Chapter 15: An Arrival Full of Drama

To trust in the requests of one’s companions is a creed Wang Yu has always upheld.

Whenever he trusts a comrade, he chooses to execute their sudden demands immediately, leaving no room for hesitation.

This time was no different; upon hearing Avia’s request, Wang Yu did not falter, striking the back of her neck with precisely measured force.

It is a fundamental technique for an adventurer—a strike of the right intensity to render an untrained civilian unconscious.

With a soft thud, his palm connected with the base of her skull, and he caught her limp form, laying her down quickly and carefully.

Wang Yu turned toward the monster that refused to die, only to find, with some surprise, that the creature had begun to fade into translucence.

Just as Avia’s right hand had blurred, the immortal beast was gradually becoming ethereal, peeling away from reality itself.

Its body, once pitch-black and light-absorbing, turned transparent, revealing the scenery through its very core.

The monster seemed to realize this as well; its twisted, witch-like faces grew vivid, contorting into expressions of human-like terror.

It charged madly at Wang Yu, the only conscious, sentient being before it.

Though surprised, Wang Yu never lowered his guard.

He chose not to use the highly effective Nightblade gauntlets, opting instead to shroud his hands in Void energy.

His physical stamina was running low; it was wiser to rely on his own arcane power.

He had already confirmed that the monster’s direct combat capability was no longer formidable.

Its true threat lay in the fear it instilled through its relentless pursuit and its maddening, immortal nature.

This time was the same: the monster rushed him with a frenzy, yet its speed had not improved in the slightest.

With a single punch, Wang Yu sent the creature flying; twisted, jagged teeth scattered across the ground, and strange, dull blood splattered everywhere.

The monster’s neck appeared to be broken, and it lay on the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

"So weak..." Wang Yu narrowed his eyes, watching the creature writhe.

He realized this thing was far too feeble, even weaker than it had been before.

He could not rule out the possibility that it was merely acting.

Wang Yu approached the struggling beast with caution, then suddenly lunged forward.

His Void-infused fists, driven by the knight’s powerful muscles, hammered into the creature blow after blow.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" His fists, like a pile driver, struck the monster with relentless force.

Chaotic black smoke erupted from the points of impact, dissolving into nothingness in the air as the monster shrieked in agony, its distorted face shifting constantly.

Those changing, wailing faces morphed into a gallery of hideously grotesque and eerie visages, emitting terrifying screeches at Wang Yu.

But he was a man who knew no fear; he remained unmoved, meeting those hideous faces with scarred, resilient iron fists.

Blood sprayed, teeth flew, and the monster was hammered back to the ground again and again, its shrieks growing hoarse, its struggles becoming increasingly feeble.

Finally, when Wang Yu drove his fist through the creature’s skull, all signs of life ceased.

It was a thing that could not be defined as living or dead, and thus could not be judged by such terms.

But when Wang Yu reduced its head to a pulp, the creature did not vanish, suggesting it had been truly destroyed.

He stood up and looked at the headless corpse, catching his breath.

The exertion of such a sustained assault had drained his stamina significantly, but resolving this threat was well worth the cost.

He wiped the foul residue from his hands and donned the gauntlets he had removed to conserve his energy.

Wang Yu stepped forward to observe the carcass, filled with curiosity.

Avia seemed to have understood something, but he knew how to knock people out, not how to wake them, so he would have to wait to ask.

The monster was becoming increasingly transparent and ethereal; this process had begun the moment Avia lost consciousness.

It seemed this strange entity was being expelled from reality, driven back into the Void.

Perhaps being banished to the Void would have been a fine end, but the creature had chosen to attack Wang Yu, and so it was hammered to death halfway there.

"What on earth are you..."

Looking at the twisted monster, the headless corpse could finally be examined properly.

This bizarre creature was composed of several dead forest witches, forcibly knotted together.

Their avian limbs were jammed into one another’s flesh, and their faces—which should have been stiff and expressionless—were all etched with extreme terror.

Wang Yu looked at the terrified corpses; though he lacked formal knowledge, his keen combat instincts had allowed him to grasp some of the creature’s nature during the fight.

This monster was tied to fear; Avia had displayed strange signs of dread earlier, and as long as she was awake, the monster had been unkillable.

"Feeding on the fear of its prey? A rumor of the forest witches... monsters born from the Void truly defy all reason."

Wang Yu felt quite helpless. In the year he had spent adventuring with the old knight, everything they encountered had been traditional Western fantasy fare.

Elves, dwarves, dragon legends—but lately, things had become inexplicably bizarre.

