A Sorcerer’s Journey

Fifteen days later.

It has already been fifteen days since the great battle between the three Stigmata Sorcerers and the World Lord as well as the World Guardians ended.

Throughout the seven consecutive days of high-intensity combat, Grimm and the thirteen Stigmata Sorcerers used hundreds of Fallen Amonros as a barrier to guard the Void Fortress against being infiltrated by the Amonro, continuously using up magic and energy. The pair of eyes under Grimm’s Mask of Truth had started to show signs of fatigue.

As of now, Grimm had been constantly absorbing the surrounding force of nature into his body to replenish his magical powers. To an official sorcerer, the ability to control the force of nature according to his will was as easy as walking.

Even so, continuously transferring the force of nature at such lengths of time can certainly take its toll on one’s body.

Grimm couldn’t help but reminisce about the days when he had the Demon-Hunting Outfit which granted him nearly infinite magical powers.

The magic stone embedded within the Demon-Hunting Outfit was specially forged by the Holy Tower of Seven Rings and could allow the sorcerer to directly absorb magical energy into his body in an instant. The technical knowledge involved is still kept as a top-secret of the Holy Towers.

Precisely due to the sheer amount of high-value exclusive knowledge goods, the Sorcerer World’s Tower Institution is able to maintain the high value of the Sorcerer Essence, giving the Demon-hunting Sorcerers an incentive to fulfill their missions.

In the distant sky, a group of Amonro has started forming as they gathered from all directions across the Shadow World. There have been multiple attempts to attack the Void Fortress by the Amonro. The onslaught by the Amonro only seemed to grow larger despite so many already killed by the sorcerers.

Up until now, the attacks by the group of Amonro on the Void Fortress seemed to have softened a little. Grimm blinked his dry eyes twice, steadied his breath, and started saving magic energy.

“It finally… stopped. I thought these Amonro had decided to fight a war of attrition to the bitter end.”

Milly stood behind Grimm, with a similar ghostly pale complexion. She had completely cleansed herself of any Shadow Pollution, which posed no further problems for now.

“Even the great Stigmata Sorcerer must take turns to rest in order to maintain the stability of the Void Fortress, let alone us low-level sorcerers. Though, the fortress over here is slightly better, especially those Prism Fortresses on the ground…”

“Sigh.”

Millie sighed, as the light from the Prism Fortress on the ground grew dimmer and dimmer.

However, the Fortress Battle Command seems to have made the decision to make the Void Fortress a final stand, either until the Shadow Calamity ends, or until they face the Calamity head-on. Regardless, this demon-hunting expedition would not be canceled no matter what.

Sensing this notion, each demon-hunting sorcerer had started to make their preparations for the onslaught that was to come. In a bid to save up on magic energy, many sorcerers resorted to removing their barriers and basic magic attacks as well as enslaved minions were used against the enemy.

***

After half a month.

In the Enigmatic Sanctuary, the body size of the Ancestral Amonro had been reduced to the span of a mere meter. When its body was carried back to Stormwind City by a dozen of Elite Enigmatic Amonros, every Amonro within the city couldn’t hold back their tears at the sight.

Like humans, Amonros had similar physical structures, for example–tear ducts. Amonros could also experience various emotions. Among low-level Amonros, they could feel rage, mating instincts, and hunger. Though a minority, there were Amonros with a higher intelligence that could feel more complex emotions such as sadness, confusion, and the likes.

While hanging onto its last breaths, the Ancestral Amonro had only its upper half of its body intact. Its internal organs were nowhere to be seen and what’s left was presumably its forelimbs and head, or what it seemed like it was. A bloody pile of flesh was what it looked like instead as it lay dying.

“Evil sorcerers! The great Amonro species vows to eradicate every last one of you!” A group surrounding the Ancestral Amonro yelled with rage, hysterically.

“Amonro! Amonro! Amonro!…”

These cries of anger by more than ten thousand Elite Enigmatic Amonros resonated throughout Stormwind City.

Once these Amonro leave the protective barrier of Stormwind City, they would be baptized by the Balanced Rule of the Endless World. And within the span of the next one to three months, they would inevitably die off one by one.

During the shadow calamity, one-third of the Ancient Elites in Stormwind City volunteered in the name of the Amonros to join the battle for shadow purification. They achieved great results on the battlefield, destroying one sorcerer rendezvous point after another.

But…

All efforts were futile!

