Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 3, A Slaughter
That endless sea of blood was filled with countless white skeletons, and all sorts of different corpses. Some of the corpses belonged to ten meter tall giants that were covered in scales with two horns sprouting from their heads. Others had white skeletons that glimmered with a faint gold color…
“Ah…”
Linley’s eyes began to turn red, as he suddenly began to emit a terrifying, baleful aura. That baleful aura somehow seemed to take physical form as a faint, b.l.o.o.d.y mist began to emanate from around Linley’s body. And surrounded by that baleful aura, Linley seemed like he was a fiendish G.o.d.
Bebe, not too far away from Linley, naturally could feel that oppressive, baleful aura.
Shocked, all the fur on Bebe’s body stood straight up, and Bebe could clearly feel that all of his muscles were quivering, and his blood was pumping faster. Even his claws were shaking, not entirely under his own control.
Terror.
Terror the likes of which he had never felt before!
“Bo-, Boss, what’s going on?” Bebe said frantically.
Right now, Linley was still in control of himself. Only, after being pervaded by that baleful aura, Linley felt a powerful desire to go out and kill.
“This Bloodviolet is?…” Linley forcibly suppressed his desire to kill, lowering his head to stare at the sword.
“Hiss…” Linley could see that in his hands, Bloodviolet was glowing with a devilish red light that flowed, as though blood was flowing on and through it. The entire Bloodviolet sword was shuddering slightly. Linley could feel the intense desire of Bloodviolet to kill! Kill unceasingly!
But right now, the more strongly Linley tried to suppress the urge to kill, the more powerful that urge grew. Linley’s eyes began to turn more and more red.
“Ah!!!” Linley let out a wild howl.
As though he had transformed into a tornado of movement, Linley ran down the mountain. In his hand, Bloodviolet was flas.h.i.+ng everywhere like lightning. Every place Linley pa.s.sed by, the trees and the stones were all transformed into rubble and debris.
Seeing Linley’s wild charge, Bebe stood where he was hesitantly for a moment. Bebe had truly been terrified by that baleful aura, the likes of which he had never felt before. But for the sake of his Boss…
“Grr!” Bebe ground his teeth, then suddenly flew down the mountain as well.
Not too far away from the mountain Linley had been on was a clear pond of water. There was a pack of Goldmane Mastiffs living next to the pond. Goldmane Mastiffs were pack type creatures, unlike the solitary panthers or tigers. Generally speaking, panthers or tigers might band together for major battles, but in their day to day lives, these types of magical beasts would generally live separately. But Goldmane Mastiffs were different.
Goldmane Mastiffs had a strong pack mentality and were adept at teamwork.
Goldmane Mastiffs possessed extremely powerful claws. This pack of Goldmane Mastiffs numbered over a hundred. Although Goldmane Mastiffs were magical beasts of the eighth rank, even your average magical beast of the ninth rank wouldn’t dare provoke such a pack. They definitely were a local power to be reckoned with.
Right now…
These Goldmane Mastiffs were either lying in rest next to the pond, or casually strolling about, or perhaps frolicking and swimming in the water. This wasn’t yet the time for them to hunt for food, and given their strength, they never feared that they would lack for food.
But many Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly looked cautiously up the mountain. Given their alert senses, they could easily sense that something living was moving towards them at high speed. The Goldmane Mastiffs which had been lying down all stood up, staring coldly at this creature which was moving towards them.
Goldmane Mastiffs were three meters tall and six meters long. Their entire bodies were covered with golden fur, and they seemed lion-like. But their eyes radiated a strange golden glow.
“Grrrrrrrrr.” The pack of Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly began to growl.
They finally saw the creature which was provoking them. It was a human wielding a devilish violet sword whose body was wrapped up with a red light. These extremely intelligent Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly felt at ease again. It was just a human. Unless this human was at the Saint-level, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to them.
But suddenly…
When the human drew close enough for that red mist to cover them, all of the Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly felt terrified like never before. This terrifying aura was far more powerful than even the aura of a Saint-level magical beast. Under this oppressive, baleful aura, all of the Goldmane Mastiffs felt as though their limbs were no longer under their own control, and one after another knelt down in terror as they lowered their proud heads.
