Mystical Journey

Time flew as the days passed…

A week had passed in the blink of an eye while Garen was hiding in the cave.

He had never imagined that the potential aura of the Despair Head would actually require a longer absorption time than anticipated. Nonetheless, he managed to fully absorb more than two thousand points of its potential aura as he had expected.

This was an extremely large number.

Moreover, the evolution of his body had reached a crucial moment. The forces of his body’s aura became unusually unstable.

He curled his body up inside the cave. His entire dragon’s body was wrapped in a thick Ice Armor which made him resemble a perfect, snowy-white ice sculpture that did not move at all.

Pfoo…

A gust of white mist sprayed out of his nostrils slowly after a long time.

Bang…

Bang… Bang… Bang…

A series of heavy footsteps echoed from afar gradually.

The walls inside the cave started to tremble slightly, as the faint, powdery soil fell from the cave walls.

The sound of the footsteps moving toward the entrance outside the cave slowed down before stopping after that.

“Outsider…” A deep Abyssal voice echoed from the outside. “Are you not planning to come out and meet me?”

Garen opened his eyes slowly. Hints of grey-black membranes were already covering his eyes now, as though an additional layer of something was stuck to the surface of his eyeballs.

An unknown powerful being had come to visit him during this important evolution period now. It was extremely obvious that the other party had purposely chosen this time to arrive, right when he was in a vulnerable state. He was clearly harboring evil intentions.

“Who?” he opened his mouth and asked calmly.

“I was merely teleported here randomly. Please forgive me if I’ve offended you. I’ll leave this place quickly…”

The outside of the cave was silent for some time as if he was determining and considering whether to make a move or not.

Garen waited for a confirmation from the other side as well. Whether he was a friend or a foe depended on the other party’s intentions. His own attitude was revealed in its entirety already.

After some time had passed, more noises echoed into the cave from the outside again.

“I’m Kratos, the master of this domain. Ignorant dragon, it would be best if you left my territory immediately.”

“Forgive me, but I’m currently undergoing an important period,” Garen answered indifferently.

“That’s truly regrettable…” The outside of the cave turned silent instantly.

Boom!!

There was a thunderous noise before a gigantic dragon head that was burning with flames entered forcefully, trying to use its mouth to bite Garen’s body.

The size of this dragon’s head was almost similar to Garen’s entire physical state when he was enlarged. It was also extraordinarily ferocious. Intense flames poured into the cave and melted the frost that was covering it before large amounts of white mist rose.

Garen’s entire body turned sideways while his tail whipped over violently.

His tail coincidentally collided against the tip of the nose of the other dragon’s head.

Bang!!

After a dull noise rang out, the dragon’s head and Garen were apparently fine. Both of them merely fell backward because of the reacting force. They continued charging toward each other again.

“Level Nine!” Garen’s heart trembled. For some reason, he would always encounter such powerful opponents wherever he went.

When he collided against the enormous beast the second time, he took the opportunity to push himself upward. He sprang his entire body out of the cave and broke through the surface of the ground before flying into mid-air.

The sky was currently blood-red while it seemed like the surroundings of the sun were tied with a black chain; the earth was completely grey-black.

Garen could only see a full view of the entire enormous beast clearly when he flew up.

This was truly a colossal monster with the upper body of a dragon and a lower half of a spider. Intense red flames were even burning on the back of this enormous beast, resembling an abnormally-magnificent mane.

The enormous beast raised his head before a ball of orange light lit up in his mouth when he saw Garen flying.

Shh!

An intense ray of red light rushed toward Garen immediately.

A popping noise could be heard when the red light beam struck his scales, yet only a faint white dot was left behind. Level Nine immunity against spells was not a joke.

Garen was completely unconcerned because his body had expanded back into its full state and he had instantly become a few times more muscular. Next, he flew up high before rushing downward ferociously.

Whizz.

His intense dive created ear-piercing, whistling noises while his tail whipped up dense white blasts.

On the ground below, numerous imposing Rock Giants stood up on the ground. They followed the enormous beast’s will and charged toward Garen to seize him.

The enormous beast moved speedily on its eight limbs while an abundance of intense, fiery whips shot out from its back. More than ten red whips covered the sky and earth while moving toward Garen to bind him.

Garen dodged from left to right. He went as far as to pass through the crack before colliding brutally against the enormous beast again.

A layer of multicolored light exploded in front of the enormous beast’s body suddenly, blinding Garen’s vision. This was a high-level, multicolored spurt. Aside from causing blindness, it also had vertigo-like effects. However, Garen was naturally immune to these effects that caused dizziness because they were considered as Spellcrafting effects.

He charged forward directly without the slightest worry.

Boom!

It seemed as though he had crashed against the enormous beast’s head through the rainbow light.

Both of these gigantic creatures rolled around on the ground before flying far away. They left a deep scratch in the ground.

Garen’s strength was apparently much stronger than that of this enormous beast. He did not release it in the cave previously. However, now that they were clashing together fully outside, the difference between the both of them could be seen clearly.

The enormous beast was clearly a monster that was inclined toward its own familial laws. It had not adapted t to facing a monster like Garen that purely conformed to the innate laws of things.

“Stop! Stop this!” He roared. “We don’t have to engage in this meaningless killing!”

Garen stopped in a timely manner after whipping his tail brutally against the waist of the enormous beast one last time. The enormous beast fell on the ground and rolled there a few times, causing earth-shattering, crashing noises and sending dust flying.

“What else did you want to say?” He looked at the other party in an engrossed manner.

