Asher took his designated seat, removed his helmet and set it on the table.
“Chief Esau. Apologies for the trouble—we will leave at first light.”
“You haven’t troubled me at all.” Esau shook his head. “After I received your message through the falcon, I made sure you and your men won’t lack a proper place to rest and have good food to eat.”
Esau clapped twice, and servants trooped into the hall carrying steaming bowls of rich, hot, meaty stew.
When Nero saw the stew, his eyes narrowed. Even as a BloodBlade, the closest man to the ruler of his dominion, it was rare to see a stew so generously filled with meat.
The aroma romanced his nostrils, making his mouth water against his will.
Asher grabbed a spoon and scooped a portion of the stew with some meat and vegetables before putting it into his mouth and chewed on it softly.
“This is good.”
Seeing him eat, Nero and the paladins followed.
“It’s the meat of a four-horned deer,” Esau explained. “It’s one of our prized livestock. It tastes much better than an ovok.”
The nodding of the paladins drew a chuckle from Esau. “In your letter, you mentioned you were heading to Mount Seir. Those Dothanites have been raiding the city, and with most of my people having fled to your paradise, I no longer have enough men to defend it.”
Asher lowered his spoon. “Why don’t you come to paradise? I’ll grant you two hectares of land in your name. No noble house will tax you, neither will you lower your head to anyone… except me.”
Catherine Ross frowned, and the expressions on the faces of the mages soured. Asher could feel their anger.
How dare he ask their chief to bow his head.
“My city easily spans hundreds of hectares. Why should I settle for less?”
Esau said softly, his whiskers twitching.
Asher slowly exhaled and finally set his spoon down. “In two weeks, winter will be upon us. Your mages should be able to feel the raw, untamed force in the atmosphere. There will surely be an army of abyss creatures.”
He swept his gaze at all the gathered rat beastmen. “From the gates of your city to this place, I have fewer than a hundred men. Although you might have a dozen companies of Gray Knights, it won’t be enough.”
Asher’s words were like a sharp blade, but he knew the truth of them.
He knew the power of the gray knights. They were formidable—towering and muscular as a well-built human, these rat beastmen had gone through cruel training under General Aldrich.
During the war, none of the Gray Knights had died. They had only surrendered because their general, their light and hope, was slain.
Those who faced them, on the other hand, were six feet deep or had been reduced to ashes. These knights could rival the paladins—if not for the system that perfected them.
Still, they were a force to be reckoned with.
A troop that he desired.
They were a heavy infantry unit with the agility of light infantry and the lethality of a swordsmen!
“This would be a discussion for another day,” Esau said with a flattering smile. “Maybe when you return from your expedition.”
Asher nodded.
_____
Some moments later, Asher retreated into a tent in the midst of other tents. The chatters of his men and the crackling of the flames they lit filled the night as he sat crossed-legged inside.
After regulating his breathing, he shut his eyes. Almost instantly, he sank into the meditation state, drifting far into the depths of the unknown, peaceful realm, to the extent that he could vaguely see glowing things in the air despite his closed eyes.
His concentration almost broke, but Asher let go of his curiosity and amazement, allowing himself to drift deeper.
Shockingly, the deeper he went, the clearer his surroundings became. He could see the entire interior of the tent—including himself!
A 360-degree vision!
At that moment, he felt as if he had broken into a new realm. This achievement made his heart beat with new found strength.
Although he felt a tinge of disappointment that none of his predecessors—not even Atticus—appeared before him, this new realm gave him a reason to be happy.
His eyes opened.
The chatter and crackling had vanished. Silence blanketed the camp like a graveyard, making him raise an eyebrow.
“Has it already been so long?”
Asher’s gaze drifted toward the three-hour sand clock, and he realized that he had been meditating for over three hours, yet it felt like a few minutes had passed.
Step. Step.
His eyes sharpened.
“Nero.”
Asher called out, but no response came. He reached out for Euodias upon sensing that something was off.
There was no way Nero would be asleep. He would usually wait until he was done meditating before going to rest.
The footsteps continued.
“Nero.”
He called out again.
Still nothing.
With furrowed brows, he approached the curtain, pried a small part open and took a peek.
His eyes widened at the sight of two men clad in black hooded cloaks with two huge ogres standing behind them.
‘Abyss worshipers!’
And the paladins that were supposed to keep watch were all asleep!
Asher stepped out. He looked at Nero, who lay fast asleep on the ground.
“We made sure not even an Exalted-rank knight would be able to resist the sleeping potion in that stew,” one of the figures said. “Yet here you are, standing. You’re clearly not an Awoken One, so tell me… how are you still standing?”
