Odyssey of the Blind God

"I know that the government and military don't think highly about formalities right now but isn't that a little bit too…much?"

Mathias couldn't help but look at the huge 'coliseum' that was, in fact, the gathering plaza in the center of the military camp. The plaza had been remodeled a little to make it seem like a huge, open arena.

However, one could easily see that everything was hastily done in the eleventh hour which was why Mathias had felt like complaining.

Even Bella was not able to retort to Mathias' complaint because she agreed with him.

'Why is it like this? I heard that the Teradan military camp's underground coliseum is grand and something one wouldn't want to miss visiting… Is that it? Not really, right?'

Bella could barely keep a straight face but she didn't dare to say anything in fear that she would expose her real feelings.

On the other hand, Nial was actually not bothered about the appearance of the coliseum. Everything was rather shabby but his attention was drawn to something else.

Thanks to his high range of perception, his Mana Sense, and his high control over mana, which Nial had kept improving through the last three months while using the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, he was able to perceive the slightest inconvenience in his range.

That was also why he could sense several things that prevented him from joining his friend's discussion.

'Something feels odd…'

The Military Games had yet to start, but the spectator seats were already filled. Everyone including the representatives of more than 36 Organizations and Guilds was in attendance too.

All of them were powerful, and at least at the same rank as Junades and the other Instructors.

From the moment they had entered the gathering plaza, most of them had been focused on observing the young Originals.

Their movements, behavior, attitude, their rank, how much they had improved in the last three months, notes about the number of challenges they had to face, along with detailed statistics of the number of victories, defeats and detailed information about their most impressive challenges had all been perceived and reported to them.

The report of the Instructors was also included in the files the 36+ representatives received. However, instead of blindly trusting the information mentioned in the files, the most important takeaway for them was the Originals' attitude.

Not even half an hour had passed since they had started to observe the Originals, and there were quite a few young participants of the Military camp, who had attracted the attention of the representatives, whether it was in a positive or negative way.

'Does this Original think that the military camp is a social gathering or what?'

'He is not on a blind date, searching for his future wife, right?'

'What is that Original doing? Isn't he already going around for half an hour??'

A few representatives had taken notice of Nial.

At first, everybody simply ignored him because they quickly concluded that his Origin rank was amongst the lowest of everyone present.

His presence was also not that impressive, which was why most representatives had averted their attention to other promising Originals.

However, since they had begun to observe the Originals, Nial had entered their sight every now and then. He was speaking to all the different Originals they had been eyeing, which was why he began to annoy them quite a bit.

This got only worse when the Originals they had been eying changed their stance the moment Nial left their side.

'Does he know, who we are observing, which is why he is trying to help them?' That was one of the many thoughts flashing through the representative's mind.

In the end, this was not even close to the truth. In fact, it couldn't be further away.

Nial had already forgotten about the Military Games since he had detected that something was off.

After spending a few minutes trying to decipher what exactly he had perceived, Nial had to give up.

But that didn't mean Nial wouldn't tell others about his bad feeling.

After all, something was certainly wrong. He could feel it…

His Odyssey seed had perceived something odd as well, which was why it had vibrated violently after Nial gave up on figuring out what was going on.

However, instead of continuing to research something he was not ought to figure out, Nial began to approach the other Originals before telling them a single sentence.

-"Be ready to fight, something is odd!"-

Nial had told Bella and Mathias about this first before manifesting his Tier-2 cape's armor, while wielding the Tier-1 Dragonflame spear.

He was even wearing a few runic armaments he had wanted to hide from others at first.

Seeing that Nial was all geared up to fight whatever was coming their way, Bella and Mathias didn't even question what their friend had on his mind.

Following suit, they prepared themselves as well because they knew that Nial was not someone to warn them without reason.

His senses were much more precise than anyone else's. Thus, it was only obvious for Bella and Mathias to trust their friend.

They initiated their own preparations and equipped their strongest and most valuable runic armaments while ignoring the gazes of the Originals, who eyed them weirdly.

Nobody understood what was going on with Nial and his friends, and many Originals believed that Nial was merely trying to prank them when he told them to get ready to fight.

Nial might have defeated Jase two months earlier but that didn't mean he was suddenly someone who warranted their devotion. Many Originals didn't think highly of him and Nial knew that. It was only obvious that someone from an ordinary background would be bullied or mistreated by some stupid high-class family heirs because they believed to be worth more than others.

Nonetheless, Nial warned everyone about his premonition. He didn't even leave out Yves, and his subordinates.

They looked at him in vigilance but nobody dared question the authenticity of his words. Nial left after he said what was necessary before approaching the other Originals.

On the other hand, Bella and Mathias had been searching for Miranda, Junades, and Kassandra.

