Van saw Grey Wolf stagger forwards, red dripping from his lips. The tall and broad man grabbed onto the sharp stick sticking out of his chest with an appearance of disbelief on his ruddy countenance."Brother!" The three in the peanut gallery shouted.
The stabbed man turned his head with the last of his strength, "W-who?!"
Grey Wolf was shaken.
[I am at the peak of the 6th rank, a half-step 7th ranker. It shouldn"t be possible to sneak up on me like this!]
The red-haired youth he saw was not who he expected. The youth"s eyes were full of simmering anger. With a frosty tone he said:
"No one is allowed to touch my people!"
At that moment, Van grabbed the sharp stick he had stabbed into the older man"s chest and pulled it out swiftly.
Shk!
The bloodied stick exited Grey Wolf"s body accompanied by a spurt of bright flood.
Grey Wolf fell forwards, a disbelieving expression on his face. If he knew that this would happen, he would not have come here...!
"You call yourself Grey Wolf?" Van asked coldly, "You don"t deserve that name!"
Weng!
Grey Wolf"s body was teleported out of the Monster Mausoleum.
The three cronies that had followed Grey Wolf saw the red-haired Asura in front of them and s.h.i.+vered in fright. One of them ran over to Samuel"s s.h.i.+vering form and held a knife to his throat.
Van"s eyes narrowed, "What do you think you are doing?"
"D-Don"t come any closer! I-If you agree not to attack us, we will not hurt the boy!"
Van looked at Samuel"s pale and bloodless face and the bright red bloom on his robes. Then he looked back at the three cronies, all in the 5th level, in front of him. A mysterious smile spread over his lips.
"Oh? I"ll make sure you never have a chance to."
With three quick movements of his arm, three lashes of freezing water qi jetted through the air, knocking the three cronies away from Samuel.
In the next second, a dark twisting wall of qi scooped the three cronies up. Their screams echoed through the s.p.a.ce as they spun around and around in the freezing water, being lacerated by the icy energy.
Weng! Weng! Weng!
Three glowing lights appeared in the middle of the icy twister and flew up to the sky.
Van curled his lip.
"C-captain..."
Hearing Samuels weak voice call out for him, Van immediately rushed over.
The red-haired youth kneeled down next to his junior disciple; whose face was pale from the blood loss. Now that Van was up close, he realised that the wound was much more severe than expected. Samuel had lost a lot of blood, which was now a dark and sticky pool around his body.
Without hesitating, Van ripped a corner of his robe and pressed it to the open wound, hoping to staunch the blood.
The younger boy smiled thinly. A thin hand he grabbed onto his.
"I"m sorry I didn"t come sooner," Van said with a heavy heart. He saw his junior brother"s wan smile and felt deep disappointment with himself. If only he had moved faster, then this kid wouldn"t have had to suffer the taunting and bullying of Grey Wolf and his cronies.
"Y-you"ve already done a lot for me, Captain...This small one is thankful. I couldn"t have made it to the 6th rank without you... "
Van was too distracted to notice it before but indeed Samuel had ranked up from the 5th to the 6th level of Qi Distillation in the last few days.
"I j-just ate a few of the herbs I found... Too greedy... I nearly exploded," Samuel giggled weakly.
If it weren"t for him finding the herbs on the first day he wouldn"t have ranked up so quickly. Too excited by his discovery, he immediately stuffed his face. Moments later, with a red face and steam coming out of his ears Samuel fell into a coma. His body was unable to handle the overwhelming intrusion of spiritual energy from digesting the herbs. When he finally woke up, it was night time and the thing that had woken him was the shrill cry of the strange golem-like beasts that were rus.h.i.+ng over to him. With his new found strength, Samuel was able to survive two nights on his own.
Van cracked a smile imagining Samuel"s silly face.
"T-take...these"
The small boy opened his waist pouch and pulled out the herbs he had stashed within. Each looked pristine and emitted powerful spiritual energy, as if they hadn"t been plucked and stored for several days already. He weakly stuffed them into Van"s lap.
Van frowned and pushed them back, "What is the meaning of this? Your senior brother doesn"t need these things you worked hard for on your own. You should keep them and cultivate with them in the next few rounds."
Samuel"s eyes shone briefly when he heard Van address himself as his senior brother. He felt even more touched that Van did not want to take the herbs, but at the same time he shook his head.
"I want you to take them and build your strength, Senior Brother. You must... Bring glory to the Sect and beat those scary twins."
Van"s expression remained unwilling, "Junior Brother, you will not die here. You must hold on, there are still so many treasures and fortunes to be gained in here."
Samuel gently continued.
"M-my wound is too serious; I can already feel my consciousness weakening. Besides, it"s not like... I"m really dying. I"ll keep a few of the herbs and cultivate with back in the Sect, waiting patiently for the good news."
With the last of his strength, Samuel pushed the herbs back into Van"s lap. With this action done, he took a deep shuddering breath.
"Samuel!" Van shouted, but his hand that was pressing onto Samuel"s wound felt his heartbeat stutter and stop. His last breath left him.
A moment later, Samuel"s body glowed and was transported outside of the Underworld Labyrinth.
Van"s hand was still holding onto the bloodied cloth.
But the person was gone.
His heart suddenly felt a bit desolate. Even though he knew Samuel was still alive and was only kicked out of the Monster Mausoleum, he had felt the other"s blood seep out from between his own fingers and witnessed his last breath.
Van did not know it but his most primal fear had been triggered. In his mind"s eye, he saw Finn"s small and delicate face transposed onto Samuel"s.
Helplessness as he watched her bleed out in his arms. Anger at himself for not coming to her rescue sooner. Soul-choking despair when she breathed her last and went limp in his arms.
Van imagined that it was Finn he had been unable to save instead and felt his desolation grow more potent.
Why did he not know a single healing technique?
Why wasn"t he stronger?
Van knew if he were stronger and more powerful, he would have broken out of the array earlier, gotten here faster, beaten Grey Wolf faster.
If this happened in real life, would he have the strength to protect Finn? Or would he have to watch her bleed to death in front of him like he had to watch Samuel?
Van clenched his fist so tightly that his nails punctured the skin of his palm. Bright red droplets welled up but the pain felt relieving.
[Strength! Without strength I cannot protect those that mean the most to me.]
"I will not let something like this happen to anyone in front of me, ever again!" Van declared with clenched fists. A blazing will be emerged from his eyes. It was as if the pure flame aura from the Tri-Divine Blood Flame and the Abyss Storm Flame floated behind those two orbs, irradiating the world with their burning intent.
Van gathered the herbs and placed them in his pouch.
These herbs had been gathered and protected with the blood, sweat and tears of his junior brother. Samuel"s last wish had been for Van to use them to ensure his victory in this battlefield.
In Van"s mind, a brief image of two haughty twins appeared. The red-haired youth"s lips tightened but the determination between his brows did not waver.
He already knew what he was doing next.
To repay his junior brother"s sincerity – he would ensure that victory is his!