Chapter 372 The Death Arrives
POV Knight:
The silver moonlight shone upon the tall barrier of stone.
"Huh?" The knight standing on top of it, overlooking the sprawling woods, turned on his heels as something fast passed by, all the trees and grass withering away, and the air turned cold.
Shivers went down his wings, spine, and tail. But he couldn't see or hear anything, even with his body warning him of impending death.
Just as he wanted to explore it, a loud howling of wind came from the horizon, and the entire forest dimmed down, the moon and stars vanishing under canopies of clouds.
Towering vortexes appeared on the horizon, spinning while tearing all the trees from the ground. All seven of them were evenly spaced in a line, growing larger as they slowly closed toward the wall.
'So the attack is here.'
The next second, bright blue lights flashed on the horizon, and blue beams of mana cut through the forest. Bright blue lines were drawn across the forest and lit up the night. They smashed into the wall, accompanied by blinding flashes of light and loud bangs.
The mass of stone below his feet shook and cracked, avalanches of stone falling down to be swallowed by the gaping ravine below.
POV Vesuvius:
The giant dragon was flapping his wings above the lake of luminescent liquid. Its surface constantly rippled, large waves sweeping through it as if it was during a storm.
The tower just stood there, its smooth black walls looming over the lake.
His eyes were still on the tower as he felt a strong Deja Vu. Hazy and distant memories that felt only like a dream resurfaced from the depth of his soul.
The bright glimmers of light and images of explosions passed before his eyes, but they all felt surreal and hazy.
'Mind magic? Is someone trying to mess with my memories?' He had his doubts, but the ripples on the lake that suddenly appeared made him feel like it wasn't so simple.
'The last time this happened, this weird liquid also reacted. That can't be a coincidence.' He was sure the secret behind it was within the lake.
He just remained to hover there, each flap of his wings sending gashes of wind and smoke. He focused his mind, trying to remember, but it was impossible, like trying to fully remember a long-forgotten dream.
Only the hooded and robbed silhouette within the smoke appeared before his eyes. Its green, flickering eyes made the dragon's heart beat in subtle anger.
A strong aura came from behind him, carrying dead and cold with it. Vesuvius turned his long neck towards the dark tunnel as it felt familiar. It carried the same presence and power as the four balanced races.
'It feels like a reaper. The question is if they are real or just a part of this dungeon.'
Vesuvius remained on alert, but he didn't move to raise his defense as he knew the aura flashing was akin to a greeting. Furthermore, reapers were the most reasonable when compared to their three cousins and were the type that spoke before shooting.
"Greetings, dragon." A cold voice, weak akin to the voice of a dying man, yet at the same time earsplittingly loud, echoed from far and bounced between the cave walls.
A small black dot appeared in the shadows, quickly getting closer. It quickly turned into a humanoid figure in ink-black, tattered robes with a pair of bony wings on its back. The blade of a scythe in its glowed hand gleamed in faint, purple light.
Even with its small size, the oppressive aura radiating out was enough to kill a mortal on sight.
Vesuvius was finally sure the reaper was real as its aura didn't feel fake like the demon he had met in the dungeon before.
The coarse voice resonated again, only much quieter, "Their deathness was right. I saw it. The tower was destroyed and you were in it, yet now it is fixed and you are out. There is really a time magic here." The reaper kept speaking, its flickering purple eyes locked upon the dragon.
The words immediately cleared the dragon's doubts, making him connect all the dots.
'Huh? So it was real... it really happened.' The blurry and distant images of battle and his pain resurfaced again, making the dragon frown inwardly.
He could think of only one kind of power that could do something like it. All the weird occurrences, powers, and abilities he saw in the dungeon finally connected, 'Time magic, or some other time-attributed power. But what is a reaper doing here?'
"Tell me, why are you here, reaper?" Vesuvius spoke, his voice unchanging and not showing any of his internal turmoil.
The reaper stopped, hovering before the giant dragon, its black robes moving in a draft.
"Isn't it obvious, dragon? To fulfill orders of the god of death. Time magic must be erased and eliminated! It can't leave this fragment! It disturbs the workings of the world. Greedy mortals will want to snatch it! They can't be allowed."
Even Vesuvius felt like the words of the reaper made sense, 'If someone dies and the time is reversed... wouldn't it be like stealing from the god of death and reapers? No, wonder the reaper arrived so soon.'
The aura of the reaper intensified, and the air turned still as its eyes lit up in bright purple light, a trace of divinity burning under its hood, making the aura of death even stronger, "Even now, mortals are trying to get here!"
The dragon's eyes also lit up in bright golden light as his own aura repelled back the aura of death. His alertness immediately raised, 'This is a no ordinary reaper. They have divine energy, and they were sent by their god. They must be a grim reaper or death reaper.'
The ranks of the reapers were confusing even to a dragon as there was no strict separation between classes like it was for dragons, demons, and angels, only the difference in their accumulated death energy.
The only exception to it were their equivalents to dragon lords and kings, their two highest echelons with access to divine power.