Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 329: Ten.

“Uhu, you guys are joking, right, right!? There is no way a Rank-10 Beast will be fighting us to death!? Right?!-”

*KGHREE!!*

Yet another beastly screeching interrupted Zier.

“Does this seem like a joke to you?” Blaze scoffed. His voice carried a sense of seriousness that further aroused fear in Zier’s heart.

He took a few moments to digest this unfolding situation before running towards the city at twice the speed before. After comparing the roars, Zier immediately knew that this Rank-10 Beast was approaching at an astonishing rate.

“Huh?!” he turned his head around when he noticed that his newfound companions were quite slow in their reaction. He couldn’t help but shout in worry, “What are you doing!? It will be here in no time!!”

As if unmoved by the threat of a Rank-10 Beast, not only Ozul, but Raven and Blaze also remained unperturbed.

.....

Zier didn’t know whether they were confident to deal with this Rank-10 Beast or was it just the result of their battle-hardened heart honed with countless battles. If he had to make a guess, he would never think of choosing the former since it appeared quite impossible to fight such a monster.

Though the actual reason they didn’t seem to be in such a hurry was different; it didn’t matter how fast the Sovereign. Old Gu was controlling the barrier and Ozul was confident that his barrier could hold out against the Beast.

Even if the barrier wasn’t strong enough, he knew that Old Gu was.

If the old man kept his word, they’d have enough time until the barrier closed in on the city. As a result, panicking was pointless. All they had to do was stay ahead of the barrier.

“Even if we stayed here and napped, we’d be there faster than you. Worry about yourself,” Ozul said flatly, without a hint of mockery in his tone.

Hearing this answer made Zier curse himself internally for even thinking about their wellbeing. Though it was completely true. They were at least Rank-8 Mages while he was merely a Rank-5 Fighter, both stood at an immeasurable distance apart in terms of speed.

After that, he didn’t stop to call for them again and continued to run as fast as he could. Though he kept taking glances behind him to see if the three were still there or not.

Even without his concern, Raven and Blaze were well aware of the dangers posed by a Rank-10 Beast. After all, they’d seen personally how devastating it could be. They merely stuck around Ozul and didn’t say a word as they noticed that he was deep in contemplation.

‘I don’t understand...’

Ozul was confused because he himself had confirmed the Sovereign’s death.

Despite this, the flaming aura of magma that could suffocate an entire country and melt mountains of ice in the blink of an eye felt strangely similar to the Sovereign.

‘Not only that, but it feels as if it has gotten stronger!’

This was a concerning matter for Ozul since he had complete trust in his abilities. When Darcia had fired the beam of light, it had certainly hit the Sovereign, burying it under the sea of magma. He didn’t even find any traces of life floating around that area anymore.

‘It must have been saved by someone-‘ Just as that thought occurred to Ozul, he remembered that the only person who could avoid his sensing abilities was the same man who was not only hosting this competition but had also set survival against this Rank-10 Beast as the ultimate challenge in this trial.

There was no other man who had either the capabilities or any reason to help the Sovereign.

‘Hah... that only means I wasn’t vigilant enough. I shouldn’t have let my guard down so much that I didn’t even notice him snatching a beast of that size,’ Ozul sighed in his mind before his thoughts wandered to how Kure might have been dealing with the Beast for so long.

. . .

Somewhere around the shrinking barrier, Old Gu floated in the air while occasionally mumbling and giggling to himself.

He seemed to be in his best mood as he watched everyone desperately make a run for the city in the center.

Old Gu seemed uncaring of the giant flaming fox madly running towards the barrier that continued to shrink faster than her.

Only by observing thoroughly would one realize that the Sovereign wasn’t anywhere close to her maximum speed. Even as a fox, her grinding teeth and the luminescent glare in her eyes were enough to suggest that she was struggling with something.

It was as if something heavy was weighing down upon her. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to reach the barrier.

“Hah! She is already close to the ‘true stage’. I would have recommended her to stay away from those mad perverts, but I guess it’s too late now,” Old Gu muttered to himself as he closely observed the flaming red fox.

‘This will be my last time here anyway. There is a chance I will meet her in the future,’ Old Gu paused as he remembered something that interested him even more than this Rank-10 Beast, ‘Huhu~ I never expected to meet an ‘anomaly’ like you. I will never take my eyes off of you...’

The image of a certain black-haired boy wearing plain clothes appeared in his mind as he chuckled to himself, lost in his own plans and schemes.

‘Tsk! Someone should be watching now, I can’t enter the barrier to have a chat with him either.’

He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he looked up at the sky, particularly at no one.

Tracing his sight back to the ground, he excitedly waited for the barrier to cross the outskirts of the Neutral City that he could already see in the distance. While he had full control of the barrier, he couldn’t just go back on his own words.

. . .

Inside the barrier, Ozul steadily went towards the Neutral City.

Although Zier had a head start, he was now back together with them and now marched with a little peace of mind.

A few minutes later, the group could tell that they had already reached the outskirts of the Neutral City.

They came across many abandoned building structures, some torn apart to the ground while others stood still as if reinforced with Mana.

If someone who had previously been to the Neutral City came to look at what it had become now, they would be shocked beyond measure; this was not the land for which countless experts fought for all their life.

Just then, the ground hummed again and the barrier came to a sudden halt.

‘So this is it,’ Ozul looked around.

Although there was no one in sight, he had already sensed multiple people hiding behind the city debris.

Unlike before, no one wanted to start a fight. They had also heard the beastly roars, now they waited for Old Gu to appear and announce who this new participant was.

The final stage for the trial was set.

...

Ozul found a tower and flew above the roof to have a broader view of the city.

Since no one came to disturb his peace, there was no reason for him to do anything either. Unlike others, he didn’t even care about hiding behind some broken houses. There was no need to.

Raven and Blaze joined him on the roof while Zier stayed on the ground. Not only he couldn’t fly, he also didn’t want to be so high profile like them. Everyone would see them on the roof, and that would mean becoming a target for them all!

They didn’t have to wait for long when the long-awaited voice of Old Gu was heard all around the Neutral city.

“Many of you have been waiting here for quite a while now. But believe me, no one wanted to speed this up more than me,” there were no usual greetings or the annoying laugh.

“This will probably be the last day of this trial, quite short really. I couldn’t even get to enjoy anything,” he muttered the latter half to himself, “Anyway, this will all end the moment there are only 10 of you left inside this dome!”

“The barrier completely surrounds the Neutral City, so this whole city is your playground now! You can either survive, or hide, or kill to win!”

Even when the participants already knew this, hearing it again with that thundering voice made them take deep breaths to calm their nervous hearts.

“Currently, there are 19 participants alive! Only 9 left to die!”

A few people in teams of two or three eyed each other nervously. If the people with them were dead, they would have higher chances of leaving this place alive. No one wanted to die after all.

“I don’t care whatever means you use to survive, nor does it concern me in any way. Still, watch your actions, they may cost you later...”

Old Gu’s voice faded away like a passing wind. His warning seemed more like a piece of general advice given by an elderly to young people which was surprising considering that this old man never behaved like one.

Soon as his voice disappeared, the ground hummed again and to a keen eye, they could notice that the barrier had shaken a little before stabilizing.

Ozul noticed it as well, and he didn’t need to guess what had happened when the deafening roars resounded in the Neutral City.

*Howwwl!*

It seemed more like a giant wolf was howling at the full moon!

“T-tha-”

“F*C!”

“Hu-h...”

.

.

.

Even Ozul was a little surprised at the unusual appearance of the Sovereign he previously thought to be dead...