Chapter 10
The darkness around me, faded away, and in its stead, came lush forests on one side, deep valleys on the other side, and an old road, in the middle. I looked around me, my eyes still bloodshot, but I didn’t recognise my surroundings at all. The forest was really dense, it seemed as if the trees could touch the skies. The valleys were gorgeous, filled with beautiful, green grass.
The landscape here, was truly something I had never seen before. In the distance, I could even see the edge of a desert. It was so varied, and so excessive. It was on a whole other level, compared to what I had seen in the Sword Continent, and the Marestir Peninsula. It was very varied. A lush forest, a deep valley, and a dry desert, all in the same line of sight.
Where ever it was I was at, I still sat on my knees. Slowly, I stood back up, when I saw people coming towards me, on the road. It seemed to be a small group, and there were several guards. They all seemed ready to attack, but they didn’t attack as soon as they saw me.
The small caravan stopped in front of me, and one of the men, walked up to me. He opened his mouth, and out came a series of sounds. However, I didn’t understand them.
“What are you saying?” I asked him, much to his surprise, as his forehead furrowed, and he looked at me weirdly and tried to speak again, but I didn’t understand, much like he didn’t understand me. He tried to speak again, but when I still didn’t understand him, he shook his head. He look up, thinking for a bit, then he spoke again, but this time the tone of his voice sounded completely different; probably a different language, but I still couldn’t understand. I just shook my head.
He started walking in circles, trying to think. He seemed to be adamant on not abandoning me, at least.
“Aha!” He said, the only think I could understand, as he had an idea. He turned back around, and called for a few people, who all came running up to us. He spoke a few words to them, then, one by one, the tried to speak to me. They all had different accents, and tones of voice, as they spoke, probably all different languages, but I still couldn’t understand a single one of them.
The caravan had frozen, as the one who seemed to be the leader, was thinking about what to do with me. I truly felt helpless. I had no idea where I was, and I didn’t speak their language. The languages of the Sword Continent and Marestir Peninsula, as well as all the continents in between, had all been the same, or at least, they had some languages in common.
But now he had come up with a dozen different languages, and I didn’t understand any of them, even though I spoke a lot of languages. Then I decided that I should try and list all of my languages off, one after the other, to see if someone here could understand it.
I spoke a few sentences in different languages, and they seemed to understand what I was doing, so I continued. In the end, they were both shocked and surprised. Shocked at how many languages I spoke, and surprised that not one single person here, understood a single one of them.
The leader guy, looked at me with pity in his eyes. It was clear to him that something bad had happened to me. My clothes were torn, there were signs of wounds and blood on me, and my eyes were bloodshot. He could also probably sense that I was rather powerful, however he had no way of knowing how strong I was, since I was suppressing my power.
He however, was at the A rank. He was also the most powerful one here. There were all kinds of people here, all the way down to D rank, however curiously, there was no on weaker. In the Marestir Peninsula, and also the Sword Continent, the normal mortals, were basically G rank, even weaker than F rank. Maybe there just weren’t any weaker ones present here, but this was a caravan, not a war party. There should be some normal mortals. I would just have to wait and see, until I got into a city.
While I was thinking, the leader of the caravan was thinking too. Then he seemed to decide, as he pointed to himself, and said,
“Targhas,” and then he pointed to me, with a questioning look. I immediately understood, and said,
“Isaac.”
Targhas smiled, and nodded his head,
“Isaac, Isaac,” he said, as well as some other words, I couldn’t understand. Then he pointed to me, then himself, and made a walking sign, with his hand, all while wearing a questioning expression. He seemed to be asking me if I wanted to follow him.
I was a bit doubtful, if that was what he was asking, or not, but in the end, I nodded my head, with a bit of hesitation. The man made a big smile, and cupped his fist, as he laughed, seemingly happy. Then he waved me to follow, as the caravan started travelling once more.
As we were travelling, he would point to things, and say a word, trying to teach me his language. He knew that I definitely would have to learn the language, since the only way I couldn’t know it was either if I had come from the past, or something, or if I had somehow been sent here, from somewhere, far, far away.
