12 Battle in the Open Path 5

AAARGHH!!!

"My penis! My cock! It's gone! It's gone!"

Garet howled in a frenzy when he noticed that his groin was hallowed and a ridiculous amount of blood was gushing between his thighs. His penis was roughly pulled from his body as gruesome tearing skins were dangling from his pelvis.

"My penis! My penis!" Garet was in a rage as his trembling hand grabbed the empty space on his crotch, but only pain and burning sting reciprocated his touch.

ARGH––!

Garet didn't finish screaming when Ryu appeared before him. Before Garet could react, Ryu smacked his palm against Garet's opened mouth. The force was enough to break Garet's jaw and shattered his teeth.

Garet wanted to howl in pain but found that his mouth was full –– only to realized it was his penis!

Garet's pupils narrowed into dots, eyes bulging from its sockets. He wanted to spat it out, but Ryu landed another punch right under his jaw, and his teeth ground his cock and bit his tongue from the impact.

The force was enough to send Garet off his feet, and Ryu twisted his body and landed a kick on Garet's side.

CRACK!

The ear-wrenching shattering of bones reverberated as Garet's spine broke. His body bent to the side at an awkward angle.

But still, Ryu was not satisfied.

It was either Cecily's roaring scream to kill Garet or her agonizing howls of pain from the sudden loss of Dozla that Ryu seemed to be in a wild need of blood.

Ryu felt overwhelming emotions all at once. Cecily's pain was becoming his pain. It was probably due to the linking of their souls that he could feel the woman's agony clouding his mind as he turned completely wild and crazed.

Ryu appeared in front of Garet's body in mid-air and gripped Garet's neck.

Garet was barely holding to his life at this moment, barely managing a snort with great difficulty as his severed tongue and penis was still inside his mouth, drowning in blood. Garet wanted to spat and coughed it out, yet his jaw was locked, dislocated. He couldn't move it even if he wanted to.

Right at this moment, when everyone was looking at this savagery, Ryu raised his fingers, claws straight as he sliced downwards. It was so fast and clean that only after seconds did the blood spilled.

With one hand holding Garet's neck at the steady, Ryu's other hand peeled Garet's skin from his muscles.

Even if Garet wanted to scream from the pain, his mouth was locked. He could only rumble in his throat while tears welled from his eyes and poured on his cheek.

All the onlookers present couldn't help but shiver. Even the demon, Asad, who was used to torture and savagery, couldn't help the breakout of hives from his skin.

After a moment's more, Garet was on the brink of death, bathed in his blood under the afternoon light. His skin was peeled down to his waist, exposing raw tendrils of muscles and bones.

Just as death was to take Garet's life, Ryu stabbed his claws on his chest, clawing his raw flesh for his heart. Before his life was extinguished, Ryu squashed his heart, inflicting more pain before the saving grace of death finally took him.

Ryu threw Garet's body on the ground like a lump of rotten meat.

. . .

. . .

The silence continued.

It was Eoi who recovered first, and he went to Asad's side. By now, Asad's limbs have fully regenerated, but his mana was almost emptied.

"Let's go. Let's retreat while they're still distracted," Eoi whispered. His body was returning to its original form. His mana, too, was almost depleted.

Asad frowned and glared at Cecily and the others. "Retreat?! What're you talking about?! We just killed one of their strongest. A little bit more and––!"

"And we'll run out of mana while they still have four on their side. We have underestimated them. This situation is at our disadvantage. We have to retreat. Now!" Eoi gritted his teeth.

They were on their way back to their Lord to deliver fresh slaves. It was pure luck that they found out that the royal family of Byron was traveling far from the outskirt of the kingdom. It was such an excellent opportunity, but who would have thought that even the two of them couldn't beat a bunch of mortals.

"We've rushed in here without a proper plan, thinking that it will be enough for just us to defeat a royal guard, mage, and a demon." Eoi slightly shook his head. "Who would have thought that the spoiled princess could be this strong, not to mention that we lost that disgusting man."

Even though they were companions, it didn't mean that they were close friends.

