Chapter 102: Chapter 102

The next day, they travelled at a good pace until noon.

They were already back in Eversnow County, but the city was still some hours away.

Snow had started to fall heavily.

Large, wet flakes drifted down, painting a gloomy whiteness on the road that was already swallowed by a thick pine forest, with its shadows adding shades of grey.

The air grew colder, biting at exposed skin, and the air was fragrant with the scent of damp earth and sharp pine.

Just as Sokram thought he could lower his guard when he noticed them, two hooded men were hidden below some pine trees.

The first thing he noticed was their cultivation; both were Tier 10.

What truly bothered Sokram was that none of the ferals either felt their scent or heard their breathing.

As they got nearer, Sokram was finally able to see why; he could only see them because of his Dragon Sight, as there was a masterful veil of mana shrouding their figures.

Sokram glanced around quickly, trying to pinpoint if there were more of them.

A primal scream blared in his guts, triggered by his sharpened instincts that insisted there were more hidden presences despite his inability to pinpoint their location.

His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat that vibrated through his very bones, loud enough that the rhythmic thumping alone alerted his sudden, escalating anxiety to his team.

Sokram glanced at them.

For the first time since his return, he was presented with a real-life-threatening crisis.

And all he could hear at that moment was his inner voice repeating again and again, ‘I won’t lose anyone this time! None of them! Never again!’

In the next second, Sokram jumped from Periklis's back and ordered, shouting at his teammates, “RUN! NOW!!”

The urgency in his voice startled his team, hesitation etched on their faces.

All it took was one glance, and Sokram could tell: They weren’t going to abandon him.

He felt sincere gratitude for finding loyal friends like them so early in his new timeline.

But the decision wasn’t theirs to make anymore.

“Run!” Sokram repeated, activating a spell with a hand sign.

His team was about to defy his orders when they realized he wasn’t talking to them anymore.

He activated the runestones he had snuck into their saddles while they slept the previous night.

Suddenly, their mounts dashed following Periklis.

They tried to jump from their saddles but couldn’t.

The strong pull from the runestones prevented them from doing so.

Lucy’s heart came to her throat, the first among them to panic, screaming his name, “Sokram! No!”

Soon, they were struggling against the power of the same runestones they praised him for so many times, shouting, trashing, and cursing. Amber, Savannah, and Lucy couldn't hold back their tears.

Amber and Savannah got even more desperate after seeing that their magic was useless.

Then, flashing his usual confident grin, he shouted at their departing figures with a casual wave, “Tell my family I’ll be late for dinner!”

Sokram knew they wouldn't leave; they were true warriors from the north, but he couldn’t risk their lives.

So he was prepared for this very moment.

Even against unfair odds, they would never flee.

And Sokram was proud of them for that.

He allowed himself a moment, a deep breath to stabilize his energy flow. A blink that stretched into a couple of heartbeats.

When his eyes snapped open again, they were no longer the kind silvery eyes of a teenager; instead, a palpable, icy wave of killing intent, the raw essence of the ancient being he truly was, began to flow from the depths of his soul, making the very air crackle and the shadows deepen around him.

“Alright, why do you all come out?” Sokram’s tone was eerily calm.

The two hooded men stepped forward, taking off their hoods.

Sokram recognized them immediately.

One was clad in a light leather armor set, dual-wielding a short sword and a mace.

The other, clad in dark brown mage robes, stepped out from behind the pine tree, clapping his hands in mock praise.

He feigned overwhelming emotion, in his face an exaggerated grimace of mock solemnity, “Such an emotionally charged scene of self-sacrifice, amazing, truly! Worthy of a song, the brave hero sacrificed himself for his teammates! Though it would still be sung by one of the Red Moon's shitty bards, so not much of an honor, right, stinky brown lizard?”

“Enough poetry, brother! Do you know why we’re here, lizard?” Aaron snapped, his voice dripping with arrogance.

Sokram shrugged, grimacing mockingly, “Have no clue, I only interacted with you once. And back then, your sister came to save you from further embarrassment.”

