knew that they concealed this matter, he still didn''t spread it himself, or force them to publicize it?" Frowning, Ramie asked.


    "I don''t know why he did so, master."


    At this point, there was no way for Cyril to not understand the current situation. This man, without a doubt, was drifter; someone who grown up in an environment separated from human societies, and had no idea that humanity still exists. Most likely, he was one of those that live thinking that they are the last of mankind.


    Thinking as such, Cyril''s heart bled in agony.


    For someone to spend his life inside the forest, and without dying, this guy''s strength should be on an insane level, yet, he actually attacked him. For these drifters, even if they were only at the first rank, their actual battle power was not something someone like him, coming from the safety of the underground society could compare to.


    ''I can''t be blamed! Who would have thought that with how small these drifters number are, I would actually have the misfortune of meeting one of them? Also, these people live way deep into the forest, very far from cities¡­ how was I suppose to know that one of them would actually come this close to a population center!'' Cyril consoled himself, bitterly.


    The chance of his meeting a drifter this close to the underground society should have been none-existent, as these people usually live in extremely secluded areas. If they lived nearby, then they would have found the cities long ago, and wouldn''t have become drifters.


    After cursing out few times in his heart, Cyril kept talking none stop, bringing Ramie up to speed on everything he could think of.


    The two moved toward the general direction that leads to the underground city, which was the closes human gathering in the vicinity. Cyril had gone off the cleared route for days, as he pursued his ''target.'' Now, he could not find it, and was lost in an uncharted area.


    However, he could still tell the general direction that leads back to the underground city. But due to his fear of meeting some powerful beasts, he did not dare to take it before. He had decided to resort to this option only as a last choice.


    But, now that Ramie took this route, Cyril had no choice but to follow. In any case, bloodline mages have a powerful ability to sense auras, so, their chances of encountering beasts should be at minimum.


    "If we continue this way, then how long would it be before we reach the underground city?"


    "If we keep walking in a straight path, and if nothing goes wrong, then we should arrive in about two days." Cyril answered.


    "Mmm¡­ Tell me about this underground city." Ramie threw a question.


    ¡­

 Chapter 106: The underground city (1)

    Chapter 106: The underground city (1)


    Around the world, the cities that humans had gathered up in at the initial stages of the disaster were the only population centers that were spared from the beasts attacks. After that, every time the humans tried to establish a new city, waves of beasts would overrun the place, up till its destruction. Hence, for the past few decades, no new city was established, and the humans had to squeeze themselves within the old cities.


    However, after countless attempts of trail and errors, a way was found. It was by building cities underground.


    These cities are usually built when group of powerful outcasts or powerful organizations are chased away from the old cities for any number of reasons.


    The city that Cyril was taking Ramie to was such place.


    It was built few decades ago when a powerful clan that was ruling an old city lost their position to an even stronger force. So, and to avoid the fate of total annihilation, they escaped with their foundation and wealth, then sought the help of a powerful magician to help them build this underground city.


    However, after building this city, ironically, the clan didn''t manage to escape their fate, as they fell later on to one of the emerging forces in their city.


    Anyway, the underground society flourished under the new rule and expanded many times.


    Now days, the underground city is inhabited by over 3 million residents, and it is the place at which Cyril lived.


    This underground city was built near what used to be the national borders of the country. As for the country itself, it had already become a thing of the past. Now, in its place, there are three cities. One located in the far north, one located where the capital was, and one located not far from the underground city.


    The city at which ramie''s country capital was used to be was not something reachable on foot. According to Cyril, the only way there was by spending a monstrous amount of wealth to be escorted there. Even powerful rank-2 mages and lv.2 warriors weren''t capable of traveling there by themselves.


    This made ramie wonder if he was under some sort of curse that prevents him from ever getting there.


    Anyway, ramie decided to go to the underground city, to understand things and paint a full picture to the situation before making any decision.


    He didn''t even think of trying to go to the capital all by himself. After all, Cyril was under the contract that was recognized by the artifact, and he couldn''t lie to him. This was something ramie had tested by forcing Cyril to reveal his shameful secrets and misdeeds.


    At first, ramie had decided to let Cyril go once he gets the information he needed, and abort the contract. However, and after knowing the type of fate that would await him if others know that he had an artifact in his possession¡­ he had decided to forget the idea of setting Cyril free.