The evil sorcerer was too strong. In this realm, countless mysterious and cruel sorcerers were led by three powerful evil Sorcerer Kings. The blood-red sun hung in the sky, emitting an ominous atmosphere that even the Ancestral Amonro is unable to fend against.

Relying upon the blood-red sun, these sorcerers were adamant about retaining the final piece of polluted land even resorting to using Fallen Amonro to fight back.

They were not willing to leave the world.

“Silence! Silence! My king has something to say! Silence!”

A Noble Enigmatic Amonro guarding the remains of the Ancestral Amonro roared.

The Ancestral Amonro slowly opened his blood-stained eyes, seemingly about to say something but all that came out was a moan of pain. His left forelimb started to scatter away like sand in the wind.

“My king!”

“My king!”

In the sound of pain, sorrow, and panic, the Ancestral Amonro stopped turning into sand. A majestic Soul Wave swept open, as the mourning Amonro held their breath in silence.

“Quiet, my children.”

The sound of the Ancestral Amonro’s soul was soothing and tranquil. However, the Enigmatic Amonros knew that this was just the Ancestral Amonro’s reflection.

The Ancestral Amonro gazed silently at the fellow mourning Amonros surrounding him with his bloodied eyes.

“The world of Amonro is facing grave danger. Our Amonro species is now faced with a choice of survival or dignity.”

All Amonros held their breath and listened quietly to the Ancestral Amonro’s Soul Voice.

“The Amonro species has chosen to use all our power to try to expel the evil and powerful sorcerers. The consequence of that failure is that Stormwind City will once again revert back into the Enigmatic Perishing Land of ancient times. And the lands of the Volcano people under the Enigmatic Hurricane Seal will once again rise up as this world’s sanctuary. Us Amonro will have to go back to becoming prey for the Lava Giants.

After a brief pause, the Ancestral Amonro continued, ” Or… we bow down to the sorcerers, sacrifice the Amonro species’s dignity in exchange for safety, and welcome the sorcerers’ rule. We can lend their strength to exterminate the Volcano group which we cannot enter and wipe off the remaining ancient Lava Giants.

The Ancestral Amonro then quietly looked at the responses of the Amonros that are present.

“No! This is impossible! How can the noble and great Amonro family compromise with the evil sorcerers? My king, the Amonro species will never surrender! We would rather…”

“My king, the noble and great Amonro family, is the supreme ruler of the beautiful sacred Amonro world, and will never yield to any evil forces. In the ancient times, the Amonro species faced the Lava Giants like this, we shall do the same towards the evil sorcerers too!”

“Compromising with those evil sorcerers who killed our people by enticing the ignorant fallen Amonro? Impossible!”

The ancient Amonro who followed the Ancestral Amonro roared with passion in Stormwind City.

They, in ancient times, followed the Ancestral Amonro and stationed in Stormwind City precisely because there was a passion to kill in their blood. And today, to tell them to reach a compromise with the ‘evil forces’?

This was simply unacceptable.

Because of the Amonros’ slyness, nobody dared to enter into Stormwind City. They settled in the outskirts of the Enigmatic Sanctuary and had to fend for themselves in the wild. Those who remained within the city, were Amonros who were filled with bloodlust and had a ‘one-track mind’ only.

Since the ancient times, they never bowed down to the Lava Giants, and certainly never chose to rule the world side-by-side with others. Instead, they fought to the bitter end and had succeeded.

Due to this, they were revered as legendary heroes in the Amonro world today, and their legends have been passed down by the Amonro descendants of these heroes themselves.

“Sigh…”

As the Ancestral Amonro let out a low, barely audible sigh, he tried to open his bloodied eyes to look at all the fellow raging Amonro below his throne. At that moment, he felt relief, as well as an overwhelming sense of regret.

After a long time, the Ancestral Amonro used all his dying energy and yelled, “Now, I have no energy left to communicate with the Principal Will. Before Shadow Purification completes on the Will of the World, remove everything that does not belong to this land, and the Shadow Calamity will come to a halt. Tell this to the children of this world, our rule in this world will be coming to an end, we must end the war before the Enigmatic Seal is used up. Should we fail, this world will revert back to the Pyrodust World of ancient times.”

After finishing his proclamation, the Ancestral Amonro closed his eyes as his body was visibly deteriorating into dust at an increasing rate.

This was the consequence of the Ancestral Amonro’s inability to resist the curse of the Hearkening Whisperer.