Chapter 34: End of loneliness

The number of lights appearing was constantly increasing while the furious growls around me made my heart accelerate.

Before I could react, I was surrounded without any way out. 

There was no deviant, but I just couldn’t cope with so many animals at the same time.

I had to leave.

I examined my surroundings before making my move. I propelled myself as fast as I could to my right where the number of animals was smaller.

As soon as I moved, I sensed dozens of lights moving at the same time. I didn’t pay attention to those behind me and focused as hard as I could to sense the movements of the animals in front of me.

We made contact after only a few seconds.

I evaded two enemies coming at me at the same time. The vicious attacks of their sharp claws were quick and powerful but missed my head. I didn’t have any time to counterattack and simply ran past them. As soon as I passed those two, I sensed five others coming closer in front of me.

Without any space to dodge, I activated my magic with the maximum output.

“Water shield”

Water began to furiously spin at high speed around me. It was the Scholar barrier magic of the water element. A defensive magic able to repel most projectiles. I was sure it wasn’t powerful enough to stop one of my earth bullets, but against those animals, it was enough.

The claws and jaws of the five animals collided with my magic, but the speed of the water was too high. As soon as the contact was made, the attacks were repelled and my foes were sent backward slightly stunned.

I took advantage of this little delay to once again propel myself forward with wind magic.

I continued to evade while moving forward, not daring to waste any time by counterattacking.

I didn’t know how many attacks I already evaded, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see the end of it. Even with my magic, claws still struck me from time to time. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt thanks to my protective clothes.

Another attack hit me but this time on my right hand. As it wasn’t covered by anything, I felt the blood flowing from the deep cut.

“Bastard”

I shot an earth bullet at point-blank range directly into the animal's head, leaving it no chance to evade.

A part of its head exploded immediately, covering its surroundings with fresh blood. My face was also covered with blood but, with my eyes already closed, it didn’t bother me.

I couldn’t escape as I originally wanted because every evasion movement gave them enough time to surround me again.

“If you don’t want to leave me alone then don’t blame me.”

I continued to skillfully evade the vicious attacks on me, but this time I didn’t try to escape.

Each time I avoided an attack, I immediately released an earth bullet. I used this magic on a daily basis. Its activating speed couldn’t compare with what it was in the past. There was already almost no difference with the creation of a waterball.

However, while water was soft and difficult to use to directly injure an opponent, the earth was hard. I couldn’t counterattack too often as the number of foes was too important, but each time an earth bullet left my palm, a corpse followed.

Blood began to rain around me as corpses piled up. When the number of animals around me became too important, I just used my Wind magic to jump several feet high and break the encirclement.

After several minutes of constant fighting, my breathing became rough as my stamina began to run out. I was far from my peak condition in the first place, so I gradually felt my movements becoming duller and my reactions slower.

More and more attacks struck all over my body covering me in cuts and blood.

“Earth bullet”

Once again, my aim was right as my magic pierced the head of my foe. The corpse fell immediately near my feet, but I didn’t have any time to rejoice as even more animals appeared. While I was ready to use wind magic once again to gain some distance, I felt a sharp pain in my ankle.

I opened my eyes in reflex and looked at my wound.

The animal that I shot just a few seconds ago didn’t die on the spot but gathered its strength to hinder my movements in a final struggle. When I killed an animal, I could feel the mana disperse after a few seconds, but with so many opponents, I didn’t notice that I failed to kill this one.

I quickly shot an earth bullet to end the life of my living shackles, but its goal was already fulfilled.

I lost my chance to evade.

“Water shield”

I activated my magic by reflex while sharp claws were ready to slit my throat. I deflected them successfully, but I didn’t have any time to rejoice because of the storm of attacks that immediately fell on me.

Each attack lacked the power to break through my defense but they continued their rampage nonetheless, leaving me no chance to counter.

If this continues like this…

I chased that thought out of my mind and gritted my teeth as I endured the attacks.

With my water shield activated, I couldn’t spare any of my focus to counter for fear that the power of my magic would decrease, leaving me vulnerable to the sharp teeth and claws of my foes.

If I couldn't use another magic then so be it.

I used as much mana as I could on my water shield. I didn’t spare any effort because I didn’t just want to increase the speed, I also wanted to increase the range of my magic.

“Water sphere…”

The armor of water began to expand under my will. After half a minute, I was surrounded on all sides by walls of water five feet away from me. It was a derivation from the water shield I previously used. It was the first time I used it so it was difficult to control.

I couldn't use this kind of magic for a very long time.

