The Hummingbird's Report
“Haaap---!!!”
“Your stance is too high. Lower it more.”
Clang--! Kagagang--!!!
The sound of clashing swords rang out loudly across the training ground. Though it was a spar between young boys, they wielded real blades, and one fighter's ferocity burned like he'd encountered a blood enemy.
Whoosh……!!!
The sword winds slicing through the air gradually weakened as breathing grew ragged.
“Hah, hah……!”
“What the hell did Karono even teach you? Your blade tip's wobbling, and your shoulders are dancing like they're at a festival.”
Yohan's hands gripping the sword were covered in blisters, his soft palms bloodied, but he refused to let go. If anything, Adel's taunt only fueled his rage.
[He's got grit, that one.]
'Of course. The kid's destined to become a mad dog rampaging across battlefields.'
Adel smirked at Yohan, who glared up at him from where he'd collapsed on the ground.
“Still, if you can't even beat me, you're a long way from mastering Karono's swordsmanship. Better focus on training your aura first.”
At the word “training,” Yohan's face paled.
“One more hour of sword drills, fifty laps around the field, then aura training once you've caught your breath.”
“No way!! We've been sparring for three hours already! ……Sir.”
“And?”
Thwack--!!!
Adel lightly smacked the flat of his blade against Yohan's occiput.
“You begged to use real swords, and we agreed—if you lost, you'd do whatever training I said.”
“Ugh!!”
“See? You're dead again. Once your hand's on the hilt, your mind can't afford to slack. Not even if a comrade's right beside you.”
“Nngh……”
“It's not your comrades who protect you—it's yourself.”
Yohan clutched the back of his head and nodded.
“How many times did you die today? Remember it. If you can't protect yourself, you can't protect anyone else.”
“……Understood.”
Yohan bowed deeply at Adel's words, then resumed swinging his sword.
“Nngh……”
Yohan grimaced at Adel's command.
“You looked ready to bolt any second—why're you still here?”
“I can hear you grumbling.”
“Ha, one!! Two……!!”
[Kekeke, not a mad dog—a loyal hound. Bet that fires you up, trainer.]
Kalderet remarked, watching Yohan's spirited resolve.
“Yeah. Meeting Yohan this early is a real stroke of luck.”
Adel nodded.
[Still, we're lingering here longer than expected. Can't blame the kid for whining.]
“I agree. It's about time for a response.”
[Waiting for what?]
“News from Ruinxen.”
[Hmm……? Didn't you wrap everything up there?]
“I finished my business. Just waiting on one special guest.”
[Who?]
Right then.
“Adel-nim.”
Karono approached the training ground, holding a sealed scroll.
“A letter from Ruinxen.”
“Good. It's here.”
Adel took it.
“Karono, we're leaving soon. Took longer than I thought—get everything ready.”
“Understood.”
With the awaited letter in hand, Adel wasted no time moving to the next phase.
“Yohan. Your hands are slowing.”
“Ha, one!!! Two!!!”
Hearing Adel was leaving, Yohan's briefly halted sword cleaved the air once more.
[Ah, right—the necromancer we caught in the desert. Name was Kute Darren, wasn't it?]
“Yep. The one handling that dragon in Shallon. No way he acted alone. He mentioned meeting a contact from the Forgotten Ones' cult in Ruinxen.”
The contact's name was Bran Hamel. From Adel's memory, that was “Beast Tamer Bran,” a high-up in the Forgotten Ones' cult.
“Before leaving, I told Ralka to tighten Ruinxen's security and investigate everyone coming and going.”
A Zipra follower of void power would likely sniff out Forgotten Ones worshiping the god of annihilation.
“Looks like our guest didn't show, though.”
Adel said, scanning the letter.
[Figured. They must've caught wind.]
“Yeah. Necromancers each have their hosts. When Kute Darren died, the connection snapped.”
[They knew he was dead and never planned to come. Unless they're idiots, there's nothing worth salvaging.]
“Not necessarily.”
Kalderet glanced at the letter Adel was reading.
“Bran Hamel himself wouldn't move, but they'd still be curious. Who killed Kute Darren?”
[So you think they sent someone else.]
“Exactly. It's a big deal. They'd dispatch someone competent to Ruinxen.”
[And?]
“That's what I'm after. The skilled ones react on instinct. I had Ralka cast Zipra's Eight Trigrams formation across all of Ruinxen.”
[A city-wide barrier? No small feat.]
“Not locking anyone in—just enough for entrants to sense it instinctively.”
Like sprinkling scent across the city, Zipra's trigrams would go unnoticed by the godless but instinctively repel the capable.
