Mystical Journey

Inside the rock pit.

Garen felt Andy patting him. When he raised his head, he noticed Andy tapping the other two of them as well. Next, he mouthed the things he was trying to say.

"Wait for them to leave, and then spread out immediately! Don’t stop! The people from the marshall squad should be arriving soon. My black panther is leading them here."

"Understood," Garen nodded. The other two nodded silently as well.

The footsteps began to leave slowly.

Suddenly.

Waa... Waa...!

No one knew when the baby by Jessica’s side had woken up, and now he was crying loudly with his mouth wide open. Even though Jessica rushed to muffled his mouth, the noise had already escaped.

The sound of the footsteps stopped again.

Garen’s heart rose to the back of his throat. He saw Andy instructing him with his gaze: Spread out and run. He understood, the current black panther squad was still not as strong as it would be in the future. Two form one totem users, one disabled totem and his own support totem were up against at least three legitimate totem users, with one of them being a form two as well.

The difference in strength was far too large.

It was like a community policeman going up against a fully armoured special forces soldier. Not to mention that a form two totem user would possess specialized abilities, making the difference even greater.

"This is bad..." Garen could sense that the black robes had probably realised that they were hiding here.

"The noise from earlier probably came from here," said the black robed woman in a low voice.

The footsteps began to move towards the direction of the four youngsters.

Andy and Jessica’s faces were pale as ghosts, while Goth was grinding his teeth and balling his hands into tight fists, looking as if he was ready to burst out at any moment.

Garen’s heart began to sink.

"Found them! There really were people hiding here!" The woman in the black robe exclaimed loudly out of the blue.

"Run!" Andy roared loudly.

Garen grabbed a fistful of small stones and leaped out of the pit.

Tch tch tch!

The stones flew towards the sky and fell back down towards the black robes, unearthing a heap of soil and dust in the process.

********************

On top of a nearby slope.

Seven to eight White Horsemen followed a blank panther, rushing in the direction of the Black Panther squad.

The man leading the group was a White Horseman in black leather pants who wore a round brimmed woven straw hat, looking out of place. He had a scruffy beard growing on his chin, making him look quite different from the usual portrayal of the White Horsemen.

"Hurry up, everyone! Head to the small hill up in front!"

A woman in a similar straw hat followed closely behind him, furrowing her brows as she said: "Captain Jefferson, is there really any need for us marshalls to be called over for this? It’s just some bandits. Even if there were totem users they’d just be one or two stage one totems. It seems to me like someone’s making a big deal out of nothing."

"Just follow your orders, no need to question them," said the middle-aged leader impatiently. He kept his eyes fixated on what lay in front of him. "Everything would be easy if only it was so straightforward... Everyone, prepare to fight!"

At that moment, out of the seven or eight White Horsemen, five of them released their totems, illuminating their silver luminescence.

Jefferson put on a leather glove and stroked it gently as a ray of black light flew out of his palm and fell on his shoulder. Instantly, a black hawk with a red cockscomb on its head appeared.

The black hawk opened its beak, showing off its sharp saw-like black teeth.

Jefferson noticed that the black panther had began to growl softly in a worried manner.

"Pick up the speed!" He roared loudly. His right hand pointed towards the sky as he yelled: "Go!"

The black hawk let out a soft whistle-like ‘caw’ as it spread its powerful wings and raced towards the sky.

********************

"Ahnuxida!"

The black robed woman’s voice rang loudly in the air. Without Jessica here to translate, Garen couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

He leaped upwards and ran down the S-shaped road behind him.

Turning around to look back, he saw that the black robes had dispersed into a few groups to chase after Andy and Goth, while Jessica was holding the baby and hiding in another crack between some rocks.

The stones from earlier had barely scratched the black robes. When the stones crashed onto the surface of their clothes, they disintegrated into specs of beige coloured dust immediately,

A lot of the dust had been scattered everywhere by the wind, obstructing their vision.

