Waiting was certainly something Percy wasn’t good at. He sometimes mentioned how patient he was, but the truth was that the crown prince was the opposite. If it was possible to solve something immediately, Percy would much rather do it right away.
That was also why he hoped the slavers would attack soon, preferably on the same night.
The first few hours, Percy was tense and ready to engage in a fierce battle at once, but his attitude changed quickly after the first night ended without an incident. The Rabbitman, whom Percy rightfully labeled the tribe’s leader, returned to the hut. He glanced in Percy’s direction and was surprised to see him medicate, keeping [Silent Reader] active while absorbing the perfect amount of mana he needed to maintain the Augmentation all this while.
Percy didn’t pay the tribe leader any attention, which was reassuring but also confusing. The tribe leader’s mind was plagued with even more questions than before, yet he knew he was supposed to ignore Percy. That was what he did or tried to do.
How about today?
Percy wondered when the night descended again. He did a simple workout in the morning to ensure his body flexibility and maintain his peak condition, but that was about it. Percy was bored to death.
To his misfortune, the slavers didn’t want to ease his boredom.
Several days of nothing passed eerily slowly. Percy was bored to death, so he ended up summoning the Glacial Roc after nothing happened for a week. Blue activated [Silent Reaper] before leaving the hut. It disappeared in the darkness of the night and increased its distance to the settlement.
Percy started multi-tasking, communicating with Blue and demanding to see what was happening in the Beastlands while he was forced to stay in the settlement as its silent guardian. He never deactivated [Silent Reaper], not even when he was too tired to stay awake. He slept with the Augmentation still active and replenished the used-up mana shortly after waking up.
The second week passed even slower than the first. Percy’s butt was hurting from sitting all day, and the hut started feeling like a tiny hut at this point. He felt like roaring at the top of his lungs, charging out of the settlement to scan every grass blade for the slaver’s trails. But he didn’t follow his desires. He suppressed the unbearable boredom and exhaustion of doing nothing and continued waiting.
I sure hope the others are having more fun than me. Maybe they found me and ignored the settlements…or the trap was even more obvious than expected. It was a rather obvious trap from the beginning, but to do nothing for two weeks…Are they more patient than I gave to them?
Percy ruffled through his hair, more doubts taking root in his mind, corrupting it as the days passed.
The Beastmen continued ignoring him as if he didn’t exist, whereas the elderly Rabbitman treated him as some sort of sacred guardian. He ignored Percy most of the time but cast revering gazes in his direction. That was even more confusing and the reason Percy started doubting everything.
There was no one to talk to other than Blue, who was having the time of his life while trying to stay as lowkey as possible, which deteriorated his mental well-being much faster than he had been hoping for.
On the 23rd day since his arrival, it finally happened. The last rays of the sun were about to disappear beyond the horizon when screams reverberated through the settlements. Percy shouldn’t have been happy to hear the desperate screams, but the corners of his lips tilted into a vibrant smile as he jumped up from the mattress.
The Rabbitman had gotten up from his chair at the screams, but he was even more startled when Percy pulled a black sword out of the mark of his right hand. The devilish grimace on the sacred guardian’s face shattered the Rabbitman’s initial impression of the young man, but Percy didn’t pay any attention to the old Beastman.
He manifested Dragonscale instantaneously and charged out of the hut with [Silent Reaper] still active. However, he no longer restrained his mana use and activated [Hawk Eyes] at full power. He leaped on a thatch roof, his head perking left and right while Blue returned to lock onto the silhouettes in the settlements.
Percy received a few images from Blue, who looked like a small shooting star in the approaching night, but he also saw the silhouettes.
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Ten-plus figures wearing cloaks and masks. This is way too familiar to be a coincidence.
Percy cursed inwardly, his worst fear coming true. He knew who the slavers were, which was much worse than everything Percy had hoped for.
Damnit!
It was frustrating, but the only good thing was that Percy could make a move now. At last, he could do something.
