Even in his weakened state, Derik could still feel the life energy of people around coupled with his ability to sense the negative emotions of those around.
At this point, he could easily sense the negative thoughts of hundreds of people with a strong life signature towards him. He could tell that this his small apartment was already surrounded and he could also tell the power level of those approaching.
A sly smile appeared on his rigid face as he stared at the shadow close by and his death avatar quickly emerged.
"Do they think they can kill me? If it were six years ago I would have been terrified but now a few hundred warriors and mages are nothing to me" Derik laughed. His pitch-black eyes looked hungry for more battle, as this was one of the ways his power progressed.
"Don't act recklessly… This is a Kingdom you wish to fight against… don't forget they possess magic weapons which can easily increase their overall competence by leaps and bounds… even then, I recommend you leave the kingdom now, do not forget the presence of the holy church here as well… it will be difficult for you to escape if you remain here" Demos warned Derik in a serious tone.
It is not that the angel of death didn't have confidence in Derik's ability, it's just that no one knew how capable the branch of the holy church in this kingdom is. In his current weakened state chances are he will be killed off eventually if the battle should last longer than expected. Especially since he was at a critical stage in the recovery process now.
With knitted eyebrows, Derik thought of the numerous possibilities on how the Kingdom of Cato realized he was hiding out here. His pitch-black eyes reflected his killing intent as he swore to take the life of those who ratted him out.
"Kill them all… I don't want to be disturbed while I'm recovering" Derik said to the death avatar indifferently.
"You dare ask me to flee? Hahahaha! What will that make me… a coward of course… the image I built over five years ago will be rendered useless if I should do that... Just wait till I'm done removing Cyrus' residual life energy, then I will definitely teach these people what true power looks like" Derik snorted as he spoke to Demos.
He quickly shut his eyes as he continued meditating, battling the life energy in his body even more seriously now.
............
A few kilometers away from the little building where they were directed to raid, a middle-aged man with blond hair and mustache spoke to his fellows with a communication stone in his hands
"Everything is in place… Do make sure that all the possible escape routes are blocked off… we can't have this dangerous man fleeing" the blonde man said
"You don't worry commander… should he come this way, he will not find it so easy to leave!" A voice echoed from the communication stone.
The blonde man nodded and turned his attention to his fellows who are all dressed in civilian clothing to prevent anyone from knowing their intentions. He gave them a brief nod and then turned his attention to a giant man who stood right beside him.
The man was well built and had numerous strange black tattoo's drawn all over his body. He wore a cloak that had a hood, barely revealing a small portion of his face and a pair of glowing golden eyes.
Staring at this massive man who should be up to 7ft tall, the blonde commander didn't dare act recklessly in front of him.
"I thank the Holy church for assisting the kingdom of Cato in this matter… with a priest of the holy church here, I and my men feel more confident of our chances of success," The blonde man said
"If what the kingdom says is true, then there is no reason for you to thank us… instead, the holy church thanks this kingdom for revealing the presence of such a demonic being hiding out in our presence! We are only doing our duty as servants of the creator… once again here is no reason to thank me…" The massive man from the holy church said.
While he spoke, his glowing golden eyes remained fixed on the apartment and a glint of murderous intentions flashed in his eyes. But then a shadow escaped through the window of the house and from it emerged a hooded being with a pair of black angel wings and fiery darkish purple eyes. Behind it was a massive scythe which was the size of an adult and the death aura which escaped the body of Derik's death avatar terrified the soldiers dressed in civilian clothing.
"P… peak of the silver realm! My God! How did such a beast reside in this kingdom and we didn't notice" The blonde commander was instantly terrified by the cultivation base of the monster right in front of him.
He heard the story of Derik's achievement in the sky rift and how he bested every kingdom in this continent to seize hold of treasures of the kingdom. He knew that Derik was able to raise his power level by leaps and bounds with strange techniques, reaching the peak grade of the silver realm with just the peak of the bronze realm cultivation base, this is an increase by one entire realm!
Now that he saw the being that appeared had a cultivation base of the peak grade of the silver realm, doesn't that mean that he can raise his power level all the way up to the peak grade of the golden realm? A realm in which everyone has dreamed of stepping into, yet only a few have reached the threshold. Since he has never laid his eyes on Derik, he assumed the death avatar was the death mage they were searching for.
"Fear not… that thin is not the death mage we seek… it's just his death avatar… from the information given to me, the death mage was injured in a battle with the host of the life guardian spirit, forcing him to retreat… he shouldn't be at peak condition right now, if not he would have been the one to come and face us, yet he sent this thing… as long as we can subdue this thing… Killing him shouldn't be much of a problem" The priest said indifferently.
Hearing this, the man released a sigh and relaxed his nerves a bit. Even though he was sure that this thing right in front of them was not the real death mage, the commander was shocked to know that the death mage had a guardian with such a terrifying cultivation base. He knew that the battle between Derik and the expedition troops of the various kingdoms led to the death of close to a thousand soldiers if not more! Not even the passive elves were spared and this death avatar was responsible for more than half that number.
Standing face to face with such a monster terrified him to a certain level and he could only hope that this priest of the holy church is as powerful as he looks.
"I will have to trouble you this time…" The blonde commander said looking at the priest with expectant eyes.
"Very well then…." The cloaked priest nodded and took a step forward, prepared to battle it out with the death avatar!