Path to Transcendence

Chapter 526: Life Draining Sword

Upon getting close to the village, he was surprised to see that the occupants weren’t even human. Instead, they were all lizardmen. However, they weren’t like any lizardmen that Julius had ever seen. They were much more human-looking than the monsters he had come across in the past.

However, he noted that there was a sickly atmosphere around them. Almost as if they were infected with something. Their eyes weren’t completely alive. They weren’t like anything he had seen either; from what he could tell, they had a mixture of human and reptilian traits.

They had the same stature and overall appearance as humans, but with patches of scales over their skin. They also had long tails and yellowish eyes, like a lizardʼs. At this point, he didn’t even know if they were actually lizardmen; that was just what he was assuming. For all he knew, they were some kind of totally different species.

His appearance didn’t go unnoticed at the very least. The lizardfolk watching at the edge of the village spotted him and quickly came out to greet him.

“Are you the one they sent to us?” One of the lizardmen asked him right away. The other two guards were bearing simple swords at their sides.

Julius shrugged. “I think I am.”

“Good, come with us. You are just in time, the next attack will be happening in a little bit,” the guard instructed him. Julius noticed that his yellow eyes were still just as lifeless. He also didn’t know if he was imagining it, but there was some hidden hostility.

He didn’t know why, but he didn’t bother to argue and followed behind. As he was walking through the village, he noticed it was pretty packed with people. A large number of young children were all huddled around the corners, staring at him with scared expressions. He couldnʼt lie, despite looking like lizards, the children were absolutely adorable.

However, he narrowed his eyes when he saw an abandoned area off to the side. Placed in this area was what looked like a bunch of dead bodies. All of them looked like they had been burned. Not a single ounce of moisture remained in their bodies. They were dried husks.

“Here we are,” the guard who had escorted him said, dragging his attention from what he had just seen.

“What is here?” Julius asked, confused.

The guard pointed at the small green sword lying on an altar. “Take this and use it to fight.”

“This thing? What’s so important about it?” He asked and looked at the sword with trepidation.

He hadn’t gotten a good look at it yet, but from what little he had gleaned so far, the sword wasn’t a particularly nice-feeling item. It looked nice and bright, but to his senses, it sort of felt like his crown, but only more unsightly. Shrouded underneath the life mana, there were the same signs of sickness he had felt coming from the forest and these people.

At least his crown was openly evil. This thing was trying to look all nice, but in reality, it wasn’t.

The guard looked at him with narrowed eyes. “They didn’t tell you?”

Julius frowned and looked at the guards. “No? I was only told to protect this place. What were they supposed to tell me?”

“You will use this sword to defend this place from the monsters attacking. It will give you the strength to do so,” the guard explained.

“How?”

“It takes the vitality of the citizens and uses it to empower whoever they send to our village.” Although his expression was blank, Julius could feel something simmering underneath the surface.

His aura wasn’t as strong as normal, but his senses were still pretty good. He had a feeling right away that this wasn’t the first time they would see the sword in action. He didn’t blame them for their resentment either. From the sounds of it, the sword wasn’t a very kind item.

“Is there anything else I am supposed to protect?” He asked.

“No, your only job is to make sure the monsters don’t break through, no matter the cost and no matter how much vitality you have to drain.”

He glanced at the sword and back at the village, biting his lip in concern.

Was this the trial? Why would he be sent to this place? To help take control of this sword and ensure it stopped hurting people? Was it to test his skill with life mana, so that he could use it without being forced to suck out the vitality of the villagers?

Or perhaps, it was just like Terrandor said to him. He simply needed to protect this village.

It wasn’t like he was as strong as he was used to. Furthermore, he didn’t enjoy the idea of sucking out the vitality of these people.

Julius was about to ask the guard another question when the entire village suddenly went into a panic. People were running by him, toward the center of the village, where a large protected building was.

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It would appear that Julius didn’t have much time to question the details of this trial.

The green sword was shoved in his hands, and with no other choices, he went over to the edge of the village to at least see what kind of monsters he would be dealing with.

***

Upon his arrival, he grimaced. Given how weak his body was, he hoped these monsters would be much weaker. He was wrong. These monsters were freaking strong. He could tell right away.

They weren’t like any monsters he had seen before. The first thing he noticed about them was that they were pitch black, with a sheen that reminded him of a puddle of oil or ink. The only color he spotted was their frenzied yellow eyes.

They were vaguely wolf-like, with four legs and sharp-looking claws.

He was barely able to observe them before they snapped their gazes to him. Then, in a burst of speed, they dashed toward him.

His body reacted so slowly. He wanted to shout in irritation.

