Chapter 196 – Signs Of Trouble

BOOOOM!

The sound of an air explosion reverberated in the area as Calron’s fist neared the last surviving darkling and the latter’s head burst open before the fist even touched the beast.

I’m still missing something.

Calron mused, his thoughts on training the Blood Legacy and opening the fifth seal. However, so far he had not even managed to break the seal by a tiny bit.

“Phew.”

Calron sat down on the ground with exhaustion, trying to calm his breathing and recover his lost elemental essence.

The more Calron started to use the Azure Lightning, the more he began to notice the lessening of its side-effects on his body. Before, his body would cramp up in immense pain, but after the battle with Zarvel and the invention of the golden dragon, it was like his body was born anew and more compatible with the Divine Element.

“Let me help you.”

Helly whispered shyly as she walked to Calron and placed her hand on top of his chest.

“W-what are you doing?”

Calron sputtered, baffled by the young girl’s actions.

“Helly specializes in support and healing abilities, and she is now using her element to help you recover your essence much faster while healing any minor injuries.”

Bren stated without turning his head and continued to investigate the darkling corpses and rummage through their clothes.

“Sorry, I forgot to ask your permission.”

Helly mumbled with embarrassment, her face turning into a complete crimson color.

“Ah, it’s no problem. Besides, I should be the one thanking you.”

Calron smiled, feeling the essence circulation within his body speed up and his core being slowly filled with a stream of essence. Solely with Helly’s aid, he had already recovered more than twenty percent of his consumed essence in the span of a few seconds.

Amazing.

Calron thought, surprised by Helly’s ability.

“Your welcome.”

Helly whispered back, her face still bright red.

She’s too timid…

Calron inwardly chuckled at the young girl’s response.

“Hey Helly, I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a while now. Are you related to Mirane or Erten?”

Calron recalled that Helly’s last name was ‘Laxerus’, which was the same as Mirane.

“Elder sister Mirane? Yes, she is kind of like a cousin to me as I’m from the branch family while she is from the main family. You know her?”

Helly’s eyes livened up at the mention of her elder sister.

“Haha, yeah. I borrowed some money from her way back.”

Calron laughed, remembering the clumsy blonde-haired girl who did not even suspect a stranger’s intention and handed him her family’s goods just because of a small gratitude.

One sister is clumsy while the other is too shy… it’s a weird family.

He didn't say it out loud, but Calron could not help think it and found it absolutely humorous.

“Eh?”

“If you two are done flirting, let’s continue our mission. We should leave before the scent of blood is carried by the wind to other areas.”

Sela said dryly, waving her hand at Calron and Helly.

“What are you saying, big sis!?”

Helly stuttered, quickly getting up with a flustered face.

“The journey from here on will be much more difficult since we’ve entered the enemy territory, so we’ll need to be alert at all times. Moreover, we will need disguises to travel inside the darkling kingdom, but seeing as that is impossible for us at the moment, I have an alternative solution.”

Bren started speaking, causing both Helly and Sela to quieten.

“I will use my air element combined with a special ability of mine to make our bodies translucent and semi-invisible. This will allow us to pass through the territory without notice, but we’ll still have to use the surrounding trees or bushes for camouflage. Remember to hide your presence and cultivation completely.”

Bren instructed, looking into the eyes of all party members.

“Your element is air? I thought it would be fire or something.”

Calron commented, a sly smirk on his face. It was obviously an allude to Bren’s striking red hair.

“Hair color does not depend on your element, moron.”

Bren retorted childishly, his tone a stark contrast to his earlier serious and somber vibe.

“Why didn’t you just use that ability of yours before? We wouldn’t have had to fight the patrolling darklings and could have snuck in secretly.”

Calron realized that if Bren had the ability to turn them translucent, then why didn’t he do so initially?

“Two reasons. First, by eliminating the patrolling darklings here, we make the enemy’s focus drawn to the border and away from inside their territory so we have fewer darklings to fight later on. Second, I cannot maintain the air manipulation ability for longer than a few hours, so it was best to use once we crossed the border.”

Bren explained with a sigh.

“You think that far ahead?”

Calron was momentarily astonished by how much calculation Bren put into this mission.

“Well, one of us has to.”

Bren grinned.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Sela interjected, sensing Calron about to respond to Bren’s remark and starting yet another quarrel between the two boys.

“All of you, stand in front of me in a row.”

Bren returned back to his serious voice. Once the three were in place, he released his essence and surges of wind rose up around them, enveloping the party in a gentle cocoon of air.

Calron felt the breeze on his skin, it was like a warm summer night’s wind. More and more wind began to gather around the four, until Calron could not even see his surroundings anymore besides the other three members.

“Whew… it’s done. However, we can only see the outside world through this small gap, so I’ll be leading the way. Make sure to keep in pace and not to touch the barrier of wind.”

Bren warned before taking his first step and walking ahead. Since he was the only one who could see where they were going, the rest followed behind.

After an hour, Calron soon became bored of the monotonous walking and began to hum a little melody. Bren would occasionally stop for breaks and let the other members see the darklings territory through the gap, but other than that, it was a boring journey.

They were still a day away from the furthest granary, hence they had a lot more walking to do.

The darkling territory was barren with a few groups of their race walking around, and they had to come near a city or town yet. It was mostly just trees and hills.

“Everyone, wait!”

Bren suddenly shouted, his voice in a panic.

“What happened?”

Sela inquired, sensing the urgency in Bren’s tone.

“This is impossible….”

Bren muttered in a daze, stepping back and letting Sela see the sight in front of them.

“Huh?”

Sela cautiously walked ahead and peeked through the gap in the air barrier. Instantly, her eyes widened in shock.

“What are they planning?”

Bren closed his eyes in contemplation.

Confused by the sudden change, Calron nudged Sela and took a look outside.

It was an army of darklings.

An army of millions.

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