The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan checked the time; more than 15 minutes had already passed. He jumped off Grey and landed awkwardly on the mushy forest floor. His body felt heavier and the movements dull.

"The gravity is almost double here," he swiftly realized, "But it doesn't look like it's a Law, it feels much more natural."

Patting Grey on the back somewhat absentmindedly, he stepped closer to a nearby tree which was much chunkier and shorter than the ones found near Argham.

The leaves on this one were much thicker and smaller but perhaps the most surprising part was that they were luminescent. Each tree was either blue, orange, or light green and its light was strong enough to illuminate several meters of land around it. It looked like something out of a fairy tale.

The plant life had obviously adapted to the higher force of gravity which proved him right.

'I have never seen a planet where gravity naturally shifted by such a large margin.'

*Rustle*

His ears perked up when something moved just a few meters ahead.

"Stay here," he whispered to Grey before slowly moving toward the source of the sound.

He swayed gently left and right without even conscious thought, cutting in between the small spaces to silently appear on the bank of a water stream.

Gusts of cold wind blew across from the other side, bringing a strong smell of blood along with them.

Some 400 meters away from Hao Xuan's exact position was a hill, the same hill he had seen before.

Only the area around it was much different. Everything within that 400-meter radius had been cleared out. The trees were smashed into the ground to the point where it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.

But what grabbed Hao Xuan's attention was the lone figure standing heroically on the hill in the exact same posture. He was surrounded by countless barbarians on all sides. These pseudo-giant's that would stand out anywhere else because of their massive physiques were kneeling on the ground like dogs, all three hundred of them.

At first glance it looked like a scene from some kind of a generic movie where some villainous savages were trying to attack the handsome protagonist but...that was far from the truth.

The barbarians were bleeding from almost every orifice and it looked like even their bodies were not in their control anymore. All they could do was wait and watch as blood slowly drained onto the ground before being pulled into the air and absorbed by the second half of the divine artifact that remained attached to his ear.

With one superficial glance Hao Xuan instantly recognized several familiar faces within the kneeling crowd, namely Princess Na'im and Isak who were among the handful that were closest to Dai Zhi.

The others appeared to be much older and stronger than them. If Hao Xuan had to guess their strength based on the aura of their physique alone then he would put them somewhere at the start of the Profound realm.

Only one person, an older female barbarian next to Princess Na'im felt different than all the rest. Hao Xuan couldn't pinpoint the extent of her power from such a distance and Dai Zhi also seemed to be focused on her for the most part.

'That must be the Chieftess, Burak (the barbarian prince who accompanied Hao Xuan into the pyramid), and Princess Na'im's mother.'

Where almost everyone else was groaning and grunting in pain, she alone remained silent and expressionless. In fact, she seemed to be at peace for some strange reason while casually talking to Dai Zhi.

Hao Xuan took a deep breath to focus his hearing so he could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"There is no point in prolonging it any further. Kill us and be done with it," the Chieftess said.

Dai Zhi had a relaxed expression as if he was out on a walk in his personal garden.

"You are very direct. Is that a common trait among your people? Is that why you tried to attack me by yourselves?"

The Chieftess nodded, "Often times the best method is the simplest one."

"But not this time?" Dai Zhi smiled mischievously.

"No, not this time. But it was to be expected, if the one in charge of all this madness could be killed so easily then it would have been over a long time ago."

"Why even bother then?"

"Because there was no other choice," she answered plainly but Dai Zhi's eyes narrowed shrewdly.

"Is that right? I thought it was because you wanted to delay me just enough so that I wouldn't be able to catch up with the rest of your tribe. You know, the one's running to that quaint little town called Argham."

"!!!"

The shocked expressions of almost every barbarian proved him right.

"Don't worry, after I'm done here I will go to them personally. If they have even a fraction of your blood energies then I will welcome them with open arms, hahaha."