[Results?]
“Three reacted to the Eight Trigrams.”
[Hmm, ambiguous number. Gotta confirm if any are Forgotten Ones' pawns.]
“Not really.”
[……Huh?]
Shrrk---!
Adel unrolled a parchment on the table. Three composite sketches adorned it.
“One face looks familiar.”
He pointed to one and murmured lowly.
[That one…….]
Kalderet frowned at the youthful face on the parchment.
“Yeah.”
It was none other than Lu, the boy who had served as his page.
The southernmost edge of the desert.
The Forbidden Zone—a hunting ground teeming with all manner of beasts.
Shuuuk--!!!!
Kwagagagak---!!!
A thunderous arrow cleaved the air, skewering monsters hidden in the sand.
“Whew……”
Nazan exhaled lowly, doffing the robe that had shrouded his face, fatigue evident.
“I come before the master of the desert.”
Upon reaching his goal, he dropped to one knee, bowing his head in respect.
“A report from the hummingbirds of Ruinxen.”
“About the eighth?”
Haien Temir, patriarch of the Ulan tribe, slowly opened his eyes at Nazan's words.
“Hm.”
A stench of blood so thick it choked the air surrounded him. Nazan realized the corpses here outnumbered the monsters he'd slain breaching the Forbidden Zone.
'He's ventured one step closer to his domain.'
The Extreme God stage. Nazan knew his lord stood at the cusp of martial perfection.
'Looks like Adel breaking the record stirred him up.'
As comrade before lord, Nazan rejoiced in Haien's progress—and anticipated what came next.
'Adel. If you aim for the desert, a towering wall still blocks your path.'
Kugugugu…….
Behind Haien loomed the entrance to a sinister temple—the Forgotten Ones' cult shrine.
“The temple writhes. Your report must displease the god of annihilation.”
Shaaak---!!
With a wave of his hand, ghostly wails like screams erupted from the entrance.
“Speak.”
At Haien's command, Nazan produced the parchment from his bosom and handed it over.
“Kek……”
Even a powerhouse like Nazan sensed the subtle tremor in Haien's aura.
“……?!”
That faint distortion alone shocked him. Approaching the Extreme God realm demanded utmost serenity. Haien's mind had remained lake-calm against hordes of beasts—yet a mere report on Adel shook it.
“Adel wielded the Star Lord's power.”
“……Pardon? Star Lord…… You mean the ancient god Kalderet?”
“Indeed. If your hummingbird's intel holds, Ruinxen's Queen Spider follows him. As contractor of the mid god Zipra of corruption…… it fits.”
“Unbelievable. Ancient gods were said to have vanished……”
Nazan couldn't hide his bewilderment.
“Who knows. You know better—they didn't vanish. The Star Lord here, the god of annihilation in the demon realm. Sealed, not destroyed.”
“Yet no one's found Kalderet's seal.”
“What none could do, that boy did.”
Haien's curiosity-settled aura calmed once more.
“He coveted my eleventh divine weapon. As if he knew I'd target this cult.”
Haien gazed at the temple.
“With Kalderet's power, he's the desert's true heir.”
“Do you mean…… to name him successor?”
“Something like that.”
Nazan eyed him.
' Astonishing. He's never named anyone but Merka as heir……'
“But only if he follows time's flow. Wielding Kalderet openly means he hides nothing from me.”
Haien smiled faintly.
“His brazenness eclipses even his boldness from start to finish. Amusing.”
Nazan grasped it now. Adel wouldn't wait patiently for Haien to bestow the seat.
“I see. He claims he'll seize the desert without brotherly contests. With Kalderet's power, it's possible.”
Kugugugu…….
The Forbidden Zone quaked at his step.
“No easy feat. Haien's children won't yield the throne lightly.”
Haien advanced slowly.
“Of course, nor will I.”
The Forgotten Ones' temple before him seemed to growl warily.
“Return will take time. Nazan, go to the village and relay this to Adel.”
“Your command?”
“Hm, Rania's hunting now?”
“Yes. Word of a Kraken in the Andal Strait—she headed there. She'll be gone quite a while.”
The great white shark Rania. Haien's fifth, unlike her siblings, she'd hunted sea beasts.
She'd felled an A-rank Sea Serpent but suffered Haien's wrath, retreating to her stronghold.
“Send Adel there. If he eyes my seat, he needs sea experience. In that sense, Rania makes a fine teacher.”
But Nazan knew it wasn't mere favor.
'The Andal Strait……'
It differed starkly from other places.
The windless zone.
A place God's Blessing could not reach.