novelThose who Covet the Blood of a Royal (3)
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Chapter 77 - Those who Covet the Blood of a Royal (3)
5
'Dragon Demon Prince Seigar Weil Rulain is missing!'
The unexpected and urgent news had put the throne of the Rulain Kingdom into a state of shock.
The throne quickly dispatched a search party with the Dragon Demon Princess Arrieta included in the group. At the same time, they sent a request for help to Kairen, since his dukedom was geographically closer to where Seigar had went missing. Kairen had left immediately after he sent a message to Azell asking for help.
Azell met up with Beorein, who was waiting for Azell in his domain. They were about to set off for the County of Baldan.
"I told Kairen to leave behind a marker as he went. We just have to follow those markers."
Since Beorein was an Arch Mage, he could move at an incredible speed. He could maintain a flying speed of a horse galloping at full speed, and the terrain didn't hinder him. This resulted in bringing out an unimaginable moving speed.
However, in terms of pure moving speed, he couldn't be compared to Kairen. Even though Beorein was also a Dragon Majin, he was too old, so there was a limit on how long he could maintain his high speed flight. This was the reason why Kairen had left behind Beorein.
Azell took the magic tool that would allow him to track down Kairen. It was a small platform with a needle, and it was able to point out directions.
Beorein asked him a question.
"Are you sure you are ok? You don't look like you are in a good condition."
Azell had finished his 3rd cycle of training, and it had been 4 days since he entered his 4th cycle. He had abused his body for several days. He had pushed his body and mind to the brink today from morning to evening. He had quickly drank the magic recovery potions like water, and he had mediated to replenish his magical energy. He also received treatment from the Healers, but his condition was a mess. There were still numerous wounds all over his body that hadn't healed completely.
Azell spoke.
"I'm all right."
He had experienced fighting in extreme situations during the Dragon Demon War, so his current condition didn't even rise to the level of troubling him. Real battles weren't kind enough to wait for him to be in his peak condition.
"Then I'll head out first too."
"Mmm? Shouldn't we go together? It is impossible for us to catch up to Kairen..."
"Still, it would be best if I got there quicker. Ah. Could you step back for a moment?"
"Hmmm?"
Beorein was puzzled, but he followed Azell's direction. Azell placed a spear on the floor. He got on it and he crouched on top of it. Then he created three clones.
Beorein asked him a question.
"What are you doing?"
"Please step back a little bit further. This will be dangerous."
After saying those words, Azell took in a deep breath. One of the clones lifted the spear with Azell on it. Then the two clones stood on both sides as they created a thread of light, and the spear with Azell on it was place on this thread. The first clone moved to the other side to load it diagonally. The thread of light was pulled back taught as Azell's body was loaded.
"I'll be going."
After he spoke his words, Azell gritted his teeth. At the same time, the three clones exploded. The clone holding up Azell threw his body as if it was launching a javelin, and it exploded. The clones placed on the side had made sure the maximum tension was achieved with the thread of light, and they simultaneously exploded as Azell and the spear was shot forward. The recoil propelled Azell's body into the sky at a frightening speed.
Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah!
As the sound of the explosions rang out, Azell turned into a blue streak of light as he accelerated high into the sky.
At that moment, an enormous pressure pressed in on Azell's body. If he was a normal person, his body would have been ripped into pieces.
In a flash, he was rising above the clouds. While he tolerated the violent acceleration, Azell didn't want to waste all the force in ascending the sky. He tilted the flight path as if he had just climbed over a mountain. Then he created a fierce gust of wind with his magical energy to take control of his flight path. Then he created a gradual slope to descend towards the ground. In a flash, he started accelerating, and he flew towards Kairen's direction at a frightening speed.
"......."
Beorein was dumbfounded as he watched it all from the ground. Beorein blinked his eyes as he mumbled to himself.
"My god. What the hell just happened?"
Kairen was running like a gale. If he drew a straight line on a map, he had to cover 230 kilometres. If he moved in a hurry, he could get there in 4 hours if he ignored the terrain of the land.
He had sent a message to Azell, but Kairen didn't hold high hopes for Azell arriving on time. Since he didn't have a clear grasp of the current situation, he hand to travel to the County of Baldan as soon as possible.
It happened when he was 30 kilometres from reaching the County of Baldan.
'Mmmm?'
Kairen suddenly sensed a powerful magical resonance in the sky. Something was approaching him at incredible speed.
Hweeeeee...... !
When he looked up, a blue light was coming towards his direction as it parted the cloudy skies. Kairen stopped running from surprise, and he unsheathed his twin swords.
However, a clear barrier formed behind the light. The blue light decelerated, and a person jumped out from within it.
Pah-aht!
The person landed in front of Kairen. Kairen was taken aback when he saw the man's red hair, which billowed like fire.
"Azell?"
"It's been awhile, duke."
Azell grabbed the spear that fell from the sky, and he gave his greetings.
Kairen's mouth had fallen open from the absurdity of this event.
"What did you do?"
"I used my Qi to fly over here quickly."
"No. What I'm trying to ask..."
"Let me satisfy your curiosity at a later time. We don't have time for a leisurely conversation. Shall we go?"
"Mmm."
When Azell pointed it out, Kairen quickly regained his senses.
Kairen spoke.
"Can we use the method you just used to cover the remaining distance?"
"One has to make constant adjustments in flight, and it is impossible for someone, who hadn't learned the technique."
"That is unfortunate. Also... You have a lot of wounds on your body. Are you really ok?"
"Count Michael asked me the same question before I travelled here. I'm fine. Let us depart."
