Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 72
(They’re watching me! What direction! From where!?)
Zetrazz went silent.
(ZETRAZZ!)
…
The hairs on the back of Kazuki’s neck stood up as he suddenly felt several waves of aura come into contact with his own aura. He turned to Danny. He wanted to shout a warning but then he shook that thought away. Very calmly and without notice from these outside threats, Kazuki spoke in something that was even less than a whisper. From this close Danny could hear it but the others could not.
“Danny, enemies are
“I know, their aura has swept over me but I’ve stopped my core. They don’t know I exist. Let’s keep it that way for now and see what happens.”
Danny was already planning ahead.
The moment he said that the silver glow in his eyes dimmed before fading completely and he went still.
Kazuki felt the probing aura fall over him and he quickly and quietly lowered Sid who was a distance away, to the ground.
He didn’t wish to draw any attention to Sid. Kazuki waited for a moment to see if these aura’s would pass but they remained on him and he could feel energy fluctuating in the sky. This energy grew as it came closer and closer. Several streaks of light rushed over before landing and surrounding Kazuki on all sides.
Eight individuals, all in human form, but it was obvious that they were anything but. Most of them were over 9 feet tall and each one radiated with magical energy. This energy leaking from them showed Kazuki right away that each of them was at least as strong as Motozu.
All of them wore luxurious clothes and robes. They had a completely different aesthetic to the Ancient beasts who occupied the north who could care less about wearing something while in human form.
Kazuki put on a fake smile and bowed slightly.
“Seniors, for you all to surround me like this, may I ask what I have done to deserve such a greeting. As far as I can tell, this is our first meeting, correct?”
The smallest person there appeared to be a youthful boy. This boy was only around 5 feet tall and had childish looks with short blonde hair. He smiled at Kazuki before turning to a tall slender old looking man with grey hair and a long grey beard.
“Grandpa, this human is strong, a weakling compared to me but strong by human standards, I can tell. Is he the one we’re looking for?”
The old man shook his head.
“Doubtful. Sense his core my boy, he isn’t even at the 6th stage yet. There’s no way this human could have killed Motozu of the north.”
These words from the old man were like thunder in Kazuki’s ear. He had already guessed who these Ancient beast were the moment Zetrazz mentioned there were eyes on him. Hearing the old man confirm it though was still shocking.
(Tozu was right, they really did come. Isn’t this a little too fast though? There are eight of them and they all have similar strength to Motozu. I did defeat Motozu but It wouldn’t have been possible without the god metal armor and the rods that Motozu pierced itself with. I’ve grown stronger since then but it would still be difficult to defeat them even with the help of Danny, Tozu, and the others. I can’t simply make them all pierce themselves with god metal like Motozu. To fight them all now would be suicide.)
Kazuki lowered his head and asked calmly.
“Sir, is there a reason why you all have come to me?”
When he said this, Kazuki forced sweat out from his pores and made it run down his face and he also drew blood away from his head making his appearance pale as if he were truly frightened. He made his whole body tremble and he didn’t look any of these Ancient beasts in the eye, avoiding their gazes like a scared sheep.
His performance was good because the youthful boy chuckled.
“Grandpa, this human thinks we’re gonna eat it. Look how scared it is.”
The slender old man called for his grandson.
“You’re being rude, step away from the human. I have words for him.”
“Grandpa I wasn’t I just wanted to…”
The old man glared at his grandson and the boy stopped mid-sentence and stepped back.
The old man put a hand on Kazuki’s shoulder.
“Young man, you have nothing to fear from us. We were passing by when we felt a fair amount of magic in the environment.”
The old man’s words were calm on the outside but the moment he touched Kazuki’s shoulder, Kazuki could feel the old man’s aura try and drill into his very soul. Kazuki’s own aura put up a resistance and blocked the old man out, causing the old man to raise a brow.
“It seems I was rude young man. Forgive my attitude just now.”
Kazuki shook his head.
“You must have a reason.”
Kazuki’s tone for a split second didn’t come off as scared but confident, causing the old man to chuckle slightly.
*Hoho*
“You look afraid but your eyes give you away. I’ll cut the games short and simply be upfront, it’s much quicker this way. There aren’t too many humans that reach the 5th stage you are a rarity. That being a fact it’s not difficult to say that you are most probably one of the strongest if not the strongest human in this territory, therefore you should know or at least be aware of some movements as of late. After all, we strong know when something’s happened in our own backyard, right?”
Kazuki gave a nod.
“What is it you want to know? I’ll cooperate as best I can.”
