392 Disgust is Mutual.
The crowd had thinned down a lot.
After all, one-third of them had already disappeared into the mist of death, leaving behind only short-lived echos of their final moments, and occasionally, bloodstains.
Neither the Prince nor the commander did anything while this massacre took place.
What upset people further was the fact that even the wild man who they all knew, was more than capable enough to kill those creatures. Yet, he remained indifferent to the horrific deaths of so many people. He stood there doing nothing!
Amidst the growing confusion, some of them had started getting used to the situation.
Those who were panicking around the edges had already succumbed to death, and now the level-headed ones were putting up a resistance. In the face of danger, those strangers who were all wary of each other before started cooperating.
Though the mist still put them at a disadvantage, once the ‘recruits’ got a hold of themselves, the situation gradually turned around.
‘One...two....three...four....’ Ozul counted as the number of Black Horned Foxes started dwindling.
With people starting to fight back, the speed at which the Foxes were killed only increased over time. And as if noticing the turn of tides, the Black Horned Foxes stopped their assault at once and retreated.
.....
With the Beasts stopping their sneak attacks, a stillness descended on the field.
“I-... is it over?” huffed a woman laden with injuries.
She was also in the Nascent Soul Realm, and if Ozul were to choose between her and that woman named Rose, he would choose her without batting an eye.
Instead of answering her, the commander who had maintained his silence until now ran into the mist at a lightning speed only to reappear a few seconds later as the soldiers helped him wipe the blood on his hands.
Everyone knew he had just taken care of the remaining Black Horned Foxes who had fled.
A man in the crowd clenched his trembling fists as he shouted, “H-hey! If you had helped before... my...my friends wouldn’t have d-died!” He sniffed up his snot while letting tears mix into the blood splattered on his face.
“Well, I was letting you all prove your worth to His Highness, the Imperial Prince; didn’t you all seem eager to?” the commander replied indifferently. He continued, “But as I recall if you held your friends so dear to you, why didn’t you help them instead of cowering and pushing others to hide behind others’ backs?”
The man couldn’t find a retort. His face flushed with guilt as the faces of his now-dead friends flashed in his mind.
People saw the commander had no intentions of taking responsibility for so many deaths, and even the Imperial Prince remained uninterested. As hot-headed as they were, they had also seen a fair share of this world. Only now did everyone understand that they had yet to become part of the royal army of the Blue Lion Kingdom.
Their shoulders slumped down as some mourned their friends while others despaired at what awaited them next. In just one encounter with the Beasts, their numbers had reduced by one-third of the original! What about the next time?
“Tch! That was no fun,” mumbled the wild man. He didn’t get to have any action, but he had to admit those Foxes were disappointing.
Instead of going feral, those cunning Beasts chose to retreat instead when there was still half of them left!
“Get moving again!” shouted the commander before hopping onto his horse.
While the soldiers were previously guarding the Imperial Prince, it was actually the other way around. Due to the latter’s aura, no Black Horned Fox dared to approach them. Hence, all of them remained unscathed.
“-...What about the dead!?”
The commander turned to glare at the man and shouted, “If you so wish to give them a burial, you can stay here. We’re leaving!”
That man who had asked the question was stumped as well. His staying back alone was nothing more than suicide!
The commander had warned them earlier that they wouldn’t stop for mourning, but they didn’t take him seriously back then. Now that it was actually happening made people despair. Now even if they wanted to leave, would they be able to?
After that people stopped voicing their complaints and the march continued again.
This time, everyone was vigilant and had their weapons ready. Since the Imperial Prince was only here to spectate, they could only rely on themselves to survive.
Seeing the concern in Raven’s eyes, Ozul shook his head to stop her from saying anything.
If she was one of the few people who understood his little actions, the same was true for him. He knew she was about to voice her concern over the cruelty of the Prince. But he didn’t want her to.
The Prince could most likely even hear their mumblings. Raven wasn’t the type to shy from killing people, but expressing doubts about him would make it tedious to gain his trust later.
Seeing him shake his head, Raven got the hint.
“You could have been more useful with your needles,” Ozul told Zier. The other two fought well, so he didn’t say anything to them.
Zier nodded seriously, “I will reflect on that.”
Ozul felt good dealing with him. Unlike Raven and Blaze, he wouldn’t go down the spiral of shame and guilt each time he pointed out his shortcomings. He hoped the sickly boy remained that way.