    Ramie had no qualms about making Cyril his ''follower'' at all. As after forcing Cyril to speak of his secrets, ramie was utterly shocked at what type of person Cyril was!


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    In short, there was no type of crime, an atrocity, and a sin, that Cyril hadn''t committed. His crimes were literally over the chart. He couldn''t even remember the number of people that he had killed. Women, men, elderly, children, and people of all ages had had fallen to his schemes, manipulation, and blade.


    Cyril was the type that believed heavily in the saying that people were either wolfs or sheep. And boy was he hell bent in becoming a full-fledged wolf. In short, he was unscrupulous person that saw morality as a limitation, as a weakness. Others in his eyes were merely tools for him to achieve his goals.


    Truth be told, ramie felt the strongest killing intent that he had ever felt in his lifetime to end this person. However, in the end, he didn''t. After all, he had no idea what type of world this Cyril was born to, what type of life he had, and what type of hardships he suffered through to become this ruthless. Taking this into account, ramie felt that he didn''t have the right to judge him, or exact punishment on him.


    Reaching next to a particularly large tree, Cyril let out a sigh of relief: "Finally. We have arrived, and didn''t encounter any deadly beasts. The city''s entrance is located two kilometers in that direction. This is a charted area; the worst we can encounter from now on is weak beasts."


    Ramie nodded, and gestured for Cyril to keep walking.


    It was indeed as Cyril had said, as after some time, many warriors and mages passed by him and Cyril. They walked either alone or in groups. Apparently, all of them were hunters heading out in missions.


    After walking for a short while, Ramie sensed a powerful auras belonging to two mages and two warriors walking toward his direction.


    Shortly afterward, the group of four walked from behind a dense vegetation, walking in opposite direction of ramie and Cyril.


    Seeing them, it was as if Cyril activated his servant mode. He quickly lowered his head toward the group and displayed an expression akin to a lowly individual meeting the head of the state.


    At the forefront of the group, was a girl that didn''t exceed 19 of age. She had a face like an angel and was wearing a long yellow cloak that completely concealed her clothes beneath. A distinguished insignia could be seen embroidered at the chest area of the cloak. She was of average height and was holding a short wooden staff in her hands, with bright gem resting at its top. The girl had a curious expression, as she gazed with high spirit at anything and everything along the path. It was as if this was her first time going out.


    Behind her, walked the figure of a woman. Her face stated that her age didn''t exceed 30. She wore the same colored cloak as the younger girl, and the same insignia could be seen embroidered at the cloak. Her features were very similar to the younger girl, and she had a warm look on her face as she looked at the curious girl.


    Behind the two, walked two warriors. The one to the right was a middle-aged burly man who stood at 2 meters tall. He had broad shoulders and a muscular body. He was clad in green leather armor. Two massive axes were strapped at his back. Although his aura was rather reserved, however, he gave off a feeling of someone containing explosive power.


    The warrior to the left was a strong young man with a perfectly fitted and well-balanced body. He had a pair of green eyes, a somber face, and was wearing a similar armor to the other warrior. His face betrayed an age similar to the younger girl.


    Like royalty, and passing by ramie and Cyril, whom stood to the side as a form of respect to them, the two women didn''t spare even a glance at them, nor to the others in the path, whom, acted with similar respectful postures.


    The two escorting warriors scanned everyone on the path with eyes that was sharper than swords, as if warning everyone to learn their place. Needless to say, the two didn''t put anyone in their eyes.


    As the group walked away, ramie was shocked inwardly.


    The younger girl had the stats:


    - Rank-1 magician


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Flame-feeding wasp


    - Magic Energy: 209


    -Artifacts in possession: 2 low-grade synthetic artifacts, 5 low-grade inscriptions


    The stat of the older woman:


    - Rank-2 magician


    - Path: Bloodline Magic


    - Class: Flame-feeding wasp


    - Magic Energy: ???


    -Artifacts in possession: 1 mid-grade synthetic artifact, 27 low-grade inscriptions, 2 mid-grade inscriptions


    As shocking as these stats were, they were only responsible for part of his shock. Most of it had come from the frightening aura that the rank-2 mage was emitting, and the two warriors behind her.


    This female mage aura was a world apart from the one ramie had felt from the wind mage and the earth mage that had attacked the compound. The pressure brought about from gazing at this woman alone was making him uncomfortable.


    Her powerful and oppressive aura was no different from any tier-2 beasts that he had ever met.