The plan was to have Garet reached the carriage and kidnapped the Princess using a space crystal. This crystal could take two people to a specific place with just a single thought. It could take Garet and the Princess of Byron directly to their Lord.

However, things had gotten a lot complicated.

The space crystal was gifted by their Lord, which was already considered that their standing in the demon realm was high. They entrusted it to Garet since he was the best candidate to kidnapped the Princess, knowing he was the weakest of the three of them. While the strongest, Asad and Eoi, would hold the royal guard, the demon, and the mage.

This crystal could warp two people in any place in just a snap of a finger. By any place, it meant that practically anywhere in Septverden! Disregarding barriers and arrays put up by different realms!

But these space crystals were rare to non-existent and could only transport two beings. Thus, only a few high-ranking races had this.

They're not bought in any market and were only made by an alchemist. What's more, they were very difficult to make as the ingredients were scarce, and some would take centuries to procure. Not to mention the complex of steps to follow to create one.

Materials vary from realm to realm. To be transported to a specific realm, it must have a vital ingredient unique to that realm. Like the most challenging and most crucial ingredient for making a space crystal that could teleport to Heaven's realm were angels' wings.

For Demon and Beast Realm, it was their horns that were equivalent to their strength. Breaking these horns would reduce their powers.

For the Spirit realm, it's the sprites wings. For the Elven realm, it was their ears, and for the Mortal Realm, it was their blood and flesh.

After that, there were also a bunch of ingredients and strict steps to follow. Only a master Alchemist could make such a complicated and rare item. To top it all, the success rate was only four percent which depended on the Alchemist's luck.

But now that their plan had failed . . .

Asad closed his eyes and sighed. He faced Eoi. Then his dilated eyes took a peek at the wagon.

"What about the slaves?"

"They're just baggage. Leave them."

Asad released another sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "M'Lord isn't going to be happy about this."

Eoi frowned. "Still, would you rather die in here or redeem yourself in the future? As long as we live, we have plenty of chances."

Eoi's silvery eyes sized Ryu. Something about this halfbreed was bothering him, but then he shook his head and retreated at fast speed.

Asad huramp before he fled in a blur.

Agatha watched as the two men went away. She was about to chase after them when Murok stopped her.

"Leave them. We have more pressing matters."

Agatha didn't say anything. She watched as the older man and Cecily converged in the direction of the fallen corpse of Dozla.

Even though she didn't show it, Agatha rejoiced at the outcome. It didn't mean that she was a servant of a human she would develop compassion towards them. Quite the opposite. Ever since she was forced as a servant, her loathing and anger towards humans intensified. She couldn't wait for the humans to be eradicated in the face of Septverden.

But since her soul was linked with Murok, she couldn't openly disobey him nor say anything since any slight disobedience on her part, Murok would know.

"N-no . . . Dozla . . ."

Cecily's eyes welled in tears. Even though Dozla was just a royal guard, Dozla stuck to her since she was young.

Cecily didn't have many friends, and she was not exactly close to her siblings either. And since she was born from a concubine, her status in the royal family was not that high. But still, Dozla stuck to her when others scurried favors to her brother and sister.

He was the very first friend she had.

Flashes of memory came rushing in as Cecily remembered every one of them. Her younger years when Dozla was just a regular soldier, following her all around in the city. The time when Dozla was promoted to a rank of a personal guard and accompanied Cecily to train. He was always there whenever she was in trouble, be it inside the city, inside her home, or during her travels, he would always stick to her side.

And now . . . Dozla even accompanied her to the faraway south for a month, protecting and defending her all the way.

Cecily's tears came falling one after the other. There were denial and unwillingness inside her, but then –– it turned to hate and anger.

"YOU!"

Cecily roared and gripped her sword on the side. She stood to her feet, and in a matter of second, crossed the distance between her and Ryu.

Without any rhyme nor reason, Cecily swung her sword towards Ryu in a fury.

Ryu was utterly at a loss. He thought that Cecily would be happy for killing Garet the way she instructed.

But the sight of her, shrouded in thick rage, Ryu couldn't manage even to move the slightest. He was paralyzed in place, stunned and confused.

Before everyone could react, blood burst from Ryu's chest.