Moments later, Lahm and Gibs heard the sound of a horse approaching and quickly bent down to have the trees cover their figures.

As the entourage of Avillian Masters approached the Windless Peaks, Sir Kurt\'s eyes caught the sight of something moving within the forest.

Quickly, he approached the place with Master Ulrik in tow.

Seeing this, the two crouching among the bushes had their heart skip a beat as they jumped out of their hiding place and fled as fast as they could. That was the only option available to them against these two men.

Lahm and Gibs didn\'t know what rank the two were, but the presence emanated was akin to that of the now dead Admiral.

Meaning that they were at least Expert-rank, if not higher. Add that to the sight of the troops following them from behind and any thought of fighting or resisting promptly vanished from their thoughts.

Lahm and Gibs began sweating as they ran with numerous thoughts running through their minds.

Gibs: \'Kasack! How did we end up meeting people here, and an Expert-rank too! What kind of luck is this?! Where did they even come from?\'

Lahm: \'This is bad! I need to get out of here. I can\'t die here! Not now\'

"Stop!" Master Kurt hollered, but those running didn\'t dare heed his words.

Kurt felt a bit annoyed. He had projected his aura, so he was sure that those running had known, or at least had an inkling of, his level.

Yet, they chose to keep running?

"Tch" Kurt clicked his tongue in distaste as he thought…

\'Don\'t blame me for this then\'

Seemingly from thin air, a spear covered in red and green clothing with a sharp tip appeared in Kurt\'s hands, and without another word…

*Inhale*

He sucked air in as his eyes zoomed in on his targets, his hands popped out veins and then…

*Soom!*

He threw it in a single motion and, because the distance between them wasn\'t too far, the spear reached the target almost instantaneously.

At the same time, Gibs looked behind to catch the face of the man who spoke…but all he met was a spear.

*Chuk*Kuuugh!*

The sound of flesh being skewered was followed by a very loud cough. Not one, but both men were impaled to a tree with a spear right in their chests and blood splattered all over the place.

Kurt looked at such a gruesome scene without flinching or even blinking, and so did Ulrik as they approached slowly, seeing as their targets had nowhere else to go.

But the two seem to murmur about something, while Kurt took a curative look at the two.

They were only two men and they didn\'t seem to have anything special about them.

Their armor was torn and ragged, their hair disheveled and filled with dirt, their bodies hosted multiple cut marks that were still bleeding…

All these begged the question, where did they come from?

But before they could find out, something happened.

One of them took out an object that caused the eyes of both Masters to widen and quiver in shock.

It was an eclipse shaped stone that had blue particles rotating within it.

It was…a mana stone!

_____________________

This was the treasure that Lahm and Gibs stumbled upon.

As missionaries, they were not ignorant of its value and snatched it for themselves at once. With a quick consideration of their situation, they easily agreed that the best they could do was to sell it off, preferably in another continent where they were unknown.

But none of that would be happening as the two grimaced heavily in their current state.

The spear had pierced Gibs right through his stomach, before subsequently piercing Lahm through his back and then impaling them on a tree.

So, at this moment, both men had their backs to each other as Gibs listened to Lahm puke blood.

It also meant that Gibs was able to see the face of his attackers clearly, with their eyes looking at them nonchalantly.

The unfairness of it all hit him-

\'Why? Why? Why? Why is this happening? What did we do to deserve this?!\'

-his eyes had become moist and he wanted to scream.

Only, he was already in so much pain that such luxury was not allowed, especially when his mouth was filled with blood.

Gibs eyes glazed with hatred as he stared at the two approaching.

With just a quick look at his current condition, Gibs knew without a doubt, he would soon die and so would lahm.

As he put his brain to work, Lahm\'s weak voice rang out…

"We\'re going to die, aren\'t we? If so, let\'s make sure they never get their hands on this"

Mustering the little strength he had left, Lahm brought out the mana stone from within his inner clothing and handed it over to Gibs.

The moment Gibs collected the stone, he clearly felt Lahm\'s hand go limp.

The meaning was clear, Lahm had died.

Gibs squeezed his face as he felt a painful emotion swell within him, and along with it, fury and rage as he looked at the treasure that had led them into this situation.

Gibs could only lament as he learned a final lesson.

\'The weak aren\'t allowed to be greedy\'

With the stone in hand, Gibs knew exactly what to do.

__________________

The sudden appearance of something so precious caused the minds of both Masters to go blank for only a few seconds.

But those few seconds gave Gibs the crucial time he needed to swallow the mana stone.

The moment he did so, the Masters broke out of their reverie as Kurt rushed forward with his Acktan.

His voice rang out simultaneously…

"Stop! What are you-"

He never got to finish the sentence.

By the time the Masters broke out of their reverie, Gibs\' body had already begun to glow blue. At the same time, his body began to inflate like it was being filled with air.

Kurt arrived in front of him almost instantaneously.

But he was already too late.

*BOOOM!*

Gibs exploded into pieces, dying instantly as his blood, bone and brain matter splattered all over the place.

But it didn\'t end there.

Simultaneously, a large wave of blue dust was expunged just as pieces of flesh spattered.

The one closest, Kurt, had his instincts ringing warning bells like never before.

He urged his mount to run, but before he could do so, the blue particles swallowed both him and his mount as it spread further.

Ulrik and the entourage standing a distance behind him were blown by the sheer force of the explosion.

A cloud of blue dust rose up high, while the booming sound erupted to all sides.

The after effects caused the mountain of mana crystal to shake slightly, while most of the missionaries lost their balance.

Even the approaching horses of Winston, his men, and those of the two Nitionian Masters went haywire, almost throwing off their riders before calming down.

Those scavenging in the outpost or beyond it didn\'t feel much of the pressure.

Instead, it was something else that caught everyone\'s eye.

"Look up there"

It was the cloud of blue dust in the sky.

It was the event that would kick up the storm of the decade.

A storm called "The Great War".