A lot of people were killed, both normal humans and Soulbearers. That same night, they were buried, even the Soulbearers were buried.
It cast Vacuse and his group into a solemn mood. Not only because they died, but because of the reason and the how. They died so easily, without even knowing who killed them.
Worse still, the death was caused by a powerful Soulbearer that was not even trying to kill them. They were just in the way. But it brutally drove home the point of how weaklings are not tolerated in the world.
By dawn, when everything was done, Vacuse settled down to get a good look at the loot he acquired.
The fight had gone surprisingly well.
When Vacuse expelled the large amount of void energy that covered everything in rolling, thick darkness, he then used one of his artifacts to attack Whispered Blade.
Since he knew he had only one shot at it, he used one of the most powerful he had at hand: the First General's sword.
It was a single-use artifact that could unleash the devastating power of the First General's technique, and it was so powerful that he obliterated Whispered Blade with it.
Vacuse did not like it though. After all, it forced him to use one of the weapons he had been keeping for life-saving events.
'...Alright, alright. Maybe it was a life-saving event that Whispered Blade forced me into, but that was exactly the point. Things were supposed to go smoothly. Who would have thought that the bastard had an artifact like that with him? What a sly bastard...'
But Vacuse could not hold back his greed when he stared at the loot in front of him. "That bastard, Whispered Blade. The Eastern Region must really have it out for the Morrowling. All these powerful artifacts just to catch a formation master?"
Vacuse grinned darkly.
The fact that a high-level person had actually tried to disobey the Emperor's authorities just pointed out how ridiculous things were.
Moonblame was not telling the whole truth. There must be more to the fact that everyone was after him.
But Vacuse really did not have the time to deal with him, not right then at least. He would deal with him when he was back from the Great Dungeon.
'...Rith, come and tell me what these artifacts are all about. Do they have special blood in them?...'
Vacuse was in his room, trying to take some rest and recover his energy before he entered the Great Dungeon.
It took some time before Rith appeared, and when Vacuse felt the solid weight coiled around his neck, he knew something was wrong. "Rith? What happened?"
Rith remained silent for a while, and Vacuse uncoiled him from his neck to take a good look at him.
Rith was all right, at least from first glance. But Vacuse had a bond with him, and so he noticed that his eyes were a little distracted and blank, as if he was looking at something that was not there.
It was the first time Vacuse had seen the arrogant Rith in such a state, and he immediately became concerned. His voice turned soft. "Rith?"
Finally, the little void dragon seemed to snap out of whatever was bothering him and focused on Vacuse. '...What do you want, brat!'
It was the same arrogant words, but Vacuse felt no heat behind them, and no bite. It was as if something was trying to be what it was not.
Vacuse's face became serious. "What is wrong, Rith?"
Rith stared at him for a long time and then sighed. 'The war that I am fighting is not going as it should. There are a few complications that I am solving.'
It was strange looking at Rith and knowing that he was in two places at the same time. "Em. Is it bad? How much will it affect you?"
'Not much. At least not the me that is here. Come, let us forget about that. What do we have here?'
Vacuse looked at the dragon with dubious eyes but he did not say anything. He knew Rith enough to respect that he wanted to keep things to himself. A lot of things.
What was more, there was nothing that Vacuse could do. He was not powerful enough to fight beside Rith, so it was better to gain more power before asking any questions.
He gestured to the bell with the key attached and the sword with numerous screaming faces. "I want this appraised."
Rith glared at him. 'You better look for an appraiser. You really did not think that I would be the one doing this for you all the time, right?' This text is hosted at novel⟡fire.net
Vacuse blinked slowly. "Well, we will talk about that later. But for now, why do we not talk about these two?"
Rith huffed angrily but he moved closer to the two artifacts and placed his hand on them.
Vacuse watched him with fascination.
Appraising was like reading the very being of something, like listening to the stories they had to tell.
'The sword is called Wailshear, and it is a powerful artifact that creates wind-based attacks, but what makes it special is the wails those screaming faces can shout. It is a mental attack that ruptures the mind of those not immune to it or strong enough to resist. It is in the fourth stage. But it has a drawback: you must not use the mind attack unless you have strong mind defense. Luckily for you, dragon blood runs in your veins.'
Vacuse took a deep breath. The sword was indeed a steal. Although Vacuse currently had the Dragon Construct, it would be returned to the Dragon Lord once his mission was complete. Or was it his uncle that would collect it?
Either way, the sword, at stage four, was currently the most powerful weapon he had. Well, he had the void creature he created, but still!
Vacuse was happy. As the Dragon heir of Vorrakyn, a Grand Duke's heir, he had an awfully small amount of artifacts.
Should an heir like him not be swimming in them?
He looked at the second artifact. "And this one?"