For a few minutes after that, Klaus simred in a dark mood, anger bubbling just beneath his skin.
But then, with a sharp exhale-
A cold glint flickered in his eyes, his resolve hardening.
"Every single thing... I'll pay them back in full, Anarzel."
Clench.
"No matter what it takes ."
His nails dug into his palm, the thought of getting revenge like a fire burning furiously within his chest.
Clench.
His grip tightened even more.
The vision of dragging the treacherous bastard to hell-
Grit.
It was enough to keep him going.
Enough to make him endure.
Enough to make him bow.
- For now.
He would conceal his hatred well. Bide his ti, and wait for the perfect mont.
"Hu..."
With a sharp exhale, Klaus glanced around.
And-
"...."
A wry smile tugged at his lips. Should I be happy or not?
Shaking his head, he noted how Anarzel's words seed to have gotten to the slaves. So averted their eyes. Others t his stare with a grim expression.
'Do I look like so damn monster?' Klaus grimaced. The weight of their apprehensive stares settling uncomfortably in him- more than he'd care to admit.
"Uuf..." He exhaled sharply. He really needed it...
"It doesn't matter anyway."
He could only try to comfort himself.
The slave caravan slowly dragged itself up the frozen mountain, with more and more slaves stumbling and periodically falling to the ground.
And, inevitably-
What the broad-shouldered slave had feared most ca to pass.
Those who could no longer walk were unshackled, freed from the crushing weight of their chains- only to be unceremoniously tossed off the road, swallowed by the abyss yawning below.
Klaus watched them fall, his expression unreadable.
With a quiet sigh, he murmured, "Poor fellows. May your souls rest in peace."
It was strange. Despite the disaster unfolding around him, his spirits weren't entirely crushed.
Perhaps it was because he knew brooding wouldn't solve anything.
...If anything, it would only send him spiraling into despair and desperation.
And he was doing his very best to avoid those two emotions.
He had... had enough of them already.
And what made matters worse was the fact that he couldn't make use of any of his abilities.
And sohow, he had t-his weird feeling that he was forgetting sothing.
But what could it be?
He thought hard on it, harder than he would have thought possible.
But eventually, he had to know when to give up.
Slowly, the sun begun to set, its blinding light dimming into twilight.
Not to his surprise, he found out that he could still see perfectly in the endless dark- perhaps even more than he could in the day.
He had always had that ability anyway. If he had to guess, it probably had to do with his bloodline sequence: The Hunter Pathway.
Or was it sothing else...?
Just then-
"Stop the caravan! Prepare to camp!"
His thoughts were interrupted by the loud, thunderous voice.
Following Groundbreaker's command, the slaves stopped and fell to the ground, exhaustion weighing down on them. Shivering, they tightly wrapped their arms around their bodies, in an attempt to stop the frigid cold seeping into their bones.
And even if it wasn't doing so well as to work out for them.
They still continued anyway.
It wasn't as if they had any other choice.
Klaus scanned his surroundings, noting sothing peculiar- so of the slaves were from different empires.
Which ans-
"They are all prisoners of war."
It made sense.
But then-
His eyes widened, shock rippling through him.
Doesn't that an the fifteen thousand-or-so imperials the empire faced were simply a fraction... A re quarter of Napoleon's army.
A chill ran down his spine.
And his gaze flicked to Napoleon, seated atop his white stallion.
His jaw clenched.
'One way or another... one of us will have to die.'
He exhaled lightly, deciding not to think too much about it.
First and foremost, he still had to sohow find a way to break free from these damn runic binding chains.
Whooosh!!
The chilling wind howled past them, sending cold chills down his spine.
Klaus shivered, his breath hitching.
Ahead of them, a jagged rock formation stretched towards the heavens, shielding them from the worst of the storm.
Without it, many of them -him included- would already be dead. Even so, without their awakened abilities and enhanced physiques, the cold of the frozen heart mountain range was still too cold to resist.
He felt like he was breathing in ice!
"Damn it...!"
He gritted his teeth.
Step.
Step.
The soldiers got busy herding the slaves into a tight circle, forcing them to share warmth and proceeded to light up a large bonfire in the center of the camp- although not before tending to their precious horses.
The heavy wagons carrying food, water and other cargoes to which the main chain was firmly attached to, were pushed forward single handedly, by Tatiana- in order to block the raging wind.
As Klaus took in his surroundings, his gaze settled on a familiar face.
