Black Sword and Fragments [Vol. 1: Unforeseen Conspiracy]

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Cursed Sword and the one who surpassed the Platinum rank

“Puah! I have forgotten about that pesky green cougar!” Allastor, with a violent expression, said in his mind. 

Even though he felt a sudden weakening of his body, Allastor still tried to stand up. Standing with his shaking calf and knees, he lost his balance. howbeit, just right before he fell, he noticed that his body was coincidentally caught by the trunk of the giant tree.

“What the! If this continues, I will never win...” Frantically said the young man while gasping for breath. His clothes are also damaged now.

After saying those words, Allastor noticed that the magicule beasts are rushing toward him again, but this time, the ferocious green cougar are accompanying them.

Allastor, while keenly observing the movement of the magicule beasts, anxiously looks from his left and right. 

“This isn't looking good... Damn it, what should I do now?...”

“Oh!” Allastor raised his eyebrows when he saw that on the right side of the tree is a big hole. He is sure that he can fit from its inside.

“Eeek!”

“GROAR!”

At this moment, the three magicule beasts are so close to him now. yet, simultaneously with the attacks of the three magicule beasts, Allastor rolls down to the right side. 

!!!

The devil rats and green cougar's claws have failed to scratch Allastor. Their attack was instead accidentally aimed at the tree trunk. In the end, Allastor has finally entered the tree hole.

Just right after entering the hole of the tree, the green cougar vigorously reaches Allastor with its razor-sharp bite. nonetheless, its head was bigger than the hole, so it only have bitten and tore the cloth on Allastor's pants.

A moment later, the green cougar, after realizing that he couldn't do anything, for now, backed out for a bit. The distance is made, giving a chance to the devil rats to enter the tree hole. Allastor wasn't surprised by what happened. Because the size of the devil rats is just a bit smaller than his, they can also enter the hole easily.

When the devil rats finally entered inside, the green cougar began to vigorously bite the edges of the tree hole—making a way for itself to enter the space inside the giant tree. That green cougar is as if an invincible vicious monster that will do anything to eat its first and only prey after hunting for a whole month. 

Allastor's grip on his sword tightened again. It is a little dark from the inside, but he can still see the cautious movements of the devil rats intending to attack him. 

The devil rats leaped at him, in spite of that, he easily parried their simultaneous attacks.

He punched one of them and strangled the other one. Using his sword, he pierced through its stomach. Blood-gushing sound reverberated as its lifeless body fell to the ground. He then rushed towards the remaining devil rat. He violently kicked its head to the ground. When it felt dizzy, he stepped on its back and split the devil rat's head.

Currently, Allastor's body is soaked in blood, but, he didn't care about the uncomfortable feeling it gave him. As long as it isn't his blood he is bathing, he will never be faltered. 

The space inside the giant tree's hole is narrow, that's why Allastor didn't get a hard time keeping up to their speed. The narrow area even gave Allastor an advantage.

He started slicing the corpses of the devil rats and began retrieving and crushing their Life cores.

When he crushed the first life core, there was no unusual occurrence happened aside from the cursed sword stealing the large portion of magicule energies again. be that as it may, that moment when he crushed the second life core and his sword finished sucking almost all the magicules, the cursed sword vibrated wildly.

The combination of white, blue, and green lights danced on the blade of the cursed sword. The sight of those lights was like those times when he is looking at and admiring the red and yellow glowing moon from the night sky. It was magical and noble to his eyes. He didn't know what is happening exactly, but he can feel noble and heavy energy gushing out on his sword's blade. 

Allastor, holding firmly to the vibrating cursed sword, smiled. He is admiring the mysterious glow it emits. still, his smile immediately changed to a frantic expression. His face paled when he noticed that the green cougar from before has finally managed to enter the narrow hole. 

The green cougar, with a loud growl, sharply gazed at Allastor Frauzz. The saliva on its protruding razor-sharp fang dripped down. 

Allastor observed how the green cougar managed to enter the narrow space, and he saw that it tear down the edges of the giant tree's hole using its teeth until itself can be fitted.

Allastor's grip on his vibrating sword became even tighter. And not long after, the green cougar violently rushed toward him. 

“Holy mother of our god system... this is ridiculous!”

As a reflex from an immediate attack, Allastor lifts his sword. He couldn't do anything at this moment but simultaneously counterattack. He doesn't have enough space to run either. The area is too narrow for him to have unrestricted movement. Allastor Frauzz knows at this moment that he was cornered to death.

“GROAR!”

