The man that emerged from the mist widened his eyes when he saw Rex and the others.
He looks surprised upon seeing Rex and the others, but his eyes then fall to the huge sack that is glowing with red light.
Rex looks at the man and realized that it’s an old man,
The wrinkle on the old man’s face can be seen clearly, his posture is not that great anymore, and upon closer look, the old man is wearing thin clothes.
‘A civilian?’, Rex thought with a frown.
“Ah! You must be the ones that volunteer to get the Vermillion Flowers”, the old man said with a smile, his grateful feeling can be seen through his genuine smile.
Hearing this, Adhara steps forward and replied, “Yes, we’re on our way to deliver this”
As she said that, Edward opened the glowing sack making the old man’s eyes sparkle in shock, “So many… With this much, the village will not be short on the flowers for a while”
But then, Edward asks curiously, “What are you doing here alone? It’s dangerous”
“I thought that I would help you guys out since my wife said that you’re a foreigner, but turns out you don’t need my help”, the old man replied before laughing warmly.
Hearing this, Rex and Adhara realized who the old man is.
Turns out the old man is the husband of the old woman both of them met before.
While they’re talking, Rex and the others sensed a mutated bear running towards them and is filled with killing intent.
Adhara glances to the side and finds that it’s just a brown one.
Not long after they all realized the mutated bear, the old man realized it too because of the trembling ground as the mutated brown bear approached.
“Quick! Let’s run, I know a hiding spot”, the old man shouted hurriedly.
But with a flick of Adhara’s hand,
SWOOSH!!
The mutated brown bear got engulfed by purple flames as its body slowly turns black, this catches the old man in surprise.
Adhara glance at the shocked old man before she said, “It’s okay, you’re safe with us”
Hearing what Adhara said, the old man glance at her in surprise.
The old man then glances at Adhara’s hand that is burning with purple fire before he looks back at Adhara who is smiling at him, then the old man’s expression slowly changes.
Looking at the old man’s expression, Adhara was confused.
She saw how the old man’s friendly look turns slowly into anger as he glance at Adhara and the others with hateful eyes.
“All of you are an Awakened?”, the old man asks lightly.
Rex and the others nodded their heads as the old man’s expression turns hideous.
With his trembling frail fingers, the old man points at the three of them hatefully before saying, “You prideful filthy Awakened, We don’t need your help!!”
“Sir, What’s wrong?”, Edward asks in confusion.
The old man looks gentle and kind at first, but he suddenly turns like this in a blink of an eye.
“What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG YOU SAY?!”, the old man shouted furiously, it’s like Edward’s question poked at the wrong side of the old man.
He then continues with his shaky voice, “Don’t act like an angel when you’re not!”
“Why are you acting like this? We’re just trying to help”, Adhara asks in confusion.
The old man steps back as Adhara tries to get closer, he then said, “I can’t believe my wife asks a favor from Lountain City’s Awakened, the villagers don’t need your help!”
Hearing this, Rex and the others frown.
“We’re not Awakened from Lountain City, We’re from Ratmawati City”, Rex replied with a frown.
In all of his time being an Awakened, Rex never knew that the origin of an Awakened matter until he meet with this old man.
From the old man’s expression, he seems to hate Awakened from Lountain City.
The old man then frowns in confusion, “Ratmawati City? How on earth the sacred Awakened come here, you’re lying!”
Seeing that the old man is still suspicious of them, Edward takes out his identification.
“Y-You’re not lying…”, the old man mumbles while looking at the identification.
After believing that Rex and the others are from Ratmawati City, the old man then bowed slightly before apologizing for his rude behavior before.
“It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize”, Adhara said while preventing the old man to bow.
While the old man and Adhara is exchanging small talks, Rex and Edward is frowning on the side in thought, “Old man, Why do you hate the Awakened from Lountain City”
Edward also nodded his head, he too find it a bit odd.
Hearing this, the old man sigh before he then tells Rex and the others about the Awakened from Lountain City.
A moment later,
Rex and the others arrived at the village they saw before.
In front of the entrance of the village, Edward falls to his knees when he saw his car’s headlights are already smashed to pieces.
“I’ll pay for it, don’t fret about it”, Rex said making Edward’s eyes lit up.
Entering the village, Rex and the others also saw the same red light that decorates the place and now they know why the villagers use red light instead of the regular light.
The village is not so good judging by the place and condition.
Made of wood and stones, the village can’t possibly fend off an attack from the mutated bears or even any other mutated animals living in this place.
“Is there a leader here? Or Village Head?”, Rex asks.
The old man then points at a humble house made of wood in the center and said, “That’s the village head’s house, she’s probably there”
Rex then told Adhara and Edward to help arrange the flowers in the village storage.
After that, Rex strides towards the village head’s house under the villagers’ curious gazes.
From Rex’s inspection of the villagers, all of them are either old or still kids.
Rex didn’t see even one capable adult man or woman in this village, ‘These Awakened in Lountain City, let’s see what they look like’, Rex thought with a hint of bloodlust.
The old man told him that the Awakened from Lountain City lives like kings.
