Chapter 156: Heading back Home
First the Death God legacy, and now the Sword God inheritance — both of them worked a little too well with each other. Lukas purposely did not want to think about it, but now the situation was becoming too glaring to ignore.
It did not matter whether he liked it or not. The way the situation was developing made it difficult to ignore.
Time continued to pass, and Lukas simply closed his eyes and waited. During this entire process, not for a single moment did his thoughts turn to the necromancer Ryan. For him, the man was as good as dead. He had full confidence in Natasha's ability to deal with this. Moreover, even if she was unable to handle the necromancer, there was nothing he could do except rest and recover to his best state before dealing with the threat.
The next morning, things went exactly as he had expected. With the opening that he had created, Natasha completely annihilated the enemy, not even leaving his corpse behind. Before sunrise, the White Knight Guild launched a full-scale assault on the dark forces, completely destroying their hideout. With their sequence-three leader gone, the necromancer forces could pose no threat and were wiped out..
A threat that had been a huge pain in the head for everyone in the White Knight Settlement had finally been dealt with. In this entire situation, Lukas's contribution was also recognized. Everywhere the soldiers of the White Knight Guild went, they would retell Lukas's battle with the necromancer Ryan. Each time, the story was exaggerated a little more, to the point where it no longer resembled the final battle.
Lukas moved through the streets of White Knight Settlement and listened to the waves of new awakened who had just entered the settlement. Their faces were full of admiration as they eagerly discussed wanting to become like him in the future. He could not help but shake his head with mixed emotions.
Only he knew the reality.
By that same morning, Natasha visited him in the garden and told him that the formation would be started soon, and that he could join the first wave of awakened returning back home.
When he first heard that, Lukas's expression became slightly muted. A strange emotion rose in him at the thought that he would finally return home after surviving the dark and brutal star dimension.
This strange reaction did not escape Natasha's notice. She scanned Lukas's figure, and a possibility appeared in her head.
Not for everyone was Earth a place to return to. It was also the place where most had lost everything.
She knew of countless awakened who had lost their family to star beast attacks.
Lukas did not realize he had farmed pity points without doing anything.
The reason why Lukas felt no joy about returning back to Earth was different. For other awakened, they were returning to their homes, but Lukas had a feeling he might never be able to return to ordinary Earth — a place where he had been nothing but a useless trash who had wasted all of his life away.
Or perhaps a more important question should have been: did he even want to return to such a place?
Although he did not want to admit it, for him a place like the star dimension was best. In a place like this, if he felt lazy for even a second, death would claim him.
Lukas had not ended up as a useless extra because he was incapable, but simply because he was a lazy bum, someone who could only get himself to work when a knife was placed at his throat.
...
Later that evening, Natasha and Lukas together surveyed the White Knight Settlement.
Lukas looked around curiously, noticing a couple of new faces with youthful energy, most likely new awakened who had just arrived in the star dimension.
Natasha noticed him looking and realized what he was thinking.
"Necromancy had imprisoned these new awakened who spawned further from the settlement. If we had failed to rescue them in time, they would have turned into skeletons."
Suddenly, Lukas felt grateful for first arriving near the Roaring Dragon Settlement. If he had been unlucky and arrived here instead, he might not have been surviving until now.
Natasha stopped moving and looked at Lukas with a slightly solemn look in her eyes, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating.
Lukas noticed her difficulty and her urge to speak.
"What is it?"
His encouraging words seemed to have eased Natasha's nerves. She looked toward the sky and sighed.
"While destroying the necromancer hideout, we detected traces of the Shadow Merchant."
Shadow Merchant?
Lukas frowned while repeating the words in his mind. This was the first time he had heard about such an organization.
The next moment, instantly, the image of that strange snooping bird flashed in his head.
Could it be that bird is related to this so-called Shadow Merchant...?
Natasha did not continue when she witnessed a thoughtful look appear on Lukas's face. It appeared he was also aware of their presence.