    As for the two warriors, needlessly to say, the pressure exuded from their presence alone was like a tangible weight to his senses. Their wild auras were like violent storms contained within enclosed narrow space.


    Based on the tyrannical presences, Ramie could feel that even if he casted ghost glare at them, the effect would be minimum to none. This made him feel wary. Thus, he decided to be very cautious inside the underground society.


    As if understanding his thoughts, Cyril spoke: "Master, this is the aura of those that had broken though using the traditional accumulative way, through their efforts, and not the beasts'' cores. Each one of them can easily demolish a dozen of those that that had advanced using the easy way."


    "The two women you''ve seen are members of the ash clan, one of the strongest forces in the underground city. The escorting warriors are working for the clan. They have probably gone out to train the younger girl, to allow her to see the outside world."


    Cyril spoke with a passionate tone. Envy was brimming within his eyes.


    With intensely glowing eyes, ramie thought to himself: ''So, this is the power possessed by those who advance using the slow accumulative path¡­! Interesting¡­!''


    ¡­

 Chapter 107: The underground city (2)

    Chapter 107: The underground city (2)


    The entrance to the underground society was located at the base of a hill inside the endless forest. This entrance was one of several others, and it was located within small clearing. Many strong looking men and women clad in either cloaks or variant types of armors could be seen moving in and out. Metallic, leather, full body or mixed type armors could be seen on almost everyone.


    According to Cyril, large portion of the underground city''s economy depends on the outside. Whether it was edible plants, beasts'' or animals'' meat, rare resources, and many, many other things¡­ all of that was acquired from the outside. Hence, and out of necessity, the profession of hunter came to be.


    The hostile environment of the forest was no big secret. Vicious animals, powerful beasts, predatorily plants, lethal parasites, flesh-eating bacteria, and deadly viruses¡­ practically, everything in the forest was more than enough to end normal human being only after minutes of going outside. Most of the people would have a zero chance of surviving outside the underground city. The competitive theme of the forest was constantly pushing even the powerful creatures to their limits, putting them in a cycle of constant struggle to survive. Whatever specie fails to catch up and evolve¡­ it vanishes in no time. Species go extinct and others emerge on yearly bases.


    It was ''adapt at all costs, or die'' theme! That''s how hard it was to survive in this new, vicious world.


    The rigid use of artifacts and the crude use of life energy alone were far from being enough to grant humans the necessary competitive advantage to last in this world.


    Truth be told, if it wasn''t for the arch-mage teaching the artifact users to practice magic, and warriors to use battle skills, thus giving them way to constantly develop their powers and not just use artifacts¡­ they would have long ceased to exist.


    This wasn''t an over-exaggeration¡­ this was the simple cold truth!


    Stepping into the gate, that lead them to an underground tunnel, the two didn''t attract any attention. Their tacky attire conveyed them to be text-book hunters.


    The tunnel wasn''t dark at all, as few light-emitting stones could be seen fixed on the ceiling along the path.


    ''The underground city was built by a rank-4 earth mage. He spent long time to create five giant caves that are connected with each other by massive, wide tunnels. The interior of the city is enforced by a magic formation that prevents it from collapsing. So, in theory, even in the event of an earthquake, you can take comfort in knowing that the city wouldn''t collapse."


    Along the path, Cyril kept explaining things to ramie.


    The tunnel led them downward, toward the underground city. The path was tilted deeper and deeper, but not by a large degree. Also, the ground was rough and coarse. Hence, they didn''t slip.


    Cyril continued: "Anyway, the people''s daily life style changed in a ways that suited the underground nature. For instant, people now use fire stones to cook and provide heat. These stones are made from the dried excrement of the searing lizard. By treating them with special solutions, they emit intense heat without fire or smoke, making them perfect for the underground environment. As for the day and night cycle, giant light emitting stones fixed on the ceiling takes care of the problem. These stones could even emit ultraviolet and infrared radiation. Just like the real son do, so agriculture is no issue. For nighttime, giant stones that emit cold light that mimics the moon and countless smaller glowing stones to mimic stars. As for the ventilation problem, the magic formation solves the issue through many hidden, narrow tunnels that links the city to the surface. The magic formation even mimics the breeze and the blowing wind. Actually, without this particular aspect, the city would stink, and reeks with smell that no human can tolerate. This has been tested."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Cyril kept elaboration on things, as they finally reached the city.