Often, he would point to things he had already taught me, trying to question me about them. He was quite surprised that I always remembered the word, and never forgot.
Eventually, after a few weeks of travel, I could already speak his language. From what I had learned, we were in a country from the continent of Servana. The country, was a fairly big one, named Luxum. Right now, I was with a merchant caravan. It truly showed me the difference between my home continent and this one.
An A rank warrior, in the Marestir Peninsula, could originally be considered the top of a country, and even amongst the top of the entire continent, yet here he was only a small time merchant, with some wealth.
Targhas was indeed the owner of this caravan, and they were currently on their way back to the town, in which he lived. He had apparently made a good sale, so he was in a good mood when he came upon me. That’s why he decided to help me.
He still didn’t know how powerful I was, he thought I was only about A rank. And I preferred it that way. This man showed me kindness in my darkest times, so I valued him. I had come to consider him as a friend, and he had helped me. If he found out just how powerful I was, even though there were countless more powerful experts than me, he would still become very respectful around me. After all, it meant I could kill everyone around him, in the blink of an eye.
The nights since I came here, had also been sleepless. I hadn’t slept a single night in the past weeks, not that I needed it. Whenever I would shut my eyes, visions would flash past me. Visions of my dear Amelia. And whenever it did, I would get angry, so I stopped trying. I had become something of a permanent night watch, as I had nothing better to do, while everyone else slept.
And like thus, we kept travelling. Targhas told me that it would be at least a few months until we reached our destination. He told me he sometimes spent years on the road, but people here have long life expectancies. As an A ranker, he could even live up to five hundred years. And he might break through, and become a Saint, at any moment. Basically, he still had a long life ahead of him, and had enough time to make long trips.
One thing I found peculiar, was that teleporters weren’t commonplace here. They had been banned because of bad side effects, from using them. A long time ago, it had been discovered that using a teleporter, had the potential to lower your life span, and make you weaker, although only by a little bit.
This was because using them, took some energy out of the user, forcefully, to fuel it. A way to counteract this, without it being ridiculously expensive, had not been discovered. Therefore, teleportation arrays, were only available to the stinking rich and powerful.
One thing worthy to note, is that using Energy Manipulation Magic, would not have this side effect, but it falls under the category of crazy expensive teleporters, because of its rarity.
As we travelled, I revelled at the sight of the landscape. It was completely exaggerated, compared to what I was used to. The mountains were huge, and reached far beyond anything I had ever seen before. There were oceans with sparkling blue water that seemed like it could house a leviathan; Forests, so lush and green that it seemed like a painting.
The others, however, just looked at me weirdly, not understanding why I thought it was so interesting. I just couldn’t fathom it. I had seen many beautiful sights in my life, but nothing could come even close to the normal landscapes of this place. It was truly breathtaking.
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However, all these beautiful sights, were suddenly taken away, as a wall of fire suddenly surrounded us. From out of nowhere, a heavily armed group appeared. The wall of fire opened, and they marched in, and surrounded us. Our guards, immediately readied themselves for a fight, as the bandits rushed around us.
“Shit! A bandit attack, and it’s not a weak one this time! Everyone, to their battle positions! Ready yourselves for a fight!” Targhas shouted, while drawing his sword. In an instant, all hell broke loose, and the fighting commenced. The guards of the caravan rushed at the bandits, but Targhas was quickly surrounded by several bandits. Three of them, to be exact. And they were all A rankers.
I didn’t act immediately, but instead choose to look around. One of our guards, was fighting, while he was snuck upon, and ended up getting a spear through his side. However, he didn’t give up, before he managed to slash his sword through the face of at least one enemy. We were outnumbered, but everyone fought valiantly.
Targhas almost managed to give a life threatening blow to one of the A rankers, but he managed to dodge. Suddenly he looked toward me, not understanding why I wasn’t doing anything. However, doing this, caused him to get distracted, and he got a sword through his side.
“Glargh!” He bellowed, as he spit a mouthful of blood. However, I still didn’t act. However, Targhas took advantage of the fact that his enemies got distracted at their momentary victory, and slashed at an opening. The enemy A ranker was completely open, and the sword was going directly towards him. It was impossible for him to dodge.