However, it was never my intention.

“… break”

I gave a violent impulse to my magic. Immediately after, with a huge sound, the water that was moving at high speed was sent flying all around me.

The animal surrounding me couldn’t avoid and were mercilessly struck by my attack.

No matter how strong a defense was, if I couldn’t maintain it for long enough then it was meaningless. In this situation, I knew that my only chance was to transform defense into attack.

Some of the beasts died because of the shock, but the majority were simply sent flying away.

Therefore, I didn’t lose any time.

As soon as I saw that my technique was successful, I gathered mana in both hands and released my magic with my arms raised in opposite directions.

“Fireball”

My aim wasn’t the animals that were still confused by the previous impact, but the grass around me. After a few other fireballs, a nearly complete circle of fire surrounded me twenty feet away.

Unlike my water shield, this wall of fire that burned the long grass around me didn’t need to be maintained with my mana, nor could it be controlled to form a defensive formation. As a result, the circle wasn’t complete so it was possible for them to simply avoid this impressive wall of raging flames.

Sure enough, the animals didn’t retreat but let out several furious growls before running together toward the breaches of this wall of flames.

A small smile formed on my lips as I saw their assault.

“Wind Blow”

I released the strongest gust of wind I was able to muster. It was a completely harmless magic and, except for lifting some skirts, it didn’t have any usefulness. At low rank, the wind magic was considered by most as a trash element. Without any practical use in fights or daily activities, it wasn’t surprising that this element wasn’t very popular.

However, it was perfect for this situation.

Under the impulse of the wind, the flames began to spread at high speed. The gaps were rapidly filled and the animals that rushed toward these gaps were engulfed by the fire.

I ignored the shriek of pain surrounding me. I wasn’t cruel, but that didn’t mean I would show mercy to my enemies, especially if they were animals trying to eat me.

I continued to control and spread the flames with my wind to engulf as many of these animals as possible. It was far from being a precise control, but it was enough to make flames erupt with a violent gust of wind.

It was harder than I thought to control these flames with just the wind I could produce. However, I didn’t have any other choice. If they broke this encirclement, things would quickly worsen for me.

A couple of burning beasts rushed to me, trying to get their revenge by tearing me apart, but I just used an earth bullet to end their lives before resuming my control over the flames.

The sound of the crackling flames around me wasn’t strong enough to cover the furious growls that came everywhere. Their intellect was far from that of a human but they could still feel emotions. I didn’t need to be a genius to guess that after killing so many of their kin the only emotion released by these growls was a rage burning stronger than my flames.

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Despite that, after a few minutes, the surviving group began to retreat. They probably understood that they couldn’t win against me in this situation and would just end up with more death if they continued.

Dozens of corpses were burning around me when the surviving group finally decided to leave me alone.

I waited for a while before using water magic to extinguish the flames circling around me. After some efforts, I finally completed my task and breathed a sigh a relief.

My complexion was pale after the fight, and I had trouble concentrating enough to feel my surroundings because of my tiredness.

I used quite a bit of mana and my physical condition was already poor after several days without proper meals and rest. With such a weak body, it was already incredible that I was able to use so much magic.

I clearly sensed that Hiraliel was right.

The strength of your body was linked to the amount of mana you could use.

As my physical condition was quite bad despite the potion I drank regularly, I couldn’t use as much mana as before.

That's why I didn’t use my Sacred magic despite the situation. The toll on my body would have been too much to bear. Moreover, this magic was still lacking speed so it wasn’t usable in this situation.

I winced a bit after finally noticing the pain coming from my body. With my adrenaline more or less back to normal the sensation of my body also returned. I looked at my arms and legs covered with wounds. The amount of cut and bite marks was far more important than I originally thought.

If I just had a couple of cuts I wouldn’t bother to heal them, but some of my wounds were still bleeding profusely, especially the bite at my ankle.

Without any other choice, I opened my backpack. After a quick look inside, I smiled bitterly.

I still had four vials of potions.

It had only been a little over a week since I had entered the wilderness, but I was already almost out of potion. I knew that these potions were my lifeline. As long as I had them I would have an edge over my enemies and a greater chance to survive.

I carefully took a sip of one of the vials before stopping halfway. It wasn't necessary to empty the vial if the wound wasn’t too severe.

After a couple of seconds, the blood coming out of my body began to slow down as my wounds closed at high speed.

I was ready to resume my journey when I sensed something.

I closed my eyes to focus and quickly found out that eight lights were coming toward me.

