Chapter 76 - 28: [Sittika’s Hunter and the Red-Brown Sage]

Chapter 76: Chapter 28: [Sittika’s Hunter and the Red-Brown Sage]

Kana Plain, Valak Dungeon.

White stone pillars surrounded the Black Stone Hall. Leather war banners painted with spreading-winged Demon Crows fluttered wildly atop tall poles. In the empty clearing, only seven or eight tumbleweeds rolled by.

CAW! CAW CAW! Seven or eight Demon Crows perched on top of the flagpoles, looking down at the scene below.

At the entrance of the charred Fire-formed Rock Hall, only the last three adventurers remained. They were loading their spoils onto a carriage, planning to transport them back to Luojie City.

"Phew! Finally done loading!" A Swordsman who looked like the squad leader wiped his sweat and clapped the dust off his hands. "Damn it, we fell behind. Most of the others should already be back in Luojie City by now."

"We’re not the last ones to leave. Half of the people are still here! Lord Flame-piercer, a level eleven adventurer, is still covering our rear in the Underground City. What’s the rush?" a bearded Mage chuckled.

A gust of wind swept past. The horses at the front of the carriage suddenly neighed, staring in terror at two figures emerging from the floating dust on the horizon, as if they had seen something unimaginably horrifying.

"What’s going on..." A Shield Crossbowman from the party jogged to the front of the carriage to calm the spooked horses.

The two figures in the dust flickered, darting near and far like ghosts. In the next instant, with an abrupt step, they appeared from the dust.

They were two bizarre individuals, clad in blood-red studded leather light armor and draped in black robes. Half of their faces were visible beneath their black hoods, barely revealing them to be a man and a woman. They had deep brown, beeswax-like skin and amber, leopard-like eyes. The man’s face was wrapped in a blood-red scarf, while the woman wore a dark purple veil woven with gold flakes.

The black-robed man carried a massive, exquisitely luxurious ebony trunk large enough to fit two people. Its corners were inlaid with gold. It resembled a suitcase, yet it was obscenely opulent.

"Hey! Are you two... latecomers looking to join the siege?" The Swordsman leader looked up, pausing his work. "You’re too late! Demon King Valak intercepted the supply convoy. We ran out of food, so half of the guys have already retreated."

"How long has it been?" the man in the red armor and black robe asked hoarsely.

"What?" the Swordsman leader asked.

"The siege on the Kana Dungeon," the woman in the red armor and black robe clarified.

"Almost a month now, I think?" the Swordsman leader recalled, looking at his teammate for confirmation.

"Yeah, a month," his teammate nodded.

"Oh," the man in the red armor and black robe replied casually, raising his right hand.

The Swordsman leader’s mouth dropped open. He slowly looked down, watching as the man’s pitch-black, exoskeleton-covered claws plunged deep into his chest cavity.

SQUELCH.

The blood-drenched, pitch-black claws were slowly pulled out of his chest, clutching a still-spasming, blood-red heart.

The Swordsman leader slowly fell to his knees, leaning forward until he collapsed with a heavy thud. It was as if he were bowing to the Kana Plain, prostrating himself completely, his soul yielding to an immortal might. Before his blood could even pool, it was instantly sucked dry by the loose soil.

"Captain!?" the Shield Crossbowman and Mage cried out in shock. They instinctively reached for their weapons, but before their fingers could touch the Crossbow Mechanism or Magic Staff, a pitch-black, chilling light flashed, and their throats turned cold.

Half a second later, the two of them collapsed to the ground, clutching their throats and struggling. Their vocal cords, windpipes, and arteries had been severed, and blood sprayed everywhere like blazing flames.

The woman in the red armor and black robe flicked the blood from the tips of her claws.

"One month." The man in the red armor and black robe casually tossed the heart onto the ground and shook his claws. He watched the blood seep into the loose soil, completely devoured by the Kana Plain itself. "How could the Lord of Kana indulge them for a month? Does he really need to cut off their food supply to kill them?"

"The King of Crows wants them alive," the woman said. "Starving them saps their vitality, making it easier to capture them."

"What does he want them alive for?" the man asked. "To torture for his own amusement?"

"Perhaps." The woman with the purple veil nodded. "Or maybe the Lord of Kana has his own plans. After all, he is also known as the Red-Brown Sage."

The horses neighed in terror, dragging the now masterless carriage as they bolted madly toward the wasteland. But without the protection of powerful adventurers, ordinary horses were nothing more than moving lumps of meat in the Kana Wasteland.

The shadow of a drake-vulture circled around them from high above, growing from a tiny speck until it entirely engulfed the horses.

SWOOSH!

With a blinding flash of crimson wind sweeping past, half of a horse’s ribs were torn off while it was still alive. The massive force of the drake-vulture overturned the carriage along with the horses, snapping their legs. Half of the horse’s ribs and organs were laid bare as it thrashed on the barren dust.

SWOOSH!

The reddish-brown predator retracted its giant wings and landed on the still-wailing horse. It opened its jagged, fang-filled beak and began tearing into the fresh, pulsating organs.

CAW! CAW CAW! The Demon Crows perched on the flagpoles swarmed down, squabbling like ruffians to snatch the scraps of meat that splattered outward from the drake-vulture’s feeding frenzy. Others landed on the three adventurer corpses, pecking at the mangled flesh of their wounds and gouging out their eyeballs.

The pair ignored the brutal feast behind them. Carrying the large gold-inlaid ebony trunk, they strode into the Fire-formed Rock Hall.

At the front of the Divine Hall sat a massive white stone, before which offerings left by adventurers praying for good luck were sparsely piled. A gigantic Feather-crowned Demon Crow stood atop the white stone, strutting arrogantly, its blood-red eyes glaring like blinding red gemstones.

Unlike ordinary Demon Crows, it did not fight to scavenge the corpses of the adventurers outside. Instead, it peered down from its high vantage point, coldly appraising the two strange individuals before it.

"Lord of Kana." The two strange individuals in red armor and black robes respectfully dropped to one knee, bowing their heads to the massive Feather-crowned Demon Crow. "Our master, Sittika, sends you greetings from the distant Eastern Desert."