Chapter 37 - When I Met Someone Who Was Dead (2)

-The enemy is here. It is the Dragon’s Shadow.

-What? I can’t feel their presence at all…….

-Several of those from the previous attack is present. Moreover, a more talented magician seems to have accompanied them. There are also numerous amount of monsters approaching us, but I can’t discern their exact number.

-Mmm…….

Giles and Boar was taken aback. They tried expanding their senses, but they couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

Boar queried.

-Are you sure, Sir Azell? I don’t feel anything…….

-I’m sure. Just put your body against the ground then focus on the vibration of the earth.

They had increased their skills by sparring against Azell, but he hadn’t taught them any of the techniques he knew. This era was different from the Dragon Demon War where one would disseminate one’s technique.

Azell had realized the mindset of the fighters like Giles had changed in this era, so he tried to imitate their ways.

However, he had to convince them right now, so he had to pass them the knowledge that was common during the Dragon Demon War.

Everyone followed Azell’s direction.

-There really is a ground vibration.

There was a slight vibration felt through the earth. Still, it was strange to feel this ground vibration in the middle of the night. The only other explanation was the vibration was a precursor to an earthquake.

Azell spoke.

-Every should quickly arm themselves. Our enemies are observing us already, so we don’t have to be quiet. They’ll probably attack us right away.

His speculation was correct. Their enemies were slowly closing the distance, and they were waiting for their forces to get into place. When the party members suddenly stood up to arm themselves, the enemies were startled into movement.

Oooooooooooohg……!

At the same time, a strong magical waves started spreading. It started around a location about 50 meters away from the party, and it spread in a circular manner. As the wave spread, it started distorting the space.

‘I knew it! A big fish has appeared!’

After he had awaken in this era, it was a level of power he had experienced with the Earth Dragon. Azell’s senses became sharp, and alert.

Wooooooooooo!

From the surrounding, darkness fountained forth from various locations. It spread like a thick fog. When it swept across the campfire, the world turned pitch black.

Azell was surprised when he saw this.

‘We’ve been had! These bastards buried a magical item beforehand!’

Azell had finally realized this was a stage prepared by the enemy to capture Arrieta.

Until the hidden magical item receives a signal from the owner, it was in a sleep mode where one couldn’t detect even the echo of its magic. There weren’t any signs of the earth being dug up, so he guessed Kirion had used his ability to move through the earth to perform this task.

If someone was this through in their preparations, Azell had no chance of noticing what was happening. Azell thought about what happened during the day.

‘Shit. Maybe those people were the minions of that bastard?’

They wouldn’t have been able to pull this off unless they could confirm where our party would stay for the night. This meant the ‘people in trouble’ they had met earlier were deployed by the Dragon’s Shadow. There was a high probability that they were used to get the party’s attention and delay them.

‘No matter how I look at it I underestimated them since they were normal people.’

When he thought about it, their behaviors looked to be a bit forced. However, he knew they didn’t know any magic nor did they practice Spirit Order. They were normal people. He overlooked their behavior since they were being chased by monsters and they had met a party with the high stationed Arrieta and her knights.

However, it was quite possible for the Dragon’s Shadow to have used them in their plot. They could be Dragon Demon King’s followers or people simply hired with money……

Googoogoogoogoogoogoo!

As the earth shook, the darkness fountained up like a tsunami. One couldn’t see an inch ahead inside the darkness, but Azell was able to sense the large curtain of darkness. It had a radius of about about 100 meters, and it was dome-shaped.

Moreover….

From inside the darkness, he heard a bleak laughter. It gave one the creeps just from listening to it. It was a voice that would stimulate one’s instinctual fear.

Azell sensed someone with a sword approach him.

When he heard the words directed at him, Azell mumbled as he frowned.

“…are you perhaps the Dragon Demon I killed from before? Your voices are pretty similar.”

From inside the darkness, the enemy Dragon Demon he had killed in the Balan Forest approached him. It was Jackal.

<I’ve returned from hell to kill you!>

Jackal had been revived from death, and his glowing eyes were blazing in front of Azell.

3

It was terrifying for one’s eyesight to be shut off. One couldn’t even see an inch ahead yet he he knew something was aiming a sword at him with animosity.

However, Spirit Order practitioners were more comfortable dealing with such a situation compared to a normal person. They trained their mind and senses first instead of training their bodies. Even if their sight was blocked, they had learned methods for comprehending the surrounding’s state of affair.

‘Still, this situation might be a bit too difficult for the others.’

Even if one was a Spirit Order practitioner, they were still human. It couldn’t be helped since all humans relied heavily on their sight. If one hadn’t trained like Azell in reacting to situations where a part of one’s senses was cut off, then it was a difficult proposition.

A sharp sword flew towards Azell.

Shweek!

However, Azell avoided it as if he could see the sword.

Truthfully, he was able to see it. The one with the sword was emitting a yellowish light from his eyes, so one could see a faint outline of him.

“Well…….”

Azell smirked.

