Silas was standing next to Cink, who was watching the entrance of the cave with a small object similar to a spyglass. The Denku tribe lived inside these caves. They had come to kill them.

"It looks kind of empty. Usually there are some guards at the entrance."

"Maybe something happened inside, like an inventory count or a meeting." Nadine said.

"That is still pretty strange. We need to be careful; Denku could be planning a trap."

"Are you saying he knew we were coming? Doesn’t that mean someone betrayed us?"

"It could be one of the relics he possessed." Cink already told them that Denku had special gear just like him. This was another reason why he decided to come personally and take him down.

Although Silas suspected it was because Cink wanted to grab the relics for himself if he saw the opportunity. "If he has relics, we are splitting the loot evenly. Since you have so many already, I imagine you’re going to let us pick up if there is an uneven number?"

"Oh, you're already inventing excuses. That depends on how powerful they are. I need to make sure he doesn’t have a weird object or relic that can kill us all if used wrongly."

"Enough with the loot talk. You two are going to agree in the end anyway. Let’s just start the attack. The others are fighting for their lives as we speak." Nadine got used to the two of them trying to gain the upper hand in everything.

She was correct; neither Silas nor Cink wanted to start a serious fight. They both learned about the other faction's strength and that it was better to work together. Despite that, Cink still had a couple of hidden aces and his own power, so Silas couldn’t fully trust him.

The army moved toward the entrance and quickly made its way inside. The corridors in the cave were long and, as expected, full of traps. Poison darts, spikes, and falling rocks.

"Strange, why would they put tramps in the entrance like this?" Cink asked.

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn’t make sense to put so many traps. Every time you want to go out, you will need to deactivate them. It is very weird. Also, we still haven’t seen or heard anything."

Silas agreed as they went deeper into the cave. By the time they reached the village, it was clear something had gone wrong here. Everything was empty, abandoned houses, and not a single clue about any pix living here.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Cink. Can you use your bell to hide our presence?" Nadine asked.

"Sorry, it doesn’t work if we move. But I can try something." He clapped, and the chest with relics appeared at his side. He quickly took out a red whip. It moved almost like it was alive.

"This is my only weapon. It was made by an old friend of mine. It had the ability to detect enemies around it." The whip moved like a snake slithering in the air, moving in all directions to try to detect if there was any other creature in the cave.

"You were hiding something like this? Cunning old man." Silas said it in a joking tone, but he was also praising Cink. He had to admire a player who kept himself alive for thousands of years on his own.

The whip stopped pointing northeast. "I knew it. The old rat is still alive. Denku must have done something with his tribe, but I’m not sure what."

"How should we attack? Alone, the three of us, or should we go with the rest of the army?" Silas looked back at the 150 soldiers with them. It is not like they were weak, but the difference between them and regular pix was too big.

Before they could agree on a plan, the whip began to shake uncontrollably. "This is bad; this movement means we are about to be attacked!" Cink yelled to let everyone know.

All the soldiers took their weapons. Silas and Nadine grabbed the green swords at their sides and waited in the direction the whip was pointing at. They couldn’t see or sense anyone.

"Maybe he has a piece of gear that makes him invisible." If Denku was rogue, it wouldn't have been that strange to have something like that, but it put them at a disadvantage.

If Emily was here, she could use her vines to detect his movements. But we don’t have any ability to find him, unless Cink’s power is some kind of detection skill.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Yeah, he must be invisible, stay close together and focus your hearing. He made the first move!"

Silas’s vision started to go blurry. It was like a fog or a pair of dirty glasses. It grew bigger by the second until he could only see white. "He took our sight!"

"How? I can’t see anything!" Nadine rubbed her eyes, trying to gain her vision back, but it was useless.

"It is just like we practice. Focus on your hearing and find his position!" Cink kept holding the whip and informed him of Denku's direction. In a moment, it changed and pointed above and then to the left. "He’s jumping above us!"

Silas tried to use his power, but he couldn’t copy any skill. He wasn’t sure if it was because he missed him or maybe he needed to see Denku.

A scream came from a group of soldiers; they were being cut in pieces by Denku. Cink sent the whip directly at him, but he missed by a hair.

"I had a feeling you were behind this Cink. You came all this way to die!" Denku smiled as he said this.

"Shu up, traitor rat. What happened to the rest of your people?"

"They are resting in the deeper parts of this cave. Don’t worry, you are all going to join them soon."

