Chapter 387: Attention from All Sides

Normally, whenever someone called themselves something like "The Great Calamity", multiple people would just laugh it off, thinking that the person was some sort of lunatic or someone with eighth-grader syndrome. Though, when these words came out from a person that truly had the ability to kill all of them at once, the guards that were surrounding their town leader, who was killed just now, instantly thought of this name as fitting.

Nevertheless, as the guards of Red Juniper Town, they were tasked to lay their lives for the town and protect its inhabitants for as long as they could. With that, they gritted their teeth as they held on tightly to their weapons, knowing fully well that a fight like this would only be a futile effort on their behalf. Even if they knew it was futile, they would still do it, just to buy them some time.

And so, one of the guards immediately shouted that the townspeople should flee as far as they could, only for a barrier of wind to appear in front of that guard, blocking the message from spreading out. Seeing as how the townspeople also weren't being spared in front of this person, the guards instantly made up their minds as they charged as one, using all of their ultimate skills from the get-go.

Of course, to someone like Aurus, who had the power of a Pseudo-Transcendent, possibly even beyond that right now, the barrage of attacks coming from multiple Rank 3 class holders was nothing. With the help of barriers, which he gradually got used to again with his primal instinct focusing on his survival, all of the attacks the guards threw at him were instantly nullified, bringing even more despair to the guards that just wanted this nightmare to end.

Though, for some, they saw this as a challenge they had to surpass if they wanted to reach greater heights. Surprisingly, some of the guards that were at the peak of Rank 3 had broken through the next rank after, undergoing a massive boost in strength as they charged forward, hoping that their attacks would at least injure Aurus slightly.

Unfortunately, even with their increased strength, they weren't able to inflict any damage to Aurus at all. Eventually, Aurus decided that he had enough of the attacks from the guards, thinking that he was just advertising to others that he was still here in Red Juniper Town. With such a thought in mind, he quickly conjured a large blade of wind before swiping it along the guards surrounding him, bisecting them into two as they gradually lost their vitality.

Soon after, a large swath of Wind energy particles surrounded Aurus just like before. Though, rather than absorbing all of them right now, he instead teleported to the center of the town before ascending over a few hundred meters in altitude. Thinking that the altitude he was on was sufficient, he then conjured yet another ball of wind, this time using some of the Wind energy particles he had obtained from killing the guards.

Slowly but surely, the ball of wind grew to the size of the same ball of wind he threw at the second village. Of course, since Aurus was dealing with a town, he knew that the size of the ball wasn't enough yet. With that, he infused more Wind energy particles into it, even going so far as to add spin to it to increase its power.

Eventually, the ball of wind had reached the size of a normal two-story house. Looking at it, Aurus felt that the destructive power behind it was now sufficient, throwing it down without hesitation as an explosion similar to a nuclear bomb had soon occurred.

Bang!

In an instant, all of the buildings and walls scattered throughout Red Juniper Town had been flattened before being disintegrated into rubble, including the people that were inside them, thinking that they were safe from Aurus. Of course, such a large explosion also had aftereffects on its surroundings, with multiple cracks spreading out from the town to as far as 10 kilometers away as a crater far larger than the previous one he made appeared in front of his field of vision as the dust settled down.

It was only then did he absorb the Wind energy particles that came about after killing all of the inhabitants in Red Juniper Town. By the time he was done absorbing them, he checked the level of his comprehension, somewhat dismayed that it had only gone up to Level 33. 

Then again, there was not much he could do on that part other than to kill more people. Even his primal instinct thought that it would be detrimental for him to be hasty, wanting him to increase his comprehension first through eradicating towns. When the speed of his improvement slowed down, only then would he start to eradicate cities.

And so, after becoming accustomed to his newfound strength, he then teleported to another town, eager to kill all of its inhabitants for the improvement of his combat power.

…

While Aurus was in the process of heading to another town, a piece of news soon spread throughout Verdant Breeze Town, the town Argentum, Felix, and Eleanor were currently in.

Surprisingly, after Aurus escaped from their clutches, Felix and Eleanor decided to stay with Argentum to make sure that nothing like that ever happened to the town for a while. Of course, they made sure to shroud their faces from other people while doing so. Nevertheless, it was apparent that they were popular as rumors of a beautiful couple started to pop up here and there throughout town.

At the moment, Argentum, Felix, and Eleanor were talking with a few mages Felix had found from a nearby city, talking about the costs of a defensive barrier being built around town.

"Then…how much would it cost if I asked for a defensive barrier that could defend against one hit of a Rank 5 class holder?" Argentum asked, to which one of the mages hastily replied, "About 10,000 gold coins."

