A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 142 The Shadow of Mahabray

"Gus?"

Who?

"Guts, it's us!"

Everyone in the mercenary group?!

"Gus, where are you?"

I'm here!

Gus tried to make a sound, but he failed.

"Gus, we've come to find you."

Suddenly, the mercenary group members, who had been acting normally, transformed into twisted, bizarre, and terrifying fallen beings.

"Guts, join the glorious evolution!"

Griffith's distorted face came into Guts's view.

"Griffiths! You deserve to die!"

Guts roared and charged toward Griffith.

Then he felt a violent shaking.

"Gus?"

"Wake up, Guts!"

"The demons are attacking!"

Hayes, standing nearby, shook Gus vigorously, trying to wake him up.

"You are...Hays?"

Gus finally woke up, but he still vividly remembered the nightmare he had just had.

"What happened to you just now? You didn't look quite right."

"I dreamt of the mercenary group, and they became the Fallen, and... Griffith."

When Griffiths was mentioned, Guts' eyes were filled with hatred.

"Drink a calming potion. Don't let hatred take over your mind, or the abyss will have an opportunity to take advantage of you."

Hayes took out a bottle of medicine and handed it to Gus.

Gus drank it down in one gulp and felt much better.

"Let's go. The demons are attacking, which means Griffith isn't far away."

"Also, you need to be prepared."

Hayes suddenly said.

"What preparations?"

"This is a heavily polluted area. The influence of the abyss is everywhere, and dreams are the easiest to be affected by it."

"You may really have to face them."

Upon hearing this, Guss was taken aback, and suddenly seemed to understand something.

"You mean...?"

Hayes nodded.

"I see."

Hayes left quietly, giving Guss some personal space.

Gus's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and his teeth were clenched.

"Griffiths!"

A furious roar, each word distinct and forceful, rang out.

Hayes shook his head outside.

The hatred deepened.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Huh? What, there's an old acquaintance here?"

Among the vast number of demons and fallen beings, there were a few figures that were exceptionally tall and familiar.

As a mage, having a photographic memory is a basic skill.

Although Jiang Shuzhou couldn't recall the names of these people, he recognized them at a glance as members of a mercenary group.

In normal circumstances, you wouldn't be able to recognize them. After all, once you become a Fallen One, what you want to become is no longer up to you.

It's normal for a person's appearance to change to the point that even their own mother wouldn't recognize them; some people can even change their gender.

However, these people had covered their faces with their own skin, which allowed Jiang Shuzhou to see their identities in life.

"Good heavens, Griffith is ruthless enough to not even spare his own people after they've died."

However, the thought that Griffith had fallen and joined the abyss made Jiang Shuzhou feel at ease.

These abyssal creatures do everything in a ridiculous way.

Even if Griffith were to commit suicide now to apologize to Gus, Jiang Shuzhou would still find it perfectly normal.

After all, they are creatures of the abyss, and their minds are all abnormal, except for some high-level beings who still have some logic.

Soon, the two sides clashed.

The demons remained the same as always: they beat up their own people before attacking others.

The Fallen Ones fared much better; surprisingly, there weren't many of them fighting each other.

After all, they were once human, so they still have some logical thinking ability.

Unfortunately, they messed with the wrong people.

"Click click click".

The puppet, wielding a weapon, cracked at its joints. Soon after, several demons and fallen beings died instantly, before they could even see the puppet clearly.

"roar!"

The hounds showed no mercy, hunting down the people who had fallen into darkness in packs.

Each bite takes away a large chunk of flesh and blood.

Unlike other creatures of flesh and blood, hounds are not afraid of the Abyss's corruption; in fact, they can temporarily enhance their strength by absorbing it.

The hounds devoured the demon's flesh and blood, leaving it to turn into abyssal pus.

"roar!"

With a roar, the hound that had devoured the demon's flesh grew even stronger and faster, and its eyes glowed red.

This was undoubtedly a one-sided battle, after all, it was a force that Jiang Shuzhou had built with a lot of money.

Putting everything else aside, the cost of just one burst puppet is 30,000 gold coins.

