Chapter 54 - Wesley's Dread (2)

Wesley was currently sitting cross-legged in the middle of the small house, his eyes closed. Three bloodied earthen needles lay across from him, and blood was oozing from his chest.

Wesley’s heart had not been directly impaled, so he was not in immediate danger of dying. However, his heart was still wounded, and the internal bleeding was slowing his blood pressure significantly. It was only a matter of time before the bleeding caused his heart to stop due to shock. Wesley was expending tremendous amounts of mana to speed up the healing process of his heart.

Normally, it would take a small amount of mana to clot a minor wound like the ones on Wesley’s heart. However, this was not the case now, as the constant beating of his heart interfered with the clotting process, forcing Wesley to use far more mana than usual.

Wesley was sweating profusely. He had already used nearly half of his total mana with two Dark Warps and a Dark Domain. Now, he was forced to continually expend mana just to maintain his heart’s condition. Wesley was still refining his mana to ensure he didn’t run out, but his refining speed was only just enough to match his consumption rate.

Wesley was in no rush, so he didn’t mind the slow refining speed. He would simply focus on healing his wounds first, then worry about fully replenishing his mana later.

Suddenly, Wesley’s eyes snapped open. A tremendous mana fluctuation caught his attention, causing his heart to churn and fear to wash over him. He immediately gripped his dark sword and used Dark Port to teleport to the nearest window.

Without hesitation, Wesley jumped out of the window, disregarding the glass and wooden railings. The moment he crashed through the window, the entire house behind him compressed into a cube. Such a devastating spell was simply too powerful.

Wesley rolled on the ground for a few feet and then looked back at the cube that was a house only a moment ago. Dread filled his eyes as he spit out a mouthful of blood. An enraged voice that seemed almost fanatical suddenly reached his ears:

"Little shit. You thought you got away from me. Today is the day you die."

Wesley looked at the source of the voice only to see a gray robed figure standing on the roof of one of the houses near the cube that was his house. Seeing the one eyed figure that was standing there, Wesley couldn’t help but curse his luck; this old man was absolutely an Elder, and he was intent on killing Wesley.

The old man spoke once again, this time almost roaring:

"Too late to regret. You can die."

Wesley was not going to wait for this old fiend to make his move. He immediately used Dark Port and appeared fifty feet away, which was the limit of his Dark Port. The moment Wesley disappeared from his original spot, an earthen arm appeared where he was.

Wesley felt his heart ache even more every time he moved causing him to spit mouthful after mouthful of blood. Wesley didn’t even look back at the old man as he continued using Dark Port after Dark Port.

"That spell of yours is impressive, but I wonder how long you can keep it up."

Every time Wesley ported, a hang or spike would appear where he was at. Wesley knew he couldn’t keep this up, his mana was already less than half, and he needed a portion of that to maintain his heart.

Hundred feet away from where Wesley was at, a shadow on a certain wall suddenly got darker. Wesley immediately used another Dark Port to appear fifty feet away.

However, as he was about to land, the earth on his target suddenly distorted and an earthen spike emerged from the ground.

"Shit."

Wesley cursed this old man from the depths of his heart. The old man's casting speed was already too fast, but now he seems to have deciphered Wesley's spell range. This old man's experience and ability caused Wesley to feel extremely apprehensive.

Wesley immediately twisted his body mid air and swung his sword at the same time. Wesley's sword met the spike and slashed its sharp tip off. Wesley immediately crashed against the blunt spike shoulder first.

Wesley felt a cracking of a bone come from his shoulder, but it was better than spike running through his chest. He immediately used another Dark Port and disappeared from the spot before a few more spike materialized there.

"Stop struggling you little shit. I'll have your life tonight."

Wesley paid no mind to the old beast's rantings. He immediately reappeared in front of the dark shadow of the wall and jumped into it head first, disappearing without a trace.

Arnua's eye almost popped out of his head as he saw this sight. He has used the needles to sense Wesley's location before, but now, there was no trace of him anywhere. He simply disappeared into thin air.

Arnua mistakenly believed that Wesley went inside the house, so he immediately muttered something and a few short seconds later, the entire house was also compressed into a cube. This time, however, multiple screams of agony resounded throughout the house as it compressed, and no Wesley rushed out.

Hearing those screams, Arnua was enraged even further. He didn’t know whether Wesley was dead inside the house or not, however, he felt that Wesley was not going to be so easy to kill because he not only managed to injure him, he also evaded him for so long.

