Nobilis of War novel Chapter 44

Darren ran desperately into the woods, trying to escape. He was not as strong as Dalton and his companions. They already reached higher stages in terms of martial arts skills. He was not confident about the odds of him winning if they ever had to fight. If he got caught, he was almost sure he would die.

He ran as fast as he could, trying to lose them. He intentionally chose a path that was not going to be easy for them to follow. Vines hung from every corner in between the gaps of the trees. They would surely be tangled up in them if they didn't take their time to be careful.

Darren could hear the sound of their heavy footsteps from several hundred meters behind him. He could even hear their shouts and threats.

'They run too fast. They will catch me, for sure. I need to find another way to escape, ' Darren thought, worried.

They were all more proficient in fighting than he was. It also wouldn't be a surprise if they were also faster. It wouldn't be long until they caught up to him. It was fortunate that they were in the woods. The giant trees made for good hiding places and distractions. It took Dalton time to find the right way, giving Darren time to escape.

"Hurry up. That bastard could not have gotten far. I will beat him up so badly when I catch him!" Dalton cursed.

Darren could hear that they were close.

Suddenly, he spotted a level four Pocket Beast right in front of him. That gave him an idea. Darren rushed towards it and gave it a big slap. Immediately, it passed out.

On its belly was a large pocket. Darren fixed the beast's position to make it look as if it were sleeping. Then, he gently slipped himself into its pocket and held his breath to conceal his presence as best as he could.

"Eh? Where did he go? Is he hiding somewhere?"

Dalton and his companions asked when they finally managed to break free of the vines. Darren seemed to have disappeared completely.

"Search the place!"

"I still cannot understand how that bastard became so strong. How did he manage to sneak up on Matt and kill him?"

"He also killed William the other day. So, if my calculations are correct, he must have already peaked the third stage of the Spirit Realm! We shouldn't have underestimated him. Then again, he was very badly injured after the fight that day. Also, according to rumors, he had internal forces of both blade and sword! This was probably why he hurt himself. An elder said that it was very unlikely for him to survive for long. It is truly a mystery why he managed to recover completely in just two days," one of Dalton's companions thought aloud.

"Cut the fucking crap. He will regret murdering Matt right in front of me. I will kill him!" Dalton exclaimed. He was so furious that he hit the giant tree beside him with his palm. Then the tree fell with a big thud.

"Oh, look! A Pocket Beast! Hold on, I want to catch one and keep it for fun," one disciple said happily when he saw the sleeping beast.

Darren was immediately alerted. 'Oh no. They will find me, won't they?' As he was trying to think of a new plan, he started culminating his blade and sword internal force, ready for a possible fight.

"What the fuck! Are you kidding me? You want to catch a Pocket Beast for fun right now? We're on an important mission. Are you stupid?" Dalton replied angrily as he slapped the disciple's face. "Everyone, focus! Look for Darren, you useless buffoons!" he exclaimed.

They then began to search.

Darren continued to hold his breath as he hid inside the beast's pocket trying to emit the least amount of sound possible.

Suddenly, something strange happened. A cold breath blew at his face. It smelled so unpleasant that it almost made him sick.

Then, a black claw covered with mucus entered the pocket where Darren was.

"Oh shit, what the hell is that?"

He jumped in surprise the moment it touched him. On a kneejerk reaction, he turned the Pocket Beast into pieces.

"Look, the bastard is over there!"

His sudden movement exposed him completely. On the bright side, the horrible claw was gone.

"Kill him!"

A disciple who was at the sixth stage of the Spirit Realm rushed towards Darren fiercely. The blade in his hand glistened as it released its power.

His force was so tremendous that Darren was not even sure if he would be able to block the attack.

"Awoooooooooo!"

Suddenly, a howl echoed. What appeared with it was a jet-black creature covered with dark scales all over its body. Nobody knew where it came from.

The creature had two scarlet eyes that gleamed coldly. It had two horns on its head and smelly mucus kept dripping from its mouth.

"Ahhhh! It's a fiend!" a guy across Darren yelled.

The disciple who initially rushed at Darren happened to be the one who ended up standing face-to-face with the fiend. Inevitably, his fierce blade attack immediately hit the creature.

"Clang!" the sound of metal on stone was heard clearly by all of them.

It did not seem to hurt the fiend at all! It howled again as it hit the disciple hard with its claw.

"Bang!"

The disciple ended up in two pieces. It was horrible.

Seeing this, even Dalton was frightened. Though he was at the ninth stage of the Spirit Realm, he did not dare to get close to the fiend. He believed that it could even be stronger than a diabolic beast of level nine!

"Run!" Dalton shouted as he ran away as fast as he could.

Darren also ran away, but towards the opposite direction.

He did not get to run so far, however, as he stopped because of a shocking scene he saw.

Scattered right in front of him in the pitch-black forest were numerous pairs of scarlet eyes. Worse, they all looked at him grimly. Howls filled the air. There were more fiends where he went!

Darren quickly turned around to try and escape.

However, more fiends appeared! He regretted running towards the opposite direction of where Dalton went. He decided to change his course and run after Dalton.

The fiends that appeared started running after Darren and the other disciples.

"The bastard is also running this way. How about we kill him first?" a disciple told his companions when he spotted Darren. In the heat of the moment, he thought about murder.

He slashed at Darren fiercely with his blade.

A great amount of vital energy from the disciple surged toward Darren because of his attempt to kill him.

However, even before he could approach Darren, a fiend came in front of him and crushed his head with its claw.

"Don't use vital energy!" Dalton commanded from the front. He realized how dangerous that was when the fiend killed the disciple.

This was also something Darren realized. Using vital energy would cause the fiends to kill them.

Darren and the others ran as fast as they could as the fiends chased them relentlessly. An hour later, they found themselves amid a number of dark and barren mountains. They were no longer in the woods.

"Something feels wrong," Darren said. 'They are intentionally driving us towards this direction!' he thought.

Darren's heart began pounding heavily. Something inside him warned of impending danger.

"Help, help! This is horrible!"

"Run, run! Those creatures are dangerous!"

Suddenly, more people started to appear. Apparently, they were all escaping from different places and all happened to go in the same direction.

Darren looked around. Again, he saw even more people rush out of the woods frantic and afraid. They were all trying to escape only to arrive at the same empty, dark place.

'These people look strong, ' he thought. 'They seem to be disciples from different sects who either come here on missions or are just looking for ways to challenge themselves.' Darren rushed towards the empty area, frowning.

Despite their differences, they had one thing in common: they were all running for their lives. Everyone rushed towards the gorge nearby without hesitation. It was the only way out, after all. None of them had a choice.

Even Darren found no other way. He sped towards the gorge as well.

Several fiends ran after them. Tens of people were driven into the same gorge.

After running for about one kilometer, they finally reached their destination. It was a large, spacious and empty area.

Observing his surroundings, Darren found himself shocked by what he saw.

In front of him, were corpses. They were everywhere and there were hills of them.

In the middle of it all was a bronze coffin covered with ancient patterns that floated quietly. A dark smoke seemed to seep through it continuously.

"Awoooooo!" a howl echoed.

There seemed to be something inside the bronze coffin. When it felt the life around it, it howled excitedly. Then, it started to shake.

"Ahhh!"

Screams arose. As soon as the dark smoke that came out of the bronze coffin touched a human body, the human body shriveled and quickly dried up until only a layer of skin, visible meridians, and eyeballs were left. It was an extremely dreadful sight.