Hearing that, Argentum looked at Felix, prompting the latter to say, "Can't you set the price any lower, guys? If you do, I'll treat you to some food and booze once we get back."

"Although the offer is quite tempting, we're still part of the city's official mage association. We can't really do something like tha—" Just as another mage was about to decline the offer, a small pouch of gold coins soon appeared in front of them, which they soon opened, revealing a decent sum of 500 gold coins.

"How about you lower the price to 8,000 gold coins? Once you do, you can have these 500 gold coins all to yourselves. Think of it as a gift from us," Felix said with a smile. Fortunately, the mages finally decided to bite as one of them said, "Alright, you have a deal. A defensive barrier capable of defending against one hit of a Rank 5 class holder."

"Though, would you like us to create a barrier that gradually grows stronger with time instead? Although we would only create a barrier capable of defending one hit from a Rank 3 class holder, it would eventually grow strong enough to defend against multiple hits of a Rank 5 class holder," one of the mages offered, prompting Argentum to ask, "And how much would that cost?"

"Just 2,000 gold coi—" Before the mage could finish his response, a deathly glare from Felix soon washed over his body, prompting him to clarify himself, "Make that 1,500 gold coins."

Hearing that, Argentum looked at Felix. Surprisingly, the latter nodded, silently telling him that it was a worthwhile deal. With that, a contract was soon signed, with the mages that came to Verdant Breeze Town bringing back 2,000 gold coins to the city they lived in. As for Argentum and the others, they looked at each other with a smile, feeling satisfaction from the fact that the town was gradually turning out into a place where any of them would be able to live in peace.

"The three development projects are still underway, so that only leave the searching of iron mines," Argentum muttered.

Just as he was about to talk to Felix and Eleanor regarding the current situation of the town, Valstra had appeared before the three, prompting the latter two to hastily shroud their faces with masks. Ignoring both Felix and Eleanor, Valstra looked at Argentum and said, "We have some urgent news, Sir Argentum."

"What is it?" Argentum asked.

"We've obtained news that a person calling himself The Great Calamity has just destroyed the entirety of Red Juniper Town, even going so far as to kill its inhabitants. Currently, the last location he was sighted at was him making his way to Darkstone Town," Valstra replied, prompting all three to look at each other with a slightly awkward expression on their faces.

After a few moments of silence, Argentum then allowed Valstra to leave, thanking him for the piece of news they've received. Then, he looked at Felix and Eleanor, who had removed their masks as he asked them, "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?"

In unison, Felix and Eleanor nodded, definitely knowing what was going on inside Argentum's mind. Though, Felix could not help but ask, "But last night, he still had control over himself somehow, right?"

"He did. Though, there's a high chance he has lost control over his body now. Well, according to the news we've received, anyway," Argentum replied before saying, "Let me try checking through [Sense Sharing]."

After that, he went ahead and activated the skill, focusing on the sense of vision to see where Aurus was heading. Unfortunately for him, [Sense Sharing] did not give him any information at all. At most, he could only see pitch-black through the shared sense.

Scratching his head, he then muttered, "Weird. Back then, I swear I could see what he was seeing through the skill. Let me try checking his thoughts."

With that, he changed [Sense Sharing] into [Thought Sharing], wondering whether or not there was still a hint of rationality in him. Unfortunately, his worst thoughts had come true, with no hint of rationality in each thought whatsoever. The only thoughts that lingered in Aurus's mind was purely killing, murder, and torture. Other than those thoughts, the only other thought that Argentum could see was survival.

Letting out a sigh, Argentum immediately made up his mind as he thought to himself, 'I guess I should have gone last night when the problem still hadn't reached this level. Well, I guess it's better late than never.'

Looking at Felix and Eleanor, he told them, "Felix, Eleanor, you two make sure this town develops how we envision it. For now, I have to go somewhere."

"Where are you going?" Eleanor asked in response.

With a solemn expression, Argentum replied, "I'm going to head to the Origin Pantheon."

…

On another continent, within the largest tree that existed on that continent, a being with ash gray bark as skin could not help but lightly frown as an image filled with chaos and destruction appeared in front of the orb it was looking at. This being was none other than Erudis, the first Spiriveritas of Erudinia.

"It seems that Verdante wasn't able to escape the clutches of fate," Erudis muttered, shaking his head as he let out a sigh. Seeing as how there was next to no possibility of returning everything to how it previously was, Erudis decided to mitigate the aftereffects of it as much as possible.

With that, he brought up another orb. Soon, the image of a being with pink bark and a being with cyan bark appeared on it, with one of them asking, "What's with the sudden call, Erudis?"

In response, Erudis replied, "Vytalis… Mannelyn… it seems like we have a massive problem on our hands."