SOML – Chapter 18: Ryan’s Will

 Chapter 18 – Ryan’s Will

…

However, instead of feeling happy, Ryan looks at the academy with worry. Grating noises still sounded from time to time inside the huge barrier. It’s been a long time, but the fight there still hadn’t finished. Ryan asked himself, what kind of being could make difficult for Von, who was on the same level as him?

“Sarah… just wait, I’m coming!” Ryan gritted his teeth. There were still many places that were being attacked, however, his daughter was more important!

…

“Run!” Ben shouted while dashing away from the bulky figure in the distance. It was late at night, but they were running for their lives.

It was the gorilla again. Saliva was dripping from its mouth as its eyes became too red.

They have been running for three hours, but this monster still not letting go.

It was furious with Jigen’s group and the moment it saw Sarah and co, it immediately chased them. In fact, it appeared it would chase them to the ends of the earth.

Growl. The gorilla was gritting its teeth. Sara and co jumped to dodge its attack. The creature struggled against the trio. When the gorilla attacked Ben, the latter only cried in pain but still able to run energetic. As for Sarah, it felt that the girl had an eye on her back as she weaved between its attacks. Worst was Jed, as the boy could outrun him with no sweat.

Of course, the trio knew that once it caught them, there would only be death. Thus, they would receive its punches, charges and other attacks, only excluding grappling.

Three hours of non-stop running enervated the trio. However, they couldn’t stop. Fortunately, they were fit and had been eating the fruits with potent nutrition as they run.

“Is there anything we can do??!” Ben said, gasping for breath. However, he only discovered that his teammates were not beside him.

“Eh?” Ben looked back and saw the gorilla looking at them. Strangely, it was standing still, not doing anything other than huffing for breath. It was too contrary to its earlier expression.

Sarah's eyes narrowed. She looked at Jed and both of them plodded backwards. Both of them signaled Ben. The trio gradually disappeared from the darkness.

They didn’t see the smile on the gorilla’s face.

…

As they left the dense forest and foliage, Sarah, Ben and Jed saw a cave under a mountain. They also saw a faint light inside it.

“Must be the others?” Ben said.

“Or might be the other guy.” Sarah teased. She sauntered to the entrance. She surveyed it before looking back at her teammates.

“Do you think, that guy killed his teammates?” Ben couldn’t help but thought.

Sarah scoffed. “He is not even determined to kill me.”

“Then, what about the gorilla? Why it didn’t run after us anymore?”

Sarah thought for a second before pointing to the cave. “Simple. Whoever in this place is another human. They are also its prey.”

“It wanted us to go in here.” Jed continued. “It was sure that we are going to warn these guys.”

“How did it know that there are humans out here?” Confused, Ben’s forehead knotted.

“World’s Energy. That thing out there hunting us is very sensitive to energy.” Sarah stated. “And of the three of us, no, out of the students, I have the most energy.”

“If that was the case, we met that thing even earlier, why it didn’t notice us even though we are just right under its nose.” Ben’s confusion became deeper.

At that moment, Sarah smiled. “It only means it didn’t have this ability earlier.”

“It didn’t?”

“Yes, because it only means that it just eaten one of our classmates. And it was growing stronger.” Sarah creepily said, giving Ben goosebumps. “Let’s go, we need to know if we are threading is a path to death.”

The trio scanned as they entered the cave. Inside, it was actually spacious. The walls are quite smooth. Even the ground was flat. There were little to no rock formations. Several noises made inside echoed much stronger. Thus, their steps could be heard in the distance.

Thud, thud. The path was quite long. Fortunately, the light gradually became intense. And the moment they exited the long path, a bonfire met them. The fire was quite large, but feeling the coldness in the surroundings, it seemed reasonable. Beside the fire was a pair of wet clothes and other miscellaneous things. However, there was nobody.

The vacancy felt eerie to Ben. He didn’t know, but he sensed someone eyeing them. Looking around, there was another passage, but darkness curtained it. Ben stared at the darkness only to see a pair of eyes looking straight at him.

“Ahhh!” Ben screamed. He stumbled backwards. A silhouette charged towards them. Sarah also dashed and met the assailant. Couple of fists ran into each other.

Whoosh. A swing of blade sounded.

Ting. But Jed parried it. Two pairs of fast figures met in air. Sarah and Jed landed beside Ben and looked at their opponents.

“It’s you guys.” Terrence's loud voice sounded. The girl wore leaves as dress. But the long sack was still on her back.

Jay scratched his head. He was only wearing shorts and was half naked. In his hand was a fang of a large animal. “I thought it was another animal out there.”

The trio looked at each other.

“Come, come. We still have a leftover soup here. Wait, we’ll just reheat it.” Terrence gestured to the trio and sat beside the grand bonfire.