"Or perhaps, it is simply that I have gained the ability to see through the surface of this world."

Wang Yu shook his head. He was not a man to dwell on things; he would not be trapped by groundless speculation or the realities he was forced to accept.

A new consciousness transmitted from the gauntlets spurred him to act. "Utilize..." A simple, chaotic intent flooded his mind.

Wang Yu tended to trust the gauntlets, albeit with a measure of caution, but he would never choose to refuse the assistance they offered.

The consciousness from the gauntlets pointed toward the monster’s pulped skull, the location of the most unique forest witch among the cluster.

In truth, the others were merely corpses; the one at the top was the true core.

Following the gauntlets' guidance, Wang Yu plunged his hand into the disgusting mess and touched a small, hard object.

He pinched it and pulled it out; a pitch-black, profound crystal sat in his palm.

Wang Yu stared at it. The diamond-shaped crystal’s surface was incredibly smooth, with perfect proportions and shape, showing no signs of distortion.

Inside was an endless darkness—not translucent, but true, absolute black. There was no reflection of light, nothing within.

Only blackness. It reminded Wang Yu of something: an absolute black body.

He did not understand what it was, but the gauntlets immediately transmitted a desire to absorb it. Wang Yu did not force an understanding of things he could not grasp; he consented.

The pitch-black crystal softened and collapsed in his palm, turning into a pool of absolute dark fluid that seeped into the gauntlets.

The gauntlets did something to it; Wang Yu felt the carvings within begin to shift.

He glanced down to see the strange metallic eyeball excitedly waving its tentacles, trying to grasp at something.

Yet the exquisite blade embedded within it held the restless Void entity firmly in check. The flowing darkness entered, making both mutually restraining forces appear more real and vibrant.

Eventually, their struggle ceased, returning to their usual stillness as rigid carvings.

Wang Yu noticed, however, that the eyeball had grown slightly larger, with more strange tentacles sprouting, while the patterns on the magnificent blade had become increasingly complex and exquisite.

Then, a stream of pure energy flowed from the gauntlets, traveling up Wang Yu’s body to his brow, where it poured inside.

That was the location of Wang Yu’s mental space. He offered no resistance or refusal; he was certain that nothing could shake his will.

The energy injected into his mental space transformed into a liquid shimmering with starlight.

Wang Yu turned his focus inward and discovered that the boundless, mirror-like lake of his mental space seemed to have grown deeper.

His feet had just touched the surface of the lake, which resembled a mirror—possessing the characteristics of a solid despite its liquid appearance—and now, the water, shimmering with a faint starlight, rose to submerge his soles, rippling with an immersive rhythm.

The old mage’s notes made no mention of what this lake might be, but to him, the rising water felt like a boon.

He could clearly sense that both the capacity of his void energy and the precision of his control had increased by a significant margin.

Wang Yu withdrew his inner gaze; the fog that had refused to dissipate since the monster’s death finally cleared, and the howls of various strange creatures began to echo.

The cacophony that had been muffled by the mist in the forest now rushed in all at once.

The eerie shrieks of forest witches, the guttural murmurs of swamp slimes, the piercing cries of moss-skinned goblins, and the familiar chorus of insects and birds all confirmed to Wang Yu that the monster had indeed been vanquished.

They had likely been trapped within some sort of domain, unable to reach the world beyond; with the monster dead, their connection to the outside had naturally been restored.

...

Meanwhile, in a place unknown to Wang Yu, two figures were sprinting rapidly through the woods.

A man with golden hair, a majestic countenance, and a tall, robust frame, carrying a massive greatsword on his back, charged through the forest like a juggernaut, shattering stones and kicking up waves of mud with every stride.

Leading the way before him was a woman surrounded by a violent yet gentle gale, which swirled around her voluptuous figure and exquisite face.

The blessing of the gale kept her suspended in the air, allowing her to weave nimbly and gracefully through the narrow gaps between the trees.

"That Shadow of Fear has appeared again. I wonder how long this poor soul can hold out... we’re always too late!"

The man sighed helplessly; he didn't believe anyone could survive that monstrosity for long.

"The mist has dispersed, Garcia. That poor soul is likely already dead, but we must reach the site as quickly as possible. It is our duty."

The beautiful woman who commanded the winds spoke, accelerating her pace as the gale carried her toward their destination.

"Understood, Dean Lilia, as you wish." The strong man called Garcia offered no further words; despite his ferocious appearance, his tone was steady and obedient.

