The Roamer

Chapter 31:

During the few weeks after the anniversary, Aeolus had been spending his time exploring the city and its landscape, more specifically the latter. This city was bound to turn into a battle zone if he and the lord were to fight, since the lord didn’t seem to come out of the city much.

“Wait, no, if I destroy enough of his military power outside of the city, he’ll be forced to bring himself out. However, this will mean that I don’t have the opportunity to land a sneak attack or ambush.” Aeolus was constantly revising the plan, trying to figure out his strong points and techniques, and where they would come in handy.

‘If I land an ambush, then I’ll have the upper hand if they didn’t see it coming. However, if they see me coming, I’ll be at a disadvantage, and there’s a huge chance that I won’t escape without a terrible injury.’ Aeolus thought to himself, eliminating the thought of an ambush.

“However, even if I don’t set up an ambush, I could set up the landscape if we are fighting out here!” Aeolus realized, his eyes flashing with knowledge. If they were to fight out here, in the forest, he could set up the string easily to be compatible with the trees.

‘That way, I can make my own landscape with string.’ Aeolus thought to himself, and kept improving the plan over and over again.

After two hours of doing the same thing, he had perfected his plan to the utmost that he could take it, and stood up. His stomach rumbled, and he realized that he had not killed any wildlife for food recently.

“I need to refill my stocks of food, I’m almost out.” Aeolus took out a dead rabbits body from within his clothes, and roasted it with spirit. Spirit had varying heat depending on how strong it was. His spirit was strong enough to cook a rabbits body, just by being close to it.

‘I’m clearly powering up, but this world is still ahead of me. No matter how strong I get, I have at least one challenge in front of me to take down.’ Aeolus thought in his mind, while sighing at the thought. There really was almost no time where he was free from any complications and issues.

“I’m just going to have to power up so much that almost nothing can stand in my way.” Aeolus said decisively, respect and admiration for the world showing in his eye. He really did adore this world that seemed to somehow always provide him with a lesson in life. It was as if some very specific goddess was setting him up for what was to come.

‘For now, let’s just deal with the issue at hand. This lord will be taken down by the end of this week, or it’ll end with me dying.’ Aeolus was extremely decisive, planning on doing this plan by the end of the week. Of course, it was also due to some of his emotions kicking in from anger, but emotions every now and then didn’t hurt.

In fact, the emotion that kicked in moved up the time that he would take down the lord, saving him some time.

His illusionist, Dasline, had also successfully infiltrated the military during these few weeks, and was constantly relaying information about their actions and thoughts to Aeolus himself; Because of that, Aeolus was constantly changing his plan to revolve around the militaries action.

“They’re planning to go out into this forest on an expedition three days from now, and I’ll strike them at this time.” Aeolus said to himself, steadying himself for the upcoming battle. Even though he knew the battle was coming, on the inside, he didn’t really want such a thing to happen, as he wasn’t fully used to fighting many people at the same time.

“I’ll use this battle to get used to fighting huge masses of cultivators.” Aeolus said into the wind, while smiling after. He wasn’t going to fail this attack, no matter what. This time, it would not end up like the battle which resulted in an explosion, but would end up with victory.

With that determination in mind, and power in body, he began to force himself into hibernation, for exactly the right amount of time until the military power of the city passed by.

--- sequence 2 ---

He awoke at the right time, his hibernation coming to an end. He spread his string throughout the whole forest, and set it up so that the scenario would be to his liking. He sensed out his string, and sensed that there were currently many people marching through the forest.

“Time to get this show on the road.” Aeolus said to himself, smirking like a mad-man. He really did enjoy fights too much these days, but it wasn’t his fault. Every time he fought, he would evolve at a rapid pace, and would gain even more experience. The more battles he fought, the stronger he would get.

Of course, this didn’t apply to all fights, such as battles with weaklings.

He sent himself flying into the tree, and landed on the branch. He could have kept himself floating in the sky, but he would be radiating some spirit since he was using an affinity, which could lead people to him. Meanwhile, if he just sat on a tree, he wasn’t radiating any sort of aura or spirit.

After thirty minutes of waiting, he finally saw a soldier arrive in front of him. However, after two minutes, there was still nobody following.

After inspecting the soldier a little more, he saw blood on him, and a look of utter terror on his face. Aeolus realized something was off, and was beginning to get suspicious. He sensed out all the string he had laid around the forest, and saw that some were covered in blood.

