Dragon Maken War

Chapter 95 - Those who Seek Their Own Destiny (4)

6

The encounter repeated itself several times.

The County of Karzark was a pretty big stretch of land.   Of course, there had been several towns and cities within the County of Karzark.

Azell walked through the towns that had been turned into ruins.

He walked past the ruins of cities where everything was destroyed.  Even the  castle walls were demolished.

He looked for sceneries that was left within his memories.  He had always wished the beauty of these locations to last forever, yet they were all destroyed.  They were in a state he had never wanted to seem them in.  As he passed by each location, rage started to disappear from Azell's face.  There was no expression on his face now.

He had prepared himself for such possibilities.  While he was coming here, he imagined the worst case scenario, and he prepared his heart for what he'll see.

However, the shock he felt when seeing it with his own two eyes was beyond what he had imagined.

“In the past, I'm sure…….”

Azell smelled something familiar right now.  He smelled the blood that had poured out from monsters he had cut open.

“I've experienced something similar to this.  I've experienced it numerous time.  Still...  It is quite hard to stomach.”

There were countless corpses of monsters littered around him.

Azell hadn't bothered to hide his presence, while he was coming here.  If he was able to make rational decisions, he would have avoided going to the towns or cities.

The ruins were ideal nesting ground for monsters.  It was almost certain that the monsters had taken possession of all the locations where humans had resided in the past.

However, Azell didn't avoid them.  He walked through ruins as if he wanted them to see him.  He attracted the monsters to him, and he had fought them.

It was a very foolish thing to do.  However, Azell was wrapped up in his desire for revenge, and Kairen was swept up in the mess.  However, Kairen wasn't angry.  Cold sweat was running down his body.

‘It is unbelievable.  He is so overwhelming.’

Kairen had thought he was well aware of how much Qi was stored within Azell.  However, he realized he had been fooling himself.

It didn't matter if it was a violent one, careful one, small one, or a big one...  In fact, it didn't matter if they came in a group.  It didn't matter if the monsters attacked or ran away.  If the monsters were close enough to be seen, they were all considered to be hostiles.  Azell started his slaughter.

As he continued to fight, the commotion got larger.  The monsters that had been spread out gathered to the center of the commotion.

It had been about a day and a half since they had entered the County of Karzark.  Azell and Kairen had already faced several hundred monsters in the ruins of the small cities.

Koong koong koong koong koong!

The heavy sound rang out as the ground shook.

From beyond the half broken building, a house-sized Ogre appeared.

Koo-oo-uh-uh....  Uh...?

It had a habit of trying to intimidate its enemies, so it started letting out a roar.  However, it was killed in the blink of an eye.  Azell was already in front of it, and Azell's foot had impacted on the Ogre's chest.  The impact was delivered inwards.  The Ogre's heart exploded, and Azell's sword cut through its thick neck.  It was as if he was cutting through pudding.

Poo-hwah-ha-ha-hahk!

A spray of blood erupted into the air.  In the midst of the blood, Azell disappeared as if he was an illusion, and he attacked the group of monsters that had followed behind the Ogre.

“Koo-ahk!”

“Koo-uh-uh!”

The monsters didn't even have the time to assess what had happened.  Something flashed in front of their eyes, and they fell over with a critical wound.  The group of 20 monsters took only a brief moment to slaughter.

Koo-ooh-oong!

It all occurred before the Ogre's corpse could fall to the floor.

There wasn't a single speck of blood on Azell's body.  Azell had moved much faster than the spray of blood.  While the blood were falling down, Azell leisurely moved towards a different location.

Kairen's blood curdled as he watched Azell with interest.

‘Did his rational mind erode away from the rage?’

It seemed likely, since Azell was fighting the monsters by attracting them to him.

However, when he observed Azell’s fights, it made Kairen doubt his initial assumption.  When one was crazy from rage, the logical and technical skills were thrown to the wind.  

Shouldn't he be flailing like a madman?

Azell's fight made Kairen suspicious as to whether Azell had the ability of premonition.  He integrated insight and technique flawlessly that it almost seemed mystical.  He used noise and visible signs to draw in the enemies to where he wanted, and he used his mental waves to confuse them.  Azell was using the minimal amount of power to kill his enemies.

He even let several of them go.  He was allowing fear to spread, since it would be easier to plant illusions using Spirit Order.

He wanted to spread misinformation, so the chaos would spread.  He also purposefully lured his enemies into traps.

“If there were flying monsters, it would have been a bit tiring...  I guess no monsters control the skies here.”

Azell had climbed the half broken castle wall, and he spoke.

Caw, caw…….

The sun was slowing descending.  Within the red glow of the sunset shining down on the land...  Corpses of several hundred monsters were strewn in front of him.

The factions of monsters that had fought for dominion over this small city was all killed.  Azell had killed every one of them.

Azell suddenly spoke.

“…I'm sorry.”

“At least, you were aware of what you were doing.”

Kairen let out a bitter laugh.

Azell knew what he had done was really stupid.  However, he couldn't help himself.

Kairen watched the despondent Azell through the light of the sunset.  

‘Why is he like this?’

He once again wondered about Azell's identity.  If Azell really was the descendent of the hero Azell Karzark, it was understandable for him to become enraged at the terrible sight of the County of Karzark.