Simultaneously with its surging sharp claws is Allastor's sword slash. nevertheless, Allastor Frauzz did not expect what happened next. 

A violent wind was made after his attack, and his sword released a powerful, straight, and thick white light. After that, a deafening explosion resounded from afar, making the ground from his feet tremble slightly.

Allastor just sits on the ground with a dumbfounded expression. And the ferocious green cougar from before has no trace of life now. Its eyes became pure white and its body has already fallen. What's more noticeable from it, is the large hole in its throat.

Meanwhile, the glowing light from the cursed sword has gone. 

Allastor smiled and wipe off the blood from the side of his lips. He still couldn't believe the result of his last attack.

“I did it! I won against a green cougar that surely is ridiculously stronger than me!” He smile as if can reach heaven when he said that. “Hehehe. I did it!”

Allastor looked at his cursed sword that is now back to its ordinary-looking state. 

“What is this kind of sword, really?”

While observing his cursed sword, his eyes suddenly popped out when he saw the young man from before, the root cause of all these attacks from the three devil rats and a green cougar!

The young man smirked at Allastor and appeared on his front. He violently grab Allastor's face and then brought Allastor's face closer to him to meet his eyes. 

“It is past my expectation that a mere level two bronze rank will be able to defeat a level eight green cougar.” He laughed as he buried Allastor's skull in the ground. “Amazing, fucking amazing! And as well as your skill!”

A bit of blood gushed out from the back of his head. 

And while the mysterious young man is still grabbing the whole face of Allastor Frauzz, he began walking toward the corpse of the green cougar.

The mysterious young man shook his head. “Hey. Just so you know, you shitty fowl, this green cougar is one of my favorite tamed beasts, yet you just killed her. Heh, But that wasn't important now, no?”  He violently kicked the skull of the green cougar, crushing its brain with ease. He let out a savage grin as he continues, “My brother is right. You should gamble your silver in order to get the gold. I'll take you to our territory to form a contract. That way, you will become one of my warriors.”

The mysterious young man then began walking outside the tree hole as he dragged Allastor Frauzz.

Allastor, even though he wanted to punch the mysterious young man in the face, he couldn't even move his body at this moment. He felt as if there is some magic cast upon him that made his body paralyzed. 

When they finally get out of the giant tree hole, one of the companions of the mysterious young man came closer.

“Hey, why do I feel like you don't agree to the plan of our chief, huh?” That man brought his face closer to Allastor, and using a knife, he slightly sliced Allastor's nape. When a small portion of blood dripped down, a crazy grin formed on the newly arrived young man's face. “Hahahaha! So what? You couldn't even move your body, let alone fight chief Ballion Ibzaar. Even if you are a strong Gold ranker, you will never dare to. He is the younger brother of General Stallion Ibzaar, one of the Platinum rank rankers from the Kreo Kingdom. Provoking the chief is like digging your own grave.”

“What? Huh, huh? You feeling like a scaredy-cat now, peasant? Hahahaha!” crazily said again by that young man as he slide down another shallow slice from Allastor's neck.

Ballion, while still grabbing the face of Allastor Frauzz sighed, and after that, he warned the other young man with a violent tone. “Stop damaging my prey, Frando. You wouldn't like the consequences when this fowl died.”

With that warning, Frando felt goosebumps starting from his head down to the tip of his spine. He immediately restored the knife he used to its sheath.

“I'm just kidding, chief.”

Meanwhile, the paralyzed Allastor felt shocked by what he had just heard. 

“Ballion Ibzaar... So he is the one sir Roderick told me to avoid!” In Allastor's mind. “To think that we will meet this sooner, what kind of odd is this? And I also didn't expect that he is the little brother of one of the three platinum rankers.” Allastor forcedly smiled as he continue. “So it is the reason why no one tried to stop him from doing anything he wanted, even if it is already trampling on human rights.”

Ballion ordered Frando to get back to where the other young men stood. When Frando finally came back to his former position, Ballion smirked at them. “We got the gold in exchange for the silver!” He lifted Allastor. “We will get back to our base and add this fowl to my collections.”

Ballion will about to walk away from this place, although, he was shocked when he saw that his companions are falling one by one. They lost their consciousness. In addition, a figure wearing a black cloak appeared and walk closer to Ballion Ibzaar. 

The magicules that the cloaked human emits are so heavy and violent. He already felt this kind of pressure before, he remembers this kind of savage energy from someone he knows. 

Ballion released his grabbing hand from Allastor and he was statued to where he stood. 

