Instead of running away in the single direction behind him, Gabriel glanced to his right and saw a chance amidst the cold gales of wind.
With Astor in his arms, he ran as fast as he could towards that direction, and was aided by his impressive agility. However, Blood Debtor caught up with him quickly, and used his blood-red claws to slice the left side of his chest.
Without any weapons, Gabriel would die immediately in a one-on-one fight against Blood Debtor, so he focused all his energy on running.
And then, just before Blood Debtor struck again, he saw it. The edge of a cliff leading into a dark abyss.
"Oh no you don't!"
Blood Debtor summoned a shattered blade that was somehow held together with bandages, and pointed it at Gabriel's back as he ran.
It was a living blade, a cursed weapon of destruction that consumed the souls of the living. Only someone strong enough, or a soul with a real body like him, could wield such a lethal weapon without any danger involved.
The gales of wind shrouded Gabriel's presence, but using the smell of blood in the air, Blood Debtor predicted where he was, and ultimately unleashed the first strike of a foreign sword technique, sending a pulse of rippling sword intent flying his way.
The wide sword attack followed the traces that Gabriel left in the snow, and a powerful blast was heard right afterwards.
"Haha, it was really that easy. I hope the boy is dead as well… huh?"
Something glimmered amidst the slowly-developing snowstorm. A blue light, that seemed almost like an arrow.
"What the…"
Though, before he knew what hit him, Blood Debtor was struck through the body with an explosive flare of blue light, eradicating his body entirely.
The explosion mixed with blue and orange hues wracked almost the entire area, sending melted snow and ice flying meters upward alongside some smoke and dust from the explosion itself.
"Who… how?!" Blood Debtor exclaimed.
But, to his surprise, a man clad in black, regal attire, holding a greatsword forged from cold steel, approached him while he was on the ground, with only his head and a single arm left in-tact.
This man was Commander Luoyang of Hegsteen's Peak, that belonged to the tallest among these mountains. This region of the northeastern landscape was called the Trident Mountains, after all.
"Ah… Commander! I should have known…"
Commander Luoyang placed a foot on Blood Debtor's head.
"The formless spirit that belongs to that damned cult is here. Were you chasing after those two?"
"Who's to say that I was?"
Commander Luoyang chuckled.
"Don't play smart with me, ghost. Even though you've already been reduced to a ghostly shell of a shaman because of the efforts of the Demon-slaying Crucible Knights, don't think I don't have the methods to weak you even further."
Blood Debtor remained silent.
"Stay out of my turf from now on, accursed being!"
With that, Commander Luoyang crushed the "head" of the Blood Sacrifice Sect's high-feared shamans. And then, he turned around and walked to the edge of the cliff that Gabriel saw.
Blood Debtor couldn't see it clearly, but if he came a bit more forward, he would have been met by the edge of a cliff, leading to an impenetrable darkness below.
This place was known as Burial Valley, which led deep into the snowy mountains.
"That ghostly shaman is most certainly going to be furious after failing to catch them."
"I could tell that was the kind of individual he was during our last encounter, meaning he will definitely come after them again."
"…Now that I think about it, that boy that fell down with the gruff-looking man had a Mara's Mark on him. Interesting… and, not only that but his strange energy was the thing that brought my attention to the presence of one of the ghostly shaman's puppets."
"To think a high-ranking servant of the Revenant Overlord was personally trying to catch and most likely kill those two."
"…I should investigate this after we deal with the frost wyvern still hiding in the mountains, and the Cauldron Refining Masters still hiding away with it."
<…>
A few hours later, when the snowstorm had reached its peak, it seemed like tens of armoured horses trotted on the narrow, snowy trail through Burial Valley. On these horses were many trained soldiers and warriors, equipped with proper swords and spears.
"This journey into the Snowgrave Depths was unsuccessful yet again."
"The spiritual energy flowing through the frost wyvern's spiritual veins has increased, it seems the Cauldron Refining Masters are trying to cultivate the beast into a unique weapon of destruction..."
These words were said by vice-captain Harrison, of the Verdant Wind Mercenaries.
"It also seems like the Cauldron Refining Masters are using strange, rare herbs found in those depths to reach new tiers. This'll be a great problem if we leave them alone for too long…"
Captain Evans shook his head and sighed.
"Who knew they would cause such a headache? We can't ignore them either, considering what's also buried deeper within the Snowgrave Depths. If they unleash that "catastrophe", then the entirety of the Trident Mountains will suffer horribly."
"So, the next journey into the depths must end with the total execution of those foolish idiots. This will be the first step to restoring order to the Trident Mountains."
These two men, Stag Harrison and William Evans, led the entirety of the Verdant Wind Mercenaries by themselves. They were hired by the High Commander of Hegsteen's Peak to aid in the elimination of the enemies in hiding within the Snowgrave Depths.
Of course, this meant that Clans and Sects weren't the only kind of factions to exist.
In fact, there were so many factions and hidden organizations across Verifude that they were often grouped into four categories.
The factions and organizations that follow the Immortals, the majority, which included most Clans and Sects.
The factions and organizations that follow the will of the Creators beyond the heavens, consisting mostly of religious orders and hidden cults.
The factions and organizations that followed their own paths and rules, like mercenaries, merchants, traders and adventurers.
And then, the factions and organisations that considered themselves vassals of noble families and those with powerful bloodlines.
These four categories kept an equilibrium with each other, knowing that any sort of war or scuffle between them would escalate easily and end in mutual destruction.
The vice-captain glanced back and noticed the two unconscious individuals riding on the back of one of the horses.
The Commander who was walking with them just minutes before seemed to have noticed something above and rushed towards it.
Not too soon later, he dropped back down with those two, and headed back to the main base with great speed.
"Did you see it?" The vice-captain asked.
"See what?"
"On his hand. The mark of annihilation."
The captain's eyes widened instantly, and he looked over at the two individuals. As the vice-captain said, Mara's Mark was on the hand of the young boy, who slept peacefully.
"Are you sure… that's real?"
"I don't know at all. But, if it truly is Mara's Mark…"
Mara's Mark was said by the Immortals to be the symbol of being gazed upon by the lords of annihilation, who were revealed by the Immortals to be the ones who "decimated stars" and almost destroyed the world so long ago.
It is said that they would slowly begin their incursion once again by taking root within those just like that boy.
That was the curse of those who had Mara's Mark, and that alone was enough to sentence someone to death.
But, since those lords of annihilation hadn't invaded this world for many years due to the firmament, most people just took pity on them, as the Immortals seemingly abhorred their existence.
"This is bad… we need to bring this up with the High Commander as soon as we get back!"