Chapter 10 - Play of the East(3)

[Analyzing…]

[The red circle is most likely a sacrificial circle since above the circle are the shriveled dead bodies of the tribe's children.]

[Old Zhao seems to be looking at the dead children's bodies, with the two most prominent emotions detected being sorrow and guilt.]

"Yes, I knew it, I was right, hahahahhhaaa."

"There are most likely two reasons behind him sending me to the western lands with the 30 warriors and his son."

"First, he needed me to be an awakened of at least the 1st stage for whatever his plans are."

"Second, he wanted to delay killing his son or probably not kill him if possible. He has a soft nature to him, good—I can exploit that. In the worst-case scenario, it will at least shake him for a moment, if nothing else. That's more than enough," he stated with an evil countenance.

"As for the ones making all the plays from behind the screens, as if they're watching a show—the perpetrators of this locked opera."

He stated in a grim voice, "THE FAE FOLK."

Anyway since this old man is so soft for his son, I'll make sure to properly use that.

He had long figured out there was something very ominous about the tribe, though he had not encountered any of them yet. Both Old Man Zhao and Elmyra had a very deep fear of them and intentionally avoided the topic. At first, he thought they might be a species that is extremely strong and powerful, not to be easily provoked. Yet, the events surrounding him were enough for him to piece together the picture of this treacherous and cunning race.

Then he went back to Zho to make his preparations. Upon returning, Zho hurriedly asked him about what Zhao had prepared. Valtar pretended to slowly explain the things he saw in great detail, and suddenly, he struck with his sword, making a deep cut on Zho's stomach. If not for the fact that Zho was vigilant from the start, one of his arms would have been cut off directly.

Zho wailed in absolute pain as he was horrified at the sudden revelation of why Valtar would attack him at a time like this when they had to work together. Not to mention, he had carefully observed this guy—he was definitely a 1st-stage awakened, but how was he so fast and strong? He couldn't understand. He prepared himself immediately to fight to the death with this bastard.

Valtar, on the other hand, had a composed look. "Why don't you tell me about your deal with the Fae folk? I don't think you're working alongside your father. Did they tell you that you could escape? What were the conditions? I'll let you live and bring you outside with me if you talk."

Zho had a mocking look as he said, "Bring me outside? Hahahahahahaaaa, what a fool. Anyone else may get out of the forest, but not you. Everything in this forest is monitored by them. Without their help, no one can leave."

Valtar sneered, "Help? Oh, foolish little Zho, you don't even know how deep the chasm is, despite being in the forest for your entire life. No, actually, it's precisely because of that you don't know. Don't make me say it again—tell me what deal you had with them or what they gave you."

Zho, seeing his determined look and killing intent, said, "You bastard, don't push me too far. Even if you've become a second-stage awakened, you won't be able to kill me. You'll be the one getting killed. Tell me, what did you see there that made you take this course of action?"

Valtar explained calmly, "What I said was indeed the truth, though all those forces he prepared were definitely not for us but to probably attack the elven tribe. I am assuming the barrier between the two tribes would be breached after he takes care of us. So, I have no choice but to deal with all of that alone. That's also the reason why I need the insurance that the Fae folk gave you."

"Now, now, bring out what they gave you. If not, then you can't even scratch me."

Despite saying that, he was quite vigilant as he took a defensive stance.

Zho, realizing there was no room for negotiation, brought out the thing he wanted to use against his father. The native old man of the tribe, who previously told him about his father, also instructed him to meet the Fae folk and ask for their help, as they were the only kind and benevolent beings in the forest.

Thus, after meeting one of the Fae and asking for their help, they immediately took pity on him and gave him a very small disk-shaped artifact.

Zho brought out the artifact to kill the damn outsider in front of him and immediately placed the disk on the wounded area. The moment he did so, his deep wound closed in just 2–3 seconds, as if it was never there. It was extremely unnatural. Then, many small green-colored veins started to spread from the disk to his entire stomach area beneath the skin.

It almost seemed like tree branches were spreading beneath his skin from the disk.

It was a very disturbing sight, to say the least.

Valtar looked at this whole process with slight tension as he gripped the handles of his sword tighter. Zho looked to be in extreme pain as his eyes started to glow slightly red, and a similar but different pattern to the eyes of the possessed tribe members appeared on his eyes as well.

[Warning! The power level of the entity in front is increasing steadily.]

[Power almost close to that of a 3rd-stage awakened is being detected.]

[The disk-shaped artifact is most likely absorbing blood and lifeforce to amplify power for a certain period of time.]

Valtar, understanding the situation, immediately attacked with full force before Zho could be ready. However, his attempt did not yield the results he expected. Valtar had attempted a straight stab through Zho's heart, but he avoided it and got a deep cut that healed within a few seconds.

He then looked at Valtar and said with a sad and hollow expression, "Do you know the reason why I made sure all the warriors were killed in the western lands? Because I could not bear to kill them with my own hands. They were all my friends. Everyone in the tribe must be killed, no matter who it is. The condition is more or less the same. But there can only be one winner."

Valtar also said, looking straight at him, "Yes, there can only be one."

Then another brawl continued at superhuman speed, as both of them clashed with all their might, jumping from one tree to another. Both of them were receiving deep cuts and injuries. Unfortunately, the advantage was on Zho's side.

[Bleed and debuff effects are placed on the host.]

[Bleed and debuff effects are placed on the host.]

[Bleed and debuff effects are placed on the host.]

[.......]

[Debuff effects have been negated; bleed has been partially negated.]

After this exchange, he understood a few things. His stats were indeed greater than Zho's, since Zho did not really reach stage 3 but was boosted forcefully close to that level. What actually made the difference was combat ability and experience. Valtar, despite becoming quite strong in a short time, did not have much battle experience. So, that's the thing that actually gave Zho his edge, despite having lower stats than Valtar. Thus, he decided to switch up his game. "System, activate the skills."

[High-perception activated.]

[Survival Instinct activated.]

[Silent Steps activated.]

[Killing Intent activated.]

The fight turned slightly one-sided then. Valtar used High-Perception and Survival Instinct to carefully evade all of Zho's attacks, then used Silent Steps through the shadows and made sure to target the heart area of his opponent to make him use up more and more blood and lifeforce. To add a cherry on top, Killing Intent was actually used as a distraction method.

One time, he would use Killing Intent from one angle, then attack from another, while another time, he would attack exactly from the direction of the Killing Intent. He mismatched this tempo and continued to confuse him and cut him up.

After concentrating on attacking the heart area for a while, Zho also became slightly better at protecting that area, despite not being able to retaliate, as he became focused on protecting that particular area. This opportunity was also used by Valtar well. At the right opportunity, he attacked the joint of one of Zho's arms and straight-up cut off the hand.

What was surprising was that the hand was also being regenerated, but this could not be done instantly. He ruthlessly hacked at the same cut-off hand many times. Zho let out a blood-curdling scream as he was rendered useless for combat because of the utter pain of being continuously healed and cut. It was just too much, even for someone like him.