They marched for a few more hours before the mist finally began to thin out.
A few minutes later, people could finally see their immediate surroundings.
And some instantly regretted looking as they saw the fallen trees, destroyed rocks, and craters formed in the shape of a claw. That level of destruction couldn’t be imagined by Nascent Soul cultivators.
Just when they thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, they saw fire erupt like a volcano in the distance. Amidst the raging pillar of fire, lighting struck without mercy.
The shockwaves reached their group, but the Prince didn’t pull his horse. They continued walking in that direction.
A man with shaky legs could no longer take it. He wasn’t willing to march straight to his death! His eyes began to well up with tears as he saw the faces of his kids waiting for him at home. He cried, “I can’t go!” then stopped, slowly turned around, and ran the other way.
Following his lead, 6 more ‘recruits’ gave up and ran away.
They had come with great hopes, but the Imperial Prince watched mercilessly as they died. Now he wanted them to face ‘that’ thing in the distance? Whatever it was, they didn’t want to lay down their lives for the whims of a Prince.
Ozul shook his head as he watched that sorry sight. What happened to these men was indeed cruel. They were given hope and then tossed in front of hungry Beasts to gnaw on. But did he care? No; he didn’t. Everyone was responsible for their lives in the end.
Neither the commander nor the Prince glanced back even once. Their stand on desertion was obvious; they didn’t care either.
After another hundred meters or so, the Prince stopped and so did everyone. The commander got down from his horse as one of the soldiers held its reigns.
“That thing over there,” the commander pointed at the chaos in his back, “...is the lord of Black Horned Foxes in this region! Since it is fighting someth-”
He stopped shouting when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the Imperial Prince who stood smiling behind him.
“We are heading straight towards it,” he grinned, “...whoever survives becomes a part of the Royal Army. Does anyone have any questions?” He didn’t wait for anyone to reply before nodding, “Seems not. That’s the spirit!”
Ozul sighed with a frown. Since he was the one with the sharpest senses, he already knew the Beast was fighting a human.
Shaking his head, he thought, ‘That isn’t even fighting... She is toying with the lord of Black Horned Foxes.’
The power displayed by both reached the Origin Realm, but the difference was in the stages. He could tell that the Black Hornes Fox was in the initial Realm. As for the woman, he couldn’t be so sure.
From the excitement displayed by the Prince, he could only guess that she might also be at the peak of the Origin Realm.
‘Why are all strong people so eager to fight?’ he sighed once again at the thought of meeting more people like them in the future.
The Prince had already taken off his shiny silver armor, revealing a loose shirt of high quality.
The armor was only there for display. The real treasure was the spear that he was holding. It was twice as long as him, but he handled it like it was a natural part of his body.
Leaving the soldiers to take care of the horse that he cherished, the Prince led everyone straight towards the battle.
As they approached, the terrain around them was more messed up. At one point even, there were no standing trees left! A small river had to change its course as its path was filled with giant trees and rocks.
There were patches of fire which refused to die down.
Zier gulped at the magnitude of destruction. A single battle had changed the whole terrain! Stars shone in his eyes as he imagined himself reaching that level one day.
“Catch!” a voice reached their ears.
The Prince looked up into the air.
Following his lead, others looked up as well. It was almost dawn, so they could see better.
And with their vision returned, they could all see the Beast falling toward them!
A second later, they realized that the four-legged Beast was headed straight for the Prince and not them.
As the Beast reached the Prince, he simply punched it!
The Beast whined once again as its body bent and was thrown away once again.
Fortunately for it, it was a rocky area. The stones broke the Beast’s momentum before it fell on the ground with a thud.
By that point, everyone could see the resemblance of the Beast with the Black Horned Foxes that they had dealt with earlier. Only this was double their size and instead of a single horn, there were two horns on his head. It also had hardened patches of skin lined up on its spine. It looked as if it was wearing armor.
People’s attention, however, was quickly diverted as they heard that voice again,
“The Imperial Prince of that blue-whatever-Kingdom, what a surprise.”
The Prince brought down his spear and the earth cracked beneath him. The shock reached the boulder placed in their path as it split open, forcing the woman to jump down.
As she landed on the ground, the Prince bowed in courtesy, “The disgust is mutual, whoever you are.”
