<strong>Six weeks ago, Artemis mountain range;</strong>
Upon reaching the portal point, 31 Elite division students from grade 8 to grade 10 were divided into several teams with five per team.
In the end, Azzy was left alone, not just because the teams were full, but also due to his lack of control which can endanger his teammates.
No one was surprised about it as they were seeing a similar situation for the past 6 months. Under the orders of the Principal, the teachers always leave him alone, so that, he can hunt by himself.
*Clap* *Clap* After getting the attention of everyone, Rubin, grade-8's homeroom teacher, warned the students.
"Alright, listen carefully… Unlike the other regions, this region contained deadly multi-headed snakes and various poisonous creatures.
So, team leaders should make sure to not step inside restricted places like Swann Lake and Snake Valley.
If you see any board with a restricted or a Danger sign, then, change your direction. Usually, there will be guardians who will try to stop you in case your soul power is below that of a peak-rank-4. Even if they aren't present, you should never step inside the territory. It is filled with danger.
That goes to you too, Azrael. Even if you are a rank-5, it is riskier for you too to face those beasts."
However, Azzy never intended to listen to his warning. As soon as he heard about the place from Gideon, from the moment he sat on the bus, he decided to massacre them.
Even though eight months have passed, the memory of being roasted to a crisp by the fire tornado is fresh in his mind.
After parting his ways with others, Azzy went to a store and bought a map with the credit card given by Barton. Sometimes, he feels weird about these credit card transactions.
The machines aren't allowed inside the Arcana world. There are no computers present in any store and neither there is a cell phone tower built in this world. So, the shop owners carry POS machines with them to swipe their special prepaid cards.
And strangely, cash was also not accepted here. Azzy didn't know that debit cards aren't also accepted either. If he had known, he would have realized the mechanism.
With him being confused regarding the payments and everybody behaving as if it is normal, Azzy also felt embarrassed to ask others. The only one he can ask is the Reaper, who simply told him not to worry about things he had nothing to do with…
"Okay, I'm here… This is the nearest restricted place but the multi-headed snake beasts are often found nearby Swann Lake. I can go to the snake valley, later."
Following the directions from the map, eventually, Azzy exited the forest and reached the plain grassland with a huge lake in the middle. Just like the lava lake from the whale island, there are small islands located in the middle of this lake too.
As Rubin warned, there are boards with a skull and two crossed bones here and there. However, there are no guardians. Azzy looked far at the lake.
A rank-5 expert presumably with higher soul power than himself is battling on a small with a giant four-headed serpent.
Aside from the two of them, three more injured people appeared unconscious on the island with another guardian standing as a protector.
The three people looked like a family. A couple and their child.
Azzy then looked at the snake in confusion. "How come there's a rank-5 platinum grade beast in a level-2 region?"
"In a region, there can't be two kings or two platinum grade beasts. It seems to have eaten a platinum-grade monster and broke through its limits. Hydra is different from the other beasts." The Reaper quickly cleared his doubt and then, urged him to get out of the place telling him that everything is under control.
Although there is no aura of death on any of them, Azzy still went against the Reaper's suggestion and hurried toward the lake to save them. After all, that is a platinum-grade beast. Azzy felt that the situation might be reversed at any time.
In no time, he reached the shores of the lake. Hydra sensed his presence but ignored it after finding he was just a low-rank-5 Arcana Master.
On the other hand, the guardians were delighted. Thinking that a student of some top academy is here to help, the guardian that was protecting the three unconscious people waved his hands and asked for his help to evacuate them.
With his partner holding down the Hydra, this guardian felt that he can take the three visitors out of here safely, now that there was one more person with high soul power.
However, who could have expected that Azzy will summon Vajra to cross off the waters and reach the island instead of using a simple flying card.
As soon as the Vajra got out, the Hydra King immediately shifted its attention towards the black wolf that was running on the water.
Due to its arrogant nature, The Hydra king didn't feel any fear of a beast like Vajra. Instead, it was excited to see a high-quality prey.
As a top-tier platinum-grade beast, the Hydra King knew of the relationship between an Arcana spirit and a human. So, the beast assumed that eating Azzy will benefit it tremendously and will further improve its soul power.
Ignoring the rank-5 guardian, it started to swim toward Azzy and Vajra, stunning both of the guardians with the sudden development.
"Renzy, luckily, that beast no longer focused on us. Take the three of them by the flying card and get out of here. I'll go and help out the kid." One of the guardians told the other while feeling luck is on their side.
Seeming like a good plan, the other one nodded and followed it.
Little did they know they vastly underestimated the boss of the region…
Summoning the flying card, the guardian named Renzy placed the three of them on it and started to fly away from there.
Just then, the Hydra King that almost reached Azzy let out a powerful hiss before a tornado has been unleashed in the middle of the lake.
Due to the presence of a heavy body of water, a hundred-meter huge water tornado formed right below the flying card, swallowing all of them. The guardian that was chasing after the Hydra, now, turned around to rush towards the tornado and save his comrade.
The appearance of the huge water tornado made Azzy shift his attention. He realized that it was too late as he no longer sensed the three lives. Only one person seemed to be alive, the guardian that was supposed to protect them.
Azzy trembled at the sight. "They… they died?" his voice shook as he stared at the water tornado that was still active.
It was the first time for Azzy to watch someone die, right before his eyes. So, he was shocked a bit. "Did my interference cause it? No, I need to reverse the time..."
Azzy hurriedly summoned the hourglass to use it for the first time since he entered this timeline.
Just then, the hourglass disappeared from its hand and the Reaper's voice echoed in his head.
"They were fated to die, Azrael. If not for the Hydra, then, some killer who was currently in the wild will kill them. If not the killer, then, it would an Arcana beast of someone that goes wild. You can't change the fate of some people. So, don't blame yourself.
And even if you wanted to reverse the time by locking the five seals and restrict your soul power to rank-1, you will still reverse the time by six hours."
"Fine by me…" Azzy once again summoned his hourglass. Applying the seals on his soul orb, he restricted his soul power to 10 and unleashed the time reverse to find himself, sitting on the bed.
Five hours later;
After parting ways with others, Azzy rushed towards Swann Lake. Upon reaching it, he found neither the guards nor the family. Instead, the Hydra king was swimming with other three-headed snakes.
"Where are they?" He wondered.
"Well, the three of them were swallowed by that snake." The Reaper calmly replied.
"No way… How?" He was stunned by the reply.
"I told you, didn't I? The people who are fated to die will die no matter what." The Reaper's calm words echoed in his head, once again.
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