Athtar began making his way towards the location of the Fragment of Consciousness, following the map displayed by the system.
He advanced cautiously, constantly scanning his surroundings, fearing that another group of knights might appear; twenty knights, no less, were undoubtedly far more than he could handle on his own.
Despite his anxiety, he remained confident in his ability to complete his mission. After all, he had trained with the Knights of the Kingdom of Kaivan himself, and had undergone training that had honed his skills and prepared him for difficult situations.
It was night-time; it was past midnight when Athtar had set out on his mission earlier, and now, as he made his way through the darkness, navigating those desolate parts was somewhat disorienting, especially as the forest was vast.
Fortunately, he knew the approximate location of the Fragment of Consciousness, so he headed straight for it. As for the rest of the knights, they had no choice but to search the area at random for him.
That was why Athtar chose the longer route; he believed it would be safer and less likely to bring him into contact with any patrols.
However, his greatest fear was not encountering the knights, but failing to return before sunrise; he had to get back to Christie and her maid, as they were due to set off together for the Kingdom of Seiya in the south.
After walking for several minutes, he stopped abruptly.
He was standing on the edge of a sheer cliff.
He looked down and saw a bottomless valley stretching out into the darkness, seemingly without end. A strange and awe-inspiring aura enveloped the place, instilling a suffocating sense of dread.
Athtar's body trembled involuntarily as he contemplated the scene.
It seemed to him as though this valley had witnessed a battle between two entities whose power was beyond human comprehension, and the remnants of their auras still lingered in the air.
After hesitating for several minutes whilst gazing at that immense cliff, he finally decided to take his first step.
He looked around for a place from which he could descend, for jumping from that height would have been sheer madness. After surveying the area, he found a steeper path, but one that was suitable for climbing down, so he began to descend cautiously.
Suddenly, the sound of system notifications rang out in his mind.
[ Warning ]
[ The host is in danger. ]
[ Large amounts of corrupted mana have been detected in the area, and there are many enemies in the vicinity. ]
Startled by this strange notification, Athtar quickly looked around for any potential danger. After scanning his surroundings, he realised that the group of knights, along with the bandit leader, had already reached the cliff.
'Damn it, I didn't expect them to find me this quickly,'
He cursed silently to himself and began to quicken his pace as he made his way down. One of the knights spotted him descending, pointed at him and shouted to alert the others: "He's over there! "
Athtar heard the knight's voice, but paid it no mind and hurried down the slope. The knights left their horses behind and gave chase immediately.
Athtar was also worried about the traces of the corrupted mana, but as he couldn't sense it himself, he assumed the knights wouldn't be able to sense it either.
'If I'm lucky, I'll be able to escape before the corruption affects me, but they don't know it's there. If it affects them, they'll flee immediately, but by then it will be too late.'
This was what he was thinking as he quickened his pace until he finally reached the foot of the massive cliff. Upon arriving, he glanced ahead.
A violet-coloured mist covered everything; it was so thick that it was impossible to see more than 10 metres ahead, and there was a kind of spiritual pressure that made Athtar's body—or rather, his very soul—tremble.
[ Warning ]
[ A massive amount of corruption fills the mana in the air ]
[ The host is being exposed to a great deal of corrupted mana ]
Athtar ignored this warning; worrying about the corruption at this moment would only hinder him. He had to focus on obtaining the fragment of consciousness, which would enable him to update the system.
He looked at the map after closing the warning windows and realised he was very close; he began to move forward cautiously.
Suddenly, he heard a terrifying growl; Athtar's eyes narrowed and notifications appeared before him.
[ Warning ]
[ A mana beast infected with corruption is approaching the host ]
Emerging from behind the violet mist was a monkey with white fur and terrifying red eyes, in a frenzied state; saliva dripped from its mouth, and vapours rose from it as well.
The monkey roared, and a massive amount of corrupted mana burst forth from its body, scattering in all directions. Athtar, who was struck by that mana, felt as though he'd been hit by a lorry; he was sent flying until he crashed into a large rock and smashed it to pieces.
