Chapter 136: Hunting down the traitor

“How will we split the reward?” Ray asked.

“Naturally, it will be fifty-fifty,” she replied.

Ray’s lips twitched faintly. “Eighty-twenty. Eighty for me. Twenty for you.”

Evermore’s eyes widened slightly, then she laughed, letting out a short, irritated bark that turned into a smirk. “I have no desire to fight for chump change.”

“How confident are you about defeating Kalen Voss?”

Ray’s question came too suddenly, catching Evermore off guard.

Time trickled by in silence.

Kalen Voss had orchestrated the slaughter of an entire party of hunters.

He was cunning, ruthless, and had sold his conscience for power—trading loyalty for survival and greed.

Against such an evil mastermind, even with her ability to precisely foresee fragments of the future, Evermore wasn’t confident about winning.

“You’re not confident at all, are you?” Ray took her silence as a sign of hesitation—a momentary weakness that betrayed her doubt.

She pursed her lips. “I won’t lie. You’re right. I am not confident about defeating him by myself. That’s why I want to partner up with you.”

“I am not in the same situation as you,” Ray said. “I’m confident I can hunt him down without your help. Having you by my side will only make it a little easier—maybe a little faster. Basically, I’ll be doing most of the work. So I can’t share the reward equally.”

Her brow arched as she countered, “How about seventy-thirty?”

Ray blinked once, then extended his hand without hesitation. “Okay. Deal.”

It caught her off guard. For a second, she hesitated before taking it, her gloved fingers meeting his.

Ray had intentionally lowballed his offer to gauge her reaction and gain the upper hand. What he needed wasn’t her strength, but her skill.

Her clairvoyance could shorten the hunt by days—maybe even half the time.

The faster he completed this mission, the faster he could ascend to the intermediate stage of Silver Rank.

And the faster he grew, the closer he would be to standing against the darkness that loomed over everything.

Evermore released his hand and stepped back. There was a glint in her eyes now—half challenge, half curiosity. She wanted to see if he truly had the strength to back up his words.

The pact was sealed, and the hunt for Kalen Voss had begun.

********

The warp gate flared to life, swallowing Ray and Evermore in blinding light.

When the radiance receded, they had been teleported to planet Virdias.

The air shimmered faintly, thick with heat and the faint taste of sulfur.

The ground beneath their boots was dark and cracked, coated in ash. Overhead, the sky was a dull, oppressive gray.

All around them, barren stone plains stretched endlessly, jagged and uneven.

To the north, a volcano loomed, pillars of smoke and lava spewing out of its mouth, raining down all around it.

Lava coursed down its sides in bright streaks as Ray and Evermore watched.

No trees, no shrubs, no trace of green. True to its name, the Greyflint Wastes were utterly barren—worthy of the world that had long since forsaken life.

Virdias was a vast world, thrice the size of Earth, split into seven great continents. The most infamous among them was Karthos, and at its heart lay the Greyflint Wastes, the most desolate, most forsaken stretch of land known to man.

But to ogres, this place was paradise.

Their kind reproduced differently from humans. Female ogres laid gel sacs, sticky and semi-translucent membranes that encased their offspring. It normally took two years for an ogre to claw its way out of it, but the process could be accelerated by burying the sac in volcanic ash, the heat and minerals quickened their growth. Or so it was believed.

And the Greyflint Wastes were filled with the one thing ogres valued most. The abundance of the volcanic ash here made the region swarm with ogre tribes, feral and territorial.

As if on cue, a guttural roar echoed from the horizon the moment Ray and Evermore arrived.

From behind the blackened ridges emerged a band of ogres—towering beasts of muscle and bone, each clutching a javelin carved from obsidian. Their skin glistened with oily sweat under the dim light, tusks protruding from their jaws.

Without hesitation, they hurled their javelins, the weapons slicing through the heated air with deadly force.

Ray’s expression didn’t change. He exhaled once, a faint sound that cut through the chaos. His eyes flashed with emerald light.

A swirl of amethyst wind spiraled from his body, forming a vortex of pressure that warped the air around him.

The javelins froze mid-flight, then flipped backward, turning their deadly points toward the very ogres who had thrown them.

“Return it to you,” Ray muttered.