“Ah, there he is,” I said, as someone suddenly appeared to block the sword. Targhas looked at him with despaired eyes.
“It’s a saint!” He bellowed, as he realized; they were fucked. If there were three A rankers, he might still be able to escape, but he didn’t feel very confident at all, against a Saint.
“Did you just try to kill my brother?” The saint asked. The saint who had appeared was a tall, slender man, with hawk like eyes. His hair was lean, and slicked back.
“Surely you don’t expect to live, then?” He continued, and raised his sword, to strike Targhas down. Targhas just accepted his fate, and closed his eyes. He knew his day had come. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. If only he could have slept with a couple more women.
However, the sword he was waiting for, never arrived. In confusion, he slowly opened his eyes, only to see a single finger blocking the Saint sword. In shock, he let his eyes trail up the arm, only to see me, using a single finger to block a Saints Sword, as if it was nothing.
The Saint however, was even more shocked. He was terrified! He doubted that even the average early Mythical Saint could block his sword so easily. At least not without a special technique.
“You speak of him trying to kill your brother, so he can’t live. Then tell me, did I not just now see you, trying to kill my dear friend? Surely, that would mean you have to die, don’t you agree?” I said with an accent, as I grabbed his sword with two fingers. He tried to pull his sword away, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge.
Targhas, however, couldn’t make himself say a word. He only stared at me.
“No, don’t kill me! I’m warning you, I’m from the Afflicted Prince’s gang! If you hurt me, the boss will be sure to kill you! I’m warning you!” The Saint said, as he let go off his sword, and took a step back. I looked down the frozen Targhas,
“The Afflicted Prince? You know about him?” I asked. As I asked him, Targhas seemed to be shaken out of his stupor. He shook his head, as if to clear it of useless thoughts.
“Ah, yes the Afflicted Prince… This is bad. The Afflicted Prince is an infamous gang leader. He’s very strong, being at the peak the Mythical Saint level. Isaac, we should just let them go with a warning, we can’t afford to anger him,” Targhas said, urging me to consider mercy.
“Hahahaha, peak Mythical Saint? He’s only a Mythical Saint, and you say I should let you go? For such a weakling? Let me tell you, I do not show mercy. I once destroyed half a continent, just because they didn’t agree with me, so tell me, should I let you go, just because you work for a measly Mythical Saint?” I asked the little Saint, with a menacing voice, releasing my devastating aura, crushing his weak body.
As my energy blew unto the Saint, he fell to his knees. After everything that had happened, my aura gave a very heavy feeling of despair and sadness, as well as dread and terror. Despair and sadness, from the death of Amelia, dread and terror for taking several trillions of lives.
The Saint found himself completely unable to neither move, nor talk. Targhas looked at me in terror, as he too felt the aura.
“Amongst the ones whom I have killed, there are countless Saints and Mythical Saints, many of whom lived far greater lives than you! Yet you want mercy? Dream on!” I shouted at him, and let some of my pent up anger out, and completely crushed him, with just my energy. From the after waves of my energy, most of the bandits perished as well. I looked to the rest of the bandits, who only numbered a few.
“The rest of you are the lucky ones. Go to that Afflicted Prince, and tell him to come if he dares. Just remember, not even a peak Mythical Saint is above the lives of five trillion people,” I said, as they scurried off.
Targhas, however, continued to look at me, seemingly wondering if he should speak or not.
“What is it?” I asked him. As I directly asked him, he seemed to decide to just speak.
“Is it true, what you said? About destroying half a continent?” He asked, slightly nervous I would get angry at him.
“Well, yes. However, it is much more complicated than that. It was a war, where either we die, or they die. It was a war of religion, we were under the Gods of Order, and they were under the Gods of Chaos, or the Demon Gods. Through many events, I found myself becoming the leader, of the forces of the Gods of Order. It was under my orders that all those lives were lost, and a great deal of them, were lost to my own hand,” I said, trailing off at the end. Targhas didn’t speak for a while, before he decided to take it further.
