Odyssey of the Blind God

Far in the north, black clouds shrouded the beautiful, clear sky. It looked like a thunderstorm was approaching them rapidly, bringing forth chaos and destruction.

However, upon hearing what Nial said, everyone around him was able to tell what was going on.

"Hundreds of thousands….that won't be easy…" Valvian mumbled, jumping down from the tree branch he had been standing on.

He approached Nial to see if he was fine as something about the young Original had been weird.

Yet, when he approached Nial, Valvian noticed that the young man was recuperating at a terrifyingly fast pace.

The vigor in his body was overflowing, expelling his exhaustion and healing him quickly.

"Sorry for what just happened, I don't know what caused this…" Nial said weakly as he turned his head to Valvian with an apologetic expression.

He had already retracted the darkness around him, but parts of the training ground's greenery had wilted.

Elves loved nature, and everyone who destroyed nature intentionally would automatically become enemies of the Elves. That was why Nial was honest with himself and Valvian and tried to placate them.

He had no fucking idea what had happened just now.

'Memories flooded me, but it didn't feel like they came from the Odyssey seed. It felt as if I was watching a war from the eyes of millions of existences, all of whom were under my control…' Nial thought, the confusion in his mind overwhelming him.

The memories were pretty weird, and Nial was just happy that his brain had become stronger while his mental strength had also increased considerably after the primary Ancient Origin ring had been created. Without this enhancement, Nial wouldn't have been able to overcome the predicament he had been in.

At least, he was pretty sure that it would have been close to impossible for him to overcome it. Only the Ankh would have been able to help him then.

'Was this what the God of Darkness told me? That I need to be strong enough to prevent the Odyssey seed from taking me over, otherwise, he would reincarnate? So was this some sort of a backlash or was it initiated by something…or someone?' Nial had many questions but not a single answer.

But he didn't have the time to be bothered about them either way. Hundreds of thousands of Dryx were on their way to the Forest of Life.

"Why did nobody notice that they have already come so close? What are these fucking scouts doing?" Nial suddenly heard someone cursing in the elven tongue.

It was Master Crevian who had cursed out. He was holding a unique wand in his hand which he angrily smashed on the ground and waited for something to happen.

Tremendous amounts of mana had been stored in the large wooden wand, whose tip had a cavity and small tiny twig-like branches were tightly holding onto a green orb. Numerous runes were engraved along the wand's long shaft, and all of them were glowing.

When the man was released out of the wooden wand, the entire Forest of Life seemed to move. The bushes were rustling, and the branches were moving.

Dozens of paths toward the north were opened including the ways toward the infirmary, the barracks and more necessary facilities were unveiled as well. A moment later, Master Crevian's voice thundered through the entire Forest of Life and the surrounding area.

"The Dryx are coming. They passed by the human and elven scouts. We have less than 5 minutes before they'll reach the Forest of Life….prepare for war!"

Valvian had already put on greenish leather armor, and a thin longsword had manifested in his hand. He was ready to fight and was also the first one to walk down the paths that led him to the north.

"These vile and disgusting existences are not allowed to touch even a single plant of the Forest of Life! Fight with everything you have, and we will come out victorious. Look death in the eye, and overcome it. We will survive and become heroes!" Valvian's voice boomed through the open area, overflowing with determination and confidence.

At this moment, it looked like his body had enlarged several times, and that he would become everyone's shield so as to protect them from the dangers that originated from the Dryx attack.

However, deep down everyone knew that Valvian couldn't protect them. They had to protect themselves, otherwise, they would die.

Despite this obvious fact, the Elves didn't hesitate as they rushed to the barracks to get their hands on a new set of armor and weapons before they dashed after Valvian to clash with their opponents.

It was the first time for many Originals to see all Elves gathered at one point, and the pressure they released was certainly not a joke.

However, nobody was able to feel reassured by the strength of the Elves that were close to 1000 in number. After all, their enemies had a numerical advantage of 1 to 100.

This was the best possible ratio considering that there were far more than a mere 100,000 Dryx, but nobody wanted to know the accurate data about their opponent's numerical advantage if they were, to be honest.

After all, they didn't want to lose their will to fight even before they had swung their blades.

Many human Originals were also preparing for battle. After tasting the importance of having Elves as trading partners, it would be a shame for them to disappear from Jundra. The Forest of Life was also quite important because one could absorb and annex mana much faster, just by being closer.

Furthermore, the dungeons from all around the Forest of Life were also of much more value than ordinary dungeons!

Thus, several thousand human Originals were preparing for battle including a handful of Prometheus Originals.

They didn't know that Silvian, a 'fellow' human was the cause for everything. However, even if they were to know, it wouldn't change much to them.