I felt my heart throb in fright as I realized that another fight was going to break out. I didn’t have any time to rest my body. In this condition, I wasn’t sure how many more magic I could create. With such a disadvantage, I quickly decided to leave this place.

I began to run in the opposite direction, but I quickly noticed the true speed of these lights. They were already too close. I could use wind magic to accelerate, but if I failed in my escape, then I would have just wasted my already sparse mana.

"Can’t those bastards let me some time to rest?"

I turned around and readied myself to fight the incoming foes, but instead of the growls of beasts, I heard heavy and fast footsteps.

It was a familiar noise.

Not familiar, but it was close to the noise made by a running horse. 

Finally, the lights stopped a few feet away from me.

Now that they weren’t moving, I felt that something was weird. There were eight lights but it felt like there were differences between some of them.

I carefully opened my eyes to see what kind of beast I would have to deal with.

It was difficult to discern clearly the huge shapes with my blurry vision, but I didn’t have to wait long before my doubts were cleared.

A clear and loud voice emanated from one of the animals in front of me.

“What are you?”

No, it was coming from above.

I finally understood why I felt that something was wrong. I felt eight lifeforms, but only four were moving on the ground. Moreover, it wasn’t just animals standing in front of me. For the first time since I entered the wilderness, other people were standing in from me.

Four men riding animals similar to horses.

I was cautious with them. Despite that, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of happiness in my heart.

While I was immersed in my thoughts, I didn’t notice that the person who asked me the question earlier was growing impatient.

“Answer me, what are you?”

His voice didn’t hide the threat carried with these words. I finally broke free from my stupor and regained my calm.

I closed my eyes once again to focus on my senses. If a fight broke out, I would need my senses more than my defective sight.

We were in the wilderness so they obviously had some skills. Moreover, I was surrounded by numerous corpses and covered with blood so I couldn’t play the card of the innocent and harmless kid anymore.

Maybe it would have been better if I encountered animals instead, I silently thought.

I repressed a sigh before answering the question with an unhappy tone.

“What do you mean by ‘what’? It’s rude. Aren’t you supposed to tell me ‘who’ are you?”

My words clearly displeased them, but I didn’t care because even though they were human like me, that didn’t mean they had any goodwill toward me. I didn’t want to fight, but if they forced me then I wouldn’t hesitate.

Moreover, what I said was true. It was indeed a weird question. It was as if they didn’t consider me as a human being.

After a couple of seconds of thinking, I finally realized what they meant by their previous question.

“I’m human if this is what you’re curious about.”

A cold snort only followed my words. Another man with a strange high pitch voice replied.

“Don’t take us for fools. There is no way any human kid can do that.”

“Do that? What do you mean?”

“Open your damn eyes and look around you. Are you the one who did that?”

His strident voice was quite ridiculous, but the comment of this guy made me realize my situation.

As I had my eyes closed, I almost forgot where I was standing. I didn’t have enough time to leave the battlefield from earlier. Dozens of corpses were still resting near me around the burned grass.

They couldn’t believe that a child who killed so many animals by himself was Human. It was much more realistic to think that I was of another, stronger race. However, I still didn’t know what they thought I was. I didn’t have the long ears of the elven race and my build was probably too thin to take me for a dwarf.

The most obvious answer was that they thought I was a member of a strong beast tribe.

If they thought that, then it was really bad.

“My eyes were injured a couple of days ago, so I keep them closed until they recover. And even if you don’t believe me, I’m still a human. It’s just that I’m a good mage.”

I already accepted the fact that I wasn’t totally human. I even used that fact to escape death by the monstrous green animal a few days ago. However, I was still partially human and it wasn’t normally possible for them to tell my origins just by looking at me.

I wasn’t sure of my origins, but it wasn’t the time to complicate the situation.

For now, the most important thing was that they forget the idea that I came from a beast tribe.

It would be asking for troubles because slavery on beast tribe members was a common thing in this kingdom.

“Then, what are you doing here on your own? I’m sure that I didn’t see someone like you in town.”

The first man who talked to me opened his mouth once again. I knew that he wasn’t believing me, but I was more concerned about his last words.

“A town? There is a town near here?”

I had trouble hiding the excitement in my voice.

“We’re from a vanguard garrison less than a day away. We established a small fortified town a couple of days away to provide the soldiers with food and materials.”

He paused for a moment apparently to look at my reaction. Despite the fact that I had my eyes closed, my face couldn’t hide my joy anymore. I hoped day and night to find a town soon enough and, after all this time and harsh moments, my wish was finally right in front of me.