Garen noticed that the leader of the black robes was now unconsciously moving towards Jessica’s location.

He narrowed his eyes and kicked a large rock.

Whoosh!

The rock flew towards the black robed man and hit his head, before turning into a pile of powder. The leader of the black robes let out a cold scream and spun around before laying his eyes on Garen. Meanwhile, the black python on his shoulder stuck its tongue out and hissed.

Garen trusted that Jessica had already seen what he was trying to do, so he turned around and ran.

"Jessica, the woman that Goth will end up falling in love with in the future. I’ve saved you once. This good deed will definitely be very valuable in the future." He continued to concentrate on the task at hand, and willed his legs to speed up as he dashed towards the slope behind him.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling sensation began to crawl up his body.

Garen spared no time before falling onto the floor and rolling down the slope. A ray of green light began travelling downwards from the top of his head.

The green light was like a thread. It shot straight in front onto a large rock. The white rock was immediately dyed into a large green mess, as the rock began to release a sizzling like sound of corrosion. The hard rock then began to melt into a sticky green puddle that flowed towards the ground.

Garen felt a gush of cold air emitting from his forehead, and dared not to conceal his power any longer. He stomped the ground with all his might and dashed forward, looking as if he was a white shadow racing down the slope in front.

"Gadate!" The sound of the black robed leader’s voice echoed behind him. The sizzling noise could be heard once again, as two rays of green line shot towards the slopes behind Garen, corroding the earth and stones nearby into a puddle of green, sticky liquid.

Garen refrained from turning his head but continued running down the slope instead. He covered his right elbow with his left hand, as his elbow had been slightly grazed by the green light earlier. There was a hole in his pale blue luminescence and his clothes were already starting to corrode. The cloth that had corroded turned into dots of green liquid that dripped on his skin, making him feel a searing pain as it touched his flesh.

Garen tore off his shirt and noticed that the milky skin on his elbow was now turning green. A little wound of rotting flesh had also appeared there.

This terrifying rotting ability, if it had happened to a normal person, their whole elbow would have rotted off by now. Garen toughened his heart before hooking a finger into the wound and digging out the rotting flesh.

At the bottom of the hill was a vast field. Not far away was a forest with patches of yellow and green-leafed coniferous trees. There were also lakes of various sizes that looked like mirrors, except that they were grey and seemed abnormally gloomy.

There were two little dots on the slope, one yellow and the other grey, that were going down the slope and rushing towards the field.

The yellow dot was moving at a rapid speed, and rushing down in an S-shaped path.

The black dot was much slower, and in front of it was a black python as thick as a fist, spanning the length of seven to eight meters, slithering forward. The black python lifted its head up suddenly, and shot a green light out of the third eye between its brows, straight ahead at Garen.

But not once did the green light manage to hit its target.

"Wandaxi, kashura!" The black robed man shouted angrily as he lunged forward and chased his opponent. He held a short black stick in his hand and kept pointing it at the yellow dot in front.

Both of them dashed forward, one in front and the other behind, before finally landing in the vast field.

Garen dived into the coniferous forest. After turning a few times, he jumped and braced himself against the tree trunk and somersaulted into the foliage. After that, he noticed the little lake in front and jumped down into the water. His whole body was submerged in the muddy water as he continued to swim deeper, holding his breath as he went.

The water in the lake was muddy and filled with soil and dust. However it was quite shallow, maybe only seven or eight meters deep. The bottom of the lake was mostly black mud.

Garen’s body shook slightly as he gently fell unto the mud, but it wasn’t a great fall as most of the mud remained in its original position. He lay face up with his body against the bottom of the lake and moved his shoulders carefully, unearthing some of the mud in the process and using it to cover himself.

A rustling noise emerged from the grass, as a large cluster of weeds were pushed aside.

The leader of the black robes rushed over angrily as his eyes scanned the entire area.

"Nuwataman!" He roared furiously.

