World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 114: Slaughter

Back in the village, Elder Fena was relieved. The Great Root was healing, the forest felt lighter, and the human boy and his companions were finally gone. She was in her house, grinding herbs for a healing poultice, enjoying the quiet.

’Finally, some peace,’ she thought, stirring the thick green paste.

But the peace didn’t last.

Suddenly, she felt a presence so powerful it made the air feel heavy and thick. It was a wave of raw, crushing power that washed over the entire village, making the air vibrate. It was nothing like Nox’s dark energy; this felt older, heavier, and brutally direct.

She dropped the bowl she was holding, the paste spilling onto the wooden floor.

’What is that? That’s not possible.’

She rushed to the doorway of her house, stepping outside.

A man was sitting casually on the railing of her balcony, swinging his legs like he was waiting for a bus. He was huge, easily the biggest human she had ever seen, with muscles that looked like they were carved from stone and long, messy dark hair tied back in a knot.

A massive, double-bladed battle axe was strapped to his back, the metal gleaming faintly.

He was whistling a cheerful tune, completely relaxed.

Fena looked past him, down into the village square, and her blood ran cold.

The village was completely silent. Bodies were everywhere. Jor, the warriors, the merchants, even the children. They were all dead, lying in unnatural positions on the ground. It hadn’t been a fight; it had been a slaughter.

’My people...’

The shock held her for a second, then it was replaced by a pure, blinding rage.

The man stopped whistling and looked over at her, his expression friendly.

"Oh, hey. You must be the Elder. Took you long enough to notice me."

"What have you done?" Her voice was a low, trembling snarl.

He shrugged, gesturing down at the massacre with a casual wave of his hand. "Cleared the area. Bit of pest control. You guys were making a lot of noise earlier." He leaned forward a little. "So, you’re Elder Fena, right? Good. Saves me some time."

She wasn’t listening anymore. She summoned the power of the healed forest, pulling the pure mana of the Great Root into her hands and blasting it at him in a wave of raw force.

He didn’t even stand up. He just raised one hand, palm open, and her attack hit an invisible wall and dissipated like smoke. It didn’t even ruffle his hair.

He sighed, looking annoyed. "Look, Elder, let’s not do this. I’m not here to fight you. I’m just here for directions. You’re obviously way out of my league, and this is just embarrassing for both of us."

’He deflected my attack without even moving?’

She summoned a blade from the trees. "You will pay for what you have done."

She lunged at him.

He moved so fast it was a blur. He caught her wrist before her blade was even close.

"Seriously? Stop it." He twisted her arm, forcing her to drop the knife, then shoved her back against the wall of her house. It wasn’t a violent movement, just efficient and final.

"Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way," he said, leaning back against the railing again like nothing had happened. "My name is Kenchi. I work for a guy named Gorok. Big boss, bad temper. You might have heard of him."

’Gorok?’

"He sent me to find a couple of people," he continued, sounding bored. "A Sun Elf princess—you know, silver-yellow hair, royal attitude—and a human kid traveling with her."

He pointed down at the dead villagers. "I asked them first, but they were kind of rude about it. So now I’m asking you." He smiled, but it wasn’t a friendly smile anymore. "Which way did they go?"

"I see, you are after her highness."

Kenchi felt a shift in the elder aura. He felt a presence press down on him that made his skin feel prickly.

’Ohoo, would you look at that, she is easily over level 150. Well this sucks, how am I suppose to beat that?’

He felt the air grow heavy with each passing second. Dust vibrated on the balcony railing.

’Okay, level 150 is a conservative estimate. She’s a monster. Gorok’s intel is trash.’

He did not move from his seated position. He just watched her, a casual smile on his face.

"So, that’s a no on the directions, then?"

Fena’s eyes were black pools of hate. "I will flay the skin from your bones. I will use your skull as a seed pot."

’She’s creative. I’ll give her that.’

She moved.

She did not run; she was simply in front of him. Her hand was a blur as it chopped down toward his neck.

Kenchi leaned his head to the side. Her hand missed his throat by an inch and hit the wooden post behind him. The post exploded into splinters.

’That would have hurt.’

He pushed off the railing, landing on his feet inside the house. He put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Whoa, whoa, let’s just talk about this. I’m not the guy you’re really mad at."

"You slaughtered my people."

"Yeah, about that, my bad. But they were in the way. I’m just a guy doing a job."

She attacked again. The floorboards of the house cracked under the force of her lunge. She was a storm of fists and feet, each strike powerful enough to splinter the walls.

Kenchi did not attack back. He just dodged. He weaved and ducked, his larger body moving with an efficiency that was completely at odds with his size. He was not panicked at all.

’She’s strong, but she’s all rage, no finesse. She’s leaving herself wide open.’

He saw a dozen openings where he could have struck, but he knew it was pointless. He could not hurt her, not seriously. He just needed to survive long enough to talk.

He ducked under a wide, swinging fist and it smashed into the central fire pit, sending stone and embers flying.

"Will you just stop for one second?"

She ignored him. A gnarled root shot up from the floorboards, wrapping around his ankle. He stumbled, and she was on him, her palm aimed for his chest.

"Okay, enough of this."

A small, metal orb fell from his sleeve into his hand. He crushed it.

A wave of pure, negative energy exploded from his fist. It was not an attack. It was a nullification field.

The root around his ankle withered into dust. Fena’s attack, which was glowing with green energy, fizzled out a foot from his chest. The ambient mana vanished.

The air was suddenly just air.

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