Ruins

*Kirp*

A small bird with colorful wings flew around a popular ancient dungeon. The dungeon was once home to the Old Kingdom, the Old Kingdom got wiped out by one person.

The man that wiped out the Old Kingdom was named Slaughter Of The Old Kingdom. Legend has it that the man came from another world and was thousands of folds stronger than the knights.

The history books are all different because most of the citizens of the Old Kingdom shortly died after the event that ruined their kingdom. Some of the history books say the man was betrayed by the kingdom, while others say he came from outer space and wreaked havoc to the kingdom overnight.

***

"Alright! Everyone as we all know we are going to enter the ruins of the Old Kingdom."

Twenty people in all different kinds of armor nodded their heads. Most of the twenty people had swords on their waists, but some had staffs and bows.

"Yes, Yes. We understand where we are going. You don't have to keep warning us about the ruins."

A man, the shortest out of the group spoke in a sarcastic tone. The man had a sword on his waist that was nearly the size of his body.

"Shou, I don't want to hear it from a midget like you."

A man, average height with gray colored armor spoke back to Shou. The man was the leader of the group, Shou Len. Shou Len was the leader of the twenty or so men.

Shou Len was a famous ruins explorer, the group went to all of the newly discovered ruins and cleared them out before anyone else. The group was known throughout the region as thieves. Though, the group itself thought of themselves as businessmen.

"Everyone! Time to get going."

Everyone nodded and grabbed their things and headed into the entrance of the city. The capital outer walls in the Old Kingdom. Inside hundreds of tons of stone lay on the ground. Dust filled the faces of the group.

It was pitch black in the ruin, but one of the mages used light magic. The light magic was bright enough for everyone in the group to see ten meters in front of themselves.

"Great Job, Lock."

The magic in the back nodded slightly and ran forward to rejoin the group.

The group walked for multiple hours before they all stopped in an open area. The area was quite strange, the grass was the only thing there. Many people in the group were confused about how grass survived so long without water or sunlight.

Though their concerns quickly faded as everyone was tired and was happy to find a spot that was clear of any dust or insects. One by one the men in the group dropped down to the ground.

Many of the group instantly fell asleep, leaning against the outer wall of the area. While others brought out snacks from their bags and began to eat.

The leader of the group Shou Len quickly stood by the outer wall looking in. He was quite intrigued by the sight of the grass. Shou Len wasn't surprised by the grass itself, but how it was surviving down in a ruin for so long.

After thinking for multiple minutes, Shou Len came to the conclusion that the grass was special. He thought the grass had some type of magic connect to it.

Shou Len turned around and called over two others to follow him to the center of the grass. They nodded and put away their food and proceeded to get up and follow Shou Len.

Slowly, the men walked towards the center of the grass. When they made contact with the grass their bodies became numb. All three of the men fell to the ground, unable to move their bodies.

"Shou Len!"

One of the members of the group was watching the three men walk to the grass. When he saw them fall to the ground he shouted with alarm. The others in the group turned to look at Shou Len.

When they saw he was on the ground not moving they all got up and rushed over to him. Shou Len along with the other two men were face planted onto the grass.

"What do we do?"

"Grab them of course!"

The man moved forward touching the grass, instantly just like the others fell into the grass.

The group all gasp when they saw the man hit the grass. They now knew that they weren't dealing with normal grass. The herbalist of the group walked forward and bent down to look at the grass.

When the man bent down, a small sparkle came off the grass. The man quickly jumped back from the grass. The rest of the group took that has a warning and also jumped back from the grass.

"What is it, doc?"

"We… We need to get away from the grass."

The man quickly ran away from the grass, making his way back to the outer part of the wall.

Once the rest of the group reached the outer wall, they all had their eyes on the herbalist.

"The grass that the leader stepped on his called, Devil's Grass."

'Devil's Grass?'

Everyone in the group looked around with confusion on their faces. No one had ever heard of something called Devil's grass.

