With every crackle of the burning wood, the campfire tried to declare its existence to the dark and silent jungle. This feeble campfire which seemed so insignificant when pitted against the cold and chilly wind of the night was, in fact, the only source of heat for the people sitting around it.

Soren, being in a good mood from gaining some proficiency levels in his Potioneering skill, had allowed the group to take a break tonight. They had been rushing forward without much rest for the last few days, so it was highly probable for some of them to start breaking down at this point. Knowing that sleep was irreplaceable for these Non-Initiators and these low-ranking Initiators, Soren had decided to give them some leeway and allowed them to rest for the night.

Of course, the threat of the ‘Pillar of Paradise’ was still looming over his head; he hadn’t forgotten about it. But since they had been traveling continuously for the past ten days, he reckoned that they must’ve had already moved out of the most dangerous area; the standard for ‘dangerous’ was calculated based on Soren’s cultivation level, though.

According to Smiley, the pillar would be completing its final activation phase in about three weeks; this was counted since the day Soren and his group left Bellfalls. However, there was still a possibility that he could be wrong and had miscalculated the time. With this possibility of error as the basis for his decision, Soren had forced the group to move like there was no tomorrow. And now that he was out of the most dangerous area, he was willing to relax a little and let the group have their much-needed rest.

…….

Morning of the eleventh day, the maids woke up with the first ray of sunlight like always. Quickly finishing their usual jobs, they all got together and started playing on the wet grass with their naked feet. Winter season had persisted for quite long, but it seemed to be on the losing end now. The dense fog that used to cover the jungle in the morning before had now become much thinner; the thick snow that used to cover the ground was also nowhere to be seen. Nights were still extremely cold, of course, but that was also going to change very soon.

Seeing that it was already morning, Soren stopped his meditation and stepped out of his carriage; breathing in the cold fresh air of the jungle. Although he wasn’t wearing anything apart from his black high-neck t-shirt and his survival pants, he didn’t feel too cold. As for his jacket, it had become Argus’s bed inside the carriage right now.

Beautiful maids playing on the wet grass, fresh cold wind blowing through the jungle, the subtle yet audible sound of the rustling leaves, the faint mist existing in harmony with the woods; every little detail like these seemed to be creating a serene atmosphere that made Soren relax.

But all of a sudden, a silver-colored pillar shot up towards the sky with a blinding glare in the direction of Bellfalls.

At first glance, this pillar of light seemed like a beautiful sight which only added to the beauty of the jungle. But the expression of horror apparent on Soren’s face told a completely different story.

This is too soon!!! TOO SOON!!!! FUCK!!!!!

Without caring for anything else, Soren immediately reached inside the carriage and picked Argus up. Running away now was meaningless as the shockwave from this pillar would soon be coming towards them. And although they were out of the most dangerous area, he still needed to be careful when dealing with this situation.

So, while constantly cursing Smiley under his breath, Soren swiftly took out his staff and got ready to prepare his defenses. Facing the direction of the pillar, he first started casting <Create Undead>, and created three Forsaken Knights; one after another. Consecutively, he cast the same spell again and started creating Rotten Zombies this time. One after another, these Rotten Zombies came into existence and stood in front of Soren; awaiting his commands.

After he had created a number that he felt was enough and could control with the current base value of his ‘Spirit’ stat, he ordered them to create a defensive line in front of him. The Forsaken Knights, on the other hand, surrounded Soren in a tight defensive formation and formed his final defensive line.

Ice Wall!

Ice Wall!

Ice Wall!

Ice Wall!

With his meat shield ready, Soren now focused on casting <Ice Wall> and started creating tall walls made of ice; covering the area in front of him. Also, to increase their defensive strength, he stacked them in a way that multiple walls combined together to form a few thick walls.

When he was done creating this defensive line made with dozens of ice walls, he moved on to the next part.

Withering Wood!

By the time he finished casting this spell, the other members of the group also sensed that something was wrong. As a result, without caring about what Soren would do to them for this, they all rushed towards him; taking shelter inside his wooden dome before it could close up. And given that he could not afford to divide his attention right now, Soren paid no heed to the actions of these people. Otherwise, if he had enough time, he would’ve had made these people join the Rotten Zombies’ group to act as his meat shield.

Furthermore, although Soren had not really planned it to be like that, the defensive wall that he had created had also ended up covering some of the carriages and the horses. As for whether the horses and the carriages could survive through this, it was yet to be seen.

BOOM!!!!!

With a thundering sound, the huge shockwave that Soren had been waiting for collided with his defensive lines.

First, the defensive line made of Rotten Zombies disintegrated into pure Mana; as a result, decreasing the intensity of the shockwave.

Next up were the ice walls; they lasted a little longer than the Rotten Zombies but ultimately, they also collapsed and crumbled into pieces. Passing through these two obstacles, the part of the shockwave that was coming towards Soren had weakened considerably. Yet, it still attacked his wooden dome with an intense ferocity.

*Crack*

*Crack*

Seeing the cracks appear in the wooden dome, Soren immediately knew that he wasn’t going to survive this without getting hurt; especially when he had to protect Argus.

Shadow Prison!

Deciding to do whatever he could to mitigate the damage; Soren first turned around to cover Argus who he was carrying in his arm and then cast <Shadow Prison> on himself. With his control over the spell, the chains coming out of the ground only restrained him where he was standing and didn’t pierce his body.

As he was done with all this, the shockwave finally arrived at his final defensive line; the Forsaken Knights.

