Kelvin’s expression grew solemn as he watched Asher growl even louder as his eyes turned pure white. As it glowed, snowflakes appeared from nowhere and formed a cyclone around him.
“What is going on?” Alec asked as this phenomenon wasn’t in their plans.
Before their eyes, the snow cyclone became thick, and its range grew bigger and bigger until it was snowing heavily in the dungeon, shocking them greatly as Asher was in no way a mage.
However, all of them couldn’t be indifferent to the force they felt as a battle force from Asher. A battle force that could cause elemental effects was beyond their knowledge, but Kelvin seemed to remember something.
Eritrea was also shocked by the sight because it was the exact description of the great rider. He was known by the barbarians as the man who could rule over the winter and control the rain, yet he was just a warrior.
As if her thought provoked something.
Rumble!
Large droplets of rain began to fall from the ceiling, splattering on the paved ground.
“Is that still Lord Asher?”
Alex had to ask as Asher was now walking through the thorn vine without showing any inkling of pain, whereas his flesh was still being cut open. His eyes glowed brightly, and his fist was balled up so tight that Alex didn’t doubt Asher wanted to hit all of them.
The moment Asher came out of the thornvine, Sirius caused ice to rise up from the water accumulating on the ground and locked him in one spot.
Right at that moment, Asher found his consciousness in a valley. He saw a shadow coming from the other side and squinted. When the individual emerged, Asher was taken aback.
He had gray hair and golden eyes.
His frame was bigger than Asher’s, as he was about 7 feet tall with broad shoulders and two swords strapped to his back.
He looked like a man in his mid-twenties and wore a warm smile. Proving he wasn’t an actual human, a white glow could be seen glistening above his skin.
“Asher.”
He smiled softly.
“A bastard child with the strong blood of an Ashbourne, I had no idea this day would come after I abandoned my place.”
“Abandoned.”
Asher scrutinized the face of the young man.
“You’ve clearly not visited the tombs before. I’m Atticus Ashbourne, the last great duke of the north and of the plains of the Bashan basin. I am the reason Ashbourne fell. I am the reason we lost our land. I am the reason you are suffering to bring back the honor of our name, and I am here to tell you that you have failed the pain endurance test.”
Atticus was brutally honest to the core, and he still wore a warm smile that Asher wanted to wipe off his face.
“You’re the reason we fell?”
Asher couldn’t make heads or tails of what this man was saying.
“Of course. The greatness of the Ashborurnes threatened the imperial family, so when my mother was fighting the rebel nobles, they sold us out, and she was killed. I, facing the attacks of several forces at the young age of 19, had to seek a breakthrough, and so I went to Bashan, the famed desolate lands none of those before me went to.”
Swoosh!
The valley seemed to be wiped away by a fierce eastwind and they appeared in the desolatetlands! For the first time Asher’s foot was in this fabled land, whether this was physical or spiritual, he did not care.
He saw a man on a giant wolf racing into the desolatelands.
Atticus, who stood beside him, pointed at the wolf rider.
“That was me. The barbarian girl that leads your troops should know me as the great wolf rider.”
At that moment, Asher finally reacted.
“You left your people to become a hero for barbarians!”
Atticus didn’t react to Asher’s tone.
“No. I came to find help, but I lost myself in the glory. I was just 19. When I decided to go back, it was already late, and I spent my last years wiping out abyss creatures in the mountains until I died. At least, it allowed Ash Town to survive until you came.”
“The dukedom had millions, but now we don’t even have ten thousand people.”
Atticus chuckled upon hearing Asher’s words.
“Ashbournes needs a ruler who will rise from the ashes like our founder Zenas did. Waking up to rule millions doesn’t make you as strong as those who toiled to grow their domains from scratch.”
Asher puffed out.
“How in the world am I able to speak with you?”
“Well… The spirits are never dead, just the flesh. Hehe, what I meant to say is that your talent is what opened up this medium and also gave us awareness of the state of the territory. We are watching through your eyes, Asher.”
“We?”
The moment Asher asked that question, he saw Atticus look behind him with a broad smile. Asher looked behind but saw no one.
“You can’t see them. You should be happy you met me, the weakest and the greatest failure of our lineage. Had you met Zenas, you might have killed the leaders of your troops, and he would have been trashing you.”
“Wait, I have—!”
…….
Bam!
Eritrea blinked several times as Asher punched the solid ice with so much force that the sound kept echoing. Cracks spread from the place his fist first hit to the rest of the ice.
It shattered in the next second.
When they expected a fight, his eyes suddenly returned to normal, and Asher looked at them, but his mind was still replaying the conversation he had with Atticus.
“Your Lordship!”
Everyone kneeled before the bloodied man, who had shocked them massively.
For the first time, Asher recalled what happened in his shura state.
He chatted with a man who had died over a century ago!
As frightening as that was to his lingering morden part of him as this proved spirits existed, Asher was more concerned about his talent.
It wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
This talent connected him to all the great past rulers, those who made their name known in one part of the world or the other. He alone wasn’t just ruling over the Ashbournes, but all the Great Ashbourne Dukes with him!
This realization marveled and also pressured Asher.
Did this mean he would meet Zenas in the future?
That ice-cold Zenas that slayed a dragon at his youth?!
About that, he needed to know about other powerful rulers, and instead of searching the records, he would go straight to the tombs!