Chapter 115: A beautiful...Sword?
An hour later.
Emperal finally moved from the spot where Dresh had disappeared. He finally let out a sigh he was holding.
"How cruel fate this is"
Emperal shook his head. Looking down, he saw a circular tattoo on his chest. Specifically, the space where he had ripped his scale from.
It was half black and half white, and surrounding it were some floating golden words. They were tightly bound around the tattoo.
"Ancient Elven, huh?"
To the naked eye, it was...nothing. Emperal stood still for a second, in the next instant, he waved his hand.
The golden letters suddenly brightened, and from the tattoo of black and white an eerie aura was released. The space twisted as a sharp cutting was heard.
A second later, Emperal’s hands suddenly felt immensely heavy. Looking down, and what he saw made his jaw drop slightly.
"This..."
It...it was a sword! A pitch-black, demonic-looking sword. The sheer darkness around the sword was so lethal that even his breath hitched.
"What...what is this sword? It looks so demonic and...it’s really heavy"
Coming from Emperal, who could lift more than a hundred times his body weight... was shocked. He could barely hold it.
It was a long sword, probably around five feet!
The golden words around his chest once again flared, making Emperal’s eyes blur for a second.
A second later, he slowly opened them. A trace of realization shone in his eyes.
"Eclipse Blade"
Those were the words that echoed in his mind, along with some shocking information. This blade had the power to Devour.
And no, it hadn’t had anything to do with blood, soul, or Verth.
This sword...it could devour emotions! Negative emotions, to be precise. Emperal’s breath quickened, and the surroundings blurred as he focused on the sword.
An intense light shone in his eyes as his lips curled into a wide grin. "What a...beautiful sword"
Yes, beautiful. Not powerful. The first words coming out of his mouth weren’t praising the sword, but genuinely acknowledging its capabilities and...extents.
A true sword fanatic.
However, the word beautiful wasn’t enough to describe the sword. The blade of the sword was indeed pitch black; however, the hilt of the sword was...pure white with intricate designs and mysterious words on it.
For a second, he suspected that it might not even be Ancient Elven. But immediately dismissed it.
He swung the sword a few times, and the sword barely moved, yet it created a hissing sound when it cut through the air.
"Dresh oh Dresh, I wish I could kiss you right now"
Emperal spoke with a wide smile on his face, even a fool could tell that this man was happy...incredibly happy.
"Emperal that sword...it is not normal. I suggest you stay cautious"
Suddenly, the Infernal Dragon spoke in his mind. Making him halt, his lips curled in a wry smile.
"Of course, I know its drawbacks. But this sword, I...couldn’t think I can hold any other sword aside from this"
With a swing, he sheathed the sword behind his back. Even though it wasn’t a good option to hang the sword behind his back.
He felt like it was the most correct option...at least until he encountered an entity way too strong for him.
"Infernal Dragon, what do you think? With my full strength and this sword. Could I...match the Verth Shapers?"
Emperal asked, hope flaring in his eyes. But, of course. Reality wasn’t sunshine and rainbows.
"Don’t even think about it for now, although with this sword. You could escape, or heck, even injure an early Verth seeker, defeating or killing them is out of the question"
The Infernal Dragon’s words were harsh, but they were true. Emperal took a deep breath and nodded.
Looking ahead at the endless forest, he bent his knees and leaped forward! A trail of fire was left behind as Emperal moved through the forest like a meteor.
He traveled at that speed for ten more minutes, until the Verth around him changed drastically.
There was no announcement needed; the inner boundary did that itself before he even crossed it.
Emperal looked around. The dense Verth concentration here made it slightly difficult to spread his senses wide.
They were being disrupted.
"The Inner boundary is indeed different, heh. I might be the first ever Verth Seeker to cross this boundary"
And cross—he did.
The stutter suddenly turned into a drag as the Verth in his system was disrupted. Emperal frowned and immediately switched back to Soul Energy. The Inner region’s Verth was way too volatile.
"Hmm, the costing of Verth here seems to have increased"
He muttered as he looked ahead. The outer zone was a wild abundance. With various colours, variety, and richness.
