Unsealing Emptiness

Another whole year passed, there were changes back in the Kingdom and other human societies, but the forest seemed exactly the same from the outside. Only the Beasts inside the forest knew that things had changed.

At first, the creatures in the forest would blindly rush towards him whenever they spotted him, but now it was different. It was like Beasts had spread the word of an unusual human in the forest who was so strong that three Rank-9 Beasts in the woods disappeared after his first appearance!

After the Fiery Snake, Ozul had found another Rank-9 Beast and also took it down as easily as with the snake. However, that was the extent of it. After the third Beast, there were just not enough traces or signs of other Rank-9 Beasts.

Not being able to find anything even after months of search, Ozul had even subdued a couple of Rank-8 Beasts only to ask them if they were aware of any Rank-9. However, even that approach proved to be fruitless.

The Old Whispering Woods was massive, but a year was enough for him to travel around it all. During his search, he had spared many Beasts because he was too lazy to deal with them, and these spared Beasts were exactly the reason that the creatures in the forest were now afraid to approach him.

‘When did they start communicating?’ Ozul could not help but think.

.....

As the Mages had spread, the Beasts were mindless and only knew to hunt whatever came their way. That remained true for even the ones who had gained intelligence.

Even if Ozul hadn’t seen each and every part of the forest, he had indeed seen many things that were not recorded anywhere in the records. That included the reason for the name of this jungle.

On the opposite part of the jungle, he had stumbled upon a swamp area which he concluded was the real reason for it being known as such.

That swamp area actually covered almost 1/5th of the entire forest, so it was no doubt something that adventurers could randomly stumble upon.

Anyway, this swamp area had different kinds of Beasts, and there were eerie trees that seemed to be whispering whenever something passed by them. Ozul would’ve also thought that it was unusual but he knew the truth.

The book that he had found contained information on many things and these trees were one of them. Apparently, these trees were some sort of magical plants that had mutated as such. The whispers that people heard were actually the sounds they generated whenever they absorbed Mana.

When he had learned that these magical plants were the reason for the name, Ozul lost all his interest in exploring even more. Moreover, he couldn’t find more Rank-9 Beasts either, so it was at this point when he decided that his stay here was enough.

. . .

On the way back, Ozul could not help but take out the Ball of Purity and test it out, comparing his control over it to when he had first come to this forest.

After absorbing three Rank-9 Magical Cores, his strength had increased considerably. He could efficiently control the Ball of Purity around 12 meters radius from him now, and that was only when he could not put all his focus into it.

Each time his strength increased, it was more like his connection to the Ball of Purity was strengthened. There was also an increase in the amount of this black substance. Though Ozul wasn’t so happy with his improvements.

He wanted more. This was not enough to win against peak Rank-9 Mage with his formations and other tools, much less a Rank-10.

‘I will eventually get there...’ Ozul shook his head to put these thoughts in the back of his mind. He had complete confidence in himself to become that strong.

Right now, he was strong enough to face a peak Rank-9 Mage, but he did not think that it was enough to actually win against one.

Since he had given up on searching for more Rank-9 Beasts, Ozul could fly again. It didn’t take him much time before he was out of the forest.

. . .

When he reached the Capital City, Ozul noticed that it looked exactly the same as he had left it, but something in the air did not feel the same.

It would also attract attention if he flew in the City, so he opted to walk instead. On the way back to the building, he noticed something that made him squint his eyes.

There wasn’t any man on the street that felt even remotely suspicious!

If there wasn’t anyone like that on the streets, it could only mean two things;

1: The organization had some trouble.

2: The men had already mastered the field and knew how to hide.

Ozul thought the 2nd option to be unlikely since it had only been a year and that wasn’t enough for each and every member to have mastered the trade of information gathering.

‘One way to find out...’ Ozul thought as he focused on the emotions coming from the crowd instead.

Doing it was increasingly hard and sometimes stuffing because there was just too much to take in because of the number of people.

However, he did pick up one or two intents that seemed to have been sending a curious look at him.

‘There are indeed people keeping an eye, but how? Are they from some other organization?’ Ozul did notice those people but he did not think that they were the members of his organization. There was just no way for every member to have become so good.

So he instead thought that it might be the people from some other organization while increasing his pace towards the alley.

As he got to the place, he noticed something that made his face turn even colder. Because he couldn’t sense anyone inside the building!

‘What happened!?’ Ozul hurriedly entered the building. He could not believe that there was really no one inside!

Inside, there was nothing. No person, no documents, and not even a sign of anyone being here for months!

‘Did the Emperor change his heart after I left!?’ Ozul could not help but think of the possibility that Emperor Luthien was behind all of this.

It was the only explanation that he could think of because he had informed Irvin that the Capital would be their main base and if he wasn’t here, then that could only be because of the Emperor.

He stood there thinking for a moment before coming back outside.

‘There is nothing inside that can help me,’ Ozul started to contemplate. He had no one to ask where Irvin was, and there was no clue whatsoever inside the building of what had happened either.

A while later, it finally clicked to him that the men keeping watch on the streets were his only lead.

‘Even if they are men from some other organization, it might still help that they know what happened to the Three-Eyed Strangers.’

Ozul made his way outside the alleyway and looked around to find someone in a discrete location. There were always a group of people keeping watch, so taking one of them out for questioning would alert everyone else and under a few seconds, it might create a huge commotion.

He quickly spotted a woman around the corner. She appeared to be of middle age and had been sitting on a bench near the corner of the street that turned to a dark alley as well.

Ozul noticed that the other two companions of the woman had their attention focused on a luxurious carriage that passed by the opposite corner.

The woman also had her attention focused on that, but that only eased Ozul’s work as he did not need to hide.

Just as the woman blinked her eyes, she felt her world spin and the next moment, she was inside the dark alley with Ozul coldly staring at her.

“W-who are you?!” The woman asked hysterically. She was about to continue but Ozul closed her mouth using the Ball of Purity.

The woman was a Rank-6 Fighter, but she could not sense an ounce of Mana from Ozul, so it freaked her out. Ozul did not have his conical hat, which would’ve made the woman stare at him in a daze, but her situation allowed her to retain her sanity.

The sudden turn of her surroundings together with an unimaginably handsome man coldly staring at her did not let the woman have any time to think through when Ozul began speaking;

“Which organization do you belong to?” It was a simple question but this alerted the woman even more.

She looked at him with fearful eyes and squirmed with difficulty in her spot. Ozul had tied her limbs using Ball of Purity, so it was the extent of her allowed movements.

He noticed that she wouldn’t be able to answer her question with the mouth strap. “Make any noise, and that will be your last one,” he warned in an even colder tone. The woman hurriedly nodded her head as her eyes almost teared up because of the fear.

Ozul took off her mouth strap and again repeated his words, “Which organization do you work for?”

The woman seemed hesitant in replying. After a while, she stuttered, “I... I don’t know what you are talking about...”