Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

After a while, Ethan didn't hear anything new. The hero moved to a place when he thought he wasn't being pampered enough by the people of that place, and then, the people of that place got wiped out. Ethan knew he couldn't expect much from heroes. Still, as a human being, he didn't understand how come to the summoned hero managed to endure to do that over and over again when he knew that his actions could have prevented the death of thousands, if not millions, of people. There was a hypothesis Ethan had in mind, but he couldn't ask that for a kid… it would be better if he asked Cen's mother.

"Those guys found us in that cave," Cen pointed to an almost hidden cave between some thick trees.

"Any idea where they might have gone?" Ethan asked. "My tracking skills suck."

"Mother always said that we should head to West in case something happens and we can't return to hideout," Cen said. "She said that we should never go South or East."

"Let me guess, the devourers are concentrated in those directions and in the North, right?" Ethan asked.

"Yes," Cen nodded.

The terrain was a bit bad, but Ethan managed to overcome it and move it pretty fast toward the West. However, after a while, he ended up finding a vast concentration of treants blocking his path.

"Just my luck…" Ethan sighed, and then he equipped his sword. "Don't move from there."

Ethan didn't have time to waste since, at any moment, the other mercenaries might arrive at his location. Besides, if he takes too much time fighting, he won't be able to find all the survivors before the mercenaries find his trails. While cutting the treants left and right, Ethan wondered if he hadn't learned some fire spells. Using them, he would be able to make the monsters burn, and they would leave him alone. Unfortunately, fire would generate smoke and reveal his position, so that wasn't good.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ While he was fighting, Ethan was forced to keep an eye on Cen. The kid was crazy enough to use a grenade and almost died to create a diversion to give his mother and sister a chance to escape. So, there was no telling what he would do the very moment Ethan took his eyes away from the kid. Fortunately, he didn't do anything while Ethan was fighting.

"You are strangely powerful, almost as if you are a hero as well," Cen said. "However, your power is different from his."

"Is that so?" Ethan said. "How the hero you guys fought used to fight?"

"I never saw him fighting," Cen replied. "But the rumors say that they used to split the devourers in half with a big ax."

Ethan used to do the same, but not with an ax, and he used horizontal slashes since it saved him time and effort. Otherwise, he would have to split his enemies from head to toe, and that would be tiring since a lot of Ethan's enemies were much taller than him. Regardless, after that fight, Ethan found some corpses of treats. Now things were starting to make sense… those were probably killed by Cen's mother and sister, and that would explain why there was a vast concentration of them blocking Ethan's path.

"I guess it should be fine here."

Ethan has been saving his mana and leveling up his Mana Tracking in order to avoid fights with the treants. Still, he used a few skill points to level up the skill and find the survivors nearby since Cen had no idea where he would find others like him, and Ethan wanted to avoid surprises. After a while, Ethan finally picked some presence in the forest. There weren't many, and they weren't moving either. Probably, they noticed Ethan's presence and were watching him from afar.

"Hey, what are your mother's and your sister's name?" Ethan asked. "No, rather than saying that to me, shout their names a single time."

Cen nodded, and now that Ethan thought about it, it would be weird to hear Cen calling his mother by her name, but unlike Ethan, Cen noticed that much faster.

"Leitha! Mother!" Cen shouted.

Fortunately, the wind was coming from the north, so Ethan knew that the mercenaries wouldn't hear Cen's shout. However, it looked like the survivors who heard Cen's voice didn't want to risk it. They recognized the presence and the voice of one of their species, but they didn't do anything.

"Whatever…" Ethan said. "I will just invade their base."

Maybe it was a coincidence, but Ethan decided to look for another mountain or hill in the proximities. In such places, he would find a cave, and he was betting the survivors were hiding in such a place since they had bat-like wings. Surprisingly enough, Ethan found one relatively fast, and at the same time, he found some men who looked like Cen pointing magic spears at him. Aside from the horns, wings, and the eyes, those guys had some indigenous clothes that looked to be made of straw and grass. It was quite weird since they used that only to cover their waist… Ethan imagined it must be pretty itchy for them.

"Hey, talk with them," Ethan said. "Emily's spell is only working on you and me."

Cen left the cart and then began to talk with the armed demi-humans. While Ethan could understand what he was saying, he had no idea what the other guys were. Still, he didn't like the look in their eyes. It looked like they were too cautious, and they were threatening Cen like a stranger.

"Sorry, but it looks like my mom and sister aren't here," Cen said with his head down. "That is weird, but… maybe they are looking for me."

"How can you be so sure that they are not in that cave?" Ethan asked.

"They told me no one came to this place yesterday," Cen frowned.

"You really are a kid… you shouldn't trust on the words of strangers so easily," Ethan said and then began to walk toward the dungeon. "Tell them that I am going to enter their hideout but that I just want to confirm something."

When Ethan got too close, those six men pointed their weapons at him and fired some purple beams of energy. It was kind of the same glint his sword emitted when he was using it. Regardless, Ethan blocked the attack easily since he didn't feel any weight behind their magic.

"A debuff spell?" Ethan asked. "Anyway, tell them that I will forgive them once. If they attack me again, I will hit their heads and steal their toys from them."

Cen translated the message, but those five men ignored Ethan's warning. As if that wasn't enough, several other warriors' men and women appeared out from the forest and attacked Ethan.