“Heh, I heard you were smart, but I never thought you’d feign such ignorance. I’ll give you one chance to die a painless death, but first, I want to know the name of the mole who told you about our plans concerning the farmers.”

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Seeing Sokram acting fearless, Aaron was slightly irked, “Who leaked the information that we were planning to ruin this year’s harvest to pressure the farmers to sell?”

“Haha, should you be telling on yourself like that?” Sokram looked at Aaron as if he were stupid.

But what Aaron said caught Sokram by surprise, “Your friend already told me about your habit of recording everything, but what difference does it make? Once we kill you, I’ll just take the recording crystal from your corpse.”

“You mean Kazzah or Timothy? Or both?” Sokram’s brow furrowed, his feigned confusion an expertly crafted mask as he subtly probed for more information.

“Both, they both want you dead and didn’t mind lending a hand. Didn’t you find it strange that they left early?” Aaron’s incessant chatter unnerved Adrian, who worried Sokram might still have a powerhouse guarding him from afar.

Sokram continued to bait Aaron, “But why kill me? I don’t think our little disagreement is enough to warrant such a reaction.”

“You dared to piss on our plans, disrupt the progress of our mission to take down Eversnow, and trampled on my family’s name. First, you helped that disgusting cat get clients, then you helped the other stables that were barely any competition. A few more months and we would have swept in and taken over those other stables too…”

Adrian placed a hand over Aaron's shoulder, casting him a knowing glance.

His younger brother had always been a blabbermouth, but he was going too far.

Aaron glared at his big brother, “What are you afraid of? We confirmed that the old dragon hag and that slave from the Andronys stayed in the city before leaving. Would any animal, be it a dog or a dragon, leave a cub alone? We would already be dead if any of their guards were watching us. Don’t you remember how fast they jumped in his defense back in the city?”

Hearing Aaron’s words, Sokram frowned.

It was as if they didn’t know that comparing a dragon to any animal was the same as insulting Nhiria.

Or perhaps they didn’t care.

Turning back to Sokram, Aaron smirked, “Besides, I want to see his look of despair when he realizes how close his beloved city is to being wiped from the face of this planet! We almost had it, and as soon as you die, we’ll restart. We know Lady Androny is only in town because of you, lizard. Such a shame that a family of pure humans will fall into the hands of a dirty fucking hybrid!”

“We, pure humans, are Nhiria’s true image! We all know she chose to destroy her draconic part instead of her human form to give life to the original world. But because of it, we must endure being compared to a bunch of disgusting animals.”

Emboldened by Sokram’s continued silence, Aaron’s voice gained volume, and he pressed on with his speech full of hate and racism.

Yet, that speech was very familiar to any who lived in Eversnow long enough to have fought one of their most hateful neighbors, but that served as more evidence to confirm that the Steelhearts were deeply entangled with Whiteland.

“So the way I see it, killing you will restore the purity of an honorable family and take you out of our way. I know your daddy and big brother will be very happy since we share a lot of the same views, haha.”

Sokram nodded, agreeing, “That may be true. I don’t know them. But why go so far as to betray your own country?”

“Why? Why?!! Ever since that fool Lucien took the crown, our land has become more and more infested with this filth. Then he began stating laws against this, laws against that. We can’t even cleanse our lands from your filth! We can’t even sell slaves openly anymore. So my dad made a deal…”

“Enough!” Adrian finally decided to step up, “You’re saying too much.”

Despite Adrian's interruption, Sokram sensed more information waiting to be unearthed. “But he isn’t lying, is he? You are all disgusting like that? Your dad, your uncles? But what about that Great Uncle of yours?”

Sokram expected Aaron to explode with rage after this provocation.

Especially quoting their great uncle, who had fallen for, kidnapped, and caused the death of Sayuri’s elder daughter in the past.

Surprisingly, though, the one who blew up was Adrian, “You dare mock our great family?! What right does a filthy lizard like you have to speak about us?! The day my father becomes king will be the day you and all your filthy, feral friends will be purged from this land!!”

“Alright, enough talk! Tell us, who is the mole?” Aaron finally seemed to remember that he was supposed to be leading the interrogation.

