CHAPTER 261: THE UNION

At the end, Vacuse sparred with the two of them, but none of it was as serious as that of Magus Arch. What they did was more in line with getting each other’s measure than anything else, and Vacuse was very much satisfied with the two of them. Their powers were just as he expected them to be.

After the spar, all the hunters now understood that Vacuse was worthy of being their leader. Even though some people still whispered behind each other’s backs that maybe Magus Arch planned the whole thing together with Captain Amros and Vacuse, no one truly believed that.

They could all see that the duel between the two wasn’t something that could be faked.

But all in all, Vacuse had achieved his aim, not only for the Dragon Hunters but for the others in the Mountain City as well.

"What about the people from the Eastern Region?" Vacuse asked later when he had washed away the sweat of the training ground. "I’ve not heard you say a lot about them. Are you keeping an eye on them?"

"As we said, we all appeared in the mountains, but they headed out soon after, straight into the thick of things. It’s not easy to keep an eye on them, and currently, I’ve already lost their location. Although, with some time after we regroup outside, I should be able to get it back," Kagerou said as he sat down to a plate of food.

They were all sitting at a long table to have a meal together. All of the Soulbearers. The eight of them.

Vacuse sat at the head, with Captain Amros at the other end. "But they’ve not been able to clear the Dungeon either. Do you think they’re dead or came across some problem?"

"Honestly, this was something we thought happened to them as well. I mean, shouldn’t they have cleared it too? All we knew was that they were heading into where the battle was the most intense between Pale and Shroud," Captain Amros said.

Vacuse shrugged. "We’ll know the situation soon as well."

Devour Bandit’s eyes gleamed as he looked at him. "Are we finally going to leave this place for the outside?"

Vacuse gave him a little smile. "I thought you would be right at home here among the outlaws. Why are you so eager to return?"

Devour Bandit scowled. "There are too many rules here. Maybe once, when it was newly created, this was the Crime Mountains, but now it’s changed. All the gangs are like the true version of nobility, not the pretend one."

Vacuse snorted. He felt the same way. "Yes. We are leaving as soon as we can sort things here, and then we’re going to see about leaving this damned place, the Great Dungeon, as well."

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"So this is how the Dragon Lord is chosen. A bloody competition where only the strongest take the crown! Your family is just like the beasts they represent!" Magus Sylrissa exclaimed.

It was much later in the night, and the Magus had tracked Vacuse down to ask more questions about the Dragons—most specifically about his family.

Vacuse wasn’t satisfied with the situation, but considering that things might get busy the following day, he decided to answer some of her questions.

"Well, we just don’t like to pretend. Isn’t that how everyone does it as well? But they pretend they’re not about to stab others in the back for the throne. We don’t care; we let the blood flow so that the truly strong can lead us!"

Magus Sylrissa hummed and nodded to herself. "Then you must be one of the strongest in your generation, right? You are the Dragon Heir, right?"

"I am," Vacuse replied flatly.

The Magus’s eyes glittered. "Then how many have you killed to get the position?"

Vacuse smirked. "I don’t count them. And there’s a big difference between getting the position and holding it."

Even now, Vacuse was still fighting to hold it. His mood darkened when he remembered his father and how the bastard would probably try to get rid of him soon. He shrugged and looked at Magus Sylrissa. "I think... I should start thinking of how to kill my father. It’s long overdue."

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Magus Nickel was delighted to see Vacuse.

At least from his appearance, he smiled warmly at him, and his eyes lacked the coldness that the others openly displayed. Apart from Magus Nickel, there were two other Magus in the room with him who represented the Bloodoak Union.

Although the three of them were not the entire Union, they were the ones that stood as representatives for it. It seemed Vacuse wasn’t important enough to warrant the full Union.

Not that he minded; he just wanted to get the hell out of the place and focus on other things. His mind was already far from the mountains.

And it seemed the Magus knew this as well. At least the other two did. Magus Nickel actually tried to get him to stay, as well as convince him to start a gang of his own in the mountains and settle down. He even gave him the option of affiliating with the Bloodoak Union.

But as expected, Vacuse refused everything and thanked them for the generous offer. The Bloodoak also extended their appreciation for the help he provided in clearing their tunnels of the "Eboncrypt trash infestation."

They also warned him that the Ashveil gang wasn’t happy about them and that they should keep looking behind them. Another warning they gave was that the Eboncrypt had much stronger power outside the mountains and were known to be unforgiving.

Vacuse understood all of it and thanked them back for their patronage. In the same breath, he ignored Magus Nickel’s offer to buy his stone dragon.

At the end of it all, the Bloodoak Union gave him some tokens of appreciation. One was gold coins—about fifty thousand of them—and the other was a small artifact that could be used for protection in the mountains.