He summoned Hyean and ushered the Goblin Champion to protect the settlement while he rushed out of the settlement. The slavers’ target hadn’t been the Rabbit tribe but the nearby tribe of Lycanthropes. They weren’t weak, but their warriors were deployed and served in the Beast Legions. Most of them, at least.
Percy saw some elder Lycanthropes transform into massive wolves to fend off one, some even two, ‘slavers’ simultaneously, but it didn’t work as intended. The small pack of elders would have been beaten and nearly killed if it hadn’t been for a few younger Lycanthropes jumping into action. They were too weak to inflict damage, but the slavers didn’t care. They saw the Gifted Lycanthropes, knocked them out with a swift move, and packed them up like a potato sac.
Percy cursed and accelerated again. He circulated mana through his body while simultaneously commanding the Azure Dragon Essence within him to grant him some more power. His blood started boiling, and heat filled him up to the brim. The corner of his lips curled upward, and he appeared next to the closest slavers in an eye blink.
Dragon Fang whizzed through the air in dead silence, decapitating the first slaver before the other noticed what was happening. He disappeared in the shadows and reappeared beside another slave, who lost his head a moment later. The next slaver noticed him, but Percy released a volley of half a dozen icicles, and the Syreablade whizzed through the air.
The slaver blocked the Syreablade with his arm, which resulted in a booming sound of metal smashing onto the metal before the blade cut through the slaver’s arm. A quarter of a second later, the icicles impacted, piercing his stomach, where the icicles exploded, releasing their freezing properties en masse.
The slaver didn’t even scream as he lost his arm, and he ignored the icicles piercing his stomach, but he groaned when the bottom of the Syreablade’s handle smashed against his temples. Percy heard something crack, but he ignored it when the slaver collapsed. He turned again, looking for the other slavers, until Blue forwarded some images.
Four slavers saw Percy and turned around to escape empty-handed, leaving their comrades behind. Percy could have felt pity for their comrades, but two of them were carrying unconscious children, whereas the last one carried a baby. He nearly didn’t see the latter because he was already close to the forest, but Blue and the screaming mother showed him where he had to go.
Percy kicked the ground as hard as he could and dashed forward. His body leaned forward, and it didn’t take long for him to reach top speed. In fact, Percy crossed his top speed at some point. [Master of the Blade] was triggered when he passed by the pair of slavers kidnapping the unconscious children, yet he didn’t kill them. He severed their legs instead, protecting the unconscious children from getting poked by Dragon Fang, whereas [Berserk] activated without Percy’s conscious command when he appeared behind the slaver, who’d captured the baby.
The baby was still conscious and crying its heart out, fueling Percy’s heart with hatred.
Dragon Fang burst through the back of the slaver’s neck without hesitation. His move was precise and decisive.
He killed the slaver on the spot – the disgusting bastard collapsed to the ground –, before catching the baby.
Blood spurted in all directions, and both Percy and the baby were splattered in warm blood, but the baby Lycanthrope stopped crying the moment Percy held him in his arms. The Syreablade transformed into a black wisp and disappeared before the blade could cut the infant, and a sigh of relief escaped Percy’s lips.
He looked at the infant, who giggled before returning Percy’s gaze.
I should look even scarier than ‘them.’ I am covered in blood, you know?!
Percy muttered inwardly, but the infant behaved as if it could hear him and raised its arms, trying to reach for Percy’s face.
“Fearless little brat,” Percy chuckled as the effect of [Berserk] subsided.
Rationality returned to his mind, and he looked around. He didn’t kill all the masked men, but that wasn’t their plan in the first place.
Blue followed the escapees while the severely wounded slavers were tended to and healed until they were ready for a thorough investigation.
Though, Percy was already fairly sure he knew what awaited them. His Ego only confirmed what he’d been the most afraid of.
[Frederik Kalista(Elite-9) – Demonic Gifted – 501,926 Prosperity]
That was a lot more Prosperity than expected. Then again, the Demonic Gifted possessed the Devil’s power or the power of a powerful Demon.
But none of that mattered at this moment. Only one thing was important.
The ‘slavers’ didn’t belong to the Kainesh Kingdom. They were Demonic Gifted. All of them!