‘This… did they all continuously run into my string and die?’ Aeolus wondered to himself, acknowledging the possibility of the military of this town being utter buffoons. Still, this all worked out for him in the end, as it would sooner or later attract the attention of the lord when he realized his military would never come back.

Aeolus reached out to Dasline, who was still at the city.

‘Dasline, alert the people over at your side that the army they sent out might have died, as you sensed that something was off.’ Aeolus said in his mind, radiating his emotions towards Dasline. Dasline understood immediately, and began to take action.

“Now we’re set up for the decisive battle of this city.” Aeolus said to himself, while looking down towards the bloodied soldier below. He was currently shivering, while tears were running down his eyes. Aeolus, for some reason, actually felt some pity for the soldier, so he sighed and dropped down.

“All my soldiers… they all died by getting their limbs cut off at random places, it’s the work of the gods!” the person, who Aeolus now realized was the leader, was saying. Realizing how the situation was, Aeolus was preparing to kill him off.

“Sorry, but you’re the leader of a damned army.” Aeolus said pitifully, with a sorrowful look in his eyes. The commander acknowledged Aeolus’ presence, and looked up.

“You… did you do this?” he said to Aeolus, with a look containing anger within. Aeolus felt goosebumps all over him, and began to shiver from the aura this commander was radiating.

“I see it in your eyes, you’re the one who set us up. Starting now, your execution will begin. Do you have any last words, scum?” the self-pronounced commander of the army stood up slowly, and Aeolus began to realize just how big this man was. He was at least double his size.

“As the commander of the military of our beloved city of Antegria, and the strongest person within the city, I demand that you get down on the ground, and wait for your execution.” the person said, a cruel look in his eye.

Aeolus felt fear radiating throughout his whole body, but there was also something else flowing through him and his mind. Was it exhaustion? No, he was too powerful to actually be exhausted from just an aura. Instead, it felt like something enthusiastic, something like determination.

“My battle instincts are too strong, I’m excited to fight you for some reason. Silly, isn’t it?” Aeolus said towards the person, while bursting out into a laugh.

“Well, I’ll have to satisfy my will to continue living in the future, and you have to satisfy your duty as the commander of the military. Let’s see which one of us stands on top, shall we?” Aeolus said to the guard, while also gesturing at him to come at him.

The guards eyebrows flickered, and anger could be seen all over his face. However, he burst out into a laugh right after, and seemed to actually be enjoying himself.

“Indeed, you know how this world works. We both have our own goals, so lets get this fight on the road.” the commander said, with a sly grin on his face. Aeolus took it as a sign of his goodwill, and smiled back.

Suddenly, Aeolus rushed into the commander, something that he had never done ever since he got string. He would usually stay in the back, and let his string do all the work. However, with the affinity of poison and death, he had to utilize them even more to make the best out of battles.

The commander took off the grin, and put on a serious expression. He get into a position that resembled a bull preparing to rush at the enemy, and kicked himself forward with enough force to break many of the trees behind him, just from the force of the air that came with the mad dash.

Aeolus only rushed at him because he wanted to utilize his affinities, but he realized just how much he had underestimated this commander. He couldn’t escape the mad dash, and took a headbutt to the stomach. He immediately vomited onto the back of the commander, and went flying, while also smashing through some trees.

“It’s not the lord who is the strongest in Antegria, but the commander. If you can beat me in this battle, you can take down the city of Antegria from its roots, and rebuild. The issue is that you won’t get past me, so that’s something.” The commander explained, with a superior look on his face, as if Aeolus was supposed to be on the ground, thanking him for the information.

However, Aeolus couldn’t do much even if he wanted to, considering how much of his bod was fractured, and above all, the extreme pain.

‘I planned all of this out, and I didn’t just rush in. However, the result seems like it's going to end up like the massacre of Regalia, which he figured out was the name of the region where the explosion took place. This battle was going in the exact same direction, no matter how he looked at it.

“However, I haven’t even begun yet!” Aeolus roared, and took out every single undead comrade he possessed.

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ABOUT ME

Name: Abdul Kareem

Age: 13 (Almost 14)

Occupation: Middle school

Goal: Idk, I’m just making a novel for now

Location: Why would I say that?

Relations: I’m not married (duh)

Favorite food: da asian stuf!

Anyway, on a more serious tone, this is my first novel I’ve ever tried writing. Thanks for being with me on this first experience! If you could also somehow get others to read this novel too, I would be pretty grateful!