Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 327: Unfounded Urgency.

Some spent the night in constant worries while others were fortunate enough not to encounter any other participant, so they slept with little worries.

The most unfortunate were the ones who didn’t make it until the sunrise.

Staying true to his words, Old Gu shrunk the barrier by quite a lot. It had started reducing in size when the first rays of the sun had shone on the Neutral Lands.

Only a few hours later did it stop, but by that time, it had reduced almost 1/6th from its original size.

Like the rest of them, Ozul’s group was pushed a little closer to the center of the Neutral Lands which previously housed most of the powerhouses on the Continent of Egon.

Still, Ozul preferred staying on the outer boundaries of the Neutral City. Just a random encounter with three unknown men had Raven and Blaze beaten almost to death. The Neutral City itself must be in a worse condition.

Though he did not doubt the duo’s abilities, he would also have to keep an active sight at whatever was happening. Hence, he preferred staying away from the chaos as long as it was comfortably possible.

.....

As he stopped right at the edge of the dome, he realized that there were no big trees around. Sleeping on trees had almost become a habit because of how many times he had spent his nights on the branches.

“Uh, are we stopping here?” Zier asked while scratching his head.

He saw Ozul suddenly jumping atop a small hill and sitting there without surveying the area around them. It looked more as if he was only stopping for a small break.

Much to his dismay, Zier found himself in an awkward position right after. Ozul and Raven completely ignored him, while Blaze glanced at him for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders.

“Seems like we are...” he muttered before moving on to find a spot for him to rest as well.

He would patrol the area later; first, he needs to check if there’s anything wrong with his body. No matter how trustworthy these people appeared to be, he couldn’t be careful.

Even now, he couldn’t believe that it only took a single night to heal a wound on his body.

‘If grandfather were to know about this, he would have kidnapped this man.. haha..’

Zier couldn’t help but be amused at the thought.

But when the images of what had happened yesterday night flashed in his mind, his smile paused. He shuddered at the possibility that even his grandfather might have not been able to defeat this man.

“Impossible... grandfather had said that he was one of the best among the Rank-9 Mages!” he consoled before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

One of the fastest ways people Fighter or Mages looked for any hidden injuries was to simply let Mana circulate inside their bodies. If there was an itch, any obstruction, or even a bit of pain, then they would look for a physician immediately.

“huh? I’m all right... ” He muttered out loud unintentionally.

“What? Did you think he would harm you?” The voice came from the side.

“Uh- what no... I didn’t doubt him...” Alerted, the first reaction of Zier was to stiffen his arms as he blurted out randomly. In that small moment, he even glanced in Ozul’s direction to see if he wasn’t listening just now.

Blaze first glanced at his hands and then stared right into Zier’s eyes, “You know I’m really itching to find out what you are hiding in there.”

Out of nowhere, there were battle-lusty expressions on his face.

Looking at that savage grin made Zier take a step back. Together with the crown-like beads of crystals quite literally embedded on Blaze’s forehead, he almost felt like a mad king about to sentence him to death.

Suddenly, he took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before relaxing his posture.

He remembered that despite the situation, his opponent wasn’t in a battle-ready position.

“Haha! I’m not the one to prank around much, but ah that was fun. That look on your face!”

Blaze snickered before his attitude took a completely different turn. There was a pinch of arrogance behind his stare as he put his hand on Zier’s shoulder.

When Zier felt the weight behind Blaze’s hand, he couldn’t help but flinch. Yet, his whole body seemed to have been frozen. As if he was suddenly wrapped in an invisible ice coffin.

It was at this moment that Zier realized that he couldn’t even muster up his strength to move his hands much less his body. It made him aware that even his trump card might be useless against these monsters.

“W-what do you want?” He made sure to calm his nerves as much as he could.

“I just want to remind you that whatever you do, don’t get any ideas.”

“A- Ideas?”

Blaze continued with his menacing tone, “I overheard that it was you who healed me and Raven. You also seemed to be unaffected by the poison. That more than makes it obvious that you do have some capabilities.”

“And that’s exactly why I have to tell you. Don’t become a nuisance. Whatever you do, it’s not going to work in the first place. In the end, at most, you can only be a nuisance to him,” Blaze spoke while staring at Ozul, making it obvious who he was talking about.

His words made Zier feel something that he had never felt before in his entire life. He had never seen someone be so sure of anything. There was a firm and confident sternness in Blaze’s tone that he just couldn’t help but be fascinated about.

“You better not try your best and reach that stage...” Blaze came closer to Zier and whispered smugly, “I’ve recently discovered a great interest in torturing people first before killing them; it seems to be a lot more satisfactory.”

Just then, Blaze took his hand off of Zier.

Zier, on the other hand, needed a few moments with himself to even respond with a nod. He had just now felt as if a mountain was lifted off of his body. His sweaty palms were a testimony of just how terrifying a Rank-8 Mage like Blaze could be when he wanted to.

“Also, you’re really worried about him playing tricks with you? Hahaha! Are you even worthy?!” Blaze genuinely laughed before walking away. He couldn’t help but imagine the reactions from all those people who knew Ozul even just a little.

Even if no one else, at least Raven and Blaze had understood by now that there was rarely anything that Ozul took interest in.

Meanwhile, Zier was left standing there, dazed and confused. He was unsure whether Blaze was just mocking him or merely stating the truth.

As he looked at the back of the carefree man walking away while snickering to himself, all Zier could do was breathe a sigh of relief as he sat back down.

He tried to focus on calming his racing heart, but Blaze’s words kept resounding in his mind, ‘Are you even worthy?’

A bitter smile appeared on his face. For the short amount of time he had kept an eye on Ozul, he knew for certain that the man didn’t seem to care about anything that didn’t disturb him directly or indirectly. In short, it felt as if his existence was equivalent to a mere dead leaf lying on the ground in that man’s eyes.

While this was a piece of good news to him since his life wouldn’t be in danger if he didn’t step out of line or as Blaze made it clear, ‘not become a nuisance’, Zier didn’t know whether to feel bad or happy.

After all, in just one day, he was reminded again and again of his insignificant existence; no one liked being belittled.

‘Does he really have no interest in my abilities?’ Zier thought to himself.

It was a first for anyone who had come to know about his uniqueness to not crave it for themselves. In the past, he had always met people who would either try to coax him into working for them or even try to kidnap him!

His grandfather had made it clear not to reveal his secret to anyone for the sake of his own safety. After all, a man’s greed knew no boundaries. And he had experienced it first hand.

For the first time, there was someone who saw him no differently than before his secrets were revealed. Despite the vexation of being ignored, now there was a different feeling churning in his heart.

This group of ‘monsters’ didn’t seem as threatening anymore.

“Huu... I was worrying for no reason,” he muttered before he stood up and went to look around the area with high spirits. Despite being so weak compared to these men, he still had to help out.

At a small distance away from him, Ozul laid on the green grass with the pitch-black conical hat covering his face. His hands were folded under his head and a black cat was curled on his stomach.

Although he was ‘sleeping’, he had always been aware of the waves of emotions from all living beings around him, including those of Zier.

Yet, the one who he was focused on wasn’t Zier, but the presence of another entity far up in the sky, maybe even outside the barrier.

‘It’s getting closer... anytime now. I can feel it. Something’s about to happen...’

This feeling in the back of his head had only gotten stronger as time passed.

Now it had increased to the point that he couldn’t even rest without thinking about it. Just when he was wondering what to do about this sense of unfounded urgency, right on cue, a thunderous voice resounded all over the Neutral Lands...