“Hello, I’m Terrence Spear, and this is Jay Simoun.”

“You know me already, I’m Sarah.” Sarah was frank. “This is Ben Horizon and Jed Moonsear. We saw the cave and the light of the fire so we entered.”

“I see. The trial is too hard, no? There’s even that monstrosity roaming around.” Jay said, busy preparing the pot.

“You also saw it, Bro?” Ben couldn’t help but ask. “We’ve been…” But Sarah covered his mouth and asked the two instead. “Where’s your other teammate?”

The duo looked at each other. Jay scratched his head again. “Well, he’s missing…”

Sarah narrowed her eyes. She saw the change on their faces. “Anyway, that monster is going here, so, we need to fight it.”

“What?!” This news horrified Jay. “Why did you bring that calamity here?!”

These guys knew, Sarah thought before speaking. “It knew anyway.” Sarah shrugged, completely relax.

“So what?” Jay shouted. However, Terrence signaled him to stop.

“What’s your plan.” Terrence gaze at Sarah. Both of them stared at each other. Ben sensed the surrounding became heavier and oppressive. He thought about the clashed of fist earlier and gulped. “Two brutes are scarier than one…”

“Jed, what do you think?” Sarah broke the silence and nudged Jed.

Jed looked at her with expression ‘why me’. He coughed, thought for a moment. “You seem pretty good at using spear and Jay seems proficient in dagger.” Jed exhaled. “I think, I have a plan.”

…

Jack Dult looked at the sight before him. Then he looked at his back. There was a destroyed section in the county wall. Beyond that, there was also the ongoing fight of the Venerable Level individuals.

“We’ve been had…” Jack didn’t know the light, but it appeared at the same time Cain emerged. Cain’s entrance masked the light, so no one saw them vanished in plain sight. The light teleported them here, exactly where a mysterious section of the wall was destroyed.

From Jack’s knowledge of wars, the best moment to attack was when the wall was breached. However, the strange thing was the enemies were still far away.

Looking at them, Jack steadied himself. Before him was a horde of demons. Jack surveyed them and concluded that it was the Amon Clan.

“Amon–heaps of pesky bastards.” One soldier clicked his tongue.

“Don’t underestimate them. They have been reigning on the whole Demon Race for whole two eras.” Another soldier countered.

“Steady!” Jack’s voice thundered. The noises from the horde became louder as they ran closer towards them. The cloud of smoke couldn’t mask away the jeering and whistling of the demons as they approached the county.

“Hahaha. There are only a few hundred of them.”

“Kill, kill, kill!”

“I want the general’s head!”

“Kill the humans!”

“Ready.” Sparks flashed from Jack’s eyes. He waved his hand at his back, towards the brothers who always supported him.

The soldiers saw the upcoming horde. They became nervous, but recalling their families were on their back, they could not back down.

The soldiers looked at their general and became comforted when they saw his calmness. They knew that their general was still young and green about actual wars. They thought he would succumb by his first time. But he didn’t.

“Suit up.” Suddenly, all of them brought out a cube. As if choreograph, a metallic frame connected and danced on their body. It covered the humans and transformed them into hulking figures.

“Construct—Suit Type, C3 Beta.”

Each construct puffed a small amount of smoke from their backs. Their body colored in dark green. They looked menacing from the distance. Their red laser-eyes stared on the incoming force.

“Shield Formation!” Three bodies lit up. The light connected and transformed into a gigantic shield. Looking at the others, the same was also happening.

Before the destroyed wall section, they had constructed another wall. Jack stared daggers as the horde were now width’s length with them.

“ENGAGE!”

…

“How is it now, Teacher? Done playing hide and seek?” Grimo’s voice covered the library.

Von was gasping for breath while leaning on a shelf. He was hiding while staring at his opponent with the crevices of the books.

“Actually, I want to kill you instantly. However, my lord will not be pleased. He wanted to watch while you suffer.” Grimo taunted. But Von wasn’t incensed and continued hiding.

This displeased Grimo. He wanted the guy to struggle and watch his pained expression. However, that guy was patient, too patient that Grimo felt he wasted all night fighting a ghost.

“Hm. We got interesting info here.” If only Von could see under Grimo’s hood the protruding veins on the latter’s face, it would comfort him.

“That Sarah, I think she will be tasty.” Grimo licked his lips. His tongue was longer than normal standards. It was even longer than a snake’s. “Quite cute too, she surely be a beauty in the future. Now, I don’t know if I wanted to taste her meat or the other ‘meat’.” Grimo chuckled. It was devilish.

Von’s eyes almost popped out. Flames painted his sight as he willed his energy. “That’s my student, dammit! You are courting death!”