Shing!
Asher unsheathed his sword. His voice was cold. “So… this is the path Chief Esau decided to take.”
“Silence, human!”
One of the ogres roared, brandishing its glaive.
“Paladins!”
Asher’s voice thundered as nether flames erupted from his body. His hair became flames and floated weightlessly, and his eyes burned with an eerie glow.
In an instant, the man before them holding a sword transformed into a human torch, burning brightly.
His voice rang through the camp like the howl of a wolf king, shaking the souls of the paladins, breaking the portion’s hold.
Seeing the paladins rise up, the abyss mages summoned flames, but Asher was already upon them.
He unleashed a horizontal, flaming sword light. The heat alone made the abyss mage flinch.
Clang!
An ogre countered the strike and closed in on Asher. But as it closed in…
Asher suddenly opened his mouth.
Nether flames surged forward, engulfing the ogre in black fire!
“Argh!”
The ogre howled, dropping its glaive and screaming as it trashed to quench the fire devouring it.
Puchi!
A spear of ice pierced through its abdomen!
Thud!
It collapsed to its knees.
Seeing their ally fall and the paladins that surrounded them, the abyss mages acted in desperation. They slit their wrists—dark energy surged and before Asher’s eyes, they merged with the remaining ogre!
Roar!
A towering shadow loomed over them.
A ten-meter-tall, black-skinned giant stood in the midst of the burning camp, with bone plates covering its skin, towering over everything around it.
Not even Asher expected such a result. In a blink of an eye, they looked like ants before it!
“Human pest! You all will bow before the supreme force. You shall bow before the abyss!”
The colossal giant bellowed, its voice sending ripples through the air, jolting the sleeping beastmen from their bed.
“Fall back!”
Nero bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos as the paladins turned on their heels. But the giant reached out with its enormous hand, swooping three paladins in a single grasp.
Seeing this, Asher leaped.
He unleashed a massive crescent-sword light that tore through the night sky, carving deep into the giant’s chest. It let out a roar of pain before it let go of the paladins and clutched its wound.
Roar!
Wild abyssal force spread outward, affecting the paladins.
Meanwhile, Asher propelled himself using his flames as he unleashed one sword light after the other, illuminating the night sky with his crimson flames.
The trembles caused by the battle woke thousands of rat beastmen, causing them to walk out of their houses and see a tiny, flaming man fighting against a behemoth.
The giant swung its thick, muscle-packed arm like a wrecking ball, attempting to swat Asher, but he was too fast. With a blast of flames from his left leg, Asher shot toward the right, evading the giant’s hand before he surged forward.
The heat emanating from his body was so hot that even the paladins couldn’t withstand it.
The tents caught fire!
Yet, strangely, this fire felt so cold that it burned!
An extreme contradiction that scorched everything in its path!
Slash!
Asher unleashed a vertical slash, pouring a massive amount of his mana into it. The giant tilted to the other side, narrowly evading it, but to its shock, ice protruded from behind, piercing through its two thighs!
Roar!
Asher lifted his sword into the sky. Flames exploded from the earth, consuming him whole and shooting into the sky.
The massive fire pillar illuminated the entire small city like day, and it also spread flames, burning down dozens of buildings!
The flames’ torrent kept ascending through the clouds, going so high that even those in Paradise could see its blurry form!
“This force…”
A mage guardian, Chief Esau’s family gasped. “It has exceeded the limits of the formants, My Lord! That man… he is an Awoken One!”
Crack!
Catherine Ross’s expression darkened as she saw cracks spreading across their protective barrier. ‘Could it be that even ten mages cannot block the blazing heat of one man?’
Those were her last thoughts before the barrier shattered, and all of them were consumed by a formless wave that scorched their flesh at the speed of sound!
Still in the air, Asher gazed down at the scorched remnants of the giant. His eyes filled with the intensity of the heat and the chill of ice that reflected the burning city.
He had done this deliberately.
Below him, an entity city was consumed in flames.
Flames that could burn not just the body—but even the spirits!
Just then, he felt a door open within him.
His connection to his predecessors had been restored.
“I did not commit mass genocide to please you,” he murmured. “In fact, I didn’t do it at all.”
Asher landed before his paladins, who were still surrounded by flames. Although the flames burned around them, they were shocked to feel its warmth but no pain.
“Those that bear evil against me shall burn. Those that do not…”
Asher turned to the thousands of rat beastmen walking through the flames with wide eyes, unharmed, and smiled.
“…Shall live.”