?The entire mountain of corpses was covered in a brilliant blaze of crimson and black flame, and the hunters and merchants were unable to believe what was happening in front of them due to the extreme heat coming from the flame.
None of them can look directly at the flame because of the extreme heat. When they attempt to gaze, they experience searing in their eyes, as though the flames are right there in front of their eyes.
The massive monster bodies begin to burn like paper, turning to ashes in about a minute. They had never seen anything like this before; it was a sight of such profound and tremendous flame.
The mages are the most surprised, especially the ones with fire-related abilities. Even though they are all flame mages, none of them had ever seen flame this strong.
They were surprised by the flame’s existence more than by the flame itself since they were unable to detect any mana signature emanating from the flames, which indicated that the flame was not using mana to sustain itself.
“Such profound flame…who’s the owner is this flame?”
This is amazing! It’s just incredible, something I’ve never seen before.”
“The power of this flame is unmatched and yet, I couldn’t sense any mana signature from it.”
“Hmmm, now that you’ve said it, I also couldn’t sense any mana from it too, how odd.”
“The fact that we were unable to detect any mana from it is highly strange and enigmatic; maybe the spellcaster is more powerful than we are. Therefore, we were unable to identify any mana in this flame.”
“If we, as fifth-circle mages, couldn’t even detect the mana signature in a spell, how powerful is the spellcaster? And what level is he actually at?”
The mages believed their level was too low to detect mana from the flames as they were unable to identify any mana signature from the flames that Xi Meili was using.
Regretfully, they are unaware that those special fires require a completely other form of energy—Spiritual Energy—to keep burning. This energy is more profound and pure than mana.
Meanwhile, Yuan and his wives as well as Leah listened to the whispers of the mages who were shocked after witnessing the strength of Xi Meili’s flames.
They had a smile on their face, as they listened to their conversation and felt that those mages were truly pitiful as they thought them as mages.
“How dare those debased sorcerers regard us as fellow members of their species? For uttering words, I feel as though I gouged out their tongue for uttering such nonsense.” With an intense expression on her face, Lily screamed, “I’m so mad at the mages for considering us with themselves, lowly mages!”
When Leah heard those remarks, she glanced at Lily for a time, wondering, ‘If they’re not mages, then what are they? Unlike mages and warriors, they lack mana…’
‘Nonetheless, their physical power exceeds human limits. Just what are they? They are not mages, so what are they?’ Leah thought, and many questions arose in her mind.
“Lily, calm down. They’re just some naive mortals who are unaware of the unknown, so don’t be angry with them; it’s best for us if they think of us as one of them, a mage.” Yuan whispered to Lily, smiling, and softly kissed her cheek to calm her down.
Anna Grace nodded. “Your brother is right, dear. It’s best for us if the world remains oblivious about cultivation.”
‘Cultivation? What is that? What are they talking about?’ Leah wondered inwardly, but she couldn’t recall anything about ‘cultivation’ from her memories.
‘This is the first time I’ve heard the term ‘cultivation’…what precisely is it? I’m curious about how it can make them so strong.’ Leah seemed to be thinking deeply.
Her heart began to race owing to her want to understand what ‘cultivation’ is, and the more she thought about it, the more intrigued she became.
“Indeed. The world will go crazy once they learn about cultivation and its benefits, and the benefits are so incredible that no one can ignore them even if they want to.” Rose opened her mouth to add.
“I could not agree more. If that happens, the entire world will be after us; who doesn’t want to live indefinitely?” Emma spoke with a serious look on her face.
“Most certainly. With cultivation, one can achieve immortality, even if it takes hundreds, if not millions, of years, and no one would pass up such an opportunity.” Yuan nodded solemnly, and after hearing his statements, Lily’s indignant look cooled as she comprehended what they were saying.
‘What the hell are they talking about? Immortality? Can people really love forever and never die? This sounds utterly absurd to me… But from the looks on their faces, they look very serious about it.’ Leah thought, looking at Yuan and his wives faces as they continued with their talk.