Bang!!!

Destroying and passing through the Forsaken Knights, the weakened shockwave ultimately struck Soren’s back and died off.

…

…

…

Everything had happened in a matter of moments.

If it was any other Rank 1 Initiator in place of Soren, they would have remained mostly fine under the attack of this exhausted shockwave. But alas…. Soren had an underlying problem with his body.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

Getting attacked by this shockwave which hurt the core of his body triggered the vitality damage that Soren had yet to heal. As a result, after coughing violently for a couple of times, Soren finally could not bear it and ended up vomiting blood.

Thud!

Wan!

Wan!

Wan!

Barks filled with deep concern and worry came from Argus as he realized that Soren had fallen down after vomiting blood; he had, in fact, fainted. So, without even caring about the warm blood that had turned his white fur into red, he just kept barking and licking Soren’s pale face out of fear; fear of losing him.

………

Feeling something amiss, Soren slowly opened his eyes. But instead of the green luscious jungle that surrounded him before, he found himself deep inside a cold and dark water body. Seeing this familiar scene around him, Soren immediately understood where he was. This was his nightmare that he used to have after he arrived in Astara. Strangely, he had stopped having those nightmares at some point; he hadn’t had those in a long time now. As it wasn’t really a priority for him before, Soren hadn’t paid any attention to it. But now that he was aware of his lost memories, he realized that this could be related to that.

Whenever he had had this nightmare before, he had felt very helpless. Trapped in the cold and dark water, slowly sinking towards the deep bottom while losing himself; it was truly a helpless feeling. However, that was true only back then; he was only a Rank 0 Initiator at that time. Now, though, he was a Rank 1 Initiator; someone who was at a higher life level. The strength of his soul right now was, in fact, more than enough for him to end this nightmare at any point. Although he did want to see and confirm whether this nightmare could help him recover more of his memory fragments, he knew he had to stop for now. After all, time was of the essence; he had to manage the situation with the shockwave.

And so, he ended it.

……..

After waking up, the first thing that Soren saw was a small Argus, licking his face with all his might; his face had been completely covered in Argus’s saliva at this point.

Seeing that he finally woke up, Argus swiftly climbed upon Soren’s chest and started jumping up and down; barking and yelping again in the process. Only this time, it was filled with excitement, satisfaction, and pride. His barks and yelps conveyed everything to Soren; ‘It was my licking that woke you up.’

Letting out an involuntary laugh at that ‘comment’, Soren picked Argus from his chest and stood up to examine the aftermath of the shockwave.

One look around the area and Soren mostly figured out what had happened. Basically, the area surrounding them had been completely destroyed. Except for the horses and the carriages that were just behind his defensive line, everything else had been reduced to smithereens; including many trees. As for the people who had forced their way inside Soren’s wooden dome, they were somehow able to survive this disaster; though, they had fainted because of the aftereffects from the shockwave. Of course, if Soren hadn’t borne all the pressure, they would also have been disintegrated like the horses and the carriages.

After taking one more look at the people lying on the ground, Soren cast his <Waterball> and used it to wash his face. Feeling refreshed from the cold water on his skin, Soren used this time to close his eye and stabilize his mind. Things had changed too suddenly, so he needed some time to think about what to do next.

With the threat of the pillar now gone, he could surely return back towards Bellfalls and then move on to the next town. But there was a certain danger with this plan. The activation of the pillar had caused a huge scene, so it was obvious that the affected area and the pillar of light were going to attract a lot of Initiators towards them. And although there was certainly a possibility that Soren could go through the affected area without causing any complications, it was too low. So, taking the higher probability into account, Soren rejected this idea.

The next plan was to just continue on towards Kilguard like before; without making any changes. But Soren immediately rejected this idea too. If they continued to move on a straight path towards Kilguard, it would become very easy for people to figure out which direction they had come from. And given that Bellfalls was going to become a hot topic soon, Soren did not want anyone to associate him with this town.

So, after considering all that, Soren decided to make some changes. They were still going to head towards Kilguard, but the path would be slightly different. Soren was going to make the group take some detours to make it seem like they were not coming from the direction of Bellfalls. Of course, he never had any intention of entering the town to being with. He had actually been planning on using the other route that also went through Kilguard to go to Bycrest. This route was much longer than the one they had taken before, so it wasn’t used much by the merchants. But given the current circumstances, this route was their best and the only option.

……..

Although Soren had collapsed due to the shockwave, his injuries were actually not that severe; the shockwave had only caused his vitality damage to flare up. And while he had no idea what its consequences would be in the future, he at least knew that it wouldn’t be anything good.

Regardless, though, he could not afford to waste time on this right now.

As such, deciding against staying there to recuperate, Soren immediately cast his <Rainfall> and used the cold rain to wake everyone up.

A wide array of emotions could be seen on everyone’s face when they got up from the ground, but one particular emotion was common for all of them; fear. They were quite aware of the fact that if Soren hadn’t been there with them, none of them would have survived this disaster. So, ignoring the cold water from the <Rainfall> and the mud sticking to their bodies, they all stood up and followed Hamish in deeply bowing towards Soren; their savior. Of course, while gratitude was a part of the reason for their actions, it was only a small one. Most of it was actually because they were afraid of Soren’s retaliation for what they had done before; forcing their way into the wooden dome.

Soren knew very well what these people were thinking about; he could see the terror in their eyes. But he decided to ignore the topic for now and just ordered them to quickly prepare everything for their departure. After all, survival was always the first priority first for him.

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