The truth is, not only Ballion can feel the dangerous vibes from the cloaked human, even the sitting Allastor Frauzz felt the same way. Allastor was sure the mysterious figure coming closer to them is not an ordinary human.

Allastor stared at the mysterious figure. Compared to the group of Ballion Ibzaar that has question marks floating on top of their head, this newly arrived figure has none of it. Even one letter couldn't see on top of his head. 

Even though Allastor wanted to think that general Ayanno is the one behind this cloaked figure. yet, even though his sensitivity to the magicule energy isn't strong enough, he knows that general Ayanno Nightangel isn't this strong. In addition, the feeling of the magicules emitting from the cloaked human is different than that of Ayanno. Allastor was sure that they are a completely different person.

When the cloaked figure halted, a deep voice of a man reverberated.

 “I'll give you another chance to live a second life, Ballion. But you should hear this tip I'll give to you if you want to preserve your chance.” The cloaked man paused for a moment and he pointed towards Allastor Frauzz. “It is not practical to get involved in this kid's life.”

While not waiting for Ballion's response, a bolt of small green lightning strikes Ballion Ibzaar's forehead, causing him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.

The mysterious man then pointed toward Allastor's forehead. And simultaneously with the green lightning strike on Allastor's forehead, the man said. “And for you, kid... you should be more careful next time.”

Before Allastor's unconscious body fell to the ground, the cloaked man catches him and lifted him on his shoulder.

He smirked when he recall someone from his mind. “I couldn't believe it, but this is him now.”

The cloaked man sighed, and after that, his figure disappeared. 

*   *   *   *

A day has passed. Allastor slowly opened his eyes to the blinding light of the king sun. It is morning now, meaning that it is another fresh start in his life as an adventurer. He moved his limbs, but, he noticed that he is now laying on a soft bed. He looked around at his surroundings, causing his eyebrows to raise.

“I am on INN now? But how?”

Allastor inspected his body, but unlike what he was expecting to see, there are no traces of cuts and bruises on it. 

He just sighed while remembering what happened inside the Kurnell forest. “If that was it, the  all of those are only but a drea—”

Allastor wasn't able to continue what he was about to say. His eyes locked on the leaning sword near the foot of his bed. He also tried to feel his magicule energy and he felt shocked when he felt that he is already a level two bronze rank. 

He felt nervous at this moment. “So all of those were true. That time when I got the cursed sword, my fight with the green cougars, and the supposed to be kidnapping scheme of Ballion Ibzaar to me!”

“But...” He halts for a moment. “The cloaked ranker who saved me. What kind of strength does he have, really? Did he already surpass the platinum rank?”

*   *   *   *

After waking up inside the INN, Allastor immediately goes to the third floor of the Adventurer's Guild. Now that he has finished his quest, of course, he won't lose his chance to exchange it for its reward.

“What? You have been on Kurnell Forest to finish this quest?!” Feeling a little shocked, the quest receptionist shouted.

This maiden knows that the Kurnell Forest is the ideal training ground for novice adventurers. And of coursr, because of the invasion of green cougars, course, that forest is now extremely dangerous for the novices. It was clear to her that Allastor is only a level two bronze rank, she was sure that that forest is too dangerous for the young man. 

“Mnn.” Allastor shyly nodded. Even though he wanted to say another word, he couldn't stop his shyness.

When the maiden noticed that Allastor didn't intend to talk anymore, she just sighed. 

She didn't know how Allastor passed through the northern gate, now that the bronze rankers are all being forbidden by the gatekeepers to pass through. Still, she knows that it wasn't important now. 

Honestly, this kind of occurrence isn't new to her. She had already encountered a lot of adventurers who have been in much more dangerous situations, and just like Allastor, they came back alive.

Even though they wanted to prevent such things, howbeit, they couldn't anything about it anymore.

It is stated on Adventurer's Contract that Adventurer's Guild's government doesn't have the right to interfere with the adventurer's safety and what they choose to do with their life.

They don't interfere with anything that their adventurers choose to do unless it is forbidden by the law or is an interference with human rights. 

“Can I get the materials stated on this quest, now?” said the maiden receptionist that Allastor immediately followed. 

Allastor gets the five tails of devil rats from his space bag and placed them on the long desk. 

The receptionist nodded when she confirmed that the materials stated were completed by Allastor. She get three silver coins below her desk and gave them to the young man. 

“Aye, aye. Two silver coins in exchange for the five tails of devil rats, and another silver coin for the quest completion.” The maiden smiled. “You may now go, sir Alastor. Thank you for your contribution to the Adventurer's Guild and our fellow citizens!”

To be continued... 

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