Free Web NovelChapter 64: Chapter 64: Beyond the Great Wall
Chapter 64: Beyond the Great Wall
The morning sun had barely crested the horizon when the massive steel gates of Bastion Seven groaned open.
The sheer size of the Great Wall cast a long, imposing shadow over the four students standing at the border.
Aegon Logcheville stood at the front, holding his new dark metal Blood Fire Spear. Reina Frost rested her heavy double-headed ice axe on her shoulder.
Estella Everdawn adjusted the sleek silver bracelet on her wrist. Draven Mordis stood in the back, his hands casually stuffed into the pockets of his dark cargo pants.
"We are officially in the Wildlands," Aegon announced. He puffed his chest out.
"Stay close. We do not know what kind of mutated garbage is hiding out here."
Draven sighed internally.
’He still acts like he’s walking into a sparring ring,’ Draven thought.
"Rule number one," Draven’s voice cut through the morning mist, cold and authoritative.
"Shut up."
Aegon blinked, looking back over his shoulder.
"What?"
"You are projecting your aura like a lighthouse," Draven instructed flatly.
"In the arena, you want your opponent to look at you. Out here, projecting your mana is exactly how you ring the dinner bell for every starving beast within a ten-mile radius. Pull it in. All of it."
Reina frowned, realizing Draven was entirely right.
She consciously dampened the biting chill radiating from her axe. Aegon gritted his teeth and pulled his latent heat back into his core.
"Rule number two," Draven continued, his pitch-black eyes scanning the desolate, cracked asphalt of the old-world highway.
"Do not step on the moss."
"Oh! Come on! It’s just moss, Draven," Reina scoffed lightly.
"Yes! It’s parasitic Blood-Moss," Draven corrected her, pointing to the faint red veins pulsing beneath the green fuzz.
"It reacts to kinetic pressure. Step on it, and it releases a microscopic spore cloud that will paralyze your vocal cords in three seconds. Step carefully. Because we do not have the antidote."
The three nobles stared at the ground in sheer realization. They were top-ranked prodigies, but they had lived sheltered lives behind the walls.
The Wildlands did not care about their grades.
They moved forward in a tight diamond formation. Draven passively kept his Tactical Radar active, mapping a one-kilometer radius directly into his mind.
The topographical layout showed the rusted husks of old-world vehicles and collapsed concrete overpasses.
About two hours into the trek, the Radar pinged.
Three distinct biological signatures. Fast moving. Level 18.
Draven held up a closed fist. The squad instantly stopped.
"Get ready! Three targets. Flanking us from the ruined buildings on the left," Draven whispered.
Aegon’s eyes flashed crimson. He gripped his spear, preparing to ignite his Asura’s Devouring Crucible.
"No fire," Draven ordered sharply.
"Why not?" he asked.
"If you burn them, the scent of cooked meat will draw scavengers. We have to move quietly right now. We cannot draw attention right now. Estella, suppress them. Reina, sever their joints." replied Draven.
Estella tapped the gem on her bracelet. It uncoiled instantly, expanding into her wooden staff.
She didn’t hesitate. She drew upon her massive mana and fired three pinpoint, needle-thin beams of white-gold starlight directly into the shadows of the ruins. freёweɓnovel.com
SKREEE!
Three mutated Scythe-Mantes leaped from the rubble. They were horrific, insectoid beasts with razor-sharp bone blades instead of arms.
Estella’s beams perfectly pierced their compound eyes, blinding them mid-leap.
Reina surged forward. She didn’t swing wide. She remembered Instructor Stonehelm’s brutal lesson.
She kept her heavy axe tight to her body, stepping into their blind spots and cleanly severing their spiked legs with localized bursts of absolute zero frost.
The mantes collapsed into the dirt, entirely immobilized.
Draven walked up to the twitching beasts. He casually drew his tactical trench knife. With three efficient, precise thrusts to their exposed brain stems, he eliminated them.
[Ding! Targets Eliminated. Experience Gained.]
Draven flicked the blood off his knife.
"Clean. Efficient. Minimal mana expenditure. That is how we survive in the Wildlands. It is always safe to save your mana in the wildlands. If we are outnumbered, then we either hide or we run. We do not have the protection of the Walls here. No one will come and save us if we are in a pinch."
Aegon stared at the dead monsters, then at Draven.
"You really have done this before, haven’t you?"
"I read a lot of books," Draven lied smoothly.
"If books can make someone a good killer, then they would be selling them at the bookstores inside the Bastions."
Draven smirked at his comment. He knew almost every weakness of the Monsters through the novel he had read. At least the ones near the Bastion 7, which the Hero was saving.
"Maybe I should really write a book on Monsters and their weaknesses. It would be a Bestseller Book. I would be a great Author, wouldn’t I?" proposed Draven.
"If you are the great Author, then I am the best Hunter in Bastion 7." Aegon replied while cleaning his spear.
"You’ll see soon enough, mate. It would be a thriller." said Draven.
He looked out toward the horizon. Through the mist, the jagged, blackened ruins of a massive structure loomed in the distance. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Is this the location provided by the Student Council President? I thought she said there were a lot more Monster gathering around these areas. Where are they? I cannot see them anywhere. Can you sense them yet?"
"No, my radar isn’t picking up anything ’significant’ yet. But there is something wrong here. I can just feel it in my head. Do not let your guard down." said Draven.
Aegon looked at him suspiciously as living with him had given him an idea about what kind of person Draven is.
’He mingles his words really differently. Whole perspective is about him. And he emphasized the word ’significant’ as in there is something that is not significant for him, but not for us.’
"What do you mean by anything significant?" asked Aegon.
"We are here," Draven announced, his voice dropping an octave.
"Weapons ready. The real hunt begins now."