But the inner zone? It was a temu version of the outer region. The trees here were fewer but equally enormous. The ground below was clear and not marred with roots like the outer region.
Just a patch of dark soil that carried a faint luminescence...from below!
Emperal’s eyes widened when he saw this.
"The EverHeart!"
His heart shook as he stepped forward. His goal of getting the root was getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, the black blade on his back buzzed. Making Emperal snap his head.
He hurriedly looked around, his eyes searching each and every corner of his surroundings.
Fwoosh!
Whizz!
Before his mind could even process, his hand moved at lightning speed. He drew his sword backwards and swung it violently towards the incoming attack.
KKKHNN!!
A metal scraping sound was heard as Emperal looked at it in surprise. It was an arrow...and not just any arrow.
It was a blood arrow. Which could only mean one thing.
"The CrimsonBlood Elves clan! They are here"
His eyes shone intensely as he looked around.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
And then he saw it...the blood.
Thin blood strands suspended from a branch of a tree, which was just a few dozen meters ahead of him.
Emperal blinked, in the next moment, the suspended threads that were hanging there quietly suddenly moved and shot towards him.
"What?"
Emperal frowned when he saw this, this attack...it was straight out pathetic.
He just waved his sword; the sheer air pressure alone destroyed all the threads moving towards him. He tilted his head and looked in a certain direction.
"Since when did the mighty blood elves become such cowards?"
Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.
The moment his words echoed, rustling sounds were heard from every direction. Emperal just stood there in an alert position.
And then...they appeared. From the same tree where those threads were hanging. A pair of calm footsteps echoed.
Emperal’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the newcomer. It was a woman.
She had pale skin and dark crimson hair. Even the edges of irises contained red edges.
Behind her, more and more Elves walked. They had a similar appearance to her, but they...were certainly not similar.
The woman stopped approximately fifteen meters from him. She was tall and lean. Emperal sighed in relief when he saw the scene in front of him.
Only the tall woman standing in front of him was Verth Wielder Stage Three. The rest were all Verth Wielder Stage two.
It was a strong line-up, to be honest. There were five of them in total, including the tall woman standing in front of him.
She looked at Emperal, her eyes shone in anger.
"You destroyed our formation threads! Their purpose there was to suck the captured beasts’ blood, and now...you have destroyed it!"
She spoke, and the rest of the cultivators standing behind her nodded. Emperal blinked in surprise when he heard those words.
"Woman...?" He looked at her in disbelief.
"What?"
"Look at my face, is it written somewhere here?" Emperal said, pointing at his face. The woman was confused by his sudden behaviour.
"What is written?"
"That I give a fuck about your formation?"
"..."
The woman looked at Emperal, her jaw...dropping on the ground. The men and women behind her weren’t spared.
They too looked at Emperal, who was staring back at them as if he was seeing some jokers.
Fresh veins popped on her forehead as she glared at Emperal.
"Bastard! You certainly have a lot of guts to say that with your weak strength! And I couldn’t help but wonder, from where does your confidence come from?"
She spoke in her mind. She believed the Verth Seeker had mistakenly tumbled into the inner region and now, instead of apologizing for his rude behaviour...he was even making a fool of them!
Emperal’s lips curled slightly when he heard those words.
Sling~!
SHINK!
The elf standing at the far left frowned, a strange feeling rose up his chest.
"I–IRAAV!!! YOUR HAND!"
The woman standing beside him suddenly let out a scream. The man named Iraav snapped his head down in horror.
And there he saw it, a small, thin line slowly crept up his wrist. A second later, his right wrist fell naturally.
"W-What!?"
The woman in the front choked slightly, however, before she could even do anything. Another light flashed.
"ARGH!!"
The woman who had screamed earlier now let out a horrified scream as a deep gash appeared on her shoulder, all the way to her stomach.
It wasn’t a deep cut, but yes, it was close to life-threatening if it wasn’t treated.
The tall woman immediately raised her hand, and deep crimson light shone in it. Just as she was about to activate her ability.
Her sharp, draconic claw gripped her neck.
COUGH COUGH!
She coughed and slowly tilted her head where a pair of cold eyes stared right through her soul.
"What were you saying again?"
