Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 414: Cornered.

Days passed but every other day felt more vehement and chaotic than the previous.

Although it started with Ozul’s platoon facing the heat, after the first few days, the attacks began to spread out.

They didn’t know, but the enemies had identified the "Dragon Hatchlings" by now.

Although their platoon was positioned at the most strategic location for the camp, the opposing forces could only back down considering the consequences.

Sadly for Ozul, this didn’t mean they had completely given up. Instead, Ozul had to face more experienced and stronger people, only less often.

Fortunately, there was never an instance when a middle-ranked Origin cultivator attacked Ozul. He would’ve most likely been captured alive in that case unless the Division commander intervened.

Currently, however, the situation was just as dire in the camp.

A month passed since the war started and news had already spread of the death of two renowned powerhouses of the Steel Mountain Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Blue Lion Kingdom wasn’t without losses either.

One of the three Divisions which had marched into the enemy’s territory had lost its Division commander in a fierce battle atop the mountains.

With no other middle-ranked Origin cultivator to lead the Division, it was dissolved and the surviving soldiers regrouped with the base camp.

Some of those battle-hardened people also joined Ozul’s platoon, replenishing the lacking manpower.

Unfortunately, these people couldn’t help Ozul in the current situation.

Since it had been little more than a month already, some people had decided to cut off the base camp completely and thus resulting in this precarious circumstance.

The core platoon faced the onslaught of a middle-ranked Origin cultivator, thus keeping the Division commander busy.

Meanwhile, other platoons also had to face Origin cultivators at the initial stage.

The enemies weren’t solely from the Steel Mountain Kingdom either. Ozul had already noticed that the two Origin cultivators cornering him were from another neighboring kingdom that he didn’t know the name of.

"Is that all you can do?" one of the two men taunted him, "And here I thought you Dragon Hatchlings were worth something."

Both were experienced veterans who didn’t dare drop their guard around him; once again resulting in a one-sided beating that was currently ongoing.

Their taunts fell on deaf ears as Ozul never cared about these titles. Much less when he was too busy trying to find a way out of this.

From the reports he had received from Raven, he knew that no help was coming this time. Even Kumaou was engaged with the enemies on his side.

The only saving grace was that his platoon had enough people to counter the enemies’ cannon fodder. So he at least didn’t have to worry about protecting the trio.

Sadly he couldn’t worry about others even if he wanted to at the moment.

All of his strikes were not only defended or dodged but he would be the one at the receiving end when he tried attacking.

Cuts appeared on his body but in another bizarre display of his unusual circumstances, they were pure cuts; no trace of blood could be seen inside of him. Almost as if he was a puppet being controlled by someone else.

Although this sight put them on edge, they also understood that their attacks were indeed effective since Ozul winced each time.

For some reason, Ozul was realizing just now, his pain tolerance had decreased. Before he could treat his body as if it was a shell that he controlled, but now it was starting to feel like it was really his own body.

His mind was busy thinking of ways to get out of this situation, and the pain from his bloodless wounds distracted him quite a bit.

Yet, he couldn’t afford any distractions at this moment. Not when he sensed a serious intent to kill in one of their emotions.

It had been many days since someone attacked his platoon with the intention to really kill the ’Dragon Hatchlings’.

’There is no easy way out of this...’ Ozul thought bitterly as he shielded himself from the icicles from the left only to receive a kick from the front which sent him crashing to the ground.

As time passed, the wounds on his body continued to increase. His regeneration speed wasn’t able to keep up.

He was only strong enough to face a single Origin cultivator if they were vigilant. Fighting two of them at their strongest and surviving till now was already a feat.

’I need to catch them off guard...’

Ozul had already tried his sneak attacks, but none of them worked in this situation.

One of them fought from a distance while the other one was physically oriented and fought using his own body and a sword.

The one keeping his distance was calm and collected and he was the reason all of his attacks failed.

The one fighting him up close, on the other hand, harbored the killing intent that he had traced from his emotions.

His bloodless body didn’t allow it or he would have been covered with bruises by now. There really wasn’t much time before he might begin to lose consciousness.

He rapidly thought of ideas to evade the senses of the man who stood at a distance.

He could only attack the man using a sword, but that too would only work if he was close enough to block the other man’s sight.

’But if I allow him to come too close, it might just cost me my life...’ though he wondered if he could be killed.

After all, since his limbs could be reattached, shouldn’t it theoretically be the same for his head if it was severed?

The thought somehow felt distasteful.

"Whatever..." Annoyed, Ozul decided to go through with the only plan that came to his mind.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of running away.

He really had, but by that time, it was already too late. With one of them keeping a tight watch on his every movement, his actions were greatly limited. Retreating wasn’t an option unless he wanted a giant piece of ice splitting him in half.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed his team of three had already dealt with the enemy soldiers on their side and were keeping a close watch on his battle.

’That is my only option...’

Even from such a distance, they could see his face. And his motioning with his eyes didn’t go unnoticed by them.

But it was all that he needed to distract the man keeping watch over his subtle movements.

That man might have even ignored his actions if not for the fact that the trio immediately picked up on his signal and fearlessly hurled their attacks at him.

To an Origin Realm cultivator, their combined attack was as harmful as a toothpick.

But the moment he took his eyes off of Ozul when he immediately rushed toward the swordsman while subtly gathering the Purity around his abdomen.

Seeing such a reckless action, the swordsman who already wanted to kill Ozul readied his stance and aimed for his neck.

But Ozul already predicted this, completely trusting his enemy’s abilities.

To shift his momentum, he just needed a push from the Purity while sidestepping.

*Ssss!*

The sound of air being cut was heard by everyone; only it wasn’t just air that was cut.

The man standing at a distance now stood shocked at the sight; a spear protruding out of Ozul’s abdomen had pierced the swordsman’s chest.

Blood oozed out of the man’s lips as the sword dropped from his hand. His heart was punctured, there was no saving him now.

Though he did achieve something as Ozul’s arm also slipped from his shoulder!

’Of course... he is an Origin cultivator,’ he thought bitterly as pain assaulted his mind.

He had entertained the possibility of losing to the man’s swordsmanship but had discarded it immediately after sidestepping. But there wasn’t anything that he could have done in that situation anyway.

"One remains..." he muttered with a deep sigh as his arm hit the ground.

"You!!" the otherwise calm and collected man shouted in rage, killing intent now emanating from him as well. A moment of distraction cost him his companion’s life.

Ozul shook his head, trying to ignore the pain before he rushed straight toward him.

Since this man wanted to fight from a distance, he would do the exact opposite even though that is also what suited him more due to the Purity.

And thus the battle restarted with fewer limbs participating than before...