Stygian Mage

Soren watched the beautiful town of Bellfalls as he created and released multiple small Skeleton Spiders through the open window. He was going to use these undeads to scout out the current situation in the town; especially the situation with the Rogue Initiators. Now knowing all that he knew, there was no way that he would stick around this town anymore. If not for the fact that there was still some time left before the final activation of the pillar, he would’ve had run away by now; bringing these people with him for the sake of convenience was also based on that fact alone. After all, with his mindset, he wouldn’t have even thought of them if he had no time to spare; let alone wait for them to prepare everything.

As for warning the others about the impending doom, that notion had never crossed his mind; and even if it had, he would have immediately rejected it as he knew that there were only disadvantages waiting for him if he went that way.

Given how the situation had flipped upside down, Soren had also removed any thoughts of meeting up with the Rogue Initiators. Instead, he was now thinking of using this chance to leave the town; he could try to make a clean getaway while everyone else was busy.

It was already certain that Captain Hans would try to stop these Rogue Initiators from leaving the town. After all, even if someone had already rejected to defend the walls, there was still a chance that they would fight against the Beast Tide if they stayed in the town; as such, Captain Hans couldn’t just stand by and watch them leave. And that was why these Rogue Initiators, including Soren, had decided before to stick together. With so many Rank 1 Initiators standing against him, even Captain Hans had to tread carefully; even more so when his town was already under the threat of a disastrous Beast Tide. In such a scenario, he would definitely choose not to antagonize these Rogue Initiators; this was something that these Rogue Initiators had already considered before making this move.

Taking into account the current circumstances, the clash between Captain Hans’s group and the Rogue Initiators was inevitably going to end with them coming to a mutual agreement. Neither party wanted to fight each other to death, so finding common ground would be the best option for them; they all knew this.

Giving out some benefits to stop a few of these Rogue Initiators from leaving was the best strategy for Captain Hans. Similarly, using this chance to gain as many benefits as they could from Captain Hans was the best-case scenario for some of these Rogue Initiators. After all, going into the jungle during the Beast Tide for some unknown item was very dangerous; especially when there was a high chance that many of them wouldn’t be able to get anything. Not to mention that they had a very high possibility of resisting the Beast Tide with the number of Rank 1 Initiators they had in town. And therefore, although it seemed that all of these Rank 1 Rogue Initiators had agreed to go into the jungle unanimously, some of them were just planning on using this situation to increase their profits before deciding to stay in the town.

But before coming to the final agreement, there would certainly be some power clashes to show dominance over the other party. With so many Rank 1 Initiators going against each other, there would certainly be chaos before the final calm. And this moment of chaos was what Soren was planning to use to make a clean getaway. The only thing he needed to make sure for that, though, was that these merchants would prepare everything on time.

Of course, all of this was just based on the fact that he didn’t want to antagonize Captain Hans for now; and that he wanted to bring these people with him. If the situation really called for it, Soren was confident that he would be able to leave the town even if Captain Hans personally tried to stop him. He might not have the power to stand against the guy, but he certainly had the means to escape; simply threatening to destroy the town and kill the citizens could do the job. But given that many things could, and probably would, go wrong with that scenario, Soren preferred to just get away while the Rogue Initiators kept Captain Hans and his people busy.

………

With his Skeleton Spiders now spread around the town, Soren was able to get all the information he needed.

The situation with the Rogue Initiators and Captain Hans had already started to heat up at the southern gate. From what he saw through his Skeleton Spiders, Soren made an educated guess that the whole situation would resolve in about an hour or two. Of course, the unhappiest person about all this was certainly Ashby; who, in his fit of anger, had actually challenged Captain Hans for a battle. In a general sense, while it was true that all the Initiators were very calm and rational people, they were, after all, living beings made of a wide array of emotions.

Usually, Ashby was also a very calm person who didn’t make impulsive decisions. But when someone was trying to stop his path to success, it was a given that he wouldn’t be able to control his anger; especially so when the Initiators who were supposed to be on ‘his side’ were just using the situation for more profit.

Out of all the Initiators in the town, Ashby was the only one who had checked the Mana Wave that the ‘Pillar of Paradise’ was releasing. Others believed that Ashby had sent his Soul Pet only once in the jungle just to confirm the type of the Beast Tide that they were facing. But, in fact, he had scouted out the situation in the jungle multiple times; he had done this to confirm the intensity of the Mana Wave. After realizing that the Mana Wave being released in the jungle was unlike anything he had ever seen, he had immediately decided to own this artifact or inheritance; whatever it was.

Having lost his parents at an early age, Ashby had struggled to survive for the majority of his life. With a fortuitous encounter at 15 years old, he was eventually able to turn his life around and become an Initiator. But his struggles didn’t end there; they just changed faces. Like many others, he also suffered a lot because of his weaknesses. The sufferings, the pain, the misery, the desperation; all of these slowly shaped his dream of becoming an immortal. And while he knew that this artifact or inheritance in the jungle could not help him reach that far, he believed that it would certainly be a big boost in his path.

