After clearing out of the cave, Aiden and Diane began a long walk, trying to look for some sight insight into the damage that Aiden had done, but all they saw was a charred landscape... The remnant of a disaster caused by fire. As they walked even further, it became clear to them that they could not enter any cities. Heading for any city at this time was simply suicide because after walking for tens of kilometers, they came across cities with the gates shut tightly and no one outside those gates. It would be quite bizarre to have survived the disaster and come trudging back to the city like that... After coming to this conclusion, Diane pulled out her gold coin and used it as a compass to find their way back to the central city... The central city was not difficult given the impeccable directions of the coin, but they did not go near the city after coming within viewing distance of it... What they did was to stay out of sight and to find the highest landform near the city. Looki
Although there were seven people in the room, no one said anything.This created a situation where the silence was deafening. They were still stuck in this situation when a projection appeared in the room.In the projection was the familiar face of the woman who welcomed them to the central city on the first day."Good day... Due to the events that occurred yesterday, the requirements of a piece of information have been met and will now be delivered", she started.This projection did not just appear in Aiden's room, it appeared everywhere, not just in the central city, but in every city that had someone staying in it."This is the fifth week since you all arrived here. Your stay will last twelve weeks. At the moment, you are all required to raise your orders in preparation for a combat test that will come in at the end of your twelve-week stay""In the eighth week, the first ruin will open, and all will be allowed access... The rules and rewards will be explained in due time"With tha
A hand grabbed at Aiden, but Aiden did not flinch... Consequently, the hand that grabbed at him froze in mid-air.For a moment, all the momentum that had built up in that moment of cool declarations that Chip gave vanished.The guy who had tried to grab Aiden found his situation to be quite bizarre. This changed his motion from grabbing to trying to pull himself free."Reid, what are you doing?", One of his comrades asked."My hand is stuck", he responded with panic evident in his voice.Another person stepped out to confirm and help the frozen Reid... At this time, it became clear that Reid indeed had his hand frozen in mid-air. No matter how much they pulled, his hand remained in place."What did you do?", Chip growled at Aiden.However, Aiden's poker face was impeccable as he answered innocently, "I did not move, you were looking at me, weren't you?"Chip growled again because he did not have an answer to Aiden's response."I will count to three. If he is not free by then, I will s
Aiden stepped out of an alley at the same time that Diane entered his room… He did not look back as he blended in with the crowd and left the inner city. Minutes later, he was walking out of the city.He left in the most crowded direction he could find. Many of the participants had gotten over their fears and were now leaving the city.There was a bit of a rush now, everyone wanted to be the strongest they could be before the ruin opened. No one had any idea what the ruin would be like, but they all guessed that it could only be amazing considering the way it was announced by the woman in the projection.Following the crowd brought him deep into the forest. He came across many people on the way and most of them were in teams.He avoided them as best as he could, but he found that there were no briwyns to hunt at this distance into the forest… There was also the prickling sensation he got when someone was watching him from the shadows.When this sensation persisted kilometers into the
Zipping around the forest, Aiden and Harold turned into blurred shadows of themselves and in a few seconds, they had exchanged tens of punches and blocked just as many.When they separated, one could finally see their expressions, and bizarre as it was, they were both smiling widely, looking like they were having the time of their lives. The smile on Harold's face was by far the widest because they were no different from that of a psychopath.The group of arcanas surrounding the two spread out to give them space, although they maintained a relatively close encirclement to prevent any attempts to escape.It was unknown at the time if Aiden noticed this behavior, this encirclement, or if he was even bothered by it. However, one thing was clear for that moment, he had no thoughts of staging an escape, at least not yet.Their pause was only a small thing and they took off again, slamming their fists into each other so hard that the sounds their attacks made sounded like mini explosions.T
The tree with its cracking sounds soon escalated into physical cracks up the body of the tree. Before long, it split into two halves and fell on both sides of the briwyn.The briwyn continued to stand in the same position despite the result of its attack. Beneath its front limbs, blood had collected and stained the grass. With the tree gone, you could see a shower of light particles being emitted from the tree's former location.In the same vein, a side view revealed Aiden with the tusk of the briwyn pierced right through his side, opening an entirely new wound.There were light particles emitted from the spot that had been torn open by the briwyn's tusk. Unsurprisingly, the pain from this skewering event was enough to put a bell into Aiden's head and wake him up.Another wound… This wound was unlike the first simple cut and a lot of blood came pouring out this time. You could sit and feel pity for Aiden at that moment, but that would only be something you did before you saw Aiden slo
Aiden opened his eyes to see the inside of a cave. The memory of the briwyn whose tongue he pulled out was still vivid in his mind. He remembered that he decided to settle down for a rest since he could not move. It seemed like while he was doing that, he had fallen asleep.He could hear the crackling of fire beside him, a sound that got his mind running at full speed in seconds. He managed to calm himself down shortly afterward.He thought of the position his captor most likely found him in. There was no defenseless position a person could be in that was worse than that. Since he was not dead or restrained, a discovery he made quickly, it meant that his captor was not looking to kill him… At least not yet."I know you woke up… You couldn't fully dampen the involuntary moves your body made", a voice sounded.Thinking for a quick moment while the cave fell into silence, Aiden decided to meet this person, so he sat up. Very slowly, he pulled himself to a sitting position with both his a
It was just a single step forward, but it felt like the beast teleported. It was standing in front of Aiden with arms striking down like a tree trunk falling at light speed.Aiden found that dodging was impossible when he thought of it, and the only solution he had at that moment was to block the attack.He did not expect the amount of force that poured into his arms when the blow landed. It felt as if he had been struck by an overpowered bull… The blow sent him skidding back until he was standing next to Connor. Connor had a terrified expression and looked to be frozen in place when Aiden turned to look at him."Connor… Connor… Con…", Aiden called out repeatedly, but the boy was frozen and his mind long gone.Aiden abandoned the attempt to wake Connor from his frozen state when the beast growled again and charged straight at him once more.Again, it seemed like the beast had taken just a step, but it was in front of him before he could react. This time, the attack did not come slammi