I couldn’t fight or displeased these men anymore. I needed them to find the town more than anything.

“I answered your question, now it’s your turn. Who are you and what are you doing here on your own?”

After the sentence of the man who looked like their leader, I carefully chose my words while adjusting my tone to sound more respectful.

“Thank you very much for your answer. My name is Thomas and as I said, I am a human. I came into the wilderness with my master a couple of weeks ago. My master is a very strong mage, but he really is merciless in his training. He left me alone in the wilderness with the mission to find the closest human town on my own. To be honest, I was beginning to lose hope. Therefore, my meeting with you is really fortunate.”

After my little fake tale, I put my gentlest and most innocent smile on my face still covered with blood.

My story was full of craps, but I couldn’t possibly tell them the truth. This would raise too many questions. I killed Arthur Waldemar, one of the highest noble in this kingdom. I wasn’t a fool. I knew people would be looking for his murderer even in the harsh wilderness.

Arthur Waldemar and his house lost their strength over the years, but this name didn’t lose all of its prestige. If his murderer went unpunished, wouldn’t that just mean that it was fine to do anything to a Greater Noble? I was sure it was something that even the other three great noble houses couldn’t tolerate.

I would be more relaxed if nobody saw me that day, but I knew that the coachman saw my face and probably even heard my name. That’s why I chose to give another name.

“Can you lead me to the town please, sir?”

I anxiously waited for his answer as the man seemed to hesitate a little. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his strong voice broke the silence once more.

“Alright Thomas, I will believe in your story for now.”

I smiled a little hearing his words. This name was quite nostalgic.

“Then will you lead me to your town?”

“We will lead you to our garrison, but we can't go to the town whenever we want, so the best I can do is give you the direction of the town.”

I was a little disappointed, but I knew it was already quite generous of him to show me the way.

“Thank you, sir. You really save me.”

I got closer to these men when the man with a girly voice finally raised an objection.

“We can’t trust him, boss. There is something weird about him. It would be better to leave him here.”

I frowned a little hearing his words.

“What are you saying, Klaud? He is just a kid. Even if he isn’t telling us his entire story, we can’t just let him alone in the wilderness. Did you forget our oath?”

He was slightly angry.

“I didn’t. I will protect the weak and innocent but look at him. He is probably not more than ten years old, but he killed so many Otsoll on his own. He is dangerous.”

“I agree.”

“Me too”

The voices of the two other men who stayed silent until now finally resonated in my ears. I felt my heart tremble when I realized that everything would not happen as I wanted.

My options were limited in this situation. I wasn’t confident in my ability to deal with four adult soldiers with my peak strength, much less in my current state. Moreover, even if I managed to defeat them all, I wouldn’t accomplish anything as I need them to find the town.

As I was pondering my options, the strong voice of the leader resonated once again and put an end to my internal struggle.

“Enough, I don’t want to hear about that anymore. We will bring him back to the garrison and tell him the way to find the advanced town. Unless you are all afraid of a child…”

I didn’t miss the mocking tone in his voice as he ridiculed the reaction of his subordinates. Immediately after, his strong voice once again echoed, but this time, the harshness of his tone was back.

“I will keep my word Thomas, but if you try to do anything suspicious then I won’t show any mercy even if you’re a kid. Are we clear?”

“We are.” I immediately replied without hesitation.

I didn’t have anything to complain about as his offer was already the best thing I could hope to obtain.

I slowly made my way toward the leader of this group under the harsh gazes of his men.

“Give me your hand.”

I extended my hand above my head before I felt a strong hand grab it. A second later, my feet no longer made contact with the ground. I carefully sat behind the leader on his mount.

Without any other choice, I grasped his strong waist so I wouldn't fall when the creature began to move.

I could feel the powerful muscles of the beast under me as its speed gradually increased.

After, a few seconds, our speed seemed to reach its peak. The wind blew in my face so forcefully that I was glad to have my eyes closed beforehand. We were moving at high speed toward our objective.

I didn’t pay any mind to the distrustful attitudes of the three other men. My mind slowly relaxed as I could finally perceive the end of my struggle.

Without the fierce wind blowing on my face, I would have already fallen into sleep.

I will soon be able to send a letter to my family. Moreover, if I could get a place to live and a way to earn my food, then I would be able to wait for their arrival inside the security of the town.

Everything was perfect.

Very soon, I would be reunited with my family.

However, with my eyes closed, I couldn’t see the malicious glares of the remaining soldiers threatening my hopes.