Chapter 9: You have her scent
Everyone was wondering what Alice was talking about. Everyone except for Old Nan, who was sweating profusely with his mouth gaping wide and eyes that bulged like a donut. Old Nan was a village elder of Lopan village in charge of their accommodation. When the group first arrived at Lopan, they did not go to the village first. When they finally went to the village, a huge commotion was heard from the eastern part of Sleeping Vine forest which was only a few miles near the village.
“Everybody! Run! Leave the village!” as Alice shouted, an old man behind her exclaimed.
"It's as my ancestor said! It's true! It's true!"
Everyone stared at Old Nan as he exclaimed. "What's 'true' old man?" They asked.
While grasping for her breath, Alice with angry red eyes she shouted inside her mind. "What the heck! I told you guys to run, not to have an open forum!!!"
"Ragnakars... according to my ancestor, near this village is a gate that was sealed by the strongest sorcerer. This gate is a portal that leads to the outer parts of Hell. The First Hell to be exact. This first hell is the homeworld of creatures known as the Ragnakars also known as the "Realm Eaters". And it was the Strongest Sorcerer, the sorcerer-king who sealed this gate preventing the coming of this bringer of destruction!" Old Nan explained.
"What are you on to Old man?"
"Have you eaten yet?"
"Our history states that the sorcerer-king was evil and was the creature of demons! How would he do a kind deed as to seal those mythical monsters?" a silver robed man objected.
"Boy... You know nothing of reality. History can be changed depending on the writer. And who wrote this so-called history? The Holy Land of Lir! Those damnable hypocrites!" Old Nan retorted.
As they were debating if what Old Nan said was true or not, Alice felt chills over her body. When she turned around, what she saw gave her terror. The Transcender level Ragnakar was only meters away from the village. "It's here!!!" She shouted.
The rest of her silver robe companions turned there heads in the same direction and saw a monster they never dreamed to see. It's deathly aura radiated all over the village. Its eyes struck fear across all their hearts. What they felt right now was a sense of hopelessness.
The leader of the group noticed something unusual. He was a member of the Order of the Silver Robed Knights from the Silver Sword Empire (Once known as the Silver Sword Queendom) and a captain class knight of the academy. Their Order was tasked to hunt and eliminate creatures of the dark that the regular army cannot handle. They were trained to hunt Rogue Vampires, Lunatic were-beasts, demon spawns and other vile and evil creatures. He, as captain of a troop, was able to experience facing a lot of these anomalies. And he remembered this feeling the Ragnakar has brought.
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"Bring out your wards! It's a death aura! We'll be defeated even before you fight if we get influenced by this evil power!" The leader howled.
"Captain, let's lure it away from the village! We can fight it better without worrying about their immediate safety!" One the silver robe knights said.
"Lady Alice, please..."
Before the captain could finish speaking, the Ragnakar spoke in a cold low tone.
"You! Little Human Girl." It pointed one of its claw at Alice.
"Huh?" Alice was stunned that it was pointing at her. What did this monster want? Did it take a liking to me? Was it expecting and ending of "Beauty and the Ugly Beast"?
"You have the ‘her’ scent... I can't believe how fast we found you! Hahahahaha. His Highness will be very happy. This time, your soul cannot escape!" The Ragnakar seemed to be happy and excited.
As Alice heard this, only one thought came to her mind. "If this monster is aiming for me... then I can lure it out of the village..." with this thought in mind, she turned to the leader of the silver robe hunters.
"Captain, please tell my sister that I, Alice Silversword, has fought bravely." then she dashed swiftly towards the deepest parts of the Southern Sleeping Vine Forest.
"Stop!!! The captain shrieked. The rest of the silver robes were stunned.
"Hahahahaha. Do you think you can get away from us?" The Ragnakar laughed then followed Alice to the dense forest.
"Follow them!" The leader of the silver robes commanded.
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On the other end of the forest, Lyle was still running away from the angry Ragnakar. He was starting to run out of stamina and was bleeding all over. The now-one-eyed Ragnakar didn't care for any other thing anymore. On its mind was just "Squash the Worm!". It had been firing a lot of its phantasmal roars yet wasn't able to hit Lyle, making it angrier.
"FOOLISH HUMAN!!! I WON'T STOP UNTIL YOU DIE TODAY!!!" It bellowed like an angry old wife.
"Hahahahahahaha. Well, thank you! I'm now elevated to one of the highest orders of species! Hahahhaha!" Lyle laughed even though he didn't have the strength anymore. He was at his limits. The limit of a 5th Rank Mortal Arts practitioner.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
A Phantasmal Roar finally hit him and one of his legs got corroded into nothingness.
"Accckkkkk... !@&^%&$(!*#($*(!!!!" He fell heavily on the ground and gritted his teeth. "&^%&!@$*&!@# I lost my leg!! IT *&%! @*#&$ HURTS!!!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Finally... I'm able to squash you now foolish speck!"
"Ouch... That's rude... I got demoted..." Lyle couldn't help but grin at his situation. Is this my end? Will I never see you again... Reyla? I wonder what happened to little Alice. I hope the air support of the 40th barracks was able to pick her up. They have those Mana Cannons that could destroy these monsters...
As Lyle was lamenting over his misfortune, the Ragnakar bellowed.
"Meet your maker speck!" It raised its arms and directed its claws towards Lyle when suddenly a chill was sent down his back. It turned his head around and saw a flaming blue hoof as large as a mountain coming towards it.
"This... can't be!!!" It shrieked. "You were not supposed to be alive! It's been 200 years since you disappeared! You..."
The Ragnakar was not able to finish speaking when the hoof squashed him like a bug. Its blood splattered all over the place but the blue flames of the hoof devoured anything that resembled a part of the ragnakar.
Lyle wasn't optimistic. He lost one of his legs, if he won't die of blood loss then he will die of shame losing his leg. He'll be now known as the "crippled wolf". First was the claw of the Ragnakar, and now this blue flame will devour him. As he waited for his end, instead of feeling a burning pain, what he felt right now was a soothing warmth.
"Ah... I guess this is the feeling of dying... I thought it would be suffocating... but this feels nice..."
"You. Not. Dead. Puny. Human. You. Live. I. Awesome."
"Huh? I know that voice."
"Hmph. No. Thank. Me?"
"Ahhh!! Bull!! It's you!! Ahh!! My leg!! It's back!"
"Master. Flame. Help. You." the bull proudly exclaimed.
"What the... How come you this strong? I suffered all that and yet you can defeat them like swatting bugs???"
"Power. Sealed. But. Master. Conscious. Power. Back!" The bull grinned.
"Master? Which Master? What Master?!" Lyle was now getting agitated. He remembered the stories of old. Legends and Myths about the ‘Evil Sorcerer and his mount’. With the stories and the history that he knew about the Sorcerer King, his return will mean the end of the entire 7th Realm.
"Sorcerer. King. Who. That? Master. Is. Future. Richest. Man. In. World!!"
"What?"