“Hmm guess this is as far a lower noble could come”
Those words came out the mouth a handsome youth, he wore a long bycocket that fit his sleek leather get up, a bow hung on his shoulder, a quiver that held precisely two arrows was seated at his back, the arrows looked especially old with cracks situated here and there, you would think the youth had used all the others on his enemy but once you saw what he was looking at you’d know he had no need to use any arrows
Beneath the youth was the dead body of a lion, a tiger, and a boar, these bodies had multiple bites covering every inch of their body, the boar especially had chunks of flesh missing from its sides indicating it had a painful long bloody death.
The perpetrator of this savagery was skulking about the trees as it eyed the three youth huddled together some distance away from the heap of bodies
“M-M-Mous w-we can ta-talk about this”
The stuttering man was paling with every second, because he lost two of his Soul Beasts on the way here, and out of fear, after all the man that stood before him was more of a monster than that hound hiding in the trees
“Talk? What right does the prey have to talk to its hunter. You just obediently sit there for me to slaughter you. Hmm or you could struggle a bit more to make it worth my while”
“Fucking lunatic”
One of the others cursed under his breath, but he regretted it instantly as he saw the smile plastered on the man’s face
“Ehehe, how brave, for that I’ll reward you an especially long death”
Yes, this man, Houk Mous, was a monster that toyed with his prey to their death, and in this battlefield where death merely meant expulsion while the pain remained existent, what else could it turn into other than a playground for his sick games
Minutes later screams echoed through the woods, as the climax of the game came to an end.
Mous could be seen walking out of the woods playing with a few cores in his hand, shifting footsteps could be heard around him as his Soul Beast continued to skulk around
“Only two cores, what a waste of time, what trash lower nobles, they couldn’t get any more than 2 pieces after four days of war “
He looked at the map he ripped from their possession
“Their territories are closer than I thought, well this makes it easier to warp everything up for today”
His gaze then turned to the dark plume of smoke in the far distance
“I might even get to that interesting mansion by sundown”
His smile took a sinister turn
“Who knows, maybe I’ll get to play a certain trash to real death”
Suddenly his figure vanished before his words fell
*********************
On the complete opposite side of the Dimensional Battlefield, within a gloomy dark valley where even sunlight could not be seen, a bitter chase was underway
“Stop running and face us you coward!”
“Where did all your boasting from earlier go!? Didn’t you say that you would put an end to us nobles huh!? Why don’t you come out and face us then!”
The five shouting had a savage expression on their faces, two of them were seemingly injured, one was unconscious being carried by a slightly disheveled woman, while the last one was an unblemished, serene looking young man, as if he could not be bothered by the world itself
“Young lord, I apologies for my incompetence, to have troubled you with such a small problem, I have let you down”
The women spoke to the serene looking man, with a tone of servitude, even though everyone who had entered this Dimension is a noble, save for the peasant they were chasing, she did not feel an ounce of shame as she bowed her head to the man
But when the other men saw this they did not feel it to be out of place, the man they were talking about here was after all the young successor of the Aven family, Aven Arvarth, lower nobility like them certainly had to lower their head before higher nobility, especially when that noble was one of the strongest three noble families in the Southern Paradise
The young Arvarth didn’t bother giving the women the slightest acknowledgment, he just contained riding on his white horse, which had feathers on its feet and main, this rare Soul Beast was actually a Holy Stallion, the next evolution of the Noble Stallion that the heads of some middle nobility used as a mount, for him to have such a fine ride as his mount proved even more how much his family valued him.
A bit deeper into the valley a boy could be seen sneaking his way out of the search range of the chasing party
‘They caught up too fast, I have to shake them off in the valley, I can’t let them chase me in an open field’
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The boy clenched his teeth in frustration, for the past two days he was in a constant cat and mouse game with these nobles, finely he had managed to take two of them down and knocked the third out, but luck had it in for him as when he was finishing off the last two a women and a man showed up, crushing two of his summons before he was able to flee, but not without them hot on his trail
‘If I didn’t have grandpas Cloud Surfing technique then I would have already been expelled from the battlefield’
Either than being a Grimoire holder he was also a warrior. Well, he only had two techniques but his progression in them could be said to be lightning fast
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt, as did his body, for in front of him was a deep ravine , running kilometers down into the suffocating darkness
The barking of hounds was suddenly heard behind him, galloping followed it as it signaled his exposure
“They found me, I can’t let them catch up, I can’t lose this in here, if I do..”
