“It’s already been three months since we left Fordothrond city to go adventuring, but because of Boe’s unnatural desire to find some nymph, we have yet to actually move toward the Enthriil’s fortress!” Each time Boe would suddenly leave them without explanation, Dale would complain non-stop. Even though he wasn’t actually scared of Boe, he still had some hope that Boe would come back to his senses without the need of Dale’s interference.
“I don’t know what happened between that Lith and brother Boe, but even when we were in a life-or-death situation before, he wasn’t in such a state.” Kamys’ face was filled with a worry, and a slight tinge of fear was obvious in his eyes.
Brienne was sitting silently on her chair and looking toward the nearby forest with a rather complicated look on her face.
“Because of his unhealthy obsession and unstoppable baleful aura we already fought more than five times against some random wizards. And today I had to use one of my protective treasure, which my father personally forged and bestowed upon me. Do you even realize how expensive that treasure was?” Dale was holding a strange black disc in his hands, which had an easily noticeable crack on top of it.
“Stop whining. Our previous battles helped you to break through to the rank 2 and brother Boe saved your puny ass on multiple occasions.” Kamys’ aura now wasn’t as gentle and unremarkable as it was before. A few battles that he fought in previous three months helped him to grow significantly as a wizard. He now looked like a sharp weapon, ready to battle at any given moment.
“He’s coming.” Brienne’s gaze was focused on a slender black-haired youth with dark, gloomy eyes and tattered dark grey clothes.
Just a few months ago, Boe was always cold and indifferent, but now each and every bit of his body and aura was giving off a feeling of deep hatred and thirst for blood.
When Boe came closer to the camp, Brienne, Kamys and Dale noticed fresh drops of blood on Boe’s clothes. For the first few weeks, they were shocked each time they saw Boe fearlessly fight and ruthlessly interrogate people, but now they got used to it.
On the third day after receiving news about nymph, Boe slaughtered a whole squad of rank 1 wizards. On that day, Boe noticed seven young people walking by, so he came up to them and asked a few questions. He just wanted to find out if they saw or heard anything strange in recent days, but in response they only laughed in his face and told him to fuck off. Before Kamys and Brienne could even react, Boe unleashed his demonification form and annihilated the entire squad without giving them even a chance to redeem themselves.
After the first incident, Kamys tried to always be close to Boe, whenever they met other wizards, but even after that, Boe managed to start quite a few fights. And just a few hours ago, they encountered two powerful rank 3 wizards. Boe moved toward wizards without a second of hesitation and both Kamys and Brienne quickly followed him. After a brief exchange of words, one of rank 3 wizards got infuriated because of Boe’s impudent behavior. As a result, they had to fight against two mighty rank 3 wizards. Boe and company were quickly overwhelmed and Kamys was heavily injured. But before anything too serious happened, Dale had no choice but to step in and use his treasure to instantly kill both enemies.
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Once Boe entered the camp, he went straight to his own tent without even looking at anyone and fell asleep.
“Kamys, you know him far longer than me and Brienne. Do something about him or I’ll simply leave you all here to die and continue my business without you.” Dale was sitting and scratching the scar on his forehead as his white hairs were swaying from the wind. It wasn’t the first time when Dale threatened to leave them, so Kamys simply ignored him. Even though Dale truly wanted to visit the fortress of Enthriil as fast as he could, he really improved at an astounding rate while spending his time with Boe and company, so in reality he wanted to keep adventuring alongside them.
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“Kid, it seems to me that you allowed that puny demon to take control of you while I was away.” An overwhelmingly pressuring male voice resounded in Boe’s mind.
*BOOM*
Boe immediately coughed out blood and fell from his bed onto his knees.
“It is good for your growth to feel hatred, bloodlust and fury, but you can’t let negative emotions control you or that demon inside you will definitely use that opportunity to gain full control over your body.” This time the voice was a lot more relaxed and a soothing feeling immediately spread throughout Boe’s body and mind. Boe felt like clarity was brought back to his mind. For the last few months, he felt like his rage has misted his mind and he’s made quite a few rash decisions. He couldn’t even clearly remember some of the time he spent in that strange condition. Boe’s body shivered from a thought that he was actually partially controlled by Mastema without even noticing it.
“Thank you, master.” Boe had an unpleasant look on his face. He was extremely disappointed in himself. He was supposed to be The Demon Emperor! How could a mere soul of a dead demon take control of him?
