Alator quickened his pace as he saw the beam of energy approaching at the speed of light, giving him less than a second to react. He knew he couldn't possibly avoid it completely at this close range without getting hit. He quickly dipped his hand into the pouch and grabbed one of the bottles containing the strange powders he once used to grill a fish in the canyon that almost got him killed.
Just as the energy was about to hit, Alator opened the bottle. He suddenly halted his steps and skidded a few meters ahead. He spun his body around, turning to face the attack, and quickly shoved his shoulder forward. Right now, he thought the best thing was to sacrifice his shoulder instead of getting hit head-on by the dangerous energy. At that same moment, he opened the bottle and threw it toward the beast.
The red beam of energy didn't miss entirely. It connected with a searing heat. But luckily enough, the energy only grazed past his left side, missing his chest by inches but catching the exposed skin on his shoulder, and leaving behind the smell of burning flesh in the air. Alator felt a catastrophic burning pain, a thousand times worse than the powder's burning heat he had experienced back in the canyon.
"Ugghhh!" He grunted, trying to suppress the hellish pain.
The breath attack didn't stop there. It shot forward and crashed into something invisible hanging in the air.
"Bang!"
A thunderous sound rang out across the whole forest.
Meanwhile, the bottle Alator had thrown toward the beast hit it square on the head, exploding in a chaotic burst of white dust and spraying the toxic powder right in front of the beast.
The beast roared in fury, its face covered by the stinging spark of scorching dust. It shook its head violently, trying to shake off the toxic powder. The beast was entirely covered by the thick cloud of white smoke, obstructing its view from seeing Alator.
With the smoke as a cover, Alator crawled away from the beast and hid under a boulder at the side. When the white powder finally dispersed, the beast growled furiously while staring blankly into the air. It suddenly turned around and ran back into the forest.
Seeing the beast running away, Alator came out from his hiding place as he gazed at the retreating creature. He didn't understand what had just happened.
"Why is it running? And what was that sound earlier?" Alator turned around and stared at the open space. There was nothing there, just a barren land. But Alator was sure that something had clearly obstructed the breath attack. He decided to check it out and began to walk forward. But after a few steps, he finally hit a dead end. He could feel an overwhelming energy pulsing in the air. Alator extended his hand forward; it felt like the energy was alive, vibrating and reacting on its own.
"This is weird. I better not get myself into trouble again."
With that, he quickly left the place, following a different route in order not to engage with the Iron-Jaw Croc again. He thought there must be something behind the barrier, something capable of making the demonic beast flee in panic. Well, something like that shouldn't be messed with, and Alator wasn't ready for another showdown right now. He barely survived just now, and he was sure that something capable of striking terror into a demonic beast was more than capable of crushing him without even breaking a sweat.
But in truth, Alator didn't know he had gone so deep into the wild that he had just reached the very end of the Wastelands' border. The barrier he saw earlier was the very seal restricting the demonic beasts behind the Rift and stopping them from entering human territory. The demonic beasts he had been seeing in the wild were the ones that had managed to escape from the seal, and the reason the Iron-Jaw Croc fled earlier was to avoid getting sucked back into the rift by the seal.
Alator traveled through the mountain areas without seeing any beast. He felt a bit relieved, at least a moment of peace for now. He climbed on top of a rock on high ground, looking into the distance. He was trying to see if there were any human inhabitants around where he could rest his body and get his injuries treated. But there was nothing like that around, only barren land and a valley below. He took a deep breath and turned around.
Alator had noticed a few changes in his body. It felt much stronger than before, and his ankle was now healed. All of this started after eating the fish he grilled with the powder concoction he found in the pouch.
He sighed and got down from the rock. He was frustrated, really frustrated.
"I wished i had a map, at least that would have helped a lot."
..........
Alator crossed the ridge and stopped. The valley stretched wide below him. He followed the narrow path down into the valley. The ground was dry and uneven, covered with dust and pieces of metal.