“You look too ridiculous for me to concentrate on you. I can’t help it if my eyes wander. You became a corpse that hasn’t quite decomposed yet. Isn’t that right, Dragon Demon? If you decided to go for the decomposed look then you should go for it all the way. What kind of state are you in?”

Jackal, who had become a revived corpse, was a sight one would be afraid to see in one’s dream. His body was decomposed about half-way, and his eye-socket was empty as it let out a yellowish light.

However, Azell looked at his figure with perfect composure.

‘It’s isn’t like there were only one or two bastard who had revived to take their revenge on me.’

It was quite common for Azell to experience such an attack during the Dragon Demon War. He had killed too many high ranked enemies, so many of them attacked him after they revived.

“Also, it didn’t seem they didn’t put too much effort into your revival. You are weaker than before….”

At Azell’s mocking words, Jackal ran towards him in anger. Then a sharp flash of light gleamed.

Kwa-jahk!

About half of Jackal’s body was sent flying. Azell had easily avoided Jackal’s attack and he had counter-attacked.

“…I’ve become stronger yet why do you believe you can strike me? Did you think if you attacked me after your revival, I would exclaim ‘My god! This can’t be happening! You should be dead!’ Did you really think I’ll be afraid?”

<Ooh-ook…….>

“If you really thought that, then I feel sorry for you. My personality is a bit lacking for me to be considerate towards you. You have a weaker imagination than that of a three year old.”

<You, you bastard! I’ll kill you!>

The single strike cut his body in half, but he hadn’t died.

If it was a high rank revived being, it possessed heart and soul like a real living body, and it was able to resurrect again like a restored broken dish.

Azell saw Jackal’s mangled body come back together as if he was turning back the time. Moreover, Jackal couldn’t wait for his body to be restored, so he charged Azell in his half-broken state.

“Oh well. He’s hot-tempered since he woke up from being dead.”

This was Azell’s intention. In a flash, a pure white flame wrapped around Azell’s sword.

‘Star’s Breath.’

Hwahhhhhk!

This was a Spriit Order technique developed to deal with the revived beings. When Azell’s sword cut Jackal, the white flame trailed the arc of the sword strike as it burned his body.

<Kahhhhhhk!>

Jackal let out a horrifying scream.

When half of his body was sliced off by Azell’s sword strike, Jackal hadn’t felt any pain. It was a strike imbued with magical energy, so there was damage to physical body, and a little bit of damage to his astral body. Still, unlike a living person, his body wasn’t paralyzed from the pain.

However, this instance was different. The white flame stuck to his astral body like glue, and it was sending an enormous amount of pain to his soul.

Azell spoke.

“If one still have a lot of one’s body left, the deep-seated grudge is too strong to burn easily. However, I found out that beings like you will burn very well after you are finely chopped.”

There was a reason why he used a normal attack for his first strike. First, he had to cut the body into pieces before the ‘Star’s Breath’ could be used in an efficient manner.

The revived being was maintained by negative energies, and the Star’s Breath was a technique that attacked the energy itself.

If the high ranked revived being was whole, one had to pour out an overwhelming force or it would use its high resistance to hold out against the attack. However, the resistance decreased by a significant amount when the body was cut into pieces.

“You tried hard to live again. However, you had the honor of speaking several words in front of me, so let go of your lingering attachment and go back to sleep.”

Azell mocked Jackal’s grudge towards him as he struck with sword. The fearsome sword strike flew toward Jackal’s body. It cut Jackal’s body once then a white flame trailed after him.

Kwahhhhhhh!

The white flame stuck to Jackal’s body, and it engulfed his corrupted existence.

<This… this can’t be……! This was all for nothing… Gyahhhhhhhk!>

The dead spirit’s blood curdling scream rang out.

The white flame called Star’s Breath didn’t give out any heat, but in a moment, it lit up the surrounding like daylight.

Azell controlled the flame as he looked toward a particular direction.

“Recycling is a good thing. Still, I can’t give you praise for reviving a dead being to use as troop. Well, he was quite useless due to his impatient personality.”

Most revived beings had explosive tempers. It couldn’t be helped since they exceeded the limits of their bodies, and by their own choice, they revived into being a undead. Moreover, most of them had experienced themselves ‘being killed’.

Black magic was used to raise the revived being and it amplified the dark emotions within the dead person. It turned the dark emotions into an evil energy. If one held a grudge from being killed, the grudge was amplified into a berserk state.

Azell knew about this phenomena. This was why he was able to easily defeat Jackal.

“You are more heartless than I thought.”

From across the darkness, he heard the calm voice of a woman. Then her oppressive presence started to spread.

Arrieta swallowed her gasp.

‘This power… It is on par with my teacher!’

The woman with the long black hair was floating in mid-air. The magical wave she was emitting was oppressive. Giles, Boar and even Arrieta was overwhelmed by her.

‘How could such a young human woman possess this much power?’

Humans and Dragon Demon race had less magical potential compared to Dragon Demons, but those who reach the pinnacle surpass such limitations. Still, how could someone so young reach such heights?