Chapter 56

"No luck here too," Hisashi said as he comes out of the ruins. It has been more than a month or two since he left the dungeon in Angdong. Since then, he has been through a dozen of ruins.

However, he has only seen a couple of useless things remaining and no sign or sightings of a devil that he needed. Given that, there's only quite a handful of towns remaining in the north with sightings of a ruin.

Just before he go, he stopped for a simple drink in a pub. As he enters, no one minded him aside from a few glances here and there. Just before he sat down, what he hears made his ears perk up.

"Have you heard about the serial killers in Angdong?" "Not really. Tell me."

"Apparently, there was a mass murder that happened in the town in just one night. Over 6 families are dead and they were all killed in their sleep including the children! The investigators then concluded that it must have been some sort of coordinated attack."

"Even children? Goddamn! What a lunatic!"

"Yeah! Some also rumored that the mastermind is an old man whose daughter was killed. So most likely, revenge."

"What a tragedy. But then… how did he convince other people to do the deed for him?"

"Who knows? I just heard about it. Luckily, the killer is only in Angdong."

After finally hearing the conversation, Hisashi snaps back after the server appears in front of him. He requests a bottle of sake before squeezing an apple into it and drinking it. He asks for another after finishing the first one before finally leaving the place at night to move into the next ruin.

Days later, he arrives in front of the entrance to the last ruin. He has decided that if this last one serves no use like the other ones, he'll finally move to the Han Country. Just as he was about to expand his suppressed Ki to avoid any danger before entering the ruins, Hisashi immediately rolls on the ground.

That was because he felt something about to attack him. Luckily, it didn't trigger a vision he hadn't seen in a long time. As he recovers and assesses the situation, another one attacks him from a tree.

But this time, instead of dodging, Hisashi pulls out his wooden sword and uses it to defend.

"This… These aren't humans." Hisashi said to himself before pushing the attacker away. Just then, he moves his hand to the back allowing him to catch an incoming arrow aimed exactly at his head.

With the first attacker attacking again, Hisashi pulls out his Wakizashi to defend and avoid any potential injury they can cause him. Using this single clashing moment, Hisashi applies lightning to his foot before suddenly flashing away.

Ready for another attack, he was intrigued when they didn't do so. An old man suddenly comes out behind a big stone.

"So you did explore every ruin in the country. I've been looking for you for months. Now that you're here, I won't let you get away!" The old man said as he takes his sword out of the sheathe.

"Should I ask you who you are?" Hisashi said as he readies himself for the fight.

"Don't bother. You don't know me, but I know you. Even if you want to know, I don't have the intention." The old man points his sword.

After the old man stopped talking, one of the three mysterious attackers initiates a move. Using a short sword, he immediately reaches Hisashi.

The latter dodges by moving his head sideways before using his feet to kick one of the attacker's legs. But he was surprised when it dodged. Now that he has a closer look at them, Hisashi sees their eyes to be of pure black eyeball. Around them is also a thin layer of mana. He also felt a slight sensation of mana inside the attacker.

While thinking so, Hisashi instinctively dodges an incoming attack with a spear before spinning and parrying an incoming arrow. The three continue their flawless coordinated attack while the old man stands there in silence.

Hisashi also kept on doing simple counter-attacks but to his surprise, none of them hit as if their reflexes weren't as bad as him.

"You seem to be an expert at using your Qi, despite your age." The old man said. Hisashi looks at him and saw how he wasn't looking directly at him.

"You know an awful lot about me," Hisashi replies.

"I was surprised that you didn't deny nor tried to feign ignorance." The other replies.

While dodging a couple more arrows, spear strikes, and short sword slashes, Hisashi grew bored. The old man has no intention of talking to him and the attackers move in the same manner. They all were masters of different weapons but they felt like the same person.

With this, he ought to initiate his move and he did. Even with the flawless combination of attacks, Hisashi managed to flash away and reached quite a distance that the two melee attackers has to turn around. However, by the time they did, Hisashi has already sent two wind arrows from his hand to the bowman and the old man.

As if snapping back to consciousness, the old man jolts and immediately dodges the speeding arrow made of mana. The bowman, however, was unlucky as he unnaturally froze in the tree before moving just as the arrow graze his head.

Hisashi saw it all happen while he backs away after a realization.

"What happened to Aime?" He asks. It was minuscule, but the old man's face gave a reaction.

"How did you know?" The old man asks.

"She told me about her doll-maker father. Although I didn't see her paint his face, there's no way you using dolls and him being a doll-maker is just an uncanny coincidence."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how you knew that something happened to my daughter."

"Then how did you know me? I never showed my face to other than Aime."

"You don't deserve to know."

"Do you really want to do this again?" Hisashi asks.

Without saying anything, the old man takes out his scroll and gathers his mana. Then, the bowman under the tree starts to heal. Then, seven more suddenly appear with several different weapons.

"DIE!" The old man shouts as he sheathes his sword and shows his hands covered with mana. With a move of a finger, some of the dolls quickly went on the move.