After two days of tiresome travel through the mountains, Uncle Dior could see the grayish Barren lands and alone dragon-shaped dragon. The man who was sent by Jemma to accompany Don just drove the carriage without speaking a word but he would glance at Uncle Dior occasionally when he got out of the carriage to answer nature's call.
The morning sun rays were penetrated through the cracks of the carriage that Don, Knight and Uncle Dior was traveling. During the two days, Don and Knight had not even opened their eyes as they just started to meditate from the moment they stepped into the carriage.
"Huh?"
While they were traveling the carriage suddenly stopped with a creek sound however before Uncle Dior could ask what happened the carriage driver gave out an "Ah" sound and the horses reared as the carriage was shaken violently.
Uncle Dior had not any idea what's happening outside as the carriage continued to shake.
"Don wake up" Uncle Dior held onto the wooden frames inside the carriage to steady himself from being shaken up by the rearing of the horses.
After a moment Uncle Dior called Don he slowly opened his eyes as the thin light layer covered his body before, started to fade away.
"We have guests " Knight said as he opened his eyes yet his mouth curved into a devilish grin.
Without saying anything Don stood up from the meditation position and opened the carriage doors to step out. This is the first time Don felt and saw the sunlight in two days, Don put on his hood and jumped out of the ground and looked around the carriage as Uncle Dior nervously stepped out while Knight directly jumped onto Don's shoulder.
Uncle Dior slowly sneaked in front of the carriage to see what happened to the man but what he saw was a body without any movements.
"Don he...he's dead" Uncle Dior's heart started to beat faster when he saw the arrow sticking out of the carriage driver's chest. The horses were still kicking and shaking their heads in fear.
Having heard what Uncle Dior said, Don and Knight walked to the front of the carriage to see the dead body of the man, Don looked at the body for a moment but after a moment he turned towards the empty vast barren land before him. Not a tree or plant could be found in his view but only some big boulders and small hills made of stones and sand.
"You can come out now " Don's voice was not too loud but Uncle Dior trembled slightly in fear as he looked at the direction where Don was looking but he couldn't see anyone.
"Who?" Uncle Dior wanted to ask who Don was calling but he didn't need to as four figures gradually came out of behind the boulders and some hiding spots before him.
"Dwarves" he mumbled under his breath when he saw the four short bulky figures in front of him. Besides Uncle Dior Knight actually seemed very excited seeing the new race, Unlike the elves who were taller than average human and clean these Dwarves were short and had a greasy long beard and long hair.
"How did ye know boy?"
One of the four dwarves asked looking at Don, he had a long axe in his hands but unlike the other three dwarves, his axe seemed less rusty.
The armor the dwarves wore was turned into brown color due to the rust the same as the weapons in their hands.
Despite the hate towards the dwarves, Uncle Dior's face showed a hint of sadness and pity when he saw the beggarly looking dwarves, they were obviously malnourished because he could see the tiredness in their eyes and not a single sign of plumpness or excess fat could be seen in their bodies, even the torn cloth they are wearing was not a fit for their body as it seems loose for them.
"It does nae matter give me your all belongings food money everything" the dwarf continued without giving any chance for Don or anyone to speak.
"Or?" Don simply asked the Dwarf, but when he said that Don was able to detect some sadness and reluctance in the dwarf's eyes yet the dwarf didn't back off he gripped his rusty axe firmly and looked at Don with determination.
Seeing the dwarves getting ready to move towards him, Don slightly raised his hands to stop them. The dwarves couldn't understand why this young man is so calm, the only possibility they guessed was the young man is a peak master level magi but they rejected that possibility when they saw some glimpse of his young face under the hood he was wearing.
However seeing the young man asking them to stop, the dwarf leading the group subconsciously halted his steps.
"It's better if you come out now " Don said but he didn't look at the dwarves this time, Uncle Dior was confused when he heard Don, he looked back and forth to see if there's someone else here besides the dwarves and them until he heard a sound from the carriage.
"You found us!" The dwarf saw the man lying on the driver's seat with an arrow sticking out of his chest, started to move. When he and his friends were waiting to ambush the carriage, suddenly an arrow from somewhere appeared on the driver's chest.
At the moment he saw the arrow coming out of nowhere he wanted to back off from the ambush but the starving children and people back in his village gave him the nudge to continue the plan just for the sake of some food.
The scene before the dwarf was very confusing because a moment ago the man was appeared to be dead but now he's starting to move. However the young man's body language was still calm, not even some trembling or fear could be found on him.
After a few seconds the man talked to Don, some figures appeared out of thin air literally and slowly started to circle them. Every one of them wore a black robe and hood covered their head, some of them had staff in their hands while the others had sword or bow.