Naturally, Ashby fighting Captain Hans was a piece of good news for Soren. With the amount of chaos that their battle would ensue, Soren would have a better chance of leaving without causing any complications. Of course, the fight between Ashby and Captain Hans was definitely not going to be the only one. After all, the other Initiators also needed to show their dominance to get what they wanted.

……..

Apart from sending his Skeleton Spiders to the southern gate, Soren had also sent some to tail the merchants and their people; the maids and the Rank 0 Initiators who had stayed with them. He needed to make sure that they were doing exactly what they were told. If he found someone having different thoughts, his Skeleton Spiders were certainly powerful enough to end their existence. Even if the spiders were very small and comparatively weak to other same rank undeads, they were still created by Soren; as such, they also had the cultivation level of peak Rank 0.

And although Soren couldn’t use these spiders to fight other beings at the same cultivation level, he could easily use them to kill Non-Initiators and Rank 0 Initiators at lower layers; like these merchants and their people.

“We are not going to give them to you. Please understand that this is an order from the City-Guard Captain.”  A young male adult with an air of authority rejected Hamish’s request for getting their horses and the carriages back; he was the owner of the stable where the merchants had stored their horses and the carriages.

Indeed, Captain Hans had prohibited all the stables in the town from giving out the horses; the young man was not lying. He had done it to prevent people from leaving en masse and causing chaos; after all, even if he had prevented most of the information about the Beast Tide from spreading, people could still find out about it if they were really determined to. 

“You can’t do that. It’s ours and we have every right to take them back,” Upon hearing what the young man had said, Hamish lashed out in a fury.

“We don’t have any choice. It’s the Captain’s decision; we can’t refuse him,” A young girl standing by the side of the young man said with a pleading voice when she saw Hamish shouting in rage. These two young people were, in fact, a married couple and had inherited this stable from the young man’s parents. While their marriage had initially been arranged by their parents on both sides, they had actually ended up falling in love with each other after they had met. Now, after three years of living happily, they were even thinking of having a baby together; finally fulfilling their parents’ long-standing wish to see their grandchild’s face.

“This is not right. The City-Guard Captain can’t do that. It’s our horses and it’s our—!!!!

As Hamish and his people were about to continue their protest about this injustice, they suddenly lost their voices and completely froze up with horrified expressions on their faces. In their vision, some small spiders made entirely of pale-gray bones had suddenly jumped on the young couple out of nowhere and were now forcing their way in from their mouths, noses, eyes, and ears. And soon after they saw this scene, these frozen people heard some gut-wrenching screams come out of the young couple’s throats.

Unable to bear the terrifying amount of pain they were in; the couple ultimately fell on the ground, writhing in agony. Finally, after causing so much suffering to the young couple in making their way towards their brains, the spiders ended their misery with one strike.

Complete silence followed the death of these two people.

But suddenly, with a startling ring that freaked everyone out, Hamish’s communicator received a message.

“Get what you need and come back.” It was a simple message, yet, it caused Hamish to break out in cold sweat.

With his dry throat and trembling hands, Hamish then quickly ordered his people to ignore what had just happened and bring their horses and the carriages back to the hotel.

………

Other than that small hindrance at the stable, everything else had gone smoothly. With Soren’s pressure coming from above, Hamish and his people took only about half an hour to prepare everything for the journey. To save more time, they had even opted to not buy any rations and food supplies.

As for the situation at the southern gate, it was becoming more and more chaotic. Following the battle between Ashby and Captain Hans, the other Initiators had also started fighting to showcase their combat prowess. Of course, none of these Initiators fought to kill and controlled their power in a way that it didn’t cause any severe injuries; apart from Ashby, of course. With his strongest Soul Pet, Infernotaur, Ashby somehow seemed to be able to fight Captain Hans as an equal. This Magic Beast which had evolved from a Taurus and had gained a third horn with some spells and abilities related to the fire element was actually Ashby’s first Soul Pet; it had been with him ever since he had first decided to become a Beast Summoner. For him to use his strongest Soul Pet, it was clear that he was going all out against Captain Hans. In fact, even this Beast had felt its master’s rage and had gone into a frenzy; attacking Hans like crazy.

On the other side, Captain Hans was the exact opposite of Ashby and the Infernotaur. He had actually remained calm since the start of the battle and had carefully controlled the strength of his spells while fighting Ashby; after all, he couldn’t let either Ashby or his Soul Pet get hurt severely. In his eyes, all of these Rank 1 Initiators were precious manpower that was to be used against the Beast Tide; and this was also the reason why Ashby could fight Hans as an equal. If not for that, Hans would have had decimated Ashby for revealing even the slightest bit of killing intent towards him.

All of this was seen by Soren through the Skeleton Spiders. Knowing that he wouldn’t get a better chance than this, Soren immediately went out of the hotel and ordered everyone to start moving towards the northern gate.

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