Chapter 22 (RUINS)

In a desolate land, amidst great fiery shore stood a group of uniformed soldiers in a battle formation. fighting against a creature that looked like a Demon made of Fire and lava.

[A mare fire devil dares to intervene in my plans who do you think you are] said a middle-aged man with rings on his chest which signifies his rank.

Saying those words he started using his own spell and made a Scarlet-colored firebird.

[Those who become obstacles in my path be prepared to face my wrath, Pheonix Extermination] saying so middle-aged man let the bird loose.

The bird dashed forward and clashed with the fire demon. the fire demon had its own pride and created fire armor to defend itself and created a fire club to smack the head of Bird.

But as the name suggested it was Pheonix, the one that rises from ashes,

With one swing of Demons club, the bird fell to the ground and it vanished into ash, the demon was visibly happy but after a second it again flared up from the ashes and fought again against the Demon. To which demon could only frown while swinging the heavy fiery club around in a crude manner.

The Demon was strong, But against an immortal enemy, how can mare Demon win. with each swing that managed to touch the bird who was flying around the demon as if it had sentience fell into the ground only to be resurrected after a few seconds.

This continued for a whole minute but the Pheonix fire was still vigorous meanwhile, the demon had his whole body covered in deep wounds with lava oozing out of them.

Soon after losing a lot amount of blood or lava, the demon got exhausted and his wings visibly got slower, seeing the chance the phoenix dove straight towards the chest of the demon and with a rotation like a drill passed through the demon's body like a knife in butter and left large lava oozing hole behind and with that he fell on the floor with a large thud.

The whole time, the middle-aged man wasn't showing a single rection, just his hands were moving in a weird manner as of to control the bird.

But as soon as the demon fell the middle-aged man stepped forward and with the swing of his sword which he materialized out of nowhere, he severed the head of the demon while standing on the demon corpse with a Pheonix bid on his left shoulder.

He again ordered the Pheonix to do something to which Pheonix left and within a second brought back a crystal that man caught in his hands.

Crystal had a fiery glow inside as if a flame was burning inside, the man quickly evaluated the crystal, and then he threw it towards a young man.

[It is no use of me, use it well and become strong so you help me better in the future.] Said the middle-aged man. the young man wanted to thank but without giving him a chance the middle-aged man jumped from the corpse of the demon onto the ground and said

[Report the process of trackers.]

[Sir we found clues about 'him' only in the central plaza of that Broken Castle and as we enter more deep inside these ruins it seems we would be facing increasing heat, many of us can't even handle such pressure, sir I think we should quit, there is no way 'that' man would have gone inside with his punny strenth.]said a man with a red color uniform.

[You are a new tracker right, what is your rank]asked a middle-aged man.

[Sir I am fusion rank 1 ] said the man with a red uniform.

Suddenly a fire burst out below the feet of man enveloping his whole body in flames and even before a single howl could escape the mouth of man he was turned into ash and blew away with the wind.

[Now do any tracker or attacker have any doubts in his mind about not continuing the expedition or should we continue] said The middle-aged man with a Devil-like Sirk on his face.

[No sir] everyone replied in unison with fear struck in everyone's mind.

They started walking again in the same firey pit, they came across many lesser fire lings on their path within various sizes but they were all defeated with the combined force of men and the middle-aged man has not made a single move after solo defeating that Fire Demon.

After a tiring number of battles now they stood before a huge door that had strange engravings on it.

[what the hell is this, why is there a Giant a*s door in the middle of the way, does anyone know or I have been feeding mules till now. ]said the middle-aged man with irritation in his voice.

[Sir I think we have crossed the second hall, but according to information we have received till now from the ancient text, as soon as we clear a hall we are allowed to enter the inner area, and the same rules applied till we reach the innermost area where "that" is most likely situated but it seems the news we received had some flaws. The sudden disappearance of Blessed fire seed and the weird appearance of Firedemon even before Fire-ling in an area with this less heat is just too coincidental and finally, the appearance of this door seems to indicate something bigger is play than we think. Sir if I may be blunt can I say samothing] said the young aged man with the same uniform as a middle-aged man.

[Your quick thinking always amazes me, Jim feel free to speak your mind] said the middle-aged man with a slight smirk on his face.

[Sir I think someone has baited us inside the ruins, Sir there are a lot of family members that know that you are searching for 'Him' desperately, and seeing this as an opportunity someone must have set this trap and used a unique grade Artifact to upgrade the standards of this ruin so that they can possibly harm you sir.] said the young man.

[Upgrading these ruins are impossible even for a heaven grade artifact, the only thing that can happen is 'Migration" I think a strong beast has spawned in this ruin which is driving every lesser beast towards the outer area, or else there is no way of such drastic changes, and as for the trap I knew it from the start you do not need to worry, I have prepared a nice gift for them before I left] said the middle-aged man with a creepy smile on his face which sent goosebumps on everyone's spines.

[Devide in two groups a team should consist of equal division of trackers and attackers, The head tracker with a group will stay here to study this gate with me, and the second group will again take a look around to eliminate any of the remaining beasts. Jason, you will be in charge of the second group now choose your men wisely .] the man quickly ordered his subordinates, who quickly followed his orders to the word.

Soon after they left there was a fickle in the middle-aged man's shadow, seeing the fickle a deep frown appeared on the man's face, he signaled the group staying at door to be vigilant, and separated himself from the group.

[what do you want now CLOWN] asked the man but there was no one in front of him.

But soon a Black shadow figure materialized out of the shadow of the man,

[I think humans are funny, thinking they know the workings of Ruins ha ha ha ha let me tell you You all ae wrong ha ha ha ha ha] said clown.

[O mister I know it all will you also enlighten me] said the middle-aged man visibly holding back his anger, as this man felt very pride full for the race he belonged, but never felt anyone in the same race as above him and thus he could easily eliminate each and every human that comes in front of his goal and similarly he would eliminate each and everyone who misspoke of human Race, but due to some reason, the man couldn't lift his finger against this shadow creature.

[ ha ha ha ha ha ha ] a burst of eerie laughter was all he heard as a reply as the shadow in front of him vanished in the air.

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A/N:- this is the third person view and the main story is written in the first-person view, I hope you all understand.

Please don't forget to leave your reviews.

Q) Who do you think this "Him" is?