Unsealing Emptiness

391 A Massacre.

As they cut through the mist, everyone found it harder to see.

From their confident gait, Ozul could guess that the wild man beside him, the commander, and the Imperial Prince were the only ones carefree still. Their senses were also affected, but not to the point that they couldn’t defend themselves.

The serenity of the situation had made everyone quieten down. If not for the turning and cracking of forest wood under their feet keeping them sane, they might have started doubting everything.

Just a few minutes in the mist and the trees gradually became sparse. Their path turned rockier and they were quite obviously starting to move up.

‘From afar, even I couldn’t see mountains...’ Ozul thought as he remained vigilant.

Blazed nudged Raven from the side, “Do you hear that?” He was excited, but also on edge at the same time. After getting into the mist, it felt as if he had lost some control of his body.

It was fine before, but now he was hearing something like distant whistling when he really focused on it.

“I do...” Raven replied in affirmation.

It was one of those Black Horned Foxes, Ozul could sense one nearby. He, however, didn’t bother to warn the others. For one, even the Beast hadn’t attacked them yet. Also, it would be a good experience if his group were to ward off a surprise attack from one of them.

.....

As for the others, he didn’t care much. Most of them were useless to him, and those who showed any promise could hold out on their own, like with the wild man beside him.

Since he could sense the presence of the Fox, Ozul was sure that everyone in the Origin Realm would also be able to.

They were walking straight toward that Black Horned Fox, yet it seemed like the Wild Beast had no intentions of attacking them.

Ozul noticed the confusion on the face of the wild man and the commander. The Imperial Prince, though, didn’t let any thoughts surface on his face. Yet, he knew that the Prince was a bit surprised as well.

The Black Horned Fox clearly knew such a large group of humans was before it, but it didn’t attack.

‘Is it afraid?’ Ozul thought but instantly rejected the idea. He could feel its emotions and they were anything but fear.

The commander and the Imperial Prince were suppressing their aura, but the wild man wasn’t like them. Even someone who hadn’t cultivated in their life would easily be able to feel his raw strength. The Fox should have been able to gauge his strength as well.

That Wild Beast was at the Nascent Soul Realm in the upper stages. Basically, it was no match for the wild man, and so as logic would have it, the Wild Beast should have shown fear.

It neither attacked blindly nor feel threatened, so the only conclusion Ozul could come up with was,

‘The Black Horned Fox maybe follows someone stronger and it might even be in the Origin Realm...’

Internally smiling, Ozul thought he could finally test his limits against an entity of the Origin Realm.

Before long, he sensed many more Foxes in the forest. Just like the one before, they avoided the group of humans even from afar.

‘They have already adapted to the mist?’ Ozul guessed since it would have been otherwise impossible for the Nascent Soul Wild Beasts to sense their presence.

He couldn’t help but notice that a pattern had emerged after a while. Once he carefully observed all the Foxes, he noticed that they had already surrounded them from every side.

It wasn’t much different from the encirclement of the guards from before except for the fact that the Foxes were gradually growing restless. He had to admit that he was a little impressed at their coordination amidst such a thick mist.

From the fact that the Imperial Prince or even the commander hadn’t said anything, it was evident that they wanted to thin out their numbers. Once again, it was the law of jungle; survival of the fittest.

*Swoosh!*

Something flashed by from the left and everyone looked in that direction, startled that they hadn’t sensed its presence.

Before they could even question the commander, something flashed by from behind them, making their heads turn again.

Raven, Blaze, and Zier all looked at Ozul, their eyes looking for answers.

Much to their disappointment, the latter had his eyes in the front, looking at the commander and the Imperial Prince. The Prince seemed indifferent to the situation while the commander had already motioned toward his soldiers.

Only the new ‘recruits’ were left in the dark.

Rose inched closer to the wild man, standing just behind him, “We should prepare ourselves,” she muttered.

The wild man noticed her gestures and showed obvious disgust at her little tricks. His instincts were and sharp from the moment this woman had shown herself, he could feel her cunning nature. Still, he ignored her for now.