“Oh, now you want to stop snitching on yourselves? How about you ask your sister! Didn’t you see the way she just appeared out of nowhere, how humbly she apologized, or the way she couldn’t stop glancing below my belt?” Sokram grinned fearlessly as he threw his provocations.

“You dare?!” Aaron shouted with veins popping out of his forehead.

Adrian sighed, rubbing his forehead as if to erase his brother’s blunders. “Let’s just beat him half-dead. Then we can extract what we need from him."

Sokram, not yet satisfied with what he had gained, needed one last question answered: “If you are so purist? Why are the powerhouses of your family both from other races? An orc and a gnome, right?”

“So it was the gnome all along, hm?” Adrian’s gaze became distant as a flicker of understanding crossed his face for an instant.

“Hehe, it seems the gnome found a loophole in the slave contract, at least the orc is too stupid for that.”

Aaron joked with glee, finally getting the answer he needed.

Then, looking to his big brother, he smirked, “Can we kill him now?”

While Sokram looked at them, utterly confused by how they got to that conclusion.

Adrian's lips curled into a smug, victorious smile as he nodded to his brother, “It always works, right? We feed them a little information, and they suddenly become chatty. But answering your question, yes. Let’s kill this disgusting lizard. I want to be back home before supper.”

“Hoh, the young masters of the Steelheart family have decided to resort to violence, hm? In that case, I have no choice but to defend myself.” Sokram's gaze shifted between Aaron and Adrian, but he also looked around.

His instincts continued to scream that he was surrounded. For more chapters visıt novel⚑fire.net

Besides, he refused to believe the two of them would be stupid enough to come by themselves. “Is it just you two? Where is the rest, though?”

Aaron frowned, his eyes blazing with indignation. “A wingless lizard like you dares to look down on us?!”

Sokram smirked mockingly, “Heh, did I truly send my team away just because of two weaklings that need to plot and band together to deal with a recently awakened kid? Haha, ridiculous.”

His tone, heavy with disappointment aimed at himself, only fueled the Steelheart brothers’ fury.

But then Sokram's expression shifted, turning cold, “As if!”

Sokram’s hand closed around the handle of his sheathed katana.

In his mind, a whispered thought, '…Swift Wind: One Step!'

His figure flickered out, leaving only a lingering chill in the air where he had stood, and the snowflakes that drifted behind, lost in his vanished trail, unable to follow him.

An instant later, a deafening "CLANG!" reverberated through the silent pine forest, the sharp, ringing sound of steel on steel echoing from a spot meters away.

The shockwave rattled the trees, sending snow cascading from branches high above.

Sokram’s gaze swept around again, and as if from thin air, another eight enemies materialized, encircling him.

He hadn’t even reached the two brothers before their guards burst from their hiding spots.

And they all emitted similar energy flows, all Tier 10, clad in light and medium dark leather armor, hooded, masked, and armed with short-range weapons, the only exception being the archer who dashed into the forest away from his line of sight.

Since he was still alive, and the fact that the guard in front of him managed to block his full-force attack, signified only one thing: they, like him, were all in the True Existence Level.

A whisper of shifting boots reached Sokram’s ears, a subtle movement of one of the enemies behind him.

Without turning, with his left hand, he unleashed a Mana Blast, pushing the guards in front of him to stagger a few steps back.

Then, swiftly spun his body, deflecting the incoming sword attack to his right, causing the enemy to shift his weight, creating an opening for Sokram to attack.

Sokram firmed his stance with a step forward.

But before he could exploit the opening in the enemy's stance, the unmistakable whizzing of an arrow forced him to dash away with a lightning step, taking cover behind a tree.

The sound of three more arrows piercing through the bark of the large pine tree reached his ears, subtly pinpointing the general direction of the archer.

‘Haha, I guess this is my first real fight in this timeline, hm?’

Sokram thought, the thumping of his heartbeat echoing in his ears, his breath quickening as adrenaline surged through his veins.

But there was no fear in his expression; instead, a broad, murderous grin stretched across his face as he eyed his enemies as if they were nothing but prey.