****(POV) Yet Another POV Chapter?!
I asked the sect leader to take care of my mom and came running here. With me I brought the old man that used to be my father's colleague and a ton of hunters. Also that Cayden guy and his party.
At first, he is especially annoying. Asking many questions about the sectmaster. Maybe he'd like to join the sect, but right now I have no time to deal with his questions.
I'm a decent tracker myself, but no trace of my father can be found. He is no beginner after all.
Him missing is worrying for sure.
We quickly spread out in all directions already planning to stop when we encounter too big a resistance from monsters. At that point going in small elite groups will be faster.
Problem is we quickly realize the abnormality. The forest is empty. Dead.
It doesn't make sense. We keep moving forward for a long while until something seems to happen.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
I glance at the party next to me. The leader holds some kind of wooden trinket. A shattered one.
"EVERYONE! We return to town right the fuck now ?!"
Wait? Why are they leaving so suddenly?
"What about investigating what happened in the forest ….?"
"SCREW THAT FUCKING FOREST I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!"
And thus I am left with Cayden's party.
*sigh* So much for having lots of support eh.
"Don't worry Zero we are still here!"
"How long are we going to search?"
"Why are we even bothering with such a dumb search. He's probably just late."
As usual, besides the kind Cayden and the silent warrior, the others are troublesome.
Being well-intentioned is good but they are not especially strong. Rank 2s all of them. I alone am enough to defeat their entire party. Yeah, this could turn bad easily.
"Go back to town, all of you. Since we are lacking numbers I'll go alone and try to be as sneaky as possible. Hopefully, I'll find my father."
"No way! We'll help …"
"No! Go back and prepare to evacuate the town if needed!"
Cayden is grumbling, but the others seem to be rejoicing.
From now on it's me alone.
****
What is this? It takes me a while to reach here, but I finally notice something noteworthy.
The surroundings are different from usual.
A fight happened here. A relatively big one.
There are many archaic trees that are destroyed. The issue is that these trees are extremely sturdy.
After all, it is completely filled with mana. It is extremely hard to cut, yet useless as a product. The mana inside quickly exits it upon death making it worthless.
Since no one would bother voluntarily cutting it down it means it was done by mistake. Simply collateral damage.
This is madness. That many trees destroyed. As I approach it, I realize something else.
A blade did this. It was all done by a swordsman. From the traces, I can already imagine what peerless master left these traces.
I feel the inspiration coming to me. The many ways I could improve my own swordsmanship. That is only from looking at remnants of a battle.
How great would it be if I could see the slashes that caused such devastation!
Wait, no. Now is not the time to daydream!
I need to find my father. I need more clues. Where did whoever fought go?
Are the missing monsters because of that person?
Wait …what?! The traces are old. More than a week for sure.
Is it not related to my father's disappearance at all?
Suddenly I hear the sound of footsteps. I try my best to hide and observe what is coming.
A small white wolf I know all too well, a small black fox and my father?!
He seems unharmed. This is great.
What is happening here? They are heading straight my way. Did they somehow spot me?
"Are you sure my son is here?"
"Of course!"
The fox just talked. Is that a beast king?! Then again it seems friendly. And I've totally been spotted. I guess I'll just come out.
"Hey there. Dad, what happened to you?"
"Oh…hum. I got chased around by some random necromancer, but Wolfie kindly took care of it."
"…Wolfie did?"
I always thought there was something off about this wolf. But taking care of an enemy that can overpower my father. That is impressive. Is she actually a beast king too? Most likely.
Then again it wouldn't be that surprising. After all her owner is some immortal being. Or close to anyway. I may not be that strong, but I am able to kill rank 3s should push come to shove. But the sectmaster I cannot do anything against him.
Already after our first lesson, I knew he was strong, but it's really only over time that I realized how much of a monster he actually is.
While training in the past 2 months I tried everything to make him suffer. Nothing ever worked. My full power he always only disregarded. That in itself is hard to fathom. After all, he lacks any kind of fighting sense. Yet somehow, he is that powerful.
I do not know how he attained such power, but it reassures me about my choice to follow him. Now this, Wolfie saving my father.
I'm quite curious about what happened, but I guess it doesn't matter.
"Alright, I'll head home already. Your mom must be worried sick! Plus I'm really hungry. Wolfie thank you! You too mister fox!"
And so comes to an end the rescue operation.
Starting with a huge group of volunteers. Then everyone giving half-way. Me telling Cayden's group to leave after seeing his party members' reluctance towards the task.
Trying my best to find clues about what happened only for my father to randomly show up.
Yeah. So much for a rescue operation. We effectively took a huge walk as a group.
I'm not sure if this is ridiculous or straight-up funny.
Then comes a melodious voice. Crystal clear. Calm and peaceful.
It clashes a lot with the content of the dialogue.
"Good thing you are here little one. I've been meaning to tell you something. You want to follow the king around? You are unworthy. Get lost. Otherwise, I'll end you myself."
WTF!