The Nine Lords Of Order - Chapter 31

“Mars It was you?” Derik was so shocked that he forgot to correct Mars when he called him with the wrong name.

How long has it been since they all arrived to the central territories? Almost nine months? He couldn’t believe Mars got so strong in this short period of time

Mars smiled and before more questions could be asked he swung his arm again and stroke Derik in the head. After this strike Derik instantly lost consciousness.

Soon after Mars stopped smiling and felt his body grow weak. All the red lightning which was streaking across his body quickly dissipated. This time he had kept the overcharge of energy going for several minutes, the backlash he received was several times greater as well.

Ever since Mars started ambushing members from the Ascending Devils Faction he had used the overcharge gem continuously. As he had more battles, he gained more experience. Soon enough he discovered that many of his techniques had great synergy with each other. For example, one of his greatest discoveries was that he could extend the time of his overcharge if he absorbed other people’s energies. The absorption period would be several times faster as well in the overcharge state.

He had also learnt to estimate the strength from his opponents through observation. There were quite a few behavioral patterns which Mars discovered in stronger experts and some which were on weaker experts. For example, he could tell the squad he had been ambushing earlies had four rank 4 experts. This was because along the way, members from the squad would cluster around four people every time danger approached. Mars knew they did this because they were seeking protection.

The main reason he did not attack the squad immediately was because he was assessing the squad’s strength and was planning the best way to ambush them. He also observed the squad as they completed their quest in order to assess their strength more thoroughly. He did not bother attacking them then though. There were many times when he would wait for these squads to complete whatever quest they were doing and then he would steal the credit. He had earned a few thousand merit points this way.

He also found the shady youth was among the member’s from the squad so he was pleasantly surprised. This person was a potential enemy from the kingdom and he had already offended him so he had wanted to deal with this person for a very long time now.

He took his time before making the first attack. Once he made the first attack, the future ambushes would get more and more difficult. Furthermore, he was not willing to use the overcharge state so easily. Although he could extend the duration of his overcharge state by absorbing other people’s energies, the damage on his body would increase. He could restore his energy, but he couldn’t heal himself. This meant that even if he managed to restore all his energies he would only be able to use the overcharge state once a day. If he tried to use it more times, he wouldn’t be able to take a second backlash.

In the end he decided to attack the members from the squad after they finished their quest and were fatigued from keeping their guard up for so long. He had slowly taken care of the weaker members first. His attacks were like a true ghost and people had trouble noticing his them, which induced fear on the squad.

Later when he estimated that ambushing more members would probe difficult, he had finally made a strong move and activated the overcharge state, once this technique was activated he would be running a race against time. He quickly took care of a few more members and after absorbing their energies he further extended the duration from his overcharge. However before he could deal further damage to the squad everyone suddenly ran away in all directions

This was definitely a first. He was definitely surprised by this move.

Even though Mars was fast, he wouldn’t be able to deal with so many high ranked experts escaping in all directions. However, thanks to all his enemies dispersing, he easily took care of quite a few of them. Afterwards, Mars focused on the shady looking youth which came along with him from the Southern Territories.

He quickly found him and took him down.

Currently he had finally run out of gas and he felt his muscles spasm with pain. Mars calmly placed his hand on Derik’s chest and quietly started to absorb his energy. Electrical currents quickly travelled from Derik’s body towards Mars arms. However this time Mars had no mercy and completely drained Derik from all his power. Soon, Derik’s path gem completely shattered and disappeared from his body.

It was this moment Mars finally got know that Derik owned a path of power related to shadows. ‘No wonder he always had this shady aura However he is finished now. He will never be able to form a path gem ever again. This can be considered as a huge contribution for the Kingdom of Lugasta’

Mars also noticed that because Derik possessed a 5-star path the amount of energy he had absorbed was of a much greater purity. He almost recovered his regular strength after he finished absorbing his energy. However his overcharge gem remained empty.

‘After this incident the Ascending Devil’s faction will not dare to keep their rank 3 operations going Unfortunately I couldn’t deal with whole squad. However I still gathered quite a few spacial bags.’ Mars thought.

Roar!

Mars heard the sound of a few demon beasts approaching and he gave Derik a quick zap, waking him up immediately.