The Dryx endangered the Elven territory by openly declaring war, and humans didn't want the Elven race to disappear, for their own sake, of course.

"We should also go." Nial suddenly suggested as he got up from the ground he had fallen onto. Miranda and Mathias had appeared next to him, and they wanted to hold him back.

Yet, when they noticed that he was not only unscathed but also that he seemed to have become more confident and stronger after the small incident, they were confused.

'Did he devour the surrounding life force and mana or what?' Mathias thought, feeling appalled. His eyes widened all of a sudden as he thought about this weird and impossible idea his mind had come up with.

"Naahhh, that can't be." He discarded the idea a moment later after he looked at Nial for a few seconds.

'It must be the Ankh that allowed him to regain his vigor, and to become stronger.' Mathias could only conclude, ignoring his jealousy for a short moment.

Meanwhile, Miranda looked weirdly at both Nial and Mathias. She squinted her eyes, and stared at them, feeling pretty sure that both her disciples were rather naive.

"Are you two not afraid?" Miranda asked straightforwardly. Fighting against the Dryx in the Teradan military camp was entirely different from the chaos that was about to descend. There was a big difference between a small-scale battlefield and a grand battle.

Astray attacks could kill you at any moment, and you may end up fighting more and stronger opponents from the beginning to the end and drain yourself of your energy sooner.

That was not all, but the number of dangers was numerous, and the chances of survival were unknown.

"Afraid? I didn't have time to think about that yet. I was more curious to know how the hell it's even possible for so many Dryx to appear and gather all of a sudden." Nial answered while being honest to himself.

He had no idea what made Silvian bring so many Dryx to Jundra, let alone how he had gathered all of them under him in merely three months.

The answer to this may not be important to others, but Nial knew that knowing it could give him many clues.

'If there is a Dryx Queen somewhere, Silvian can create such waves of attacks every six months or so. That is if he has enough resources to nourish the newborn Dryx…'

Nial doubted that a Dryx Queen would be the answer. Bringing one of the Dryx' higher life forms to Jundra, an unawakened planet, shouldn't be easier than what the Elven Empress did with the Forest of Life.

In fact, it should be a lot more difficult. That was why Nial could keep his calm, for now.

"Weird question, but I guess that you might be right to bring it up. I don't even know if so many Dryx attacked the shelters and the military camps altogether. And now such a terrifyingly high number of vile existences are attacking the Forest of Life, at once." Mathias felt goosebumps spreading all over his body as he was voicing out his concerns.

However, even if he were to be shocked to the bones and overly afraid, it wouldn't help him survive. In fact, he was more likely to die of fear, and shock than an attack.

'They have matured a lot…did I miss something?' Miranda was astonished by the mindset of her disciples. It was definitely a welcome change from their earlier behavior, and she could tell that they had grown up.

But their maturity had been forced upon them. Too many incidents had happened in the last few months, and both Mathias and Nial had been pulled into trouble.

If they did not go and seek trouble, more often than not trouble would come searching for them. They were always at the hot spot of trouble, without having done anything that could cause all these incidents. Both of them were trouble magnets according to Miranda.

Nial and Mathias seemed to have noticed this, which was why their mindset had slowly adjusted to the constant dangers.

Wielding the Dragonflame spear once again, Nial took a deep breath.

"I'm ready." He announced before turning in the direction that would lead them straight to the battlefield.

"Me too," Mathias appeared next to his friend, wielding the Tier-1 Blackwood wand.

He was ready to fight using his affinities, instead of struggling to destroy the Dryx's heart and mana core simultaneously.

This struggle was something the others could take care of. He would just restrict their opponents' movements and provide opportunities for others to make the kill.

"These restless bunnies…"  Miranda sighed seeing how far they had already gone, and a large staff appeared in her hands before she followed suit as well.

When they emerged out of the Forest of Life, the cloud of darkness had already come much closer. The Dryx were flying, and many human Originals were wondering how they should protect the Forest of Life and fight from the ground if it was impossible for them to fly as well.

After all, the Dryx could just fly above them before landing in the center of the Forest of Life.

However, just when everyone had emerged from the Forest of Life, the mana of the Forest of Life seemed to change. It was pulled somewhere, and in a matter of seconds, a semi-translucent azure dome was constructed around the Forest of Life.

"Well that problem is solved, but now the question is whether we can pull them down to prevent them from destroying the dome from all directions." Miranda wondered, feeling that this wouldn't be an easy task to pull off.

'Oh? I can still walk through the dome?' She realized with interest as her hand reached through the dome.

But Nial merely smiled as he pointed in the direction where approximately 36 Prometheus Elves had created four groups with 9 Elves each.

They formed a nonagon, and released their mana onto the ground, where an emerald nine-pointed star was engraved all of a sudden.

"That's how they will solve it!"