Rex thought about all the decisions that led to him being attacked. Honestly, something didn't feel right about the attack.
He had purposely chosen a different route from what they first planned before changing it to another at the last minute, ensuring they couldn't be ambushed.
He knew nobody would be able to move the amount of manpower needed to ambush all the routes without raising eyebrows.
Although he was thinking about where he went wrong, Rex still didn't stop running.
Suddenly, Luna began to growl as she looked over his shoulder.
Rex didn't need to look back to know that the enemy had defeated his guards and were coming after him.
He already realised that a traitor was among his guards but didn't know who to suspect.
Rex peeped over his shoulder to realise that the enemies were catching up. He put every bit of mana he had into enhancing his speed.
In the past few hours, he had managed to get away from them with the help of his mana replenishing pills but even that was about to run out.
'Damn, these bastards just don't give up!' he thought as he gasped for air.
As he was about to turn a corner, he caught a glimpse of one of the cloaked men, so he instantly changed his direction.
Three of the cloaked men paused before stretching out their hands and stomping on the ground while making an over-exaggerated raising hand gesture, causing a giant wall to rise in front of Rex.
Upon seeing this, Rex planned to jump over by adding more wind mana to his legs and increasing his speed when suddenly a wall of flame rose above the wall.
Rex knew he couldn't overcome both of them, so he took a sharp turn by digging his spear into the ground and swinging towards the only direction that had no enemies.
'Shit, I have to lose these bastards somehow,' he started thinking of possible ways to lose his enemies but couldn't come up with any.
This was the first time he visited this part of the world and bringing out a map to inspect was asking to be caught.
He thought of backtracking, but that was off the options, with the possibility of enemies besides given the number of turns they had taken, he didn't think he could backtrack from here even if he was left alone.
"Awoo," the black-winged wolf on his shoulder sounded while gazing upward.
He looked towards the place Luna looked only to realise that the Darknar Forest was giving way to a mountain range.
'Well, ain't I unlucky,' he thought as he looked at the mountain. 'I have been changing direction since so I can lose them and make sure I'm heading back outside this damn forest.'
He looked back and tried to find a way to turn around and go the other way because nobody made it out alive after stepping into the Primus Region, also nicknamed the Land of Death. Unfortunately, luck didn't seem to be on his side.
"He is cornered, just box him in," one of the cloaked men said.
'Damn, I felt I got away too easily. Turns out these bastards are just trying to lure me into a trap,' Rex thought before turning his head to make a last-ditch effort while still running. "Hey, let's make a deal. I will give you double of what you were paid to kill me."
"Stop dreaming, kid. Your entire merchant group has been slaughtered, and all your property is already ours. What else do you have to give us?" one of the cloaked men replied.
"This motherfucker," Rex thought. 'I guess I have no other options,' he thought as he ran right into the valley while shouting, "YOU BASTARDS, IF I MAKE IT OUT OF HERE, I AM COMING FOR YOU!!!"
"STOP!" the leader of the group shouted to his group after making sure Rex entered the valley.
"There is no way that kid is surviving that," one of the cloaked men laughed before they all turned back and returned.
*******
The Primus Region, which consists of the Primus Forest, Primus Valley, and the Primus Mountain Range, is one of, if not the most deadly death zones in the world. It is located in the chaotic lands.
As it is said in this world that 'the more dangerous a place is, the more benefits can be reaped,' this is not the case for death zones as they are termed.
This zone sometimes contains incurable diseases which are airborne or even space cracks that could appear randomly and teleport you to random places like the lair of a dragon, into a wall, into the void, or even the depth of the ocean, etc.
They also always contain dangerous and powerful beasts.
We move to Rex, who was huffing crazily as he ran for his life within the Primus Mountain Range.
Two vipers chased after him with bloodshot eyes in a zigzag manner.
In his mind, he was cursing himself. 'Why did I have to encounter two vipers at Rank 2?!'
He didn't even try to fight as his body was only moving because of fear. Besides, he didn't think he stood a chance against them at his peak.
The only reason he was even able to escape from them is because he was attuned to both air and fire elements and due to his weak body, he specialised in the usage of spears so he could fight in close combat while still keeping his distance.
Although he would have loved to become a mage, it wasn't possible as he had a low affinity for both elements.
His other speciality was running away. As he wasn't good at fighting, the next option was running, which he mastered to perfection.
