RAAAAAAGGH!!!
"What's happening?"
Jalal couldn't stop himself from screaming. At that moment, the roar rising from the sky not only shook his heart, but also caused Mais to fall from his back with a metallic taste rising in his throat. He fell to his feet. Jalal was vomiting blood. Evra was staring at the sky with a pale expression. Mais was the only one who seemed normal among them. Yet even he had a stern expression on his face. He clenched his teeth and stared at something he couldn't see through the trees. He listened to the roar of a terrifying creature not far from them.
"An Origin Heart Beast..."
By now, the roar must have reached the city. Would the experts in the city come for them? This monster didn't seem like something someone in the first stage of the Origin Heart Realm could fight.
"What are we going to do?" Evra whispered. He seemed afraid the monster in the distance would hear him.
Mais hadn't planned a parallel route. He was worried that other monsters would be drawn to the area by the death of the previous Sage Monster and the smell of its corpse or blood. Still, the enemy in the current scenario was an Origin Heart monster!
They still weren't out of danger.
This was something even Mais hadn't expected.
"You must go. Evra, grab Jalal."
Evra hoisted Jalal, who had vomited blood and fainted, onto his shoulder. But at that moment, he noticed Mais standing in front of him. How would they travel with this blind child? He couldn't walk through this area filled with roots and dangerous snakes. Besides, they would be too slow.
" What about you—"
"Don't worry about me. I'll stay here for a while, but I'll be on my way again soon."
Evra stared at Mais's face for a moment. He wasn't sure if this child was planning to sacrifice himself.
"I can carry both of you."
Both Mais and Evra knew how dangerous that would be. They hadn't encountered any powerful monsters yet, but if they did, Evra would have to fight them. He needed to keep one hand free. Besides, carrying both of them would slow him down considerably.
"I'm not sacrificing myself. Someone will come for me later. You can go."
Evra didn't want to leave Mais behind, but he knew Mais was determined. He turned around one last time and looked into his blind eyes.
"Please stay alive."
Evra left, and Mais sat alone, leaning against a tree. He was tired from waiting on Jalal's back. He had made the origin energy pills for Jalal himself. Unfortunately, these pills couldn't be used in the Core Realm. Therefore, Mais was a bit tired.
He noticed the Immortal White moving among his clothes. The little monster crawled out of his collar and landed on the ground in front of him. She had grown a little since the last time he saw her. Yet she had still managed to hide among Mais's clothes. That was probably one of her abilities.
"Now, you must go catch a monster I can ride. You know you're not big enough to carry me yet."
Although our little Immortal let out pitiful sounds at this, he knew Mais was right. He had to go to the forest, subdue a monster that could carry Mais away, and return as soon as possible.
He had to leave Mais alone here.
If Mais encountered the Origin Heart Beast... Immortal White didn't know what to do.
"Just go. I'll be fine."
Immortal White left, wagging his tail, while Mais just sat there. Everyone was worried about him. He had to talk everyone down. At one point, they were right. He was blind, which meant anything that could harm him could also be deadly. But... Mais wasn't just a blind child.
He looked at the ring on his finger. He felt it. As always, it looked like an ordinary engagement ring. But it was more than that.
So was Mais. He was the third prince of the World Empire and the true heir to the throne. The rightful emperor. Although no one knew of his existence and no one would defend him now, he still held some of that power.
It wouldn't be good for him to encounter an Origin Beast, but Mais would still survive.
***
Meanwhile, Kasuur and John were fighting Sorgon. The ground shook, and nearby, the Origin Heart Beast, which had been eating the Sage Beast's corpse left behind by Sorgon, seemed to be attacking something. Kasuur blocked John with one hand while holding a dagger in the other. He had an unpleasant expression on his face. This was not surprising, given what he had been through: he had fought a 7th-stage Sage Monster, lost his companions, and was injured. He had fought a seventh-stage Sage Monster, lost his companions, and been injured. Now wounded, he was fighting these two Core Realm experts at the border. Afterwards, he would have to escape an Origin Heart Monster.
What about his opponents? Were they in such bad shape? Sorgon didn't think so.
"Cut and Spill!"
Suddenly, Sorgon's daggers slid over the swords of the two men. As he passed between them, he left a wound on each of their sword-wielding sides.
'A Sage technique!'
Although a basic Sage technique had only been developed to the Minor Success stage, it increased attack power in the Sage realm by one level. He already had daggers as Sage Weapons. At this point, Sorgon's attack power was theoretically at the sixth stage of the Sage Realm.
Sorgon's face twisted once more. Redness began to accumulate under the skin on his right arm. Internal injuries.
If things could have been so simple, John and Kasuur would have died long ago.
Sorgon's combat power had definitely not reached the sixth stage. It was far below that. He was still badly injured.
Despite this, his previous blow should have split the pair in two.
Even if it didn't, Kasuur's stomach was already badly injured. Yet he hadn't been lying around for months. The first Sage technique Mais taught him was defensive. It was basic, but Mais had taught it to him. He had managed to reach the Minor Success stage. In a relatively short time, too.
Kasuur had seen the trace of Earth Tao. This allowed him to advance a defense technique based on Earth Tao faster than others.
However, this only allowed Kasuur's defense to reach the first stage of the Sage Realm. However, he was still seriously injured.
John didn't even glance at Kasuur, who was lying beside him, clutching his stomach and covered in blood. John was in a much better state. A Core Technique would not be a good option for traveling between realms. Understanding a Sage technique at the Minor Success level could elevate Kasuur to the first level of the Sage Realm. However, for Core techniques, the same was not true: a peak-level technique required Minor Success, a high-level technique required Major Success, and a mid-level technique required Perfection.
Master John had lived a long life. Most of it had been spent in the Core Realm. Sorgon was a bit surprised that Master John had perfected a medium-level technique, but he accepted that it was possible.
Master John, in the first stage of the Sage realm, had suffered fewer injuries thanks to his defense and the inner-origin vest he possessed, but the vest was torn. Moreover, due to his understanding of the sword, he had seen Sorgon's move earlier and was able to step back. He had sustained fewer wounds.
However, he knew this couldn't continue.
"If this continues, we'll be defeated. Do you want to die here, kid?!" John shouted. His face was stern now. He was no longer showing the patience he had shown Kasuur earlier. Sorgon had already turned back to them, and it was clear that he was preparing another attack like the previous one. Kasuur's face turned pale. At this rate, even if the old man survived, Kasuur himself would die. Bandaging the wound in his stomach wasn't preventing the blood loss that was making his face increasingly pale.
"What do you want me to do?"
Kasuur had already done everything he could. At first, he tried to set a trap for Sorgon and attacked with the peak core technique, Eternity Slash. With the Sage weapon, his attack power had risen to the second stage of the Sage Realm.
In fact, it had increased even more than that.
"Hand over that mid-level sword! Or you'll die here!"
Kasuur's sword was a mid-level Sage weapon. It was the lowest-level sword in Mais's treasure palace. Otherwise, Mais would not have chosen to give Kasuur such a sword.
But now they had reached this point. Kasuur had not managed to use his origin energy as skillfully as John, however. Consequently, while John still had half of his energy in his core, Kasuur was about to collapse. At this point, it was clear that this was the only option.
Kasuur had trained his sword skills to a certain level, but he was still no match for someone like Sorgon. He was too inexperienced to apply his skills to combat. Otherwise, he would have attacked a more difficult place to defend than Sorgon's neck on his first move. Kasuur could have determined the outcome of the fight with the tactic he used at the beginning.
"I'll trust you."
Kasuur threw his sword, and the stainless steel blade fell into the hands of the middle-aged sword master.