At the edge of Lower Town, the mana suddenly started to act vigorously, with an orange aura tracing towards a certain wooden house in the depth of the trees. A black-robed man holding a white-dressed woman materialized from a distance in such a short time that it appeared as if he had just been teleported.
Alert!
[ Energy levels remaining 20% — Host, it could be dangerous if you burn your energy like this ]
‘Drishti must be keeping an eye on me, so I will not get in a life-threatening situation,’ Ryuk observed the nearby area, arriving beside the wooden house before his eyes fell on the pond’s surface where several fishes were floating as if dead due to poisoning or something.
[ Is that why you used your complete strength at that time? ]
The system inquired about the time when Ryuk had struck his sword towards the figure who had arrived in Lower Town. At that moment, Ryuk had utilized all his strength and had depleted all the energy reservoir for a single sword attack, leaving only 5% of energy available.
Though physical strength and his ability Shunya were enough to protect him in an emergency, using all the Ether reservoirs could have been a fatal mistake.
‘Not entirely, but it was one of the reasons,’ Ryuk informed as he slowly placed Esme on the ground. She also looked towards the environment with a frown, as if her mana sensitivity was detecting something amiss.
Placing her down, Ryuk moved towards the pond, which was now emitting a smell from the dead fishes, as if they had already died long ago.
A few hours ago, when he sensed someone arriving near him in an instant, without lowering his guard or underestimating his enemy, he had imbued all of the energy he had to launch an attack.
Particularly, this happened because Esme was with him. Prolonging a fight to save his energy while protecting her could have been more fatal. So he went all out at the start.
“Don’t touch the water,” Esme calmly warned in an impassive tone as she glanced towards the surrounding area, feeling how the mana, unlike its natural pure form, seemed to be corrupted by something. But due to the area being open, the natural mana was slowly returning and replacing it.
‘System, analyze the water,’ Ryuk commanded after listening to Esme’s words, refraining from touching it. If there were any remnants of energy in it and somehow that energy attacked him, he would just nullify it. If he nullified it, then most likely he would lose the energy signature or any clue as to who might have done this.
“She disappeared,” Esme informed as she looked towards the wooden house, narrowing her gaze as she felt no one’s presence within.
“I know,” Ryuk replied, continuing to look towards the pond. Knowing about Xiang Zhen’s disappearance from the fact that he had already spread his energy to keep an eye around this area and had only detected the dead body of Ten Hai just a mile away.
[ Analyzing…. ]
Ding!
[ Host, the energy remnants are similar to the curse on Mia Chandler. Further analysis is needed. ]
‘You mean the one who paralyzed Mia’s leg kidnapped Zhen’er too?’ Ryuk narrowed his eyes, leaned down, stretched his hand into the water to nullify the curse remnants that could harm other nearby animals, then stood and turned towards Esme, asking, “Are you alright?”
“Huh? Yes, it’s just…” Esme was thinking about something before being brought out of her thoughts by his sudden words, turning towards him and inquiring, “This area seems to give off a dark impression but it’s not demonic energy.”
Due to her mana sensitivity being much higher than Ryuk’s, she was feeling the loneliness, abandonment, and corruption in this area, even though the morning rays illuminated everything.
“I see…” Ryuk nodded before glancing in the direction of the dense trees where he could clearly sense a dead body just a mile away, identifying it as the same man whom he found last night trying to go after Xiang Zhen and using the Grimoire. He further commanded, ‘Can you trace the energy signature location?’
[Due to the energy being unique, it will be much easier.]
Normally, searching using an energy signature doesn’t work for long distances because the mana in the surrounding area disrupts the energy signatures, especially those born from it, like mana or demonic energy.
However, due to the uniqueness of this particular energy, the System could just search for this wavelength, ignoring any others.
[Searching…]
[Host, the energy signatures are heading towards Upper Town.]
‘…was it Liu Wei?’ Ryuk doubted the possibility that Liu Wei could come from Upper Town and take Zhen’er with him, but he removed that idea since, if that were the case, Liu must be stronger than him in power levels, which wasn’t the reality.
The distance from Upper Town to Lower Town itself would considerably require a large amount of energy, given that the whole Jade Continent was five times larger in size than Titanora.
Additionally, he just found that the energy was the same as the curse used on Mia Chandler, the girl whom he had met in Ardoros, from a branch family.
“Let’s leave.” Ryuk turned to Esme before approaching her, holding her hand and keeping his gaze fixed on her while he waited for her to teleport again.
“….” Esme blinked, waiting for him to once again take her back to the borders of Lower Town from where they had arrived.
“Um, Esme? You can teleport, right?” Ryuk blinked while his eyes remained fixed on Esme’s golden ones, which also blinked back at him as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“You can easily cover this much distance, you know; I get tired.” Esme gripped his hands as her body, along with his, started to disappear, vanishing from that place while she showed her dissatisfaction for him making her do the work.
Naturally, due to her low mana capacity and stamina, whenever she used her Tiara, she exhausted her energy and needed to replenish it, which would take a second since her energy core was strong, but the container to hold it was small.
Unbeknownst to her, Ryuk had already exhausted most of his energy, which would take at least a few hours to recharge, which was why he wasn’t covering the long distance himself but was relying on her.
—-
“I TOLD YOU, WE ARE SERVANTS OF THE WEI FAMILY!” Number 1 cried out, looking towards the soldiers who had tied all three of them to a tree while their boss was cornered by two soldiers at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.
“Haah… Haa… You know, the Young Master will kill you.” Bone Breaker, despite several injuries, moved his stumbling body towards the two soldiers, grinning at them while cracking his knuckles.
“First, you tried to enter Middle Town as a pathetic thief, and now you lie too?” Both soldiers placed their hands near their swords, moving to cut off his head, knowing that all four of them had tried to enter Middle Town without any proof despite knowing the rules.
“How dare you touch my servants?”
‘?!’
Suddenly, a firm voice resonated in that place, causing everyone to turn in the direction of the sound. There stood a man in a black robe with deep eyes, coldly glancing at them. One of the soldiers felt something damp near his face, prompting him to turn toward his partner.
“Khuck! Ahh!—THUD!” He collapsed to the rough ground the moment he spotted his partner’s headless body standing beside him, as if the head had disintegrated into a mist of blood without any warning, making his eyes widen with terror.