As for the hunting dogs?

This thing has a low cost price, but high research and development expenses.

It cost over 500 magic stones, but not counting research and development costs and labor, it was only about 700 gold coins.

It can be said to be quite cheap; the most expensive part is Jiang Shuzhou's labor cost.

However, it's not a big problem; Jiang Shuzhou is already working on solving it.

"Griffith!"

Guts, standing to the side, wielded his greatsword, slaying the enemies around him.

He saw the faces of his companions; he saw that even in death, their bodies were still being used as playthings by Griffith.

His raging fury nearly overwhelmed his reason.

However, a sliver of reason told him that if he allowed his anger to run rampant, he might fall into depravity.

Isn't this exactly what Griffith wanted?

Guts then drank another bottle of tranquilizer, which barely managed to suppress the anger in his heart.

He's almost developed a tolerance to the drug these past few days.

The battle continued, but Jiang Shuzhou still did not make a move.

Perhaps because a large number of troops had been gathered to attack the mountain fortress before, there weren't many demons and fallen ones here, roughly estimated at around 10, and their strength wasn't very high.

Jiang Shuzhou's side consisted of elite troops, totaling five thousand soldiers.

The advantage of 5,000 over 100,000 is in my hands.

It only takes one against twenty, it's that simple.

The power of a single exploding puppet could kill more than 20 people.

What's more, everyone was in a frenzy, mowing down enemies, which made Jiang Shuzhou's hands itch. He immediately decided to fire a few fireballs first.

However, he saw Gus.

"Sigh, it's not easy for you either, Gus. I'll lend you a hand."

Jiang Shuzhou cast a spell to help Gus break through the encirclement and even thoughtfully cleared a path for him to reach his former teammates.

Gus looked at Jiang Shuzhou gratefully, then resolutely walked towards his former teammate, now a fallen man.

He wanted to personally end the lives of his former teammates and put an end to their suffering.

First, there's the chef, Panna, a girl who loves to laugh.

"Your cooking is terrible."

"Guts said."

"Then you shouldn't fucking eat it!"

As the fallen Panna lay dying, she regained her sanity.

I don't blame you.

These were her last words.

Then came Kennett, a man of few words.

"Don't blame yourself, take good care of Jennifer for me."

After saying that, he collapsed.

Then there's Meller, the mercenary group's accountant, who manages the finances.

"There are still several bad debts to pay, and that bastard Griffiths is not going to pay them back, so I can only ask you for help."

As he spoke, he reached into his chest and pulled out several wet IOUs from his mangled flesh.

"What, surprised? The thing I left you was an IOU?"

He then actually burned the IOU.

"Gus, let bygones be bygones. It was all Griffith's fault. Don't blame yourself."

Life is like a messy ledger that can never be fully settled.

He collapsed too.

Finally, there's Keldon, an old soldier who saved Guts many times and was also his mentor.

"Gus?"

Unexpectedly, this soldier did not regain consciousness until the moment of death, unlike the others.

"it's me."

"It's been a long time, really."

"I don't have much to say to you either. I can't even tell if you're Gus or not."

"Fight me, for when death comes, I will see the way ahead."

The warrior had four bone swords attached to his body. He drew one from each of his four hands and attacked Guts.

This was an incredibly difficult battle.

But regardless, Guts still won.

"It really is you."

"That's impressive, when did you become so strong?"

Keldon stroked Gus with his only remaining hand.

"He couldn't even hold a sword properly before."

"That was a few years ago."

"Yes, it's been several years."

"But it feels like it was just yesterday."

Gradually, Keiden fell silent.

The battle was over, and Guts returned to his tent without saying a word.

Jiang Shuzhou took in all of this.

"Friendship and bonds are truly wondrous; they can even see through the corruption of the abyss and allow the soul to continue."

"Sir, shouldn't we go and try to persuade him?"

"No need, this is a belated farewell, there's no need to disturb him."

"He'll come out when we get to Griffith."

Jiang Shuzhou looked into the distance, gazing at the castle.

This is the castle where Griffith was imprisoned and tortured.

It begins where it ends.