I was looking around the dilapidated village when my stomach started rumbling.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t eaten anything at all since this morning. Even during the feast, I wasn’t able to participate as I was busy greeting those who entered the hall where I was.
The sun was setting anyway, so I decided to look for a good spot to hide.
“A basement would be good…”
I muttered as I looked around.
There were a lot of houses around, but none seemed to be in good shape. Instead of searching through what could be seen, I took advantage of the fact that the sun was setting and the shadows were extending longer and longer.
I used [Shadow Movement] and looked for an exit that seemed hard to find. And just as I’d hoped, I quickly found a pretty large basement under a house resembling an inn.
As I popped out of the shadow, I quickly realized that the entire basement was full of dust. I used a bit of wind energy to blast them out, but I realized that they had no exit to go to. I coughed and sneezed as I splashed water all over the place instead, trying to bind the dust and prevent it from flying.
A few minutes later, the floor was covered in mud, formed by the thick pile of dust that had gathered on the floor. I wiped a small area clean and quickly set up camp.
I brought out the handy lantern that had been with me for like forever and took out food, drinking water, and a shirt to cover myself. Although having no shirt while swimming was fine, it feels a bit awkward to stay half-naked like this.
After a short meal, I quickly took out a sleeping bag and rolled over to one side. Although it may seem advantageous to run away now that nighttime has come, I have yet to fully recover my energy.
If I get attacked while in that state, then I’ll probably get caught after my energy runs out.
To add a bit more safety, I stored the lantern back into my storage ring and set up a Presence Concealment Veil. With this, plus the fact that I didn’t leave any tracks when entering this basement, I should be safe.
“But to think that I could only gain some sleep when I’m outside… What irony.” 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒆𝒕
I closed my eyes and quickly entered the world of dreams.
—
Just as the sun had set entirely and the environment was covered in a shroud of darkness, Noir, known as Agor to his subordinates, returned to their hideout.
“What…!”
However, their hideout couldn’t even be called one anymore.
In the middle of the medium-sized fortress, a large hole was opened, extending downward into a seemingly bottomless pit. As he floated idly in the serene night sky, he saw that out of the hundred or so Demon Tamers he had stationed there, less than half remained. A lot of them were even injured.
“Who did this?!”
He shouted as he quickly descended. One of the nearby Demon Tamers could only shiver in fear as he was bathed in the unfiltered anger of Agor.
“W-We don’t know, Lord Agor… While we were chasing your prisoner, it suddenly flashed and…!”
Before he could finish his words, a large hand held his face. With a squeeze, his head turned into a mushy mess as he fell to the ground, lifeless.
“You let my prisoner escape?!”
He roared in anger, making everyone move away from him, afraid that they would be the next victim.
However, before he could ask the others further, his nose twitched.
“This scent… Raven!”
His eyes turned red in anger.
“You dare attack my place while I’m away? As soon as I locate that trash Will and get what I want, your Luo family will be next!”
He was still burning in rage, but his rationality returned. It wouldn’t be good if he killed more of his already-few subordinates. He made a serious face as he roared an order to everyone still able to hear him.
“Everyone! Locate Will as fast as you can and bring him to me! If midnight came and there was still no sign of him, you know what would happen, right?”
The ones who could still move fine rushed towards the last known direction he passed. The ones injured were moving the fastest that they could. Others crawled, while others flew. Some even used spatial teleportation, and a few others used portals.
In just a few seconds, only Agor was left standing in the destroyed fortress. He frowned hard, thinking that his plans now needed some major adjustments.
The Demon Tamers quickly lost Will’s track right outside the fortress, beside the stream. They determined that he must’ve used the water to move, leaving no traces behind.
All of them who gathered there moved as one.
When a branch in the stream appears, the Demon Tamers would split up and head in both directions. This repeated five times, leaving them in groups of two to three as they scoured every nook and cranny of the stream.
One group, composed of three Demon Tamers, followed the stream until they saw an old village.
“He could be hiding there!”
One of them shouted as he rushed towards it, flying low to the ground.
As they approach, they noticed footprints on the ground leading to the village. The three immediately thought “Bingo!” as they flew faster.
They followed the footsteps until the center of the village, before what seemed to be a fountain. However, his track ended there.
“Damn! Did he teleport?!”
One of the three shouted in irritation.
“No, I heard he still can’t do that. He must’ve used the instant movement technique from before.”
Another one chimed in. He was a part of the group that chased Will’s clone, so he was familiar with that particular skill.
“If I raze everything to the ground, then he’d definitely pop up!”
The third one shouted as he raised his hand. A large ball of energy formed, exuding red and black arcs of energy.
“Idiot! No, don’t!”
The first man tried to stop him but failed. The ball of energy flew to the fountain and exploded. Everything that was above the ground was swept away; the town was completely obliterated.
“…!”
The second man quickly scanned the surroundings, but the silver lining was that he didn’t see Will’s corpse flying anywhere. He smacked the head of the third guy as he scolded him.
“We need him alive, you moron! Kill him and we’re all dead, capiche?!”
“Huh?! Who’s the moron here?!”
The two fought in the air, as the first man quickly said.
“He must’ve traveled with his instant movement skill away. Let’s split up and search!”
He then left the two, still bickering, and followed the last vestiges of the road that led through the village.
The two in the air stopped fighting as they moved in opposite directions, searching for traces of Will. The person in question was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the danger that just passed.