Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 77
Four streaks of light flashed through the skies. The land blurring beneath them like illusions or waves of heat on a hot day. In this cold environment though, there could be no fantasy to the eye, no tricks from the sun. They were simply fast, as fast as lightning.
Traveling at such speed, it wasn’t long before they all came to an abrupt stop over a frozen ever-expanding ocean.
“Master Dreunz, we’ve arrived.”
The old man peered far into the distance. His vision took him far and he could already see scattered destruction miles away. Glaciers that have been unnaturally melted and refroze. Underwater mountains that had been shattered and hundreds of thousands of scavenger-type aquatic life, devouring and picking at the millions of dead underwater beasts.
Taking in a deep breath, Dreunz could smell a particular type of energy. It had nearly faded by this point in time but to his old nose, it was clear as day.
“So it’s true. The Motozu of the north really has been slain. This amount of energy in the air is definitely Motozu’s, yet it’s so weak it’s almost none existent. Even if the Motozu was weakened and on the verge of death, it wouldn’t be his small. Motozu is no more.”
Hearing Dreunz declare this, the three other Ancient beasts grew excited. One of them spoke with eagerness.
“So the balance was broken. Once we find the ones who slew Motozu, we just need to finish them and the north then becomes ours. What are we waiting for?”
Dreunz denied it.
“It won’t be that simple. After we take care of the killers in the north, the south will most likely show themselves. We will have to split the northern region with them, otherwise, it will just be more fighting.”
The Ancient beast who had just been excited now had an ugly expression hearing about the south.
*Ptt*
Spitting at the ground, the Ancient beast was already showing his disgust.
“Those southern bastards. They received the same news of Motozu’s death just the same as we yet they haven’t sent anyone to help us. They want us to do all of the work and clean up the north and as soon as we’re done they’ll show their ugly face and stake claim to half of our hard work. The south is full of greedy lazy snakes.”
The other Ancient beast agreed but Dreunz thought differently.
“I wouldn’t say they are being lazy, rather would you lift a finger to brush some dust into a bin when you have maids and servants?”
“Master Dreunz, are you saying we are servants!?”
“No, but the south always turns their noses up and looks down on everyone. They most likely have sent a group just as we did but they will be prideful bastards. That’s why to peel away some of that pride, the east has only sent eight of us here.”
“Master Dreunz I don’t understand. How does sending eight of us mess with the souths pride?”
“Simple, we could have sent out more but with only eight of us eliminating the north and then taking it over, it shows our might. That’s one of the reasons I reluctantly agreed to my daughter’s wish and brought my grandson along with us. Word will get out that the east’s might is such that they easily took the north, it was so easy in fact that I Dreunz took my grandson Alodeus along as if it were a stroll. Word will also come out that the south sent a group as well but they were so slow that the east finished everything up before they could even cross the Feya continent. Their reputation will take a nice hit and some might even question if the reason they were so slow was due to them being cowards. That’s also one of the reasons why we rushed here in the first place. We’re making excellent time, I hope my grandson catches up soon, otherwise, this whole affair will be wrapped up before he can even make it here.”
The other Ancient beasts now understood and they became excited once more.
“Now first we will check Motozu’s lair and the surrounding area. Let us see just how this all played out.”
Dreunz and the others headed further north and as they flew they inspected everything from the skies to the deepest parts of the ocean floor. During this entire time, the four of them grew more and more suspicious. There were marks of battle all over the place but the way things were laid out versus how Kazuki described them, well things were clearly not adding up.
Coming to Motozu’s lair they dove deep into the ocean and entered the underwater volcano. They weren’t expecting to find any of Motozu’s treasures. They had taken too long to get there and it would only be natural for others to come along and loot it. No, what they were expecting was any trace of Motozu’s corps or its scales. Such a body was nearly impenetrable. They all knew this and some had even witnessed this in battle long ago.
The corpse though was nowhere to be found. They found no traces of it within hundreds of miles in the oven and no traces in the lair itself. To destroy Motozu’s body was not on the table at all, so where had it gone. Not only that, there were no scales. They knew just how much Motozu shed those things and were expecting to see at least a mountain of them piled high. Again though there was no trace.
“Master Dreunz, something is off. For there to be not even a single scale. We beasts have no use for another’s scales. Sure they are incredibly tough and can reflect power but our pride would never allow us to use a piece of another creature as a weapon or tool, so who could have come here and removed them?”
Dreunz shook his head.
“This doesn’t make sense. The magic in the air is flowing unnaturally. Not only in this place but the entire surroundings. There were millions of dead animals in the surrounding waters for hundreds of miles. It’s as if a core was detonated but I can’t feel anything too pure anywhere near us. Missing Beast cores are valuable so it’s not surprising that those are nowhere to be seen but for there to not be a single Ancient beast corpse, this…this is odd.”
“Master, this is all opposite of what that weak human told us. He lied. He lied straight to our faces. Alodeus is with him as well, the young master is in danger!”
Dreunz sighed.
*Haa*
“Your concern is unfounded. Yes, that human lied to us. He clearly knows something but my grandson faces no danger in that human’s presence. Have you all forgotten, after me, Alodeus is stronger than all of you. Even if there were 100 of that human, my grandson would slaughter them all with ease. Very soon my grandson will return with that human in tow. I will naturally make him spill his guts then but before that, shall we find out what really took place here.”
A fingernail on Dreunz left ring finger began to glow. With it, a small object appeared in his hand.
When the other Ancient beast saw it, they showed great interest as well as admiration for Dreunz.
“Master you’re going to use your Gosechu box to see what really transpired?”
Dreunz gave a nod.
“This box is another reason why I was requested to come here and another reason why we had to hurry. I’m sure you’ve all heard about this item. With my current powers, we can only see so far back. Everyone be silent now while I concentrate.”
The three Ancient beasts gathered around Dreunz, their attention fully on the golden box in his hand. The old man slowly closed his eyes for a moment. Taking a deep breath in and out, Dreunz gathered power from his core.
His eyes suddenly snapped open. His left eye was filled with a bright golden white, while his right was a hazy mixture of both purple and grey. His power poured into the golden box in his hand and the inscriptions on it lit up. Grey and purple energy surrounded the box and with it, the box like a rubiks cube had pieces separate on it, rotate and move around its center. As the pieces around it rotated continuously, golden-white light shot out from the top of it and spread out for several miles.
In this light, the image of the surrounding area appeared but the image was reversed. After a moment, the images started to move until it became a holographic video. In this video, time moved backward and everything in it was moving in reverse.
The sun sank and the moon took its place and this repeated several times until three figures appeared in the video inside Motozu’s lair. Very quickly Dreunz and the other Ancient beast saw exactly what took place one image at a time.
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