[ Warning ]
[ The host has sustained severe damage ]
'Just shut up, I can figure this out on my own.'
Athtar got to his feet, wiping away the blood and dismissing the notification that was bothering him, then looked around cautiously whilst throwing the large rock beside him far away.
Despite being a knight and a former apprentice to Margret, Athtar had not yet entered the Path of Magic or the Path of the Body, as knights must first pass a test before doing so.
When the monkey emerged from the mist, its red eyes glowed with a fierce intent to kill; it let out another growl, but Athtar would not fall for the same trick again.
Athtar leapt swiftly away; after a distance of about 20 metres, he felt no further air pressure—perhaps that was the monkey's limit.
Athtar drew his dagger and held it in his left hand, then his slightly longer sword; he was accustomed to using the dual-blade technique—a blade slightly longer than a dagger and slightly shorter than a sword—as these were the weapons best balanced for his physique.
Athtar moved nimbly towards the monkey, which appeared to be preparing to gather mana, but Athtar did not wait for it and hurled his long dagger at it to prevent it from roaring.
The ape leapt high into the air, halted its attack, and descended towards Athtar, clenching its massive fist to strike him; but Athtar slid away, moving towards his dagger, which had been thrown some distance away, and seized it.
When Athtar turned round, he found the monkey had gathered enough mana and was attacking with the roar once more. Athtar leapt out of the way, but he hadn't moved far enough; the air pressure struck him and hurled him away, though this time he didn't fall and managed to land on his feet.
'This ability is troublesome… I need to attack from a distance to hit him,'
thought Athtar as he sheathed his long blade, keeping his short blade in his hand, and began calmly to utter words in a language different from the one he usually spoke.
Mana began to gather from all over his body, like colourless particles, and gathered around his arm, like stars, and began to coil like waves around his arm, heading towards the tip of his blade.
At the point where they met, the area where the mana gathered took on a blue colour like the sky, the nature of water.
Instead of forming a sphere as he had done with the fireball, he shaped it into a blade; five blades gathered side by side.
Although the explanation took some time, Athtar accomplished all of this in just two seconds— one second to form the idea, and one second to execute it. Therefore, compared to the monkey, who takes five seconds to gather mana to unleash a roar—due to his inferior thinking ability compared to Athtar—Athtar managed to beat him by three seconds, which was enough time to attack him with the five water blades.
The water daggers flew towards the monkey, who was unable to break free from his train of thought and think of escaping in time. One struck his shoulder, another pierced his side, one hit his eye, and two others struck his thighs.
The monkey fell, screaming in pain, but Athtar needed only two seconds to summon five new water daggers, which is exactly what he did.
The five water daggers shot out, striking his arm, his other shoulder and his other eye; and once he was blinded, Athtar drew his other dagger and sprinted towards the monkey.
The monkey was blind and in agony; despite his frenzied state, he did not know where to strike or what he was hitting, and whilst he was gathering his strength to roar, Athtar had already reached him.
'You were a troublesome opponent, but this is the end,'
Athtar said to himself, and successfully severed the monkey's head.
A fountain of blood gushed from the monkey's body, and its head rolled away slightly as it opened its mouth in horror, its eyes bleeding.
A moment later, the monkey's body fell, and the mana within it began to leave, as if its atoms or spirit were dissipating into the air, to fulfil its final role of vanishing and fading away into this mysterious universe.
Athtar sighed as he stowed his weapons in their sheaths, then continued on his way, feeling pain in various parts of his body.
'Recovering mana takes time. I didn't want to deplete my own mana unless absolutely necessary. There was no other option; if I'd fought this monkey physically, it would have taken a long time, and the knights might have found me – and that would have been the end of me.'
Even in the bleakest of situations, Athtar tried to think rationally; this was one of the golden pieces of advice Margret had given him.