Suddenly, as Rex was running, he heard a loud roar. It was a roar that scared him, freezing him on the spot before he immediately picked up speed again.
Instinctively, he knew that this was the roar of a tiger!
'Oh shit! I can't escape from such a beast! If only I had more mana, I would be able to escape.'
"Awooo," the wolf on his shoulder howled out towards the direction where the roar sounded from.
"Fuck, do you want us dead? I swear on my soul if that tiger comes after us, I will personally feed you to it," Rex whispered to the wolf while holding its mouth shut.
Suddenly, he remembered the two threats who chased after him. He turned around and almost breathed in relief as he found those two vipers nowhere.
It appeared that this roar didn't just startle him, but it had also scared off those vipers.
"Well, this is one good thing, at least."
Soon, he felt a drop of water hitting his head. Rex raised his head with a frown and observed the clouds.
The dark clouds had covered the entire sky.
"Just great… Now comes the rain." He grumbled unhappily and jogged towards the east.
He left the tiger's territory and found a safe place to rest until he could recover his mana and then return to his city.
As he was jogging, he soon found a dark cave.
A cheerful look appeared on Rex's face as he muttered, "Great. I even found a cave. Let's hope this is not the residence of some beast. If it is… That would be tragic."
Rex cautiously approached the cave while picking up two stones.
He also looked at his surroundings and was soon familiar with them. Without any hesitation, he threw the first stone into the cave.
Rex heard the stone strike the walls of the cave.
Soon enough, Rex was nowhere to be seen. Currently, he was hiding behind a tree while using a skill to conceal his aura.
He didn't feel any presence from that cave. But still, from that same spot, he threw another stone. The stone hit the outer walls this time. And Rex continued to conceal his aura with a unique technique.
After waiting for 5-10 minutes, Rex concluded that the cave should be safe. If a beast did reside in this cave, it was probably in a deep sleep.
As long as he was careful, he shouldn't wake it up and would have a chance to escape.
Taking one more look at the dark cave from outside, Rex mustered up whatever bits of courage he had and entered the cave.
As Rex continued to walk, he had an eerie feeling. His instincts were screaming at him to run away…
However, his curiosity forced him to dive even deeper and investigate exactly what it was.
'Have I found some great treasure, can I finally turn my life around?'
This question appeared in Rex's mind as he had read in some books that about people stumbling on great treasure while in distress.
Soon enough, he did reach an empty room and as soon as he stepped into the cave, he was swept away by a space crack.
Soon the feeling of discomfort washed all over his body before disappearing as fast as it appeared. He felt that he had arrived at the location because his senses told him that this was a spot with the densest mana he had ever felt.
He raised his hand and used mana to cast a small fireball spell. An orange light started shining on top of Rex's palm, and Rex moved ahead while its light spread to the surroundings, only for him to realise that he was in a throne room.
The palace was unexpectedly clean, even though Rex was sure that the palace was devoid of any presencepresence at least none was close by.
But still, if this was the great treasure, it didn't fit the description from the books he had read instead it felt more like an inheritance ground left behind by experts.
'What ever, as long as it changes my life.' Rene thought as he moved forward.
He walked even further. Soon enough, the orange light fell upon some drawings on the walls. It only took him a second to realise that they were runes. They were very unfamiliar to Rex, though. Rex kept moving towards the direction he believed the throne would be and sure enough, it was there.
The throne was quite tall. Rex had to go near it and raise the orange fireball to see it fully.
Soon enough, the entire throne was in his view. And as soon as he saw the whole throne, Rex's expression changed from curiosity and hope to dread. This was because he noticed that on the throne sat a large skeleton.
Moreover, as he looked closely, this large skeleton was at least twice his size and wore luxurious clothes with a ring on its left finger and a spear stabbed on the ground next to it.
Rex knew what it was. This was an undead lich, which was at the 5th rank at the very least.
He immediately turned and ran towards the direction from which he had appeared.
However, before he could take three steps, he felt a sudden burst of mana from the skeleton.
This sudden burst of mana froze him in his tracks. He wanted to run… He tried to scream… But Rex felt as if his body wasn't in his control.
Rex questioned, "W-Who are you?"
"Azaroth."
A cold voice resounded in the throne room, and with that, Rex's soul was pulled from his body.
**************
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