XXXVII

"Fuck!" Fabian cursed as he got tripped by a random vine, "How can you even see in the dark?"

"Do you know the location of the Temple of Korbe? Kzel asked, stopping on his track.

"Half a day walk to the north. Wait! Are we invading the Light Faction?" Fabian bumped on Kzel's back and held his nose that took the first brunt of his momentum, "Aw! What's the delay?"

"Shh!" Kzel dropped to a crouch and crept his way behind a bush. Just twenty meters ahead of them, lights flickered. There were cries and screams. A deadly battle is coming to a conclusion before dawn.

Kzel carefully treaded to a vantage point. He observed the battle until Fabian crouched beside him. A small skirmish between two tiny Factions somewhat made them cautious.

"You see those men in blue robes! They are Vigilant of the 23rd god of Justice, Threndal." Fabian began to point his fingers. "The other group are called Umira, blood-drinking night creatures who traded their soul to the Evil god of Creation, Nuion the 14th."

The Viligants were surrounded but held on, bathing themselves in a searing light that burned the Umiras whenever they came in contact with it.

"Pray to Threndal while you can, monster!" A Vigilant cried while blocking the assault of an Umira.

"We will not only drink your blood! We will feast on your bones!" An Umira hissed.

The fight went on for a while. What looked like a stalemate in ordinary eyes, Kzel can see the weariness of the Vigilants while the Umiras were not slowing down. It was clear who will be standing victorious on the corpses of their enemies. Then a popped up window appeared in Kzel's vision.

>>New Quest!

*Help the Vigilants!<<

'Hmm?' Kzel thought for a moment. So if he helped the Umiras, there won't be a profitable outcome.

-----

"Brother Sulic!--aargh!!" One of the vigilant was badly mauled and dragged by two Umiras into the darkness.

Sulic, the leader of the Vigilants, hurled his mace at one of the Umiras who squealed and hurriedly left. He tried to grab the foot of the fallen Vigilant but the remaining Umira were stronger. Sulic did not let go and was dragged along. Other of the Vigilants pried Sulic's grasp and pulled him back to their formation.

"We're all going to die! They will turn us to ponies and drink our blood for weeks!" A Vigilant felt his legs trembled just thinking of their inevitable end.

"Do not fret, brother Lunig!" Sulic regained his cool, "Threndal's hammer shall pound this creatures until justice is served!"

There were only four of them left and the searing light around their body started to dim. Each knew that this will be their end, but they shall enact their patron's will until their very last breath.

"What's this?" The voice of a man in the shadows sent a little light to the Vigilants. They had hoped that reinforcement has come. But upon closer inspection, the figure was dressed in a black cloak and chaos leaked out from his body. That hope jumped out the window the moment they realized that it was a cultist from the Chaos Faction. Words had quickly spread out about a village being turned into a graveyard and forces of Light and Order defeated by this new arriving faction.

"I don't mind this scene because it pleases the god of Chaos." Another figure appeared behind the back of the first servant of chaos. Could this get any worser?

"But I'm actually in such a good mood that I decided to help." Chaos energy formed a ball on Kzel's hand. He then uttered 'Die!' as he hurled the chaos ball into the darkness. A defeaning scream was heard as an Umira was caught on fire and started running around in every direction.

"I only need to hear the words, nicely." Kzel sneered, "What will it be?"

Sulic gritted his teeth. There's no way they'd ask help from these chaos cultists. Threndal would turn on his seat if they did such a thing.

"Help us!" One of the Vigilants shouted without a single lace of doubt.

"Mornen! You!--" Sulic was about to scold the Vigilant but was met with a cold, defiant stare.

"The Circle of Vigilant is slowly crumbling. What's the point of carrying Threndal's will if we're all dead!?" Mornen's voice carried the hard truth. Halls of the Vigilants are slowly diminishing, crushed by Evil Factions or in the hands of mercenaries and citizens alike. Nowadays, they're called vigilantes. It won't be long before Threndal's will disappeared in Gaia.

"Good!" Kzel formed another chaos ball and hurled it at the already agonizing Umira, killing it in an instant. Black light appeared around his body for a second. His level increased by three. There was shock in his face when all his attributes went up by 10 and his health, mana and energies increased by 15 for every level up. There was also a 75 points he can distribute to his attributes. He can also use it to increase his health, mana and energies with every point increasing a stat by 10. Meaning, every level up granted him 25 distributable points.

"The Rzir is surely a powerful race!" Kzel murmured as a murderous glint in his eyes appeared when he turned to the Umiras lurking in the darkness, "Now, I'm going to kill you all!"

"Ah! Bringer! Are we really going to fight the Umiras? Or are we just trying to trick them." Fabian nervously asked only to see Kzel charge into the darkness.

The Umiras are exceptional hunters. Even with their superb physical attributes, they preferred to be tact. One would lure a strong prey while others patiently waited on each wing, and when it's within their ambush range, they'd encircle it.

The chaos cultist sprinted to their bait and when he was about to reach his target, Umiras from all sides appeared baring their fangs. However, they failed to notice how the cultist knew where to throw the chaos ball.

Kzel can naturally see in the dark. The Umiras depended on the cover of darkness and he already spotted them by the time he appeared in the battlefield. He skidded to a halt and dodged all the assaulting Umiras with the aid of his enhanced reflexes.

The Umiras were shocked that their surprise attack wasn't effective but kept on attacking. They'd tire this prey until it succumbed to fatigue and eventually, they will enjoy the taste of its blood.

Against the relentless attacks, Kzel began to counter. He unsheathed his sword and stabbed an Umira through the heart before it reached him. But contrary to his expectation, it didn't die and continued to claw at him.

>>Critical Hit!<<

>>Umira(Lvl. 25)

40% Health<<

"60% damage? Tsk!" Kzel clicked his tongue. He had forgotten that in Gaia, Vital Hits do not instantly kill. His energies were also depleted since he already used it all to make a good impression.

'Well, I'm going to have to use this.' Kzel turned his gaze while dodging to the Vigilants who are also busy fending off scaling attacks. 'Good! They're not in range.'

Fabian got scratched on the back while panicking. He sprinted into the circle of the Vigilants and tried to practice a Chaos Blast. The Vigilants half heartedly accepted the new meat in their midst.

"Chaos Miasma!"

Kzel sacrificed 10% of his health and his body released a deadly cloud of chaos. The Umiras exposed to it, coughed blood. The gas they absorbed into their body destroyed their cells within seconds.

In thirty seconds, adding the factor of their regenerative ability, the Umiras tried to bring Kzel down with them but helplessly turned into corpses.

>>Chaos Miasma leveled up to 3

Overtime damage increased to 0.5%<<

>>You are now level 10!<<