"It looked like him." The wounded soldier’s trembling finger was pointed at Lian.
His voice was weak, but those few words were enough to make the entire tribe fall into silence.
The screams stopped for a moment.
The sound of the alarm, which was still coming from above the towers, seemed farther away.
The gazes separated from Averian’s bloody body and fixed on Lian one after another.
Some of the Lacerians unconsciously stepped back.
A few guards tightened their hands around their spears.
The looks that until last night were mixed with fear and curiosity had now taken on a different color.
Doubt, terror, and suspicion that had not yet dared to turn into accusation.
For them, Lian was an Otherworldly, the same legendary creature who had saved the leader’s children.
But now, a soldier who had returned from the Silvervein Basin was claiming that a creature resembling him had reduced Averian to this state.
The line between savior and disaster had suddenly become thinner in the minds of the tribe’s people.
However, at that moment, there was no time left for the people to be afraid of Lian.
Nemi was the first to move.
She passed through the crowd and reached the wounded riding beast.
A few steps away from her father, she suddenly stopped, her eyes fixed on Averian’s two arms... or more precisely, on the empty space where they used to be.
Two thick and bloody pieces of cloth were tied around the upper arms.
The ends of the wounds had been burned with fire or mana, but blood was still seeping from under the cloth and dripping onto the riding beast’s side.
For a few seconds, Nemi could not even cry.
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
Her eyes trembled, her breathing became short, as if her mind refused to accept the image she was seeing, and then her voice broke.
"Father..."
Averian showed no reaction.
His head had fallen to one side, and his face was a color between gray and dead green.
Nemi moved forward and placed her hand on his face.
"Father?" This time her voice was louder.
But again, no answer came.
The tears suddenly poured from her eyes.
"Father, wake up..." She called him again.
And again.
But Averian only took weak and broken breaths.
Sera was standing a few steps back, at first she tried to control herself.
She kept her shoulders straight, clenched her jaw, and looked at the healers, but when the cloth on the right side became completely soaked with blood, the wall of her calm broke.
A tear ran down from the corner of her eye, she turned back to the healers and almost shouted.
"Why are you still standing there? Treat him!"
One of the healers came forward. "We are trying, but—"
"Then faster!" Sera cut him off.
Her voice was not from anger, but from a terror that had found no other way to come out.
At that same time, a woman rushed forward from the crowd.
The mother of Ravian, Sera, and Nemi, the wife of Averian.
At first, she looked at the man on the beast for a few moments.
Not from distance, not from not recognizing him, but as if her mind refused to accept that this armless and bloody body was the same husband who had left the tribe healthy that morning.
Then her face crumbled, a muffled scream came from her throat, and she fell next to the beast and took her husband’s face between her two hands.
"Averian..."
She said his name once, then again with a more trembling voice.
"Averian, open your eyes."
She pressed her forehead to his, tears flowing on her facial scales.
The night before, she had held the children she thought were dead in her arms again.
Now, only a few hours later, she might lose her husband.
Around them, the tribe’s panic spread.
A few children started crying upon seeing the blood, mothers took them away from the field.
The guards who considered Averian invincible were looking at their leader in disbelief.
A few warriors struck the ends of their spears on the ground in anger.
In a corner, two tribe elders spoke quietly and quickly.
Their words were not clear, but words like "succession," "Varkesh," and "gate defense" could be heard.
"If the leader survives, what happens?" one of the people asked with a trembling voice.
Another man did not answer, because he had no answer.
Averian was not just the chief of the Lacerians, he was the balance between the elders, commanders, and families of the tribe.
He was the one who stopped small conflicts before they turned into war, the one who managed hunting routes, defense, and water distribution.
Seeing him in that state was like the tribe’s main wall breaking.
Lian was standing calmly in the middle of that chaos, not because he was insensitive, but because instead of sinking into panic, his mind immediately started analyzing.
His gaze fixed on Averian’s wounds, two cuts, almost level and completely smooth.