Leah did not interrupt them and calmly listened to their conversation; the fact that Yuan and his wives were discussing it so casually in front of her indicated that they trusted her with their secret.
Although she was curious to learn about ‘cultivation’ directly from Yuan, she was more pleased to learn that Yuan and his wives had trusted her with their secrets.
A few minutes later, Xi Meili’s flames consumed the entire mountain of bodies, leaving not a single bone on the ground, which surprised everyone present.
Soon after, the thick fog that had been covering the mountain began to lift, and the route was open enough for the carriages to resume their journey. Since the fog had cleared, everyone could see the road ahead of them.
Seeing that the road had been cleared and the fog had vanished, the A-rank hunter came forward and said, “Listen up, everyone!”
When they heard the A-rank hunter shout, everyone turned to face him.
“Many of our companions have died fighting the monsters, or rather, those abominations. We understand that we cannot bring the deceased back to life, but we can move forward. 𝓲𝓫𝒓𝙖𝓭.𝒄𝙤𝓶
“Eight brave souls have died fighting those abominations, and sacrificed their lives in order to save our lives, for that, they have my utmost gratitude.”
“However, we cannot stop here to mourn the loss we have endured; we must commemorate their sacrifice and move forward. So, everyone, let’s climb into our carriage and proceed forward.” The S-rank hunter spoke and then entered his carriage.
And when he entered his carriage, everyone else walked up to theirs and entered. Soon, the carriages began to move onward, leaving behind the horrible battleground where they had just fought thousands of monsters.
“Finally we’re moving again.” Lily took her seat, grabbed the reins, and started driving the carriage. “Damn those corrupt monsters, because of them we had to waste so much of our time dealing with them!”
Yuan chuckled seeing his big sister so frustrated for just a little delay, his eyes then fixed on his mother’s face who seemed to be in a daze.
He gently pulled her closer to him kissed her on her cheeks, and asked, “What is the matter, Mom? You seem to have something in your mind that is bothering you, what is it?”
Anna Grace snapped out of her daze as Yuan’s arms wrapped around her waist and kissed her on the cheeks.
After a brief glance at him, she shook her head and smiled. “Oh, this is nothing. I just zoned out for a bit, that’s all.”
“Really? Nothing?” He questioned, not believing what she said.
“Well, I was wondering where all those corrupt monsters came from and what’s their origin…” Anna Grace sighed and said, “It’s been hundreds of years since the last time corrupt monsters appeared, as documented in many books.”
“And from then no one noticed a single corrupt monster since then and people have forgotten about their existence, since they stopped appearing, until now.” Anna Grace said with a serious expression.
“So they existed before, huh?”
“Yes, they existed in this world since a long time ago.” Anna Grace nodded.
She then continued to explain, “It is said that the corrupt monsters are the army of the demon god, who once soaked the entire world in blood.”
“Wherever he goes, there will be carnage, and he will use the bodies to form his immortal army that never dies.”
“Later, the last standing empire which is currently known as the Holy Light Empire, summoned a group of heroes to defeat the Demon God and save the world from his madness.”
‘Heros? Isn’t this term really familiar?’ Yuan was astonished when his mother used the term ‘ summed heroes’.
‘So the mages do have the power to summon people from another world, huh? This is quite interesting.’ he thought, with an excited look on his face.
“However, the Demon God was too powerful for the heroes to defeat him, which is why the other gods combined their divine power to create special weapons for the heroes which will aid them to defeat the Demon God once and for all.” Anna Grace continued to tell her story.
The empire summoned five heroes, each with distinct powers that differed from the others, and the gods produced divine weapons for everyone based on their abilities.
Five divine weapons, five heroes. Those are the most powerful weapons in the world a bow, a sword, a spear, a magic wand, and a holy warhammer, which were used to fight the Demon God.
This content is taken from 𝑙𝘳𝒶𝒹.𝑐𝘰𝓂