Whoosh. A dazzling radiance emerged and slashed towards Grimo. The latter anticipated the attack and flung his sleeves. Another shadow showed up and blocked the attack for Grimo. It easily sliced through the shadow, but its momentum lagged for a moment.

Von wasn’t the only one exhausted. Even Grimo’s arsenal was also exhausted by now. His shadow soldiers were limited, and he needed to make them from scratch.

However, facing someone like Von, mediocre attacks were ineffective.

Grimo already planned what he would do the moment he walked here. He had a trump card for that old foggy in the Pendragon Clan. Towards Ryan, he didn’t think too much because the barrier was enough to stall him for days. Thus, only to Von did he prepare.

“This guy's powers are very potent. However, the data recorded that he can’t fight long. Engaging him on exhausting fight is a must.” Grimo remembered. He flung his sleeves once again and two shadows emerged, dashed towards where the sword came from.

Von rolled over. A spell circle emerged from his hands. Suddenly, a wind blade appeared and slashed towards the surprised shadows.

“The Flying Sword Spell Art should be exhausting, ah? You’ve been using wind blades every after you cast your signature move.” Grimo stared haughtily at Von.

“Aba. Come closer if you are that strong.” Von jeered back. He was furious, yet he couldn’t do anything. He dashed towards Grimo. But the latter backed up and flung his sleeves once again.

“There is no end to this.” Grimo stated.

Von gritted his teeth as he saw the shadows coming to him. He ran once again, trying to kill the shadows while attempting to hide.

“Do I really have to charge head-on?” Von thought. “But it is a sure way to die.”

There was a window beside him. The teacher looked at barrier outside and saw the shock waves that keep on appearing. His heart was heavy. It wasn’t the shock waves produced by the Venerables. It was Ryan who produced it instead.

“Shit.” Dull thuds sounded as the barrier rippled. A pair of fists rained down, but the translucent membrane still stood.

“No…” Ryan kept on punching the barrier, but to no avail. Despair once again reared its ugly head as Ryan remembered the last scene he had with his wife. He couldn’t do anything back then, even though his hated enemy was in front of him.

And right now, the scene was repeating itself.

Once again powerless.

His hands became bloodied. It wasn’t a reminiscent of a hand at all but a mush of gore. But he kept on preserving. His eyes bloodshot and his saliva frothed from his mouth.

“No, no, no–.” Suddenly, Ryan remembered the moment Sarah called him father. She was still too young back then. It was the only time that a speck of happiness appeared from his greying world.

But he didn’t even cherish it. Instead, he kept avoiding her, convinced that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was still mourning, after all.

However, when he ultimately saw his two fists hurting that tiny happiness, horror dawned upon him.

A heart clutching pain pricked on his chest when he thought he would never see his daughter again.

That he could never say sorry. Or be a father even once.

As if he could see the disappointment on his wife’s face.

“NO!” He roared in pain and desperation as he took that ultimate step.

Streams of World’s Energy became chaotic inside his body as it rampaged to break the wall. A silhouette of a dragon appeared behind his back, with red blood eyes filled with manic intent.

His bloodlust accompanied the pervading fishy smell of the surroundings. He had grown numbed from the cries and wails. Behind him, mists of blood and dust shot through the sky alongside the hellish flame that devoured the East Section.

“Venerable Level…”

Ryan quivered. “I’m useless, Father.” He couldn’t control the energy anymore, making him vomit blood. “You give me this responsibility. Yet here I am, listening to the people I have to protect. And I couldn’t even save one person, my daughter.”

The energy inside him rampaged, threatening to destroy him. He closed his eyes as regret and despair flooded his being.

However, a hand touched him from behind. He trembled as he felt that petite but supportive hand. The chaos in his body became steady. It smoothened out as it passed through the final blockage!

“My Will… I just want to be a dad. I’m wrong, but I just can’t accept it. I didn’t honor your dying wish.” The dragon behind his back changed. Its eyes became serene and gentle. It let out warmth like the embrace of a family.

All people in the county looked up, no matter what they were doing. Amidst the smoke and flames, they could see a large phantom of a dragon. It only had two colors—gold and ash-color. But it wasn’t its prominent feature.

It was its warmth.

“Venerable…” Someone murmured. They saw a faint shadow from the dragon. It was Ryan.

Tears poured on his face as he felt the warm embrace from his back. “I’m sorry.”

Ryan didn’t look back anymore. He only stared forward to the future he would have with his daughter.

Blinding lights emerged from a pair of eyes. The dragon phantom disappeared and replaced by an ash-gold fist, which was too small in comparison.

His face masked with calmness. He sauntered and attack the blockage in front of him.

A simple punch.