The limbs had been severed with something very sharp, a high-quality weapon, or a skill that ignored physical resistance.
Based on what the soldiers had said, the person who did this looked like him, so it was clear that an awakened one was involved.
The question was obvious, which Awakened could do such a thing?
The answer was more unpleasant than what the tribe’s people imagined.
Many people.
A large number of Awakened ones had entered this world, among them probably dozens or maybe more had such power.
Although the tribe leader is powerful, his raw power is equal to a level 27-28 awakened one, but that is only raw power.
He has no skills like awakened ones, he has no class or talents, and he also does not have powerful high-rank armor and weapons.
Against awakened ones, raw power alone cannot win.
However, something about the cuts was familiar, too clean, too precise.
The attacker had not tried to kill Averian.
If his goal was death, he could have targeted his neck or heart, but instead, he had severed both hands with two movements.
And besides, even among all the awakened ones who entered the Special Area, there are very, very few who could easily and decisively defeat this old man.
Even the other awakened ones, with all their advantages, would still have a hard fight, after all, this old man’s raw power can still match a level 27-28.
A name formed in Lian’s mind, but he was not sure yet, but his guess was serious from that moment, and there was only one way to find out.
At the same time, the healers lowered Averian from the beast and placed him on a wooden stretcher.
Ravian was still standing motionless, neither crying nor shouting, only looking at the blood on the ground.
His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails had cut into his palms.
Drops of blood were falling from between his fingers, his breathing became faster every moment, his silence was more terrifying than Nemi’s crying and Sera’s screaming.
Suddenly, he bent down, picked up the spear that had fallen on the ground, and without saying a word, turned and ran toward the gate.
Sera immediately understood. "Ravian!"
He did not stop, he pushed through the crowd and crossed the tribe’s main path at full speed.
Nemi looked at Lian with wet eyes. "He wants to go there..."
Sera grabbed Lian’s arm, her fingers trembling from the intensity of her anxiety.
"Please, stop him." Her gaze was on the gate. "With this state, he’ll get himself killed."
Lian looked at Ravian’s path for a moment, then nodded. "Stay here."
He moved, and a few seconds later, he passed through the gate.
Ravian was running among the massive roots, every step hitting the ground with anger, pushing aside the moss branches and moving forward without regard for the uneven paths.
He knew the direction to the Silvervein Basin, he intended to go there alone.
Alone.
Without a map.
Without enough force.
And without knowing exactly who or what had defeated his father.
Lian easily caught up to him, passed him, and stopped a few dozen meters ahead.
When Ravian rounded the root bend, he almost collided with him, he stopped with difficulty, his breathing heavy.
"Move aside."
Lian did not move.
Ravian raised his spear, his hands were trembling, not from fear, but from anger and the pressure of emotions he could no longer control.
"I said move aside!"
"Where are you going?" Lian did not even take a defensive stance.
"You know where!"
"And when you get there, what will you do?"
"I’ll kill whoever did this!" Ravian said with a loud voice.
"Alone?" Lian asked.
That one word was enough to explode Ravian’s anger, he threw the spear toward Lian’s chest.
The strike was fast, for Ravian’s level, even precise, but Lian only turned his wrist.
Two of his fingers landed on the blade and deflected its path by a few centimeters, the spear passed by his shoulder.
Ravian struck a second time without stopping, Lian stepped aside.
A third strike.
Deflected.
A fourth.
Evaded.
The more Ravian attacked, the more disorderly his movements became, it was no longer practice or technique, only a desperate attempt to get through.
Lian finally grabbed the spear’s shaft, with a simple pull, he took the weapon from Ravian’s hand and threw it a few meters away.
And that crazy boy punched his chest, the strike had no effect.
A second punch.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
Lian allowed Ravian to hit with all his might.
On his chest, shoulder, arm, but the power gap was so great that Lian did not even step back, it was as if a breeze was caressing his skin.
That is how ineffective those strikes were.
Upon seeing the painful expression on that boy’s face, he sighed, if these childish blows could calm him down a little, then why not?