A Sorcerer’s Journey

It was as expected.

All seven of them, beside the two other Dark Demon-Hunters which Grimm was not familiar with, were marching towards Grimm menacingly. The other two were standing out like a sore thumb, with their dumbfounded expression hanging on their face, they marched towards Grimm, joining the rest.

Seven of them with their Sorcerer Barriers, all having Honor Badges.

The strongest of the seven was naturally Third Ghostpepper. The radiant glow of the Rank 2 Honor Badge had attracted many involuntary glances from the other Demon Hunters. It had been going on ever since when headquarters had released the Void World Stone.

The two others that were closer to Third Ghostpepper was Roqhiroo’s wife, the sorceress Kuryak, dressed from top to bottom in pale white skeleton armor, and Gabriel, a senior from Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy. Those two each had two Rank 3 Honor Badge. The aura they were giving off was not something anyone could withstand.

The other four, each only had a Rank 3 Honor Badge.

“Grimm! You bastard! If you hadn’t backstabbed me two hundred years ago!”

The one that started howling before the rest was Grimm’s senior, Gabriel. The man was enraged; pointing at Grimm whilst slamming the ground with his crocodile tail beneath his robes. It was intimidating; both the menacing gesture and the sound of the tail, grinding against the ground.

That sudden unleashing of wrath drew the attention of the other sorcerers. The strong ones muffled their laughter, standing at the same spot, merely shifting their gaze at Gabriel. The others, god knows their worth, scoffed and subtly retreated further from where Gabriel was, trying their best to not care about it.

“Huh. So he was the one that once defeated Third Ghostpepper, the same one that had caused all seven of us to fail the demon-hunting trial? Grimm from Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy?”

It was when Gabriel had done ranting did two of the Demon Hunters come to realize who Grimm was. One of them took note of the situation, examined it like a precious specimen and stared at Grimm like he was a mysterious entity. Nothing in particular about him stood out. The other, the sorceress, had a face covered in warts. When she realized that Grimm was the “legendary” Demon Hunter from two hundred years ago, she involuntarily chuckled then smiled. This displayed the metal dentures in her mouth, even the scraps of food which she had not cleaned it off could be seen. Disgusting would be sugarcoating it.

“Ehihihihi, good job!” she said before maliciously glaring at Kuryak.

Two hundred years ago, it was Kuryak that diverted these two from Hattori the Hidden’s trail of escape. This led to their mission’s failure and consequently, their names never made it into the Demon-Hunter Trial.

On the other side, Grimm, who was glaring at the seven of them, blood boils with pain and hatred.

The pain was not physical but mental. The memories of Lefay’s death came resurfacing into his mind when he saw the seven of them. The kind of pain pierced through the depths of his soul.

Hatred, like poison coursing through his veins, burning every inch of his body was felt when Grimm had a good look at them. Even though he knew all too well that the seven Demon-Hunter had nothing to do with Lefay’s death, and her blood was actually on Hattori the Hidden’s hands. Truth be told, Grimm had no control over the result of the Demon Hunting trial. Hence, the bitter hatred that was left inside him had to be directed towards the seven Demon-Hunters. Or, to be more specific, the five of them. And, to be more specific, they were all innocent.

Grimm was stoic in appearance when Gabriel was lashing out at him. Myna had only just come to when he heard the lashing. When he had just processed everything that had happened, its feathers stood on end as it got up to his feet. He pointed one of his feathery limbs and started bashing out words of insults, incomprehensible like those of a goose.

“Bastard! I’d piss on your face! People like you are the kind that would make me wake up every five minutes from my sleep! Traumatized of watermelon! I tell you! TRAUMATIZED!”

Myna was agitated but that only made Gabriel even angrier.

Lefay’s death scene had truly made Myna frightened to its core. After that, it had not dared to get near, much less consume the refreshing treat known as watermelon. Thus, its phobia for watermelon was born.

Grimm laughed bitterly and faced Gabriel.

“The one who stabbed you in the back was her. As for the one who obstructed you, it was him, not me. Imbecile,” said Grimm, pointing towards Kuryak and a Demon Hunter whose robes were on fire.

Kuryak’s hair was fluttering in the wind, shimmering with each strand of hair as if they were made of gold itself. With her pale, smooth face that depicted nothing but calmness, she stood still, unmoving, facing the old sorceress and Grimm, beside Roqhiroo. There was no hint of panic in her face. Nothing but calmness, as if she was deep in thought.

Roqhiroo was covered from head to toe, in pale skeletal armor. Her three Cerberus rested quietly by her feet. While her eyes remain open, it is unsure whether her line of vision was still there on the scene or not.

The Demon Hunter whose robes were on fire, scoffed loudly and laughed sinisterly.

“You…”

Gabriel reacted at Third Ghostpepper’s piercing remark.

“Mhm. You should be the angriest one here. Back then, when I charged into the fight, I had but only a 20% chance of winning, based on my calculations.”

With eyes that reflect the cold depths of the abyss, gleaming with red hallowed light, with furious gray flames, fluttering on top of his head, Third Ghostpepper took five new skeletal rings and fit them onto his fingers. His frail body was supported by a new magic staff, disgustingly fashioned out of an unknown animal’s spine. Third Ghostpepper had been watching Grimm for a long time.

