Chapter 5: The Man Shrouded In Darkness

Heinrich was on the ground, his arms laying in front of him and his leg in the hand of a wraith. He had fought with all he had but they overpowered him and his men.

Elara and Alice bled profusely as both protected Xior. He didn’t like it, he wanted to fight and not be the to be saved. The wraith then approached Heinrich, with his sword in hand.

Heinrich’s world inverted as his head was cut off from his body. But as the son of a Lich he wouldn’t die by this and so before he could speak a huge stone crushed the skull. He had died and so did his magic.

The chains which had runes for restricting other runes etched on it was now rendered useless. The only ones alive left were Elara, Alice and Xior. The remaining wraiths approached them but then stopped and dispersed.

Loud thumping footsteps were heard and from the right side they saw a horde of Abyss Kobolds approaching. They were tall fox type creatures who stood up on their two legs and used their front hands like humans.

Elara channeled mana and activated her runes. As as elf she possessed more mana than most humans and was trained from a young age. As the horde came near them large roots erupted from the ground, trashing the front row of the Kobolds.

Their howls filled the air as they clashed with the trio. Xior had picked up a sword and swung it in a frenzy while Alice picked up a spear with which she effortlessly killed a dozen Kobolds quickly. But their sheer number was too much for them to handle.

The trio got hit with clubs, cut with knives and clawed by them. Elara was the first to fall, impaled through her stomach by a sword. Then followed Alice who was hit by a club on her head. She fell down, blood trickling down her forehead.

Xior was once again alone, the people he had formed bonds with had once again fallen. He dropped down to his knees, Kobolds jumped at him from all directions but he did not move. He was tired to being shown a ray of hope and then the people who helped him taken away.

Such was a cruel fate of the boy, no family, abandoned to die in the Abyss and now the two people who were somehow keeping his sanity at bay gone. A hatred bore in him, one which would not end with his death.

The attacks of the Kobolds landed, his body turned into a bloodied mess as he lay on the ground, barely able to breathe.

He was unable to think clearly, as his vision got blurry and his consciousness faded he saw a bright blue light illuminate the Abyss, it was intense and full of so much mana that it made his already battered body bleed more.

When it finished, the Kobolds were no more, all of them had disintegrated into nothingness. Not far away he saw Elara and Alice, on the verge of death.

An enormous pressure gnawed at him, a tall man came to his vision. The same man he saw in his dream.

His armor jagged at the edges was pitch black, two horns on his forehead which curved backwards and a pair of completely black irises just like him. But his face, it was undiscernible.

The man put his index finger on Xior’s chest, his hand glowed as he channeled mana into his runes. Then the runes on his body started to pop out and jump to Xior’s body and get absorbed. Xior was in between being full conscious and unconscious, with great effort he pointed towards Elara and Alice.

The man smiled slightly and nodded his head. The reassurance from his strange man was enough for him as he let go and went unconscious.

The runes kept getting absorbed by Xior, it was as if the man had infinite runes. The runes stopped and now his body slowly broke down and clung to Xior’s body. And just like the runes, it too got absorbed by him.

*****

Xior gasped for air as he jolted awake, he was confused and shocked. His heart beat with such intensity it almost jumped out of his chest.

Just now he was about to die, how was he even alive and all his injuries gone. His left arm which was cut off by the guardian had grown back.

He looked around and all he could find was an endless expanse with nothing in sight, no trace of Elara and Alice and neither the mansion or Heinrich.

Then a screen akin to a game screen appeared in front of him. It was just like the one Hunters got when they awakened. The system screen showed status of the Hunter and their skills and the artifacts they have, nothing else.

He was curious, so just as he had heard from others he said,

“Status.”

The welcome screen turned into a bigger screen, with information about him. He had finally awakened.

[Welcome Hunter]

Name: Xior Arden

Age: 15

Height: 5’10

Strength: 10

Speed: 10

Intelligence: 10

Mana: 10

Endurance: 10

Agility: 10

[Attribute: Dragon Hatchling]

[?????]

Skills:

[Draconic Regeneration Level ??? – EX]

High speed regeneration which can heal fatal wounds, cut off limbs, destroyed organs. Uses a lot of the users stamina.

[Fire Ball Level 1 – F]

The user can create a fire ball and attack others with it.

Xior had finally awakened, he just had to find a way out of this place and he’d take his revenge against the ones who abandoned him and made Becca cry. His expression didn’t change even though he was ecstatic.

He tore off the robe and threw it on the ground and looked at his body. His malnourished body was now slightly better. Even a F-Rank Hunter is stronger in terms of strength and speed than a normal human. So, he thought it was because of that.

But he did not remember the mysterious man dissolving and him getting absorbed by him. What happened back then was the least of his worries as he started walking with a single goal in mind.

That he had to find a way out of here and kill those five bastards.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep