Journey

— — —

Kael stood before the large gate of the Amazon Kingdom.

"Are you sure you don't want a horse? Your journey would be smooth and easier for you with it."

"I don't need a horse. Were you able to get me what I requested for." Kael said, staring at the Queen and the important figures before him.

Up till now, the news of the princess's abduction had remained in the palace with the public not the slightest aware of the tension in the palace.

Getting to his room after seeing the queen, Kael had sent the maid some list of items he needed for his journey. Already deciding to make use of his teleportation skill in travelling to further hone his skill, he didn't require a horse any longer.

Nodding her head, Master Tidea stepped forward, carefully passing an emerald ring with dark stripes to him.

"Just as you requested, a space ring with the other stuff requested is stored in it."

"Good," Kael muttered, placing the ring on his pinky finger. "I'll be leaving then." Staring at the Queen one last time, he teleported away, appearing thousands of meetings away from his position.

"I hope they placed the map along with the other stuff." Accessing the space ring, he brought out an old scroll filled with markings.

'With my increased range of my Blink skill, I'll be able to cover the journey in two or maybe three days. But... I need to increase my strength.'

'This is going to be a fun journey,' he thought, staring at a mark in the map with red lines and a little note underneath it. 'Avoid it at all cost'

"Let's see what's so special about that place."

...

A day had passed since Kael began his journey.

"This is it," Kael muttered, staring at the entrance of a large forest covered in fog. "It can't be that bad, right?" Stepping forward, he finally entered the forest, following the pathway.

Turning back, he noticed the pathway behind had disappeared with trees taking its place.

"Huh? I'm I supposed to be scared or what?" Kael thought with a wry smile. Stopping in his tracks, he teleported just a few metres away from his previous spot.

The ground exploded with sharp thorny vines erupting out. Failing to capture their target, they streaked toward his direction.

Kael, watching the vines heading towards him, casually swung his hand forward. The vines fell to the ground separating into two parts, their form dissolving into dust.

Before entering the forest, Kael made sure to activate both his void eyes and void sense skill. Confidence without smartness is foolishness, after all. That was his thought.

"You're not the only ones, right?" He said loudly, leaping high. The ground erupted, this time the whole area covered with the thorny vines, which streaked upwards.

"It's time to test out that new ability." He said with a wide grin. Hovering mid-air, he stretched out his palms towards the incoming horde of vines.

"Taste my flames!" With the skill activated, a large stream of dark flames erupted from his palms.

The vines were engulfed in flames rapidly burning into crisp. He calmly landed on the scorched earth staring around. "Dark flames, huh?" He muttered before continuing in his tracks.

In the next ten minutes, he didn't encounter any obstacles, making it easier for him to head deeper into the forest. During his journey, he noticed the gloomy appearance of the forest. The forest was filled with mostly large trees with dying leaves or some without even leaves.

The flowers were a multitude of dark and white roses. The white ones appeared to have been dyed red by a liquid, probably blood, causing Kael to be more alert.

Although not encountering any significant threat, he was certain there was a reason while the forest was marked off as a dangerous region.

"Finally, something worthy to play with." Kael muttered with a smile. Blinking forward, he appeared at the top of a large branch, right before a large red furred monkey with red eyes.

"And what do we have here," Kael muttered, easily slapping away the monster claws and then gripping its neck tightly.

SHRIEEEK!

The monkey struggled violently in freeing himself but was unable to break free from Kael's hard grip.

Sigh~

"Such a troublesome monkey." Swinging his other hand, the monkey shrieked loudly, with blood splashing across the branch. Its hands floated for a brief moment before obeying gravity, crashing down to the ground.

"See… that's alright now," Kael muttered with a smile. "Go ahead, call your friends."

As if understanding his words, the monkey let out a loud squeal which shook the trees. Kael was a bit dumbfounded and was forced to cover his ears.

"That's it," he muttered, sensing a large number of figures heading towards their direction. He waited calmly with a strange glint in his eyes. The monkeys finally arrived before their location, surrounding him.

"That will be the leader," he thought, staring at the largest monkey of the lot. About six metres in height with stripes of golden and red fur.

"Let him go, human!"

"Oh, an intelligent one." Kael muttered with a smile. The words had echoed in his head, and he could sense the deep contempt in them.

"Let him go? Your kind started it. If only it allowed me to go my way, he wouldn't have been in this pain." Kael said loudly, increasing his grip.

CRAACK!

The sound of bones breaking echoed in the area, causing the rest of the monkeys to scream loudly in anger.

[You've defeated a Rank F beast]

[+250 exp]

[Exp: 10,050/16,000]

The golden furred monkey roared loudly, causing the rest to charge at Kael. Vines erupted from the ground, this time around an extremely large amount due to the numbers of monkeys present.

The monkeys were able to utilise the vines effectively in capturing their prey. The vines from before were from the lone monkey which Kael had killed.

"Let's see, I need to watch out for my energy pool." Slamming his legs to the ground, a pulse of energy surged forward, deflecting the vines from his direction. "Let's make this quick."

He began swinging his hands rapidly towards the charging monkeys. The screams of the monkeys soon began to fill the area as their limbs and other parts of their body fell off.

[You've defeated a Rank F beast]

[You've defeated a Rank F beast]

You've defeated a Rank F beast]

[You've defeated a Rank F beast] ...

The bodies of the monkeys kept on falling while their leader watched from afar.

Leaping off one of the branches, Kael conjured a fireball, which he hurled at the area densely packed with monkeys.

BOOOM!

The smell of burnt bodies filled the area with Kael nowhere to be found. The system notifications kept on popping as he continued his assault. The once large packs of monkeys had been reduced to a few hundred who struggled desperately in finding their opponent.

SPLATTT!

The head of a monkey flew across the air before landing on the ground with a thud. A shadow was seen for a split second before disappearing. Another head was soon detached from its body, with the monkey falling off the branch.

[You've defeated a Rank F beast]

Kael form streaked through the area, his scythe claiming the lives of the remaining monkeys in one slash. Kael could feel the scythe humming with each kill and couldn't help but wonder what was happening.

The golden furred monkey, unable to take it anymore, let out a fierce roar finally deciding to join the battle.