Valerian, The Legendary

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Valerian had been moving slowly, but his movements did not stagnate at all, he did not know how many beasts had fallen under his hands, his dark silver attire was stained with a thick splash of red. The blood from the beasts had stained his clothes.

The hilt of the short sword in his hand had become sticky from the blood that dripped from the edge of the blade. Yet, his face and eyes were calm. The blood around him did not give me any sort of sensation, to be honest, if someone asked what he was feeling now, he would say, ‘Sorrowful.’

The beasts he fought could not even convey their thoughts, their roars did not have any meaning, they were just roars. Valerian raised his head and found that around him the warriors from the wall had appeared at a small distance and they were fighting the beasts in front of them while observing Valerian.

The silver-haired boy also did not ask them for any help, because in his mind, everything was to be done by his own hands. He was not here to enjoy the luxury but to ground himself, and hone his skills. The sword had become a reaper’s scythe, lives were being reaped by Valerian as if a farmer reaping crops.

The child was indifferent and his battle aura was condensing slowly, it was an indication that his focus was dedicated to the battle. The warriors around him were surprised, one needed to be at least, a grade five warrior, before they could condense their battle aura into a thin layer on their skins. Although Valerian was not able to condense the battle aura on his skin, they could see slight refraction of light around him.

To be able to emit a faint aura, that too at such a young age was not something that anyone could do. Valerian’s display of valor and skills had won the respect of the warriors around him. They all dedicated their efforts to cleaning up the road for him.

But soon, they almost regretted their idea, after all, the sun was about to set. However, Valerian had no thought of stopping, he had almost reached the edge of the encirclement and could break out soon, yet the onslaught of the beasts was getting more and more desperate.

They did not want to let go of this person, beasts were hateful to those, who harmed their kin, and Valerian was doing that with full dedication. These beasts were being influenced, but their instincts were still strong and this natural impulse was targeted at the silver-haired boy.

Valerian was not a fool, he could tell what was happening around him, so he suddenly cast a light spell, “Micare.”

.....

A bright light flashed in the eyes of the beasts around him, the intensity of this flash was as strong as that of the sun. This flash not only blinded the beasts around him but also startled the few humans who were observing him. When everyone restored their vision, Valerian was gone, he channeled all his light attribute mana in the spell to make such a big wave.

Vertex shouted loudly, “Break away from here as soon as possible and catch up with him.”

The grade seven warriors were dealing with the high-grade beasts in the tide, and when they heard this command, they increased their output. The beast tide was a swarm mixed with several levels of beasts. The strongest of beasts in this tide was grade seven, just a few of them, and the warriors of the Tenax city were countering them.

These beasts were not all magic beasts, but regular beasts with great power. They were the members of the lower part of the food chain in the forests.

...

Valerian had broken away from the tide by using a shadow displacement spell and had come deeper into the woods. During his battle time, he noticed that the beasts attacking them only ranged from grade four to grade seven. It confirmed that this was not a natural beast tide.

However, checking out the source of this tide would be difficult. At least, that was what people thought. Valerian moved around in the dark of the woods and found himself, in a small pack of wolves, these beasts were not even grade three, so they were not controlled by the tide, however, Valerian asked, What do you know about the beast tide?’

The wolves surrounding him stopped, their level was low because of strength, but their intellect was high. They stopped in fright when the human in front of them used wolf tongue as if he was a beast and not them.

The alpha of the pack stepped forward and asked, ‘What do you seek, traveler.’

The wolves were scrutinizing him when they sensed a familiar aura radiating from this child. They recognized it to be a blessing of the wolf kin. Valerian also did not waste time and asked, ‘Can you tell me about the reason why all the beasts had gathered and attacked the city of humans?’

The alpha wolf nodded and said with indifferent eyes, ‘All is caused by the spell of a Charm Fox.’

Valerian raised his eyebrow, he knew what was a charming fox, a grade three beast, not particularly powerful, but it was said that this beast was so beautiful that it can charm all the beasts around her, it was a variant magical beast. The skills of the magical beasts were different than what a human was endowed with.

Thinking about this, Valerian asked, ‘Why are you all sober then?’

‘The charm fox is controlled by a group of humans. They tamed that fox, and in turn, she tamed all the beasts. As for us? We are too weak in their vision. Though, this manipulation will allow us, the weak, to grow strong.’, said the wolf.

Seems like this wolf pack can gain some benefits if the stronger beasts die, well, yes, it will allow them to step up in the forest and grow stronger. Valerian had caught the key point, ‘Where is that group of humans?’

The wolf replied, ‘Follow the brightest star in the sky, you will find him, traveler.’

‘Thank you, in a few minutes, a few more humans will pass here, do not appear in front of them, they might harm your family.’, that said, Valerian did not wait, he ran ahead, on the way he had left signs for the rest of the people to follow, so the warning was required to pay back the debt of help.

Valerian rushed through the woods with mana flowing through his eyes. The scenery was as clear as day. His speed was quick, and his body was akin to a silver scepter in the night. He was headed to the north-western side of the forest following the brightest star in the sky.

Despite his quickness, he was not lax in vigilance, his ears were trained on the slightest noise around him. After an hour, he found the signs of human activity, a spot on the soil was hotter than the rest of the place and it was recently covered.

This meant someone had buried fire under the soil. Valerian became vigilant and his gaze scurried through the woods surrounding him. However, after a few minutes he knew that he will not be able to find this group so easily, so what he wanted to do was to inform the people back in the city.

He found an Owl gazing at him, sitting at the branch of a tree. He let out a few hooting sounds and the bird flew over to him. Valerian gazed into the eyes of the bird and after hooting for a few minutes again, he said his message, and the owl flew away in the direction of the city.

...

Vulcan was fighting with the beasts using fire mana, when Vertex came over to his side and said, “Let’s go back to the wall, we cannot keep up with these beasts in this dark.”

They were the only two left here, Vertex did not chase Valerian inside the forest because he knew, that both of them needed to deal with two different things. Since the other person was faster than him, then he will help with the beast horde.

The Duke did not want to go back to the city but he had no other option, even after scratching on the surface of the arch-mage, he was not strong enough to burn these creatures to ashes. The two people reached the wall, and the ladder was lowered. They quickly climbed and had just reached the top when they heard a voice, “Beast tide is caused by humans, they used a Charm Fox. Search the city, I will look in the woods. Valerian. Give this owl some food.”

They were shocked to find a raven-colored owl with orby eyes, sitting on the wall. Vulcan was doubting the message when an old wise said, “This is Valerian, he can communicate with the beasts.”

Vertex cast a gaze at Quies and said, “We shall search the city.”