Mystical Journey

At the northern region of the Deladia Empire, Corolla City.

Ding Dang Ding Ding Dang Dang~

The Red Horse Carriage rang its bell as it moved forward on the main street at the city center. The driver was an old man with a white beard and had a black captain’s hat on his head. He dressed up like a like a pirate and laughed like one as he looked at the excited crowd of kids on both sides of his carriage.

He received a lot of hustles and bustles from both sides as there were people shouting out to buy their snacks, cheering from the people and even the music playing from the poets. The crowds squirmed among themselves on the busy street, hence his carriage had no choice but to slow down to prevent himself from crashing into the passersby.

Boom boom boom!

Colorful streamers were shot up into the sky. Among the streamers, colorful powders were mixed among them and they dyed the whole area in colors as it rained down.

The mistresses were holding their children by their hand as they stood beside the clown who was selling candies.

The magicians and acrobatic gnomes stood high up at both sides of the street as they performed their beautiful arts. The youngsters who were out shopping by the streets applauded as they watched their performance.

The morning sunlight showered the entire city, painting it with a layer of faint gold.

The Guardians would occasionally patrol on the streets and one could vaguely see the Wizard from the northern region in their cloaks among them. These people were wearing a full body grey robe. They were either seen lowering their heads and kept quiet most of the time or speaking to their acquaintances softly, giving off a rather quiet and mysterious vibe.

The people around them would stare them in awe whenever they passed by them.

“There has been an increased amount of Void Creatures lately…” The Wizard in the patrolling team sighed.

“Right. I’ve received three reports just two days ago and all of them were reports of Void Creatures. None of them has yet to be solved and the unease within the city has started to spread.” The captain of the guardian’s expression was helpless. “The head captain has received an order from his superior that we need to fortify our defenses. However, how are we supposed to do that with the amount of manpower we have right now? It’s the Usha Festival right now. It’s an annual carnival festival enjoyed by all and we’re lacking the manpower to begin with.”

“Afterall, we don’t really belong to the authentic Deladia Empire where the higher management belongs to the White Dragon Mountain. The issues regarding the Void Creatures have been reported to them but we have yet to receive a response from them. It’s obvious that they are lacking manpower,” responded the Wizard softly.

“Hey, there’s someone performing a violin solo over there.” The female guardian seemed interested as she rushed towards the tall stage nearby.

The remaining patrol members had no choice but to follow along as well.

Far away above the stage, they could vaguely see a poet in a black cloak with a small violin. He was just about to place his bow onto the string and seemed to have just about to start his performance.

“For thousands of years, Corolla has been the border city under the direct order of the White Dragon Mountain. We have all of the White Dragon’s history as they developed until this very day. This city is the city of culture and art of Deladia,” narrated the man in black cloak softly with a metallic voice.

“It’s very fortunate for me to arrive here as I am able to see the peace and prosperity in this city. I wish to give you a melody, my own piece of melody with my utmost sincerity…”

“Dream… This melody’s name is called dream…” The black cloak started to pull his bow slowly.

The beautiful, slender, silk-like melody from the violin spread across the busy street. The melody was not overwhelmed by the other noise as it was extremely clear.

There was not much of a crowd below the stage before he started. However once he did, people started to gather to listen to and enjoy his performance.

As time slowly passed, the melody became clearer and louder. The crowd started to flood in and even a few patrols were firmly mesmerized by the beautiful and peaceful melody.

Then, the Wizard jolted as he came back to his senses.

“What happened? Did I just get pulled in by the melody?” He did not even like music and yet he became cold and quiet as if the melody had used the most beautiful moonlight and bathed him equally on his body, causing him to quietly calm down.

He looked around and realized that something was off. It was not just him as even the team captain, Aswan who was a Level Three had turned quiet as well. He was a rough man who hated music and he had become quiet because of this melody.

“That’s not right! There’s something off about this music!” The Wizard was alerted as he pinched his members who were beside him. However, there was no reaction at all. What was supposed to cause a hugely painful and screaming reaction did not occur at this very moment. They did not even frown when they were pinched.

The melody spread further and wider…

The black cloak on the stage started to levitate. He flew higher and higher as he gently landed on the highest bell tower nearby.

He remained quiet as he played his violin, as if nothing could disrupt his performance in any way.

The Wizard tried to scream at the top of his lungs to disrupt this performance but he quickly realized that he could not emit any sound at all.

He then adjusted his throat in an attempt to fix it but to no avail.

He was not able to make a single sound at all. In fact, he realized that the background noises that could disrupt the melody had gradually toned down to the point where it could not be heard.

Then, the performer in black cloak’s eyes gave off a red glow as he started to speed up the rhythm of his melody.

However, there was not a single sign of spell being activated at all.

It was just a normal melody and pure music.

Cling!

Suddenly, a soft and gentle voice could be heard among the densely packed crowd. A bald middle-aged man had used the cake knife in his hand and stabbed it into his own throat. He looked at the sky, revealing a mournful expression.

The blood flowed along his palm down to his arms as it dripped to the floor. However, the people around him did not seem to realize what had happened at all. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that none of them cared.

The melody started to turn sorrowful.

Cling cling!

Another two gentle noises could be heard as two people in the crowd used their fruit knives and stabbed it into their throats. They cried as they laid onto their own puddle of blood and yet no one cared.

