“Huff! Huff!”
Amidst the mountains, inside the forests, a girl was running. Blood dripped heavily from the sword hanging by her waist.
Her body was also covered with a few wounds and scratches.
‘...Looks like he isn’t chasing me anymore.’
Varsha had escaped from that chief.
When she had seen how the chief had killed Sharv in just one strike, she realized that she wasn’t strong enough to fight him and that she should flee.
She stopped under a tree, pulled out two pills from her blouse, placed them into her mouth, and sat down on the ground.
‘Good thing I had made more pills back at Sharv’s house.’
Her minor wounds slowly began to heal. But then...
Swish!
A sound came from nearby. Her eyes snapped open, and she gripped her sword.
“Ugh! So he hasn’t given up chasing me yet, damn it!”
Bam!
Just then, a figure appeared before her, leaping down from the treetops.
But, as she had feared, it wasn’t the bandit chief.
“E-Elder?!”
“Varsha…is that really you? You’ve returned?!”
Varsha lowered her sword and clasped her hands respectfully,
“Forgive me, Elder. For pointing my sword at you. I didn’t recognize you as you approached. Once again, I pay you my respect, Third Elder.”
The person standing was, Surendranath Devanand, the Third Elder of the Crimson Heaven Society. He was also widely known as the Dual Blade Demon.
Varsha had met him after many years, yet she could clearly feel that he had become even stronger than before.
“Yes, yes, leave all that aside. First, tell me, what are you doing here? You should have already returned to the Society by now. What caused the delay?”
“Ah! Elder, the truth is… on my way back after completing the task, I was ambushed by the White Frost Bandits. During the skirmish, I was gravely injured...”
“Sigh! I see. Let me guess the rest. You stopped to rest, and once you recovered a little, you decided to settle your score with the White Frost Bandits. You went to their base, but then their chief intervened in the fight, leading to this mess.”
“...Yes, Elder... that’s correct.”
“Tch! You should have returned straight to the Society. You were sent on a very important mission, yet you let yourself get distracted just because of a small incident? If the Society Leader learns of this, he won’t be pleased.”
“...P-Please forgive me, Elder! Please, don’t tell the Society Leader about this! I have a good reason for it.”
“...I’ll hear your reason later. For now, go straight back to the Society. I have other matters to attend to.”
“As you command.”
Varsha stood up to leave, but then Elder Surendranath asked her...
- Did you find the thing you were sent to uncover for the Society Leader?
‘Voice transmission?’
The Elder, used the art of voice transmission, used to secretly converse between two people. While communicating using this no one from the outside would be able to hear their conversation.
Varsha also replied through voice transmission.
- Yes, I found it.
The Elder paused for a moment, but without turning back, he simply walked away, saying.
- Then return to the Society as soon as possible, and report it to the Leader.
Bam!
Leaping rapidly across the treetops once again, the Elder vanished from sight.
“Sigh!.. I never thought I would actually find elder on the way...”
But then, when Varsha thought about it, she realized, the Elder had gone in the same direction where the White Frost Bandits’ base was.
‘That boy...’
She was reminded of Sharv again.
She had wished to bring him along with her to the Crimson Heaven Society.
But he had died at the hands of the chief.
‘It seems that no matter how strong you are, without internal energy... it’s all useless.’
She glanced back one last time, and then left toward the Society.
***
‘Are We headed to... Crimson Heaven Society now?’
“I don't really know.”
Sharv was perplexed, the more he tried to think, the more complex it get .
‘If he's from Crimson Heaven Society...’
Then why the hell is he going to Northern Plains?
That's basically an enemy territory for Crimson Heaven Society members because, Righteous Alliance is there in the plains.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
And the chances of his being from Righteous Alliance were around zero. He could be from Forces of Inverted Command, but he killed their members the most, according to Bandit Cheif Abhimanyu.
That leaves only Crimson Heaven Society.
‘There's one more...The royal families...’
But the royal families, are not in good state currently, because of their internal conflicts within the two empires. They have other things to worry about.
