The Bane

Sunier jumped down from the tree, looked up at the sky, and mumbled, "Something's wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Cessacioun asked immediately.

"The human-faced eagles came from that direction, and they should be back by now, after such a long time, unless…"

They stared at each other dumbfoundedly. The only possibility was that all fifty or sixty human-faced eagles had been killed, but who would have such great power?

"Let's have a look," Han Jin lightly said. He was still thinking about the magic crystals contained in those human-faced eagles.

"No, let's wait for a while..." Cessacioun's face was full of hesitation. In this world, sometimes humans were stronger than the holy animals. Since those unknown enemies had the ability to kill all of the human-faced eagles, they might also be able to wipe them out with minimum effort.

"The fight there has been over for quite some time," Sunier slowly said.

"How can you be so sure?" Cessacioun asked.

"My hearing has always been good," Sunier replied with confidence.

"Then let's go and have a look." Moxinke said.

Han Jin woke Steelberg up, and they climbed towards the top of the mountain one after the other. The rays of the afternoon sun plummeted down, sweeping away all the haze and darkness along the road, making the marching speed of the group much faster.

About half an hour later, they arrived at the top of the mountain. Right below them, they could clearly see that some parts of the mountain were quite peculiar. There were some blank spaces among the lush and dense woods. This was only possible if the trees had been cut down.

Though they had been mentally prepared, the mess of the battlefield was still very shocking. There was blood everywhere. Bodies of both human-faced eagles and humans were laid all over the place, most of which were incomplete. The scene that was filled with the limbs, heads, and even internal organs, were mingled together with dirt and sand. It was a miserable sight for them. 

Upon facing such a mess, their psychological qualities were tested. Han Jin and Sunier were the calmest. Cessacioun knitted his brows and tried to turn his head away. Moxinke tightly held onto his sword, and seemed to be a little nervous. The least gutty one was Steelberg, with his body shaking, and his lips trembling. He had never seen such a bloody scene before; it was already a miracle that he had not passed out. 

Sunier, who was leading the group, suddenly stopped and observed the cracks on the ground carefully. All the cracks were a foot in depth, and about ten feet in length, with rather smooth edges. She lowered her voice, "There's at least one high-grade fighter among them."

Moxinke leaned his body in to have a closer look at the cracks, and then slowly nodded his head. The difference between a swordsman and a fighter was that the latter had grasped battle skills. These skills could only be used after one had substantialized his fighting strength into his foundation. The formation of the sword radiance and being able to release a powerful self-defense were symbols of substantialization of one's fighting strength. Such deep and smooth cracks on the ground could only be formed by releasing the sword radiance. At least, Moxinke himself was unable to produce them.

"This way." Cessacioun waved his hand as he found a road filled with blood. Those people might have retreated along this road while fighting.

The group searched forward along the bloody road. Sunier's eyes were slightly dazed, and both of her temples protruded as if she were hiding something under her long blond hair. But at this moment, no one noticed her.

Along the way, the road was filled with bodies of the human-faced eagles, but there were hardly any human bodies. Obviously the weak ones had been killed in the beginning, leaving the stronger ones behind.

As they got closer to the end of the road after turning right, a boulder the height of two men tall blocked their way. On this small platform with an area of several square meters, there were at least a dozen human-faced eagle bodies and remains of a few human bodies that lay in a pool of blood.Among these, there were two bodies that were completely shapeless.

 At the bottom of the boulder leaned a man with a tall figure. His soft armor was still intact, and there was a huge overwhelming axe thrusted into the ground beside him. The upper part of the man's head was gone. A pool of disordered flesh and bones was found next to him. The boulder was completely stained red with blood. It was such a miserable scene. Around fifteen or sixteen meters away, there was another man. His body was wounded all over, and a giant human-faced eagle hung onto him with its sharp beak stabbed deeply into his chest. His left hand was grabbing onto the neck of the human-faced eagle, and his right hand was stabbing a sword into the body of it.

"He's not dead!" Sunier exclaimed and quickly rushed forward.

The man who had almost died with the human-faced eagle, was awakened by their voices. He opened his heavy eyes and tried to sit up when he saw them in front of him. Moxinke quickly held him down and said, "Don't move, you are badly injured!"