    ''This is amazing¡­'' Ramie was stunned by the view.


    Just like the outside, giant stones fixed on the ceiling were emitting strong light that looked no different from the sunrays. The ceiling was very high. The light was powerful enough that ramie could barely see the ceiling. However, from what he saw, the ceiling''s surface was almost even, without any protrusions. Countless pillars could be seen scattered in rows, supporting the ceiling.


    The entrance he took led him to the east side of the city, which looked like a massive cave. According to Cyril''s description, there are four more caves like this.


    Just as ramie stepped out of the tunnel leading to the city, the clamoring noise of the children reached his ears.


    Next, he walked through what could only be called as slums.


    The sewers smell that reeked from all directions, the many piles of garbage at every corner, the muddy, moist streets, the shabby looking houses that were close to being small make-shift huts, the homeless people sleeping in narrow alleys, dark corners¡­


    Before the catastrophe, this scene could be witnessed at the outskirt forsaken districts¡­ but now, and according to Cyril''s narration, this was the situation that over 70% of the underground society''s residents live in.


    The slums existed in all of the large city sections. And although 70% of the total population lived there, however, in actuality, the slums'' area didn''t exceed 30% at beast of the total city''s land.


    This could easily be noticed seeing how cramped the houses and streets were, and how overcrowded the place was. Anyway, most of the people that ramie saw were children. Evidently, the birth rate at the slum area was the highest in the city.


    As ramie followed Cyril, everyone they saw on the road did his best to stay out of their way. Apparently, magicians didn''t have the best reputation in the city. Fear and anxiousness were the two most prevailing types of expression that ramie noticed on the faces of whomever sees them along their way. What follows after that, was usually people scurrying away and disappearing from their sight.


    "The closer one moves toward the city center, which is the central district, the better the life quality gets, and the more expensive things become. Also, the safer it gets, for the ''mortals.'' The mortal is a term wildly used to describe those who don''t have magic or life energy. Anyway, as the slum area is way too poor, mages and warriors don''t usually live here." Cyril kept speaking¡­


    It was just as Cyril had said. As after walking for another while, Ramie noticed an obvious change in the living environment and the Architectural style. The smell got lighter, the houses were fancier and no longer so cramped, the overall sight got much better, and it kept on improving as the two moved.


    The styles of clothes that Ramie saw along his path were rather versatile. Most wore clothes so poor in quality, coarse, and simple that it made them look like the village people from old eras¡­ very few wore the traditional clothes prior to the disaster, while fewer people overdressed in highly stilted, elitist styles of clothes from old eras to show off their wealth.


    Not long afterward, Cyril finally got to his house.


    It was 4 chamber house and was made of bricks and cement, unlike the houses in the slum, which were made either from mud, tin, or wood. The house was located in an area that wasn''t very fancy, but wasn''t poor either. Over all, it was only a bit lower than average.


    "Master, this is my house!" Pointing at the house, Cyril bitterness was very obvious, his tone very heavy. After following that woman, he expected that the next time he reaches this house, his life would world apart different. Actually, his life now was world apart different from before¡­ just, 180 degree to the other end. As, instead of him becoming the master, he became the ''follower''


    Stepping into the house, Ramie heaved a sigh of relief.


    ''Finally, I''m going to get some clothe.''


    Truth be told, the only thing ramie was wearing now was the cloak. Beneath it¡­ there was nothing else. He only got this cloak because Cyril was keeping it as a disposable cloak. He of course, used it to do his shady business, and then discard it. Luckily, it was large on ramie. Thus enabling him to close it tight, and cover himself.


    "Cyril, fetch me some clothe. Also, prepare a rich meal." Ramie gave his order.


    After learning what type of person this Cyril is, ramie had no qualm on using him as a follower, to make things more convenient for himself. In any case, he did try to kill him, so, ramie decided to make him ''pay'' for it! At least, this was how ramie justified it to himself


    In any case, Ramie had eaten nothing for the past few days, nor did he have any good sleep¡­ hence, he was planning to eat his fill and take good rest now.


    ¡­


    Two hours later¡­


    After having a good hour of sleep, ramie woke up fully energized.


    Right now, he was brainstorming ways to gather money enough to travel to the deep valley city, which happens to be where the capital was located.


    "Cyril, how much money would I need to travel to deep valley city? And what are the usual ways to gather money here?"


    ¡­