Way of the Knights

Chapter 861: Trail

—

The good news is that he was lucky to catch their trail…

With how big and wide the Outer World is, god knows how much time it will take him if he were to search for them blindly.

The bad news is, they're too close. Too close for comfort. 

Divine Realm's literally just a few warps away from where he is. And this filled Raven's heart with dread. 

They're not ready for confrontation just yet. He would know since he's personally overseeing their preparations for it. This is literally what he had been preparing for ever since his Soul Rebirth so he would know. 

The Abyssals can't discover their location just yet. They absolutely can't. They need more time. He needs to stall for time. 

At this point, the Space Beast Parade passed by already. Right now, Raven's currently driving the shuttle at the opposite direction, trying to search for the trail of the Abyssals. 

Deep down in his heart, he was nervous. He wished that could catch up and hopefully do something before they discover his home. 

Raven already sent warnings to his Avatars. He told them to be on the lookout just in case the worst scenario occurs. As for himself, he was trying to search for them and hopefully intercept them on their way. 

Despite his hurry, Raven didn't dare to drive the shuttle at its full speed. He remained careful since he didn't want to attract attention, specially now that he's trying to ambush them. He didn't want to announce his presence and get rid of surprise factor. For now, he had no specific clue as to where he should go. He's just following opposite direction where the parade went and that's it.

As he drove the shuttle, Raven was also making his own preparations. 

He understood one thing at this point. Despite his unwillingness to do so, he had to confront the Abyssals earlier than necessary. 

In the beginning, it was still debatable. Yes, there's a chance that they're keeping Geezer as a prisoner but Raven could still delay saving him if he could help it. Unfortunately, they're too close at this point. Raven can't dally. He needs to catch up to them quick and do something.

Raven's preparations forced him to prepare for the worst. A constant flux of seals and runes appeared from his body, turning into numerous arrays and formations. Every inch of his skin was covered in runic inscriptions. A steady yet indomitable flow of strength coursed through his body and he enchanted himself. 

The power of Chaos thrummed from within him. He roused it from his inactivity and used to the prepare deadly traps and seals. 

Raven can never get too prepared for the Abyssals. He personally knows how strong they were. Their display of might was something that Raven couldn't possibly forget even on his second life. He didn't want to go through that again, especially when he knows that he has a family to protect. 

'…I can only hope that I could catch up to them before they discover Divine Realm.'

—

"…farewell, my King. It was an honor to fight…alongside of you…"

King Argent lamented as the last loyal soldier under him turned to dust particles. Tears poured down from his eyes, blurring his vision as he looked above the dark skies. A hollow laugh escaped from his lips, followed by a mournful sob. 

He didn't need to look around in order to see what happened. It's all over. There's nothing that can be done. It's only him who's left. Not even a trace of his life could be felt on the Kingdom he had built. Even he himself won't last long. 

'Why? Why must is be like this? Why must everything end this way?' King Argent lamented inwardly. 

Whoever did this, they came unannounced and too fast for them. Barely a day passed since they're arrival and their world was already reduced to dregs. Not even a speck of life would be able to bloom here. His home and kingdom was wasted thoroughly by those abominations. 

The worst part is that, they didn't even had the chance to stop them. They tried to fight for their lives and drive the invaders away but nothing they did worked. They can't even harm their skins. They just appeared and siphoned the vitality of his home down to the last drop. 

King Argent has to watch as his citizens and soldiers turned into ash one by one. He thought that as a king. He's the first one to perish but against all odds, he was the last one. 

Being the last one to die isn't a privilege. He bears the burden of seeing everything near and dear to his heart perish right before his very eyes. It was heart-wrenching and soul-tearing. It caused King Argent's hope to dissipate like snow under the summer's heat. 

"Damn it all…" King Argent howled pitifully as he collapsed on his feet.

As his face planted on the dead soil, he could clearly feel his lower body dissipating already. He used the rest of his remaining strength to turn around and glare at the sky. Letting out all of his pain and unwillingness about this cruel ending. 

"Curse you abominations! I hope suffer…endless…torment."

With his last throe of defiance, King Argent's body faded and he died. However before his consciousness dissipated entirely, he saw a silhouette of a man materializing right before him. He felt the man's gaze landing on him and with all of his remaining Will, King Argent hoped that his wishes was heard by this man…hoping that he wasn't just hallucinating at this point. 

"Go on, pass away in peace. Leave it to me." 

That's what King Argent heard before he truly died in all manner of ways. 

It was Raven who appeared and heard his last wishes. 

He wore a solemn look as he gazed around the devastation the Abyssals caused around this area. True to what they are, nary a trace of life remaining in this place. 

Raven could feel that this place will collapse anytime soon. He wouldn't be able to stay here for long but he didn't too anyways. He already got what he needed, there's no reason for him to remain.

As for the dying man's wishes, Raven was already planning on doing that from the very first day of his Soul Rebirth anyways so it's not a problem. 

Raven didn't bother returning to his shuttle, instead he flew quietly at the vacuum of space, being very careful to not raise any alarms. 

He finally managed to track them down accurately. The abyssals were the ones who did this to this place and he managed to catch their trail. 

Raven could feel them at the edge of his senses. He's now following them closely from behind while leaving traps on his wake. He was already preparing for the worst. 

Going at his speed, he's hours away from catching up to them. 

Raven decided to do one last thing before he completely catch-up though, and that's making sure that his senses won't be felt by the abyssals. 

He still wanted to spy on them from a distance. Raven didn't know if the cloaking mechanism of the shuttle can bypass their trackers so he just took the safer route by flying personally instead. This way, he can minimize the risks. 

A simple rune was all it took for him to make his sense untraceable. And with that out of the way, Raven picked up his speed, still maintaining vigilance in order to not raise any alarms. 

After flying at a certain direction for a few hours, Raven's sense finally touched the edge of the Abyssals ship. A few minutes later, his sense managed to penetrate the ship thoroughly without raising any suspicious from them. 

What Raven discovered was quite relieving to be honest. 

'…this is just an expedition group from them. Not their whole army.' 

Raven managed to breathe a sigh of relief upon noticing that. Luckily, this ship he sensed wasn't the main ship of the abyssals. It's too small to be one and there's only a few Abyssals here when there's supposed to be millions of them. 

In conclusion, Raven discovered that this ship contained only the expedition group from the abyssals. It's like the Devil Emperor and his team all over again. These group was just tasked to collect resources and slaves for the growing number of the Abyssals. 

'If it's just them, I can handle them…' Raven confidently thought. 

Raven peered through his senses once more and decided to search the ship thoroughly for important things. 

The ship was respectable in size. It has many chambers and judging from the amount of slaves these abyssals have, Raven could that they've been around for quite sometime. 

'Hold on…is that…?'

Raven's eyes widened. He zoomed-in on a certain spot on the ship and found someone chained-up on a stake. It was a bald man who's entire body caked with dried blood. It's a little hard to see at first but Raven managed to see him clearly. 

'….Master.' 

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