And there was another thing, that didn't made sense...
‘If he really was from Crimson Heaven Society, why the hell would be take help from a mere Bandit group?’
Crimson Heaven Society rules over the Himalayan mountains, he could easily take help from the society for catching Sharv's uncle, yet he took help from a bandit group.
Could it be that it was a personal grudge between Sharv's Uncle and Black Spear King. And because of that he didn't took help of Society members?
But if not a personal grudge, then it could means that the whole Crimson Heaven Society is involved in his Uncle's killing!
“Haa...”
Sharv let out a deep breath.
He has two roads now, either go to the Northern plains, and follow Black Spear King.
Or go to Crimson Heaven Society and find out about black spear king and wait for him there.
But Crimson Heaven Society wasn't a mere sect, or organisation that would take Sharv in, just because he wants to enter it.
He would face some difficulty, and in that so much of his time would waste. So in the end he made up his mind, to follow him in the Northern plains.
‘So…Are we going to Northern Plains?’
“...Yes, I need to find that bastard as fast as possible.”
Sharv said, but his voice was somewhat dry as if something was missing, or as if he was not much happy.
‘Then let's go! I think we should start our journey right now only!’
Vijay was very excited, Sharv kind of guessed from where this excitement was coming from.
“You're so excited because you were from there only isn't it.”
‘Ah! Um...Yeah’
“Hehe!... Looks like you'll meet your disciple much sooner...”
‘...’
“But before that, we’ll find that precious item the chief was guarding. It must be something truly valuable.”
Sharv and Vijay began searching through the village houses one by one, looking for ‘that thing’ the chief was protecting.
“But also, we’ll have to hurry...”
‘Why? Everyone here is wiped out, we have enough time...’
“That chief remained here even after defeating me. That can mean only two things. First, he was severely injured and feared that someone else, someone who had wiped out his other bandits, might kill him if he tried to leave. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that the ‘someone else’ was you, a spirit, not a living human.”
‘Yes, I figured that out one. But what’s the other reason?’
“He must have been waiting for someone to arrive here. That’s why he didn’t leave.”
‘?!’
Vijay was startled hearing this. He hadn’t considered it before, but it made sense.
As they were talking, suddenly,
Swish!
Vijay's gaze shot sharply toward an old hut at the edge of the village.
“What happened?”
‘From that hut... I can feel death prana.’
When Sharv focused his eyes and senses, he too felt the presence of death prana emanating from the hut.
“Do you think... this is the thing the Chief was guarding?”
‘It... seems so... but what if it’s just the death prana of some sealed spirit?’
Hearing this, a smile tugged at Sharv’s lips.
“That’s even better. I’ll just get myself another loyal dog, then.”
‘Ahem!... W-What do you mean by another... loyal dog?’
“Spirit servants, what else? Once your kind gives their will to me, then they're just the same as a loyal dog, aren't they?”
‘...’
Vijay wanted to yell at him, but he restrained himself. Clutching his forehead, he said...
‘But what if that sealed spirit is extremely powerful? Like a Disastrous Spirit or something even higher? Then what will you do?’
“Then I’ll just use the power of this Samavesh to absorb a portion of its death prana, weaken it, and then attempt to make it my spirit servant.”
Sharv’s plan didn’t sound wrong, nor was it impossible. But for some reason, Vijay still felt uneasy about that hut.
Soon, they reached the hut and entered. The inside was almost empty, except for a few utensils, a mat, and some rice.
But beneath that mat, both Sharv and Vijay could distinctly sense the presence of death prana.
Without wasting any time, they lifted the mat and began digging underneath.
After some time, they uncovered a small iron box. It wasn’t heavy at all, and from the outside it looked just like an ordinary box.
But...
Whoosh!
A violent surge of death prana, mixed with Lunar Energy, was bursting from it.
“...Hey, what do you think? What kind of spirit could be inside this?”
‘...Honestly, judging by the amount of death prana and Lunar Energy are leaking from it... it must be a Disastrous Spirit at least or even a Monstrous Spirit.’