“What happened while I was gone that made you so weak-minded?” Even though Boe couldn’t actually see The Strongest, he could easily notice the discontent in his master’s voice.
“The nymph. She appeared near me a few months ago and that drove me into my previous condition.” Boe’s head was lowered and his voice was unusually quiet.
“Nymph? Are you talking about that little girl who killed your brother? If so, then you’re mistaken. I sense no trace of her aura anywhere in this kingdom, so she definitely didn’t appear here for the last few decades.” A figure suddenly appeared in front of Boe. It was a stately red-haired middle-aged man with ruby colored eyes dressed in mysterious silver clothes.
Before Boe could do or say anything, The Strongest lightly tapped on Boe’s head. Boe felt dizzy for a moment as The Strongest easily obtained all Boe’s recent memories.
“Hmmm… So that’s what was happening here…” The Strongest seemed to think about something of his own for a few seconds and Boe didn’t dare to disturb him. “The nymph that appeared here three months ago wasn’t the one who killed your brother.”
“It wasn’t her?” Boe’s face showed apparent disappointment, but the killing intent in his eyes didn’t dim at all. “I need to capture and interrogate her anyway.”
“She fled to her continent long ago. She only spent a few hours here before using the teleportation array.” After hearing The Strongest’s words, Boe felt anger boil up inside him. But a second later, Boe calmed down and felt like a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders.
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“Thank you for the information, master.” Boe obediently bowed. His mind became crystal clear and he quickly decided to keep training in order to become strong enough to hunt down Lith. His current goal was to visit the Enthriil’s fortress in order to temper himself and obtain as much treasures as he could.
“It’s good that you understand what is important to you right now.” The Strongest slightly nodded, he was evidently glad to see his pupil act in a right manner. “By the way, you now have a junior brother.”
“A junior brother? Did you take in a new disciple? Was that a reason why you suddenly disappeared and I was left in care of eldest sister?”
“Exactly so. That kid isn’t alike to any of my other disciples. He’s my first true successor. And he’s actually a lot older and far stronger than you are. I’ll be leaving you in your eldest sister’s hands from now on. I will come back to visit you only when you will finish all the tests I gave you previously.” The Strongest vanished as soon as he finished speaking without giving Boe a chance to reply.
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‘A true successor? I wonder if that little brother of mine is lucky to be called so or is it his greatest misfortune?’ High up in the skies was standing a scaled maiden clothed in bright green dress. There was a strange look in The Toxin Queen’s eyes as she looked at her teacher departing from this lowly world.
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It was a cold and dark winter night in the Dark Elf Kingdom. A bonfire was quietly burning in a middle of an unnamed forest and three figures were sitting around it.
“Brother Kamys, when do you think big brother Boe will calm his heart and become himself again?” A black-haired young girl with eyes as dark as night wasn’t looking like her usual self right now. The peerless beauty was clothed in tattered, blood-stained dirty clothes and there were several scars all over her body.
“Brienne, should we just-” Just as Kamys started talking, he heard something move behind him, so he turned around and saw Boe walking out of his tent. “Brother Boe, come and eat with us.” For the last few weeks, Boe rarely responded to anything and almost never talked even to Kamys. So even though he called Boe, Kamys didn’t held any hope of his words reaching Boe.
“Alright,” Boe calmly answered, came up to bonfire and sat down near Kamys. Only now did Kamys, Dale and Brienne noticed that there was no longer any baleful aura around Boe. He was now the same cold and indifferent Boe they used to know.
“Big brother Boe, are you feeling better?” Brienne hesitantly asked.
“I’m fine. Sorry for all the troubles I created.” Boe clearly understood that he caused quite a few problems for his companions. Both Kamys and Brienne risked their lives in numerous fights to help him out, while Dale even used up his precious treasure earlier today. Treasures like that are simply too hard to obtain even for Dale. The current king of the Dark Elf Kingdom had to personally forge the protective treasure for his most talented son to ensure his safety.
“No worries, brother Boe. I’m glad to hear that you’re fine now.” Kamys’ brown eyes were brimming with happiness as his usual cheerful nature burst out of his body. Even though his clothes were a complete mess and his red hairs were dirtier than ever, it didn’t spoil his perfect looks at all.
“Good to see you back.” Brienne’s enchanting smile and the sparkle in her eyes made Boe feel something warm inside him yet again.
