He is Back

You remember from the last chapter, right? We wanted to get out of that place, by hook or crook, by the end of that day.

But we got the chance by late afternoon. However, it was not exactly the way I wanted to get that chance. Because that chance came along with one of the most massive disasters that I have ever witnessed. Even the slaughter of the Anta family, even the horse eating the live fetus, is mild compared to what you are about to read.

A couple of hours after our meeting was over, I was in a constant state of focus. I was surveying the whole mountain with the little animals, at the same time driving the birds to their destinations. I wanted to get the information as fast as possible.

And the first bird reached the valley soon enough. Just like Dhana predicted, there is indeed someone spying on the valley from afar, using some sort of magic. He was spotted by the bird as it reached the valley.

Inside the valley, the man was nowhere to be seen, which was within our expectations. 

But there was something else that attracted my attention. 

The stone platform where the man stood before was out of shape. Previously it was a square platform, but at that moment, it was in an octagonal shape.

And in the middle of that platform, there was a semicircular black-colored dome, that gave out some green and purple hues. Some strange smoky aura oozed out of it.

I wanted the bird to examine it closer. The bird flew towards the dome, but when the smoky aura hit it, the bird's feathers started falling off, I felt a searing pain in my soul because of the connection that I maintained.

Not just the bird, even the spirit seemed to have lost all of its sanity.

*SQUEAL* *SQUEAL*

Noises of pain and agony were ringing inside my head. It's like a small chick was being strangled with a barbed wire. That was the only apt description that I could think of.

I hurriedly cut my connection with the bird and shifted my vision to the second bird that was within the area.

I watched the small bird and the spirit shrivel in pain, the feathers fell off, blood started seeping out of it and the skin started withering.

Before it could even reach a few feet away from the dome, it died. That too in the most painful way.

My heart once again beat louder than ever. It's like a rattle drum in the hands of a toddler. It was being constantly beaten because of the shock after shock I was facing in the last few days.

I was confused and didn't understand what was happening. What was that dome? Was that guy still inside?

These questions popped into my mind, but the latter one was answered within a few minutes.

At the exact moment, another bird was standing on the walls of the Kurma city, gazing outside.

It was another bird that I kept there for surveillance. Through that bird's gaze, I saw three familiar figures.

The man in black, on a horse along with a wolf disguised as a dog.

I contacted Dhana and Dharma.

"That guy is coming to the city. He is approaching the city as we speak. He will be here in less than five minutes."

After sending the message, I kept on looking at the man through the bird's vision. I must say, as dreadful as he was, he looked dashing. The short but thick silver hair, was like a plume on his head as he swayed with the rough wind.

The black horse was beyond handsome. Just imagine the blackest thing that you have ever seen, even a starless and moonless night falls short in front of that pure blackness, but that has the beauty that I have never ever witnessed.

 Up on closer look, even the dog's fur looked much more dashing than any majestic beast that I have ever witnessed, and trust me, I had seen my share of beasts by that time in my life. 

The three creatures moved at an incredible speed. The hooves resonated with my heartbeat as they left behind a huge trail of dust that looked like a red cloud.

It didn't take long for the three of them to reach the entrance of the city. By then, the guards mounted on the wall already spotted him and reported the news back to Duke Kurma.

I could even sense the rough movement of people outside of my room.

I watched the whole scene through the bird. A man stationed on the top communicated with their commander and relayed an order to his colleagues.

"Everyone retreats to the inner dome. Give a final check to the city array and retreat."

The guards moved like cogs in a clock. They did what they were ordered, the array covering the city with a translucent barrier was working at its finest. Its like a thin membrane of azure-colored gel surrounding the whole city.

And that was just the outer dome.

A bit deep into the city, there was another dome and finally there was a third dome around the mountain.

All the citizens were evacuated and sent to stay at the inner dome, while the outer dome was completely empty save for the empty houses.

The man got off his horse and lit up his cigar. He placed his hand on the dome and caressed it. I couldn't see his expression through the bird, but from what I could see, his body language was relaxed. He isn't worried about the barrier.

Which made me a bit more anxious than I already was.

Because of the three domes, the barriers are powered by not just the mana reserves of the whole Kurma city, in fact, the mana of all the citizens and even their soul power is being used to power that barrier. Even a Ninth Circle powerhouse will have a hard time dealing with it, however this guy was nonchalant.

And I understood why within the next few seconds.

He made a fist with his left hand, I thought he was about to punch, but instead….

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

… he knocked on the barrier as if he was knocking on a door. The knock was gentle and subtle.

But the azure barrier rippled with the touch. As if a small stone was thrown into the still water, the ripples started out small and appeared unharmed. However, they didn't stop spreading. The ripples that looked harmless spread all over the barrier and…

*CRASH*

As if it's a fragile snow globe, the whole outer dome broke down.

The barrier shattered into a million pieces and before those pieces could touch the ground, they disappeared into thin air like some glowing star dust. It was beautiful, only no one who witnessed it was in a mood t appreciate the beauty.

*THUD*

*THUD*

*THUD*

The man walked forward slowly, one step at a time as if he was relaxing in a park. The horse and the wolf followed as they looked around the empty outer area of the city.

Soon, they reached the second barrier. The inner dome. All the soldiers were at the edge of the barrier, supplying it with their mana. Seeing that guy, they injected all of their mana without holding back.

The man placed his palm on the inner dome. His face is black and cold as usual. Except for that gruesome gnawed-out part, he looked like any other human being you could see on the street and that's what made him more terrifying.

I was expecting him to break this barrier as well, maybe even the soldiers and the others did. I even felt some raging mana signatures from a few meters away, few of them I was familiar with. It seemed like the Duke, Dhana, and Dharma were also ready to make a move.

However, unbeknownst to everyone's expectations, the man didn't break the barrier, instead the colored mana swirled out of his palm and was injected into the dome.

The man crawled into that bright azure barrier like the roots of a tree. They spread at an incredible pace and within two minutes, the whole barrier is covered with them.

The man had his eyes closed, his energy raged.

I was looking at him eagerly. For some reason, in that dangerous situation, a weird thought popped up in my head.

'If only I could capture this moment'

That's what came into my head. I wanted to capture the picture and write about it, describe it for the world to see, because somewhere in my mind, I felt that the moment should be registered in history with all of its terror and destruction that it was about to bring.

At that moment, something put a brake to my thoughts. I got a hit from the bird that was spying on Ardra's little cave.