As soon as Alator stepped into the valley, several vultures feeding on the rotten flesh and bones flapped away. He looked around, his eyes narrowing at the scene in front of him.
"What in hell happened here?" Alator muttered under his breath.
There were bodies everywhere. Some had turned to bone, while others still had bits of skin stuck to them, bark and hard like the bark of a tree. Skulls and tattered robes were scattered all over, with flies buzzing around them. The sun had baked everything flat, and you could tell where soldiers had fallen in groups. A heap of armor here, a pile of weapons there.
Alator kept walking, pushing a broken spear aside and kicking a skull out of the way. The soil had turned black with blood and scorched spell marks, and the air here was thick and smelled horrible. It felt like it carried a lot of resentment and unresolved desires. A shield lay face down in the dirt, half-buried, its edge eaten away by rust. There were swords and other weapons around, some snapped in half, others bent at odd angles. Nothing here was in good shape at all.
As he walked further into the valley, the sound of bones crushing under his boots sounded through the open space. A few wagons were scattered around, burned down to black frames. He stopped by one of them and ran his hand along the wood, then, it fell apart easily. Three years was long enough for everything to rot.
These lands were known as the White Bones Valley, the place where the great battle of the Eight Domains of the Wastelands took place three years ago. The war had broken out over resources and territory disputes by the noble houses. In the Wastelands, gaining more territory meant power, and having access to resources meant control.
Alator raised his head and saw a twisted flagpole standing near a pile of corpses, or what was left of them. The flag was long gone, only a half-ripped strip of worn-out cloth still hanging from the pole. There was a symbol of a flame on it. Well, half a symbol to be exact. The flag had been torn at the other end, so the emblem wasn't fully visible.
Alator stared at the flag with a grim look on his face as recognition flashed in his eyes.
"Holy Flame Domain" he said.
He rose to his feet and started walking away from the valley. He thought he could find something useful here, maybe a weapon or a Mana treasure. But it had been three years, and most of the things here had rusted, while the rest had turned to dust.
Alator really had no idea what actually happened here. After all, he was still at the refugee camp when the devastating war took place.
Just as he was walking away, his eyes suddenly caught a golden light under a metal rusted shield. He stopped and lifted the shield. His eyes narrowed slightly as he saw a long rope glowing with a faint golden light.
"What is this?" He muttered as he picked it up.
"This...this is a Three-Star magic artifact!" Alator said in shock as the realization finally struck him. The rope was actually a Three-Star magic artifact that could restrict a Master Tier Mage and shut down their Mana.
Alator was really excited. He quickly put the rope in his pouch and left the valley. He traveled down the south. It was getting late, so he was probably looking for a safe place to spend the night. Luckily for him, he found a stone cave beneath the mountains. The cave wasn't that deep, but deep enough to house someone. He threw his staff on the ground, unhooked the pouch on his waist, and tossed it aside. Then he walked out of the cave and made his way toward the stream rushing in front of the cave.
Alator bent down and splashed water on his face several times. He cupped some in his hands and drank to calm his burning guts down. He was thinking about going to look for firewood to make a fire before the day turned dark.
"Bang!"
A loud noise suddenly rang out in the distance, jolting Alator out of his thoughts. He quickly rose to his feet and stared in the direction the sound came from.
"Scrreeee!"
A loud screech of a beast entered his ears. He saw a flash of light and a jet of compressed wind clashing in the distance. The battle raging out there looked like someone was fighting a demonic beast. He suddenly narrowed his eyes, and his face turned dark when he noticed the growl of the beast and the flashes of energy getting closer. It seemed like whoever it is was leading the beast straight toward his direction.
Alator quickly ran back into the cave and grabbed his pouch and staff. He wanted to leave immediately, he didn't want to get involved with a demonic beast again. But just as Alator was about to leave the place, he suddenly froze. He turned and squinted his eyes at the figure approaching from the distance, dodging and avoid
ing the beast's claws and breath attack. When the figure got a little closer, Alator's eyes went wide in surprise.