“You owe me big time, Boe.” Dale didn’t even try to conceal his dissatisfaction as he jumped up and started walking up to Boe. The greed imbued his red eyes and his strange dark grey skin was flickering because of the fire. “When we’ll reach the fortress, you will have to split your part of treasures with me.”
“Dale, shut up and stop bothering brother Boe. Let’s eat now, then sleep and talk about the fortress tomorrow.” Kamys momentarily flared up and shouted at Dale; visible sparks of flame were already appearing around Kamys’ body, he was actually infuriated by Dale’s words. He was already too tired of Dale’s arrogance and haughty attitude. Even a kind person like Kamys had his own limits of patience and Dale had long ago broken past them during their three months long journey.
“Kamys, no need to intercede for me. Dale is right, I owe him for that treasure and I will pay it back for sure.” Boe didn’t react to Dale’s behavior at all, his calmness and coldness was obviously getting back to him.
Kamys seemed to calm down and the company chatted and ate for half an hour and then everyone went into their own tents.
On the next morning, the four had finally sat down and discussed their plan. They decided to not haste toward the fortress, but take their time to slowly walk there and temper themselves on the way.
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It was a regular sunny day, the third day of the Harvesting month of the 10765th year of the Heavenly Calendar. Today, Kamys, Brienne and even Dale were in an excellent mood. Boe became sixteen years old, but none of his companions knew about it. All of them were happy because they finally reached the place that was marked on Dale’s map as an entrance to the Enthriil’s fortress. They traveled for five full months after Boe came back to his senses and they encountered numerous bandits and traps on their way. All four young people were now used to each other and each of them became far stronger than before. Any one of the company was now a lot stronger than regular rank 2 wizards and they even had a good chance to win in a battle against some weak rank 3 wizards.
“So, where is it? I only see the mountain in front of us. There is nothing here.” Kamys was eager to enter the fortress, but he couldn’t find any kind of entrance.
“Compose yourself. I have to use my key to open the gates. How could it be so easy to enter such a place?” Dale waved his hand and an odd looking medallion appeared in his hands. It was shaped in form of a thick tree with countless branches. Even just the medallion was giving off an aura of majesty and holiness.
“Master Gron.” Dale lifted the medallion up and loudly pronounced the words he was taught to say. A dim verdant light started shining out of the medallion as it flew off Dale’s hands. As the medallion moved closer to the stone wall, the whole mountain started shaking and the light of the medallion was becoming brighter.
When Boe looked at the light of the medallion, he suddenly felt an extreme calmness as his eyes slowly closed. Without realizing it, Boe was dragged into an illusion. He was now standing in a middle of nothingness. There was a only pitch black darkness around him and he couldn’t even feel his own body.
Suddenly, a little seed appeared in an empty space. Before Boe could even realize what was happening, the seed started radiating with a holy and bright verdant light. A moment later, the seed cracked and a tiny sprout appeared out of it. The sprout started growing at an astonishing speed in a middle of the empty space.
Soon, the sprout became a magnificent tree, which shined brighter than anything else in an entire universe. After a few moments, the tree grew so large that Boe had finally understood that the seed wasn’t small at all, it was just extremely far away from him. Just a few breaths of time later, the tree became enormously huge. Countless branches were growing out of the tree and each of them was bigger than Boe could have ever imagined. Even just a single smallest leaf was greater than a continent where Boe lived.
The tree became so big that it took up all the space in previously empty nothingness until it finally stopped growing. At that moment, the tree had finally stopped illuminating the emptiness of this strange dark world and only a single barely noticeable spark of verdant light was shining right in the middle of its body.
“Hmmm...” A thunderous voice resounded throughout the world as an enormous eye opened in a spot where the last spark was a moment ago. The eye seemed to be puzzled as it looked around. Boe was already trembling from shock, but he understood that everything around him must not be real, so he was trying his best to control his mind. But then, the eye focused on him and Boe felt like the eye could see right through him.
*BAM*
Boe fell onto the ground and his body was uncontrollably shaking. Even though he already woke up from the strange dream he saw, he couldn’t calm himself down as blood was oozing out of his mouth and cold sweat was streaming out of every inch of his body.
When Boe had finally stopped shaking, he lifted his head up and looked around him. He saw Brienne, Kamys and Dale shaking on the ground, but he still couldn’t stand up to help them because his whole body ached from an insufferable pain. His mind was on a brink of slipping into a dream as Boe saw a strangely shaped entrance into the mountain appear right where the medallion was just a few moments ago.