Suddenly, Alex stopped talking and stared at Lilith, frowning.
''What is up?"
''No, it's just that the mark I left on the woman is now activated,'' Lilith responded.
''I see, but isn't it that a good thing?" Alex said as he could not understand why Lilith kept frowning unless there was more than what she said, and as he expected, it was indeed the case.
''The mark is divided into two as if one person became two and each chooses a separate direction,'' Lilith explained.
''What?" Alex was surprised, he immediately ordered.
''Give me the direction of the nearest one as for the other you two will go after it. We must let them escape.''
Lilith had expected such instruction, so she immediately dragged Sakuya with her and took the sky after sending the information about where the second woman went.. The four widened their eyes, they may be weak, but they know what people flying in the sky mean; no wonder the Blackwater Bandits were annihilated, their eyes shone as they believed that their decision to work for Alex was the right one.
Tossing a small plate with wolf claw on it at Elektra, Alex ordered.
''You four wait here for your senior. Once you show them that plate, they will know it's mine. I will see you once I'm back, until then please train hard, one day you'll be strong as I am.''
Fwoosh!
The four looked at each other and nodded their heads, they wished to be strong as Alex, and he had just allowed them to do so.
••••
The sun hanging in the sky beats down relentlessly on the earth. A lone silhouette could be seen running on the road; no, calling running would be a lie he was teleporting.
Alex moved fast, following the direction one of the women Lilith marked was heading to.
〖There is a village ahead.〗Silveria warned, and Alex nodded before Accel-ing.
Two kilometers later, Alex frowned; there was a faint scent of blood mixed into the air.
'Over there, huh.'
It was drifting over from a small village a little ways away from the highway. Probably the same village Silveria had just mentioned.
There was a board attached to a pole pierced into the ground.
It's probably the name of the village. On it was written "Saleem."
Alex chuckled as the name reminded him of something; he took one step into the village, noticed something unusual, and stopped in his tracks.
Even though it wasn't noon yet, there weren't any villagers in sight, which is strange.
There were about fifteen log houses erected around a well in the center.
There was a noticeably large building to Alex's right with smoke coming out from a chimney. He speculated it was some sort of work cabin.
'I wonder if something happened.' Alex couldn't help but wonder.
As he walked forward, he saw there were baskets with fruits (Apple, berries) carelessly scattered about and what seemed like farm tools that had fallen onto the ground.
The signs suggested that the people here ran away from something in a hurry.
Something caught Alex's attention as he was walking, so he stopped and narrowed his eyes.
He saw bloodstains on the ground.
'Bandits?' It was the first conclusion Alex came to; however, he soon shakes his head.
'No, that doesn't seem right.'
There's too little blood for a bandit attack.
Based on the scale of the village, there should be at least forty people living here.
'And it looks too undisturbed.' Alex thought. Silveria talked.
〖A bandit's main goal is to pillage. They force themselves into houses to steal food and valuables; however, there wasn't a single house destroyed. There's the chance that it was a kidnapping, but if the villagers resisted and caused a commotion and everything shouldn't be looking so undisturbed.〗
'I thought too.' Alex responded while adding.
'There has to be another reason for this.'
Alex lifted his face, and he saw a sturdy-looking mansion built atop a foundation of rocks ahead.
He felt a strong presence of people coming from there. As he started heading there, the mansion door swung open, and a man came rushing out looking fraught.
''Hey, boy! It's dangerous there! Hurry and get over here!''
As Alex looked suspiciously at the man who seemed to be a villager, a large shadow soon fell from above.
A giant bird had appeared overhead. A pair of ominous eyes were glaring down on Alex as if to swallow him.
The giant bird wings sent a rush of wind to the earth, causing clouds of dust to rise. Its grim talons shimmered in the light of the sun, locked onto Alex like a predator to its prey.
''What are you doing?! You're going to die if you freeze up! Hurry and run for it!''
The villager's face turned pale, perhaps because he thought Alex's legs had frozen in fear.
The man would have known this if he were closer to him, but Alex's face was calm.
He smiled and looked at the beast as if to ask.
"You want a piece of me?"
''Then take it.''
'GURAAAHHH!'
The monster let out an ear-splitting roar, and its talons swooped down on Alex.
However, the sharp claws pierced into the ground. Alex had leaped above the giant bird's head. He landed on the other side, in his hand, was Silveria, pointing it at the bird's head and fired.
BANG!
The giant bird swirled down as its blood and brain's matter splattered the sky.
'Something's off.' Alex looked at the fallen Rank 8 with skeptical eyes.
Even though he was strong, a normal bullet shouldn't be able to kill a Rank 8 monster with such thick skin easily.
As Alex looked on quizzically at the giant bird's dead body, the villager from earlier had run over to him.
"Hey! Are you okay?!"
"I'm okay. More importantly, there's something I'd like to ask you—"
As he turned around, there was a sight that concerned him more so than the man.
The mansion that was visible beyond the man's shoulders— from its door, out of the door came about ten people all at once, without any sign of life in their faces.
After "seeing" that, Alex felt like throwing up, and at the same time, a sharp pain traveled up to his left eye. His Eye of Truth activated itself.
"Ugh!"
He pressed his left hand above his eye to lessen the pain.
〖Master this is-〗Silveria's voice was cut off.
"H-Hey, boy. What's wrong all of a sudden?"
The villager reached out to touch Alex's shoulder, who was now kneeling on the ground. Goosebumps rose all over his body; his Six senses started ringing, then he saw that those people were.
Bang!