Nightmare’s Call

“Don’t be complacent and work hard, meditation is just the basics. You will also need to study the full length of combat techniques as well,” Lin Sheng advised. “Once your body gets stronger, I’ll teach you some real combat techniques.”

“Yes, master.” Adolf bowed his head in reverence.

“Meditate. The accrued power will shine when you need it most,” Lin Sheng said flatly.

“Yes.”

The two sat inside the tent as they seemed to be closing their eyes to rest. But in fact, both of them were meditating their respective Ashen Seals. But Lin Sheng, on the other hand, was not meditating, rather he was controlling Khadula to prepare for the Steel Lord’s redemption.

The present Steel Lord, after consuming a large part of Khadula’s body, had formed a very strong bond with him. And even from afar, Lin Sheng could still send short commands through meditation.

While sending commands would use up much of his mental strength, with its content very limited, it was still much more desirable compared to the total loss of contact.

Aside from the two elites, the rest of the soldiery were arranged to cooperate with Shermanton’s Special Forces to sweep a wider area for Black Clusters.

This time around, they were part of the official team and had gotten full cooperation as a result.

…

“This is the third village.”

The Steel Lord slowly walked inside the ruined town, and everywhere around him were broken walls and ruins that had just been bathed in the explosion.

Ishak the tour guide continued to drink water and was curious as to how the Steel Lord didn’t need to drink.

“This situation is usually rarer, but it still normal. This place is like that, if you don’t come for a while, many settlements would be abandoned. There are just too many bandits around,” he said as he put down his bottle.

“There’s someone!” The Steel Lord suddenly stopped as he cast his sharp eyes toward the ruins on his right.

It was the yard of a small farmer’s cottage. The wall was already half-ruined, with the other half struggling to hold the structure upright.

The house was empty, and from the gaps on the collapsed wall, no one was in sight aside from a few burnt bodies.

“There’s someone?!” Ishak was shocked as he quickly bent down and run toward a broken wall.

He had wanted to pull the Steel Lord along, but he could not move him even an inch.

The Steel Lord simply turned around, and took big strides toward the earthen house, not fearing any potential threats.

“Oy! You…!” Ishak called out to him, but before he realized it, the Steel Lord had already made his way before the earthen house as he suddenly stomped the ground hard.

*Bam!*

An iron hoop suddenly bounced up, and the Steel Lord caught the hoop with his leg and pulled it upwards.

With a creak later, a thick wooden board was pulled up alongside the hoop, revealing a dark basement.

Valgariah looked down. It was just a small four square meter basement, and in it was a golden-haired girl with twin tails who was curled up within it. The girl was curled up in her mother’s embrace and looked up with fear in her eyes at the Steel Lord standing outside.

Valgariah paused for a moment, before turning away. Suddenly, a command came from Lin Sheng from afar, and he stopped moving.

“Understood…”

He returned to the entrance of the basement.

“Come out,” he rumbled.

Without a word, the girl came out of her mother’s embrace and out of the basement as she stood silently by Valgariah’s side.

Her right arm was broken, with only her left arm usable as she struggled to climb out.

Valgariah peered into the basement. The mother was not moving as if asleep as she maintained her embracing position. He could tell from a glance that it was a corpse.

The giant man looked at the small girl and no one said anything for a while.

After a while, Ishak could not stand it anymore and got out after ascertaining that everything was safe.

“She’s a war orphan. Leave her be, and let’s go. Having another burden to carry is problematic, plus she’s crippled,” he whispered to Valgariah.

The Steel Lord ignored him and stared at the young girl.

“Can you understand me?”

She nodded.

“Can you speak?” he asked again.

The young girl demurred for a moment before she opened her mouth. There was no tongue, only a bloodied wound.

“Sigh…” Even Ishak could no longer bear to see it. “Such is war… Let’s go, otherwise, we won’t be able to make it in time.”

The Steel Lord did not say anything and simply looked at the young girl in the eye. He remembered that his son bore the same eyes as the girl now before he left.

Helpless. Confused. Fearful.

After a while, he turned away and walked out of the village.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Ishak quickly ran after him as the bottles on his backpack clanged against one another.

About five hundred meters later, the Steel Lord paused and turned to look back.

Behind them, a tiny figure about a meter tall struggled to keep up with them.

“I knew it… I knew it…” Ishak the tour guide grumbled.

The Steel Lord ignored him and simply looked at the girl before turning away and continuing his march forward.

Ishak followed behind as he turned back to look at the girl before sighing and threw a bottle of water alongside a packet of biscuits down before continuing on.

…

Lin Sheng slowly opened his eyes as he withdrew his consciousness from the Steel Lord.

Adolf had already long completed his meditation and was drinking a cup of hot water as he rested, his face somewhat pale.

“Master, are you done?”

“Yes. Your body is still too weak. Meditation is a process that consumes a lot of your strength to turn them into holy power. Without a strong body, a strong will is pointless.” Lin Sheng got up as he moved his muscles.

“I have four paths for you to choose in terms of combat techniques. Once you have decided on what, I’ll teach you the basic drills.”

“May I ask, which four?” Adolf asked reverently.

“Bare-handed, long sword, sword and shield, and war ax.” Lin Sheng quickly listed out the four most completed combat systems that he had absorbed.

“Consider properly.” He patted Adolf, who was now deep in thought, on the shoulder as he left the tent and made his way down the hill.

He suddenly had an idea to resolve the matter with the Steel Lord’s redemption, and if it works…

After returning to the dorm and having his dinner, Lin Sheng effortlessly made his way into the dream.

He had been spending these past few days searching the Warrior’s Guild for all sorts of information and useful items.

Sadly, aside from the books in the underground chamber, it was nothing but weapons and armor across the entire guild. And yet, these weapons and armor were not much better than those Bloodarmored soldiers.

Lin Sheng had tested it out, and it was about as strong as the armor of a vault guard. So he simply forwent it entirely as the defense provided was no better than his own skin. Plus they were heavy and encumbered his movement. He felt that his entire combat capability took a dive as he wore them.

As for the weapons, he collected a bundle of short axes with the length of an arm and packed them together to use as throwing axes.

With his absorption still not completed, he did not dare to hunt for new souls and could only return to the small sanctum and continue to meditate. Some progress was better than none after all.