There was no threating aura, no overwhelming power.

But just one punch was all it needed to destroy the barrier!

Boom. The barrier collapsed like ceramic tiles.

Alongside it was the destruction of the despair that kept hurting him. He finally reached it.

Ryan bit his lips. He had reached step after a long time. But he didn’t let out any joy. Instead, he stared spears at the dumbfounded Grimo.

Von laughed heartedly. Even though he was envious, it was really a worth happiness. Specially to a brother. “Congratulations, Venerable.”

“Congratulations, Venerable.”

All the people in the county woke up and congratulated Ryan. Even the three fighting Venerable stopped and stared at the newcomer. The people were excited because finally everything would be put into an end. Even though Palm Tree was stronger than Cain, it was only relative. Also, his powers were better on restraining people.

But now that they have three, this could end quickly.

A Venerable Level might even fall today!

Cain knew this thus, it immediately used all of his powers to escape. “Shit. Why this is happening?”

“Where are you going?” Jade Hands’ cool voice sounded. A gigantic hand once again appeared, but unlike the others, this time it was formed of diamonds. It represented indestructibility as it blocked Cain.

Hellish flames sprouted from Cain as his three heads shot three beams of black light.

Bang. The beams weren’t able to scratch the hand.

Though he deflected it!

Cain used that opening to dive. Jade Hands harrumphed and the diamond hand was back again. And this time, it came from underneath the Beast. It caught Cain. The latter resembled an ant while being clasped by the gigantic hand.

“You think this is enough?”

The Emperor Cerberus felt himself becoming smaller and howled. The howl produced a shock wave that opened the hand. Cain became a blur and dashed to the sky. A wing of flames suddenly sprouted from his back. It didn’t want to run on the ground because he saw Palm Tree waiting for him.

Ryan only spectated. His goal was Sarah. Thus, his all attention poured like a waterfall towards Grimo.

“I’ll be damned.” Grimo cursed as he immediately brought out a pouch from his robe. To think that this move would save him because Ryan was already standing within arm’s reach. A shadow exited the pouch and repelled the attacking Ryan.

“This should be used to your father. But you destroyed my plan.” Grimo gnashed his teeth as he gazed at Ryan with full of hate.

From his back, the shadow was reforming until it formed a shape of a human.

It was an old man, with yellow crook teeth and hunchback. His hair was little, but they could see a trace of purple.

One of his eyes was already silverized. However, the other was yellow color, completely different from human’s eyes.

His clothes were so dirty that flies encircled him.

But no one underestimated the old man.

Instead, everyone felt that they were looking at a prehistoric monster.

The three Venerables on the distance stopped in their tracks. Unlike their reactions towards Ryan, this time they were full of wariness.

The onlookers now didn’t know what to feel anymore. They were once again back to square one. Maybe even worst.

“Brat. You can’t control me.” But instead of attacking the others, the old man pointed at Grimo. Suddenly, the faint connection between Grimo and the old man was severed. Grimo spurted a mouthful of blood as he stared, bewildered.

“You used a strand of my hair to make an incarnation. Hm. I can’t waste this opportunity.” It seemed he was having a dotage because he was only mumbling. But what happened next horrified the onlookers.

A black drop of light appeared from the old man. An overpowering pestilence superseded the sky before converging to the skinny figure.

Some people became a pile of bones in an instant. Everyone shivered witnessing this.

The old man’s body become healthier compared before. He looked more… alive.

“HAHAHA.”

“I AM BACK!”

It was loud. But they couldn’t even cover their ears because their senses telling them the dreadfulness possessed by the old man.

“No.” Green Palm Tree shook his head. “It is only a clone.”

“You are a good brat. But it is enough.” The yellow teeth flashed.

Ryan shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, I only have to beat you.”

The old man laughed. “Quite an arrogant lad.” Then a blur rushed towards Ryan.

Boom. Boom. A flurry of punches and kicks appeared while both men stared at each other. Though, their expression was vastly different. Ryan resembled a pig’s butt while the old man became more and more thrilled.

“It is good to be back.” The old man stopped. Pestilence once again appeared and converged on the man’s hand. It reformed into a sickle. The old man’s eyes were filled with delight as he teased Ryan. “Don’t die too quickly, boy.”

Whoosh. Both Von and Grimo dove to the ground. They stared in shock as they saw it cut the academy in half!

Nevertheless, the old man didn’t continue and instead looked at the ground.

Or more specifically, the land where the academy stood.

“A pity. The gestation still far. Probably ten to twenty years. This clone won’t be able to last that long.”

“Anyway, I will have all the fun while I’m here.” The old man smiled wide as his crooked teeth once again visible.

…

Chapter 17 | Chapter 19