After taking in his surroundings, and doing some mental preparations, Nick moved forward. He added one more safety precaution and summoned two Anubites.
Nick had faced uncertain situations in the past but right now, he was at a place that he had no sense of, except for a bad premonition. The more defensive mechanisms he ladened himself with, the handier it would be.
He knew from his past experiences that if he took his eyes off the ball even for a second, things would get ugly with sudden attacks or other unexpected setbacks.
With the two Anubites by his side, Nick was more confident. His mission was to discover more about this weird place and find out about the living beings that inhabited this dark environment, that had no plantation and a ‘sky’ that was covered with stones and rocks.
After about 10 minutes of walking, Nick finally saw the dog-like creatures closely.
They noticed him as well at this time. Even before Nick had the chance to do anything, all the four creatures, including the three that were sleeping, jumped up with fear charged at him.
Nick observed their stance and exclaimed.
“Sound Attack?”
“Wwwwwwwov”
Within two seconds, the four creatures attacked him with a blue wave, sound-type attack.
Nick’s passive shield protected him and without thinking twice, he summoned the remaining Anubites, ordering them to attack these creatures.
Anubites were fast but not as fast as sound. Nick did not expect that these four creatures were capable of killing two Anubites with their sound attacks before going down.
One had to know, for an ordinary mage, an Anubite was a clear nemesis. But these creatures were not scared of them and easily attacked and killed two of them. However, this appeared to be their limit. Nick learned many things from this battle.
“These creatures use sound-attacks and waves to hurt and kill their prey or enemy. The sound attacks are fast. They are not quite like the speed of sound but still enough to not miss any ordinary creature without strong agility. Even the Anubites, despite their formidable speed, could not escape their attacks, once targeted.”
“Their disadvantage was when they were charging for the attack. They needed to stand still for two to three seconds. This was the time window when they were at their weakest. Their speed was not as fast as the Anubites and they did not have any combat abilities in close range other than the sound-wave attack. But they were still agile, capable of evading two or three swings from the Anubites. This meant that ordinary mages could not hurt them with their basic spells such as fire-balls or energy-balls, “
“Considering all of them were at the same level as Peak Imper Level mage and they battled as a pack, they were capable of holding their own, even against a Level 6 or 7 ordinary Prive Level Mage without any problem.”
Nick smiled and got closer to the dead bodies of these creatures. He picked them up and stored them with his ring. He wanted to inspect them when he returned to his office at the Werfur Base.
After having dealt with these creatures, Nick slowly walked towards the deeper regions.
There was nothing else here other than pure, simple rocks. There were many kinds of rocks—rocks-sized mountains, mounds, and even rocks that were in unusual shapes like rectangles and pyramids, looking like they had been created by intelligent masons.
The only thing common, other than the rocks, was the deep darkness. It did not affect Nick but he realized, there was nothing else in this area.
After an hour of walking, Nick’s Wave Radar picked on something else. He could sense a creature that looked like a cow.
The creature was grey-colored and was the size of ordinary cows from Earth. Their numbers were about the same as the Sound Wolves. Yes, Nick had given a name to the dogs that attacked him and called them Sound Wolves. He did need a name. After all, he was going to study their dead bodies that were carefully stored in his ring, later.
No unique traits differentiated the cows but they too had magical energy in their bodies.
At this time, one of the cows opened its mouth and chewed on the small rocks on the ground.
Seeing this, Nick exclaimed with surprise. He had two questions that came to his mind immediately.
“Are they eating pure rocks as food?”
“Do they live and mate here, creating some sort of a unique ecosystem?”
Just at this moment, Nick gulped. He suddenly entered a vision. The moment was instantaneous from the outside, but for Nick, it was like a long dream.
In this dream, he saw clear images of a place whose grounds were hot with boiling blood.
The entire town was littered with blood, weapons and armors. Red, silver and khaki were the new colors of what was once a small harbor town. This place was now the stage of a ferocious clash.
The air that would normally be filled with the scent of freshly baked bread and the sounds of people was filled with thick, black smoke and small embers. It looked like a state of total irreconciliation, one that could never be reversed.
Two equally skilled armies fought with each other over a mere difference in lifestyle and belief, and there was no inkling of which side came out stronger. The dead and the wounded of each side lay in heaps across the town. The fighters, with adrenaline rushing through their bodies and hope in their hearts, took on their enemies.
Without any sight of an outcome, each side fought desperately with their enemies without knowing what would happen next. Some may have succumbed to rage and were killing any enemy they saw, creating a scene of blood, gore and fury. While others could only think of their home and what they left behind.
The toll this took on both nature and humanity was intense. It would likely take a lifetime before this town recovered. Blood, dead bodies and debris replaced homes, settlements and businesses.
Nick was short of breath when he snapped out of the doom-filled dream.
He took some time before calming himself and thought.
“This deep and stony place has bigger secrets than I can ever imagine!”