Remembering how this little child cost him his eye and evaded him for so long, Arnua's face shook with anger and he howled towards the sky. This was simply the most embarrassment he has ever endured, and he felt that he didn’t have any face left.

- - - - - - - -

As Arnua howled in rage toward the sky, a tremendous mana fluctuation spread from him as the epicenter. He wasn’t sure if Wesley was dead, so he planned to flatten the entire area, hoping that Wesley was still within his range.

This would mean the death of thousands of people, but Arnua had already lost his mind to rage. He wasn’t thinking about the consequences of his actions; he only wanted Wesley dead. However, before he could carry out his plan, an aged voice reached his ears:

"You might want to reconsider your actions, friend."

Arnua stared at the source of the voice with a red eye and growled, his voice thick with rage:

"Who's there? Show yourself before I bury you."

A white-haired old man wearing a white and gold robe suddenly appeared on the roof across from Arnua. Seeing this, Arnua’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but he still glared at the man with menacing eyes.

The white-haired old man smiled at Arnua and spoke in a soft yet authoritative voice:

"I don't know why you're so enraged, friend. However, there are many innocent people who will die if you continue with your actions."

Arnua shot daggers at the old man. He knew the man wasn’t a minor figure, but he wasn’t afraid. He spoke through gritted teeth:

"This doesn’t concern you, 'friend.' I'll flatten this entire city if I so desire."

The old man's smile remained. He simply shook his head, resigned, and spoke again:

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You'll either stop now or die a pitiful death."

The old man’s voice was stern, with no hint of bluffing. Arnua’s brows knitted together as he felt a surge of killing intent flare up in his heart. However, before he could make a move, six azure-robed figures appeared behind the white-haired man.

Seeing these newcomers, Arnua’s face twisted with frustration. He immediately abandoned any thoughts of fighting the white-haired old man and spoke with clear annoyance:

"I am hunting a Dark Mage. Do you dare go against the Hall?"

At Arnua’s words, the white-haired old man's face shifted, his smile vanishing entirely. His eyes turned sharp, causing Arnua to take a step back. The old man spoke again:

"This is Blackreach City. The Hall holds no authority here. However, you can go ahead and die for mentioning them."

Arnua’s face immediately darkened. He jumped backward, intending to sink into the ground. However, the moment his feet touched the earth, rather than sinking, a pillar of earth erupted from the ground and launched him into the air.

"Wait... I..." Arnua’s face twisted with fury and confusion. He knew he could no longer escape, and fighting these seven opponents was out of the question. Arnua wanted to plead with the white-haired old man, but before he could speak, one of the azure-robed figures flickered brightly and disappeared.

Almost instantly, the figure appeared behind him and punched him in the back, sending him flying toward the others. Before Arnua could even register what happened, a green light shot from the hand of one of the azure figures toward him at astonishing speed.

Half a second later, Arnua's head was chopped off. His headless body fell to the ground at the feet of the white-haired old man. One of the azure-robed figures stepped forward and hurled a fireball at the body, turning it to ash in seconds, while another conjured a gust of wind to scatter the ashes.

The white-haired old man simply stood there apathetically. One of the azure-robed figures looked at the white-haired old man and spoke with a concerned voice:

"Headmaster, wouldn’t the Hall be enraged if they find out we killed one of their own? I don’t think we can..."

Another of the azure robed figures spoke before the other could even finish her words, his voice containing some anger:

"So what if they get enraged. They are still licking their wounds from twenty years ago."

The first one that spoke looked at the other and spoke with some annoyance and disdain in her voice:

"So what if they are not as strong as they were in the past. Are you confident you can face those old monsters."

The second figure frowned at the question and only turned his head in annoyance. The white Haired old man simply shook his head:

"Stop bickering you two. As for the matter of the Hall, if that child was from there, he wouldn’t have dared to make a ruckus here. Clearly he only wanted to intimidate us with their clout. He most likely didn’t know about the event twenty years ago....."

The white haired old man stopped speaking for a moment and looked ahead thoughtfully. The six azure robed figures looked at him closely. After almost a minute of utter silence, the white haired old man spoke again:

"However, he did speak about a Dark Mage. I don't know if he just said that as a bluff, but if he was telling the truth, considering how injured he was, we have at least a Grand-Master level Dark Mage in this City. We'll need to find him and have him leave."