“Blood…blood…”
Linley was doing his best to remain clear-minded, but he could feel the intense desire of Bloodviolet to drink blood. After having roused the baleful aura contained within Bloodviolet, Bloodviolet had to be sated by drinking enough blood.
“Swis.h.!.+”
Transforming into a violet ray of light, Bloodviolet pa.s.sed straight through the neck of one of the Goldmane Mastiffs. A meter-high mastiff head flew off.
Linley’s speed was simply too fast.
No. Accurately speaking, Bloodviolet’s killing speed was too fast. Only after it had chopped through eight Goldmane Mastiffs heads did the first head fly off. And only now did the remaining Goldmane Mastiffs, who had all been kneeling in terror, wake to their senses.
“Hoowwwl!” Nearby, the largest of the Goldmane Mastiffs forced itself to stand up, then raised his head up and began howling angrily. But despite this, its limbs were still trembling, and its eyes were still filled with disbelieving fear.
Their intelligence, however, was very high.
These Goldmane Mastiffs all knew that this human emitting this terrifying aura was going to kill them all. Even though they were terrified, they were still going to resist.
Having drank so much fresh blood, Bloodviolet emitted a joyful sound.
“Die! Die!” The more he killed, the more Linley felt as though the desire to kill was consuming him. Right now, the only desire he had was to kill.
The remaining hundred or so Goldmane Mastiffs didn’t dare to directly face Linley. All of them turned tail and ran.
“Swis.h.!.+” Linley’s Bloodviolet sword chopped towards the head of another Goldmane Mastiff.
Knowing that it wasn’t going to be able to flee, this Goldmane Mastiff turned back and opened its mouth, biting down at Linley while breathing flames from its mouth. Instinctively, Linley’s body became covered by his azure-blackish Dragonblood battle-qi, which protected him and blocked the flame breath of this Goldmane Mastiff.
When the violet sword drew close to the Goldmane Mastiff’s head, the Goldmane Mastiff could clearly sense that the baleful aura this violet sword was emitting was now several times stronger than before. This terror, the likes of which it had never felt before, caused its limbs to go soft. Even the energy being generated by the magicite core in its body had come to a halt, and it just stood there, allowing the violet sword to cut its head off.
Surrounded by a baleful aura that had taken physical form, Linley constantly chased after and killed one Goldmane Mastiff after another.
These local tyrants, the Goldmane Mastiffs, were now truly panicked. They had no idea where this fiendish G.o.d had come from. That baleful aura was now so strong that even their bodily functions were being affected. Even if they wanted to fight, their bodies were no longer under their total control.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Hacked limbs and severed heads flew everywhere…
In the blink of an eye, thirty Goldmane Mastiffs had died on the spot.
“Boss, boss!” Bebe called out frantically.
Bebe could sense the state which Linley was currently in. He was terrified that in the future, Linley would have permanently transformed into a constantly slaughtering madman. Slowly, Linley’s form slowed its movements.
“Bebe. I’m fine.” Linley’s voice rang out in Bebe’s mind.
Bebe immediately ran over. Bebe could clearly see Linley’s bare upper body, his forehead covered in sweat, and that faint layer of red on his skin. Right now, Linley’s eyes were closed, and his chest was rising and falling like a blacksmith’s bellows.
“Whew…”
Letting out a long breath, Linley finally opened his eyes. Linley’s eyes had now returned to their normal clarity.
“Boss, you…what happened to you?” Bebe said worriedly.
With a hint of lingering fear, Linley looked at the Bloodviolet sword in his hands. Right now, Linley was very certain that this Bloodviolet sword had been a slaughterer’s sword, and that it had killed an extraordinarily high number of people. Linley even suspected that the endless sea of blood, bones, and corpses that he had sensed earlier had all been the handiwork of Bloodviolet.
But those corpses…Linley didn’t even recognize most of them, or what races they belonged to.
“Is there a race of humans with the heads of bulls? Can it be that these are the legendary minotaurs from other planes?” Linley thought to himself questioningly. From his books, Linley had seen references to minotaurs before, but there were no such creatures in the Yulan continent.
