Imperial Throne

Chapter 11: Ion and Akar

Akar's bloodline awakening could be said to have been entirely without risk.

Aside from taking extra precautions when crossing the border of the Gem Territory, the subsequent tasks, hunting a solitary Flame Hound and extracting its heart to concoct a Bloodline Potion, posed no significant challenges.

The entire process was smooth and straightforward, taking less than two and a half months from start to finish.

However, the matter that Ion feared the most eventually came to pass.

The Rusty Sword component he sought was located within the Death Forest, also known as the Death Forest.

Through the Rusty Sword's feedback resonance, he could sense the approximate distance to the component.

Previously, while hunting a Flame Hound, he had ventured deep into the eastern part of the Red Soil Territory.

There, on the black soil near the Death Forest, he experienced an unprecedentedly intense feedback, a sensation so exhilarating it felt as though his very blood was boiling.

At that moment, Ion's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

After all, nearly a third of the blood in his body had evaporated on the spot; an ordinary person would likely have died instantly.

As a result, Akar had to take Ion to a nearby town close to the Red Soil Territory to recuperate for a month.

During Ion's recovery, Akar diligently gathered information about the Death Forest from the townspeople.

At just sixteen years old, Akar had already awakened his bloodline and officially became a Bloodline Knight.

Despite his mature demeanor, he couldn't conceal the excitement and joy that surged within him.

This exuberance fueled his fearless spirit, making him less apprehensive of the Death Forest than his father.

Consequently, within a mere month, the small town known as Red Soil Town became aware of the arrival of a pair of impoverished demon-hunting father and son.

...

"Father!"

Akar pushed open the small door to the storage room beside the inn and stepped inside briskly.

The father and son had negotiated with the innkeeper to exchange their labor, cleaning stables and tidying rooms, for free lodging in this storage room and three meals a day.

The Death Forest spanned a vast area and bordered several territories, but there were only three viable entry points.

The Red Soil Territory was one of them. Red Soil Town, situated at this juncture, served as the final supply point before venturing into the Red and Black Soil regions.

Many demon hunters, professionals who made a living by hunting magical creatures, would stop here to rest and prepare.

However, most demon hunters only dared to hunt first or second-tier magical creatures.

Those without awakened bloodline powers wouldn't dare to confront third-tier or higher magical beasts.

Because the demon hunters lingering in Red Soil Town rarely went farther than the outskirts of the Death Forest, near the land known as the Black Soil, they never dared to truly set foot inside it.

That was precisely why Akar’s persistent inquiries about the forest were viewed by many townspeople as a suicidal act.

Of course, there were also those who simply sighed at his youthful fearlessness.

But if asked whether anyone believed Akar could actually enter the Death Forest to hunt, the answer was a resounding no.

“What is it?” Ion was shirtless, using a pitchfork to loosen a bundle of hay.

Upon hearing his son's voice, he turned around and looked at him. “Why are you in such a hurry? Weren’t you supposed to be working as a server in the inn, collecting information?”

“Father, it’s already been a month. I’ve pretty much gathered all the information there is to find. There’s nothing new anymore,” Akar replied with a helpless shake of his head.

“I’ve visited almost every settled demon hunter in this town, and they’ve told me everything they know… I rushed back because I found out there's a squad planning to enter the Death Forest!”

Upon hearing this, Ion immediately stopped what he was doing and turned toward his son, asking, “Did you learn anything about them?”

“There are Bloodline Users!” Akar nodded. “At least two of them.”

“We’ve already been to the forest's outskirts once. There were signs of magical creature activity there, but it shouldn’t be a place where third-tier monsters appear,” Ion said, his expression growing more serious.

“If Bloodline Users are involved, then their target must be third-tier magical creatures… Only two, you say?”

“I only recognized two, because they were carrying Rare Iron Weapons,” Akar replied, shaking his head. “But if there are others like me who can fight without such weapons, I wouldn’t be able to tell. Their squad has more than ten people.”

Over the past month and a half, Akar had gone outside the town every night to secretly train his bloodline abilities.

His swordsmanship wasn’t particularly strong, he could only execute the standard forms of the Kingdom’s Military Swordsmanship, but his talent in flame control was remarkable.

The fireballs he formed in his hands had reached a stage where he could control their size: the largest was as big as an adult’s head, while the smallest was the size of a pebble between two fingers.