The herbalist took note to everyone's confusion and started to explain what the grass was.

"Devil's Grass is a very rare type of magical plant. Devil's Grass is used in very strong poisons and will completely paralyze someone with continuous contact. Devil's Grass can only be found in ruins with a strong amount of mana fueling their growth. Usually, Devil's Grass is found in a small batch."

The herbalist turned to look at the field of grass.

"Meaning, that this ruin has a huge amount of mana that is fueling the Devil's Grass."

Everyone was starting to understand what the man was talking about. The amount of grass that was in the area was huge, ten acres of land of pure Devil's Grass.

"Doc, is this Devil's Grass worth a lot?"

A slender man in iron armor spoke up with a greedy voice.

"Yes, but it's almost impossible to collect the Devil's Grass. And even if you collect it, since you cut off the mana flow. The Devil's Grass will die in three days without being injected with strong mana."

"Then… How are we going to save Shou Len?"

The herbalist looked at the rest of the group with a small smile on his face.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work."

Many of the members in the group jumped at the herbalist's words.

"How?"

"Well, we need to somehow move the leader without touching him while he's in contact with the Devil's Grass."

The excitement of the group quickly died after hearing what they had to do to save them.

*Boom!*

A large explosion shook the whole ruins. The group quickly pulled out their weapons and got into a circle formation. After one hour the finally stopped holding their weapons.

"What was that?"

"I don't know..."

"Listen, we can't save the leader… None of us have the ability to cast flying magic."

"Well! Actually, do you guys remember Master Gui learned flying magic all of his life? I'm sure if we told him the situation we would be able to get him to save Shou Len."

"Agreed!"

Five members of the group were left behind to protect the Shou Len and the others while they made the trip back to get Master Gui.

On their way out they started to notice several odd things. The walls of the ruins looked like they were much closer compared to when they first entered the ruin.

After walking for a couple of hours they came to a large stone wall. The group knew this was the entrance of the ruins because of the stone they saw when they entered.

"This wasn't here before..."

"Yea… How did this get here?"

The group looked at one another before bringing out their weapons.

"Let's just blow it up."

The group smiled and began to cast spells at the wall. Several minutes of pure spells hit the wall but nothing happened. Not even a small scratch appeared on the wall.

Being exhausted the group fell to the ground.

*Boom!*

Another large explosion sounded very close to them. Even though they were quite weak from using all of their spells on the wall, they were still able to get up.

A large wall fell behind them, several hundred meters away.

"How!"

A large man in the group tried to stand up but felt an incredibly strong force push him down. The rest of the group also felt the force and their faces hit the dirt.

"Ah… Entering my domain without permission..."

The pressure on the group lightened enough to the point the group was able to see a figure walking towards them. The man had black hair and a slick black suit covering his body.

"W-Who are y-you!"

One of the group members tried to speak through all of the pressure he was under.

The man stopped a couple of meters away from the group. The man was now in full view of the group. The man had black eyes along with two small daggers on the sides of his waists.

The man had a dark smile on his face as he looked at the group.

"Ah… Well, I wouldn't have had to do this… But you guys wanted to steal my Devil's Grass."

Everyone in the group started to speak up trying to make excuses about the Devil's Grass.

"Shut Up!"

The man shouted forcing the group to close their mouths.

'Damn! Just who is this guy!'

"Now, Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. You guys want to steal my Devil's Grass. Now, I just can't let that happen. I understand, that it is quite useful to you. Doesn't mean I'm going to just give it out for free."

The man laughed a couple of times before drawing out his daggers. The man brought the daggers to his mouth before licking them.

Many members of the group knew that they were about to die and gave up. Right, when they gave up the man shot forwards towards them. Slashing his daggers in the air, killing everyone in mere seconds.

Fresh blood oozed into the ground. The man in the black suit stood up and looked up into the darkness. The man in the suit was none other than Zuhn Sheng.