“You… You have such powerful strength. You’ll definitely achieve great successes in the Blood Wars! As long as I create a Sawtooth Shield for you, you’ll surely become a slaughterhouse on the battlefield!” The enormous beast named Kratos explained loudly. “I’m a master of Alchemy and weaponsmithing so I can help you forge these items! What would you say about helping me in return?!”

This enormous beast had currently broken one of its spider legs. Its body was filled with injuries and it faintly looked like it was in a sorry state. However, it came prepared with healing spells that were speedily treating its wounds now.

“Help me forge a weapon and shield?” This thought had entered Garen’s mind long ago, but he had never anticipated to actually encounter a monstrous beast here that knew how to forge weapons and equipment. He glanced at the intense flames on his opponent’s back while his mind could not help but be slightly hesitant.

When he noticed faintly that Garen was slightly suspicious, Kratos spoke hurriedly.

“I have a pretty good relationship with one of the Vice Chiefs of the Wanku Fortress’ army because I’ve always been their head ironsmith. You may not be confident in my combat abilities but I’m definitely a specialist in the equipment-forging aspect! I’d also recommend you to go to the Wanku Fortress to participate in the Blood Wars.”

“The Wanku Fortress?”

“Yes, it’s a great fortress nearby. You don’t have to worry about this because their Chief of Army is the Level Thirteen elder demon named Eyeless Nada. This place will be organizing a major decisive battle during this period of time. You can take a look around and ask the other creatures if you don’t believe me,” said Kratos loudly.

Garen felt that his back was becoming itchier and harder to endure. His mood was also affected, and that made him very uncomfortable.

“I’ll take a look around before we go any further.” Once he had finished speaking, he flapped his wings immediately and flew into the distance before the enormous beast could answer.

After coming to the Abyss, he had spent the last few days withdrawing himself in the cave all along. He had yet to really tour the sights here.

While flying at high-speed, Garen quickly left the cave area in which he was initially located and entered a dark green forest and swamp.

He could vaguely see several old women with long, cascading green hair and long robes who were floating around above the swamp. These were Demon-Hags who went around scamming tourists, mercenaries, and even demons. Obviously, if your strength was great enough, they would simultaneously be the most cunning businesspeople who mainly specialized in selling information, intelligence, and souls.

When the Demon-Hags appeared, several little demons that were dragging black scorpion tails could be vaguely seen haunting the surroundings as well. Signs of living creatures had increased.

Garen continued flying towards the depths of the swamp forest. He could slowly see some gigantic, light green, sludge-type monsters. These monsters that were in a liquid state had bodies that were entirely green and sticky. They hid in the swamp and would suddenly appear to grab the tourists, dragging them into their bellies while they were still alive before digesting them.

However, the sludge monsters here did not seem to show any indication of hiding at all. Web-like blood vessels glistened throughout their green bodies. These blood vessels appeared to be giving off white light faintly, making them extremely eye-catching.

He saw a gigantic hundred-meter wide sludge monster talking to several Centaur Warriors now.

“This is the trader Gusca’s domain. Dragon race outsider, you are not permitted to fly here.” Suddenly, a voice echoed from below. Immediately, Garen could feel an intense strength suppressing him toward the swamp below, forcing him to descend there.

He did not resist but landed there instead. He stood on a part of the swamp that seemed steadier before freezing ice into a flat area below his feet immediately so that he could stand there.

“White Dragon? …Is he from White Dragon Mountain?”

“Probably not. He doesn’t have the badge of White Dragon Mountain on his body.”

“This is a valuable moving treasure chest… If we could kill one Colossal Dragon…” the voice trailed off.

Garen’s terrorizing eyes scanned the area.

That noise rang out again.

“Using force and fighting at close quarters are prohibited here. Only fair trading is allowed.”

“Traders?” Garen sneered several times. There were a few scattered tourists in his surroundings who were currently standing around and making deals with the Demon-Hags. Among them were humans, Orcs, and a rarely seen Earth Elemental.

There were so many traders in such a small area. One could well imagine that this domain seemed to be very famous here.

Garen walked around in the swamp while his heavy footsteps made banging noises wherever he stomped. He felt somewhat eye-catching and quickly shrunk his body into the size of a Dragon Whelp before flying around slowly.

These actions seemed very effective because a Demon-Hag, who was holding a walking stick, floated in front of him quickly.

“Outsider, is there any way that I can be of service to you?” Her shrill voice made people’s scalps tingle and was enough to scare little children and make them cry on their own.

“I want to purchase a sufficient number of souls. Do you have them?” Garen grinned but managed to smile warmly.

“Souls?” cackled the Demon-Hag sharply. “This will depend on the grade of the souls you desire… If they’re low-grade souls, I can give you more than ten thousand of them. However, if you’re looking for the high-grade souls that are Level Five and above, I only have a few in my hands…”

“I can really buy them?” Garen was slightly shocked. “What if I want the souls of Level Ten powerhouses?”

The Demon-Hag’s shrill laughter stopped abruptly.

“This… If you can give me a reasonable price that arouses the desire of the honorable Chief of Army, otherwise it would be impossible… You’re also aware that we Demon-Hags work for the Fortress Master in reality…”

Garen pondered for a while and responded with some other rare materials that he needed for his Wizard Tower. He had never expected that all four of them would actually be available here.

“What do you use as the trading currency here?”

“Currency? No, no, no… We don’t have such things here. We merely use soul-cocoons as the standard to measure values occasionally,” explained the Demon-Hag.

“How about it? I have the best enslaved souls, architects, craftsmen, and alchemists over here to help you establish a domain. I also have beautiful and cute elf slaves, and even little princesses with the bloodline of the Elf King, hee hee hee…”