Chapter 16: Found out

Atrox’s heart began to pound in his chest, and he listened intently to catch the voices and what they were saying.

“We should just leave this place already. It’s apparent that there’s no other catacomb here. It happens sometimes, and only one will appear in the area. And maybe someone already found it. How would we know?” The voice was filled with frustration.

“Shut up. Our orders are to tear this place upside down until we find what we are looking for. We can only be sure after we return. And don’t you gain some rewards? You are able to create vengeful wraiths. Those villagers’ spirits will serve you for some time.

“I even got some dolls. The only thing we can do is spread some of our undead creatures around to see if they can detect anything unusual.”

Riven recognized the last voice. It was Vaelith’s. Anger ran down his spine, tingling in his veins and setting them on fire. Without thinking, he bolted upright, but something jerked him back, and he stumbled, nearly falling.

Riven turned his glare at Kivara, his purple eyes glowing.

Her face widened, and she reached out into empty air to draw something. A pulse of aura spread, and the place where they were staying darkened slightly. She turned to him. “What’s wrong? Don’t worry. You can speak. They won’t hear us.”

Riven took a deep breath. He tried to shove his anger away, but he realized that his mood had darkened, and he wanted nothing more than to jump out and do something, anything, to Vaelith. To demand where his sister’s body was.

He said in a gloomy tone, “That’s the one that killed my village. My sister.”

Kivara raised her brows. “I see.”

She turned back to look into the forest that was getting lit by green light. She continued in a flat voice, “If you go out there, you’ll die. They are all at the low Crest rank. Cross their path, and you’ll turn into one of their undead.”

Riven couldn’t believe his ears. They were low Crest? That was the same rank as the village heads, and yet they were overpowered so easily. Was it because they didn’t have quality aura to cultivate with?

Riven put it aside to think about later. For now, he had to focus on the present problem. I can’t always act impulsively. Now that I’m a practitioner, I should think before acting.

And then he completely threw his senses away. He jolted as if he had been hit by something and bolted out of the roots without thinking. By his calculations, the necromancers were going to pass by the place where he had buried his stone. He didn’t know what would happen, but he didn’t want to risk anything.

Behind him, Kivara watched his retreating back in surprise. She clenched her jaw and had a brief debate with herself. Finally, she cursed, took one look at the green light that was glowing brighter and the voices coming closer, and ran after him.

She intended to smack him when she reached him. Thankfully, she was fast enough to catch up to him easily, and the technique she was using covered them, swallowing all sounds.

Riven crouched beside a tree and began to dig. He brought out his stone with a sigh and smiled, but it slipped from his face when he saw the glare Kivara was giving him. Before she could make good on her threat, though, they heard one of the necromancers call out.

“One of my undead found something!”

“Traces of people!”

Kivara cursed. She had made a rookie mistake and hadn’t wiped off their presence. She turned to him and mouthed one word. “Run!”

Then, taking her own advice, she took off without making a sound, her form blending into the darkness. Riven didn’t waste a moment and took off after her, putting the stone around his neck.

She wasn’t fully healed, but even then, Riven noticed that she had slowed down and wasn’t running as fast as she could. He did his best to catch up.

But here lay the problem. When Kivara ran without him, she took her technique with her, which left Riven exposed. And with the dry leaves on the ground, he made noise as he ran.

Behind them, they felt the surging of death aura as the necromancers took note of them. They heard growling as their undead began to run after them.

Suddenly, Riven heard a crack behind him, quickly followed by a silver light that lit up the forest. He threw himself to the ground immediately, and the lightning attack passed where he had been and exploded against a tree, tearing a big gash into it.

The undead monster had used one of its abilities from when it was alive.

It allowed one of the undead monsters to reach him. It was a wolf monster, and it pounced on Riven immediately, fangs extended.

Riven’s hand reflexively went to his side to draw his sword, but he had left it behind. He cursed and twisted away, rolling on the ground, avoiding fangs and claws.

The monster ran after him, but then Kivara was there. She held a sword of translucent dark in her hand. It looked as if she had ripped parts of the night free.

The monster’s head rolled to the ground, but before he could even process what had happened, Kivara had yanked him forward, and they took off running again.

They heard the necromancers behind them laughing and hooting. It was as if they were out hunting. And maybe that was exactly what they were doing.

Riven clenched his jaw, but there was nothing he could do. He heard loud breathing behind him and saw that Kivara was slower than usual. She was breathing hard, her face pale, holding her side.

Riven understood then. The energy she was using to heal herself had been diverted to protect him earlier. He cursed in his thoughts. Again and again, I’m useless and a burden. The same thing happened to my sister. All because of me. And now this.

The necromancers were gaining on them. He could smell the rot of undead, and he was sure the only reason the green-robed figures hadn’t appeared to cut their heads off was because they were toying with them.

Enough. I’m a practitioner now.

He reached inside himself, to his Sigil, trying to grasp hold of something, anything.

He touched something, and his Sigil flared to life.

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