Looking down to his left, he noticed the only other person except for the commander and the Prince who hadn’t lost his composure was this little man. A smile stretched across his face, showing his large canine as he said, “Do you want to compete, little man?”

Confused at his remarks, the surrounding people looked at him with confusion. They were in a dangerous situation right now. There were obviously some Wild Beasts around them, but they couldn’t sense any. Why was he thinking of competiting in such a place?!

Ozul knew what he meant; He wanted to compete in hunting those Foxes who were surrounding them.

Shaking his head, he rejected the idea, “It’s not convenient now.”

The wild man frowned at his response, thinking that he might have evaluated him too highly. Turned out, he was only a composed man.

However, the next moment, he heard something that made him burst out in laughter,

“Let them thin out the numbers... It’s suffocating.”

“HAHAHA!”

If anyone had observed the Imperial Prince at the moment, they wouldn’t have missed the smile on his face.

Since only those two were talking, they were heard by most of the people, but none cared enough to dwell on the deeper meaning.

Narrowing her eyes at their strange conversation, Rose wondered if she had made the right decision to stick closer to this wild man. Initially, he seemed like an easy target, but her judgment was completely wrong and that man even looked a little unstable.

“AKHG!-”

A shriek rang out from the backmost side, making everyone shudder with horror.

“Brace yourselves!” the commander finally shouted as the soldiers immediately listened and formed a protective shield around the Imperial Prince, not that he needed any.

The recruits, however, were left puzzled. What were they supposed to do?! They couldn’t even sense ‘its’ presence!

Most of them were convinced that it was just a single Wild Beast.

“UKH!-”

Just then, another scream rang out before fading into an unsettling silence.

“No!! Brother! Brother!! I will save y-AKH!!”

The mist was thick and people couldn’t see clearly, but they could make out what had happened from the voices.

“That’s three gone,” Raven muttered in apprehension as she activated her Scarlet Eyes.

Their little group was to the far left, and it seemed like Ozul didn’t have any plans to move to the middle anytime soon.

“The Foxes are in the Nascent Soul as well. Those three gone were all in the Body Formation Realm. Be confident,” Ozul told her as she nodded in understanding.

Again, Rose didn’t miss their conversation. Unconvinced, she waited for the wild man to refute his words or at least show any reaction, but the latter kept a straight face.

‘That boy is stronger than me?!’ Rose didn’t want to believe it, but after taking everything that had happened into account, it would be stupid not to.

Consciously or unconsciously, her figure moved and she placed herself right in the middle of Ozul and the wild man.

Ozul internally sighed at her actions. Other than him, the wild man, the commander, and the Prince, she was one of the strongest people here. If she just put her mind to it, she could easily deal with those Foxes, but she chose not to.

Fear of the unknown made people stupid.

While this was happening, more than 10 people had already disappeared from the sides!

People started pushing each other to move to the middle where it was the safest, but that only caused chaos to ensure all around. Due to the soldiers guarding the Prince, they couldn’t even inch closer to him for protection.

“Why aren’t you helping us?!” one of them shouted at the commander, having no guts to question the Imperial Prince.

The only response that man received was a cold stare followed by 2 inch-long teeth burying deep in his neck as he was swept away, unable even to whimper cries of help.

While the Foxes avoided the side left most side due to the fear of the wild man, they gradually got bolder.

One of them, finding an opportunity, leaped towards a man with purple hair and a thin body.

Zier was prepared with his poison-laced needles, but he also wasn’t able to sense the Beast until it had already leaped at him!

Since she had her Scarlet Eyes activated, Raven was the first to notice the Wild Beast. “Down!” she as Blaze stuck his fist in Zier’s direction following her gesture.

All three of them were swift to act as the Black Horned Fox was met with a cold fist that sent it rolling backward.

“That one is dead,” Blaze told while smiling. He had felt the cracking of its skull in that instant his fist had made contact with it. Looking down at his blue fists, he was finally convinced of his powers.

“Good,” Ozul remarked at their teamwork before turning to assess the situation.

In that short time, almost 50 of the ‘recruits’ had succumbed to death. This wasn’t a test; it was a massacre.