Allen concluded his journey and he started to make his way through the forest and return to the outskirts of Kemosin islands.
Allen didn't rush as he kept practicing and cultivating along the way.
He honed his ninjutsu and chakra control all while religiously following his regular regime of practicing his cycles with the mysterious book.
Along with his daily practice, Allen also started a new habit of reading a book.
This is a book he found on one of the researchers, it's titled — Tales of Ancient Zeawkord Times which highlights the era even before the ancient magi.
According to the legends, the fairy race ruled Aryana millenniums ago and humans were merely a small race that lived under the rule of the fairies. At that time, the fairy race had been in conflict with the dragon race for thousands of years and the humans, who were under their protection, also suffered as a result. Amidst the long years of war, a tribe of gnomes used their wisdom and intellect to create a never before seen type of magically-powered war machines and achieved victory for the fairy race.
However, the machines greatly polluted and damaged the environment and a faction of nature-loving fairies revolted, causing another conflict to erupt. The surprising thing was: the lofty, nature-loving fairies who vowed to teach the other faction a lesson were decimated under the might of the gnomes-made magical war machines. In the end, the gnomes rose to supremacy and became the masters of Aryana.
Despite that, the gnomes who were by nature curious and intrigued by the mysteries of technological discoveries and inventions had no intention of ruling the continent. After a hundred years of chaos and anarchy, the beastmen from the western part of the continent invaded and brought with them a bloody trail of death and destruction.
The gnomes' mighty war machines fell one after another to the suicidal, savage assaults of the blood-drinking beastmen with their thick, tough hides, bringing an end to the rule of the gnomes.
The beastmen who had just ascended to the apex of the Aryana continent erected a reign of fear and violence, eventually prompting all the other races to unite and revolt.
This was the start of yet another war that lasted hundreds of years. The humans strived to learn every type of craft from the many other races who were struggling against the beastmen. They studied the arcane arts of magic and warfare from the fairies, construction and forging from the dwarves as well as trading and engineering from the gnomes, and, with their large numbers, became an indispensable force in the war against the beastmen. When their beastly oppressors had finally been chased back to the wilderness in the west, the humans took up the mantle of the strongest race of Aryana.
After that came the prosperous golden age of the magical civilization which lasted thousands of years until the mages initiated a large scale war with the gods. The end of the magical age came suddenly as the magical energy on the continent started to dwindle inexplicably.
'The mysteries of this ancient plane is aplenty, there are no lack of myriads of races in the past, each with their own disciplines and knowledge. This world has been destroyed and ravaged innumerable time and even through these stories might be just a fragment of someone's imagination, what if there is some truth to it? and who knows maybe in the future such era may descend upon this continent again!'
....
Allen continued his journey as just a few kilometers away from the shore of Kemosin islands where Allen kept his boat, he found the signs of a stray powerful magical beast from inner zone which decided to stroll here.
Allen decided to take a look and analyze the beasts for its challenges.
"Well it seems like a Yunther." Allen smiled, rubbing the fur he found sticking to a cracked tree.
Yunther is a very precious beast which fetch an amazing price in the market. It's teeth, organs, brain etc is used as exotic medicine and it's pellet is in high demand among nobles and is very expensive. This beast is highly sought after by adventures who wants to hit a jackpot
Unfortunately for them, this beast is very hard to come by, as it possesses very fast reflexes and great perception of danger. Allen is really quite lucky to find its trail.
'A mature Yunther is considered a high class middle-grade magical beast which is difficult to kill even by Gold ranked swordsman singlehandedly. Let's see what the fuss is about, I might get to earn some money too.'
Allen became excited, he really wanted to test himself against this beast. He strayed from his path and followed the trail of the Yunther.
He walked around cautiously for an hour or so, just when he was getting annoyed, his attention was suddenly caught by a particular tree leading Allen to dove straight in that direction, "Gotcha!"
A few meters away from Allen a Yunther suddenly leaped down from a tree. It let out a low growl from its throat while it scanned its surroundings.