His mana felt like mud as he shoved it through his body. His control was still there, but it was a matter of the quality of his mana. It didn’t matter how good his control was if the mana didn’t respond to his wishes.

He tossed himself to the side, barely avoiding the sharp claws tearing at his face. The sword in his hand was barely enough to parry the other pair of claws.

However, despite his body’s physique being so poor, that didn’t mean his fighting instincts had deteriorated. He noticed the monster coming from behind him, and he used some kinetic energy to swing his body around, using the sword to slash at the beast.

He grimaced at how weak his kinetic energy felt. His slash that would have sheared the monster in half glanced off the monster’s hide as if he had just hit it with an overcooked noodle.

It wasn’t even the sword’s fault. By all accounts, despite its gross nature, the sword was a finely made blade. It was his body’s fault. He wasn’t able to move properly.

Was this seriously how weak he had been at Tier 1? He shook his head in disbelief.

He could feel the sword trying to empower him. There was this connection between the sword and the villagers hidden deeper in the village. He knew immediately that if he wanted to, he could activate whatever vitality-draining enchantment was attached to the sword.

However, he consciously blocked it. He didn’t know what kind of enchantment it was, but he knew one thing. He didn’t want to drain anyone’s vitality.

Of course, his decision might come back to haunt him. He had a feeling that there was a reason he was given this sword. These monsters were not something a typical Tier 1 could handle.

Fortunately, he wasn’t a typical Tier 1.

His worries about the intricacies of this trial were put on hold for the moment, and he got serious.

He gathered as much mana as he could into his body. The quality of it was complete shit, but he didn’t care. He had a lot of it, just like he had when he was Tier 1.

His senses were in overdrive, and he stared down the dozen monsters all crashing toward him.

He sidestepped one of them, using the sword to slice the creature’s ankle. He let the monster’s own momentum do most of the work for him. This time around, the sword bit through the hide and scored a long slash.

As much as he wanted to finish it off, he wasn’t able to. Several more monsters attacked him, all trying to tear out his throat. He ducked underneath a claw and severed some toes. He pivoted and slammed a weakly enforced kinetic elbow into the creatures, trying to take a bit out of his spine.

Then he used the monster as a springboard, avoiding the rest of the monsters. Unfortunately, he was a little too slow and got sliced on his legs and back.

The pain was intense. More intense than he was used to. [Sage of Savagery] usually handled his pain, so he was expecting such an agonizing sensation. However, he grit his teeth and didn’t stop.

He allowed these monsters to attack him again. Once again, he made sure to avoid their attacks while using the sword to injure them when he could. He snarled when another claw got through his defenses and sliced his shoulder.

He tried to use his healing skill instinctively, but nothing happened, unsurprisingly. He already felt some doubt creeping into his mind. The survival part of him wanted to use the sword’s enchantment. It didn’t help that the sword was thrumming with power and was taunting him.

He knew that with the enchantment, he could win against these monsters. That’s what it was offering to him. His pride told him that he could control the enchantment and not suck the life out of villagers, as he assumed those dried husks he had been.

He held off in the end and kept on fighting. He could already feel himself getting tired, though. More and more attacks got through. He was able to limit the damage he took, but it was accumulating quickly.

He finally managed to kill one of the monsters, slamming a sword up an injured monster’s mouth, straight through into the skull. He let out a silent cheer for himself.

For the past several minutes, he had been focused on injuring all of them, trying to limit their mobility. Their speed made taking one out very difficult. However, he had now successfully done that, but at significant cost.

This was his opportunity to start killing them.

He yanked the sword out of the monster’s skull and almost had his arm bitten off for his trouble by another rabid beast.

He was already heaving air as he sidestepped another couple of monsters. He said that, but with how tired he was, he hoped he had enough gas in the tank to do that.

He spun around and removed a leg from another beast. The pained cries hurt his ears.

He was just in time to parry another monster’s claw going for his face. His sword met the claw, but his diminishing endurance was already showing, and his leg gave out beneath him.

He tried to adjust out of the way, but the claw still managed to slash across his face. Blood started to pour from his cheek as the pain burned.

He managed to kick himself away and reset himself.

He looked at the injured but still very alive and angry monsters. He couldn’t help it; he laughed manically.

As tired as he was, he couldn’t lie. He was having a lot of fun. He hadn’t had a fight like this in what felt like forever. All of his skills made fighting so much easier nowadays. He rarely felt this way anymore.

The feeling of fear was more pronounced than ever. He knew that with one mistake, he would lose his life. Yet, there was something about this whole situation that intoxicated him with exhilaration.

He wasn’t conscious of it, but a wide grin split his face as he stared down these monsters, his hands shaking with both nervousness and excitement.