Chapter 536: Bloodlust
Alystren was frozen in the moment, his mind trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
He was so focused on Shin that he didn't even register Northern's movement. He never saw Northern moving, and until Northern spoke, he didn't even realize Northern was not there. And the ice spears? The boy would have gotten bombarded by them without even realizing they were coming!
And yet this boy that stood amidst them was one of the most fearful and prodigious masters in the Southern part of the Central Plains.
A master capable of cutting with just bloodlust. The boy kneeling right there was so known to be a weapon of death that the weapon, Dead Reaper, began to follow him before the government even put a bounty of three hundred million Orens on him.
Of course, how he is now serving the governor of Arcadia like a loyal dog is another story.
But Alystren knew this guy to be one of the, if not the fastest killer he has ever met, capable of killing with just bloodlust!
And yet... all this?
It was unbelievable!
'Ice Manipulation? That's an insane ability.'
Being able to control elemental ability was not rare, but a wide area manifestation without an already propagated force of a favorable condition was as important as a talent ability that caused one to control gravity.
They were the cheat talents, undeserving to exist. The fact that a drifter has them alone made them the diamond of the market of citadels.
Headmasters would sell their souls to obtain these diamonds even if it meant just displaying them on their shelf and never putting them to use.
At least, their talent class would be SSS!
The more Alystren seemed to dwell on the thought, the more he felt himself going crazy from all the jumbo that raided his mind.
He could finally now understand what Thalen meant when he said they could take care of themselves. And why he called in someone as important as him to escort them to Arcadia.
'That bastard... where did he get gems like this? I'm so jealous.'
Alystren clicked his tongue in silence before bringing around his attention.
The boy of the abode they had come to was still kneeling, gritting his teeth with his depraved eyes growing intensely madder.
It didn't seem like the difficulty to breathe and weak legs would break his spirit.
And that fathomed Northern.
'He's strong-willed, I give him that...' Northern glanced down from behind the boy where he stood.
He wondered a bit whether to increase the amount of the Void Aura he was releasing but immediately decided that it was unnecessary.
He believed he had passed the lesson he needed to pass to both of them.
Averting his gaze from the boy, he glanced at Ryan and released the tense atmosphere.
Suddenly, the life of the forest seemed to resume as it ought. The fresh winds seemed to sigh heavily as they could freely roam every fiber of space.
The boy, as Northern dropped the Void Aura, instantly shot away from him, appearing inside the gate in a barely perceptible flash.
Northern did not look fazed though; his eyes were still looking tired of some sort. Shin sheathed his blade.
"Are you not going to take it away?" Northern grimaced at Ryan.
Ryan was silent for a beat, then his voice came, unrushing.
"Until you get rid of every last drop of bloodlust in you... they are too sharp."
"Eh?"
It was the moment that Ryan spoke that Alystren and every other person realized that they had small cuts all over their body.
Alystren flared, staggering back in a short frenzy as he saw the thin lines over his neck and forearms.
"When did this happen? I didn't see anything?" he glanced angrily at the boy only to realize he happened to be in the same state that they were.
Glazed all over with small cuts of blood, and eyes widened in realization of it.
Northern scratched the back of his head in guilt, looking to one side.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it would leak out like that."
Usually, one needed to be a Master before they could wield bloodlust like a weapon.
One also needed to be a Master before they could use spiritual release which existed as a canopy of phantasmal attacks that conjured the essence of the soul into an intangible attack.
However, Northern, from mining the red crystals with bloodlust, had learned about handling bloodlust since he was a Walker.
Hence when he became a Master, the level to which the phantasmal attacks of bloodlust manifested was outrageous.
These people, despite their soul ranks, had all been cut without even realizing it.
Which meant it was possible for Northern to kill someone before the person realized he was dead. Which was the true meaning of a phantasmal attack that had been lost over time.
The only person, however, that was without a cut was Ryan.
The one Shin had noticed earlier was the one from the boy. There were several on the hand that had drawn his sword that even he did not know.
None of them except Ryan perceived the attack, and that was why he had instantly deployed those ice spears towards Northern as a countermeasure.
The poor boy did not know that they were not meant for him, but only directed at him because Northern was behind him.
Northern closed his eyes, breathed in and out for a couple of seconds and erasing every hint of bloodlust in him.
Ryan finally glanced at the ice spears and they all dissolved into cold vapors.
Alystren at this point did not know what to do anymore; his face looked like he had just by luck
defeated death, pale and sweaty all over.
He turned to the boy behind the gate, forcing out a smile but in his mind,
'This is because you decided to be stupid, you insane dead boy. Criminal bastard!'
"Please, can you tell the governor I am around with guests?"
The boy with his unwelcoming death glare moved closer to the gate, yanking it open with
frustration, his eyes gleaming at the three behind Alystren.
"Come in, the governor already knows you are around."
'Then why did you have to cause so much unnecessary trouble?! Why?!!' Alystren pressed
down his lips to stop himself from yelling.
He calmed his gaze and tried all possible best to look the part of a patient and enduring
visitor.
Not because he didn't want to stir any trouble with the boy, but because he didn't want to stir
any trouble in the governor's house.
And he really hoped Northern and Ryan also would not.
'I'll have to talk to them about it later.'
Breathing out tiredly, he led them into the gate, treading a straight path on the paved ground
in between the bamboo-like garden.