In fact, it didn't matter whether the man moved or not. His chest had been completely penetrated, and even his heart that was weakly beating could be seen. No one could save him; even the King Priest could do nothing for him.

The soldier opened his mouth and tried to say something, but a mouthful of blood spurted out and he choked on his words. He had to quiveringly lift his left hand and point at a bag around his waist.

Moxinke dug his hand into the bag and fumbled out some fire and earth magic crystals, as well as a shabby book covered by sheepskin. His pupils suddenly shrunk. 'Battle Skills' was written on the left, while 'River of Stars' was written on the right side of the book . 

Then, the soldier moved his left hand with difficulty, and pointed to the boulder before suddenly grabbing Moxinke's collar and staring at him. He tried to utter something, but nothing came out of his mouth. His eyes were opened wide. His pleading, along with a hint of unwillingness to die, made Han Jin and the others grieve deeply.

"Ah..." Finally, he spat out a word that had no meaning, and this became his last word. An arrow of blood shot from his mouth onto Moxinke's face. Then, his eyes dimmed with his hands still clutching tightly onto Moxinke's collar.

"'Battle Skills - River of Stars'. It seems that you're in luck today, Moxinke," Sunier lightly said.

Moxinke suddenly raised his head and glared at her. He was in an extremely bad mood at this moment. All of this tragedy had happened because of him. If he had not attacked the human-faced eagles, nothing would have happened. Although these people didn't know why the human-faced eagles had attacked them, he knew, and that was sufficient. He couldn't lie to himself, and his heart was filled with remorse. Thus, the conversation that was normal in the past, stung at his heart now.

"Someone's behind the boulder," HanJin said in a low voice. His gaze moved from the decapitated corpse and suddenly lit up. But in a flash, he regained his calmness.

Moxinke was stunned. He quickly stood up and strode towards the boulder. As he looked through the gap between the boulder and the mountain, he could only see darkness; there must be a cave inside.

Moxinke dragged the headless body aside before going to the other side of the boulder and laying his hands on it. His fighting strength appeared around his body as he roared, "Open!!"

The boulder began to shake more and more fiercely. Finally, it rolled away and crashed into an oak tree that was three inches thick. It revealed an opening in the mountain that was at least one meter tall.

Moxinke stopped and entered the hole. A moment later, his anxious cry came out from inside, "Raphael! Come in! Quick!"

Han Jin immediately rushed inside after hearing Moxinke's voice. Through the sunlight, he saw a woman lying on the ground. He now understood why Moxinke had instantly called him. The woman was none other than Keeley, whom he had talked about with Moxinke a few days ago.

A bitter smile crept up on Han Jin's face, and he gazed at Moxinke. The first time he had tried to help Keeley, one of her servants had been killed. This time, Moxinke had stolen a back-feathered lizard from the human-faced eagles, and she had suffered such a calamity. Would it be that this was her unlucky year, or that Moxinke and him were her banes?

Sunier also walked into the cave and asked, "What happened?"

"We... We know her," Han Jin stuttered.

Sunier kneeled down and touched Keeley's neck before flipping over her eyelids and saying, "She was knocked out."

"Take her out of here," Han Jin said to Sunier.

"Why don't you do it by yourself? Since it's such a good opportunity," Sunier mocked.

"I'm in no mood for jokes." Han Jin's expression was cold. Though he was mentally mature enough and was able to withstand certain negative emotions, he was not sure if Moxinke had the same ability to endure such extreme emotions. He was worried that if Sunier continued, Moxinke would be irritated and may even fight against her.

Sunier kept quiet. She bent down and held up Keeley. "I'm sorry, but... since it has already happened, we should think of how to deal with the aftermath instead." After saying that, she left the cave.

Back under the sunlight, Han Jin felt that it was too glaring and said, "Let's change to a different location. I am afraid that she might not be able to tolerate it when she wakes up."

"You're being quite considerate." Sunier nodded.

"What's going on?" Cessacioun came up to them and realized that Han Jin's mood was strange, and Moxinke's face had turned blue.

"Eh? Isn't this Miss Keeley?" Steelberg exclaimed.

Cessacioun was stunned for a while and immediately understood. He was not stupid. The women in Sunier's arm was none other than Keeley, a friend of Han Jin and Moxinke. His face color changed as well. If he and Han Jin had not objected to the assist before this, things may not have happened this way.