"You finally lost your mind. You killed them!" He moved the whip for another attack, but it was blocked by a sword.

"I lost my mind? is the opposite, Cink. I have finally reached enlightenment! and you join hands with another race. Was kneeling in front of the Valein Empire not enough for you? No, you need to go back to lick someone else's feet."

Cink did his job well and bought them enough time. Nadine got herself into position and took her secret weapon.

"Thanks for talking like an idiot and telling me your position!" It all went according to plan. After learning about Denku’s power to steal sight, Silas asked her to make two things. A couple of devices to amplyfy their hearing It cost a lot to only make two of these things, so she and Silas were the only ones using them.

Like earplugs in his ears, it made Denku’s voice clear, and they deduced his position. The other thing was something she did on her own initiative. A hand cannon. It took her weeks, but after experimenting with an explosive substance that grew in the forest, she finally made a functional gun.

"Take this!" The cannon exploded, and the ball of fire went toward Denku and exploded.

That should have been enough to put him down. But they only heard a laugh from the fire. "Hahahahahahaha! You think this is painful. I have transcended these simple pains. Burning my skin or setting me on fire is all meaningless."

"What is he talking about? Did I miss?"

"No, I also hit him with my power. But his ability is more than just removing sight. He can take all of our senses!" Silas discovered he didn’t need sight to copy the enemy's power, but the prospect of fighting Denku was terrible. He had no idea how to fight if he lost all his senses.

"Silas, come to me. I’m going to use my power on you!" Cink screamed and tried to run to Silas's side, but it was too late.

Noise, smells, and the sensation his clothes made against his skin. Everything stopped.

"Transcend or die from your weakness!" Denku stole everyone's senses and submerged them in a void.

What? I can hear or feel anything! What happened? Calm down. He used his ability. You know this. I need to find him, but where? I don’t know!

Being robbed of all sensations in a moment was the most confusing thing he had experienced in his life. He didn’t feel anything—neither pain nor pleasure, not even a neutral sensation. There was no up or down. No heat or cold, he was losing his mind.

Focus, the attack hit him, hit me. Kill him and the effect will disappear... I disappear? AAAAAAAAAaaaaaa! Where! STOP!

Silas's brain was going to break from the lack of stimulation. Without even the concept of time, he was at the mercy of his opponent. He was having spasms on the ground.

He wasn’t the only one in this situation Most of the soldiers were on the floor just like him. Some were bleeding from biting their own tongues and breaking their teeth, and others were drowning in their own vomit. Others were having seizures or breathing problems.

Nadine was one of the lucky ones, completely unconscious. She hit her head when she fell, and it saved her life. Cink was still on his feet. He had suffered an attack like this a long time ago. He was trying to find a way to reach Silas and give him his power. It was the only way to defeat Denku.

While this disaster was happening, Denku walked among them, gloating. "Is crazy, isn’t it? You feel as if your body has stopped being your own, and your mind desperately tries to grab it back. I also fell into the same abyss, but I climbed back up."

He slashed two soldiers on the ground slowly with his sword. He was going to take his time. "Don’t fret, it will be over soon. I know, not everyone is a chosen one like me. I won’t torture you forever. I did the same to my tribe. This is not a punishment or my desire for vengeance. I just want to find out if any of you can be like me. A transcendent being!"

Denku had lost his mind. He practiced taking more than just sight with his power. But when he used it on himself, his personality changed. How many years were they? Hundreds or thousands of years without sensation left him with a scar from which he would never be able to recover.

He became obsessed with doing the same thing to others as a ritual to transcend. He killed his whole tribe, but the only regret he had was that none of them could become like him. Even now, he stood upright and walked without any pain. That’s why he didn’t bother to dodge or block the explosion.

His left side was about to fall off, as the flesh was dark and crispy. He had already lost some pieces of himself as he walked, and his arm was dangling without a care. Denku was going to die of those burns in a few more minutes, but so was everyone else under his power.

"10 down, and not a single one of you has transcended yet. I know it is hard, but you will see the world for what it truly is! Don’t let yourself be bound by the limitations of your body or senses anymore."

He stole his own senses to show them. He walked around and slashed more soldiers while dancing around. Then he suddenly stopped and spoke again.

"Do you see? I don’t need to talk, hear, or see to find your souls. This is my true form. Unbounded by a physical body."

There was no escape from his delusions.