He thought back to the hopes his little sister placed on him, his grandpa’s dream, his parent’s gruel death…
He couldn’t let them down, No, he wouldn’t let them down! The fire of determination was lit within his eyes as he looked down the ravine , decisively taking a step forward he jumps into the unknown
*********************
On the East side of the Battlefield, a decisive difference could be seen from the other areas, there were no ongoing fights, no wars being waged, instead only silence prevailed through a 250 km radius, at the center of this dead circle are four mansions, which belong to none other than the decedents of the Shenai family, these four young men and women are the main cause of the present situation, they were so strong that he combined effort of all the other nobles in the East failed to resist their assault, it was an overwhelming one sided battle
Currently these four invincible figures of the battlefield were having a peaceful teatime in the middle of a lush clearing next to a small river
“How goes our probe into the west”
“It seems the Elar family had united all the families there, they are preparing to siege us on the morning of the sixth day, but I’m sure that’s not all their planning”
“They are very tricky, striking head on is not their style, and since they have been preparing for five days then they must have some big plans”
“Whatever they plan they would still fail, for the past century they always ranked on the bottom of the high nobles, their results in the Dimensional Battlefield were subpar a best”
“There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent, remember, that how third brother fell”
“Tch, third brother was a good for nothing, of course he would lose to that kid”
“Fourth brother! You can’t talk like that about your family!”
The one who suddenly stood up was the fifth child of the Shenai family, Shenai Zuku, he was known for his bravery on the battlefield, his unwavering will to never back down, and his straightforward and honest attitude
But to his family he is known mostly for his compassion, he always treated everyone with care and took on a positive attitude even toward the ones that made mistakes
The one who complained about Yu on the other hand was the fourth brother, while he was also brave on the battlefield it couldn’t compare to his fifth brother, his smarts weren’t comparable to his second brother, and his talent was not comparable to his first brother, with midcore results he had always been bunched up with his good for nothing third brother even though he always put his best effort into his practice
The bitter feeling of having his hard work talked down birthed a bitter rivalry with his third brother, even though his third brother never actually slighted him in anyway
“Yes! big brother Rozis don’t bully big brother Yu, he- he was hurt badly and we sh-should be nice to him when he comes back!”
The teary eyed kid who was timidly berating Shenai Rozis was the third young mistress of the Shenai family, Shenai Ayanna, she was the youngest noble in this Dimensional Battlefield, as well as the youngest in the current generation of the Shenai family, thus she was understandably a little spoiled, and while she didn’t have full knowledge of what happened to her big brother or what he did, she still felt that he was in trouble so naturally she didn’t want to see even her brothers hurt him
As for the girl sitting on the side sipping her tea peacefully she the second young mistress of the family, Shenai Arisu, she was a very quiet kid who rarely expressed her opinion, but when she did it was usually after careful thought and deliberation, her thoughts on the current matter were unknown, she just continued to sip her tea silently
“Don’t worry Ayanna, it’s not like he’s in any danger, he would at most get kicked out form here without getting the Castle Core, I’m sure when he gets back father wouldn’t treat him too harshly”
“But-But if he doesn’t get his Castle Core then wouldn’t he…”
Somehow the mood shifted to a sour discussion, the siblings weren’t worried about his safety, Ayanna didn’t know about the condition the family set and the others knew their brother wasn’t stupid enough to kill himself by staying away form the Core, so the only thing they worried about was the fact that he wouldn’t get a Castle Core, which was of vital importance for his future
‘Though with all his beasts dead he doesn’t have a future’
Thought Rozis to himself, feeling bitter about his brother’s end. While he didn’t like him that didn’t mean he actually hated him, it could be said that Yu never treated anyone form the family badly, Rozis just never knew why Yu would treat other outside the family with such contempt, he found it illogical as Yu was actually very sweet to his little sisters and younger brothers, himself included
Suddenly a servant came rushing to the siblings, he hurriedly reported the urgent situation
“Young masters, an ominous cloud seems to be drifting toward us form the west, we also spotted a horde of beasts rushing under it”
The party frowned, it seemed the Elar family had made their move ahead of time
“What’s their number” Asked Zuku
“They seem to be in the hundreds”
The answer earned a deeper frown from the party
“Wild beasts” Said Arisu
Zuku nodded, it was the only logical explanation, as the entire number of the nobles who could join was merely a hundred and forty-three, it was said that a thousand people could join in the past but an accident happened that resulted in the diminish of the Dimensions capacity.
Zuku didn’t dwell on his thoughts much, the cloud started to become visible from the distance signifying their limited time, Zuku ordered the servant to sound the alarm and prepare the guards, the others equipped their armor and weapons and got ready to enter the fray, hundreds may look to be too much especially since everyone was on the same Rank, but wild beasts, were wild beasts, no matter how many there were they could fend them off as long as they fortified the castles enough, at this rank those beasts couldn’t destroy the walls like tofu, that means only some of them could fight at the same time with the limited entrances
“But this couldn’t be all the Elar family has up its sleeve, watch out for any stunts they might pull while we are killing the beasts”
True to his reputation as a brave warrior, Zuku took command seamlessly and gave simple and sufficient instructions, the others nodded and headed toward their respective castles, this is going to be a long war of attrition so they had to prepare what they could as fast as they could
Zuku then turned toward the south, were a plume of smoke covered a worrisome part of the region
‘I hope third brother is okay, he has suffered enough harm’
He then rode to his own castle, mind laden with heave thoughts