As expected, he is definitely not someone ordinary.
During the walk, the two shared some other details, and after a short chat Lukas returned to his morning duties, teaching the group of young elites about the sword.
Slowly, Lukas's life returned to normal again. Every day, Lukas would do nothing but wait. With every passing day, the formation was coming to life. He could feel a soft hum reverberating through the settlement.
The teleportation formation could come to life at any moment.
Lukas turned away and focused on something else.
"Why is the evolution not over yet...?"
By now Lukas was starting to grow concerned. It had been too long since Tommy's evolution had started, and it was still not complete. Just how long was it going to take?
However, other than waiting, Lukas could do nothing.
Day after day, time passed, and exactly on the sixth day since his battle with Necromancer Ryan, Natasha came to him with a smile on her face.
"I got good news for you. Can you guess what it is?"
She asked with a breathtaking smile on her lips, looking all charming.
Lukas remained unfazed by her charm.
"What good news? If I had waited any longer, it would only be my dead body that would be going back home..."
"Hmm, don't say such bad things."
Natasha immediately replied to his words in a sharp tone, anger clearly visible in her eyes.
Lukas simply fell silent, not wanting to argue further.
The two stared at each other in silence for some time. Then Natasha continued,
"I have already finished the formation for you. Tomorrow morning, you just need to show up and leave."
Hearing this, Lukas's expression eased, and he thanked her for it.
Just as she was thinking she would leave after another round of small talk, she added:
"Come a little early. I need to explain the mission to you."
Mission?
A giant question mark appeared on Lukas's face. What mission? Since when did she start assigning him missions?
Natasha looked at the expression on his face, and the smile on her lips widened even further.
"Oh, don't look at me like this. Or do you want to shirk away from your official duties? Don't forget, you are now the official sword instructor of the White Knight Guild."
Hehe, since when did this happen...?
Lukas was about to shake his head and continue, but for some reason the face of his younger sister Risa flashed through his mind. Although it had only been a few weeks in the star dimension, to Lukas it felt like forever. In this period of time, the details of Risa's face had already started to grow blurry.
Natasha saw him fall silent, and her lips automatically curved upward.
"Come meet me in the morning and we'll discuss things further."
...
The next morning.
Today, a different kind of air gripped the White Knight Settlement. Soldiers stood at every side, maintaining order, while young awakened moved with excited expressions on their faces, carrying heavy storage bags on their backs. A fresh sense of excitement gripped the entire settlement. Today it would not just be Lukas, but many young awakened who had managed to save enough resources would return back home after a gruesome journey.
Among them was an especially eager bunch consisting of noble kids. These young nobles might have lorded over thousands on Earth, but in the star dimension they were just ordinary awakened. From this bunch were Raven and Lily.
Lukas moved through the crowd of people. Right at the center of the White Knight Settlement was the heavily guarded teleportation formation. As Lukas was already quite well known among the settlement, and coupled with his recent feats, no soldier of the guild stopped him. When the soldiers saw him, some of them even placed their fists in salute. Lukas calmly nodded without much thought, but this simple gesture alone was enough for a smile to appear on the face of everyone present.
Soon, weaving through the crowd, Lukas spotted both Natasha and Mary standing at the center, watching everything play out. The moment he looked at them, the two also happened to look at the same time. Without wasting a minute, Lukas quickly moved closer.
He did not waste time and directly asked,
"What's the mission?"
Hearing those words, Mary looked puzzled. What the hell was he talking about?
Natasha, on the other hand, smiled. The next moment, she flicked her wrist and a golden letter appeared in her hand.
"Your mission is to take this letter to the White Knight Guild headquarters back home...!"
White Knight Guild headquarters...?
Just how big was the White Knight Guild to have a headquarters back home?
All this time, Lukas had been thinking the White Knight Guild was a small power with only one settlement under its control, but now it seemed there was more to the story than he had earlier assumed. From what he knew, only large powers had headquarters back on Earth.