"I should work on my dead guy act " the man said as he jumped down from the carriage, Don looked over his shoulder and turned around to face him.
"Tell me how did you find my associates, and I'll kill you painlessly if you do" a long metal chain appeared in his hands as he said.
Don was stood there without saying anything for a moment.
"They never hid from me " Don calmly answered the man. Due to Knight having the ability to scan the environment they found out they were being followed from the moment the black-robed men started to tail them also Don saw the way the man looked at him when Jemma introduced him to the man, it was the same look that a predator would give at the prey.
Only thing surprised him a little in this journey was the ambush set up by the dwarves, it was a lucky coincidence for him as he was planning to look for them but when Knight said there's another group ahead them and the man attacked by the arrow at that exact same time as well as a group tailing them, connecting the dots Don realized this is a classic bait and kill scenario that Don was being the bait to lure the dwarves and this whole being dead was just a stage act.
When the man heard Don's answer he was surprised and shocked at the same time.
"Did you hear that men? You are getting sloppy at your work" the man yanked his chain on the ground and shouted at the black-robed men.
"Give me that beast puppy of yours obediently and I'll consider leaving your body intact" the chain in his hands started to let out a bright orange light as its getting hot.
"You are a good man " Don said as Uncle Dior slowly moved behind him to get some cover.
"Oh why?" the man tilted his head in confusion he couldn't understand how a man could be so calm when facing the death and complimenting his going to be killer.
"Because I won't leave your body intact " Don said as the killing intent started to radiate from him and Don activated the battle energy inside him as the sword on his back slowly unsheathed itself and floated into his hands.
"What the?" The man didn't see any kind of magical fluctuations around Don from the moment the sword started to float to land on his hands. He was carefully looking at him for the magical fluctuation to see when he was going to start cast a spell or try anything yet he never saw anything.
"Kill those dwarves and the half-elf" the man shouted at the blacked robe men and started to move towards Don to attack however he was welcomed by another rude awakening.
"Do I look like a puppy?"
The dwarves were never run away from a battle as when they heard the man saying kill the dwarves, they decided to fight despite the odds stacked against them yet when they wanted to fight it happened.
The puppy that was standing beside the youth began to transform into a majestic six feet Lion. It had huge white feathery wings and a shiny mane that flew in the wind and gave the Lion a Kingly vibe. However what shocked them more was that the Lion actually talked they knew for sure because it wasn't a voice of the half-elf or any man, the voice it sounded like a high pitched roar.
"Grand master" the dwarf mumbled to himself as all the blacked robed men looked at the Lion with fear and shock.
"What who are you?" the man asked Don, his tone now had a small tremble. He was a mid-level great master with a small gap to reach the peak level so when Jemma told Don was a master he felt like this is a simple mission to complete before killing the dwarves but now he's going to face a grand master beast who would have the upper hand because of its physique of a magical beast.
"Don you handle him I want those guys, a simple kill isn't enough for me"
Knight said as he ruffled his mane and locked his gaze at one of the black-robed men with the bow in his hands.
"I am not going to die here!" the man shoved the fear and uncertainty in his mind to the corner and yanked the chain aiming at Don as he shouted.
Seeing the iron chain coming towards him Don grabbed in the mid-air just before it could reach him,
"So am I"
He didn't care to tell him about the battle energy but he said he was a great master to give his opponent a mental attack.
"Wha" before even the man could react the hot chain became even hotter and turned into dark ominous purple color.
"Ouch! hell"
The man shouted and let go of the chain when the heat reached the point that he couldn't handle it. At that moment he saw the lion rip apart one of his men.
"Shit " the man said to himself and took out a sword from his space ring.
Don threw the chain away and let the hell flame cover his sword to face the man.
The man was very experienced in this kind of battle so his movements were perfect and not influenced by any emotion, like Don's hellfire covered sword his sword started to be covered by a dark red flame.
A close combat mage, who is a terrifying force because they only need a small time to cast a spell to attack, unlike the long-range mages.
Don could see that his opponent was a trained swordsman as his moves had some kind of technique and perfect flow. He didn't go offensive for a moment and chose to defend while looking for an opening.
Uncle Dior ran behind the carriage to get himself some cover. When he breathed a sigh in relief as he reached a safe place he heard another body ripping sound.
"Why are you guys dying so easily?" to a being like Knight that could be compared to the great master these peak master guys were a small game.
"You put up some fight?" Knight laughed and leaped towards another man holding a sword.
"No no !!!!" but the man's scream was stopped mid away as he saw a headless body then full darkness covered him.
"Ah it's so boring Don let's wrap this up "
As Knight said the dwarves saw the Lion stopping its attacks and spreading its wings.
"It's time you go to hell"