I Shall Devour Everything

Chapter 73: Climbing The Hills

"You dog!" Marcos howled as he gritted his teeth and rushed towards Arion with his knife out. He wasn't sure he could take down Arion but it was not as if he had the choice to run away.

"Hmph, how predictable," Arion scoffed as he saw how unskilled Marcos was at fighting. At least he had experience in street fighting. So, he easily dodged the knife and caught Marcos' arm, and twisted it.

*Crack!*

"Aaargh!" Marcos howled with pain as Arion easily dislocated his shoulder as the knife fell out of his hand.

"Man, you are too weak," Arion sneered as his expression became increasingly dark.

Arion felt that he overestimated Marcos since he didn't expect him to be this weak. But then he expected it, considering how Marcos was not coming from any big-shot family and was only able to further his Defity to his point by exploiting other kids.

Arion then kicked him in the chest, making his back hit the walls hard, cracking the wall in the process before he collapsed on the ground.

"Ughh" Marcos groaned in pain as his body writhed on the floor.

Arion then smiled as he said, "Now time for the leg. I guess I will pick this one." Saying that Arion brought down his leg on Marcos' left knee, fracturing it immediately.

"AAAAH!!!" Marcos' eyes bulged in horror and pain as spittle flew out of his mouth because of the unbearable pain of his knee breaking.

Arion stomped on his knee again and again till it became a paste of bones, making Marcos howl as he had never before.

"Stop! P-Please...I won't do it again" Marcos bitterly pleaded since he would do anything to just get away from this demon whom he couldn't even recognize.

"Sure, you won't. Now time for a head wash," Arion snickered as he pulled up Marcos by grabbing his hair and then plunged his head into one of the toilets, which looked worse than normal toilets because of how broken down the whole toilet was.

"NO!! Mmmh!!" A horrible and dirty stench assaulted his nose as his head went inside a toilet which couldn't look more filthy.

He literally felt like the stench itself could kill him, so one could only imagine his trauma when his head went inside the toilet.

"Must be smelling quite pleasant, eh? After all, this is how stinky you are. You should feel right at home," Arion laughed as he pressed down Marcos' head even further with his feet.

A dangerous light flashed through his eyes when he suddenly felt like snapping his neck, but then his rationality quickly stopped him, since he had no idea about the rules and laws of killing someone in this world or whether it would be a big issue if this could be traced back to him.

If he decided to let Marcos go, then he was at least sure that a coward like him wouldn't utter a single word about what happened to others since he neither knew Arion's identity and would be too scared of Arion taking revenge.

After making sure that Marcos had felt like he had eaten turd, Arion lifted his leg after suppressing the intent to kill him.

"Now you know how pathetic you are...just as dirty and small as a worm, hehe," Arion said in a sardonic tone as he left the toilet while Marcos had become unconscious due to the traumatic event he had just experienced.

Arion took back the pouch of pranars he gave to him before.

He felt the rage inside him soothe down by a bit, but there was still the lingering regret that he didn't kill him. But he ignored those thoughts and went out.

Arion saw Mei and Shun still waiting in the restaurant and walked over to them.

"You sure did take long. Don't tell me you went to p"

"Oh, shut up. It's just the toilets were not clean, and I had to waste some time finding one," Arion said with an eye roll.

"That's fine. Now that the registration has been done, we can now pack our things today and leave tomorrow," Mei said as she got up.

Arion nodded, feeling quite excited about the upcoming training and how strong he was going to become after a year.

The next day, people bid farewell to Arion and gave their best wishes when they saw that it was time for Arion and the others to make their way to the Enchanted Hills and would be only returning after an entire year.

Of course, Arion could come and visit the Fok Grove Ward in between, but they doubted if he would have time to do so.

Accompanying Arion was, of course, Mei, Shun, and Yaro. Some people were surprised that Yaro decided to accompany them and felt that she must be really concerned about Arion.

"Aunt Yaro, you really didn't have to trouble yourself like this," Arion said, feeling touched that she was coming to make sure he was well fed during the training.

Yaro put her hand around Arion's arm and said as her bosom pressed against his arm, "How could taking care of my favorite boy be troublesome for me? You have no idea how tired you can become during your training, and that's when you need the right food to keep you going."

Arion held his breath as her soft round bosom pressed against his arm and replied with a calm expression, "Then I guess I can't stop you, hehe."

'Come on, control yourself. She's like your aunt' Arion inwardly mumbled as he tried to calm his mind.

Mei's brows creased as she saw the two interacting but then looked away.

"Where is Old Zi? Isn't he going to come with us, or is he already at the top?" Arion curiously asked.

Mei answered, "He already went ahead to make sure our path is clear of any Dreadlings. So he would be waiting at the top for us. But you two should stick close to me and Aunt Yaro in case there are any Dreadlings prowling though they wouldn't be much stronger."

Kisho dropped the four near the bottom of the hills, and as Arion got down, he said with a smile, "Go, little Arion. We all will be looking forward to seeing you coming back as a stronger hero. If you pass the second trial, then you will not be making only our Fok Grove ward proud but the entire Rimefall Village."

Arion placed his palms over each other and said, "Thank you, Uncle Kisho. I will surely try my best."

Kisho left after bidding goodbye to all of them, and Arion finally tilted his head up to see how tall the hills were.

'Wow, the peaks are clouded by the clouds, but it should be at least 2,000 meters tall,' Arion mumbled in awe though he knew that these hills weren't really that tall, but still, the place around looked beautiful.

Still, the place seemed so silent and peaceful, Arion wondered how there could be Dreadlings in this place or if it was because they were in hiding.

"There might be Wild Dreadlings around, so be careful," Mei said in a tone of caution.

Arion knew that the weakest Dreadlings were known as Wild Dreadlings, and they were the ones who attacked in large numbers to make up for their individual strength.

Arion had a bow and quiver strung along his shoulders, which Mei had bought for him, while Shun had an ordinary sword behind his back which Mei generously gave, seeing how he didn't have money to buy one for himself, much to Arion's protests.

However, he came to terms with her decision seeing that the sword was not expensive, and Shun could also defend himself without dragging down others in case something happens.

He also had a sword strung to his hips, just in case he had to fight at close quarters. He wanted to browse through other weapons, but he decided to buy one on his own instead of making Mei spend more.

By the time they had climbed the hills halfway, thirty minutes had elapsed since they had to take some detours to climb the hill and couldn't just climb straight up.

On the way, Arion did see some wild animals running here and there and decided to test out his bow and arrow skills by trying to shoot one of them.

"Be careful. Your weapon is not something meant to be used by amateurs. So don't shoot me by accident," Shun remarked with a wary expression.

Arion curled his lips as he quickly turned his body around to target Shun, "Maybe shooting you might feel nice."

"Aiyo, he has gone mad. Protect me, Aunt Yaro!" Shun shrunk back as he hid behind Yaro.

Yaro giggled as she said, "Don't worry. Arion is a nice boy. He wouldn't hurt you, hehe."

Mei smiled, but then she suddenly frowned as if she felt a certain change in the air.

Arion noticed Mei looking around with a wary expression, and so did the other two.

"Mei, what's wrong? Did you see or sense something?" Yaro asked as her expression became alert.

Arion couldn't find what was wrong since the hills seemed as peaceful as ever. But then he started to pick up a weird smell that totally contrasted with the pleasant atmosphere before.

"Be alert! The prana in the air seems disorderly, " Mei said in a wary tone while Arion again confirmed that Mei indeed could easily detect the changes in prana around her.