The three-eyed black python was curled around his shoulders once again, and raised its head and made hissing noises.

It bowed its head slightly as its third eye suddenly shot out a ray of green light.

Tch!

The light shot onto the water in front, as well as the wild grass around the lake. The grass, soil, and stones all turned into a green sticky mess after being corroded by the green light.

The man in the black robe surveyed the area with his black python and walked around the lake for good measure, before running off to the area in front to continue his search there.

It was obvious that he was using the footprints on the ground as clues. Garen had jumped down directly from the tree, ensuring that not all of his footprints would be on the ground. The man was convinced that something wasn’t right, and decided to continue his search by crawling military-style instead.

The black robed man spent some time investigating the forest but failed to find anything. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked upwards.

Chirp!

There was a black hawk circling the sky and calling out in a ear piercing voice. The black hawk looked abnormal, because it had a red cockscomb growing out of the top of its head.

Garen continued to hide at the bottom of the lake, making sure to stay as still as possible. His aura could sense movements within a radius of slightly over two hundred meters in this area, and he could now feel the current location of the black robed man.

Bang!

Suddenly, a strong quake-like sensation shook the ground down to the bottom of the lake.

It seemed like a battle was going on outside. The sound of a hawk’s cry could also be heard vaguely.

A few minutes passed before the ground finally stopped moving again.

********************

Jefferson held the cockscomb black hawk in his right hand, as his eyes bore into the surrounding forest.

Some dark blood stains had seeped into the ground, and strips of black cloth were strewn all over.

In the fight just now, the leader of the black robes had been chased by him, and was heavily wounded. At this moment he was hiding somewhere and had left without a trace.

"Consider yourself lucky!" He said coldly, as he turned to leave.

The black robed man leaned against a tree trunk and panted heavily. His whole body was covered in a yellow-green sheen, the perfect camouflage colour.

He retrieved some medicine from his lap and hurriedly applied it on his shoulders. His forehead was filled with sweat droplets.

In an opening in the undergrowth nearby, he noticed that Jefferson could not find him, and had finally retreated, and was now walking away in a faraway direction. He assumed that the man was probably going to reunite with his other squad members.

The man in the black robe sighed in relief, and wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead. Only when Jefferson had finally disappear did he turn around and walk in the opposite direction. The sound of his footsteps were abnormally quiet, and he staggered when he walked, implying that he had suffered serious injuries.

He continued to turn back and check behind him as he walked. Suddenly, he heard a soft splash coming from the direction in front of him.

The black robed man felt his whole body stiffen, as his head turned around sharply to face the front.

Garen was standing in front of him with an expressionless look on his face.

"May the Gods become one, and may their divine punishment rain down on you!" He took a deep breath, as all the muscles on his body enlarged and expanded in an exaggerated manner.

Phoo!

A gust of wind blew over, and Garen’s physical body instantly leapt a few meters upwards. His palm came into direct contact with the middle of the man in the black robe’s forehead.

In a blink of an eye, everything quietened down.

His palm and the other man’s forehead were in direct equilibrium, and all noise ceased. In that moment, it seemed like everything in the world had become silent.

Bang!

The ground began to shake violently.

The platinum aura swept everything up, causing the blue light to explode in the middle of the black robed man’s eyes.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!"

The black robed man’s whole body began to emit black light, as his face distorted with every scream that escaped his mouth. After he was forced backwards, his eyes and mouth began to spurt out fresh blood unceasingly.

The spot where Garen had targeted was the wound where the man’s white luminescence had spilled out and had yet to heal.

Without any hesitation, Garen leapt upwards as his body emitted light and caused fragmented shadows to form. He shot as far as over ten meters away.

Rumble!

A thunderous noise sounded behind him, and a semi-circle shaped green light rippled in the distance and enlarged rapidly into an expanse of over a hundred meters. All of the areas within this vicinity became corroded into a puddle of sticky, green liquid.