The number of people committing suicide gradually increased as they picked up all sorts of sharp objects and stabbed them into their throats. None of them made even a cry before their deaths as they laid quietly on the streets.

Ten people… Twenty… Fifty… A hundred…

More and more people started to spill their blood as they ended their lves. The streets were then dyed completely in red.

The Wizard stood among the crowd as he tried his best to not listen to the strange melody. He was born with a lack of concentration, which meant that it was extremely hard for him to focus when he performed a specific task. This was also the reason why he was still a Level Two Wizard. However, this lack of concentration had become the reason why he was still alive.

Chills were sent down his spine as he looked at his own team captain Aswan unsheathing his sword and cut his own throat. He was still smiling as tears filled up his eyes even as he laid on the ground.

He tried to stop it but he could not control his body, as if his body was not under his control.

“What is going on!!??” He screamed within himself and yet he could still not change the current situation where his body was paralyzed.

The number of people committing suicide increased as the blood on the ground merged into a river. A flock of pigeons and other unknown small birds and insects started to revolve around the black cloak performers. Occasionally, they would crash onto the walls and buildings nearby and die from the impact. However, they were not awakened when their own kind passed away as they remained dancing around the performer at high speed.

“This is the music of death…” The Wizard could only think of such a sorrowful thought. It was also his last and only thought before he blacked out and became unconscious as he fell onto the ground.

Within half an hour, the busy Corolla City had turned into a dead city. Fresh blood had covered every corner of the city. All lives, regardless if it was an animal or human had ended their lives by this strange melody.

Those Void Creatures that had hidden among the crowds did not survive through this disaster as well.

Cling!

Finally, the Level Seven City Master took up his own blade and ended his life inside the main office.

Then, the melody from the Black Cloak had slowly reached to an end.

He gently played the final note as he put down his small violin. He then looked at the city with ten thousands of population turning into a lifeless city filled with fresh blood.

“What a beautiful melody…” A lively young man with his crystal gem-like skin appeared behind the performer.

He was in a white cloak and his eyes were mysteriously black. The white pupil could be seen in his black pupil and it looked extremely strange.

“Master, are you satisfied with your meal?” The Demonic Book turned around elegantly as he bowed.

“I’ve fully recovered.” Garen nodded satisfactorily. “Fifteen thousand people’s worth of life force. Fifteen thousand souls… The Despair Skull has been fully filled as well.”

He raised his left hand and a few colorful jewels had appeared on the black bracelet on his wrist. They were yellow and red in color and there were a total of five of them.

“I guess it is faster if we perform a massacre…” Garen was extremely satisfied as a jewel on the Death Bracelet represented a Soul Seed. Since he had five of these jewels, it meant that these tens of thousands of people’s souls had provided him a total of five Soul Seeds. This was completely different from secretly absorbing the souls in the Abyss.

He slightly opened his mouth and the five jewels on the bracelet instantly turned into five streams of light as they were absorbed into his mouth.

Garen then shut his mouth satisfactorily and closed his eyes as he enjoyed his gains.

Inside the dark Soul Space, he had finally filled up the eight Soul Ring. As he fused in the five Soul Seeds, the Soul Ring was instantly upgraded into a faint red Soul Ring. Then, all there’s left was to increase it to orange color and finally yellow color before he arrived at the Upper-Level Demon Lord Class.

An Upper-Level Demon Lord at its peak would be able to fight against a Lower God. It was not just an embodiment but an actual God descending to the mortal world.

Garen gathered the remaining transparent energy in his body on his chest inside of the Enneahedron. A bloodbath worth tens of thousands of lives had allowed Garen to form a grey-black Enneahedron.

Roar!!!

An angry dragon roar could be heard far away in the sky.

“Oh… It’s Tiamat’s power.” Garen raised his head and looked up as he revealed a smile. “Unfortunately, she’s one step behind…”

Pew!

Garen and Demonic Book disappeared at the top of the bell tower.

******

The Corolla City, the ancient city under the direct command of the White Dragon Mountain had been massacred. The life of fifteen thousand people including their souls had vanished. They did not enter the Abyss nor hell and not even the Styx or Tiamat Divine Kingdom. All of them had mysteriously vanished.

As Tiamat did not have any church but a few worshippers and evil priests, practically no one was able to obtain any more clues from her side.

There were only a few lucky survivors that could describe what had happened then.

An evil and mysterious performer had hypnotized the entire city. He did not kill any of them. Instead, all of them had committed suicide! Corpses filled all the streets, small and big. Even the Level Seven City master had committed suicide in his own room.

However, this was a news that was worth paying attention to. The White Dragon Mountain was angered as they sent a huge amount of members to capture a genius White Dragon named Garen. However, all of them were killed by Garen when they engaged in a battle.

Within half a month, Garen had killed at least thirty Adult White Dragons, Elder Dragons, and Ancient Dragons combined.

For the next half month, it was not just Corolla City that had suffered as the Rosan City which was seven hundred kilometers away had suffered the same fate.

This city was not a city under the direct command of the White Dragon Mountain. It was a city belonging to the Black Streak Empire and at the border of the Black Elf Empire. The majority of the city consisted of soldiers and there were twenty-five thousand people died in this massacre.

The Music of Death had spread across the entire northern region.

As two big cities were massacred in a row, a huge amount of members from the church gathered together in an attempt to investigate the situation. However, all evidence had without a doubt pointed towards the new Dragon of Disaster, the White Dragon Garen.