After batting an eye at Gabriel, Third Ghostpepper spoke in a low husky voice, “I would not, and can’t take the blame for any deaths that occurred during the expedition. Mhm… However, the officer… of the Demon-Hunting Trial, had an interest in him.”

Third Ghostpepper turned to Grimm, snickering before he said, “Heheheheh. I believe when the current Demon-Hunting Expedition is over, that officer would personally reward you with a chance to participate in the Demon-Hunting Trial. Be warned, of all the horrors that you have faced or would ever face, nothing would be compared to the likes of the Demon-Hunting Trial.”

Snap! Snap!

Third Ghostpepper was gripping the magic staff made of spine too hard. The joints in his finger made a cracking sound, which gave away his anger.

Gabriel aside, the other Demon Hunters had their eyes locked on Grimm. The others knew very well that Third Ghostpepper would do anything in his power to access to use the Marked Friendship Key that was currently in Kuryak’s possession.

While Grimm and Third Ghostpepper locked eyes, the hatred that was coursing through his veins suddenly changed.

A reward? A chance to participate in the Demon-Hunting Trial?

Underneath the veil of anger and hatred, Grimm caught a glimpse of unabashed taunts and looks of resentment.

In the eyes of other Dark Demon-Hunters, getting enlisted in the Demon-Hunting Trial was the equivalent of getting affirmation as a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer from the Sorcerer World. It was the same as a sorcerer’s apprentice passing the Holy Tower qualification battle and advancing into the ranks of a reserve Demon-Hunter Sorcerer.

In Grimm’s case however, he had a heartfelt rejection towards his enlistment in the Demon-Hunting Trial. So much so that it made him nauseous.

And yet, Third Ghostpepper now wanted to exact his revenge on Grimm for destroying his plans of enlisting in the Demon-Hunting Trial.

‘Just how pitiful can one’s ignorance be?!’

A smile broke across Grimm’s face underneath the Mask of Truth as he turned around and prepared to leave. It was Myna that continued yelling gibberish obscenities at Gabriel with his already hoarse voice as he remained perched on Grimm’s shoulder.

“Hmph, and I thought there would be a good show.” A Level-2 Dark Demon Hunter murmured to himself before stopping himself from making further statements.

The other Dark Sorcerers also had a look of disappointment on their faces. It seems that their dissatisfaction was due to Grimm’s “cowardice” or so they say.

At the moment, they had not left the Sorcerer World yet and thus the Demon-Hunting Expedition hadn’t started yet. There would inevitably be a violation of certain laws in a fight between Dark Sorcerers. Though, provided the damage from the fight isn’t major, they could easily get away with a small fine of Sorcerer Essences or even just a single warning.

It was apparent that on the Principal Void Fortress, not much damage could be inflicted by a mere Level-1 Demon-Hunter Sorcerer even if they tried. And yet this guy just walked away.

From the perspective of most people, this was an indication of Grimm’s weakness.

Third Ghostpepper bellowed, which added to the tense atmosphere as he stared down Grimm’s silhouette as he left the scene.

After walking a hundred meters from the small crowd of seven people, Grimm stopped walking and stood calmly on the spot.

Myna’s raging expression remained as he cursed: “Damn it, you’re really pissing Lord Myna off man. Young Master, you tell me, when was the last time I was this pissed? Yup… it’s all thanks to you.”

Grimm glanced at Myna as he waited silently.

Following the arrival of squads of Demon-Hunter Bright Sorcerers and Dark Sorcerers on the fortress square, a large formation of Bright Sorcerers entered the fortress base, leaving the Dark Sorcerers on the square.

A trail of mechanical bees back from their missions followed the final few Voidships into the base of the Principal Void Fortress.

Crack!

Suddenly, a pitch-black mouth opened up in the peaceful skies above the Void Fortress.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Roughly a hundred individual orbs of light flew out swiftly from within the dark crack in the sky, descending quickly into the Principal Void Fortress square. Half of these orbs remained on the square while the other half went directly into the fortress base.

These were all Level 3 Great Sorcerers from the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings. The atmosphere when they arrived was much heavier and imposing than the crowd of Level 1 and 2 sorcerers combined.

“Hm, despite the number of sorcerers being higher than the previous Demon-Hunting Expedition, it’s still less cramped due to the sheer size of the new Void Fortress. I wonder what arrangements the Stigmata Sorcerers of this Demon-Hunting Expedition have in mind.”

Grimm alongside many other Demon-Hunter Sorcerers waited excitedly, staring closely at the pitch-black crack in the sky above.

After a while, a pitch-black figure slowly appeared on the other end of the dark crack. It peered over towards the direction of the Void Fortress.

‘There’s only one Stigmata Sorcerer?’

Surprised by the sight of just a single Stigmata Sorcerer, many Demon-Hunter Sorcerers started muttering among themselves.

This was because for most Demon-Hunting Expeditions, it takes two or even three Stigmata Sorcerers to lead the invasion force. Why was there only one Stigmata Sorcerer participating in this expedition then?

Many had started speculating in the dark that the expedition was going to be held in an inferior foreign world. It was either this or that this Stigmata Sorcerer was the ultra-powerful guy heard of only in rumors…

Grimm’s body suddenly jolted, which was so abrupt that it shocked Myna out of his unending string of obscenities.

Grimm said in disbelief, “Thi-this imposing sense of pressure…the cruelty, the tyrannical atmosphere…could this Stigmata Sorcerer be…Black Isotta?!”