“Good luck!” After saying that, Mars quickly disappeared in the forest.

Derik tried to stand up sluggishly. But he soon gave up, he was too tired. He looked towards the direction Mars left with his eyes full of hatred. He could clearly feel that he was like a regular mortal now. He could also hear demon beasts approaching.

He touched his waist but he could tell his spacial bag was missing. Clearly Mars had taken it as well The last hope he had for survival was gone.

“It looks like I lost That fool… he did not even remember my name…” His situation was desperate however he was in a rare moment of calmness. He just sat there with his back resting against a tree. He closed his eyes and waited for the demon beasts to come.

After another hour of traveling Mars returned to the city. After walking through the streets for awhile and making several turns he reached a modest residence and he calmly opened the front door. Clearly this was the place where he was currently living.

However before he entered the building he heard someone calling his name.

“Mars, it seem you’re doing well. I just heard from one of my subordinates that the Devil’s Spectre attacked again. Haha! The Ascending Devils faction is sure unlucky to have offended such a figure!” Eanred who was wearing a casual smile on his face waved at him from afar. However he also gave Mars a meaningful look. Although Mars had not admitted that he was the Devil’s Spectre, he had his own suspicious. After all, he had several subordinates observing all around the city. He was also familiar with Mars original and disguised appearance.

After the Ascending Devil’s faction started targeting Mars he had always been keeping an eye on Mars movements. That way he would be able to help in case anything serious happened.

However while he was keeping an eye on Mars he also noticed a few coincidences. Like, the appearance of the Devil’s Spectre was just after the Ascending Devils Faction targeted Mars and how Mars was always outside the city when the Spectre attacked.

Although he knew Mars was not simple and had quite a few secrets, he still thought Mars did not possess enough strength to contend against the Ascending Devil faction. But he still guessed that he must somehow related to the attacks.

He silently sighed in relief for not offending Mars back then.

On the contrary Mars was bit surprised about Eanred getting the news so fast. He quickly changed the topic and said, “Eanred, it’s been awhile! Why don’t you come in?”

“Sure” Eanred was planning to speak with Mars so he immediately agreed.

As they entered the residence Ena smiled and went to greet them. She quickly prepared some drinks and sat in a couch with Mars at her side.

“My friend, it seems you got yourself a good wife, you two look great together.” Eanred complemented with a sigh.

Ena blushed a bit and hugged Mars arm.

Mars smiled smugly at Eanred and began talking, “Ha, I’ve never seen you with a lady Eanred. From your sigh I can tell you have bad luck with ladies. Let me tell you, when I was in Lugasta, many girls would throw handkerchiefs at me, there was a time when Ouch!”

Ena was happy at first but when she heard what Mars said she pinched his waist with all her strength. She was still smiling, however even an idiot could tell it was not a smile of happiness.

“Cough! I meant you can count me Eanred!” Mars smile turned stiff, and completed his sentence.

“You better not count on him! If the lady you like sees him, she will probably fall for Mars instead!” Ena snorted. However she still looked cute.

“Err Well, I’ll be sure to have that in mind… ” Eanred said rather awkwardly. However he quickly regained his composure. “Mars, the reason I’m here is because I’m planning on Ascending the floating islands soon. I’ve decided and I will be joining the Loftycloud palace. However I still feel like I owe you a lot. I stayed down below for a few months because I thought I could help you out a bit. However if you have any request please let me know about.”

Mars just shook his head and said, “You already provided plenty help when hiding Louis. For talents like us, every moment is important. The older you are, the harder it becomes to progress.”

“However I still like I owe you, is there anything you’re planing that requires my help” Eanred responded.

Mars thought for a bit and said, “Well, It’s been almost six months since I became rank 3, so I will be able to train my energy soon. I was planning on returning to the Lightning Valley. My guess is that I will be gone for a few months. So you should not worry about whatever you think you owe me. We’ll probably meet again in the islands so you shouldn’t feel burdened by this.”

“Return to the Lightning Valley?” Eanred was not surprised by Mars decision. That place was heaven for Lightning users. He guessed Mars would progress at a much faster rate in there.

Glossary:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iJtnlk8K9p2me8tEJI-NEUGUzjgRNS0uU-S8W3Aan5g/edit?usp=sharing