The Yunther is a fearsome creature. At first look it appeared to be a big cat. Its head had typical features one would expect to see in something like a mountain lion - whiskers, perky ears, pointed teeth, elongated face, soft fur and keen eyes. Its torso, too, was pretty much the same in structure, even if a bit longer than one might expect. It also had a soft-looking tail which it used to adjust its balance when running or falling.
Allen eyebrows raised marveling the beast's quick reaction in spite of his low presence, 'No wonder you are so notoriously famous for being hard to catch but unfortunately—*tsk*—Its not an adult Yunther, at most it's comparable to a 5-star silver rank Battleforce Master.'
The Yunther looked around alertly and immediately a dagger flew out from a nearby bush.
The dagger cut through the air with high speed, aimed squarely at Yunther's eye. The Yunther was already ready and dodged out of the way with grace and speed that belied the size and weight of its body.
The errant projectile flew over and stuck itself in the wide tree trunk. The Yunther then roared loudly, as if demanding whoever had the nerve to shoot at it to show themselves.
What it got in response was another dagger. Then another one. And another one. The gigantic mass of muscle and fur dodged them nimbly every time, but refused to fall for the obvious provocations. Its keen sense of perception already told it there might be multiple people waiting to ambush it on the other side of that foliage.
The first one to run out of the bush was a small figure of a fragile looking human who held a sword, Yunther snorted as it immediately leaped and attacked the human figure with its sharp claws.
*Swish*
Oddly enough the beasts precise and overbearing attacks went past the body of the human as the body disappeared, The Yunther was inexplicably confused.
Suddenly a mass of darkness streaked through the air with a low hiss. The Yunther had just finished squashing its enemy and tried to find the dead body which wasn't there anymore and was about to turn its attention.
It shouted "Roa-," but only got as far as the roaring started.
A shadow holding a shinning sword caught it completely off guard and made impact with the side of its skull.
The high speed shadow sliced its head in an instant. The eldritch energy at the tip of the sword then viciously pulled its flesh and bones apart. There was a horrible slashing sound as its head burst open like a gory firework.
Drops of blood, bits of brain, clumps of fur, shards of bone and patches of cranium rained down on the floor. The suddenly headless body stood upright for an impossibly long second before falling over with a wet thud.
"Huh what? That's it!-shit- I really overestimated you!" Allen cried out as the supposedly pain in the ass of a beast was killed so quickly.
Allen eye twitched for a bit but then he sighed, he really wanted a good fight before he rowed to the port and then take a ferry to Alwis city.
'This was my last chance at adventure and what follows now is the super boring journey back.*sigh* Let's just collect the materials, I can buy a whole lot of booze to accompany me through the journey.'
"Ba-dump!"
As Allen was about to harvest the dead body of Yunther for its materials suddenly an oddity took place.
Allen's vision turned crimson as a red blood light shone in his eyes. His pupils dilated to double their size and he instinctively licked his tongue.
His thought flickers drops of glistening blood pumped through his veins.
Crack Crack Crack!
Clear cracking sounds echoed in his body like thunder or much more like dashing drum beats.
With the cracking sounds in his bones, his garments suddenly exploded, turning into dust and scattering. His naked body was exposed together with his refined intimidating. Each muscle of his seemed to be brimming with the earth-shattering energy. They were enlarging, triggering more energy.
Allen opened his mouth and his tongue was dripping with drool and his finger nails protruded out with a sharp edge. Allen hunched his back and his height increased slightly.
Vigorous energy rolled torrentially in his internal organs. The bloody smell was so thick and dense it would make anyone shiver uncontrollably.
*Hoooowwwwllll!!!*
Amidst the strange phenomenon Allen only remembers hearing a loud and deafening shrill howl of an wolf as he gradually lost touch of reality. His fingers penetrated the chest of Yunther beast and digged out it's heart.
Allen in his irrational self bite straight into the still mildly beating heart and gobbled it whole, letting out a terrifying howl afterwards.
"The black wolf's curse awakes every time darkness veil the world and it's cub greed to devour everything whole. All fell asleep wrapped up together with the gloom, as the wolf still lullaby in the abyss."
______
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