But many of the other corpses, Linley had never seen or heard of, even in the books and records he had read.
For example, those ma.s.sive giant creatures that were ten meters tall, covered with thick black scales, and had two ma.s.sive horns sprouting from their foreheads. The aura emanating from their corpses alone filled Linley with dread. Linley had the feeling that those ma.s.sive creatures definitely were not one whit weaker than some of the Saint-level magical beasts he had seen.
But there were innumerable numbers of corpses of those giant creatures!
It was true! Those corpses of creatures which were no weaker than Saint-level magical beasts could be seen everywhere in that boundless sea of blood.
“Who was the previous owner of this Bloodviolet sword? He actually killed this many powerful combatants.” Linley was secretly shocked. He was absolutely certain that this sword definitely came from one of the Higher Planes, because the Yulan continent simply never had this many powerful combatants.
As he thought back to how he had originally acquired Bloodviolet, Linley understood something. This Bloodviolet G.o.dsword truly did not originate from the Yulan continent.
With a thought, Linley absorbed Bloodviolet into his interspatial ring.
“Whew. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I definitely cannot activate the baleful aura hidden within this Bloodviolet sword again.” Linley had already made up his mind about this.
At this time, Bebe leaped onto Linley’s shoulders.
“Boss. What just happened?” Bebe asked.
Linley laughed as he looked at Bebe. “Bebe, do you remember how we discovered that magical formation back when we were in the Foggy Valley? At that time, Grandpa Doehring had said that the mysterious magical formation was even more complicated and mysterious than Saint-level magical formations. And Bloodviolet was used to support that magical formation. At that time, we suspected that Bloodviolet wasn’t as simple a sword as it appeared to be. And indeed, that is the case.”
Bebe immediately listened alertly.
“This Bloodviolet G.o.dsword most likely has experienced endless amounts of murder and slaughter, and also killed many powerful combatants, including those of the Saint-level, or even higher! And precisely because that is the case, within this Bloodviolet sword there is a terrifyingly powerful baleful aura. Once it has been activated and agitated, even those Goldmane Mastiffs quaked and knelt down in fear. But despite having its positives, it also has its negatives. Once it’s been activated, Bloodviolet absolutely must be fed blood. Otherwise, Bloodviolet will refuse to obey my intentions and won’t obediently go into my interspatial ring.”
Bebe nodded.
“Boss, this Bloodviolet sword really is terrifying. Just then, that baleful aura even made me tremble with fear as well, and my limbs were shaking too. In a situation like that that, even though I’m a magical beast of the ninth rank, I perhaps would’ve only been able to use half of my power.” Bebe said honestly.
As for magical beasts of the eighth rank, when oppressed by that baleful aura, they probably wouldn’t even be able to use a tenth of their power.
When the baleful aura within Bloodviolet was activated, the opponent’s own power would be impacted and drop. If even a magical beast of the ninth rank would be influenced so dramatically, one could easily imagine how useful this sword would prove to be in battle.
“But being possessed by that cruel, vicious, wild, murdering urge really is not a good feeling. Once the baleful aura is activated, I absolutely must kill a large number of living creatures before that wild, cruel, murdering urge is sated.” Linley had just experienced that urge, so he knew full well what it was like.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, it was best not to activate that baleful aura.
“Alright, Bebe. Let’s collect the magicite cores and continue.”
“Magicite cores? Wow, so many.” Bebe excitedly went to collect the magicite cores.
After collecting the cores of those several dozen Goldmane Mastiffs, Linley and Bebe continued on their journey, letting the corpses of the Goldmane Mastiffs remain there. In the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, once dead, even the most powerful of magical beasts would be no more than food for other animals.
Their discovery of this secret contained within Bloodviolet was nothing more but a side event.
Linley continued his lifestyle of training. Every day, he would travel around ten kilometers, with most of his time spent training. As far as how the heavy sword was meant to be used, almost every day, Linley would have a new insight. Linley was totally immersed in that wondrous feeling of training and improving.