Recalling the path, Alex's figure could be seen moving through the dense trees of the forest.
Alex was now moving towards the open land in between the forest which was an important spot.
There were three important places. A place where slaves were present, another the temple where offerings were submitted and last was this to where he was currently moving.
In between the forest, a place had been cleared while many engravings were carved out on the soil.
Seeing the place, Alex breathed in relief as it indicated that he was quite close to the place where the temple was present which means he had already made his way to the middle of the world after covering a huge distance filled with blood and corpses.
The runes were drawn in a circle along with many flag-like formations. It was one of the important spots where the part of sacrifice's divinity is transferred which radiates through the whole world to maintain the functioning of the world
The runes were drawn with blood and there were many circles like this. In between the circles laid a dried corpse with empty sockets and a puddle of bloody liquid could be seen.
Alex found the liquid quite similar to the place where he fell when he entered first. From afar it looked like red wine which seemed to be used for some kind of a conductor.
A protruding small structure red in colour could be seen which seemed to be maintaining a barrier around the place to keep these corpses preserved but it might also have other functions in it.
Two guards seemed to be patrolling the place with the utmost attention.
Their gaze was as sharp as a dagger that was looking all around. They revolved in circles around the place which also separates both of them.
Alex thought of using a bow to assassinate them but the light reflected from it could alert the other one and on top of that Alex didn't know the full specifications of the circuit.
If it turns out to be an offensive circuit or a defensive one that could cast a barrier he couldn't break then that would be asking for more trouble and on top of that Alex wondered whether it had an alarm function to alarm others.
So, Alex thought of using his assassination kills to take down the prey.
He didn't step into the clearing but moved through the bushes and trees. He had already found that these dogs had an uncanny ability to sniff humans around, from a distance of 10-15 metres away, so Alex maintained a suitable distance and waited for a suitable time.
He was confident in his ability and he could cover that much distance in a blink of an eye without alerting the prey.
Arriving at their blind spots and observing the suitable scenarios, he got out of the trees and crouched down as he moved towards them.
As soon as he got into that strike zone, Alex stood up and leaned his body forward, he activated the partial concealment skills to hide his tracks.
The man who was humming while walking around suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
Alex crept up towards the man and extending his left hand, he closed the man's mouth and with swift nimble movements, slit his throat in one go using his sword like a professional assassinator.
Blood gushed out from his neck soft groans emanated from his mouth which had been closed forcefully by Alex and the voices died down in his throat.
Alex pulled his sword and did the stabbing test to check whether the man died for real or was putting up an act in front of him.
Fortunately, the man before him had already died.
Alex waited for the opportunity, and noticing the other man coming near, he threw the body to the ground.
THUD!
The sound of a body being smashed on the ground reverberated all around and it was heard by the other man.
He immediately turned around and left his position, running towards the source of the sound.
Reaching the crime spot, he found the corpse of his friend lying on the ground with no one in his sight.
Alex had already retreated to a safe distance and was now standing in the blind spot of the man who screamed in panic.
"Melco...." The man shouted his friend's name and crouched down and placed his finger on his body while searching for the traces.
His hand swept past the cleanly slit throat along with multiple wounds on his body made by stabbing from which blood oozed out.
"Who killed you? Who is that bastard? I will take revenge?" The man murmured with a tear in his eyes.
Swish!
The man who was grieving for his one and only friend was suddenly attacked and stabbed from behind.
Pfftt!
Blood spurts out from his lips and he stared down at his chest from where a sword emerged and looked up to see Alex with a horrified expression.
Alex gave the guy a sceptical look and asked"Are you an idiot or did you also sell your brain to darkness while pledging loyalty?"
"How could a dead person speak and tell the name of the killer? Instead of asking him, shouldn't you search around for the killer in the vicinity?'
The man didn't have any strength to utter any words and just stared at the face of the killer in disbelief.
His consciousness was fading slowly but Alex's mocking words infuriated him greatly and he clenched his heart and collapsed immediately.
Alex killed the guy and observed the magic circle.
Alex was still in a pinch about whether to destroy it or not.
Thinking for the moment, Alex decided to disrupt the circuit first to stop its functioning.
He pulled out the neatly arranged flags and burnt down the corpse but even after this, the barrier remained.
Alex didn't know whether destroying it would alert the enemies or not but he didn't want to take any chances.
The magic circle was already incapable of functioning properly because of Alex's doings so there was no need to take further risk.
