Chapter 230: Cowering
Zarek stood there in silence, looking at the reaper that was easily half a kilometer from him. Whatever it was looked like it had stepped out from the depths of hell moments ago.
A scythe, a weapon that Zarek rarely saw used, curved like a crescent moon to its back. Covered in black robes that fluttered with countless holes, from time to time it would reveal the rotting grey flesh beneath.
By now, Zarek might have usually busted out a few jokes. But right now, he was just staring, the lance resting on his shoulder.
Then he blinked, and the figure was gone.
Zarek’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t feel any danger—the man was just gone.
By now, he was absolutely certain that it wasn’t a Turned. Was there some odd Race here that looked like actual zombies? But Zarek couldn’t remember having spotted something like that in the hall. Unless... it was a necromancer?
Necromancers were also rare, and often not very effective. The far superior forms of them were Charisma Types capable of controlling living beings.
’I see... it was a summon...’
Zarek realized now that that hadn’t been a Race at all. Or, rather, not a Race that existed in that form. Instead, it was a scout.
It seemed that nearby, there was a necromancer of sorts that was controlling their summons to scope out a large region.
That was troublesome, because they also seemed to have a long-distance retrieval ability. And if it worked at such a long distance, they almost certainly had the ability to use their summons as an extension of their own senses as well.
This basically meant that Zarek was dealing with someone who could monitor him at all times, and he had no easy way of stopping them from doing so.
’This should be Urouge...’
Zarek hadn’t been foolish enough to kill Thalion before learning all he could about the Seven Demons. Urouge was one of them.
Thalion didn’t seem to have much information about their abilities, but what he did know was that Urouge was a very powerful Charisma Type. It was said that he had to wear various treasures to suppress his Charisma so that those around him didn’t fall into a lull.
It seemed that he was using those abilities to tap into death as well.
’Troublesome.’
This was the only word Zarek deemed to give to the situation. He didn’t expect to be found so quickly, but with Urouge’s abilities, it was only natural.
The sensory capabilities of Charisma Types had always been off the charts. Now it was just a matter of how far away the man himself was.
’This is usually the third ranked amongst the seven? Okay. Let’s play then.’
Zarek continued forward, his gaze indifferent.
\*\*
Urouge’s eyes snapped open.
He didn’t look like a Charisma Type at all, his body looming more like a giant than a delicate mental mage. He had a chiseled jaw, and his grey skin made him look as though he was well and truly carved out of stone.
His clothing was an odd combination of robes, and leather and metal armor. However, he didn’t have the slightest hint of a weapon on him, just an assortment of gaudy rings that gave his body the only hints of color outside the shades of grey and black he wore.
’Interesting...’ Urouge thought to himself.
He had been tracking Thalion—or so he thought. He planned to be the first to find him. Though there were some of the Demons that would be troublesome to deal with, when it came to espionage and playing defense, Urouge felt he was second to none.
He felt that he could both find Thalion first and protect the badge for as long as he needed to until the time came.
What he didn’t expect was that the badge would already be in the hands of another, and more surprisingly than that, it was the clown they hadn’t taken very seriously.
Was it a trap? Was Thalion using this Zarek as some sort of shield?
No, that didn’t make sense. Zarek was too weak to be used like that.
Unless that was the point? A weak opponent was sometimes a better shield depending on how you used them. It was just a matter of how clever Thalion chose to be.
’Hm... well, good thing for me, I’m also the best at probing without risking a single thing.’
Unfortunately for Urouge, he was lacking in information. He wasn’t the one that had set up the trap for Thalion in the valley, the very trap that Zarek had ended up thwarting on his own.
That was another one of the Demons.
\*\*
A young woman with lips that were almost too bright sat on a rock. Despite her body and lips seemingly formed for the sake of seduction, her legs were as wide spread as a man’s, and she leaned forward on a great sword taller than even her own body.
Her ears had an unnatural sharpness to them, and slotted earrings fitted over their tips, forming serrated edges of silver and gold over them that jingled with her every movement.
She wore a skin-tight black fitted wetsuit, barely covered in a small chest plate, a single pauldron, and some shin and knee guards. It was like she had only put on about half of her armor, too lazy to put on the other half.
This was the fourth ranked amongst the Demons and the true culprit behind the ambush on the Treasure Hub, Eliz the Droele.
The family of elven folk was wide and expansive. The Droele were a Race of them known for their odd musculature. Despite their slender bodies, their individual muscle fibers carried hundreds of times more energy, and their tendons and ligaments were thousands of times more powerful than the norm.
They weren’t the elegant speedsters those of their race were usually known for. And yet they still had the same sensitivity toward Godsfall, matched with their high Intelligence.
Well... that, and they had fiery tempers, which was why a certain duo was currently cowering.