Sharv’s brows lifted.
A Monstrous Spirit a spirit of immense strength, usually found sealed away. They have a high amount of death prana along with lunar energy.
If Sharv could somehow turn such a spirit into his servant, it would be a huge gain for him.
Sharv picked up the iron box and carried it with him, leaving the place.
He could not remain in this village for long who knew what kind of trouble might befall him if he stayed.
He and Vijay left the village and walked along the path. On the way, Sharv asked Vijay:
“Now that I have Death Prana, what kind of martial arts should I learn? Only Hand-to-hand combat, or weapon-based martial arts?”
‘...Umm, I wasn’t a martial artist myself, but I think weapon-based martial arts would suit you better.’
“Then which weapon do you think would be the best?”
‘Probably the sword, since it’s the most popular and well-known weapon among people.’
“...A sword, huh?”
Sharv recalled the moment when he had seen Varsha wielding her sword. She had also been using some martial arts technique, and it was truly splendid.
If she were still here with him, Sharv would have asked her to teach him, her martial arts.
But unfortunately, she had escaped to save her life.
Sharv didn’t feel any anger toward her for fleeing. Escaping was also an art if a person knows when to fight and when not to, then in battle there can be no greater wisdom.
If Sharv himself had been in Varsha’s place at that moment, he would also have fled because the Chief of the White Frost Bandits was an overwhelmingly powerful man, both internally and externally.
Especially his last technique, in which his arms turned crimson red, and his internal energy surged.
That was an terrifying technique, to both Sharv and Varsha.
In the end, Varsha fled. It wasn’t her fault.
‘By the way... when will we open that box?’
“Hum... I’m thinking of waiting until we reach my home. We’ll open it safely there.”
***
After many hours, Surendranath finally arrived at Duriyan village. He had come on the orders of the Society Leader to retrieve ‘that thing.’
But...
“Isn’t it a bit too quiet here?”
He knew Varsha had just recently fought the White Frost Bandits here, so she must have killed many of them.
But the silence around was far too heavy.
He walked deeper into the village, and soon he saw corpses of bandits lying scattered all around.
‘Hm... it seems Varsha has grown far stronger during this mission.’
From the Society’s perspective, that was a very good thing—that one of their members was becoming stronger.
But from the political side of the faction within the Society to which Surendranath belonged...
It was a concerning matter, because Varsha belonged to the rival faction.
“Haa...”
He exhaled deeply. Right now, he needed to focus on his task, not the politics within the Society.
The deeper he went into the village, the more corpses he found. But then...
‘?!’
A thought struck him—he had already gone quite far into the village, and yet he hadn’t encountered a single living human.
This realization stirred unease within him.
He hurried toward the village center, where the White Frost Bandits’ Chief should have been.
But...
‘!!!’
As soon as he reached, he saw that the center of the village had turned into a battlefield. Piles of bandit corpses lay scattered everywhere.
The plants, houses, and huts were smashed and destroyed. And in the middle of it all lay the lifeless body of the White Frost Bandits’ Chief, Abhimanyu.
And...
“Ughh, what a foul stench...”
Surendranath covered his nose.
The Chief’s corpse, along with the corpses of some of the surrounding bandits, gave off a horrid smell.
It was as if their bodies had already rotted in an instant, and all their energy had been drained away.
“But who did this?!”
He knew Varsha was not capable of killing the Chief.
So then who was it, who had killed Chief Abhimanyu and left him in this miserable state?
‘No... Right now, I need to retrieve that thing no matter what!’
The thought struck his mind again his mission was to secure that thing. Who killed Abhimanyu mattered little to him.
After all, Abhimanyu’s death had been inevitable.
The Society Leader had given him clear instructions: once he obtained ‘that thing,’ he has to wipe out all the remaining bandits, along with the Cheif.
But someone else had already killed them all before he even arrived.
‘Fuck, Now...I’ll have to search for ‘that thing’ alone in this corpse-filled village. Tch!’
