Shandia Base, the mountain stronghold.
The moment Deva Path spoke, every Shandian present narrowed their eyes, staring intently at him.
Shandora was the homeland of their ancestors, the place where countless generations of Shandians had lived and grown. They dreamed of returning there one day. But four hundred years ago, those damn God Soldiers had seized the land and driven them away. Countless treasures and relics belonging to their people had been buried beneath the earth, hidden from the world ever since.
"What? Is there a problem?"
Deva Path swept his cold gaze across the group.
The chief took a deep breath and offered a bitter smile. "No problem. When it comes to Shandora, no one knows it better than we Shandians. Our ancestors left records of many treasure sites there." He paused, his expression turning even more bitter. "However…"
"What?" Deva Path looked puzzled.
"Shandora is currently occupied by the God Soldiers. We have no way of going there, so naturally, we can't show you the way." The chief sighed.
This was one of the greatest humiliations the Shandians had ever suffered. They prided themselves on being powerful warriors, yet they had been completely helpless against the God Soldiers, forced to watch as those people took their ancestral homeland right before their eyes.
"I'll take you there." Deva Path's voice was cold. Before the Shandians could ask anything, he continued, "Find someone who knows Shandora well. They will leave with me immediately. I only want Shandora's treasures. Whatever else happens there has nothing to do with me."
The chief hesitated, but the moment he felt the killing intent rising from Deva Path again, he made his decision.
"Raki."
Raki immediately understood and answered loudly. "Yes!"
"Go to the room and bring the map of Shandora. Then follow him." The chief leaned down and whispered the instructions into Raki's ear before turning to Deva Path apologetically. "Please wait a moment. Raki will accompany you."
Deva Path gave a cold nod and said nothing more.
About three minutes later, Raki returned fully armed and stood before Deva Path.
"Ready?" Deva Path's voice remained indifferent.
"Ready!" Raki took a deep breath.
"Then let's go."
Deva Path turned and leaped from the tower. Raki immediately followed.
The two raced through the forest, one ahead of the other, pushing their speed to the limit. Before long, they disappeared into the dense jungle.
Watching them vanish into the distance, the chief sighed softly.
"Chief, will Raki be safe?" A Shandian warrior behind him spoke with concern.
For a long time, the Shandians had been unable to reclaim Shandora for more than just one reason. The God Soldiers were one obstacle, but there were also countless powerful, dangerous beasts living around Shandora and within the jungle itself. Those creatures were another major reason they had never been able to return.
"She should be fine," the chief spoke quietly.
Since the man's target was specifically the treasures of Shandora, he had to have some means of dealing with whatever dangers awaited him there.
---
Deep in the jungle, Deva Path and Raki leaped from branch to branch. As they pushed forward, the shock in Raki's eyes grew stronger and stronger.
'Just who is this guy?'
Even with her Impact Dial-powered board pushed to its absolute limit, she still couldn't catch up with him. And she could clearly see that the man in the cloud-patterned red robe, his face resembling that of a corpse, was doing nothing more than running on his own two legs.
Just how monstrous was his physical strength and stamina?!
The journey passed in silence. By the following morning, the two finally reached the dense forest on the outskirts of Shandora.
Raki was visibly exhausted. She was only human, after all; running through the entire night without a single break had pushed her body close to its limit.
"Rest for an hour. Then we enter Shandora," Deva Path glanced at Raki and spoke coldly.
She was so exhausted that she didn't even have the strength to answer. She simply leaned against a large tree and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
As a dead man, Deva Path naturally had no need for rest. He remained standing beside Raki, carefully watching his surroundings.
Powerful beasts lived in this outer area. They were no threat to him, but for Raki, encountering one could be fatal.
"Awooooo!"
A long wolf howl suddenly rang out from the northwest of the jungle.
Deva Path remained expressionless and ignored it, continuing to stand beside Raki.
A moment later, pairs of eerie green eyes appeared beneath the tree where Deva Path and Raki were resting.
"Awooooo!"
The alpha wolf threw back its head and howled. One by one, more wolves emerged from the surrounding jungle.
They were a relatively small pack, numbering just over thirty wolves. Even so, predators like tigers and leopards would normally avoid confronting them. Now, Deva Path and Raki had become the pack's targets.
Looking down at them, Deva Path still made no move. For him, these wolves posed no real threat.
"Awooooo!"
After another howl, the wolves' eyes grew fiercer. They slowly began closing in beneath the tree.
As they approached, their movements accelerated. Finally, excited growls erupted from their throats as the entire pack charged straight toward the tree, attacking Deva Path and Raki. Their speed was astonishing, and the ferocity of their charge was enough to make anyone's heart tremble.
In the blink of an eye, the first wolf leaped upward, opening its jaws as it lunged toward the two of them.
"Bang!"
Deva Path twisted around and brought his leg down in a powerful strike, smashing directly into the wolf's head.
"Crack!"
There was an old saying: a wolf has a head like iron, a tail like steel, but a waist as soft as tofu. The head was actually the strongest part of a wolf's body. Yet under Deva Path's attack, even this toughest part shattered like tofu.
"Awooo!"
The death of one of their own enraged the rest of the pack, making their attacks even more vicious.
Deva Path remained cold and emotionless on the branch. One wolf after another rushed up, snapping and tearing at him, but Deva Path responded with nothing more than a casual punch or kick.
Before long, wolves were dropping from the tree one after another, crashing onto the ground below and lying motionless.
In the end, out of more than thirty wolves, only a handful remained.
The alpha wolf finally grew afraid. Its previously fearless eyes were now filled with terror whenever it looked at Deva Path.
"Get lost!" Deva Path looked down at it.
The ringed eyes of the Six Paths of Pain made the alpha wolf tremble. With a whimper, it turned and fled, leading the remaining wolves away as quickly as possible.
Standing on the branch, Deva Path watched the pack disappear into the jungle. His face remained cold, his expression completely unchanged. Of the six Paths, Deva Path was undoubtedly the most emotionless.
An hour later, Deva Path woke Raki.
"Your hour is up. Time to set out."
His cold voice was enough to snap her fully awake. Raki immediately stood up, quickly shaking off the last traces of sleep. After an hour of rest, some of her strength had returned.
But the moment she looked around, shock flooded her face.
"Those are… jungle wolves?!"
More than twenty wolf corpses lay scattered across the ground in various positions, a faint smell of blood lingering in the air. The sight was horrifying.
Raki suddenly turned toward Deva Path. "All of this… you did this?"
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
(End Of This Chapter)
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