The young soldier from earlier.
Standing near the mountain's edge, his expression was... complicated.
For a second-
Klaus swore he saw a faint, red flicker in the soldier's eyes.
"Hmm?" His brows arched.
He scrutinized the young man but-
A mont later, he seed normal.
Had it been a hallucination?
No.
Even back at the family estate, his senses had been hailed as extraordinary- akin to a first-sequence Hunter. He doubted his own eyes even less now.
But whatever it was-
'It's none of my concern.'
Shrugging it off, his gaze swept across the camp.
His frown deepened. The empire's so-called god-like archer was nowhere to be found.
"Weird."
"Where the hell is he?"
Klaus muttered under his breath-
And imdiately, heads turned.
"..."
Eyes. Every single one of them rested on him.
The other slaves stared at him like a madman.
A wry smile crept onto his face. Of course, it was to be expected...
After all, he'd been talking to himself the entire ti.
He threw them a smirk and they all averted their gazes.
"..."
"Hah! Look all you want, you lot. I won't be the one dying anyti soon."
"Hmph." He scoffed- if only to please himself.
Before long, the bonfire was blazing.
The stronger slaves tried to find their way closer to the fire- and he did well to join in the fray, and with the whole cautiousness they had towards him- all thanks to his old pal, he faced no difficulties nor competition.
The weaker slaves were forced to sit at the outer end of the circle, with the chilling coldness creeping into their bones.
Staring at them, Klaus shook his head.
'I'd help if I could... but I'm no saint. And I'm in no better shape myself.'
Sighing lightly, he moved a little bit closer to the fire.
Of course, in the process of doing that, he ended up dragging his partners along with him- those shackled closest to him. That's why the familiar scholar, short guy and the broad-shouldered guy all ended up with him- and at that, with little to no effort!
'Hah!'
A small, satisfied smile curled his lips.
That felt good to know.
As a hunter, it was his duty to help others, and at that, even to his own detrint.
Well I still managed to stop three slaves from freezing to death. That's still sothing, right?
'Yeah.' He nodded.
Step.
Step.
The soldiers walked among the slaves, giving them water and food- if it could even be called that. Klaus, just like everyone else, received a few sips of frigid, cold water and a small piece of rock-hard crusty bread.
'Euk!' Klaus stared at the "food" in disgust.
But alas,
Rumblee~!
His stomach got the better of him.
Hence, despite the unappetizing look, he forced himself to eat the whole thing. Not only was he hungry, but he sohow had this weird feeling that very soon- he would need every ounce of strength he could muster.
Although even after finishing the al, he was still left as hungry as he previously was.
But on the bright side of things.
"Hah..."
He wasn't the only one.
***
The short slave that had been walking behind him looked around, anguish and anger seeping into him.
"By all the old and new gods, they used to feed better even in the dungeon."
Spit!
He spat on the ground, perhaps in desperation. Or perhaps to get his intention out.
Whichever one it was.
Honestly, he could care less.
A few steps away from them, where the paved road ended, and sharp, glistening rocks began. A scattering of bright-crimson berries were growing from the snow. Klaus had noticed them before, clustering here and there along the road.
He even noted how resilient the pretty things were. And he would have eaten it if not that he was more knowledgeable.
Sigh!
Klaus watched as the short guy's eyes glistened with sothing dangerous- greed. It was clear what he was about to do.
Crawl~
Crawling towards the berries on all fours, he was just about to touch it when-
"I'd advise against eating those my friend."
It was the scholar. Once again.
"You and your advice again! What's it this ti around!"
The scholar smiled apologetically.
"Those berries are called Crimorias. They grow in places where human blood is spilled... in abundance. That's why there's always a lot of them along slave trade routes."
"So?"
"Fool," Klaus said while shaking his head. "Crimorias are poisonous. A few berries might be enough to kill a newly awakened."
"Wtf!" The short slave flinched back, fear flickering within his eyes.
***
I paid him any attention, no more.
Heck! I could even care less about his survival.
Whoosh!
The wind howled more furiously, its chilling wind flickering violently.
Zzzzrrr!!!
The bright incandescent fla slowly showed signs of wavering.
A-Almost like it was being consud.
"Just great...! Ghosts? Demons? What's it this ti around?"
As if to answer my thoughts, a thunderous noise rang from above.
And in the next second, sothing massive ca crashing from the sky...
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