They could only find Junades after a while but that was more than enough.

"Nial said that something is wrong!! Prepare to fight, brother!" Mathias quickly blurted out, not bothering to lower his volume.

As if on instinct, Bella slapped on the back of Mathias' head the moment he shouted out Nial's warning.

"You idiot, use your brain and don't shout. Do you want worse things to happen?"

Bella was extremely nervous. Her Innate ability was also telling her that something was going on.

Contrary to the usual case, her Innate ability was even urging her to do everything possible to help Nial.

This was something that had never happened before as her Innate ability had been telling her to keep a big distance from Nial.

'If my Innate ability labeled Nial as dangerous earlier, but now changed its mind, we're going to face a shit ton of problems!' She merely thought, while ignoring Mathias' sulky expression.

"What should go wrong, kids? The military camp has never been as well protected as today. Even Miranda willingly chose to protect the camp to ensure everyone's safety. There is no need to worry!"

Junades thought that all the three students, especially Nial, were overreacting. There was no need to be worried as everyone would be protected.

Never had anything happened during the Military Games. That was something they had been able to ensure for many years.

Thus, Junades was still calm and not worried at all.

However, what he was currently not thinking about was the fact that too many issues and first-time occurrences had happened in this year's Teradan military camp.

It almost seemed like Junades had also forgotten about the situation outside the nameless island. This was extremely weird and not in line with Junades' usual behavior.

Even Mathias couldn't help but feel that something was odd with Junades. The youngest Instructor was not someone who would blindly ignore possible dangers.

Feeling that something was odd, Bella led a trace of mana in her earring before she activated the runic armament without hesitation, targeting Junades directly with it.

[Tier-1 Earring of Dizaryx]

The three friends were in possession of the same earring, which was why Bella could also issue a mental attack using the Earring of Dizaryx.

Having been attacked mentally, even Junades was not able to stay unfazed.

He didn't scream out and merely growled before taking a few breaths.

"What…what is going on? Where am I? What am I doing here? Why are you guys wearing your full combat equipment?" Junades was not sure how he had ended up in the plaza, or what they were even doing here, to begin with.

"You…you don't know? Have you already forgotten what we said just a moment ago? We said that Nial told us that something is wrong. I think we will face some big trouble soon!"

Bella was not sure what happened to Junades, but she could tell that his mind had been cleared up now.

Her hunch had been correct and something had blurred his senses and thoughts. However, this was certainly not reassuring, not by any means at all.

"What? Something is wrong?... I cannot remember anything since I joined the meeting with the representatives…what is going on?"

Junades was still confused, but Bella cleared all his doubts with a few sentences. But instead of feeling relief, Junades' face paled before he turned away.

"You two, repeat whatever you just did to me and do it to the other Instructors, representatives and everyone else! Follow me, fast!!"

While Junades hurriedly pulled Bella and Mathias through the outer area of the huge plaza, Nial was still occupied with warning everyone.

When he passed by Yves and the others, he immediately went over to Jase. Nial was not bothered about the hostile gazes he received from Jase's subordinates.

"What do you want?!" Jase asked in an agitated voice and was ready to fight Nial if necessary.

Even if he had been humiliated before, Jase could prove his mettle again. He had become much stronger than before just for the sake of defeating Nial. That was why he was prepared to fight him right here and right now.

"It's good that you're ready to fight. Something is odd. Tell your group of hostile donkeys to be prepared to fight as well!"

After he said this, Nial turned away from Jase, not further bothering about the young Original's angry gaze.

"What the hell is wrong with him!?"

"Who is a hostile donkey, you shithead?"

"How dare he? Let me fight him…to death if necessary!"

Jase just rolled his eyes at his subordinates' comments.

'Something is odd. His expression….'

Even if he didn't like Nial, Jase could tell that Nial didn't come to them with ill intentions.

"Do as he said. Prepare for battle…"

Nial spent a few more minutes running through the arena to warn as many Originals as possible.

However, when he was done warning the fifth group of Originals after Jase, Nial's heart and Odyssey seed began to beat wildly.

At that moment it happened….

The locations Nial had pinpointed was suspicious. He could sense that the area suctioned the entire mana from the surrounding area towards itself.

At first, nobody noticed anything. Everything seemed perfectly fine as if the Military Games were about to start at any moment, and as if everything was as it was supposed to be.

It was that moment when Nial's fears came true…

Three representatives with 5 Advanced Origin rings exploded without a warning, leaving nothing behind but shreds of skin, a fountain of blood, and…a purple crystal…

A total of five purple crystals, one from each exploded representative hovered in the air…and it was these crystals that had been the reason for Nial's premonition.

The moment they were exposed, Nial could clearly sense what was going on…and only one thought flashed through his mind.

'Fuck…'