“Of course you will, otherwise.”
The old man looked at the Ancient beasts surrounding Kazuki, no other words had to be mentioned with this look. Kazuki understood right away that if he didn’t cooperate, then they would not be kind.
“Sir there’s no need for that. Just ask me whatever you will, I’ll speak to the best of my knowledge.”
“Good, even though your human, you understand the food chain. I and my friends have learned of a large battle in the Asadiah ocean to the north. It seems some Ancient beasts like myself may have had some dispute with one another. Do you happen to know anything about that?”
“Yes.”
The young boy perked up.
“Grandpa! ask him what happened! hurry hurry!”
The old man looked back at his grandson, slightly annoyed.
“Boy, leave my work to me, go buzz off for now before you start to irritate me.”
The youthful boy furrowed his brows until he looked over Kazuki’s shoulder and saw Danny’s large metal figure. The boy took a step forward and disappeared from sight before reappearing in front of Danny. He excitedly knocked on it a few times.
*Clink clank clank*
“Grandpa! Can I play with this thing!?”
The old man rolled his eyes in annoyance before looking at the strange metal doll.
“Boy, that doesn’t belong to you. What if you were to break it!?”
The boy started to pout and Kazuki could feel his aura building as if he were about to try and destroy Danny. Kazuki quickly chimed in.
“It’s fine. That is merely a training dummy. The boy can hit it all he wants as long as he doesn’t use aura on it it will be fine. My puppet is quite sturdy and durable.”
“Aura?”
Kazuki quickly explained.
“It is highly sensitive to such things, if you use aura on it, it could easily fall apart.”
The old man and the other Ancient beats gave the golem a strange look.
“What an odd mechanism. What type of training is this useful for exactly…No, never mind. Grandson, you can play with it but still, be careful and don’t use any aura on it.”
The young boy jumped up and down with excitement before pulling his hand by his waist and punching out. The air tore and the young boy struck Danny directly in the chest.
*BANG!*
A loud metallic ring sounded out but Danny didn’t budge even an inch. At the same time though Kazuki was surprised to see that the boy didn’t shatter his fist on Danny’s hard shell. Instead, the boy shook his hand out.
“Wow grandpa, this thing is really tough, my hand almost hurts and it didn’t even move, incredible!”
The grandpa took note.
“Hmm, it is quite tough to take a blow from my grandson. What type of material is this thing made…No back to the topic at hand. Young man, tell me about the happenings in the frozen north ocean.”
“Well, I don’t know too much since I myself arrived late but this is what I found.”
Kazuki came up with a story right then and there. He explained how he had felt the aftershocks from the battle and headed over right away. By the time he got there, all of the beasts were fighting the Motozu for some reason and killed it. Afterward, they began fighting among themselves. Several of them were injured but none of them died, only the Motozu.
This explanation left the old man and the other Ancient beast stunned.
“This makes no sense. Why would they all just fight over nothing?”
Kazuki shrugged.
“The north has never been united. There was always tension of some sort. They must have all finally snapped.”
Kazuki could feel the dark energy in his compass start to swirl as Zetrazz listened to all of these lies spill from Kazuki’s mouth. Kazuki wondered if Zetrazz would try and whisper to this Ancient beast, uncovering all of his lies just so he could see more entertainment.
Surprisingly though, Zetrazz didn’t make a peep.
The old man could feel strange energy coming from Kazuki’s compass around his neck but that was about it. He looked at it for a moment before turning his attention back to Kazuki.
“If what you say is true, it should be easy to prove. Alright, young man, you’ll come with us and we’ll verify your story. If it’s true I’ll let you go, if not, well, one less strong human in this world is fine by me.”
Kazuki’s heart sank. He wasn’t 100% sure this Ancient beast would believe him but he figured they would find out after they were long gone. Now though they were going to bring him along. Of course, his lies would be found out. At that time, he would be alone with all of this Ancient beast and have no explanation.
“There’s really no reason for me to go is there? Can’t you just see for yourself, why drag me all the way to the frozen north. Besides I have my own things I need to do. My wife and kids would be too worried without me coming home tonight.”
“No, you will be coming with us there’s no other option. I need to know you were speaking the truth, besides, I’m sure your wife and kids can go a day without you. Even if your slow one of my comrades can simply carry you. From here to the Asadiah ocean will take less than an hour there and back. If you were truly honest you will have no objection. Now come with us or are you hiding something, maybe you lied about what really happened?”
Power started to rise from all of the Ancient beasts as they glared at Kazuki.
(Damn, do I really have to go all out right here!?)
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