"All right. I'm going to run on full tilt, so do your best to follow after me."
The two men started to run like the wind. Kairen once again became surprised.
'What the hell did he do to himself?'
It had been only 4 month ago when Azell was barely able to keep up as they travelled 70 kilometres per day. Kairen was truly running at full speed, yet Azell wasn't having any difficulty keeping up with him.
'Is it really possible to raise one's magical energy this much in such a short amount of time?'
There were wounds all over his body, but one could tell at a glance that his body's foundation was splendidly trained. Moreover, the magical resonance that was flowing out of him was incredibly strong. The magical resonance was comparable to the Sextuple Masters Kairen was acquainted with.
Azell asked a question as he ran.
"I was told the Dragon Demon Prince went missing, but I wasn't given any details. What happened?"
"It isn't as if I was given a lot of information either. The request had come with a lot of urgency."
Kairen started to tell Azell of the information he was given.
Seigar and his men were sent to subjugate a band of bandits that was led by a powerful mutated Orc. The bandits were conducting frequent raids on the County of Baldan. Unfortunately, Seigar and his men were met with an unexpected accident. Seigar had volunteered himself for scouting duty, and he had suddenly gone missing. On top of that, enemies attacked Seigar's troops in an ambush. They suffered heavy damage, and they almost been annihilated.
Azell furrowed his eyebrows.
"I'll have to hear a more detailed account, but.... It seems the Dragon Demon king worshippers may have intervened."
"What basis do you have for that theory?"
"We just have to look at the circumstantial evidence. There must be a reason why those bastards tried to kidnap the princess."
They still had no idea why the Dragon Demon king worshippers had wanted to kidnap Arrieta. However, the two of them were Dragon Demon Royalty, and they were siblings, who had come out of the same womb. It wasn't too much of a stretch to see why Seigar had become a target.
"However, can they actually act so overtly with the Guardian Shadows around?"
"If we consider the conditions the Guardian Shadow works under.... If the Dragon Demon worshippers really wanted to avoid the detection of the Guardian Shadows, it's not an impossible task."
The Guardian Shadow's surveillance net was an incredible weapon that could be used against their enemies. However, its reliability lessened as one travelled to the less populated locations.
Moreover, there was the problem of the people other than the Dragon Demon worshippers having to realize that they had spotted a Dragon Demon worshipper.
If the Dragon Demon king worshippers were involved in the disappearance of Seigar, they probably went through extraordinary measures to avoid that condition from being fulfilled. First, no one knew how Seigar had gone missing, and the report had no indications suggesting it was done by the Dragon Demon king worshippers.
Azell continued to speak.
"Moreover, the prince's personal troops didn't realize an ambush was coming. It was as if the enemies had appeared through teleportation... They are the only ones, who could pull it off."
Seigar's personal troops had magicians, yet they had been completely fooled. Even if the Arch Mage Beorein tried to do it, it would have been impossible for him to do this feat.
However, what if it was Niberis?
In Azell's estimation, she could have done it.
She had the skills to hide even the evil intent of her troops. It wouldn't be too hard for her to fool this era's magicians and knights.
Azell queried.
"The Guardian Shadows probably knows what's going on since the Duke knows about it. How about we ask them for some support...."
Before he could finish his sentence, he started sensing an odd presence nearby.
As the two of them were running at high speed, three spirit-looking presences wearing white robes were approaching them.
Kairen clicked his tongue.
"Well, speak of the devil. They showed up awfully fast."
"You have such sayings here too?"
"There are places that don't have it?"
Kairen came to a stop as he spoke those words. The whisper of children rang out in the surrounding, and the words were indecipherable. The being hidden withing the darkness of the white robe spoke.
「Dragon Demon Prince... Kidnapped. 」
「From the Plain of Darkness....... 」
「High ranked Dragon Demon....... 」
"Are they saying a high ranking member of the Dragon Demon king worshippers left the Plain of Darkness to kidnap Seigar?"
It was still hard to decipher what the Guardian Shadows were trying to say. The Guardian Shadows continued their whispers.
「Tracking....... 」
"Do you know their location?"
「Disappeared... Flowing tears blinds our eyes....... 」
「However, we followed the trace of the tears to encircle them. 」
"......."
Kairen frowned. He had no idea what they were trying to say.
However, Azell asked them with a serious expression on his face.
"When you make reference to the tears, do you mean to say the landscape is being obscured like this?"
Azell drew a shape with his finger through the empty air. A wave-like ripple occurred as the sight on the other side of the shape became distorted.
The Guardian Shadows replied.
「Correct. Flows like tears....... 」
「Tears swallowed by Vitan....... 」
"... when did these bastards become poets?"
Azell spoke to Kairen, who just spoke out in frustration.
"It seems a big fish might have really come out."
"Mmm?"
"If this characteristic they described matches with someone I know... We might have to prepare for the worst."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you as we go. Fortunately, the Guardian Shadows are able to track them even though the enemy is taking active steps to hide their tracks. They are able to see the traces that can't be seen by a normal person."
Azell started running again. The Guardian Shadows whispered as they followed them.
「The Dragon is coming....... 」
「It will come to test... It'll be here. 」
"What?"
Azell turned around in surprise, but the Guardian Shadows drifted farther away as if they had said everything they wanted to say. Azell marveled at this sight.
"Duke. I can't believe you worked with them for over several dozen years."
"If they were my subordinates, I would have re-trained them a hundred times over by putting them through hellish training."
Kairen grumbled as he increased his speed.
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