Chapter 59 — The First Battle of the Forgotten Path
The white world erupted into war.
Thousands of warriors surged through the shattered sky.
Their footsteps struck the ground like thunder.
Their weapons filled the air with killing intent.
Azrael stood beneath the ancient white tree, Astraeus held tightly in his right hand.
The small white stone remained in his left.
For a moment, he simply watched.
Too many.
There were too many enemies to fight individually.
If he tried to defeat them one by one, he would eventually be overwhelmed.
The old master spoke without looking at him.
"Don’t fight the army."
Azrael frowned.
"Then what do I fight?"
"The battlefield."
The first warrior arrived.
Azrael moved.
CLANG!
A sword struck Astraeus.
Azrael redirected it instead of blocking it directly.
The enemy stumbled.
Azrael stepped past him.
Another attacker appeared.
Spear.
Thrust.
Azrael turned his body.
The spear passed beneath his arm.
His elbow struck the attacker’s jaw.
The warrior staggered.
Azrael didn’t finish him.
He moved again.
Three more enemies closed in.
Axe.
Sword.
Chain.
Azrael’s eyes sharpened.
He couldn’t overpower all three.
So he changed his objective.
The axe came first.
He stepped backward.
The axe struck the ground.
Azrael kicked the handle.
The weapon’s trajectory changed.
The axe slammed into the swordsman.
BOOM!
Before either could recover, the chain wrapped around the axe wielder.
Azrael used the opening.
He rushed forward.
Astraeus flashed.
CLANG!
One opponent’s weapon flew into the air.
Azrael caught the weapon with his free hand and immediately threw it toward another attacker.
He wasn’t trying to kill.
He was creating confusion.
The battlefield itself became his weapon.
The old master watched from several meters away.
A group of enemies surrounded him.
He didn’t move.
One attacked.
The old master stepped aside.
Another attacked.
He ducked.
A third came from behind.
He caught the attacker’s wrist and redirected him into two others.
Three bodies collided.
The old master sighed.
"Too predictable."
Then he disappeared.
Azrael glanced toward him.
The old master had already moved twenty meters away.
His movements were effortless.
There was no wasted motion.
No unnecessary strength.
No dramatic technique.
Just perfect understanding.
Azrael suddenly realized something.
The old master wasn’t fighting thousands of enemies.
He was allowing thousands of enemies to fight themselves.
Azrael smiled.
"That’s the lesson."
A warrior rushed toward him.
Azrael waited.
The enemy swung.
Azrael moved with the attack.
A second warrior attacked from behind.
Azrael lowered his body.
The second warrior’s blade struck the first.
CLANG!
Both froze.
Azrael stepped between them.
One strike to the wrist.
Another to the knee.
Both fell.
Azrael kept moving.
His breathing remained controlled.
His movements became smoother.
He wasn’t reacting anymore.
He was anticipating.
Ding!
A familiar notification appeared.
"Combat Insight"
Battlefield adaptation detected.
Combat efficiency increased.
Azrael ignored the message.
His attention was elsewhere.
The black formation above the battlefield continued growing.
That was the true threat.
The warriors were only protecting it.
Azrael looked toward the masked leader.
The man stood far behind the army.
He wasn’t fighting.
He was controlling the formation.
If I destroy the formation...
Azrael’s eyes narrowed.
The old master suddenly appeared beside him.
"You’ve noticed."
Azrael nodded.
"The formation is the real objective."
"Correct."
"Then why haven’t you destroyed it?"
The old master looked toward the formation.
"Because doing so requires me to leave the tree."
Azrael understood immediately.
The white tree wasn’t merely scenery.
It was the heart of the Forgotten Path.
If the old master abandoned it, the enemy could destroy it.
"So I have to do it."
The old master looked at him.
"Can you?"
Azrael looked at the thousands of warriors between them and the formation.
"I don’t know."
The old master smiled.
"Good answer."
Azrael raised Astraeus.
"Then I’ll find out."
He launched forward.
The battlefield seemed to disappear.
His entire focus narrowed toward one point.
The formation.
A warrior blocked his path.
Azrael ducked.
Another attacked.
He parried.
A third appeared.
He kicked the ground and used the force to change direction.
He didn’t stop.
The closer he got to the formation, the stronger the pressure became.
His body began to ache.
His wings remained folded.
He couldn’t afford to waste their energy.
Then—
A massive hammer descended.
Azrael raised Astraeus.
BOOM!
His knees bent.
The impact nearly drove him into the ground.