Naturally, their power also differed.

The head-sized fireball, when launched, caused an immediate high-temperature explosion on impact.

Its effective damage radius reached five meters, while its lethal radius extended up to two meters. Ion had assessed it and concluded that within its lethal radius, the fireball's power slightly surpassed that of the army's fire barrels.

The only shortcoming was in area coverage, the Kingdom’s fire barrels could cause destructive damage in a radius of about ten meters, with a maximum killing radius of fifteen meters.

As for the pebble-sized fireballs, though they lacked explosive force, they possessed significant penetrative power. While it was still uncertain whether they could pierce through metal armor, there was no doubt they could penetrate leather armor or wooden shields.

Therefore, even without a Rare Iron Weapon, Akar’s combat prowess was not to be underestimated. In fact, in some respects, he was even stronger than Ion.

“They’re looking for a guide?” Ion asked after hearing his son's report.

“Yes,” Akar nodded. “I overheard that old guy at the tavern telling them to find Uncle Arsen.”

Arsen, though not a Bloodline User, was the only one in Red Soil Town who had entered the Death Forest multiple times and managed to return unscathed each time.

Because of this, he was quite famous in the town. Many new demon hunters were willing to visit him for survival tips and to gain some experience.

After learning this, Akar had also visited Arsen together with Ion. They had exchanged a few words, so the father and son knew that while Arsen had indeed entered the Death Forest, he probably hadn’t gone too deep.

After all, with enough daring and a bit of luck, it was still possible to make it back alive from the forest's edge.

Ion pondered for a moment, then tossed aside the pitchfork in his hand. He picked up the tightly wrapped Rusty Sword and quickly set out with his son.

...

Having followed Ion and Akar for nearly four months, Robin had long since come to appreciate the pair’s caution and thoroughness.

Despite both of them being awakened Bloodline Users, especially Ion, who, after suffering backlash from a surge of uncontrolled excitement over a month ago, had been forced to rest for a full month, his strength had unexpectedly made a significant leap.

It could be said he now had one foot through the threshold of becoming a second-tier Bloodline User.

Akar, who had inherited the same [Flame Demon Hound] bloodline as his elder brother Yam, had been continuously refining his abilities.

By now, he was capable of seriously injuring, or even killing, a second-tier Bloodline User by catching them off guard.

Yet these two, both considered outstanding even among Bloodline Knights, behaved like ordinary men. They didn’t mind sleeping in stables or dusty storage rooms, nor did they reject doing hard labor typically deemed beneath a Bloodline User’s status.

At first, Robin thought this was because the father and son hadn’t yet adapted to the privileges of their new class.

But over the next couple of weeks, he observed them carefully and discovered that even when faced with conflict, be it with other demon hunters or the villagers of Red Soil Town, they remained restrained and never revealed their true strength or identity as Bloodline Users.

That was when he realized that it wasn’t about failing to adjust, they had simply grown accustomed to caution and disguise, never revealing their trump cards lightly.

Robin then recalled how it all began, perhaps it was the escape three and a half years ago, followed by Ion’s “lucky” breakthrough into a Bloodline User with his help, that had shaped the family’s cautious and cunning nature.

Cunning and cautious, that was the essence of Ion’s character.

As for his third son Akar, he had clearly inherited and surpassed these traits.

He was even more observant and detail-oriented, his actions marked by sharp wit and youthful boldness, yet always tempered with just enough restraint to avoid crossing into arrogance.

The best example of this was how others in his position, with Akar’s fire abilities, would likely focus on maximizing raw destructive power.

Instead, Akar took the opposite approach, choosing to master precise control and further refine his flame techniques to produce highly concealed and penetrative miniature fireball projectiles.

Yam might still be wondering whether those projectiles could pierce iron armor, but Robin had already come to a clear conclusion.

Unless the equipment was forged from Rare Iron or specially made heavy armor with thickness measured in centimeters, nothing could stop Akar’s “Flame Pebbles.”

In fact, Robin considered Akar’s personalized attack technique, born from careful refinement of his bloodline, to be far more terrifying than simply hurling giant fireballs.

Now, as he watched the father and son set off to find the mysterious demon-hunting squad planning to enter the Death Forest, Robin knew one thing for certain:

This father-and-son duo was about to reveal the fangs they had kept hidden for three long years.