A heartbeat later, the weapons ripped through their original owners.

The ogres screamed as they were impaled by their own strength, collapsing one after another into the ash.

“All of them… bronze rankers,” she murmured under her breath. “And he wiped them out in seconds.”

She had doubted his claim before, but now—seeing was believing. The way Ray moved, the precision, the sheer control of his power—it wasn’t just strength. It was mastery.

Ray brushed dust from his gauntlet and turned toward her. “Evermore. Time to make yourself useful. Find out where Kalen is hiding.”

“I’ll begin right away.”

Evermore closed her eyes, her breathing steady. Her clairvoyance awakened—silver light spread across her irises like cracks in glass. The air rippled faintly, shimmering with an ethereal hum.

She stood still, hands clasped before her chest. “I see him.”

Ray said nothing.

Her tone shifted, distant, like she was speaking through a veil. “He’s moving along the western ridge, near a dried ravine. Alone. In three minutes, he’ll cross a forked path that leads to a ruined fortress.”

Her hand rose, pointing toward the northwest horizon. “That’s where he’ll be.”

Ray’s gaze followed her direction, narrowing slightly. “I can reach him in time.”

“I can’t,” Evermore said. Her voice was calm, but a hint of frustration lingered beneath it.

Ray nodded once. “Then I’ll go alone.”

She didn’t argue. After witnessing what he had done moments ago, she knew he didn’t need her beside him—her value was in foresight, not combat.

Without another word, Ray activated his Empyrean Winds. Purple energy surged around his body, and the ground beneath him cracked. With a sound like thunder tearing through the earth, he vanished in a flash of violet light.

Evermore watched the trail of shimmering dust fade into the horizon. “Don’t die, hammer boy,” she whispered. “I’m not seeing your future end here.”

Ray tore across the wasteland like a storm unleashed. The amethyst winds wrapped around him, each burst propelling him hundreds of meters in an instant. His boots barely grazed the cracked ground before he blurred again, streaking across the plains like lightning through a sea of smoke.

The ravine came into view—a deep scar splitting the land, wide enough to swallow a fortress whole. The air here was colder, heavier. Twisted trees, pale and brittle, jutted from the earth like bones.

Ray slowed, crouching behind a ridge. His senses sharpened.

Movement—faint, deliberate.

A lone figure walked the path below, cloaked and silent, a long blade slung across his back. The man’s steps were measured, too precise for a wanderer.

Kalen Voss.

The traitor.

Ray’s jaw tightened.

Kalen paused mid-step, turning his head slightly as if sensing the weight of eyes on him. “Come out,” he called, his tone sharp, mocking. “No point hiding. The Tower’s dogs were never good at subtlety.”

Ray stepped from the ridge, resting his Warhammer on his shoulder. “You’re running out of ground to hide on, traitor.”

Kalen chuckled, letting his cloak fall. Beneath it, faint red sigils pulsed along his arms and neck—ogre runes, carved deep into his flesh. “Traitor? That’s the Tower’s word, not mine. I am just trying to survive.”

“You led thirteen valuable lives to their deaths,” Ray said flatly. “You call that survival?”

“I call it reality,” Kalen snapped. “You think the Tower’s any better? It’s making us fight a losing battle! It’s not worth fighting for!”

Ray’s silence was his answer. His grip on the Warhammer tightened.

Kalen sneered. “You don’t believe me? Of course not. The loyal ones never do.”

“enough words,” Ray said. “die!”

The wind whispered between them, carrying ash and silence.

Then both moved.

Kalen’s blade flashed black, lunging forward with extreme speed. Ray met him head-on, Warhammer swinging upward in a brutal arc.

The weapons collided—metal screamed against metal, shockwaves rippling through the ravine.

Kalen twisted, blade sliding for Ray’s ribs. Ray sidestepped, the strike grazing his green turtle shell armor, sparks bursting in the air.

Ray retaliated with a crushing swing that tore open the ground and sent Kalen flying away.

“Still breathing?” Ray asked, voice calm.

Kalen grinned, blood trailing down his chin. “You hit hard. But not hard enough to claim my life.”

He slammed his palm to the ground. The runes carved in his flesh flared scarlet. The earth split open.

Ray’s sixth sense tingled!

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