The hammer wielder was enormous.
Nearly three meters tall.
Black armor covered his body.
"You’re not reaching the formation."
Azrael slowly smiled.
"Then move."
The giant swung again.
Azrael didn’t block.
He stepped toward the attack.
The hammer passed beside him.
He struck the giant’s elbow.
CRACK!
The arm bent unnaturally.
The giant roared.
Azrael continued moving.
Behind him, the giant collapsed.
Another warrior appeared.
Then another.
Azrael fought through them.
Every exchange cost energy.
Every mistake could become fatal.
A spear pierced his side.
Azrael twisted at the last moment.
The spear still cut through his clothes and drew blood.
He ignored it.
A sword struck his shoulder.
He parried the follow-up.
His body was beginning to slow.
His breathing became heavier.
Then he remembered the pebble.
Don’t overpower.
Understand.
Azrael closed his eyes for half a second.
The battlefield became sound.
Footsteps.
Breathing.
Metal.
Wind.
Mana.
The formation.
Everything possessed a rhythm.
He listened.
Then he found it.
The formation pulsed every seven seconds.
The energy traveled through the surrounding warriors.
The warriors weren’t simply guarding the formation.
They were powering it.
Azrael opened his eyes.
"Found you."
He changed direction.
Instead of attacking the warriors...
He attacked the connections between them.
A sword strike severed one flow.
A kick disrupted another.
Astraeus struck the ground.
The impact traveled through the formation’s energy network.
BOOM!
Three runes flickered.
The formation weakened.
The masked leader’s expression finally changed.
"Stop him!"
Every warrior nearby turned toward Azrael.
Azrael looked around.
Hundreds were coming.
He tightened his grip.
Then a golden light appeared in the distance.
The old master.
He stood before the white tree with one hand raised.
"Azrael."
Azrael looked back.
"Yes?"
"Don’t destroy the formation."
Azrael froze.
"What?"
The old master smiled.
"Understand it."
Azrael stared at the massive structure.
The formation pulsed again.
Seven seconds.
Seven pulses.
Seven layers.
He slowly lowered his sword.
The enemies continued approaching.
Azrael ignored them.
His Origin Perception expanded.
He didn’t look at the formation as a weapon.
He looked at it as something alive.
Its energy moved.
Its runes responded.
Its core absorbed the surrounding power.
Its outer layer redirected it.
The structure had a rhythm.
Azrael listened.
One pulse.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
His eyes widened.
"The formation isn’t attacking the tree."
The old master smiled.
"What is it doing?"
Azrael’s expression changed.
"It’s trying to synchronize with it."
The old master’s smile disappeared.
"Exactly."
Azrael suddenly understood.
The enemy couldn’t destroy the Forgotten Path directly.
So they were forcing the formation to resonate with the white tree.
If the synchronization completed...
The tree would reject the Forgotten Path itself.
Azrael looked toward the masked leader.
"You aren’t trying to destroy the Path."
The man’s expression became cold.
"You understand too much."
Azrael raised the white stone.
The stone glowed faintly.
"You’ve been trying to make the Path destroy itself."
For the first time...
The masked leader looked genuinely surprised.
Azrael smiled.
"Then I’ll change the rhythm."
He threw the stone.
Not toward the formation.
Toward the white tree.
The stone struck one of the ancient roots.
Ting.
A tiny sound echoed across the battlefield.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!
The entire white world responded.
The lake erupted upward.
The tree’s branches spread across the sky.
Every white root beneath the ground awakened.
The formation began shaking violently.
The enemy warriors staggered.
The masked leader’s eyes widened.
"What did you do?"
Azrael looked at the glowing tree.
"I listened."
The old master laughed.
For the first time since the battle began, his voice carried genuine pride.
"Now..."
He raised his hand.
"...let the Forgotten Path answer."
The white tree released a wave of silver light.
Every enemy within the battlefield was thrown backward.
The black formation cracked.
And somewhere deep beneath the white world...
Something ancient opened its eyes.
Something that had been sleeping for longer than the old master could remember.
The old master’s smile slowly disappeared.
He whispered one word.
"Impossible."
Azrael turned toward him.
"What?"
The old master stared beneath the tree.
"The Path..."
His expression was filled with disbelief.
"...has awakened its guardian."
A deep heartbeat echoed beneath their feet.
BOOM.
Another.
BOOM.
The entire battlefield went silent.
Then the roots of the white tree began tearing themselves from the ground.
Something enormous was rising beneath them.