All the elderly or orphan that doesn’t have any value to them will be tossed aside, that is why the elderly and the orphan create this small humble village to accommodate the abandoned people.
While Rex is thinking, light footsteps can be heard walking towards him.
Then, a little girl came up to Rex before she asks with her sweet little voice, “Mister, I never see you before. Who are you?”
Rex look down and saw a little girl holding a teddy bear is looking at him curiously.
Looking at the innocent eyes of the little girl in front of him, Rex felt a slight pang in his heart, ‘If mom didn’t take me, then I will be in the same boat as this girl’, Rex thought.
He then kneels on one knee to match the girl’s eye level.
“I’m an Awakened from Ratmawati City”, Rex said with a slight smile.
Hearing this, the little girl widened her eyes cutely before her eyes sparkle, “My mom once said Awakened from Ratmawati City is a superhero, Mister, Are you also a superhero?”
Rex chuckles lightly hearing the little girl’s cute voice.
“What is your name?”, Rex asks.
The little girl then answered with a slight hesitation, “Nadia”
“Well, Nadia, I have a gift for you”, Rex said before a little pouch appeared from thin air, he then handed the pouch to the little girl.
The little girl takes the pouch but before she opens it, Rex’s hand prevented her from doing so.
He then said whisperingly, “It’s a secret between the two of us, so you have to promise me to not tell anyone and open it when nobody is around okay?”
Hearing this, Nadia looks up to Rex’s eyes with a smile.
“Okay! I promise!”, Nadie replied with a smile making her look adorable.
Rex messed her hair lightly with a slight chuckle before he went to the village head’s house.
A notification appeared in front of Rex before it slowly disappears,
Rex looks back at Nadia who is holding the pouch tightly with a smile, ‘I give you a chance, I hope you can make use of it little girl’
After looking back, Rex knocked on the village head’s door before he went inside.
Upon entering the room, Rex saw the village head sitting on a wooden chair.
The village head turns out to be the woman that tries to destroy Edward’s car’s headlight before, it’s the first woman they met before getting attacked by Vashag.
“I already brings the flowers as agreed, now tell me how to go to Lountain City”, Rex demanded.
Hearing this, the woman was slightly surprised by how fast Rex was able to bring back the flower, “Fine, take that scroll over there. It’s a map of this place”, she said lightly.
Rex strides to the table where the scroll is before he reads it.
After confirming that it’s like what the woman said, Rex then nodded his head wanting to leave.
But when he’s in front of the door, the woman then suddenly asked stopping him on his track, “If I may, What is your purpose in going to Lountain City?”
“Getting an item, but that’s not it anymore”, Rex said lightly.
The woman frowns hearing this, “What do you mean by that?”, she asked.
Without answering the woman’s question, Rex turns to face the woman before he asked back, “I heard the story of Lountain City and this village. You’re young, Why are you here?”
The woman in front of Rex is still can be considered young.
Her womanly aura is still at her prime, and she should not exceed thirty years old.
“My grandmother got kicked out by those bastards, and I decided to leave the city with my grandmother and help her build this place”, the woman replied.
Hearing this, Rex nodded his head.
He then asks with an evil smirk, “Do you want revenge?”
When she heard what Rex said, the woman was taken aback for a second.
But soon her expression turns neutral again, “I want revenge, but I’m afraid that you and your friends might not be able to win against them”
“Why do you say that?”, Rex asks curiously.
With the power he currently has, even Awakened in Ratmawati City can hardly fight him.
The woman then replied, “They also have an Awakened from Ratmawati City, he graduated from a university in Ratmawati City and he’s very strong physically. Some say that he has fifth rank power, he’s practically a god!”
While the woman is saying this, she thought that Rex will back down.
Reaching the fifth rank is a feat that she thought was astonishing, even being an Awakened is already too high for her and this brings her pessimism.
But Rex’s expression is not like what she expected,
The woman expected Rex to shrug the revenge part and just leave them be.
But Rex’s smirk grows even wider when he heard this,
Ridiculously oppressing black lightning sparks around Rex’s body like a coiling snake, his aura himself makes the wooden furniture around the woman make a cracking sound.
Looking at this, the woman widened her eyes in shock.
The aura that she sees coming out of Rex’s body is so thick that even she who can’t feel mana can feel it, it’s simply out of her mind.
The confident bearing, and the immensely powerful aura.
Rex started to convince the woman that he might actually do it, Rex might just defeat the man that she and the other villagers called a god!
“Wait for me here, and I’ll show you that even the man that you called god will crawl on his knees begging for forgiveness after I’m done with him”, Rex said with immense bloodlust.
As Rex retracts his aura back, the woman finally breathes again.
She then said, “What items are you searching for? The Villagers will gladly help”
Hearing this, Rex looks at the woman and finds that the woman’s expression is filled with determination, “Banyan Tree, I’m searching for Banyan Trees”
“If that’s the case, We can try and find it for you”, the woman proposes.
Feeling that he might as well let the villagers repay him even though he didn’t want to, Rex then finally said with a smile, “Then I’m counting on your for that”