“Who won?” He asked. From how I spoke before, it would sound as we won, but he still wondered, since if we won, why would I be here?
“Well, I don’t know for sure. I think neither side won. In the end, we completely and utterly destroyed all of their forces, and their entire population, but as we were about to fight the final battle, it turned out that their leader, the Demon Master, was actually an Immortal. Not even I could stand up to him. In the end, even… well, let’s just say, I don’t know the fate of the others, and I am here. However, I will never forget!” I said, with a hint of rage at the end. Targhas even got the chills, from my last words.
He understood that I had left some details out. He felt my aura before. It was one of complete despair. It was not something you would only get from losing a battle, but he didn’t ask further. He realized that touching my soft spots, was not the best of ideas.
And thus, we continued travelling, after taking care of the wounded, and deceased.
“So, Isaac, do you think you can take this Afflicted Prince? He’s a peak level Mythical Saint, and he’ll likely want revenge. He’s supposed to have a lot of pride. I’m certain that there’s probably someone tailing us, as we speak,” he said. He was still worried about this Afflicted Prince guy, but I was quite confident.
“Don’t worry, a peak Mythical Saint is small game. And yes, there is in fact, someone tailing us as we speak. But don’t worry, there’s no danger. And if he brings a Legendary Saint, I’ll figure something out. But I doubt that’d happen. In fact, it’s likely he’ll give up, when he arrives. After all, three A rankers, and a Saint, are not worth risking your life over. In the end, he’ll value his own life over that of his already dead subordinates,” I said, reassuring him.
“Hmm, well if you say so. From the sounds of it, you’re a legendary saint, so you’ve lived far longer than me, and are much wiser, I bet,” Targhas said, rubbing his chin.
“Hmm, yes I’m basically a Legendary Saint, but I’m not that old. I’m only about seven hundred years old. Still a lot older than you, though,” I said, rubbing my chin in turn. Targhas, however, stopped rubbing his chin, and looked at me in disbelief.
“What?! You’re that young. How in the hell, did you reach your level of power, in such a short time?” He asked, not willing to believe me, just like that.
“Hahaha, the reactions always amuse me! But well, I’m a little special. While I am in fact, as strong as an early Legendary Saint, I’m only an early Mythical Saint. But I have a bit of a special bloodline, if you will,” I said.
“Special bloodline? What kind of bloodline lets you become that strong, that quickly? It defies logic, and quite honestly, you’re making me feel bad!” Targhas said, again making me laugh at him.
“Well, we’ve known each other for how many months now? I suppose I could tell, I intend to leech on you for a bit longer anyway. Just promise you’ll keep your mouth shut, or I suppose I’ll have to kill you. Alright?”
“Huh? Yeah, I promise! I won’t tell a soul!” He said, immediately. He was quite curious to hear about me.
“Well then, maybe I can even give you my blessing, when we get to the city. But let’s get started, on my life’s story! Apparently, I’m the son of Gebados, the God of Death. Gebados, the God of Death, decided that he wanted a new race of vampires, since all the other incarnations failed, so he had me, with his wife, Delia, he said she’s called. I’ve never met her, but I’m quite curious. Apparently she’s the Goddess of Nature. Quite the peculiar combination.
Well, after I was born, he dumped me here to this world, to the people I’ve always known as my parents. They proceeded to raise me, as a normal farm boy, and I eventually became the hunter of the family. This was in a continent, at the edge of the world mind you, so there were no Saints there, The strongest ones, were A rankers, like you.
Skip forwards nineteen years, and I’m reintroduced to my father, the God of Death. He awakens the power which was hidden inside me since I was born, and I became the Vampire Progenitor.
So, to answer your question about my so called special bloodline, I’m a Demigod Vampire Progenitor. As a Demi God Vampire Progenitor, I’m naturally gifted with the potential to reach the actual Demigod stage, as well as eternal life. So, I grow in power rather quickly,” I explained to him, in one big breath.
Targhas, found himself unable to speak, once more, as the truck load of information overflowed his little brain.
“What?” Was all he said.
End of chapter 10.