His footsteps grew heavier, and he charged forward, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Just as Wang Yu placed the unconscious Avia onto Torrent’s back, he heard a thunderous roar erupt from the forest.

Before he could react, Lilia was swept out of the trees by a gust of wind.

Then, a "heavy locomotive" crashed through a tree and skidded to a halt beside her, its feet carving a deep, broken furrow into the earth as it braked.

Wang Yu looked at the two unexpected arrivals, instantly drawing his sword and pointing it at them, filled with wariness.

The two newcomers were momentarily stunned; the mist had cleared, yet there were survivors—shouldn't there only be corpses with their brains devoured in terror?

Soon, their eyes fell upon the mangled carcass of the monster, and two shocked gazes shifted toward the guarded Wang Yu.

Inadvertently, Lilia’s eyes swept over the back of the horse beside Wang Yu.

The face of the unconscious girl came into view, and Lilia’s expression shifted from shock to joy. "Avia!" she blurted out.

Noticing the girl’s comatose state, her gaze toward Wang Yu immediately turned hostile.

Violent wind elements gathered around the staff in the woman’s hand, shaping themselves into a massive, rotating palm of wind.

The five-meter-tall elemental hand was controlled to reach out and seize Wang Yu.

Hearing Lilia call out Avia’s name, Wang Yu froze, realizing the situation had taken a turn for the worse.

Seeing her hostile glare and the wind palm conjured without a single incantation, his internal alarm bells rang: spellcasting without chants—a Grand Mage!

"I'm on your side!" he managed to shout just before the giant hand clamped down on him.

Violent winds swept over his entire body, and his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were subjected to a brutal assault.

Perhaps due to his words, the hand did not crush him; had it applied force, Wang Yu would have been reduced to a mist of blood, scattered into the wind.

Lilia, her eyes cold, glanced at the restrained Wang Yu, then turned to the tall, burly man beside her as she approached Avia.

"Garcia, tie that fellow up and lock him away. I need to ask my niece exactly what has happened these past few days..."

"No problem... right." Garcia agreed, though his words faltered. Why wasn't she like this before? How had he been fooled by the heroic demeanor of this violent witch back in the day?

Sighing inwardly, Garcia caught Wang Yu, who had been tossed through the air by the wind element.

Battle aura surged from his body, forming chains of earthy color and resilience that bound Wang Yu tightly.

"Fine, solidified battle aura—a Grand Knight," Wang Yu thought, somewhat speechless. What was going on? So many powerful beings appearing all at once.

Still, he could breathe a sigh of relief; if she could call out Avia’s name, this woman must be Avia’s aunt, Lilia Swain.

Watching Lilia approach Torrent, lift the wary horse with a wind hand as if it were a chick, and then carefully cradle Avia, Wang Yu simply rolled his eyes and feigned a "faint," pretending to be breathless from the gale.

...

The girl opened her heavy eyes once more; the light before her was soft and warm. She had drifted in and out of consciousness so many times now.

Is she too weak? If she reaches her aunt, she must grow stronger—at the very least, she cannot be a burden!

Wait, where is she? She remembered asking Wang Yu to knock her out after she deduced what the monster was.

Where is she? Where is Wang Yu? And her clothes?

Avia fell into a brief moment of confusion. She looked around and realized she was lying in a small wooden cabin.

Beneath her was a soft bed, a thin blanket draped over her body, and the clothes she wore were not the tattered mage robes she had scavenged.

Instead, she wore a well-fitting, comfortable dress, with white lace trim and a transparent overlay—the girl looked quite beautiful in it...

Who had changed her clothes while she was unconscious? As she thought about it, her face began to flush a deep red.

At that moment, the door opened, and Avia turned her head.

The voluptuous woman and the strong man walked in together. Seeing the woman, Avia cried out in surprise and delight, "Aunt Lilia!"

"Little Avia, you’re awake! Let me give you a big hug."

A wide smile broke across Lilia’s beautiful face as she rushed to the bedside in three quick steps, pulling the petite Avia into her arms.

Avia felt as though she could barely breathe.

"Wooo..." Avia struggled with all her might, and after finally escaping the clutches of her voluptuous aunt, she was kissed firmly on the cheeks several times by Lilia, leaving her face burning red.

"I missed you so much, my little Avia." Lilia held Avia, her face full of love and doting affection.

Avia basked in her aunt’s caresses, then suddenly remembered something. "Aunt, did you see Wang Yu?"

"Wang Yu? Who is that?"

"He’s a black-haired squire; he saved me several times."

"Uh, about that..."

(Wang Yu: So, I’m the one who gets all the bad luck, is that it?)