However, how could he be enraged to this degree?

‘Maybe, he really is……?’

Kairen thought back to the time when Azell discussed his own identity.  He remembered the first version of the story.  Azell had said he had been put into a deep sleep through Carlos' great magic.  He had woken up after a long sleep, and he was the real Azell Karzark.  

It was a ridiculous story.  On the other hand, it had been a detailed story, and something always nagged at him in the back of his mind.  

There was no way it was possible, right?

Amongst the magicians, Archmage Carlos was worshipped like a god, but Rulain kingdom's best magician Beorein determined it couldn't be done.

However, as he saw more of Azell....  He couldn't help feel as if Azell's story seemed more likely.

‘Maybe not...  Still, it wouldn't be too strange if it really turned out to be true.’

Kairen was feeling something similar to what Arrieta and Giles was feeling.  This feeling got stronger as he spent more time in Azell's presence.

Azell turned to look at Kairen as he spoke.

“I've killed all of them in this region, but more will flock here in time.  Let's move to a place where we can rest.”

“Mmmm.  Let's do that.”

At Azell's words, he suddenly woke up from his thoughts.  They were moving once again, and Kairen couldn't hold back his question.

“Why did you do this?”

“I'm not sure.”

Azell let out a bitter laugh.

His most precious memories had been smashed into pieces.  He had skipped 220 years into the future, and Azell had thought his land would be the rope that'll connect him to the past.  However, the only thing waiting for him was the traces of destruction.

The monsters had destroyed and dirtied this land.  He couldn't stand these monsters acting like master of this land as they step on the corpses of the people, who used to live here.  This fight was a requiem for those who died.

‘This won't be enough to appease the souls...  Yes.  I'll make a promise.’

At one time, Azell had ruled over this land as the lord.  The deceased souls had been his vassals when they were alive.  He made an oath to those people, who had been his sons and daughters.

‘I won't forgive those who carried out this deed.  Moreover...  I'll return this land to the hands of the people.’

He would send those, who destroyed this land, straight into hell.  Whether they were Dragon Demon king worshippers or not, he didn't care.  Azell promised to make this happen.

However, he couldn't tell this to Kairen.  Azell made up a likely excuse.

“I just…  It felt as if a holy ground had been defiled.”

“I see.”

It wasn't an excuse that was particularly believable.  Kairen spoke.

“You let your anger take over your body, yet your mind was working very well.  This was why I thought you had some other underlying reason you haven't told me about...”

“I would have preferred if I could just let my anger take over me.”

“So you are saying there aren't any rational reasons behind your actions?"

“Yes.”

“Still… I guess there are cases when one actually becomes calm in an intense rage.  Moreover, you are a high rank Spirit Order practitioner, so you are proficient at controlling your own mind.”

“You words aren't wrong, but it doesn't tell the whole story.”

“What is it?”

“I've seen too many innocents killed by people berserking on rage.”

“…….”

“I needed to learn to harness it.  No matter how large my rage gets I had to become cold.”

Azell thought about his past. He had berserked from rage, and he had been pushed to the brink of death several times as a result.  He hadn't care what was around him, and he had experienced killing his comrades in these fits of rage.  He made sure he didn't get overwhelmed by such emotions anymore.

“Mmmm?”

Azell suddenly raised his head.  Kairen, who had been running besides Azell, mumbled as he hardened his face.

“Someone is 'watching' us.”

7

There was someone watching them.  This being was very far away, and this person was hidden in a very clever way.  However, this person couldn't hide his gaze.

Azell spoke with Whispering instead of his voice.

-I don't think it is the border guards.

-If a normal border guard was this skilled, we would have to worry about the Bijes kingdom taking over the continent with their surprisingly strong military force.

-It couldn't be those perverted Keepers of Prophecy that used to stalk me....

It was a possibility, but the Keepers of Prophecy kept away from Azell after the rescue of Seigar.

Still, Kairen was a member of the Guardian Shadows, so his location could be discerned easily by them.

Anyways, they had found out that someone was observing them, so they couldn't just ignore it.  Azell and Kairen continued a conversation about some random topic as they walked towards the place where they felt the gaze.

This was how Azell was able to confirm it.

-It is magic.

-How do you know?

-I can tell by the angle.  There is a magical eye in the air.

Magic, Spirit Order and Dragon Arts all had 'far-seeing techniques'.  It wasn't merely the enhancement of one's eyesight.  The technique allowed one to send one's gaze into the distance to survey a location.

When comparing the limits of these techniques, he had found that magic was much superior than Spirit Order and the Dragon Arts when using such techniques.

When Spirit Order and Dragon Arts used the far-seeing technique, one just expanded the sphere of one's vision.  Azell could use his Clones to circumvent this limitation, but the limitation of the ability was clear.

On the other hand, a magician could create a magic eye, and it could be sent far away into the distance.  It was at the command of the magician.

A high ranking magician could even look over a wall from a very far distance.

Kairen accepted Azell's assessment.

-I see.  So that is how you can discern such information.

-I don't feel any hostility or murderous intent, but...  It is hard to feel emotion through a magic eye. It is hard unless it attacks.

Azell and Kairen had been moving for a while, and they became a bit surprised.