'No matter how dire the situation, losing your ability to think and analyse is your end, not your predicament. Any predicament can be resolved as long as you keep thinking, but for your train of thought to stop is precisely to surrender to death.'
As he recalled these words, Athtar pressed his lips together, his eyes brimming with tears.
'I will not give in to anything… Margret… This body, which has been given a new lease of life, I will not abandon until I have secured justice for your unjust death…'
[ Notification ]
[ Host status is poor, please take a break ]
Athtar closed the notification that had suddenly appeared before his eyes with some annoyance, and brought up the map, which showed him that he was very close to the location of the fragment of consciousness.
After walking for a few more minutes, Athtar finally saw the mist begin to lift slightly.
But what lay beyond that violet mist was something that left him utterly stunned, for it was the first non-human phenomenon he had witnessed at such close quarters—not a myth, nor mere rumour, but a real phenomenon that his own eyes were beholding for the very first time.
A white temple, immense in size, looked as though it were the main sanctuary of a church dedicated to one of the gods; yet that white temple was somewhat ruined, though its appearance was still recognisable. What was even more astonishing was that the temple was suspended in mid-air.
It was as though gravity did not apply in that place.
A colourless barrier—Athtar recognised it because the mana was so powerful that, even without any experience in the spiritual or clairvoyant realms, he could see a massive barrier surrounding the area, with the temple floating in the centre of it.
And it wasn't just the temple; the rocks, the ruins, the trees, and even a little dust—gravity seemed to be non-existent in that area.
Athtar could not remain in a state of utter amazement for long, as the system, as well as the sounds of the knights behind him, brought him back to his senses immediately and made him start to think.
[ Warning ]
[ Danger nearby ]
[ Notification ]
[ Sanctum Ilthara Ruins reached ]
When Athtar read the name, he was immediately struck with terror.
"Sanctum Ilthara Ruins—is the fallen goddess Ilthara?!"
"He's over there! Catch the Jones family rat!"
Athtar looked behind him, then ahead at the barrier, and without a moment's hesitation, leapt onto the nearest rock in front of him.
Just as he had expected, there was absolutely no gravity here.
As he landed on the rock, he felt incredibly light, as if no forces were pulling him down, and the rock began to fall the moment he set foot on it.
Suddenly, Athtar was struck by a blue beam, which turned into a blue orb the moment it pierced him and began to float, and so did his blood.
One of the knights had struck him with a water blast spell. Athtar placed his hand over the wound and looked down to see twenty-one people who had successfully caught up with him.
The twenty knights, and the leader of the bandits, who looked strangely different from how Athtar remembered him.
Athtar didn't give it much thought; he leapt upwards and began jumping away, heading towards the temple.
'If this temple is the goddess's main temple, that will change a great deal…'
Athtar thought to himself coolly as he climbed, heading towards the temple. When he finally arrived and set foot on the steps leading up to it, he felt an immense pressure weighing on his soul; it felt as though a god was staring at him.
'What is this? Are these the remnants of the goddess's consciousness?'
He looked around cautiously, searching for the source of the pressure, but found nothing of note.
[ Warning ]
[ A massive amount of corrupted mana is affecting the host ]
The notification brought Athtar back to his senses. This place was strange and dangerous, and Athtar began to link it to several previous incidents, but now was not the time to come up with his own theories; rather, it was a race against time, for if he were to become corrupted to a certain degree, it would be dangerous, and he might lose his ability to gather pure mana.
Athtar began to walk inside. The temple was exactly like a church: a large structure with an aisle down the centre, several chairs on either side, and the sacred altar and the High Priest's pulpit at the far end. Most importantly, however, the entire temple was now upside down, meaning Athtar was now walking on the ceiling, looking down from above.
The long windows that had once let in divine light now emitted a terrifying darkness and a putrid violet aura.
'Let's search for the fragment of consciousness.'
The reason he thought this was that, according to the map, the fragment of consciousness was located somewhere within this temple.
.
.
.
To Be Continued.